Chapter 1253: Spare Him!

Sha Rulai said, "I'm overthinking it? You keep asking about Wuliang Garden for no reason. Am I really overthinking it?"

Niu Youdao chuckled. "Let's put it this way. I want to get someone out of Wuliang Garden. Can you help me get him out?"

Sha Rulai said, "Are you joking? You're the one who stirred this whole thing up. You claimed there was a traitor inside Wuliang Garden and made it all sound perfectly convincing. Until that traitor is found, how could anyone inside Wuliang Garden possibly be allowed to leave? Who are you trying to get out?"

Niu Youdao said, "I can't tell you yet."

Sha Rulai said, "You don't have to tell me, but I need to remind you of something. If the traitor inside Wuliang Garden remains undiscovered, this matter will not simply fade away. There will be only one result: better to kill the innocent than let the guilty escape! To eliminate future trouble, not one person inside Wuliang Garden will be allowed to live."

"Whether the person you're trying to get out is friend or foe, whether you want him dead or want him alive, you'd better think it through carefully."

Niu Youdao fell silent for a while. At last, he slowly said, "Ao Feng, Ye Nian's disciple. He's one of mine."

"What?" Sha Rulai froze. "Ao Feng is one of yours? How did he become one of yours?"

Niu Youdao said, "It's a long story. I can't explain it all at once. You could say he's one of mine, and you could also say he isn't. But if he had to choose between me and his master, he would definitely side with me."

Sha Rulai asked, "What exactly does that mean?"

What did it mean?

Niu Youdao was thinking, weighing whether he should tell him the truth.

But Wuliang Garden had remained sealed for so long that he was genuinely worried.

In the end, he looked around, lowered his voice, and said, "He stole the Wuliang Fruits."

"Ah..." Sha Rulai's face changed dramatically. Then he abruptly realized his voice had been too loud and lowered it as well. "You're saying he has Wuliang Fruits in his hands? Are you joking?"

Niu Youdao said, "He doesn't have them in his hands. Wuliang Garden is only so large. How could he possibly keep them on himself? He used certain methods to transfer them into my hands."

Sha Rulai said, "Impossible. If even one fruit disappeared from the tree, how could that be hidden from all those guards?"

Niu Youdao said, "Is there anything in this world that is truly impossible? There are only things you haven't thought of."

"The tree isn't missing a fruit. It has none left. Ao Feng picked all twelve. Every fruit hanging on the tree now is fake."

"Fake?" Sha Rulai was stunned. The joke had suddenly become far too large. "I've seen Wuliang Fruits. How could counterfeits fool so many eyes? And how could the real ones possibly have been brought out?"

Niu Youdao sighed. "There's no point explaining all that to you. Do you remember the gift I told you I'd left for you with the Demon Fox clan? I left you one!"

Sha Rulai was completely dumbfounded.

This bastard had actually left him one of the Wuliang Fruits every cultivator dreamed of obtaining.

For an instant, hot blood surged through him.

Only after finally calming himself did he hurriedly ask, "That time you made such a huge commotion investigating Wuliang Garden... don't tell me the whole point was to get the fruits out?"

Niu Youdao said, "Exactly. Why else would I have gone to all that trouble?"

"Everything was going smoothly at first. Who knew something would go wrong? When I came out, of all the damned people to run into, I happened to collide with Lü Wushuang. I nearly exposed everything."

"The problem now is this: to make Ao Feng hand over the fruits in the first place, I promised to leave one for him. I also promised that if he couldn't escape smoothly, I would find a way to save him."

Sha Rulai said, "In other words, he knows about your plan? He knows you're still alive? You're worried he'll betray you?"

Niu Youdao said, "He doesn't know about the plan to fake my death. The problem is that right now, we need time."

"You know what it means if the Nine Saints learn that all twelve Wuliang Fruits were stolen. It means twelve more Nascent Soul Realm cultivators may soon appear."

"What happens then?"

"The Nine Saints will inevitably turn the entire world upside down before we can gather enough strength. They will seize full control over the supply of Spirit Essence Pills throughout the cultivation world."

"How long has it been since I left the Sacred Realm? The moment I came out, I had to rush around stabilizing the situation. I haven't even finished distributing the things in my hands to suitable people."

"The longer we can delay exposure of the theft, the better."

"But Ao Feng is still trapped inside Wuliang Garden."

"If he remains unable to escape, while I continue failing to fulfill what I promised him, he will inevitably resent me."

"And if the situation reaches the point you just described, if the Nine Saints decide everyone in Wuliang Garden is to die rather than risk letting one guilty man escape, do you think Ao Feng will still have any reason to conceal the theft of the Wuliang Fruits?"

Sha Rulai's expression turned grave. "Then this really is troublesome."

"Right now, without the Nine Saints' permission, no one may enter and no one may leave."

"Even if I found a way inside, what good would that do? I couldn't bring him out, and I certainly couldn't silence him inside Wuliang Garden."

"This operation could never have succeeded without him." Niu Youdao rubbed both temples as though his head hurt. "Keep him alive. He may still be extremely useful later."

"Getting him out safely was useful to later plans in the first place. Unless there is absolutely no alternative, we cannot silence him!"

Sha Rulai could not help asking, "What plans?"

Niu Youdao said, "When I was assassinated, I had already supplied a direction for investigating the traitor. That was meant to help Ao Feng escape suspicion."

"Who could have expected Xuan Yao to die under an entirely different pretext? Obviously, Yuan Se and Lü Wushuang joined hands to suppress that line of investigation."

"I originally thought the Nine Saints would naturally uncover the truth if they kept investigating. But after all this time, they still have no result, and Ao Feng remains trapped."

"Once the Nine Saints lose patience with the investigation, things will become dangerous."

"Looking at it now, we'll have to expose the matter for them ourselves and trigger the conflict among the Nine Saints ahead of schedule."

"Mr. Sha, I'll have to trouble you to spread the word inside the Sacred Realm."

Sha Rulai thought for a while, then slowly nodded. "Spread the word... so long as it's done carefully, that shouldn't be too difficult."

Niu Youdao said, "As for the Wuliang Fruit with the Demon Fox clan, I'll have them contact you and find a way to deliver it."

Sha Rulai gave a quiet "Mm."

Niu Youdao said, "Then it's settled. If there's nothing else, I still need to confirm the information you gave me. I'll go first."

Sha Rulai nodded.

Niu Youdao tipped sideways and dropped into the river, disappearing beneath the water.

...

By the time he returned to the deep mountains where Jia Wuqun and the others were hiding, dawn had already broken.

After exchanging a few words with the others, Niu Youdao entered the cave beneath the cliff once again and stood before the half-dead coachman.

Unable to use spiritual power, the man had curled into himself from the mountain cold during the night.

Sensing someone approach, he opened his eyes. When he saw Niu Youdao, he gave a hoarse chuckle. "Thought it through?"

Niu Youdao crouched in front of him. "If you'd talked earlier, perhaps I would have left you a way out. That's no longer possible."

"Choose how you want to die. Would you rather suffer every torment and die slowly in agony, or would you prefer a clean end?"

The coachman sneered. "Look at me. Do threats still work? I know what you want to know."

Niu Youdao asked, "Are you Bian Qiu'an or Lu Wei?"

The moment he heard those names, the coachman's breathing instantly quickened.

Niu Youdao said, "I'll give you one final chance. Who was your handler?"

The coachman said, "Take me where I asked to go, and I'll tell you."

Niu Youdao said, "Qin Yaoguang!"

The coachman's pupils contracted.

He became visibly uneasy in an instant.

Niu Youdao understood.

Sha Rulai truly knew the Misty Pavilion extremely well.

His judgment had been correct.

Niu Youdao slowly said, "Once you've chosen this road, none of us gets much choice."

He reached a hand toward the man's head.

The coachman cried out, "Whatever else you want to know, I'll tell you everything!"

"Thank you. There's no need."

Niu Youdao pressed his palm against the struggling man's forehead and suddenly exerted force.

A soft pop sounded from inside the man's skull.

His eyes widened.

Then, gradually, all movement ceased.

Niu Youdao rose and walked away.

Yuan Cong stepped forward afterward and completely destroyed the corpse, erasing all traces of it.

Once everyone had come out, Jia Wuqun looked toward Niu Youdao's back.

He knew exactly what the three names Niu Youdao had brought back meant.

They had already identified the background of the coachman and his companions.

That meant Niu Youdao had reached a hand into the Misty Pavilion itself and investigated once.

The thought secretly alarmed him.

"Sir Jia, it's confirmed now."

Niu Youdao spoke with his back to them.

"Shao Pingbo is not one of the Misty Pavilion's people. He has merely colluded with a certain force inside the Misty Pavilion."

"After what happened, they will not dare act rashly again."

"For the time being, both you and the Chancellor are safe. You may return to the State of Song."

Jia Wuqun looked back and nodded slightly to Yuan Cong.

Yuan Cong stepped forward and let Jia Wuqun write across his back.

Then he spoke for him.

"Return to Song? What about Shao Pingbo?"

Niu Youdao turned around and smiled.

"Spare him!"

Not only Jia Wuqun, but Yuan Cong as well, looked surprised.

"Why? Is that the Prince's intention?"

Niu Youdao nodded. "We have more important matters to handle. For the time being, we have neither the time nor the energy to keep entangling ourselves with him."

Jia Wuqun wrote again.

"Sir is no longer worried that Shao will interfere in the war among the Western Three States?"

Niu Youdao said, "The plan has changed."

"The Misty Pavilion's involvement changed the situation."

"If Huyan Wuhen is destined to die by Shao Pingbo's hand, then let him."

"If Wei and Qi are destined to fall, then let them fall."

"We'll allow everything to run its natural course."

Jia Wuqun wrote, "Shao Pingbo truly is no ordinary man. Does the Prince not fear that once Jin unifies the Western Three States, it will threaten Yan?"

Niu Youdao said, "Shao Pingbo is no longer the Prince's true opponent."

"You've seen it yourself now. Behind Shao Pingbo is a much larger fish."

"We've already startled the snake by striking the grass. That snake will not show itself easily again."

"If we kill Shao Pingbo now, the snake will disappear completely."

"But so long as we catch that snake, killing Shao Pingbo afterward will be as easy as turning over a hand."

"Sir, the people who decide your fate and mine stand at a higher level."

Jia Wuqun slowly nodded.

He understood.

Niu Youdao continued, "That snake has been frightened. It won't expose itself easily again."

"But I know Shao Pingbo too well."

"Leave him alive and he will definitely use that snake again. And once he does, we will have another chance to discover its trail."

"After Sir returns to Song, your main task will be to rely on the Chancellor and use the power of Song to watch Shao Pingbo's every movement."

"Do everything possible to uncover clues leading to that snake."

"If there are things inconvenient for Song to handle, contact Nanzhou. Nanzhou will cooperate with Sir as much as possible."

Jia Wuqun bowed slightly in acknowledgment.

Niu Youdao said, "Yuan Cong will return with Sir and remain at your side to protect you. Wei Duo will remain with you as well."

Jia Wuqun nodded.

Niu Youdao added, "There is one more matter I must trouble Sir with."

Jia Wuqun wrote across Yuan Cong's back:

Please speak freely.

Niu Youdao tipped his chin toward Wei Duo not far away.

"As for what needs to be done, Mr. Yuan Cong will explain it to him."

"But behind Wei Duo stands Shangqing Sect. They followed Prince Ning for many years."

"The sect has declined now, but the Prince still remembers old ties."

"Wei probably cannot hold out much longer. Once the State of Wei is gone, where is Shangqing Sect supposed to go?"

"Finding them some territory in Song where they can settle should not be difficult for the Chancellor."

"I'll trouble Sir to make the arrangements."

Jia Wuqun wrote:

"If they come, they will be properly settled. Please tell the Prince to rest assured."

[End of Chapter 1253]