Chapter 1178: He Admitted It!

Only Gong Lince could have done it.

If an ordinary disciple had tried to bring something of that size into Zijin Cave, it certainly would have been inspected, much less if the disciple tried to deliver it directly to Tortoise-Slumber Pavilion.

Only in the hands of the Sect Leader could something like this travel the entire way without obstruction, with no one daring to ask questions.

Thud!

The root carving landed inside the hall with a muffled sound.

After setting it down on the spotless floor, Gong Lince walked unhurriedly toward Zhong Guzi, who sat cross-legged on the ground.

Before this man, it would have been inappropriate to stand over him.

Gong Lince gathered the hem of his robe and knelt down before cupping his hands in salute. "This disciple pays respects to Martial Uncle."

"No need for such ceremony, Sect Leader." Zhong Guzi spoke politely, but his gaze had already returned to the root carving.

He examined it several more times.

He could see its auspicious meaning, but nothing particularly special about it.

For the Sect Leader to come personally merely to present something so common seemed rather vulgar, and Zhong Guzi could not understand it.

He asked, "Sect Leader has suddenly gone to such trouble. May I ask what this means?"

Gong Lince did not answer at once.

Instead, he turned toward the man standing respectfully to one side. "Ju An, I have a private matter to discuss with Elder Zhong. Go outside and keep watch. No one is to approach, and no one is to eavesdrop."

Ju An glanced at Zhong Guzi.

Receiving no response from him, he could only bow. "Yes!"

He had almost reached the doorway when Gong Lince suddenly added, "Close the doors."

Ju An stopped and looked back.

Zhong Guzi still showed no reaction.

Ju An could only bow once more. "Yes!"

He backed away two steps, turned, walked out, and closed the great doors behind him.

Since no one was to eavesdrop, Ju An consciously left the eaves as well. He descended the steps and stood farther away in the open ground outside.

Inside, once the doors closed, the hall became much dimmer.

A shaft of daylight descending from above became strikingly conspicuous, like a pillar of light.

It happened to fall over the place where Gong Lince knelt.

Zhong Guzi, by contrast, seemed hidden within the darkness.

From inside the light, it was difficult to see the man in the shadows clearly.

Gong Lince remained motionless.

He quietly watched Zhong Guzi inside the darkness.

At last, a complicated emotion appeared in his expression, and his thoughts were equally tangled.

A Misty Pavilion spy?

This highly respected Supreme Elder, revered by everyone above and below in Zijin Cave, was actually an informant Misty Pavilion had planted inside the sect?

If it were true, how many major decisions of Zijin Cave had this man secretly influenced over the years?

How was Zijin Cave supposed to bear such a thing?

Gong Lince estimated that Niu Youdao was unlikely to speak nonsense about something like this.

Nine chances out of ten, it was true.

Even so, he still hoped Niu Youdao's information was wrong.

From darkness, however, it was easy to see the illuminated man.

Even tiny specks of dust drifting through the shaft of light were clearly visible.

Every subtle change in Gong Lince's expression was likewise caught by Zhong Guzi.

The two looked at one another for a while.

Then Zhong Guzi spoke. "Sect Leader did not come here to deliver a gift. If there is something on your mind, speak plainly."

Gong Lince said nothing.

He bent forward and gave a formal bow.

Then he rose and walked toward the root carving.

He lifted one hand, patted it, and said, "We're here. Come out."

A sound immediately came from inside the root carving.

Zhong Guzi's eyes fixed upon it, narrowing slightly.

The moment the sound appeared, Gong Lince gripped the carving with both hands and lifted.

The base remained behind.

The truth that the carving was hollow stood exposed.

As the outer shell was moved aside, the man hidden inside it was revealed.

The person sitting cross-legged within the carving was naturally Niu Youdao.

Gong Lince placed the shell aside.

Niu Youdao stood.

Then the two walked together toward Zhong Guzi and knelt before him side by side.

Zhong Guzi remained unruffled.

He quietly studied this second visitor.

What sort of man required the dignified Sect Leader himself to use such a method to smuggle him inside?

There was one thing Zhong Guzi could already tell.

The visitor was disguised.

That was not his real face.

Niu Youdao raised one hand and tore away the false face, revealing his true features.

Then he bowed all the way to the ground. "This disciple has been discourteous. Circumstances forced my hand. I ask Master to forgive me."

The reason he had still worn a disguise was simple caution.

If anything unexpected had happened while the root carving was being transported and he had been exposed inside it, at least no one would have seen his true face. His identity could still have remained hidden.

"You..." For once, Zhong Guzi's ordinarily unshakable expression showed a considerable disturbance.

His face was filled with astonishment. "Didn't you meet with disaster? Is it truly you?"

Niu Youdao replied, "It is this disciple. Sect Leader can testify."

Gong Lince said, "Martial Uncle Zhong, there is no mistake. It truly is Junior Brother Niu."

Zhong Guzi looked doubtful. "Why is this so? Was the information from the Sacred Realm wrong? If you have returned alive, why come see me in such secrecy?"

Gong Lince said, "There was nothing wrong with the report from the Sacred Realm. The earlier news of his death was part of Junior Brother's own arrangement."

"Junior Brother used a false death to escape. The Sacred Realm does not know he is still alive."

"Given the current situation, he can no longer show himself openly. He can only come see you in secret."

Zhong Guzi was silent for a while.

Then he sighed. "A false death to escape... Do you understand the consequences if this is exposed?"

"I am an old man with one foot already in the grave. I have little left to fear. But what is Zijin Cave supposed to do?"

He sighed again. "Each generation bears the responsibilities of its own age. Zijin Cave has already been entrusted to your generation."

"You must have your reasons for acting as you do. The older generation may not necessarily have done any better."

"This old man is almost in the grave. I have no desire to ask what you're doing."

"There was no need for me to know any of this."

"Niu Youdao, you should not have come to see me. It serves no purpose."

"Go."

"I never saw you, and I know nothing."

"As far as I am concerned, you are already dead."

Gong Lince tilted his head and glanced at Niu Youdao.

He too had opposed Niu Youdao taking this risk, but the man had insisted on coming.

Niu Youdao said, "I understand Master's painstaking intentions. But there is something I do not understand. I came precisely to ask Master to resolve this doubt."

Zhong Guzi asked, "What matter could possibly be worth taking such a risk just to see me?"

Niu Youdao met his eyes.

After a moment of silence, he slowly said, "While investigating Misty Pavilion inside the Sacred Realm, this disciple accidentally saw a classified internal archive belonging to Misty Pavilion."

"That file involved a list of spies planted inside Zijin Cave..."

He stopped there and watched the other man's reaction.

Zhong Guzi visibly trembled.

But he quickly recovered his calm. "Have you come to eliminate the traitors hidden inside Zijin Cave?"

"If you are truly willing to risk exposing yourself in order to purge hidden dangers from Zijin Cave, then this old man misjudged you."

"I never imagined you possessed such sincere loyalty toward Zijin Cave."

The meaning was simple.

He had never believed Zijin Cave truly wanted Niu Youdao as one of its own, nor had he believed Niu Youdao had sincerely joined Zijin Cave.

Both sides had been acting for their own interests.

It was difficult to imagine Niu Youdao harboring such loyalty toward the sect.

Niu Youdao said, "In other words, Master admits that you are one of the people Misty Pavilion planted inside Zijin Cave?"

Zhong Guzi was quite open about it.

He did not hesitate at all.

He sighed. "I thought this secret would enter the grave with me. Once I was dead, I would no longer hear whatever curses were thrown at my name, and that would be the end of it."

"I never expected that beneath Heaven's bright gaze, there would be no escaping it after all."

He admitted it!

Gong Lince's cheeks tightened, and his expression became ugly.

It was actually true.

Now that matters had reached this point, he suddenly had no idea what to say.

Before Zhong Guzi's circumstances, should he curse the man?

Kill him?

All three men were lost in their own thoughts.

After the hall had remained quiet for a while, Gong Lince asked heavily, "You don't even keep a single messenger Goldenwing at your side. How have you been contacting Misty Pavilion?"

"Ordinarily, the only person who can come close to you is Ju An. Don't tell me Ju An is one of Misty Pavilion's people as well."

Zhong Guzi gave an aged sigh. "It is precisely because I did not want Ju An and the others dragged into this any further, because I did not want Misty Pavilion to keep using them, that I sealed myself away here to wait for death."

"I made myself useless to them."

Gong Lince said, "I don't understand what you mean."

His self-reference had already changed from "this disciple" to "I."

As the dignified Sect Leader of Zijin Cave, he could no longer maintain the same reverence toward a traitor of the sect.

Zhong Guzi said, "In the generation of your master and me, I was the eldest senior brother, while your master was my junior brother."

"At the time, whether in seniority or ability, the person who should have become Sect Leader was actually me. It should not have fallen to your master to inherit Zijin Cave."

"Before Master intended to pass the position to me, something happened."

Gong Lince said, "I know a little about that affair. You lost your virtue after drinking and violated a female disciple of the sect."

"It was a family shame that could not be spread outside, so Grandmaster suppressed the matter."

"But faced with pressure from the upper ranks of the sect, even Grandmaster could not pretend nothing had happened. As a result, you lost the position of Sect Leader."

He frowned. "Was it because of that? Did you harbor resentment and therefore join Misty Pavilion?"

Niu Youdao thought otherwise.

Of course, that was because he knew more.

He remembered Sha Rulai telling him that Zhong Guzi had become one of Misty Pavilion's people not long after entering Zijin Cave.

The timing should have been far earlier than the period when Zhong Guzi had been competing for the position of Sect Leader.

To a certain extent, by the time Zhong Guzi possessed the qualifications to compete for the position, he had already lacked for very little.

He was already a man of great status and power.

At that point, Misty Pavilion could no longer have turned him so easily.

Sure enough, Zhong Guzi sighed. "Wrong."

"It has been nearly one hundred and thirty years since Misty Pavilion recruited me."

"At the time, I had joined Zijin Cave only a few years earlier. I was just past twenty."

"Back then, even your grandmaster had not yet become Sect Leader."

Gong Lince did not understand. "Then why mention that other affair?"

Zhong Guzi sighed. "People..."

"When they have nothing, they want to obtain it. Once they obtain it, they may discover it was never truly what they wanted."

"Looking back now, everything in the past resembles a poor man in his days of poverty."

"When a man is poor, that is often when he is most easily led astray. If he can become rich, if someone is willing to give him money, perhaps there is nothing he will not do and nothing he will not promise."

"But once he truly has money, once he has climbed to a certain height and looks back at the stains left along the road behind him, he may find them ugly beyond endurance."

"By the time regret comes, it is already too late to erase them."

"Only after I stood high enough and looked back did I realize I had been wrong."

"Only then did I understand that there was a reason Misty Pavilion found me."

"What they truly valued was probably your grandmaster's potential."

"Your grandmaster was not someone they could easily turn, so they laid their groundwork through me in advance."

"Even if I had never joined Misty Pavilion, even without Misty Pavilion secretly supporting me, once your grandmaster rose to become Sect Leader, my own future inside the sect would never have been poor."

"But I was too young then."

"Impatient. Hungry for quick success. Unable to see far enough ahead. Unable to endure disappointment or loneliness."

"Perhaps I complained too much in those years."

"Perhaps that was exactly why Misty Pavilion noticed me..."

That was when he joined Misty Pavilion.

He became the covert agent Misty Pavilion had planted inside Zijin Cave and began supplying them with whatever information lay within his power to obtain.

In return, whenever he needed to complete assignments given to him by the sect, Misty Pavilion would secretly provide certain assistance to ensure he succeeded.

[End of Chapter 1178]