Chapter 742: Exposed

Volume 3, Chapter 5: Renowned in One Region

"Impossible. Where's the token? I clearly saw him put it into his storage pouch." After a moment, the person exclaimed.

Then, still unwilling, he emptied the contents of his storage pouch onto the ground.

A white mist sprayed from the opening, revealing a pile of low-grade magic tools and a sparse few low-tier spirit stones on the ground.

As soon as he saw what was on the ground, his face turned deathly pale. Green light suddenly erupted from his body, and without a word, he transformed into a soaring rainbow of light, fleeing towards the temple entrance.

A long sigh echoed in the main hall. Immediately after, the silver walls shimmered, and layer upon layer of silver light screens emerged like waves, forming a colossal light barrier that enveloped the fleeing person.

The person snorted coldly. His escape light showed no sign of stopping; instead, he slapped a pouch at his waist with one hand. A dark, pangolin-like spirit beast shot out from the pouch, crashing head-on into the barrier wall ahead.

A dull thud sounded. The silver barrier wall didn't even shake, simply bouncing the spirit beast back.

Seeing this, the person's heart sank, but then he gritted his teeth and spat out a blue flying fork. Instantly, the magic treasure and his escape light merged, forming a thick blue rainbow that also struck hard against the barrier wall.

Another rumbling thud came. The blue light was mercilessly bounced back several feet, swirling once before nearly falling to the ground.

"Brother Gu, there's no need to exert yourself. This main hall is actually the core of the entire Yellow Dragon Mountain formation and where the restrictions are most potent. Since you've fallen into it, don't even think about getting out." A faint voice echoed in the main hall, extremely familiar, as if it were the voice of the bald-browed man.

"So you weren't truly dead. That dead body earlier was a flesh puppet, wasn't it? I've long heard that the Nine Nations Alliance has a mysterious cultivator skilled in refining flesh-and-blood puppets identical to the person themselves, making it impossible to distinguish true from false. I never imagined it was actually true." The light within the blue barrier retracted, revealing a figure: Gu Shuangpu of the Spirit Taming Sect.

However, his face was pale, and his eyes were gloomy. Yet, he still managed to maintain his composure.

"Brother Gu certainly knows a great deal about our Nine Nations Alliance, even knowing a thing or two about substitute puppets. That's right. What you just destroyed was indeed merely a substitute I was controlling. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator like yourself couldn't discern the difference, which shows how it can truly pass for the real thing from the outside."

White light shimmered outside the hall, revealing the bald-browed man's figure. He gazed at Gu Shuangpu in the light barrier, then looked at the substitute, which had turned into a pool of foul blood, and said indifferently.

"Hmph! What good is looking similar on the outside! If it weren't for my fear of arousing your suspicion, I wouldn't have dared to thoroughly scan your substitute with my divine sense. Could a mere empty shell really deceive me? Besides, I should have realized it sooner. Although the Twin-tailed Jade Serpent, meticulously cultivated by me for hundreds of years, is incredibly poisonous, it shouldn't have been able to easily kill a Nascent Soul cultivator. I originally only intended to severely injure you with it. But since it struck successfully, I mistakenly underestimated the spirit serpent's venom. It seems I was indeed a bit overconfident." Gu Shuangpu said, his face ashen, a hint of regret flickering in his eyes.

"Hehe! I had someone refine this substitute merely on a whim. Of course, I wouldn't truly believe such a dead thing could compare to an external avatar. However, just this one puppet managed to lure out a traitor like Brother Gu, who was colluding with the Mulan people. So it wasn't a waste of my spirit stones after all." The man surnamed Lu said, not angry but laughing.

Gu Shuangpu's face twitched. He remained silent for a moment, but after a while, he coldly asked:

"From your tone, it sounds like you knew I would come looking for you. You even prepared a substitute early on. Did you discover something amiss as soon as I arrived at Fire Dragon Mountain?"

"Not at all. How could I causelessly suspect an elder of the Spirit Taming Sect? I merely received a warning from someone else. Originally, I was half-skeptical about the matter, but now I'm absolutely certain. Fellow Daoist Han, Brother Ma, please come out." The bald-browed man shook his head and then shouted loudly to the sides.

Hearing this, Gu Shuangpu could no longer maintain his gloomy composure; his face changed drastically.

As a result, a yellow light flashed from the stone walls on either side of the main hall, and two figures appeared. They were Han Li, looking calm, and the old man surnamed Ma, with a grave expression.

"I never expected this, Fellow Daoist Gu, that you would do such a thing. I wonder how much benefit the Mulan people promised you to make you so utterly deranged." The old man surnamed Ma looked heartbroken, his words filled with regret.

"Hmph! Deranged? I was originally a Mulan person, so what's 'deranged' about that?" Gu Shuangpu stared at the old man, retorting coldly.

"You are a Mulan person?" This stunned the bald-browed man and the others, catching them by surprise.

"Of course. What kind of benefit do you think could sway a Nascent Soul cultivator like me? How would you cultivators from the Heavenly South know the scarcity of cultivation resources in our Mulan grasslands? Every year, countless low-tier spell casters who could have advanced miss their best cultivation opportunities because they lack elixirs and spirit stones for assistance, only to turn into piles of white bones a century later. Why should you cultivators occupy such good places, while we spell casters must meticulously ration every single spirit stone? As long as we are given the cultivation resources of the Heavenly South, our Mulan people could double the number of spell casters within a century. With such formidable strength, we could defeat the Shamans of the Turan people and dominate the entire Mulan grasslands!" Gu Shuangpu spoke, a hint of madness flashing in his eyes.

Hearing Gu Shuangpu's words, the bald-browed man and the others exchanged glances.

"Defeat the Turan people? What I heard was that your Mulan forces were utterly defeated in a decisive battle with the Turan people, and now more than half of the Mulan grasslands are occupied by them. Is that why you're so desperate to scheme against our Heavenly South?" Han Li suddenly spoke, his expression unreadable.

"You... how do you know about this? ...You eavesdropped on my spiritual transmission with Master Le?" Gu Shuangpu was startled upon hearing Han Li's words, but immediately seemed to understand something. He instantly glared at Han Li with a fierce, murderous look, as if wanting to devour him.

"It seems Brother Gu understands quickly enough. You can't blame me for this. Who told you and that hidden spell caster to so brazenly use spiritual transmission in my presence? And my divine sense just happens to be a little stronger than that of cultivators of the same rank. Your transmitted words coincidentally reached my ears, naturally alerting Fellow Daoist Lu." Han Li said, his expression unchanged, speaking calmly.

"Good, very good! A single oversight in a hundred precautions! I've been lurking in the Heavenly South for so long, only to make such a blunder right before initiating my plan. My downfall, Gu, is not unjust. But your divine sense is 'only a little' stronger than cultivators of the same rank? Hmph! You're being too modest, aren't you? The secret spiritual transmission technique I used with that person – do you think it's an ordinary transmission? Besides the powerful divine sense of a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, I don't know what other method could secretly eavesdrop on our conversation without anyone knowing." Gu Shuangpu stared intensely at Han Li, his face ashen, but still spoke with cold resentment.

"Late-Nascent Soul?" The old man surnamed Ma was instantly shocked.

The bald-browed man was equally startled, looking at Han Li in awe.

Han Li, however, frowned. He hadn't expected this matter to inadvertently expose the strength of his divine sense. But then his brows relaxed, and an ambiguous expression appeared on his face, making it impossible to discern his true depth.

This, in turn, made the bald-browed man and the old man surnamed Ma somewhat skeptical.

After all, an early-Nascent Soul cultivator possessing divine sense no weaker than a late-stage cultivator seemed a bit too exaggerated no matter how one thought about it.

"Since you've admitted your identity as a spy, don't blame us for being ruthless. Although I, Lu, wanted to keep you alive and hand you over to the Alliance's enforcers, a major battle is imminent. So I can only let your body and spirit perish." The bald-browed man finally recovered from his shock regarding Han Li, turned his face, and spoke with extreme coldness to Gu Shuangpu in the light barrier.

Then, without waiting for the other party to say anything more, he flipped his hand, and a shimmering silver token appeared in his palm.

He raised the token high and gently waved it towards the light barrier.

With a "whoosh," large swathes of silver light shot out, hitting the barrier wall and disappearing without a trace.

Inside the light barrier, silver light shimmered, and countless silver flowers materialized out of thin air, each exquisitely beautiful, drifting down from above.

Gu Shuangpu, however, reacted to these silver flowers as if he had seen poisonous scorpions, his expression extremely ugly. Without thinking, he quickly patted his body several times, causing several layers of various colored light shields to appear around him. At the same time, he pointed at the blue flying fork in front of him, which spun rapidly, soared above his head, and transformed into a blue light screen, blocking above him.

"Let's go. There's nothing more to see. Even if his cultivation is higher, he won't be able to withstand this restriction for long. Before long, his body and spirit will be annihilated. Let's discuss the aftermath instead. Although this person is a Mulan spy, he is still an elder of the Spirit Taming Sect, so some matters need to be carefully explained to the Alliance." After the silver flowers exploded and filled the entire light barrier, the bald-browed man seemed disinterested in watching further. He turned to Han Li and the other man and said gravely.