The Mastermind (Part 2)

Celestial Sea Commerce Association?

He Sheng, hidden outside the ruined temple, frowned slightly. He had not expected the force connected to Ji Yunlai to be one so completely beyond his expectations.

"I thought Ji Yunlai's backers would be one of the other major Foundation Establishment families, with the mastermind being among them. But it seems that is not the case at all."

The thought flashed through his mind.

He Sheng continued to lock onto the Ghost-Masked Envoy with his divine sense. Without the slightest hesitation, he unleashed his self-created transcendent art, Water-Gathering Break, once more!

Inside the ruined temple, Countless tiny droplets seemed to receive an order, instantly surging backward into the Ghost-Masked Envoy through the pores of his skin, his open mouth and nostrils, even his fearfully widened eye sockets!

With his defenses gone, the Ghost-Masked Envoy had no chance to say another word. His body was like a balloon bursting in an instant, exploding from within.

Flesh, bones, and shattered organs mixed together, turning into a scarlet mist of blood. Along with the black robe, they were ripped to pieces by the terrifying water pressure and splattered across every wall of the ruined temple.

A single strike, a certain kill!

He Sheng sensed with his divine sense and confirmed that the man was dead beyond all doubt before revealing himself.

Although his cultivation was two minor realms higher than the other's, he had only transmigrated here recently, and this was also his first time fighting another cultivator. Naturally, he proceeded with the utmost caution.

First, he had used both pressure and divine sense to suppress his opponent, leaving him unable to grasp even a trace of He Sheng's presence. Then he had consecutively unleashed his trump card, Water-Gathering Break, killing him in one sweep.

Yet even though the other man was already dead, He Sheng remained exceedingly cautious and did not enter the temple at once.

He spread his divine sense wide again. Empowered by the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm, his perception instantly covered a radius of more than ten li. Supplementing it with soul-mark sensing, he ensured there were no other cultivators nearby before entering the ruined temple.

Within the temple, amid the mangled flesh strewn across the ground, only the head wearing the bronze mask remained relatively intact.

He Sheng raised a hand and drew it into his grasp.

The Soul-Searching Art activated instantly.

Hiss!

In an instant, A shriek so miserable it barely sounded human erupted from within the Ghost-Masked Envoy's sea of consciousness. Like more than a hundred red-hot steel needles, it frantically surged back along He Sheng's divine-sense connection!

His divine sense was actually this strong?!

Soul-searching could trigger backlash from the target's soul. The stronger their divine sense had been in life, the stronger the backlash.

He Sheng had originally thought that, being two minor realms above the man, such backlash would pose no threat. But the present situation had clearly exceeded his expectations.

Surprised though he was, He Sheng was not the least bit flustered.

At once, he activated the soul-protection method he had comprehended earlier within his sea of consciousness—

Soul-Scattering Thousand Stars!

His divine sense and soul essence instantly split apart, transforming into thousands upon thousands of fragmented points of starlight that scattered into every corner of his sea of consciousness.

The next moment, The shrieking backlash, enough to severely wound the soul of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, viciously pierced into He Sheng's sea of consciousness.

Yet that violent force struck only emptiness, like a heavy fist landing on cotton, like a sharp sword thrust into the starry sky.

Unable to find any point of purchase, it could only howl futilely through the gaps between countless grains of "starlight."

The crisis dissolved without a trace.

Hoo...

He Sheng let out a soft breath. This Ghost-Masked Envoy did have some skill after all—despite being only at Foundation Establishment Early Stage, his divine sense was comparable to that of Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.

By the time his soul had reassembled, that powerful backlash had already exhausted itself.

He Sheng probed in again. This time, there was no obstruction. A vast flood of memory fragments surged into his sea of consciousness like waters bursting through a collapsed dam.

"Wu Feng?

He really is a steward of the Celestial Sea Commerce Association."

The Ghost-Masked Envoy's true name was Wu Feng. More precisely, he was an honored second-tier artifact refiner under the Lower River Branch of the Celestial Sea Commerce Association.

The Celestial Sea Commerce Association was a major merchant association that operated throughout the three provinces under Supreme Mystery Orthodox Unity.

"This Celestial Sea Commerce Association has quite the background. In Brother Piao's memories, he believed that the association had deep ties to one of the three great sects within Supreme Mystery Orthodox Unity, the Eight Views Sect. It is an existence best avoided whenever possible."

As He Sheng understood it, the so-called Supreme Mystery Orthodox Unity was a kind of alliance of orthodox mystical sects, composed of dozens of sects large and small.

Golden Cloud Sect of Ten Thousand Stars Mountain was merely an outer vassal sect of Supreme Mystery Orthodox Unity and could not yet be considered an official member.

Supreme Mystery Orthodox Unity governed the three provinces of Xia, Qi, and Hui. The Silver Sand River lay south of Qi Province's border, with the Muddy Dragon River forming Qi Province's southern boundary.

Simply put, the Silver Sand River region was not within the sphere of influence of Supreme Mystery Orthodox Unity. It was a barren, spiritually impoverished no-man's land between Qi Province to the north and Chu Province to the south, known as True Province.

"According to Wu Feng's memories, he had approached Ji Yunlai under orders from Lin Wanrou, the person in charge of the Lower River Branch, and planted a soul-devouring gu in him to gain complete control over him.

And in several conversations between Wu Feng and Lin Wanrou, Lin Wanrou displayed undisguised killing intent toward Brother Piao.

If so, then Lin Wanrou is the mastermind who plotted to kill Brother Piao?"

Judging from Wu Feng's memories, that was most likely the truth.

What puzzled He Sheng was that, in Brother Piao's memories, he had hardly ever dealt with Lin Wanrou. Why had this woman set up a death trap specifically for Brother Piao?

Wu Feng knew nothing about that. He had merely acted on Lin Wanrou's orders.

To put it plainly, he had been nothing more than a chess piece tasked with carrying them out.

"Still, Wu Feng never expected Ji Yunlai to make such a huge move, stripping the He Family's secret treasury completely bare and stirring greed in his own heart..."

Through the soul search, He Sheng could clearly sense that before Wu Feng died, he had developed other intentions. Once he learned from Ji Yunlai where the remaining hidden supplies were, he intended to take the whole lot for himself and flee south to Chu Province.

Chu Province to the south was the territory of the True Dao of Netherworld Communion. This great power had never gotten along with the Supreme Mystery Orthodox Unity, and the two had erupted into many major wars in the past.

It was not until another formidable enemy rose in the east of both factions, its strength even faintly surpassing theirs, that the Supreme Mystery Orthodox Unity and the True Dao of Netherworld Communion finally settled down.

For the past several centuries, the two sides had maintained a surface peace, while True Province served as a buffer zone between them.

He Sheng tossed aside Wu Feng's head, then swept it up with his magic power, thoroughly destroying the corpse and erasing every trace.

He then drew over the two storage pouches Wu Feng had left behind. One naturally belonged to Wu Feng himself, while the other was the storage pouch Ji Yunlai had handed over.

"They really don't add up!"

He Sheng swept his divine sense through the storage pouch Ji Yunlai had presented. Inside were only fifteen hundred mid-grade spirit stones—equivalent to one hundred and fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones.

Aside from that, there were another twenty-one magical artifacts, mostly mid- and high-grade artifacts, with only one supreme-grade artifact.

As for pills, there were merely a dozen or so scattered bottles.

"He Weizhen reported that more than four hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones had been lost, along with forty-six magical artifacts and a massive quantity of pills.

The supplies Ji Yunlai handed over were not even half of what He Weizhen reported!

Was Ji Yunlai truly so brazen as to dare such a theft? Or had He Weizhen stolen from the treasury himself, using this incident to wipe clean his previous bad debts?"