The Truth Was About to Come Out

Old Man Yang's full name was Yang Ba. He was the eighth child in his family.

He was born in a fishing village near Licheng City.

In his early years, the villagers made their living by fishing, and life was fairly comfortable. Ever since the Former Emperor ascended the throne forty years ago, however, the people's lives had grown worse with each passing day.

The villagers could no longer make ends meet, so they gradually left.

Old Man Yang's brothers and sisters left, too.

Old Man Yang, meanwhile, traveled from village to village, taking odd jobs to help support his family.

Things still weren't too bad at that point.

Then, several years later, a plague took the lives of Old Man Yang's wife and children, plunging his life into darkness.

By this point, Li Ye had all but given up hope of finding anything on Old Man Yang.

He probably wasn't the one who had poisoned the food.

He was just an ordinary, utterly unremarkable commoner.

Suddenly, an image surfaced in Li Ye's mind, and his gaze sharpened.

When Old Man Yang was left alone with no one to rely on, a middle-aged man appeared before him.

He took Old Man Yang into the city, to a wine shop.

It turned out the man was Old Man Yang's nephew, who had fled the famine years earlier. Over the years, he had built up a business in Licheng City.

But fate played a cruel trick. Before long, the nephew was killed by bandits while out buying supplies.

His nephew's wife seized the business and drove Old Man Yang out.

Old Man Yang became a drifter. Later, Old Wu of the Corpse Refining Courtyard came across him and took him up the mountain, where he began cooking and delivering meals.

Li Ye sighed. It wasn't Old Man Yang.

Wei Bo was almost certainly out of the running, too.

That left the owner and his wife at Golden Juice Beef House, along with Niu Er.

"Could it be Niu Er?"

"He's just a street thug, but someone could still pay him to poison the food."

"If Niu Er was paid off, then I need to find the person who hired him."

Li Ye furrowed his brows and continued analyzing. "But if it wasn't Niu Er, then it had to be the owner and his wife."

"Right, there's one thing I overlooked. This afternoon, I thought the poisoner had to be in the Corpse Refining Courtyard, someone who could see me every day."

"But why did they choose the moment Wu Qing brought me beef buns to strike? That suggests the poisoner might not be in the Corpse Refining Courtyard at all."

"Hmm. Golden Juice Beef House's buns are famous, and Wu Qing and the others seem to like them a lot. Could they have the owner and his wife deliver supplies up the mountain?"

It would be easy to confirm. He could ask Wu Qing tomorrow.

Still, Li Ye couldn't remember the Saint having ever eaten buns from Golden Juice Beef House.

If the owner and his wife were behind this poisoning, then it was all but certain that the person behind the earlier poisoning had been someone else.

In other words, the poisoner was very likely backed by some organization.

"I promised to avenge the Saint."

"And I will."

"I don't care who you are or who's backing you. I'll find you."

"Within the next few days."

Li Ye swore silently to himself.

Though he couldn't divine his own Heavenly Secrets, he could exploit a loophole in Daily Divination to indirectly deduce the culprit.

There were only a handful of suspects. A few days would be enough to get an answer.

Li Ye collected himself and continued practicing.

As he circulated the breathing method of the Nine Heavens Crimson Thunder Art to temper his body, he absorbed a Mid-grade Spirit Stone.

He didn't finish his cultivation until the following afternoon.

When he opened his eyes, he noticed that he'd absorbed more than half the Mid-grade Spirit Stone in his hand.

His strength had increased by over two thousand pounds.

Knock, knock, knock!

A knock came at the door.

Li Ye's gaze sharpened. He knew Old Man Yang had brought him beef buns again.

He got up and opened the door. An oil-paper bag sat outside.

Inside were five steaming buns.

Li Ye shut the door, took one out, and began eating with relish.

After a while, he keenly sensed his cultivation beginning to fade.

"The poison was only administered yesterday, and they've done it again today."

"This poison could ruin someone with just one dose."

"Are they really that eager to see me dead?"

A cold gleam appeared in Li Ye's eyes.

Then he kept eating.

He ate four buns, then tossed the last one into his Spatial Storage Bag.

Finally, he forced the poison out.

Rumble!

The breathing method of the Nine Heavens Crimson Thunder Art surged into motion, and countless Crimson Electric Arcs burst from Li Ye's body.

Time passed as the poison was slowly expelled from his body.

Night fell:

Two Corpse Deliverers carried in a body. After placing it in the Corpse Incineration Hall, they left.

They didn't say a word to Li Ye.

A short while later, the Black-Clad Academicians streamed in. With his subordinates watching from either side, Wu Qing strode in with the bearing of a dragon and tiger.

"How have the beef buns been these past few days? Are you getting used to them?"

Wu Qing asked Li Ye with a genial smile.

Perhaps he felt guilty because he'd drawn the winning lot several times.

Wu Qing was no longer as cold toward Li Ye, a lowly Corpse Incinerator, as he had been at first.

Every now and then, he even spoke to him.

"They're truly a delicacy of the Human World."

"I take it this bun shop is doing very well."

Li Ye replied.

"Golden Juice Beef House's buns are famous far and wide. Of course business is good," Wu Qing said.

"Even we crave them. We get hungry for another taste if we go two days without them."

Li Ye smiled. "Your liking them is an honor for Golden Juice Beef House."

Wu Qing laughed heartily. "I like the sound of that. No matter how well Golden Juice Beef House is doing, they still have to set some aside for me every day."

"When I'm busy, I have the owner bring some up."

Li Ye's eyes lit up. So the owner of Golden Juice Beef House really did come to the Corpse Refining Courtyard often.

His suspicion of the man had grown considerably.

Tonight, he'd test him.

Li Ye entered the cremation room:

The Corpse Refining Courtyard hadn't sent roast chicken, so the odds of the corpse rising were low.

The corpse appeared to belong to a young man from an influential family, somewhere in his twenties.

Dense red spots covered his body. They weren't livor mortis, but the red hair that was about to sprout.

In other words, Corpse Transformation.

But the process was slow.

Judging from the wound, the man must have died around noon that day.

Li Ye completed the task without a hitch.

He gained a thousand pounds of strength.

His strength now stood at sixty-four thousand seven hundred pounds.

After finishing his work, Li Ye took out the Mid-grade Spirit Stone he hadn't completely absorbed and continued cultivating.

He'd barely slept these past few days, but he was still full of energy.

He didn't feel the slightest bit drowsy.

Time drifted by, and before long, it was the middle of the night.

Daily Divination refreshed.

Li Ye opened his eyes and paused his cultivation.

He silently recited the Daily Divination incantation, picturing the owner of the beef bun shop in his mind.

Buzz!

In the next moment, his Mental Magnetic Field changed, merging with heaven and earth.

He felt as though he had become master of the world.

All-knowing.

The Heavenly Secrets tied to his thoughts immediately gathered in his mind.

Lu Fang: owner of Golden Juice Beef House.

Age: fifty-two.

Ancestral home: Cangzhou.

He started working odd jobs at thirteen and became a long-term laborer at eighteen.

Clever and quick-witted, he earned his employer's favor, and they recommended him to study under the head chef of a place called God of Cookery Residence.

Three years later, he completed his training and started a small business of his own.

A year after that, a matchmaker introduced him to Fan Chunfang, a woman two years older than him, and he married her.

After their wedding, they ran the small business together.

Because times were hard, business rose and fell. Eventually, they made their way to Licheng City.

They had been there for more than twenty years.

Li Ye's expression turned dazed.

It wasn't the owner of Golden Juice Beef House.

Could it be Niu Er?

But Niu Er had no way to get into the Corpse Refining Courtyard.

"Unless there are two people involved in poisoning and keeping an eye on me."

"One person watches me in the Corpse Refining Courtyard, while the other handles the poisoning."

"Who could be watching me?"

Li Ye wondered.

He really wasn't good at deducing things.

After failing twice before, Li Ye treated this theory as a hypothesis, not a certainty.

But if Niu Er was involved, then there had to be someone else secretly watching him in the Corpse Refining Courtyard.

That much was certain.

Li Ye wasn't in a hurry.

He had plenty of time to find the poisoner.

He decided to test Niu Er tomorrow.

Li Ye continued cultivating, absorbing the Spirit Stone.

A sense of urgency weighed on him. For one thing, in half a year he'd have to help Flower Demon deal with Mad Devil.

For another, he was about to find the culprit who had killed the Saint.

That person was likely connected to some great power.

Someone like Niu Er or Lu Fang wouldn't dare poison the Saint even if they had ten times the nerve.

By noon the next day, Li Ye had finally absorbed the entire Mid-grade Spirit Stone.

He took out a second one and continued absorbing it.

Before long, evening arrived.

Old Man Yang brought him two Steamed Corn Buns.

After eating them, Li Ye found they were normal. No poison.

Not long afterward, the Corpse Deliverers arrived.

Li Ye completed his task without incident and gained a thousand pounds of strength.

After the Black-Clad Academicians left, he shut the door and continued cultivating.

The bright moon hung high, and midnight was upon him.

Li Ye opened his eyes.

He began another divination.

He had divined Niu Er.

The result was a huge disappointment.

Niu Er was just an ordinary street-level nobody who idled away his days.

He was a gambler.

He often did petty, underhanded things, but there was nothing unusual about him.

"Since it wasn't Niu Er, then... that leaves the proprietress of Golden Juice Beef House."

"And Wei Bo."

"The poisoner must be one of those two."

Li Ye murmured.

Only then did he remember that he had merely followed Wei Bo that night. After seeing him return home to visit his wife, who was about to give birth, he had assumed Wei Bo was unlikely to be involved.

He had subconsciously ruled him out.

But Li Ye hadn't used Heavenly Secrets to confirm Wei Bo's identity or background.

The truth was about to come to light.

Just one more day!

"Whether it's Wei Bo or the proprietress of Golden Juice Beef House, they're both just pawns. The real culprit must be someone else..."

Li Ye murmured.

Holy Son, we're about to find our enemy.

Tomorrow night. Tomorrow night, for sure.

I'll avenge you.

Whoever it is, they won't get away.

Waiting was torture.

But now that the critical moment had arrived, Li Ye had instead grown utterly calm.

He looked as though nothing had happened.

He continued his training, absorbing the Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Stones to temper his body.

The next afternoon, Old Man Yang brought him two more Steamed Corn Buns.

After eating them, Li Ye still found no poison.

Before long, two Corpse Deliverers arrived carrying a corpse.

Li Ye got to work.

When he was done, he continued cultivating.

At last, midnight came.

'Daily Divination' refreshed.

Li Ye opened his eyes, his face as though veiled in a thin layer of frost.

"Who could it be?"

"Let's divine the proprietress, Fan Chunfang."

Li Ye murmured, picking a target at random.

There were only two of them left.

Either the proprietress or Wei Bo.

So Li Ye silently recited the 'Daily Divination' incantation and divined the Heavenly Secrets.

The next moment, information about the proprietress appeared in Li Ye's mind...