Chapter 1365: Zhuge Chi, You Old Bastard!

"They've left?" Yan Zhutian asked, turning from the window where he had been looking out over the distant desert.

The disciple nodded. "That's right. They've already withdrawn."

"All of them?"

The disciple hesitated. "We don't have enough people. We never had a complete grasp of how many men the other side brought, so I can't say whether they've all withdrawn."

Yan Zhutian fell silent. He could hardly blame his disciples for that. He truly had not brought enough manpower, only a handful of absolutely reliable disciples to serve as eyes and ears.

There had been no other choice. For this sort of work, he could not bring too many people. Everyone involved had to be completely trustworthy.

"Looks like it's time for us to go as well. Make preparations. We're withdrawing." Yan Zhutian sighed.

They had never had a complete picture of the situation here, so he could not be certain whether Baichuan Valley had already reported the matter to the Sacred Realm. Judging by the time involved, if word had been sent from here, it should already have reached Du Wuxu. For safety's sake, both Yan Zhutian and Zhuge Chi needed to leave ahead of schedule.

...

Inside his room, Zhuge Chi suddenly turned his head. Someone passed outside, and a folded sheet of paper slid through the crack beneath the door.

He raised a hand and drew it into his grasp. Opening it, he found a plain message that told him clearly and without ambiguity: he could leave now. Return immediately.

After seeing the coded mark on the letter, Zhuge Chi no longer hesitated. Remaining here had kept him on edge the entire time, always fearing the Nine Saints might descend on him at any moment. He immediately left Boundless Pavilion.

...

Inside the pavilion compound, Ban Hai hurried into Lan Ming's room with good news. "Pavilion Master, he's gone."

Lan Ming had been sitting behind the desk with a scroll in hand, reading without taking in a word. He shot to his feet. "You're certain?"

Ban Hai nodded. "We've been watching him in secret the whole time. It's confirmed. He checked out of the inn and left Boundless Pavilion. No one knows where he fled afterward."

Lan Ming let out a long breath, tossed aside the scroll, and sat back down. "At last we've sent that plague god on his way."

At that moment, someone called from outside, "Chief Steward, there's a letter for the Pavilion Master."

The two men exchanged a look. Ban Hai quickly turned, strode to the door, accepted the letter, and asked, "Who sent it?"

The messenger shook his head. "I don't know. This subordinate didn't dare open it without permission. The person who delivered it only said it was from an old friend at Wolf Lake."

Another old friend from Wolf Lake?

Inside, Lan Ming's expression twitched. The man had already left. Why send another letter?

Ban Hai waved the messenger away, closed the door, and only then opened the letter to inspect it. He inevitably saw its contents as he checked it, and his brows furrowed.

After confirming there was nothing wrong with the letter, he hurried to the desk and placed it in front of Lan Ming.

Lan Ming did not even pick it up. He leaned forward to read, then looked up suspiciously. "A gift? What gift?"

"I'll go take a look immediately."

Lan Ming waved for him to hurry, then remained staring at the letter in thought.

Ban Hai quickly left the compound and entered the inn directly through the rear door. Instead of going to Zhuge Chi's former room, he headed for a storage room tucked away around a corner.

He pushed open the door and swept his gaze around the cluttered room. His eyes settled on a chest in one corner.

Footsteps sounded behind him. An inn worker saw who he was and cupped his hands from the doorway. "Chief Steward!"

Ban Hai waved him away, immediately shut the door, and strode to the chest. He moved aside the clutter piled on top and lifted the lid.

His brows drew together.

There was actually a man lying inside, his condition unknown.

A false face, peeled back enough to expose the real features beneath, still hung across the man's face. It was the Baichuan Valley disciple surnamed Yan who had gone missing.

Ban Hai reached down and checked his neck. His breathing was normal. He was alive, merely restrained.

Only then did Ban Hai notice the letter placed on the man's chest. He picked it up, opened it, and after reading the contents, his expression changed drastically.

He stuffed the letter into his robe, shut the chest at once, then hauled it up and carried it out.

There was no way to carry such a large chest through the inn without drawing attention. The workers watched and whispered among themselves, wondering what their Chief Steward was taking away, but no one dared ask. One man even stepped forward to offer help, only to be driven back by Ban Hai's impatient bark: "Get lost!"

From behind a window opened only a crack, Yan Zhutian watched Ban Hai personally carry the chest away. Only then did he relax.

The entire reason he had come here himself was to prevent the plan from veering off course. Now events had been completely guided in the direction he had been responsible for creating. What happened next was no longer his concern.

He left the window, opened the door, checked out, and departed.

Everyone else had already withdrawn. He was the last to leave, solely because he wanted to see this scene with his own eyes.

...

Ban Hai did not carry the chest directly into Lan Ming's room. Instead, he stopped outside and called, "Pavilion Master!"

Lan Ming came out at once and followed him. Together, the two entered a secret chamber.

Ban Hai set the chest down and opened the lid.

Seeing the man inside, Lan Ming asked suspiciously, "Who is that? This is the gift they sent me?"

Ban Hai had already pulled the letter from his sleeve and handed it over.

After reading it, Lan Ming's eyelids twitched uncontrollably. A trace of panic even appeared in his expression.

The letter was naturally written in Zhuge Chi's name. It said that Zhuge Chi had noticed someone in the inn seemingly watching him. After secretly moving against the watcher and capturing him, Zhuge Chi had peeled away his false face and found the man vaguely familiar. He seemed to be one of the Baichuan Valley supervisors serving inside Misty Pavilion.

Zhuge Chi could no longer remember for certain whether he had identified the man correctly, but he no longer dared take the risk. Suspecting that his own whereabouts had been exposed, he had left ahead of schedule for safety.

The letter also warned Lan Ming that he did not know whether the other side had discovered the meeting between the two of them. In any case, there appeared to be more than one watcher. Lan Ming was to be extremely careful, and if anything went wrong, he should immediately go to Shao Pingbo and hide there.

A Misty Pavilion supervisor?

Lan Ming felt his scalp go numb as he held the letter. The part saying that the watchers might have discovered Zhuge Chi meeting him made cold sweat prickle across his skin.

Now he finally understood why Zhuge Chi had left so suddenly.

The bastard had been frightened away!

Lan Ming swallowed dryly, bent down, and reached into the chest to check whether the captive was still alive.

Ban Hai said from beside him, "He's alive."

After confirming it himself, Lan Ming straightened and snapped in exasperation, "Wake him up! Find out everything immediately!"

Ban Hai acted at once. He hauled the captive out of the chest and used his cultivation to restore his breathing and circulation. The man slowly regained consciousness.

The instant he opened his eyes and saw the two men before him, the disciple surnamed Yan jolted in alarm. He had been walking through the inn perfectly normally when, just after turning a corner, someone had abruptly knocked him unconscious. He had not known who had done it. Seeing Ban Hai now, he finally realized whose hands he had fallen into.

He did not recognize Lan Ming personally, but Ban Hai stood beside the man, while golden flood dragons were embroidered on both of Lan Ming's sleeves. Add the way Lan Ming was glaring at him as though he wanted to eat him alive, and the captive could already guess who he was. Terror filled his heart.

Seeing him awake, Lan Ming asked in a dark voice, "Who are you?"

How could the disciple dare answer? His eyes darted about in panic. He had been captured and had no idea what had happened to his fellow disciples. There was little else he could be certain of, but he knew his own end would probably be death.

If death awaited him either way, there was nothing to say.

He tried to circulate his cultivation.

As expected, his magic power had already been sealed.

Lan Ming grabbed him by the front of his clothes, slapped him hard across the face, then shoved him away and pointed at him in fury. "Spirit-Torment Pill! Use the Spirit-Torment Pill on him!"

He had neither the patience nor the time for any gentler interrogation. He went straight to the brutal methods.

Blood ran from the captive's mouth and nose after the slap. His eyes widened in terror, but Ban Hai had already seized him by the throat. He took out a pill, forced it into the man's mouth, then immediately used his cultivation to accelerate the Spirit-Torment Pill's toxicity.

Before long, the disciple surnamed Yan collapsed to the floor and began screaming in agony. Within moments he was nearly tearing himself apart, all ten fingers clawing his own flesh open until blood covered him.

Lan Ming and Ban Hai watched with dark faces. Neither showed the slightest pity.

The disciple did not possess the extraordinary endurance of Yuan Gang or Ximen Qingkong. He broke quickly. In the midst of unbearable torment, he suddenly wailed, "I'll talk!"

"Mm." Lan Ming tilted his head in signal.

Ban Hai immediately stepped forward and restrained the man. He forced an antidote into his mouth, then used his cultivation to hasten its effect and suppress the agony caused by the poison.

It took some time before the captive finally emerged from the torment. He lay on the floor, barely breathing, no longer looking human.

Lan Ming stood over him and demanded viciously, "Who are you?"

The man answered weakly and helplessly, "Baichuan Valley disciple Yan Zhan."

"Yan Zhan?" Ban Hai thought for a moment, then started. "Pavilion Master, this subordinate has paid attention to the roster. There really is a Yan Zhan among the Baichuan Valley disciples serving as supervisors inside Misty Pavilion!"

Lan Ming immediately planted a foot on Yan Zhan's chest and barked, "Why are you here?"

"Watching someone..." Yan Zhan no longer resisted. He answered every question and explained the entire chain of events from beginning to end.

Once the truth came out, Lan Ming was nearly frightened out of his soul.

Bang!

He suddenly kicked Yan Zhan away.

Yan Zhan flew into the wall, splattering blood across it. His skull burst from the impact. He dropped to the floor, twitched a few times, and went still.

Lan Ming stood there panting, his face ugly beyond description.

Zhuge Chi's suspicions had been correct.

Worse, the truth was even more terrifying than Zhuge Chi had feared.

Ban Hai was completely panicked as well. "Pavilion Master, what do we do?"

The sudden turn had left both men dazed. Never in their dreams had they imagined something like this would happen. Only now did they understand that their own carelessness had exposed them.

Lan Ming pulled out the letter he had been holding behind his back. Despair covered his face, and his hand trembled.

"Zhuge Chi, you old bastard! Fuck your ancestors! Why the hell did you come running to me? Ah...!"

With that anguished roar, he tore the letter to shreds.

After venting, he staggered several steps backward as though all strength had left him. He looked utterly lost. "It's over. It's over..."

Ban Hai paced back and forth like a headless fly. After calming down slightly, he said heavily, "Pavilion Master, wait here. I'll go see whether Li Zhengfa and the others are still around!"

He flashed away.

Some time later, Ban Hai hurried back, despair written across his face. "Pavilion Master, they're gone. They've already checked out and left."

He stepped forward and gripped Lan Ming's arm.

"Pavilion Master, we can't stay here anymore. Baichuan Valley reports directly to Du Wuxu. Once something like this reaches Du Wuxu, we're finished. Even if it landed in the Sacred Venerable's hands instead, he still wouldn't spare us. We have to go. If we don't leave now, I'm afraid it'll be too late!"

[End of Chapter 1365]