Chapter 604: Touching the Hidden Secret Again
Ning Zhuo and Wen Ruanyu stood beside Chen Sui’s corpse.
The cause of death had already been found.
It was the Heart-Piercing Nail in Wen Ruanyu’s hand.
Wen Ruanyu gripped the Heart-Piercing Nail tightly. Because he was exerting too much force, the veins on the back of his hand bulged.
Wen Ruanyu’s usual elegance had completely vanished, his face filled with anger. “This is going too far!”
Under such layers of surveillance, another male consort had still died. This was practically a series of slaps across Wen Ruanyu’s face.
It was utterly humiliating!
Even more disgusting was that the clues of the murderer directly pointed to Sun Tiesheng. This made Wen Ruanyu feel constrained, unwilling to follow this obvious lead left by the killer and conduct a thorough investigation.
Ning Zhuo stared at the corpse on the ground and slowly said, “Compared to that clue, I’m more concerned about another point—who discovered Chen Sui’s body, and how?”
Wen Ruanyu immediately understood Ning Zhuo’s implication. A sharp light flashed in his eyes. “You mean the discovery of Chen Sui’s corpse was also arranged by the traitor.”
Ning Zhuo said, “I think it’s very possible. If Chen Sui had been secretly assassinated, according to our arrangements, every male consort would have been contributing their share day and night to the Spirit Contract Treasure Refining Formation, competing against each other to determine the single final victor.”
“So the male consorts of the Strength-Nourishing Institute are basically in a state of never leaving their rooms.”
“But now Chen Sui’s corpse was discovered far too quickly. The negative impact spread through the entire institute almost like lightning.”
“At present, the morale of the Strength-Nourishing Institute has been severely shaken. This situation best serves the interests of the Forget River Lord.”
Wen Ruanyu nodded. “Makes sense. I’ll investigate immediately.”
Wen Ruanyu acted swiftly and soon found the result.
His face darkened as he said to Ning Zhuo, “It was only a paper puppet.”
“It followed Chen Sui’s instructions to come clean the room in the morning. When it arrived, it found the door wide open. After entering, it saw the corpse.”
Ning Zhuo was surprised. “If it was only a paper puppet, why would it shout loudly and expose the matter to everyone?”
Wen Ruanyu said, “Jiao Ma, that’s because you don’t know the background of these paper puppets.”
“White Paper Immortal City was built by Profound Plain Scholar, a mighty being at the Soul Formation level. As successors, we still do not understand the purpose behind his construction of this immortal city.”
“But we have already explored many of the city’s functions and powers.”
“For example, these paper puppets are extremely practical. They handle many of the daily and wartime labor tasks of White Paper Immortal City.”
“These paper puppets generally possess spirituality and are no different from ordinary people. The reason for this is that White Paper Immortal City has experienced countless Ghost Tide Calamities. A large number of ghosts and living beings from the mortal world have died within the city.”
“White Paper Immortal City collects these. After accumulating them over a long time, a qualitative change occurs, forming a source of spirituality.”
“Once these paper puppets are infused with that source of spirituality, they become like ordinary people, possessing intelligence.”
“Because the intelligence and the quality of the paper bodies differ, the paper puppets are divided into different types. Those responsible for daily tasks—you can assume their spirituality originates from ordinary mortals in the city. Naturally, they are prone to panic. Making a scene is perfectly normal.”
Only then did Ning Zhuo understand. “So that’s how it is. I thought it was a method of the City Lord.”
Wen Ruanyu shook his head. “The City Lord’s paper puppets are granted by White Paper Immortal City because of her authority.”
“Perhaps you also have this benefit. After all, you are currently our Deputy City Lord.”
This sentence was transmitted quietly through spiritual sense.
A glint flashed through Ning Zhuo’s eyes.
Instead of verifying the guess immediately, he thought of the seven paper puppet armies in the Underworld.
“If these paper puppets become lifelike after being infused with the source of spirituality…”
“Then what would happen if I extracted the spirituality of Yuan Dasheng and Meng Yahu and infused it into those ownerless paper puppets?”
After discussing for a while, the two still found no good solution.
The traitor’s methods were truly formidable. Even under tight surveillance, Chen Sui had still been assassinated without leaving any traces.
The biggest clue was clearly a trap—or perhaps a vicious mockery.
“At present, Senior Wen, only you can step forward to appease the male consorts and maintain the Spirit Contract Treasure Refining Formation,” Ning Zhuo said.
Wen Ruanyu endured his headache. “That’s the only option. As long as this formation continues, the traitor will be forced to act again.”
“But to be honest, I’m hesitating.”
“Doing this is essentially using the male consorts as bait to lure the traitor. Is sacrificing these people really worth it?”
Ning Zhuo immediately nodded with a firm attitude. “Of course it’s worth it.”
“To be frank, Shen Bing and Chen Sui were only Foundation Establishment cultivators. How much Yang energy could they contribute?”
“If their deaths can draw out the traitor and allow us to seize an opening to eliminate him in one move, their contribution will far exceed what they could provide as male consorts.”
Wen Ruanyu gave a bitter smile. “That may be true. But what if we never find the traitor?”
At this point, he looked at Ning Zhuo with concern. “Jiao Ma, you should also be careful.”
“The cultivation technique of the Jiao Family is quite famous.”
“If Sun Tiesheng dies, you might become the next target of assassination.”
Ning Zhuo nodded, his expression becoming solemn.
That night, a wave of rumors suddenly spread, making the Strength-Nourishing Institute even more uneasy.
The rumors were mostly similar: Shen Bing and Chen Sui had been assassinated one after another, so on the third night it would likely be Sun Tiesheng.
After all, the three strongest male consorts in the Strength-Nourishing Institute were them.
They were essentially the leading figures.
Wen Ruanyu had spent most of the day stabilizing morale, yet these rumors immediately destroyed his efforts.
He secretly flew into a rage and began investigating.
The result left him both amused and exasperated: the rumors had actually been spread by Sun Tiesheng himself.
Wen Ruanyu immediately went to reprimand him.
Sun Tiesheng knelt on the ground, crying bitterly to Wen Ruanyu, claiming he was extremely worried and afraid. It wasn’t that he feared assassination—he was worried that if he died, who would help the City Lord refine Yin energy? If this contribution was missing and caused White Paper Immortal City to be destroyed, the Sun Family would also be wiped out. Then he, Sun Tiesheng, would become the culprit who destroyed his own clan!
Wen Ruanyu snorted coldly. “You think too highly of yourself.”
“Get up. I won’t pursue your responsibility for now. In the future, I will settle accounts with you—and with your Sun Family!”
Wen Ruanyu flicked his sleeve and left, but he also assigned even more subordinates to heavily protect Sun Tiesheng.
Seeing the additional cultivators, Sun Tiesheng secretly rejoiced.
His scheme had worked. This forced Wen Ruanyu to pay even more attention and deploy additional personnel for protection.
Although Wen Ruanyu was a Golden Core cultivator, he understood Sun Tiesheng’s scheme and ultimately could only choose to fall into it.
This was because what he hated more was the traitor hidden in the shadows.
“This time, I’ve arranged three times the personnel to guard Sun Tiesheng. I refuse to believe you can still assassinate him!” Wen Ruanyu gritted his teeth inwardly.
That night.
Outside White Paper City.
Suddenly, a group of ghost cultivators emerged from underground and surrounded a scouting unit of Yin Soldiers.
“Die!” the ghost girl Qing Chi shouted, charging ahead. With her petite body, she smashed apart a skeletal warhorse and dragged the elite ghost soldier from it, beating him fiercely.
Bang, bang, bang…
Her fists blurred, flattening the ghost soldier’s bronze helmet before smashing his head apart.
Seeing their leader trapped, many ghost soldiers rushed toward Qing Chi, only to be intercepted halfway by Qing Yan and his group.
After killing the leader, Qing Chi stood up. Her eyes burst with sharp light and blazing battle intent as she prepared to continue fighting.
But she saw that her father and the other ghost cultivators had already finished the battle.
They had wiped out the scout unit.
Qing Chi felt dissatisfied and shouted helplessly, “Hey, leave some for me!”
The ghost cultivators teased her. “Young miss, if you want merit to see your sweetheart, we also want achievements for ourselves. We can’t just give these away.”
Qing Chi snorted. “Fine. When we encounter a strong enemy, let’s see who can compete with me!”
The second night.
Qing Yan and his group once again successfully ambushed a Yin Soldier scout team.
However, shortly after the battle began, more than ten heavily armored Yin cavalry suddenly appeared from the other side of the battlefield and launched a charge.
Qing Chi’s attention was drawn. Instead of fear, she was delighted. “Perfect!”
She did not dodge and charged directly at them.
Midway through the charge, blue flames ignited across her body as she rushed forward.
At the moment of collision, she leapt into the air, lightly tapping the tip of a cavalryman’s spear before rising again.
Blue flames exploded repeatedly among the heavy cavalry. The fire spread rapidly, devouring bronze armor and towering skeletal warhorses.
Within a dozen breaths, the entire cavalry unit was reduced to ashes in blue fire.
Qing Chi parted the waves of flame, beaming with excitement. “You couldn’t steal my merit this time, could you?”
But Qing Yan’s face was dark as he scolded, “Xiao Chi! Are you trying to get yourself killed? Who allowed you to take such risks?!”
On the third night.
Qing Yan’s group did not leave the city.
The ghost tide struck again, crashing against White Paper Immortal City.
As part of the reinforcements, they defended atop the city wall.
A group of ghosts was about to climb the wall when Qing Chi stepped forward.
She extended both palms and pressed them firmly against the white paper bricks of the wall.
The next moment, blazing blue flames spread like vines, instantly covering the entire wall and burning the ghosts to death.
Within the flames, large numbers of flaming begonia blossoms bloomed.
“Burn to death! Burn to death!” Qing Chi murmured as blue light flickered in her eyes and the flames in her hands intensified.
The blue fire stretched across the wall and swept downward, engulfing many ghosts below and instantly clearing a portion of the battlefield.
Such power made both enemies and allies turn their heads to look.
The blue flames suddenly vanished.
Qing Chi panted heavily, falling into extreme exhaustion.
Qing Yan immediately rushed behind her, lifting his daughter and retreating to the rear. “How many times have I told you not to fight like this!”
Qing Chi chuckled. “Father, this should be enough merit, right?”
Qing Yan snorted. “Probably enough. We’ll calculate it after the battle.”
Qing Chi pouted unhappily. “Fine, then calculate it!”
As the father and daughter walked away, they attracted many gazes.
“So that’s Qing Chi?”
“The ghost cultivator who has been very active recently. Though only at the Foundation Establishment stage, she has Golden Core–level combat power!”
“Her flames contain vitality but are deadly poison to ghosts.”
The young girl fought with all her strength just to meet her beloved, dazzling everyone and becoming the most eye-catching figure during this stage of the city’s defense.
The Strength-Nourishing Institute remained under heavy guard.
Two days had passed since Chen Sui’s assassination.
Perhaps because Wen Ruanyu had mobilized enough personnel for strict surveillance, or perhaps because the traitor had temporarily stopped, no further assassinations occurred.
Thus the morale of the Strength-Nourishing Institute gradually stabilized.
Ning Zhuo’s days were calm yet packed.
The other male consorts fully participated in the treasure refining formation, providing Yang energy while swallowing large amounts of strengthening medicine and competing fiercely. Meanwhile, Ning Zhuo immersed himself in soul cultivation.
Although he did not specialize in such techniques, he possessed four Nascent Soul–level treasures.
Ning Zhuo slowly opened his eyes.
His pupils were deep black, faintly revealing strands of Yin light.
“I’ve broken through.”
“I’m now a Million-Person Soul!”
Ning Zhuo felt delighted and lowered his head to look at his arm.
His arm had turned a bluish gray, Yin energy constantly emanating from it.
Ning Zhuo knew this condition wasn’t limited to his arm—it covered his entire body.
“My soul foundation is too powerful, almost exceeding the limit my physical body can bear.”
“I must slow down and focus more on the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel.”
“I have to say, the current White Paper City Lord is quite generous. Even now, more than half of the four soul cultivation treasures remain.”
“Boss, you really won’t consider soul cultivation?”
Ning Zhuo once again secretly asked through Life Hanging by a Thread.
Sun Lingtong refused again, then began talking about something interesting.
When Ning Zhuo cultivated, he did not observe Sun Lingtong’s side. But Sun Lingtong, who had joined the Yin Army, had seen Qing Chi’s impressive battle performance.
He reminded Ning Zhuo, “That girl is incredibly fierce! Even our side has started paying attention to her. If she grows stronger, that blue fire will definitely become a natural enemy of ghosts. The Yin Army has already gathered a lot of information about her.”
“You’re in that intelligence too.”
“She seems to have made a bet with her father. She’s fighting with everything she has to accumulate enough merit to come see you.”
Ning Zhuo immediately frowned. “What?”
Sun Lingtong chuckled and added, “Don’t panic. According to reports, Qing Chi is almost done gathering enough merit.”
Ning Zhuo’s brows furrowed even deeper, and his head began to ache again.
He glanced around and thought to himself, “I can’t stay here anymore. I have to go out and hide.”
Ning Zhuo had already intended to go out.
His first stop was the City Lord’s Mansion. There he used the Deputy City Lord token and tried sensing, but he did not trigger the hidden restrictions of White Paper Immortal City and failed to obtain the benefit of a paper puppet avatar.
Ning Zhuo was unwilling to give up. He knew that many blank paper puppets were hidden in the Underworld.
Thus, his second stop was the Giant Paper Figure Statue at the south gate.
After tireless repairs, the statue had roughly regained its former appearance.
Ning Zhuo passed through unimpeded and once again entered the statue’s internal space, where he saw the Qianmo Lamp.
He infused mana and communicated with the lamp using spiritual sense, suddenly triggering a hidden restriction.
In the next moment, his mother’s voice came from within the lamp.