< Chapter 76: I Am an Official >
After figuring things out, Ning Zhuo began to implement his plan.
He spent a fortune
capturing wild monkeys, then hired demonic cultivators to poison the Monkey Head Gang’s monkeys. Finally, he orchestrated a failed assassination attempt on Yuan Er.
Feeling immense pressure, Yuan Er and Yuan Dasheng retreated defensively, allowing Ning Zhuo’s first step to succeed.
Riding the momentum, Ning Zhuo played the role of a petty man in front of Fei Si, causing Fei Si to misjudge the situation. Ning Zhuo willingly ceded 40% of the profits to obtain the Monkey Head Gang’s monkey corpses.
He then collected and refined the blood essence, obtaining blood qi identical to Yuan Dasheng’s.
Deliberately, he participated in the Flying Disk Workshop, hastily making inferior quality mechanical fire-explosive monkeys. He secretly used the identical blood qi and performed the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique, infusing the blood qi into the mechanical fire-explosive monkeys.
On the day of the Huoshi Festival, Ning Zhuo was stationed halfway up the mountain, covered by a formation. He daringly used his heart imprint to control the mechanical monkeys, causing them to riot and attack Yuan Er.
Fei Si activated the formation to destroy the mechanical monkeys, but the lurking blood qi had already attached to Yuan Er.
Terrified, Yuan Er reunited with Yuan Dasheng.
As a result, Yuan Dasheng got contaminated and infiltrated.
Ning Zhuo had gambled correctly!
Yuan Dasheng indeed failed to perceive the intrusion, perhaps because he was preoccupied with Yuan Er and didn’t notice the trace amount of identical blood qi in his body.
Although the blood qi was minimal, at a critical moment, it affected Yuan Dasheng’s fingers, causing his “mistake.”
The Millennium Huoshi Forest exploded!
Ning Zhuo’s trap was so meticulously designed that even Zhu Xuanji, using his Celestial Golden Eyes, couldn’t detect the identical blood qi.
Ning Zhuo succeeded in his scheme right under Zhu Xuanji’s nose!
However, Zhu Xuanji saving Yuan Dasheng still caused Ning Zhuo to lose his composure for a moment.
He almost believed he had been discovered.
Yuan Dasheng being saved and still having a sliver of life left worried Ning Zhuo even more. What troubled him most was that Yuan Dasheng’s body remained intact, contrary to his expectations of it being blown to pieces.
Especially, Yuan Dasheng’s ten fingers were all intact, which made Ning Zhuo realize he had left a flaw!
At the time, Zhu Xuanji had focused on saving Yuan Dasheng and didn’t pay attention to minor details. The blood qi from the same source was the best disguise, so he hadn’t noticed anything amiss with the fingers.
But if they continued to investigate later, examining every inch, would they not find anything?
Ning Zhuo didn’t dare to gamble on that.
Therefore, Ning Zhuo had to kill Yuan Dasheng quickly to erase this flaw.
Ning Zhuo couldn’t act under his own name. He was merely at the Qi Refining Stage and couldn’t withstand the possible casual retaliation from Zhu Xuanji upon discovering the truth.
“I can use Fei Si’s name, making Zhu Xuanji wary of Fei Si afterward, identifying me as the executor, not the mastermind!”
Ning Zhuo threw himself into the game, risking everything, and succeeded in persuading, ultimately achieving victory.
As he had predicted, upon learning of this, Zhu Xuanji identified Fei Si as the mastermind. Even better, Fei Si also believed himself to be the mastermind.
“After all, I did it!” Ning Zhuo sighed in the Flying Disk Workshop.
He came back to his senses, his breath much calmer, and his emotions returned to normal.
Zhu Xuanji and the others had no idea how close they had come to discovering the crucial clue.
But just that little bit of distance buried the truth.
A small difference can lead to a great error.
“For now, I can still continue to hide,” Ning Zhuo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and let out a light sigh.
It was really not easy.
Throughout the entire process, there was no fighting, but it was like walking a tightrope on the edge of a cliff. Several times, Ning Zhuo’s state of mind nearly faltered.
He stood up and said, “Old Chen, I would like to handle Yuan Dasheng’s body personally. This is a task Lord Fei Si assigned to me, and I want to make sure I do it well.”
Even though the essence blood had been extracted and the flaws were gone, Ning Zhuo, being cautious, still didn’t want Yuan Dasheng’s body to fall into someone else’s hands.
“You,” Chen Cha sighed deeply. “Very well, I’ll pack it up for you.”
“Take a good rest. This corpse has already been pre-treated and can be preserved for a long time.”
“There’s no need to rush.”
“It’s really not worth it if you exhaust yourself.”
Ning Zhuo bowed in thanks, “Thank you, Old Chen!”
* * *
Fei Si, Zhu Xuanji, and the others returned to the Huoshi Forest and continued digging the ground.
They dug not just three feet, but as deep as thirty feet. At the same time, several Golden Core cultivators took turns using various spells and magical instruments to probe.
There was no movement at all.
Fei Si’s face was as calm as water. He had a premonition that the shadow demon cultivator had indeed escaped and would not appear again.
Given the situation, he had to continue digging. Even if it meant turning the mountain base upside down, he would not hesitate.
The logic was simple.
If he messed up this task, he at least had to show that he had worked hard, so that the city lord would know that even if he didn’t achieve any merit, he had made a significant effort.
“I ‘retaliated’ against Zhu Xuanji this time, making him embarrassed.”
“So, the problem shouldn’t be too big.”
Fei Si pondered his own situation and naturally thought of Ning Zhuo.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and his feelings were somewhat complex.
From today’s events, he saw the talent in Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo was merely at the Qi Refining stage, yet he dared to venture into the Monkey Head Gang’s stronghold, using threats and inducements to coerce Yuan Er, a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, to abandon Yuan Dasheng. From this incident, it was clear that Ning Zhuo was indeed capable and courageous!
Fei Si was also very clear that Ning Zhuo acted in this manner out of his own selfish motives.
But Fei Si did not mind; in fact, he felt that this gave him a better understanding of Ning Zhuo, making him feel a sense of security and control.
These feelings made him appreciate this young man from the Ning family even more.
“He really is like I was when I was young.”
“Moreover, he has a keen eye!”
“It’s just that I don’t know if it was him who caused the Mechanical Apes to riot, leading Yuan Er to attack during the Huoshi Festival.”
Fei Si was not foolish and maintained this suspicion in his heart.
In his view, Ning Zhuo had a strong motive!
Of course, he had also heard Ning Zhuo and Chen Cha’s explanation of the matter. When he first received the report from his subordinates, he found it very reasonable.
But his suspicion was not completely dispelled.
“I don’t understand any mechanical techniques, so who knows if there’s a way Ning Zhuo could control the Mechanical Apes?”
“Even if he couldn’t control them, isn’t Chen Cha also at the Foundation Establishment stage?”
“If Chen Cha isn’t an accomplice, perhaps Ning Zhuo offered a high price to hire some demon cultivators?”
As an official, Fei Si naturally harbored suspicions about everything, regardless of evidence.
Of course, Fei Si leaned more towards the belief that the Mechanical Apes were secretly controlled by the shadow demon cultivator! And the latter had successfully escaped in broad daylight.
He leaned towards this hypothesis because it was the most advantageous for him.
The shadow demon cultivator had toyed with almost all the Golden Core cultivators in the city. His strength was too formidable!
Thus, Fei Si’s failure in this case would be more acceptable to the city lord.
Look, even Zhu Xuanji, who possessed the Celestial Golden Eyes, hadn’t discovered the shadow demon cultivator. How could Fei Si have done anything more?
Fei Si began racking his brains, figuring out how to solidify this hypothesis and how to report it to the city lord.
As for the actual truth, he couldn’t care less.
After managing the affairs of Huoshi Immortal City for so many years, how many wrongful cases had he encountered and handled?
“I am an official, not a detective from the Detective Division!”
Investigating the truth was Zhu Xuanji’s goal and responsibility. Fei Si only wanted to maintain the established order of Huoshi Immortal City, follow the directives of the city lord Meng Kui, and safeguard his own authority and interests.