The mastermind behind everything that happened tonight was, of course, Yue Wen.
Knowing full well that six people would participate in the selection for Branch Leader, he had asked the Supernatural Affairs Bureau to send only five captains to lie in ambush. The plan was to kill four of the five participants other than himself and spare one.
In a sense, Meng Mo really was lucky.
He happened to be the only Demonic Cultivator who never encountered an Astral Realm Guard. He could search for Dark Fiend Fruit the whole way and leave safely once he finished picking it. Not only would the people from the Supernatural Affairs Bureau not intercept him, they would even notify one another to steer clear of him.
But once he emerged, he would face Yue Wen-who had fought his way out with Dark Fiend Fruit, cutting through every obstacle, covered in the blood of Supernatural Affairs Bureau Captains.
Meanwhile, he himself would have strolled out through a raging storm as easily as if he had gone strawberry picking at a farm.
With that contrast, anyone would grow suspicious.
The fruit in Dark Fiend Grove had been tampered with in advance. Several nearby Dark Fiend Fruits had been picked and then reattached using a Secret Art. The one Meng Mo picked was an old fruit through and through.
Once he handed over that Dark Fiend Fruit and it was compared with Yue Wen's, it would all but confirm that his had been prepared beforehand.
Who the mole was would go without saying.
Even saving Tang Mo had been part of Yue Wen's calculations. He had chosen Fang Qingcang, the strongest of the captains, and told him to pick one unlucky participant, destroy their Main Battle Corpse Puppet, and gravely injure them before sparing their life