Starting to Catch the Turncoats

The arrest warrant was released.

Every cultivator would be tempted.

But to kill a sword cultivator at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm... there are very few in the entire southern part of the Nine Heavens Continent who can do it.

Meanwhile, Tang Yu, who was rumored to be seriously injured, was currently eating melon seeds in the Cluster Jade Pavilion.

When Liu Yanlan, accompanied by a Supreme Elder, fought Meng Zihao in a battle that shook the heavens and earth.

Tang Yu smeared some fake blood on himself and lay on the ground pretending to be dead.

When Liu Yanlan carried her back to the Cluster Jade Pavilion afterwards, the entire Jade Maiden Sect witnessed it.

Once back in the Cluster Jade Pavilion, Tang Yu no longer needed to pretend.

He ate sunflower seeds while staring at the mirror artifact in front of him.

This mirror magic weapon needs to be used in conjunction with an array. As long as the array is set up in advance, everything within the array's range can be clearly observed.

I spent several dozen high-grade spirit stones to buy this thing, originally intending to practice on those hot springs that were the favorite of the female disciples of the Joyous Union Sect.

As a result, it was discovered by an elder after only being used twice.

After Tang Yu used the excuse of checking to see if any bad people were spying on the female disciples to get away with it, a formation was set up at the hot spring, and he never had the chance to go and check again.

Nangong Ying and Liu Yanlan were sitting next to Tang Yu at that moment.

After confirming that Tang Yu was alright, Nangong Ying hugged the Nine-Tailed Jade Fox and placed it on her long legs, stroking it as she pleased.

Liu Yanlan looked at Tang Yu with a worried expression and asked.

Are you sure you can trust Meng Zihao?

She only just found out that Tang Yu and Meng Zihao had been working together behind the scenes.

And the entire southern part of the Nine Heavens Continent knows this.

This powerful sword cultivator, to all things, became infatuated with Fang Meiyun of the Jade Maiden Sect.

It is said that Fang Meiyun was extremely abused by her father when she was young, which caused her to develop a hatred for men.

After becoming the leader of a sect, Fang Meiyun often had two attitudes towards cultivators who offended the Jade Maiden Sect.

If a female cultivator offends the Jade Maiden Sect, then she should be punished accordingly.

If a male cultivator offended the Jade Maiden Sect, it would be considered a mercy for her to leave him with a whole corpse.

The two have been entangled in a tragic love affair for hundreds of years, yet Meng Zihao is willing to stand on the side of Tang Yu, Fang Meiyun's mortal enemy.

If this were told to others, probably no one would believe it.

"What does it mean that Brother Meng has been obsessed with a vile woman like Fang Meiyun for hundreds of years? It means he's a devoted and passionate man."

"As kindred spirits, our friendship is naturally beyond question..."

Tang Yu was about to launch into a long speech.

Liu Yanlan said irritably, "Speak like a human being."

"I helped him suppress Fang Meiyun so he could win over the ugly woman, and in return, he protected my personal safety."

Tang Yu said succinctly.

"..."

Liu Yanlan felt a headache coming on after hearing this answer.

If Tang Yu hadn't told her, she would never have believed it, even if she died.

"Senior sister, I may not be good at much else, but I'm good at judging people. You can rest assured about that."

Tang Yu waved his hand to indicate that he didn't need to worry, and then suddenly reached out and patted Liu Yanlan's thigh.

Upon seeing this guy's actions, Nangong Ying immediately widened her eyes and exclaimed.

"Tang Yu, what are you doing???"

Liu Yanlan also looked at Tang Yu with a question mark in her eyes.

This kid's getting increasingly audacious, isn't he?

"No, I'm in a hurry to show you this. See, I told you this kid is a traitor."

Tang Yu pointed to the mirror beside him and said, "Gu Baodao."

With a thought, clouds and mist drifted out from the mirror and condensed into a picture that all three of them could see clearly.

The man in the picture is Ma Shitu, a core disciple of the Joyous Union Sect.

He was only half a step away from the Nascent Soul stage, and he was quite famous among the core disciples. Many elders had high hopes for him.

At that moment, Ma Shitu had just returned to his cultivation cave. With a joyful expression, he took out a flying sword for transmitting messages and used his true essence to write the message he wanted to convey into the flying sword.

After finishing writing, he set up a temporary teleportation array and sent the message-carrying flying sword directly away.

Seeing Ma Shitu's strange behavior, Liu Yanlan and Nangong Ying both realized that something was wrong.

Putting everything else aside, the grade of his communication flying sword alone is extremely high; it would cost at least several dozen high-grade spirit stones to acquire.

Using it even once costs a considerable amount of spirit stones.

This guy went to such lengths, even using a teleportation array to conceal the flying sword's location.

What else could it be but doing shady things?

"I'd like to see where his flying sword went."

Liu Yanlan made hand seals and began to deduce, and after a moment she opened her eyes and looked in the southeast direction.

After being teleported, the flying sword headed towards the Jade Maiden Sect.

Ma Shitu is truly a traitor.

After confirming the guy's identity, Liu Yanlan pondered for a moment and then looked at Tang Yu and asked.

"What do you plan to do with this guy?"

According to the rules of the Joyous Union Sect, those who betray the sect will have their souls extracted and refined in public, then burned like a sky lamp for forty-nine days before turning to ashes. Even reincarnation becomes a distant dream.

"Don't rush to kill him, I'll torture this guy first."

Tang Yu chuckled and started chatting with Liu Yanlan about the secret realm again.

Upon learning that the Jade Maiden Sect had discovered a secret realm, Liu Yanlan became quite serious.

For a sect to develop, such secluded realms brimming with opportunities are extremely important.

Back then, the Fire Spirit Sect was just a second-rate sect. It was only after one of its founders stumbled upon an ancient secret realm and received a divine gift left behind by an ancient powerful being that the Fire Spirit Sect soared to its current heights.

"I will arrange for someone to investigate soon."

After a brief discussion, Liu Yanlan, along with Nangong Ying, prepared to begin handling the matter.

Tang Yu, on the other hand, strolled leisurely towards the Four Arts Academy.

Ma Shitu was in high spirits after delivering the flying sword to the Jade Maiden Sect.

That damned Tang Yu, now that he's seriously injured, should have all his meridians destroyed as well!

After secretly completing this task behind his partner's back, Ma Shitu hurriedly headed to the Four Arts Academy.

Today is practice day. Lately, for some reason, the resonance between me and my Daoist partner is not as strong as before. We are not in sync and have even become more distant.

This left him completely baffled.

Now that they've become partners, and she hasn't done anything wrong, she has no reason to be dissatisfied with herself.

After thinking it over, he realized that his piano skills might have fallen behind.

The fact that their cultivation partner broke through to a higher realm ahead of schedule explained their current situation.

So today he wanted to practice his zither properly, so that the two of them could play together in harmony at the place where they first met, and incidentally break through to the Nascent Soul Realm in one fell swoop.

When he arrived, his Daoist partner Hu Lingbao, was lighting incense in the pavilion in the middle of the lake.

"Bao'er."

Ma Shitu flew happily to his Daoist companion's side, took her hand, and said softly with a smile.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, something just happened to take a while."

"It's alright, as long as you're ready."

Hu Lingbao smiled and shook her head, a hint of well-hidden guilt in her eyes.

Since the last time I resonated with my Grandmaster Tang Yu and unintentionally cultivated both my soul and spirit.

She discovered that a change had occurred between her and her Daoist partner.

The two continued to interact as before.

But once she tried dual cultivation of spirit and soul, she only felt empty inside, and even somewhat bored.

She occasionally ran into her grandmaster Tang Yu, and felt a tightness in her chest, always wanting to talk things out with him.

Unfortunately, his grandmaster uncle always ignored him and left quickly whenever he encountered him.

This made the knot in her heart even more difficult to untie.

"I hope today will be the same as before."

Hu Lingbao bit her lip and took a deep breath, placing her slender hands on the strings of the zither in an effort to calm her mind.

Let's begin.

Seeing that his Daoist partner was ready, Ma Shitu, who had been waiting for a long time, picked up his xiao (a type of vertical bamboo flute) and began to play.

At the same time, Hu Lingbao placed his hands on the strings of the zither.

The two pieces of music began to intertwine, and the two people skillfully resonated with each other, their souls merging into one.

Right from the very first moment.

Tang Yu's dog stealthily appeared not far from the two.

He murmured something under his breath, then took out a jade flute and stood by the lake to begin playing.