How Did the Tragic Xiao Yicai Give Himself Away?

At noon the next day, at the Qingyun Sect camp

Because of his injuries, Xiao Yicai was lying on a makeshift stone bed with his back against the rock wall. Only Cang Song, Tian Buyi, and Hao Shuai were with him; the other disciples had been temporarily sent away.

Without realizing it, Tian Buyi and Cang Song had come to regard Hao Shuai as one of their peers. Whenever something came up, they would include him.

Hao Shuai looked at Xiao Yicai, whose injuries had improved after a night's rest, and asked curiously, "Senior Brother, how did you run into the Ghost King Sect's main force?"

That question had been nagging at Hao Shuai all night. Now that he had the chance, he had to get to the bottom of it.

After all, in the original story, Xiao Yicai had used the alias Little Zhou to infiltrate the Blood Refining Hall. By following Old Man Nian and the others, he had managed to join the demonic sect's forces at Liubo Mountain.

But Old Man Nian had already died in the Abyss of the Dead, and the Blood Refining Hall had practically been wiped out. So how had Xiao Yicai infiltrated the demonic sect—and then been exposed?

Xiao Yicai smiled and said, "That day, on my master's orders, I infiltrated Kong Sang Mountain to investigate the demonic sect's movements. As expected, I found remnants of the Blood Refining Hall active there. But after covertly observing them from all sides, I determined that they weren't much of a threat and could be ignored. I did hear them mention the Holy Cult several times, though, as if the demonic sect had some major secret operation underway. To find out what was going on, I took the alias Little Zhou. They happened to be