Information Broker

Wang Ming did not investigate the matters that Guihai Yidao entrusted to him.

He was not the real Zhang Jinjiu; he lacked both the ability and the interest to investigate.

Yet, Guihai Yidao still stepped onto the path of the original drama.

At this moment,

Guihai Yidao was on his way to Shaolin.

He had already begun practicing the Demonic Saber, and Wang Ming had no wish to meet him.

Wang Ming possessed saber manuals as well, but he had not the slightest intention of practicing them.

As a transmigrator, he had far too many choices available to him.

Unless his brain had short-circuited, why would he practice a martial art that turned people mad?

Acquiring the saber manuals was purely for easy manipulation—it would be foolish not to take what was offered for nothing.

Right now, Wang Ming blocked Shangguan Haitang's path.

"Is the Villa Lord going to stop Yidao from seeking out Liao Kong?"

"You know Yidao's personality well."

"You cannot make Yidao abandon his hatred," Wang Ming said slowly.

Shangguan Haitang sighed. "Even if I cannot stop him from seeking revenge..."

She immediately added with a resolute expression, "At least I must stay by his side."

"The Villa Lord is truly a person of deep affection and righteousness."

"I admire you! I truly admire you!"

"This subordinate happens to possess a piece of intelligence that can cause Yidao to lay down his hatred."

"Does the Villa Lord require it?" Wang Ming asked with a calm expression.

"Can it really make Yidao give up going to Shaolin?" Shangguan Haitang asked with joy on her face.

"How much money do you want?"

Wang Ming shook his head. "Not a single coin."

Shangguan Haitang looked at him suspiciously. "You're being this kind?"

A short time ago, Wan Sanqian had discovered she was a woman and harbored improper desires toward her. Wang Ming's attitude at the moment made her somewhat guarded.

"You aren't here to act as a matchmaker for Grandmaster Wan and negotiate terms with me, are you!"

"I've already said I won't marry him, so you can tell him to banish that thought," Shangguan Haitang said with a stern face.

As Wang Ming met Shangguan Haitang's gaze, a bad premonition arose in his heart. This little woman is no rigid creature; she is entirely capable of resorting to interrogation under torture.

Therefore, he immediately shouted, "You've misunderstood. I'm not here to matchmake for Wan Sanqian; I'm here for myself—"

"To matchmake for yourself?" Shangguan Haitang's gaze grew even more dangerous.

How fucking narcissistic, Wang Ming thought, unsure how her brain was wired, and hurriedly said:

"I want your martial art, Thousand Flowers Scatter Money."

Shangguan Haitang was stunned. Realizing she had misunderstood, her face flushed and she quickly apologized, "Sorry, my mistake."

Wang Ming waved a hand. "It doesn't matter."

"I wonder if you are willing to make this trade?"

Shangguan Haitang fell silent.

Wang Ming hesitated for a moment. "If you are unwilling to make this trade, I can give you this intelligence for free as well."

Shangguan Haitang sized Wang Ming up with a skeptical look. "Really? Such a good thing could happen."

Wang Ming smiled. "Naturally it's true, but after this, I will no longer make any trades with you."

Shangguan Haitang was a good person, but she was no pushover.

If she refused to hand over her martial art while still wanting the intelligence, murdering Wang Ming was something she wouldn't do, but striking his acupoints and interrogating him was definitely something she was capable of.

Yet if she could provide it, even after Wang Ming gave her the intelligence, her extremely upright sense of morality would compel her to give compensation.

"Alright!" Shangguan Haitang agreed.

People in love possessed no intellect; the entire world was vastly less important than their beloved. After hesitating for a moment, she sold out her master's martial art.

Shortly after, she fetched brush and ink, wrote down the manual, and handed it to Wang Ming.

"Tell Yidao to inspect Guihai Bailian's corpse. Have him look at what kind of weapon caused the fatal wound, and he will naturally understand who the murderer is, while also abandoning his hatred." Wang Ming took the manual.

"It's that simple? Are you certain you aren't toying with me?" Shangguan Haitang found it a bit hard to believe.

"If it proves useless, the Villa Lord may come find me to settle accounts."

With that, he turned and left, returning to the new secret dwelling he had found for himself—staying in his original place was far too dangerous now.

Actually,

Wang Ming desperately wanted to cultivate martial arts and stop gallivanting outside.

Regrettably,

He could not understand the professional terminology and the meridian acupoints within the manuals.

He wanted to find someone to teach him how to read and write, but the moment he thought of Zhu Wushi's terrifyingly omniscient intelligence network, he dismissed the idea.

Lately,

the struggle between Zhu Wushi and Cao Zhengchun had grown increasingly intense.

Wang Ming feared that Cao Zhengchun would uproot him as one of Zhu Wushi's pawns, and equally feared being cast out as bait by Zhu Wushi.

Over the next few days,

news still arrived of Guihai Yidao falling into demonic deviation and slaughtering martial world people everywhere, followed not long after by the news that Zhu Wushi had been locked away in the celestial prison.

Wang Ming felt that this Zhu Wushi was truly a master of acting—what a loyal and patriotic Iron-Clawed Divine Marquis.

Cao Zhengchun would likely be acted to death.

It truly fulfilled that old saying: life is like a play, entirely dependent on acting skills.

Yet these were matters Wang Ming had no wish to meddle in, nor did he possess the ability to do so.

Right now, he only wanted to go swindle yet another martial art.

"Zhang Jinjiu greets Hero Duan. Presumably, you are currently distressed over how to infiltrate the heavily guarded celestial prison to rescue the Marquis, are you not?" Wang Ming cupped his fists and bowed to Duan Tianya.

"You have a way to enter the celestial prison and rescue my adoptive father?" Duan Tianya asked.

"I do! But Hero Duan must use your Illusion Sword in exchange," Wang Ming stated calmly.

"You are somewhat taking advantage of someone's peril here!" Duan Tianya's face turned somewhat unfriendly.

"No, no!"

"How can this be called taking advantage of someone's peril? It is merely a fair transaction."

"I do things entirely of my own accord; the choice rests with you. To trade or not to trade! Everything lies in a single thought of yours," Wang Ming discoursed eloquently, intending to repeat what he had told Shangguan Haitang earlier so that if Duan Tianya attempted forceful interrogation, he would cut him off—though Duan Tianya spoke first.

Duan Tianya merely hesitated for a moment before saying, "Speak your method for rescuing my adoptive father first, and I shall consider whether it is worth the price."

"Very well! I trust Hero Duan's character." Wang Ming thought to himself: Trust him or not, I have to! It's a zero-cost transaction anyway, let's just treat it like buying a lottery ticket!

"There are two methods to bring the Marquis out of the celestial prison: Method one, Cheng Shefei knows of a secret passage that leads straight to the ninth level of the celestial prison. I don't need to spell out the specific plan and details, do I?"

Duan Tianya pondered for a moment and said, "If this secret passage is real, there is indeed a chance to rescue my adoptive father. The ability of the First Divine Detective is truly remarkable."

Wang Ming smiled slightly, neither confirming nor denying, and continued, "Method two, Wan Sanqian possesses the capability to dig straight through to the bottom of the celestial prison. If you and Haitang go beg him, he will step in to help. However..." Wang Ming cast a strange look at Duan Tianya.

"However, you must pay a certain price. You will naturally know the specifics when the time comes." Having spoken, Wang Ming watched Duan Tianya to see if he would honor his promise.

The price Wang Ming spoke of was naturally Shangguan Haitang marrying Wan Sanqian.

He certainly couldn't voice that himself; if he did, Duan Tianya would inevitably flip out.

Wang Ming felt there was something inherently problematic about Haitang being Wan Sanqian's predestined partner.

Among the thousands upon thousands of women under heaven, why specifically Shangguan Haitang?

And why did it happen so coincidentally that she was the adoptive daughter of his ally, Zhu Wushi?

Wang Ming suspected that fortune-teller might very well be one of Zhu Wushi's men.

Deliberately arranged to dupe Wan Sanqian so as to make their cooperative relationship even more secure.

Yet,

Zhu Wushi had never anticipated that Shangguan Haitang and Yidao would become entangled.

Upon hearing this, Duan Tianya lapsed into silence. The two stood facing one another in an atmosphere of extraordinary suppression and gloom.

The mood was intensely uncomfortable, and Wang Ming wanted to break the tension.

Yet he truly didn't know what to say; he understood the principle that speaking more led to more mistakes.

Therefore,

he could only accompany Duan Tianya in enduring the chilly night breeze.

In truth, Wang Ming did not care about the outcome, nor was he afraid of Duan Tianya reneging on the debt.

Because this intelligence would become worthless once time passed. Even if he said nothing, they would eventually figure it out themselves.

Wang Ming merely exploited a gap in timing.

One could say he used Duan Tianya's own money to buy Duan Tianya's merchandise.

It amounted to a free ride.

Duan Tianya was considered a gentleman; even if the trade fell through, he wouldn't face any mortal danger.

Thus, Wang Ming had come purely to try his luck.

In the end, Duan Tianya took the initiative to break the silence.

"Wait here, I will fetch the manual for you." Duan Tianya turned and entered the room.

Roughly half a quarter of an hour later,

Duan Tianya emerged and casually tossed a booklet toward Wang Ming.

Wang Ming caught the booklet and tucked it inside his robe, harboring zero worry that the other man might deceive him with a fake.

Even if it were fake, Wang Ming could do nothing to him anyway.

Since that was the case, why not display a bit more grace?

"Hero Duan is truly a man of his word, and I admire you greatly."

"For Tianya, raiding the celestial prison is a trial of nine deaths and a life, and I may never return from this journey. The Illusion Sword was inherited from my master, Nemuri Kyōshirō; I merely wish to prevent its lineage from breaking." Duan Tianya said with a worried expression.

After exchanging a few polite pleasantries,

Wang Ming clearly sensed that Duan Tianya had no desire to converse further with him, so he offered his farewells and departed.

As Wang Ming left, he failed to notice the wary gaze harbored by Ryūyō Hyōsu inside the room behind him.

Wang Ming returned to his dwelling,

gazed at the Illusion Sword resting on the table, flipped through it, and put it down with a helpless sigh.

He didn't dare practice it!

The characters within required guesswork and speculation just to be fully recognized.

The crucial point was that it was written in classical Chinese, and he hadn't the fogging clue what it meant!

Wang Ming could only resort to rote memorization every day, directly imprinting entire visual shapes of unfamiliar characters into his mind.

By now, he had basically memorized all the manuals. Flipping through the Illusion Sword just now was merely to prevent any errors in his memory.

In his boredom, Wang Ming couldn't help recalling the subsequent plot twists in his mind: blowing up the celestial prison, the Marquis faking his death, killing Cao Zhengchun, the Marquis turning completely rogue...

Actually,

Wang Ming deeply admired Zhu Wushi's deep city-states and methods.

Rising step by step from an ignored imperial prince to one of the three most powerful figures of this era, it was practically an inspirational success story!

However, Wang Ming was not optimistic about Zhu Wushi.

Zhu Wushi possessed a fatal weakness—

Suxin!

The crux of the matter was that Zhu Wushi even kept a diary, which reminded Wang Ming of a saying from his past life:

What upright person keeps a diary! Do you?

Suxin was Zhu Wushi's obsession.

That obsession had been transformed by Zhu Wushi into his own conviction.

Bolstered by this conviction, he committed evil deeds with a completely clear conscience.

When slaughtering the eight major sects, Zhu Wushi's thought process was: draining all these scumbags dry and defeating Gu Santong to prove to Suxin that I am the best.

When plotting to seize the imperial throne, his thought process was: the late emperor forbade Suxin from becoming my primary consort. Since the emperor forbids it, then this Prince shall become the emperor.

Using a person as one's conviction!

It was the easiest conviction to establish, provided that person was sufficiently gorgeous, sufficiently outstanding, and sufficiently intoxicating to make one obsessed.

Yet,

such a conviction was also the easiest to collapse.

Because,

that person might not necessarily cherish you with equal fervor.

Once contradictions and divergences arose, problems would easily occur.

As long as Suxin acted out, Zhu Wushi would inevitably suffer a mental breakdown.

Wang Ming had no heart for power struggles or disputes; these matters had nothing to do with him.

Right now, he was waiting.

Waiting for the final opportunity,

waiting to reap one last harvest...

In truth,

his current gains were already more than enough.

Illusion Sword, Hegemon Under Heaven, Thousand Flowers Scatter Money, Heaven and Earth Great Shift—every single one of these martial arts was an ultimate art capable of forging a supreme expert of an era.

Yet to make Wang Ming leave just like this, he was truly reluctant to let go.

If he missed this chance, acquiring martial arts of this tier in the future would be as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Wang Ming knew he lacked the sheer luck of tumbling off a cliff only to pick up martial arts manuals, nor did he possess the privileged treatment of an old beggar showing up at his door selling supreme manuals for ten coins apiece.

Therefore Wang Ming was reluctant to leave now.

If not make a gamble now, then when?

This forty-year-old alcoholic's body lacked any superior cultivation techniques to practice.

And he still wanted to become a master?

Wang Ming didn't care about being a master or not, the key was that this was ancient times!

Forty years old!

In ancient times, for an ordinary person to live to seventy was a rare thing since antiquity.

How good could the body of a Jianghu person who drank heavily year-round and had hidden injuries all over be?

Whether he could live to fifty was a question.

It could be said that he was already half in the grave at this moment.

Without profound internal energy to extend his life, he didn't have much longer to live.

Therefore, even knowing the danger, Wang Ming still kept making reckless moves again and again! Pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth time after time!

Guihai Yidao, Shangguan Haitang, Duan Tianya, and Zhu Wushi—which of them wasn't a ruthless killer who blinked at nothing?

Every time Wang Ming exchanged for a secret manual, it could be said he was walking a tightrope.

This time he intended to make a big gamble.

After plucking this last bit of wool, he would hide away, hiding continuously until Zhu Wushi died.

Then he would come back out to find a village school teacher and an old physician to properly make up for his basic knowledge. The awkwardness of not even being able to understand secret manuals now was something Wang Ming didn't want to experience again.