After understanding everything, Ning Zhuo began to implement his plan.
He spent a fortune continuing to hunt for wild monkeys and then hired a Demon Cultivator to poison the Monkey Head Gang's monkeys, ultimately staging a failed assassination attempt on Yuan Er.
Yuan Er and Yuan Dasheng felt immense pressure, retreating to defensive positions, allowing Ning Zhuo's first step of the plan to succeed.
Seizing the opportunity, Ning Zhuo played the part of a villain in front of Fei Si, causing Fei Si to misjudge him. Ning Zhuo actively offered a forty percent profit cut to gain access to the Monkey Head Gang's monkey carcasses.
He gathered their essence blood and refined it, obtaining Yuan Dasheng's blood Qi.
He also deliberately participated in the mechanical workshop, hastening the production of mechanical monkeys and personally crafting a large number of inferior mechanical Explosive Flame Monkeys. He secretly used the blood Qi and the Demon-infused Bloodline Technique to add the blood Qi to the mechanical Explosive Flame Monkeys.
On the day of the Fire Persimmon Festival.
Ning Zhuo was positioned halfway up the mountain, surrounded by a formation. He took the risk of using a Heart Seal to control the mechanical monkeys, making them intentionally attack Yuan Er.
The mechanical monkeys were destroyed by Fei Si's formation, but the latent blood Qi had already attached to Yuan Er.
Yuan Er, frightened, reunited with Yuan Dasheng.
Yuan Dasheng was thereby contaminated and infiltrated.
Ning Zhuo had bet correctly!
Yuan Dasheng indeed couldn't detect the subtle presence of the blood Qi, or maybe he was too worried about Yuan Er at the time to notice the minute amount of blood Qi within him.
Though the quantity of the blood Qi was minimal, it affected Yuan Dasheng's fingers at a critical moment, causing his "mistake."
The Thousand-Year Fire Persimmon Forest exploded!
The intricacy of Ning Zhuo's trap was such that, even employing his Golden Eyes, Zhu Xuanji couldn't detect the blood Qi.
Right under his nose, Ning Zhuo succeeded in his plot!
However, Zhu Xuanji saved Yuan Dasheng, causing Ning Zhuo to temporarily lose his composure.
He almost thought he had been discovered.
The fact that Yuan Dasheng survived, albeit barely, worried Ning Zhuo even more. Yuan Dasheng's body was intact, contrary to his expectations of being blown to pieces.
Especially with Yuan Dasheng's ten fingers remaining whole, Ning Zhuo realized he had left a flaw!
When Zhu Xuanji was saving Yuan Dasheng, he wasn't concerned about such details; the blood Qi provided the perfect disguise, so he didn't notice the anomaly in Yuan Dasheng's fingers.
But if they continued to investigate afterwards, examining inch by inch, would they not find it?
Ning Zhuo didn't dare to gamble.
Thus, Ning Zhuo had to quickly kill Yuan Dasheng to erase this flaw.
Ning Zhuo couldn't act in his own name, as he was merely at the Qi Refinement state and couldn't bear Zhu Xuanji's potential retaliation.
"I can use Fei Si's name to make Zhu Xuanji wary of Fei Si afterwards, thus identifying me as the executor rather than the mastermind!"
Ning Zhuo immersed himself in the scheme, disregarded his safety, successfully persuaded others, and eventually triumphed.
Just as he had anticipated, Zhu Xuanji, upon learning of the situation, identified Fei Si as the mastermind. Even better, Fei Si himself thought he was the mastermind.
"In the end, it worked out as I planned!" In the mechanical workshop, Ning Zhuo sighed.
He came back to his senses, feeling much calmer and his emotions restored to normal.
Zhu Xuanji and the others didn't know that they were incredibly close to discovering a critical clue.
But just that little gap was enough to bury the truth.
A miss by an inch, an error by a mile.
"For now, I can continue to hide." Ning Zhuo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and exhaled lightly.
It was truly not easy.
The entire process had no physical confrontations but was like walking a tightrope on the edge of a cliff. Several times, Ning Zhuo almost lost his composure.
He stood up: "Old Chen, I want to handle Yuan Dasheng's corpse myself. Lord Fei Si assigned me this task, and I want to make an effort."
Even though all the essence blood had been extracted and the flaw was gone, Ning Zhuo cautiously didn't want Yuan Dasheng's body to fall into others' hands.
"You." Chen Cha sighed, "Very well, I'll pack it up for you."
"Take a good rest. The corpse has been pretreated and can be preserved for a long time."
"No need to rush."
"It's not worth it to tire yourself out."
Ning Zhuo bowed in thanks: "Thank you, Old Chen!"
...
Fei Si, Zhu Xuanji, and the others returned to the Fire Persimmon Forest and continued digging.
Not just digging three feet into the ground, but three zhang deep. Meanwhile, several Golden Core Cultivators took turns using various spells and magic artifacts to investigate.
There was no sign of activity.
Fei Si's face was stern as water. He had a premonition that the Black Shadow Demon Cultivator had really escaped and wouldn't appear again.
Given the current situation, he had to keep digging, even if it meant turning the mountain upside down.
The logic was simple.
If he messed up this task, he at least had to show that he had worked hard, so the City Lord would know that he had put in effort despite lacking success.
"I also 'repaid' Zhu Xuanji by making him embarrassed this time."
"So, the issue shouldn't be too big."
Fei Si considered his situation and naturally thought of Ning Zhuo.
He narrowed his eyes, feeling slightly complex emotions.
From today's events, he saw the potential in Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo, being merely at the Qi Refinement Realm, dared to venture into the Monkey Head Gang's territory, intimidating and tempting the Foundation Establishment stage Yuan Er to abandon Yuan Dasheng. From this event, Ning Zhuo indeed showed capability and courage!
Fei Si was also well aware that Ning Zhuo acted this way out of personal interests.
But Fei Si didn't mind; in fact, he felt he understood Ning Zhuo better because of this, feeling a sense of safety and control over him.
These feelings made him appreciate the young member of the Ning Family even more.
"Really reminds me of myself when I was young."
"And, very perceptive!"
"I just don't know if it's him causing the mechanical monkeys to revolt, attacking Yuan Er during the Fire Persimmon Festival?"
Fei Si wasn't foolish, maintaining this suspicion in his heart.
In his view, Ning Zhuo had a strong motive!
Of course, he also heard Ning Zhuo and Chen Cha defending this matter. When his subordinates reported to him, it all sounded very reasonable.
But the suspicion was never entirely dispelled.
"I don't know anything about mechanical techniques, maybe there's a way for Ning Zhuo to control the mechanical monkeys?"
"Even if he couldn't control them, wasn't Chen Cha at the Foundation Establishment stage?"
"If not an accomplice, maybe Ning Zhuo offered a high price and hired some Demon Cultivators?"
As an official, Fei Si naturally suspected everything, regardless of evidence.
Of course, Fei Si inclined more towards believing the mechanical monkeys were secretly controlled by the Black Shadow Demon Cultivator. And the latter had successfully escaped that day under everyone's watch.
He leaned towards this hypothesis because it was most beneficial to him.
The Black Shadow Demon Cultivator deceived nearly all the Golden Core Cultivators in the city. Such strength!
Therefore, Fei Si's failure would be easier for the City Lord to accept.
You see, even Zhu Xuanji with his Golden Eyes couldn't detect the Black Shadow Demon Cultivator. How could Fei Si do anything?
Fei Si began racking his brains on how to solidify this hypothesis and how to report it to the City Lord.
As for the truth, he didn't care at all.
Having managed the affairs of the Fire Persimmon Immortal City for so many years, hadn't he handled enough wrongful cases?
"I'm an official, not from the Divine Hunter Office!"
Investigating the truth was Zhu Xuanji's objective and responsibility. Fei Si just wanted to maintain the old order of Fire Persimmon Immortal City, follow City Lord Meng Kun's direction, and protect his own authority and interests.