Chapter Forty-Four: A Glimpse of the Truth

After meeting with Cai and Ci, Tu Lu returned to the room that Gongsun Yan had arranged for him, yet no matter how he tried, he could not settle his heart.

Thinking of Dong, Ci, and then Cai, he could not help but notice all the subtle incongruities. He had not been unaware of them, but for various reasons, he had chosen not to dwell on it. However, with Dong’s sudden disappearance and the things Ci had said, he could no longer ignore them. He couldn’t even quiet his mind enough to meditate.

“Forget it,” he sighed, glancing at the sky. Dusk was already falling.

Even with the insight he had gained from the Seven-colored Dragon, it was impossible for him to break through to the Purple Palace in a short time. His physical body was still a step away from the peak of body refining. With such thoughts, all motivation for meditation vanished. Perhaps it would be better to step outside and clear his mind.

So he left his room, and before he knew it, he had wandered near Prison Mountain.

“Isn’t the dungeon right beneath here?” Tu Lu hesitated.

Although the servants claimed the place had long been abandoned, he had indeed seen the Blue-faced Leopard appear here. It was only a fleeting glimpse, but he was certain he had not been mistaken.

After all, his current cultivation was certainly above that of the Blue-faced Leopard.

The Blue-faced Leopard was Gongsun Yan’s subordinate; its presence here could not be without reason.

Normally, he would not meddle, but now, with nothing else to do and the counterattack scheduled for tomorrow, it seemed he would not remain in Divine Wind City for long, whatever the outcome. Whether Gongsun Yan succeeded or failed, his time here was limited. If he did not investigate, these questions would continue to gnaw at him.

Recalling the small hill where he had seen the Blue-faced Leopard, he made his way there and found a pitch-black opening in the ground with a stairway descending into the darkness.

Tu Lu frowned. Still, with his cultivation at the late Seafilling stage, his spiritual power was more than enough to deal with the gloom.

He entered the black opening and followed the stairs downward.

About the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea later, he had descended several hundred meters and finally reached the bottom. At that moment, lamps on either side of the corridor suddenly flared to life, revealing a long tunnel before him.

A wave of putrid stench surged from the tunnel’s end.

Tu Lu waved his hand to disperse the odor, but it was futile. Resigned, he used his blood energy to seal off his sense of smell.

This was the Nine-lock True Spirit Art. Since entering the City Lord’s residence, he had rarely used it except to maintain his disguise as Lu Tu, never expecting to employ it in such a place.

He shook his head.

With his sense of smell blocked, the dungeon became much more tolerable. He surveyed his surroundings and found a long corridor with cells on either side. Within, piles of chains and torture devices suggested that this had once been a place to imprison criminals.

Yet every cell, without exception, was thick with dust and cobwebs, just as the servants had said—it had been deserted for a long time.

He walked the length of the corridor from end to end, finding every cell much the same—silent, lifeless, with rotting corpses filling the air with stench. Losing interest, he turned to leave.

But as he was about to go, a sudden roar erupted from the cell at the far end.

“Get out!”

A blast of fierce wind rushed toward him. Tu Lu’s expression changed, and he swept his hand to block the force, then peered more closely into the cell at the corridor’s end.

If he remembered correctly, when he had first entered, the man within seemed dead—no breath at all.

He had assumed it was a corpse, but it turned out to be someone alive.

What was more, the man exuded the aura of a peak Seafilling cultivator, even higher than Tu Lu’s own body.

Excluding the three great factions, there were only five peak Seafilling rogue cultivators in Divine Wind City. But as their faces flashed through his mind, not one of them matched the wretched state of the man before him.

On closer inspection, though, he realized there was some resemblance to one of them.

But this man was so emaciated. A body refining cultivator could use blood energy to sustain themselves, yet this man looked as though he had not eaten for more than half a month.

“Who are you?” Tu Lu asked, frowning.

“Beast! Don’t feign civility! If you want to kill or torture me, just do it! If you don’t, then get out!” The man’s eyes bulged with rage.

Yet Tu Lu remained calm and hesitated, “Might you be Senior Yin? I entered this place by chance—are you Yin Zhi, Senior Yin?”

Though Yin Zhi stared at Tu Lu with fury, his eyes betrayed a moment of shock.

“You’re not one of Gongsun Yan’s people?” he asked coldly.

Tu Lu paused, then shook his head.

Yin Zhi stared at Tu Lu for a long time, his breath growing heavier, his aura surging. But just as it began to rise toward the body refining realm, some hidden restriction seemed to activate, and his power was instantly suppressed.

He coughed twice, spitting blood. “That’s right, I am Yin Zhi. You truly aren’t one of Gongsun Yan’s people?!”

“No,” Tu Lu replied firmly.

Yin Zhi was the father of Yin Tongzhi—the very one whom Tu Lu had indirectly caused to lose five hundred thousand Thunder Stones. As far as he knew, Yin Zhi should have been at the front lines at this time.

How had he ended up here in such a state?

Judging by his emaciation, he must have been imprisoned for at least half a month, perhaps even before Tu Lu and Yin Tongzhi had vied for the Ancient Buddha’s Lamp.

“Then who are you? To be in the City Lord’s residence and make it here—ordinary people could not manage that!” Yin Zhi pressed, eyes sharp.

“I am Lu Tu, an inscription master brought in to work on the City Lord’s treasured artifact. Today, by chance, I saw the Blue-faced Leopard atop Prison Mountain. I’d also heard these dungeons had long been abandoned, so I grew curious and came to investigate,” Tu Lu replied honestly.

At this, Yin Zhi paused, recalling the Blue-faced Leopard’s words from not long ago—that once Gongsun Yan’s artifact was successfully inscribed, the counterattack would begin. Suddenly, he threw back his head and laughed.

“So that’s how it is! The net of heaven is vast and wide, but not a single plot escapes it! Gongsun Yan, Blue-faced Leopard, Blue-faced Tiger—your schemes will not succeed after all! Ha ha ha!”

He laughed for a long time before his mood calmed. Then he fixed Tu Lu with a deep gaze and spoke coldly, “I have ended up like this; I suppose City Lord Gongsun has no reason to send anyone else to mock me.”

Tu Lu opened his mouth to reply, but Yin Zhi continued, “No matter. Whether you are Gongsun Yan’s or not, mocking me means little now. I have no more choices left. Divine Wind City… can only be entrusted to you. Do you know how the battle fares?”

“The front lines are deadlocked. The counterattack is set for tomorrow,” Tu Lu replied truthfully.

“That’s good. There’s still time,” Yin Zhi sighed in relief.

“What on earth is going on?” Tu Lu pressed.

Yin Zhi’s expression grew grave. “What I’m about to tell you may be hard to accept, but please trust me and listen carefully.”

Tu Lu nodded.

Yin Zhi spoke in a low, steady voice, “The Blue-faced Tiger and Blue-faced Leopard under Gongsun Yan are not human. They are part of the Blue Demon Ghost line, possessing the innate talent of the Void Mirror, responsible for facilitating communication among powerful beast clans—they are monsters.”

Tu Lu’s heart gave a jolt, but that was not the worst of it. What Yin Zhi said next nearly made his scalp crawl.

“That day, I saw with my own eyes—Gongsun Yan used the Blue-faced Leopard’s innate ability to communicate with the Primal Beast of Obsidian Mountain within the City Lord’s estate. Though I did not hear everything, I distinctly heard them mention the Tragedy of the Dragon Soul at Heavenly Dragon Pavilion!”

“What!” Tu Lu blurted out, scarcely able to believe it.

Gongsun Yan, for all her caprice, was truly determined to resist the monsters. How could she be colluding with the Primal Beast?

Yin Zhi glanced at him and asked, “Do you know why I am here?”

Tu Lu said nothing.

Yin Zhi went on, “The Primal Beast was not actually wounded. It was all a ruse. That day, two fellow cultivators and I discovered this secret by chance and escaped to Divine Wind City to deliver the news. But for some reason, we were ambushed in the western district. My companions fell, while I narrowly escaped. Out of caution, I infiltrated the City Lord’s residence. Otherwise, I would never have stumbled upon the truth.”

He gave a bitter laugh, but only for a moment before his expression turned grim again.

“That is how I overheard their conversation. I was quickly discovered and could not make out the details, but I heard words like ‘Dragon Soul’s Tragedy,’ ‘Divine Wind City’s destruction,’ and ‘helping Brother Tiger break through.’ More importantly, I saw Gongsun Yan conversing with the Primal Beast from a distance, and they seemed to be on very good terms—that is the truth!”

With these words, a thunderclap seemed to explode in Tu Lu’s mind, his scalp prickling with fear.

He had a strong sense that Yin Zhi was not lying—but there was a great and terrible problem at hand.