Chapter 93 : The Truth of That Night
Chapter 93: The Truth of That Night
Long Tao had, in fact, long anticipated this.
Sooner or later, such a moment was bound to come.
For True Person Mingzhu, the sudden incident in the secret realm involved far too much: an unknown great being suspected to be at the Deification Stage intervening, her own Personally Transmitted Disciple Nan Yuchen being drawn into it, and even a legendary Yaoguang Azure Phoenix recognizing a master… With all these factors stacked together, it was enough to unsettle the mind of any Golden Core cultivator, or even one at the Nascent Soul Stage.
Originally, Long Tao had thought that True Person Mingzhu would at least wait until Nan Yuchen and that little Azure Phoenix had completely stabilized before finding the time to question him in detail.
He had not expected that after such a short interval, this True Person could no longer hold back and had come to his door of her own accord.
“True Person, please see clearly,” Long Tao steadied his mind and tried to put on the most sincere expression possible.
“It was not that this disciple intended to conceal anything. It’s just that… everything that should be said, and everything that could be said, I already explained in full last time in front of the Sect Master and True Lord Luohong.”
However, True Person Mingzhu clearly did not accept this explanation.
She did not grow angry; her eyes merely shifted slightly, and an indistinct pressure spread out, enveloping the entire pavilion.
Sitting opposite her, Long Tao immediately felt a heavy mental pressure, as if the surrounding air had become viscous.
Yet perhaps because his Divine Soul had been strengthened earlier, this pressure from a Golden Core True Person did not cause him to panic.
It merely felt as though he were wearing a soaked, heavy cotton coat—his breathing slightly constrained, his chest somewhat stifled, but not to the point of losing composure.
True Person Mingzhu’s voice remained calm, yet carried an unquestionable penetrative force.
“What I want to ask about are more specific details. You and that ‘Itinerant Merchant’—did you truly already know each other before this secret realm?”
“Yes. We were acquainted earlier, but I did not know that he was an old senior at the Deification Stage.”
Deep down, Long Tao had long since assigned the identity of the “Itinerant Merchant” to the System and a senior transmigrator, so he felt no pressure saying this.
It did not count as a lie.
“And toward Yuchen… has he always been so… attentive?” True Person Mingzhu pressed on, her gaze blazing as it locked tightly onto Long Tao’s eyes.
“Well…” Long Tao paused slightly, organizing his words.
“That is indeed the case. He mentioned it deliberately, saying that Junior Brother Nan bore the Destiny Luck of this world… or rather, that he was a ‘Child of Destiny.’ He even instructed me that if I had the spare capacity, I should help keep an eye on him.” This was half true and half false, cleverly wrapping the System’s task requirements as a senior’s instructions.
Hearing this, True Person Mingzhu’s delicate brows twitched almost imperceptibly, and her tone revealed a hint of something difficult to comprehend.
“This senior… what exactly is he thinking, to have you—a Qi Refining disciple—watch over the ‘Child of Destiny’ he speaks of?”
Long Tao’s heart stirred, and he came up with an explanation that both made sense and could slightly block further questioning.
He revealed a helpless, self-mocking smile and said,
“Perhaps… in that senior’s eyes, this disciple’s trifling cultivation and your Golden Core cultivation, True Person, are not all that different. In the end, we’re both just… babysitters for Junior Brother Nan, that ‘Child of Destiny.’”
These words were rather bold, even somewhat offensive.
Sure enough, when True Person Mingzhu heard them, although her peerlessly beautiful face showed no obvious expression, a trace of faint displeasure still flickered deep in her eyes.
Yet she could not refute it.
In the eyes of an existence suspected to be at the Deification Stage—or perhaps even higher—Golden Core and Qi Refining truly were nothing more than tiny ants, differing only in size.
Moreover, having lived for several hundred years, True Person Mingzhu had seen countless strange events.
Minor characters like Long Tao, who had been briefly “possessed” or used by higher-level existences, were not rare in this vast world—one could even say such cases occurred from time to time.
Most of them, however, met grim ends: some suffered damaged foundations and severed Dao paths, others had their minds broken and became puppets, and the worst simply had their souls scattered.
Someone like Long Tao, who had not only been forcibly pushed through a breakthrough using a heterodox method such as the Blood-Refining Sea-Casting Method, but had also borne the descent of a Deification-level Divine Soul, should by all logic have had a ninety-nine percent chance of ending in death and Dao collapse.
To be alive and kicking as he was now—unharmed, and even strengthened in Divine Soul because of the ordeal—was exceedingly rare.
This could only mean that the “Itinerant Merchant” senior conducted himself with clear limits.
This was also one of the reasons the upper echelons of the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect had not appeared overly tense after their preliminary investigation.
Since the other party had shown goodwill, or at least a neutral stance, the sect naturally had no need to overreact and introduce unnecessary variables.
There were quite a few Deification-stage old monsters hidden in this world.
Due to their own conditions and the constraints of heaven and earth, their true bodies could not easily leave their lairs, so they would split off a strand of Divine Sense to roam the world.
Some might simply want to catch a breath of fresh air and avoid the Heavenly Dao’s strict surveillance; others might harbor purposes unknown to outsiders.
“Next question,” True Person Mingzhu said, drawing her thoughts back as her gaze sharpened again.
“That Nine-Leaf Ganoderma you found and gave to Yuchen back then, and also… the matter of inciting him to wander near my bathing quarters—were those also that senior’s instructions?”
“Uh… this…” Long Tao’s throat felt a little dry, his gaze flickering for an instant, but he still braced himself and answered, “They… they sort of were…”
True Person Mingzhu immediately judged from Long Tao’s reactions and Divine Soul fluctuations that the boy truly was not lying.
For a moment, she was left speechless.
That “Itinerant Merchant” senior’s methods were really a bit too… unrestrained!
Although she could roughly guess that the other party’s intention was to balance the out-of-control yin–yang energies in Nan Yuchen’s body, still… in any case, this approach made her extremely dissatisfied!
There were countless ways to harmonize yin and yang—why insist on using such a despicable, underhanded method that could never be shown in public?
Perhaps to Deification-stage great beings, distinctions between men and women and questions of propriety had long faded, with everything judged solely by results and efficiency? But she, Mingzhu, was a proper cultivator!
That said, deep down, True Person Mingzhu also felt a trace of guilt that was hard to notice.
It was indeed her own failure as a master—she had not discovered the hidden dangers in Nan Yuchen’s cultivation in time—which might have prompted that senior, who was watching over the Child of Destiny, to step in and “set things right.” But… did he not fear that using such a method would corrupt a child?!
Just as this peerless beauty was privately lamenting how unfathomable the actions of great figures could be, Long Tao, sitting opposite her, could no longer suppress his curiosity.
He asked in a low, slightly nervous voice,
“True Person, please forgive this junior’s boldness… that night… what exactly happened afterward?”
Although he had completed the System task, his memories of that night were completely blank, and people were always curious about missing experiences.
Hearing this, True Person Mingzhu shot him a sidelong glance, the corner of her lips curling into a half-smile that was not quite a smile.
“Oh? Still not satisfied? Do you want to recall some images that shouldn’t be recalled?”
“No, no, no! Absolutely not!” Long Tao waved his hands frantically, cold sweat instantly breaking out on his back.
“This junior is just… purely curious about the subsequent developments, with absolutely no other intentions!”
“Hmph! I suppose you wouldn’t dare,” True Person Mingzhu snorted lightly, her tone tinged with teasing rather than anger.
“Actually, it wasn’t anything serious. When you sneaked around with Yuchen to the perimeter of my bathing grounds, did you really think you could evade my perception? I simply happened to be in a playful mood and deliberately hung one of my… personal garments on the outer wall in a conspicuous spot, just to see whether you two little thieves had the nerve.”
What?! Long Tao was dumbfounded.
So True Person Mingzhu had been fishing for offenders back then?!
“I really didn’t expect it…” True Person Mingzhu dragged out her tone, her gaze sweeping over Long Tao.
“You look timid, but your guts were fatter than I thought—you actually dared to make a move.”
Long Tao’s heart shook violently.
So in the end, he really had failed to resist temptation and acted? His own greed was even stronger than he had imagined!
“What was even more unexpected,” True Person Mingzhu continued, her tone turning complex, “was that I don’t know how you bewitched Yuchen. When we came out and caught you, that silly child was probably afraid you’d be beaten to death on the spot by us in our fury. He actually snatched the… garment from your hands and insisted that it was he who wanted to peek, that he was the one who stole it, and that you had nothing to do with it. Hmph! Did you really think I was a fool?”
So that was it!
Only now did Long Tao finally understand how that seemingly impossible auxiliary task of “stealing underwear” had been completed by sheer coincidence! It had been Nan Yuchen who, in order to save him, had voluntarily taken all the blame, inadvertently helping him clear the task!
Sigh… A surge of complicated emotions rose in Long Tao’s heart.
He felt that he truly owed Junior Brother Nan a favor.