After a brief daze, Xu Yuan suddenly understood. The plot he knew from his previous life had long since become unreliable after this world filled in all its missing pieces, but that did not mean every bit of information was useless.
Many things in his memory lined up at this very moment. For example, in the original plot, the reason the Third Young Master went to block the entrance of Everbow Valley was most likely because Qin Weijiu had been stirring things up behind the scenes.
In that case, what was his goal? Su Jinxuan had said that Qin Weijiu sent her here to plant a hidden pawn inside the Chancellor’s Manor. And the identity of the Third Young Master, along with the personality this wastrel had displayed in the past, meant that no one would suspect him no matter what he did.
Now that the mission had succeeded, Qin Weijiu’s first order was actually for him to go kill Qin Mo.
Xu Yuan’s long, narrow eyes slowly narrowed. The plot he once knew flashed through his mind over and over as reference material, and his expression gradually turned strange. Qin Weijiu’s real goal probably was not for Qin Mo to die. It was for Qin Mo to instead kill him, the Third Young Master of the Chancellor’s Manor.
According to the logic of the plot, Qin Weijiu would secretly find a way to hold back the three Grandmasters by the Third Young Master’s side, creating an opportunity for Qin Mo to kill him. That raised the question. What benefit would Qin Weijiu gain from letting Qin Mo kill him?
As a hidden pawn, the Third Young Master’s identity was practically perfect. He was already part of the absolute inner circle of the Chancellor’s Manor, and he could also serve as a bridgehead, constantly smuggling moles into the estate under the excuse of recruiting guest retainers. Yet Qin Weijiu had given up such a massive advantage without hesitation. Whatever he wanted had to be even bigger.
Thoughts flickered through Xu Yuan’s mind. He kept taking all kinds of information from his memories, rearranging and piecing them together, trying to analyze Qin Weijiu’s true purpose. In the end, however, he only came up with an answer that did not seem very reliable. If Qin Mo killed him, the Third Young Master, then Qin Mo would inevitably form a blood feud with the Chancellor’s Manor.
Judging from Qin Mo’s current performance, after coming out of Burial Village, he was a flawless genius. If he could be nurtured properly, he would surely become a giant in his own right. And with a blood feud tying him to the Chancellor’s Manor, he would undoubtedly become a great help to Qin Weijiu in dealing with them.
At this thought, Xu Yuan immediately rejected the idea.
Qin Weijiu was not like him. He did not know Qin Mo was the protagonist of this world. Sacrificing a hidden pawn already in his pocket just to gamble on Qin Mo’s uncertain future? That kind of move was both stupid and absurd. More importantly, Qin Mo already had a blood feud with the Chancellor’s Manor over the destruction of his village. Doing something like this would be completely redundant.
Wait. Redundant. The thought flashed through Xu Yuan’s mind, and his thoughts suddenly froze. After several breaths of silence, his heartbeat began to quicken bit by bit. He suddenly asked, “Su Jinxuan, while you were traveling with Qin Mo, did Qin Weijiu ever have you investigate anything about Qin Mo’s village?”
“Hm?” Su Jinxuan blinked her beautiful eyes, a little surprised by the sudden leap in Xu Yuan’s question, but she still answered honestly. “Yes, he did.”
Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes. The guess in his heart had been confirmed. “And what did you find?”
“Qin Mo said the elders in the village all treated him like their own child.”
“Mhm. Did he say anything else?”
Su Jinxuan looked puzzled. “Anything else?”
Xu Yuan instinctively wanted to ask directly, but when the words reached his lips, he changed them. “For example, when he talked about those elders of his, did anything seem unnatural?”
The confusion in Su Jinxuan’s eyes deepened, but she was sensible enough not to ask. She simply answered honestly, “Yes.”
“What?” Xu Yuan asked at once.
“When he talked about those things, he didn’t seem very happy. Even if he mentioned something cheerful, his mood would immediately sink again afterward.”
“Nothing else besides that?”
“Mhm.”
“Then did you report this to Qin Weijiu?”
“No. I only told him about Qin Mo’s relationships with the people in the village,” Su Jinxuan replied.
Hearing this, Xu Yuan smiled. Everything suddenly clicked.
The key to the puzzle was Burial Village.
Su Jinxuan had said before that Qin Weijiu knew about Burial Village, and he also knew Qin Mo came from Burial Village. However, Qin Weijiu did not know that all those great fiends and infamous bandits in Burial Village had already been slaughtered clean by the Chancellor.
All of Xu Yuan’s earlier deductions had been based on the assumption that Qin Weijiu already knew Burial Village had been wiped out. Turns out, he had no damn clue. Now the situation was clear. Qin Weijiu wanted to make Burial Village and the Chancellor’s Manor enemies.
The people of Burial Village had all hidden there to retire, but that did not mean every connection they had outside the village was dead too. In Azure Point, the protagonist ran into more than one old flame or sworn friend of those village elders, and they all helped him.
Add the experts of Burial Village itself into the equation, and this was already an enormous force. Its value completely surpassed the benefits of planting a hidden pawn inside the Chancellor’s Manor. So Qin Weijiu wanted to pull Burial Village, a force also hidden in the shadows, onto his side.
Based on the information Qin Weijiu had, this was undoubtedly a brilliant move. He did not even need to step onto the board himself. Whether Xu Yuan killed Qin Mo, or Qin Mo killed Xu Yuan, Burial Village and the Chancellor’s Manor would end up locked in a blood feud.
Unfortunately for him, Burial Village is already gone. Xu Yuan almost laughed. Sometimes, when you imagine your enemy as too formidable, you just end up matching wits with thin air.
As he thought this, Xu Yuan smiled faintly and glanced sideways at Su Jinxuan beside him. With a flick of his hand, a small booklet appeared in his palm. A precious secret art personally transmitted to him by Lady Lou Ji back in the imperial capital.
Su Jinxuan’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. She did not understand why he had suddenly taken out that little booklet. “What is this?”
Xu Yuan did not answer. He simply waved the booklet through the air and held it out in front of her.
Su Jinxuan looked confused.
Xu Yuan said casually, “The cultivation method for the bewitching spores. Take it.”
Su Jinxuan’s pupils shrank slightly.
Xu Yuan kept his hand suspended in the air for several breaths. Seeing that she still did not move, he raised an eyebrow. “What, you don’t want it?”
Su Jinxuan was silent for two seconds. Then she bit her lip and said, “You’re giving this to me?”
Xu Yuan answered lightly, “Why wouldn’t I?”
Hearing his careless tone, Su Jinxuan quietly tightened one jade-like hand around the hem of her plain dress. Her voice was very soft. “But… if you give me this, aren’t you afraid I’ll turn on you?”
Qin Weijiu had feared her backlash so much that he had deliberately erased the soul tempering method from the secret art. Yet now, Xu Changtian was actually willing to hand the entire thing straight to her?
Xu Yuan smiled and shook his head. “I’ll be draining you dry every night for the next few days anyway. If you cultivate this secret art, the bewitching spores should recover a little faster. That benefits my cultivation too. Take it.”
Su Jinxuan fell silent. Her eyes were complicated, but she still did not reach for it.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan sighed. “Fine. Let me put it more plainly. You can think of this as an investment in you. The world is about to fall into chaos. I have high hopes for the future strength of your Bewitching Soul Devil Body, and I have high hopes for your character too. So I’ve judged that investing in you won’t leave me at a loss. Mhm. And even if it does, at the very least, I probably won’t end up raising an ungrateful little wolf.”
Su Jinxuan was quiet for a long while. Then she gently took the small booklet and gripped it very tightly. She looked at Xu Yuan, her tone utterly serious. “I will repay this favor.”