"During the day, all the demonic qi on Red Maple Mountain withdrew into the roots. That man deliberately kept you from noticing, so naturally, you knew nothing. He had plenty of crooked, sinister methods at his disposal. Ordinary cultivators couldn't deal with him."
Here, Red Maple paused before continuing, "Besides that, there were the Red Maple Leaf marks. I heard you had otherworldly eyes. Surely you noticed something wrong with those marks?"
Su Jiu considered it, then answered honestly. "Although the spiritual qi on them was dense, I could still sense a trace of yin qi mixed into it. They were supposedly meant to protect the city's residents, but to me, they felt more like a means of surveillance-using those people to monitor everything happening in the city."
Red Maple nodded. "Yes. Why else do you think someone intercepted you so precisely the moment you entered the bounds of Red Maple Mountain?"
Su Jiu froze briefly. "He sent those people?"
Red Maple sneered. "Why would he personally involve himself in something like that? It was suggestion through the marks."
"That trace of yin evil qi you sensed came from him. He could transfer his wishes into any mark at any time, turning them into a suggestion. Those people intercepted you because they were under his suggestion."
"The same went for anyone else who tried to enter Red Maple Mountain?"
Red Maple nodded. "More or less."
Red Maple lowered his eyes slightly and murmured, "Can you understand how that feels? I used the city's residents, people who liked me and trusted me, to spread rumors and make them hate every outsider. Even the protection and blessings I gave them were tainted by my own selfish interests." Every blessing he bestowed contained that man's yin evil qi...
Su Jiu did not offer