Aaaah~ ε＝ε＝ε＝(#＞д＜)ﾉ
The undercover agent let out a mournful wail.
"He should have returned to Shu Mountain already. Find him!" Liu Qiushui said coldly.
The undercover agent nodded repeatedly. "Hall Master, I understand. I'll find Murong Mo. Do we need to get rid of him?"
"No. Just trick him out of Shu Mountain."
"Yes!"
After cutting off contact, the undercover agent climbed back up from the ground.
"Murong Mo..."
"Wasn't he dead long ago? The Murong Lineage even held a funeral for him. I went to the feast too and gave five thousand spirit stones as a gift. Could that have been fake?
"This was outright scamming people for funeral drinks! My five thousand spirit stones!!"
The undercover agent mourned his spirit stones for a moment.
The undercover agent was Song Qize, a disciple of Little Qiong Peak.
Song Qize's journey to becoming an undercover agent for Asura Hall was a winding one indeed.
Many years ago, while traveling down the mountain, he encountered Liu Qiushui, who was likewise traveling below the mountain.
At the time, Liu Qiushui was recuperating from her injuries and had disguised herself as a Rogue Cultivator living in a small town.
Song Qize was conquered by Liu Qiushui's beauty at first sight, naively believing that love had finally come for him.
When he learned Liu Qiushui's identity, Song Qize could not help throwing back his head and roaring at the heavens.
"Why! Why! Heaven toys with men—are we destined never to be together?"
Liu Qiushui had originally not wanted to pay Song Qize any mind, since she did not wish to offend Shu Mountain either.
Yet she quickly saw that he seemed useful to her.
And so Song Qize was lured into Asura Hall by Liu Qiushui. Coaxed with temptations and threatened with force, he became an undercover agent for Asura Hall from then on.
Song Qize clutched his aching chest and muttered:
"Qiushui seems to have grown even prettier.
"She said she wanted me to find Murong Mo? Could it really be that she just wanted to see me? Did she miss me?"
Song Qize left Little Qiong Peak, greeted the passing Silver Sword Peak disciple Li Xuanxiao, and headed toward the Murong Lineage.
Li Xuanxiao, meanwhile, turned and gave Song Qize a puzzled glance.
Had he just heard the name Murong Mo??
In an instant, alarm bells blared in Li Xuanxiao's heart.
"..."
This time, Li Xuanxiao had spent nearly half a year descending the mountain to undergo his tribulation.
After returning, he exchanged Shu Mountain's command arrow.
He explained the reason for his return: he had failed his tribulation, recuperated outside, and only then returned to Shu Mountain.
The moment he returned to Silver Sword Peak, he saw his junior sister Zhao Lu.
She was strolling about with grand swagger.
A yellow dog in her left hand, a gray hawk in her right.
"Senior Brother, you're finally back."
Zhao Lu jumped three zhang into the air.
She opened her arms and rushed over to hug Li Xuanxiao.
Li Xuanxiao nimbly dodged aside and lightly tapped her forehead with a finger.
"Have you been cultivating properly?"
"Yes, yes."
Zhao Lu nodded like a pounding garlic pestle, her large bright eyes fixed on her senior brother.
"Senior Brother, did you succeed in your tribulation?"
"No."
Li Xuanxiao was not worried in the slightest that his cultivation would be exposed.
He wore a layer of Spirit Concealing Cloak and a layer of Spirit Concealing Undergarment.
The Spirit Concealing Cloak had been left to him by the old man.
He also cultivated the Spirit Concealing Art, which allowed him to control the spiritual energy around his body and conceal his cultivation.
Of course, before beings on the level of Di Nüfeng and Liu Qiushui, any concealment was meaningless.
Zhao Lu nodded and muttered softly, "If Senior Brother says he failed, then according to his personality, he must have succeeded. Senior Brother claims to be at the peak of Qi Refinement, but he should actually be at Foundation Establishment. This time, if he broke through, then he must be at the Golden Core stage."
Li Xuanxiao: ...
Little Junior Sister, you have already paved your road to death!!
"Has there been any news within the sect lately?"
Li Xuanxiao asked.
Zhao Lu skillfully pulled out her little notebook and told Li Xuanxiao all the recent gossip she had heard within the sect.
Li Xuanxiao was somewhat absentminded, thinking of the Shu Mountain Disciple he had encountered just after returning to the mountain gate.
Song Qize.
There were more than ten thousand people in Shu Mountain, and with the disciples of Servant Peak included, the total was even greater.
So it was unlikely that any disciple would know everyone in Shu Mountain from top to bottom.
Naturally, Li Xuanxiao was an exception. He even knew the Sweeping Grandfather from Servant Peak.
In his contingency plans,
he had even imagined that the Sweeping Grandfather from Servant Peak was actually a reclusive master.
Because the cafeteria auntie had been looked down upon by Shu Mountain disciples and bullied to death,
the old man would then unleash his might and wipe out Shu Mountain's entire sect...
Thus, Li Xuanxiao occasionally went to Servant Peak to chat up the cafeteria auntie.
He had even stopped a conflict once.
The reason was that while eating fish, a disciple had been slapped across the face three times by a spirit fish that had not quite died yet.
Furious, the disciple went to argue with the auntie.
Seeing the two growing more agitated with every word, Li Xuanxiao happened to pass by. He hurriedly played peacemaker to calm things down and even compensated the disciple with some spirit stones.
He just did not know why the auntie looked at him so strangely afterward.
After the Sweeping Grandfather learned of the matter, he looked at Li Xuanxiao even more strangely, faintly as though he were looking at an enemy.
Li Xuanxiao checked his junior sister's studies, then went to greet several senior brothers and senior sisters.
When they learned that Li Xuanxiao had failed to break through, they all offered words of comfort.
Little Junior Brother, you are still young. There will be plenty of chances in the future... and so on.
Afterward, Li Xuanxiao investigated the connection between Song Qize and Murong Mo.
The two had carried out missions together before, more than once.
When the Murong Lineage held Murong Mo's funeral, Song Qize had gone as well and given five thousand spirit stones as a condolence gift.
Could the two have been friends closer than brothers?
Was he investigating the truth behind Murong Mo's death?
Although Li Xuanxiao was certain that his murder of Murong Mo had been flawless beyond reproach,
there was still Su Wan, a bug-level existence.
She had actually deduced that he had killed Murong Mo because he loved her...
The sheer size of that leap in logic left Li Xuanxiao utterly shocked.
Sure enough, a hardworking player like Li Xuanxiao was far inferior to an absurd existence like Su Wan.
The slightest effort from her was already a limit beyond Li Xuanxiao's imagination.
Li Xuanxiao asked around about Song Qize's itinerary. He had gone to the Murong Lineage!
Could Song Qize have heard some heaven-defying nonsense from Su Wan, believed it completely,
and told the Murong Lineage about it?
Li Xuanxiao clasped his hands behind his back and paced back and forth inside the room.
"..."
Several days later, Song Qize returned to Shu Mountain.
He had already visited the Murong Lineage.
Murong Mo's body had never been found when he died, so his family had only erected a cenotaph for him.
Song Qize also sought out the people who had acted alongside Murong Mo that time.
But Senior Sister Su Wan was in seclusion.
Little Junior Sister Jiang Luoshui did not care about Murong Mo's life or death at all. When Song Qize mentioned Murong Mo, she even froze for quite a while, as though trying to remember who Murong Mo was.
So she dragged Song Qize along and chirped away about Su Wan for quite some time.
Song Qize was speechless.
Still, he obtained an important piece of information.
Li Xuanxiao had also disappeared alongside Murong Mo at the time.
So he came to Silver Sword Peak to find Li Xuanxiao.
He just did not know why Li Xuanxiao's gaze seemed a little off when he looked at him.
Maybe it was just an illusion.
That was what Song Qize thought.
Song Qize:
Before you continue