Chapter 79: Truth Revealed

Zhuo Qingfeng said, "When we left the inn in Qixian, I reminded Gu Mo to be wary of you. It's just that if you asked me to list your flaws, I wouldn't know where to begin. I simply never believed in cat demons."

Mo Qingxian nodded and said, "I know."

Zhuo Qingfeng continued, "Lin Zhenyue, the head of Changfeng Escort Agency, known in the martial arts world as the 'Hundred Victories Divine Fist,' had fists harder than metal. Yet, he was cut so cleanly. This suggests either a peerless divine weapon or a blade or sword that is incredibly fast and lethal. Peerless Blade Mo Qingxian certainly possesses that capability."

Zhuo Qingfeng pondered for a moment before saying, "Of course, identifying you came later. In fact, my initial suspicion arose when I learned that the escorted goods in the robbery case came from Lingyun Mountain Villa."

Mo Qingxian asked, "I was the victim. Why suspect me?"

"They say Blood-Tear Pearls can be worth several, even ten, years of cultivation. Mo Qingxian, relying on the Blood-Tear Stone Clam, swiftly rose from an average martial artist to a top master in just a few years," Zhuo Qingfeng slowly explained. "However, the young master of Lingyun Mountain Villa, Mo Buyi, is almost thirty, yet his martial arts are so poor he can't even withstand three moves from Shen Bai. That seems rather illogical."

Mo Qingxian replied gravely, "Shen Bai is a renowned knight, a master's disciple, with exceptional martial arts. And while my Lingyun Mountain Villa possesses Blood-Tear Pearls, it's widely known that we only produce one per year, which I use for refining medicine. So, is it not reasonable that my son was utterly defeated by Shen Bai in a fight?"

Zhuo Qingfeng nodded, saying, "Indeed, it's plausible. That's why, despite my suspicion, I didn't pay it much mind. But then, a few days ago at the Dongshan Sword Sect, I saw the destroyed Blood-Tear Stone Clam."

Mo Qingxian looked puzzled. "What's wrong with that? Many people saw it. There's nothing suspicious, is there? A cat demon killed someone, Song Zu stole treasures, and then the cat demon came to kill Song Zu. Even if something was amiss, you should suspect the cat demon, not me."

Zhuo Qingfeng took a piece of glazed shard from his pocket. "I secretly took a fragment of the Blood-Tear Stone Clam. Well, since the Blood-Tear Stone Clam is so precious, anyone who owned it would value it immensely, especially as it was Master Mo's benefactor. Even if it was destroyed, I wouldn't disregard it. Yet, Master Mo, you didn't even notice a piece was missing. What does that imply? It implies you didn't care about it at all."

Mo Qingxian suddenly understood. "So that's where I gave myself away."

"Yes," Zhuo Qingfeng said, "though that wasn't the main point. The crucial part is that I took the fragment to someone for examination and discovered it was merely finely crafted glaze, nothing special. The Blood-Tear Stone Clam was fake, yet Master Mo insisted it was real."

"So that's how it was," Mo Qingxian sighed.

Zhuo Qingfeng nodded slightly and explained, "Once I learned the Blood-Tear Stone Clam was fake, I was almost certain that Master Mo and the cat demon had an extraordinary connection. After all, if you were sending it to save someone, what was the point of sending a fake? Unless the entire thing was a pre-arranged act from the beginning, and Zuo Ze didn't need saving at all. You arranged for the escort agency to transport the Blood-Tear Stone Clam simply to pave the way for the cat demon's appearance!"

"Of course, there's another reason. That is, the Blood-Tear Stone Clam never existed in this world. It's just a decades-old lie fabricated by you, Master Mo. This lie brought immense profit to your Lingyun Mountain Villa, but also huge risks. You've grown old, but your son, Mo Buyi, has mediocre talent. He can't protect the benefits derived from this lie. Therefore, you needed to make this lie an unprovable reality."

"When I realized the Blood-Tear Stone Clam destroyed at the Dongshan Sword Sect was fake, I finally understood my initial confusion: why young master Mo Buyi's martial arts were so mediocre. It wasn't that you, Master Mo, withheld Blood-Tear Pearls from him for money, but because there were no Blood-Tear Pearls to begin with."

"The renown of Blood-Tear Pearls is immense, and the Blood-Tear Pills derived from them have even formed an industry chain in the martial arts world. Their price in the black market is constantly inflated. Lingyun Mountain Villa claims to produce only ten per year, yet at least a hundred appear on the market annually. That item has taken on a new meaning; it's no longer just a healing elixir, but a luxury item. Wealthy families pride themselves on collecting Blood-Tear Pills, gradually forming a circle, and the ultimate interpretive authority of this circle belongs to Lingyun Mountain Villa."

"However, the existence of this relies on one thing: you, Mo Qingxian, remaining the Peerless Blade, with no one capable of questioning you. But now you're old. Once you fall, Lingyun Mountain Villa won't be able to protect itself. If, at that time, the world discovers that Blood-Tear Pearls were a lie from beginning to end, then Blood-Tear Pills will become worthless. Those who treasured Blood-Tear Pills will become a joke, and most importantly, many will go bankrupt instantly. At that point, Lingyun Mountain Villa will be annihilated by the furious victims."

"So, Master Mo, you had to end this lie while you were still alive and still the Peerless Blade. The best way, naturally, was to make the Blood-Tear Stone Clam perish without a trace!"

Mo Qingxian sighed, quite emotionally. "Everything has two sides. In my youth, I was proud of the legend of the Blood-Tear Stone Clam I created, accumulating wealth beyond most people's imagination."

"However, as I grew old, I discovered that shortcuts can backfire; it's just a matter of time. I became afraid. I feared that after my death, Lingyun Mountain Villa would be reduced to ruins because of the Blood-Tear Stone Clam I was once so proud of, and my children and grandchildren would be slaughtered."

"Therefore," Zhuo Qingfeng said, pointing to the black-clothed man nearby, "you and the Zuo family, who desperately sought revenge, coincidentally conspired to create this story of a cat demon's emergence." Zhuo Qingfeng smiled faintly at the black-clothed man and calmly stated, "Zuo Yue, Young Master Zuo, there's no point in keeping your face covered now!"

The black-clothed man slowly removed his mask.

It was none other than Zuo Yue, the chief disciple of Dongshan Sword Sect's leader Zhao Congwu and the young sect master of Dongshan Sword Sect.

Zhuo Qingfeng said, "My guess about Zuo Yue being behind this was simple. Once I realized the Blood-Tear Stone Clam was a lie, I naturally inferred that the Zuo family played the role of the cat demon in this entire affair."

"After all, the incident began with the escort of the Blood-Tear Stone Clam to save the Zuo family patriarch. Lingyun Mountain Villa was the first protagonist in this play, so the second protagonist had to be the Zuo family. One event could simultaneously solve both your families' problems."

"Lingyun Mountain Villa needed to sever ties with the Blood-Tear Stone Clam and end this decades-long lie, while the Zuo family needed an opportunity for revenge. So, you came together and fabricated a new story."

"The Blood-Tear Stone Clam was hijacked, and by a cat demon at that. In this situation, the sect leaders of the Four Great Sword Sects were somewhat alarmed, because the previous cat demon, Fang Lianshan, had died sixty years ago, killed by those four very individuals."

"But now a cat demon had reappeared."

"They had a guilty conscience, so they advanced the Four Sects Tournament, which was originally scheduled for the end of the year, by several months, specifically to gather openly and discuss. And at that point, you, Zuo Yue, acted again."

"You framed your seventeenth junior brother as the thief and, in front of everyone, destroyed the so-called Blood-Tear Stone Clam. At this stage, Lingyun Mountain Villa's matter was concluded perfectly, and the Zuo family's revenge play began."

"That night at the Dongshan Sword Sect completely panicked the Four Great Sect Leaders, who were already plagued by guilt. So, they voluntarily left and came to Jiuhua Mountain to investigate, falling directly into your trap."

"If I'm not mistaken, you began plotting your revenge many years ago, gradually infiltrating Zhao Congwu's inner circle, rising to the position of young sect master. Using the trust of the four leaders, whether through poison or some other method, you had been laying traps for them for many years. The Blood-Tear Stone Clam from Lingyun Mountain Villa was the ultimate catalyst for your revenge."

"A few days ago, I heard that Fang Lianshan once had a son, but he died very young. Thinking back, that might have been a form of protection, not a genuine death, merely to keep him away from the martial arts world."

"The Zuo family had been changing names for decades, all the while planning their revenge."

"Therefore, there is only one truth."

"You are a descendant of Fang Lianshan!" Zhuo Qingfeng's words were assertive, logical, and resounding.

Then, Zuo Yue pursed his lips and slowly said, "People, ah, they always habitually believe that those who assassinate corrupt officials must be loyal descendants, those who overthrow dynasties must be from prestigious families, and those who seek revenge must be descendants of important figures."

"But who made these rules?"

The moonlight was bright, and a cool breeze swept through.

Zhuo Qingfeng's face stiffened, and he froze on the spot.

Zuo Yue slowly continued, "To be honest, Commander Zhuo, people have prejudices in their hearts. So, Commander Zhuo, you kept thinking and insisted on pinning this revenge story on someone who died young sixty or seventy years ago, unwilling to believe that the one seeking revenge here today is just an ordinary person."

"More than sixty years ago, Fang Lianshan, for fame and profit, fabricated the cat demon story. He and his four disciples, while killing and setting fires, pretending to be demons harming people, also feigned being enlightened masters capturing demons. He indeed achieved fame and success, revered as a great hero by the world."

"But how many innocent people did he harm? Yet, people still praised him and claimed he was saving lives, which is truly ridiculous. Therefore, Fang Lianshan deserved to die, and his four disciples deserved to die."

"My father's family was ruined by Fang Lianshan. At that time, he was just a teenage boy. He knew the truth, but no one believed him, and no one sought justice for him. He desperately practiced martial arts, hoping that one day he would get his revenge."

"However, reality isn't like stories; there aren't so many perfectly happy endings. Before my father's martial arts reached mastery, he heard Fang Lianshan had died and his four disciples had disappeared. His enemies were gone."

"After waiting for a long time, the Divine Cat Temple declined and was deserted. My father decided to dig up Fang Lianshan's grave to vent his anger, but unexpectedly, during this digging, he discovered a blocked secret passage beneath the grave."

"My father spent nearly a year digging open that passage and found a skeleton inside."

Zhuo Qingfeng gravely stated, "It was Fang Lianshan."

"Precisely," Zuo Yue said, "it was Fang Lianshan. He never sacrificed himself; he merely faked his death to escape because, at that time, he had almost become a public enemy in the martial arts world. He could deceive ordinary people by faking a cat demon, but not martial artists."

"So, he staged a play, feigning death through suspended animation to escape. He prepared a secret passage beneath the grave and another corpse in the coffin. He entered the coffin and the grave in front of everyone, then was transported into the secret passage to hide."

"However, he didn't expect to be betrayed by his four disciples. When he awoke, not only did they not secretly retrieve him, but they blocked the secret passage with a Dragon-Breaking Stone. Haha, he was literally starved and dehydrated to death beneath his own grave."

"Before dying, he used stone shards to carve onto the wall his methods for impersonating a cat demon. It was a peerless divine art that, when combined with specific weapons, could control people's minds and make them see illusions. He used this divine art to create his deceptions."

"He hated his four disciples, so he left behind his Soul-Devouring Grand Art, hoping someone in later generations would learn it and avenge him. This divine art was unique to him; even his disciples hadn't learned it. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough time to leave behind the complete Cloud Mist Illusion Sword."

Zhuo Qingfeng said, "I think I know the rest of the story. Your father had ordinary talent, so the hope of revenge rested on you. You were trained from a young age, then made to join the Dongshan Sword Sect, get close to Zhao Congwu, and endure for decades, all to wait for a suitable opportunity to eliminate all four of them in one fell swoop."

"They deserved to die!" Zuo Yue exclaimed. "How many heinous deeds did they commit alongside Fang Lianshan? How many families were ruined because of them? Do you think they plotted Fang Lianshan's death out of conscience? No, it was because Fang Lianshan controlled them too much and refused to teach them the Soul-Devouring Grand Art. So, these individuals directly betrayed their master and ancestors. These disloyal, unfilial, unjust, and inhumane people then transformed, and were even revered by the world, becoming famous martial artists! Yet, even now, they still support the Divine Cat Temple, exploiting the common people. And behind the Divine Cat Temple, how many families have been ruined? It's truly ridiculous!"

Zhuo Qingfeng gravely asked, "Where are the Four Great Sect Leaders now?"

Zuo Yue coldly retorted, "What, Commander Zhuo, do you think they don't deserve to die?"

"They do," Zhuo Qingfeng conceded. "However, what's the difference between you and them? You've also killed many for your goals, haven't you? Take that escort robbery at the inn; nearly a hundred escorts were harmed by you. Didn't they all have families? Furthermore, now that the Four Great Sect Leaders are dead, you'll take over the Dongshan Sword Sect, and perhaps even unify the Four Great Sword Sects with your methods. Will you abandon the enormous profits behind the Divine Cat Temple?"

"Hmph!" Zuo Yue snorted coldly and remained silent.

Zhuo Qingfeng suddenly smiled. "If I'm not mistaken, the Four Great Sect Leaders are now also trapped in the same secret passage where Fang Lianshan starved to death, aren't they? Hmm, on second thought, it must be to force them to hand over the complete Cloud Mist Illusion Sword. But we arrived a little early, which is why you tried to stop us!"

Zuo Yue's expression slightly darkened.

Zhuo Qingfeng continued, "What a pity, what a pity. If only you weren't so greedy. If you had just killed those four, your revenge would be complete, and you might not have been exposed. Your father wouldn't have died either. You caused your father's death!"

"Shut up!" Zuo Yue roared furiously.

On the other side, Mo Qingxian's face drastically changed, and he shouted at Zuo Yue, "He's deliberately provoking you! Steady your mind; don't let your mental state be disrupted!"

At the same time, Mo Qingxian rapidly drew his blade and attacked Gu Mo, attempting to interfere with him.

In a duel between masters, many things happen in an instant. Mo Qingxian knew it, Zuo Yue knew it, Zhuo Qingfeng knew it, and Gu Mo knew it. The seemingly casual conversation they had been having for the past half-day was actually them probing for each other's weaknesses, a contest of mental fortitude, seeing who would make a mistake first.

And in that very instant, Zuo Yue was enraged, and his mind wavered. Though it was only for a split second, Gu Mo seized the opportunity. The "Little Gu Flying Dagger" shot out!

But just then, a bell chimed. Gu Mo's heart skipped a beat, because in his mental perception, the flying dagger hit, but Zuo Yue had also disappeared!