Chapter 215: It’s All the City Lord’s Mansion’s Doing!
Zheng Shuanggou said, “If the Immortal Palace hadn’t appeared, our three families would have secretly explored it, and we were also prepared to accept the Ning family.”
“The City Lord’s Mansion taking the initiative to destroy such a great situation makes no sense at all.”
Zhou Nongying’s eyes were deep. “No, it’s not like that.”
“Previously, when we explored the Immortal Palace, the City Lord’s Mansion was at a clear disadvantage. Meng Kui couldn’t enter the Immortal Palace, and neither could his right-hand men, Chi Dun or Fei Si.”
“They didn’t have the upper hand at the Golden Core level.”
“They only had a slight advantage in terms of the Foundation Establishment stage mechanical cultivators.”
“In fact, the one who had the upper hand before was your Zheng family!”
“With the explosion of the Immortal Palace, its defenses weakened, and the standards for recruiting cultivators lowered, dropping to the Qi Refining stage.”
“And at the Qi Refining level, the City Lord’s Mansion has a genius!”
“After the explosion of the Lava Immortal Palace, Meng Kui personally took action, sitting day and night in the depths of the volcano’s smoke, sealing off the volcano’s summit. From that time onward, we were all isolated, unable to enter the Immortal Palace for exploration.”
All the Golden Core cultivators were silent after hearing this.
What Zhou Nongying said was true. Looking at it this way, the explosion of the Immortal Palace was entirely advantageous for the City Lord’s Mansion.
Zhou Nongying continued, “The explosion of the Immortal Palace and the appearance of the transmission bell and trial checkpoints may have been unexpected for the City Lord’s Mansion.”
“But the fact is: now, on the path of soul entry into the Immortal Palace, Meng Chong and the City Lord’s Mansion’s remodeling team firmly occupy the top ten rankings!”
“Perhaps, this soul entry path into the Immortal Palace was part of the City Lord’s Mansion’s plan all along.”
“After all, the City Lord’s Mansion discovered the Lava Immortal Palace long before us.”
“If the true demonic techniques were in their hands, it would further prove—they know many secrets we don’t!”
Zheng Shuanggou couldn’t help but clench his fists, angrily saying, “That old thief is insidious!”
“The shadow demon cultivator is actually someone from the City Lord’s Mansion! Back then, I even took the initiative to apologize to the City Lord’s Mansion for my poor guard work.”
“Meng Kui didn’t blame me much at the time, and I even admired his magnanimity. Now thinking back, it’s truly ironic!”
Zhou Nongying sighed deeply. “Ever since Meng Kui took office, have our three families had it easy?”
“He is one of the four generals of the Meng family, known for his intelligence. In terms of scheming and manipulation, we are no match for him.”
Zheng Jianlian struck his palm with his fist. “Now it all makes sense!”
“The City Lord’s Mansion had long planned to blow up the Immortal Palace; they’ve been plotting this for a while.”
“They had already prepared to investigate and defend against any future inquiries. At this time, Ning Zhuo coincidentally presented the Mechanical Apes.”
“Chen Cha reported this to Fei Si, and perhaps Fei Si had a flash of inspiration, deciding to use Ning Zhuo and the Mechanical Explosive Monkeys.”
“He secretly instructed Chen Cha to sell the Mechanical Apes in large quantities on the market. In this way, when the esteemed detective used the Trace Back Art to investigate the real culprit, he would be faced with countless leads, wasting endless time and effort.”
“If Detective Zhu eventually found out about Ning Zhuo, then Ning Zhuo, being a member of the Ning family, could have the blame shifted onto the Ning family as well.”
Upon hearing this, Ning Jiufan coldly snorted. “This is exactly Fei Si’s style—always so cunning and ruthless!”
Zheng Jianlian continued his analysis, “Using Fire Essence to blow up the Immortal Palace had its advantages.”
“With the City Lord’s Mansion’s methods, secretly buying large amounts of Fire Essence from the market and erasing the purchase records would be easy.”
“In fact, they didn’t even need to do that. They harvest fire persimmons every year, and fire persimmons are another form of Fire Essence.”
“They only needed to manipulate the losses from storing fire persimmons each year, and they could easily obtain a batch of fire persimmons. With a little processing, it becomes a large amount of Fire Essence. If they operated this way, we’d have no way of tracking it down!”
Zheng Shuanggou had been pondering, but now he showed a puzzled expression. “Wait, there’s something I don’t understand.”
“If the Lava Immortal Palace was indeed blown up by the City Lord’s Mansion, then why did the shadow demon cultivator reappear in Huoshi Immortal City, only to be chased by Chi Dun? He could’ve retreated after succeeding; wouldn’t that have been unnecessary?”
Zheng Jianlian fell silent. He couldn’t understand this point either.
At this moment, Zhou Nongying laughed softly and said, “I get it! This is the brilliance of the City Lord’s Mansion’s plan!”
“Under Meng Kui’s rule, a shadow demon cultivator appeared in Huoshi Immortal City and even blew up the Immortal Palace. This would be a stain on Meng Kui’s record.”
“At the same time, the shadow demon cultivator was the most obvious clue and would inevitably be investigated by the Detective Division in the future.”
“So, the City Lord’s Mansion arranged for the shadow demon cultivator to appear again after the Immortal Palace explosion and confront Chi Dun publicly.”
“Chi Dun chased him into the Huoshi Forest. On one hand, this showcased the City Lord’s Mansion’s capabilities and highlighted the incompetence of our friend Zheng Shuanggou; on the other hand, it created the public impression that the shadow demon cultivator and the City Lord’s Mansion were at odds.”
“We had no idea that this was all just a performance staged by the City Lord’s Mansion!”
“Chi Dun wanted to pursue him into Huoshi Forest and fight the shadow demon cultivator, but Fei Si stopped him.”
“Afterward, Fei Si secretly let the shadow demon cultivator go. Since he was in charge of all the formations in Huoshi Forest, it was an incredibly easy task for him.”
“As for whether Chi Dun was in on it… I know his character well and believe he wasn’t aware.”
“If he knew this secret, it would have been difficult for him to hide it, as his expression and tone would’ve betrayed him. So I boldly speculate that this scheme was orchestrated by Fei Si.”
Ning Jiufan, having figured it out, added, “It was because Fei Si released the shadow demon cultivator early that we couldn’t find him in Huoshi Forest.”
“Even after digging three feet deep, we found no trace of him.”
“And during this whole process, Lord Zhu Xuanji was constantly using his Celestial Golden Eyes to search. There’s no way such a method couldn’t detect a shadow demon cultivator.”
“When this matter came to light, all the higher-ups in Huoshi Immortal City lost face, as no one knew how the shadow demon cultivator disappeared or where he went.”
“But it was precisely because of this that the City Lord’s Mansion cleared their name.”
After analyzing this far, Ning Jiufan frowned and muttered, “But why did the City Lord’s Mansion publicly kill Yuan Dasheng?”
Zhou Nongying smiled faintly. “Who would have thought that Yuan Dasheng’s death was the City Lord’s Mansion’s doing?”
“I believe they attacked Yuan Dasheng to create the illusion that the shadow demon cultivator was still present, so they could shift the blame onto all of us afterward.”
“After all, those present at the time weren’t just the Golden Core cultivators from the City Lord’s Mansion, but also us three families, even Lord Zhu Xuanji! We all failed to detect the shadow demon cultivator.”
“Aside from that reason, attacking Yuan Dasheng was, of course, for the demonic technique scripture he had.”
Ning Jiufan frowned. “Why kill Yuan Dasheng in public? If I were Fei Si, I would have acted more cautiously, choosing to strike secretly after the Huoshi Festival.”
Zhou Nongying said, “Perhaps they only discovered the demonic scripture at that moment. To avoid further complications, they acted swiftly and immediately!”
“Or, they had long known about the demonic scripture on Yuan Dasheng and had already taken it. Killing him during the Huoshi Festival was just to eliminate any traces and cut off all loose ends.”
“But what they didn’t expect was that this premeditated murder went awry.”
“And that unexpected factor was our Lord Zhu Xuanji.”
At this point, Zhou Nongying and the others turned their gazes toward Zhu Xuanji.
Zhu Xuanji nodded slightly. “At the time, out of respect for Yuan Dasheng’s loyalty, I chose to reveal myself and personally saved his life.”
“I remember very clearly that when I asked Fei Si to open the formation, he was quite reluctant and didn’t want to follow my order.”
“I did manage to save a sliver of Yuan Dasheng’s life. But ultimately, Fei Si still succeeded in his plot.”
“He handed the waist token to Ning Zhuo, exploiting Ning Zhuo’s selfishness and having him step forward. The latter went to the Monkey Head Gang’s headquarters and convinced Yuan Er to leave Yuan Dasheng to die, leading to Yuan Dasheng’s eventual death from his injuries.”
“In hindsight, this was a small flaw left by Fei Si.”
Zhu Xuanji paused
before continuing, “Yuan Dasheng died with Yuan Er and Ning Zhuo present. If the demonic scripture had leaked, Yuan Er should have known about it.”
“Ning Zhuo took Yuan Dasheng’s corpse and rushed to Chen Cha’s Mechanical Workshop. By the time we arrived, they had already processed the blood essence.”
“Looking back now, we were just a step too late. If we had been faster, perhaps we could have uncovered some clues.”
Zhu Xuanji sighed deeply, feeling great regret.
Had he been just a little quicker, he wouldn’t have been kept in the dark for so long.
The three Golden Core cultivators from the three families were speechless.
They had lost face due to the shadow demon cultivator incident.
Now, after learning the truth, they realized that it was all the City Lord’s Mansion’s doing—the City Lord’s Mansion had been playing the role of the thief crying thief.
Although the incident at the Huoshi Festival had caused the City Lord’s Mansion to lose face, they had gained even more.
On one hand, they cleared themselves of suspicion. On the other, they got rid of Yuan Dasheng.
“So, the City Lord’s Mansion obtained the demonic technique scripture?” Zheng Jianlian asked.
“This is a Golden Core-level demonic technique. We don’t know its content, but since it was created by the Three Sect Lords, it must be an excellent technique.”
When the demonic technique scripture was mentioned, all the Golden Core cultivators showed a hint of desire and curiosity.
“When was the scripture taken?” they continued to discuss.
“Perhaps it was stolen beforehand. After all, Yuan Dasheng was a Fire Fusion Demon Ape. How could he dare to openly announce that the demonic technique had been stolen in a human immortal city?”
“I lean towards it being taken during the Huoshi Festival. Yuan Dasheng’s mistake, looking back now, seems very strange.”
“Fei Si from the City Lord’s Mansion had always been in control of the formations in Huoshi Forest and was fully capable of disguising the situation, making us all think that Yuan Dasheng made a mistake.”
“The explosion caused by the mistake also temporarily obscured our vision.”
Zhu Xuanji suddenly said, “Did you know that shortly after, Yuan Er also died?”
“And after that, Ning Zhuo forcibly took control of the entire Monkey Head Gang, which now serves under him, helping him manage the black market.”
In an instant, the same thought crossed the minds of the three Golden Core family ancestors—murder to silence, destroying the evidence!
“The City Lord’s Mansion wanted to erase all traces.”
“Then why didn’t anything happen to Ning Zhuo?”
“Yes, if I were Fei Si, having plotted so much and even if Ning Zhuo was only used, even if he was unaware, he still participated in so much. To be cautious, I would’ve killed Ning Zhuo too.”
Zhu Xuanji smiled faintly. “It seems you’ve forgotten that shortly after the Huoshi Festival, the geniuses of your three families all faced assassination attempts.”
“Meng Chong was also targeted but dealt with the assassin perfectly.”
“Your three families suffered much greater losses.”
“Ning Zhuo also faced an assassination attempt. His entire residence was blown up, and he barely escaped with his life.”
“I was part of the investigation at the time, and there was always a strange feeling lingering in my heart.”
“Looking back now, I finally understand where that strange feeling came from.”
“The assassinations targeting the other geniuses were either poisonings or stabbings—these were all controlled methods.”
“But Ning Zhuo encountered an explosion, a completely different method from the others.”
“If the City Lord’s Mansion attacked the other geniuses to merely slow down their progress, then with Ning Zhuo, the intent to kill was obvious. Clearly, they wanted Ning Zhuo dead.”
At this point, Zhu Xuanji scanned the room with his gaze and said, “I’ve explained everything that needed explaining.”
“Now, you should understand why I made such a big deal about seeking out Ning Zhuo.”
The hall fell silent.
“Stir the grass to scare the snake.”
“Draw the snake out of its hole!” Zhou Nongying and Zheng Jianlian spoke one after another.