Chapter 1163: Xuan Yao Exposed

"Take those five away and keep a close watch on them! Have Xuan Yao come see me." Ding Wei waved a hand.

"Yes!" Huang Ban accepted the order and left with the five men.

Ding Wei remained alone in the mountains beneath the night sky, as silent as the forest around him while waves churned endlessly inside his heart.

After some time, Huang Ban returned, bringing Xuan Yao with him.

Seeing Ding Wei, Xuan Yao glanced around and quietly asked Huang Ban, "Why did Sir summon us out here in the middle of the night?"

Huang Ban merely lifted a hand in indication. He said nothing more, signaling that Xuan Yao should ask Ding Wei himself.

When they reached Ding Wei, Huang Ban voluntarily stepped aside. Xuan Yao saluted. "Sir!"

As when Ding Wei had met the five men earlier, he said nothing.

After waiting for a while, Xuan Yao gradually began to feel the pressure.

They had been together for many years and understood one another fairly well. Whenever Ding Wei reacted like this, it invariably meant something bad had happened.

Xuan Yao tried not to let his breathing grow heavy. After waiting a little longer and failing to read anything from Huang Ban's face, he finally cupped his hands and asked on his own initiative, "Does Sir have some instruction?"

Still facing away from him, Ding Wei said, "Xuan Yao, is there something you've been hiding from me?"

Xuan Yao's mouth went dry. He tested cautiously, "What matter is Sir referring to?"

"Referring to?" Ding Wei said. "It seems you've hidden quite a few things from me."

Xuan Yao hurriedly defended himself. "Sir misunderstands. This subordinate does not know what Sir is asking about."

Ding Wei slowly turned around and looked directly into his eyes. "Xuan Yao, how many years have you been with me?"

"More than thirty years."

"More than thirty years. Good." Ding Wei said. "For the sake of more than thirty years of friendship, today I will ask you properly, and you will answer me properly. What did you need those five flying mounts for? Did you take them to Yanyu Tower for amusement?"

Xuan Yao's Adam's apple bobbed. Bitterness filled his mouth.

The moment the five flying mounts were mentioned, he knew the matter had been uncovered.

In truth, from the moment Yuan Se ordered Ding Wei to take charge of investigating the case, Xuan Yao had already realized this possibility. He had mobilized resources from Ding Wei's own faction. That might deceive outsiders, but hiding it from Ding Wei himself would be difficult.

Sure enough, it had been discovered.

There had been no real flaw in the original plan. They would act in secret and return in secret. Even if the assassination failed, it should have been almost impossible to discover who had done it.

But during the pursuit, they had unexpectedly run straight into Demon Fox Bureau personnel.

The Demon Fox Bureau then pursued them relentlessly, exposing the five flying mounts and leaving behind a trail that could be investigated.

Once the mounts were exposed, Xuan Yao had not even dared cut off the trail by killing everyone involved. If all the people who disappeared happened to belong to Ding Wei's faction, anyone with a brain would realize that the culprit had to be someone of sufficient status close to Ding Wei to mobilize so many of his people at once.

The one fortunate point amid all the misfortune was that Ding Wei himself had been ordered to investigate the case.

Xuan Yao had clung to a trace of hope. Even if Ding Wei discovered him, surely Ding Wei would conceal the matter for his sake.

With that thought in mind, Xuan Yao pressed his lips tightly together for a moment, then slowly dropped to his knees before Ding Wei.

Ding Wei said, "Why such a grand salute? I remember giving you three Heavenly Sword Talismans for self-defense. Take them out and let me see them."

Xuan Yao said in anguish, "This subordinate was confused for a moment!"

Ding Wei's face twisted violently.

He stopped circling around the matter and said in a low voice, "In other words, you admit you were the one who assassinated Niu Youdao?"

Xuan Yao bowed his head. "This subordinate was confused."

He had confessed.

Huang Ban let out a sigh from the side and helplessly shook his head. Until now, it had only been suspicion. He had not expected this man truly to have been so audacious.

Ding Wei erupted in anger. He pointed down at Xuan Yao. "Are you insane? Niu Youdao had just finished inspecting Wuliang Garden and had even met Lü Wushuang. Without knowing what had happened there, you dared kill him immediately afterward? Did you never consider what would happen if Lü Wushuang personally intervened? Did you never consider that anything involving Wuliang Garden is bound to cause trouble?"

"Now it isn't only Lü Wushuang. All Nine Saints have personally intervened! Are you tired of living?"

Xuan Yao hurriedly looked up and defended himself. "Sir, I... this subordinate truly did not know before acting that the inspectors from the eight sects had gone to Wuliang Garden, much less that they had met Lü Wushuang. Otherwise, even if this subordinate had been given a hundred measures of courage, I would never have dared!"

"You wouldn't dare?" Ding Wei berated him. "According to the Demon Fox Bureau's detailed account of the incident, you pursued Niu Youdao the entire way. You plainly saw Demon Fox Bureau personnel appear. You plainly knew there was already a group of eyewitnesses. Instead of stopping in time and leaving, you actually dared use a Heavenly Sword Talisman and stake everything on one throw!"

"An inspector appointed by sacred decree was publicly assassinated. Do you understand the nature of that offense? Is there anything you don't dare do?"

"Sir, this subordinate truly had no choice!" Xuan Yao cried in panic.

Bang!

Ding Wei kicked him over. "Even now you dare argue sophistry? Who could possibly force you to kill someone?"

Xuan Yao scrambled up and knelt properly again. He said in anguish, "Sir, when we acted, Niu Youdao guessed it was me. He guessed I was among the assassins and even called this subordinate by name. How could I still dare let him return alive?"

Ding Wei said, "Weren't all of you disguised and masked? How could he know it was you?"

Xuan Yao replied, "He said that inside the Sacred Realm, the only people who wanted him dead were Sir and me. Since Sir was outside the Sacred Realm, that left only me."

"At the time, his words forced this subordinate into desperation. Only afterward, thinking back on it, did I realize I had been foolish. Niu Youdao was probably bluffing me. At the time, he should not have been certain it was me."

"You bastard!"

Bang!

Ding Wei kicked him over again, followed him forward, then pointed down and demanded, "What about the other three? Did you kill Niu Youdao's three subordinates too? You killed four inspectors appointed by sacred decree in one stroke? Have you gone mad?"

Xuan Yao hurriedly knelt again and defended himself. "Sir, I'm wronged! This subordinate killed only Niu Youdao. I absolutely did not kill anyone else."

Ding Wei flew into a rage. "Even now you still dare hide things from me? The other three have not returned to this day. People have searched everywhere and found no trace of them. Don't tell me they vanished into thin air!"

"Sir, this subordinate truly is wronged!" Xuan Yao said urgently. "I've already admitted killing Niu Youdao. What difference would it make now whether I admitted killing one person or four?"

"This subordinate truly did not kill Niu Youdao's three men. At the time, only Niu Youdao was there. When we attacked, the other three were nowhere in sight. Sir, please judge clearly!"

Huang Ban spoke from the side. "Sir, what Xuan Yao says is reasonable."

Ding Wei's breathing was rapid, his chest rising and falling. "Then where did those three go?"

Xuan Yao said, "This subordinate truly does not know."

Huang Ban added, "Logically, the three of them could not simply disappear without reason. Since they still haven't shown themselves after so long, something probably happened to them as well. Sir, those above are presently concerned about Niu Youdao's death. If the three can return, they will naturally return. If they cannot, there is no reason to waste further effort on them."

Ding Wei swept him with a cold look. "This is no longer a matter of whether I want to or not. The nine Sacred Venerables are looking for those three."

Huang Ban was surprised. "They're merely Niu Youdao's subordinates. Why would the Sacred Venerables pay them such attention?"

Ding Wei said, "I don't know exactly what is happening either. The Nine Saints questioned the Demon Fox Bureau personnel and asked whether anything had been found on Niu Youdao's body. The Bureau said no. The Nine Saints immediately fixed their attention on Niu Youdao's three subordinates."

"From the look of things, the inspectors from the eight sects seem to have brought something out of Wuliang Garden separately. If it wasn't on Niu Youdao, it may be on those three."

"What the Sacred Venerables want is whatever they brought out. They don't care whether those three live or die."

Huang Ban looked even more baffled. "What could the eight sects possibly have brought out of Wuliang Garden? Surely not the Wuliang Fruits?"

Ding Wei said, "I'd like to know what it is too. At present, the seven sects in Wentian City are under strict control, and Wuliang Garden has been sealed off. I have nowhere to ask."

The scene fell quiet for a moment.

While Huang Ban was thinking, he suddenly noticed Xuan Yao on the ground signaling to him with his eyes. Huang Ban's expression became pained, but he still turned to Ding Wei. "Sir, what do we do about the matter before us?"

Ding Wei lowered his gaze to Xuan Yao and said coldly, "The Sacred Venerable demands an explanation. What can I do?"

Xuan Yao prostrated himself on the ground. "Everything was this subordinate's fault. One man does the deed, one man bears the consequences. This subordinate is willing to shoulder everything alone and will never implicate anyone else!"

Ding Wei raised his brows and sneered. "Implicate? Implicate whom? Are you saying I ordered you to do it? Are you threatening me?"

There was a reason he would say such a thing.

When one had power of one's own, there were inevitably certain shady matters that had to be entrusted to trusted subordinates. Xuan Yao had handled more than a few such matters for him. If Ding Wei handed Xuan Yao over, who knew what else might be dragged into the light?

"This subordinate means nothing of the sort!" Xuan Yao straightened on his knees and said painfully, "This subordinate knows that after committing this offense, death is inevitable. Either way I die. Rather than suffer endless torture and interrogation, I would rather have a quick end."

"Sir has treated this subordinate generously for all these years. Sir may rest assured. This subordinate will publicly surrender myself at once. After confessing, I will immediately take my own life. I will never reveal anything disadvantageous to Sir!"

Ding Wei clenched his teeth inwardly.

He would indeed have liked to hand Xuan Yao over and be done with it.

But the key problem was that everyone knew Xuan Yao was his trusted man. If Xuan Yao stubbornly insisted no one had ordered him and that everything had been his personal act, would those above believe it?

There was another issue.

Why exactly had the inspectors from the eight sects entered Wuliang Garden? What had actually happened there?

Until Ding Wei understood that point, he did not dare move rashly.

It was still the same principle: anything involving Wuliang Garden was trouble.

And Xuan Yao had just happened to kill Niu Youdao at precisely this time.

If Ding Wei handed Xuan Yao over now, there was no telling what kind of disaster it might draw down.

After thinking it through repeatedly, Ding Wei slowly asked, "How many people took part in the assassination?"

"Including this subordinate, fifteen."

Ding Wei said, "For now, we watch the situation before deciding what to do. As for those people, you'd better make sure their mouths stay tightly shut."

"Once this storm has passed, not one of them can be left alive!"

Joy flooded Xuan Yao's face.

He knew Ding Wei had ultimately decided to help him conceal the matter.

With Ding Wei helping erase and seal off the clues, outsiders would have little chance of uncovering the truth. He had survived this calamity.

Xuan Yao immediately kowtowed, his voice choking. "Thank you, Sir! This subordinate will repay you even if my liver and brains are smeared across the ground!"

...

Inside Wushuang Hall in Wentian City, the people of the seven sects had truly broadened their horizons this time. They had now seen every one of the nine Sacred Venerables, and in recent days they had seen them repeatedly.

The problem was that their heads ached.

They had repeatedly cross-checked and consolidated the testimonies brought back from Wuliang Garden, but no matter what they did, they could not uncover any useful clue.

Some testimony was also missing.

The statements kept by Niu Youdao had disappeared together with him.

The reason the Nine Saints were still lingering in Wentian City was precisely this matter. Not only had they ordered their subordinates to investigate, they themselves had successively examined the testimony in person.

They too seemed puzzled.

Faced with these statements, everyone looked baffled and unable to understand what they were supposed to reveal.

The only person who might have been able to unravel the mystery was probably Niu Youdao.

And Niu Youdao had plainly been silenced because of this very affair.

[End of Chapter 1163]