Chapter 1451: Carriage Hides Three Backup Plans, Profound and Inscrutable Lord Li

Yujing Cheng.

Duojin Carriage Shop.

In the open-air square, over a hundred carriages were neatly lined up, with horses occasionally snorting and quietly grazing under the night sky.

This was a branch of the Duojin Trading Company, located right in Yujing Cheng, so its security was beyond question.

The few coachmen on duty spent most of their time in the sheds, drinking tea and wine while chatting away, only patrolling at set intervals.

A horse harnessed to a Xianggui carriage parked against the wall suddenly neighed loudly.

But in a place like this, such sounds were commonplace and drew no attention at all.

Inside the Xianggui carriage, a jade talisman hidden under the carpet glowed faintly, and Li Fugui was teleported out.

He had already cleaned himself up thoroughly, changing into fresh clothes with no trace of any foul odor left.

This extra Xing Jie jade talisman was something he had received from his master before leaving Yujing Cheng to visit Zhu Yi Ke in Changde Zhen—it was a precious item granted for protection.

As the saying goes, it's better to prepare for the worst.

At the time, Li Fugui had thought it was overly cautious.

Now, though, he realized his master had been spot-on in his foresight!

The talisman had truly come in handy—after entering Xing Jie from Changde Zhen, Li Fugui used it to jump directly to this hidden location in Yujing Cheng.

He let out a long sigh and waited quietly.

Once he confirmed that he hadn't alerted anyone around him or drawn the scrutiny of any Bai Yi guards, Li Fugui first pulled out a communication bead.

In Xing Jie, he had another mental link with his master.

This outing was for a major task, with several critical steps ahead!

Any slip-up or detection could mean that back at Qingyuan Shan, his master, Zhu Yi Ke, Xiang Yi, and others would all be in mortal danger!

"It has to connect, it has to connect..."

Silently praying, Li Fugui infused a trace of spiritual energy into the communication bead and waited, while discreetly activating the soundproof array on the Xianggui carriage to prevent eavesdropping.

His master had said this array, after his modifications, was safe to use.

A soft "beep" sounded.

It didn't take long for the other end to answer.

Li Fugui's eyes lit up, feeling a weight lift from his heart. He held the bead reverently in both hands and spoke into it:

"Please tell me, is this Ba Zun An?"

This communication bead was given to him by his master in Xing Jie, said to connect directly to Ba Zun An.

Having worked in the Hua Cao Ge for decades, Li Fugui had barely even seen the two pavilion masters.

Ba Zun An... He had never dared to even dream of it!

"Mm."

A brief voice came from the bead.

Li Fugui suppressed his excitement and quickly continued:

"I'm one of my master's subordinates. My name is Li Chengtian."

"My master asked me to say, 'Do you still remember that sword by the Goose Lake?'"

The bead fell silent for a long while, filled only with a faint static rustle.

Soon, Ba Zun An's voice returned, calm and emotionless, straight to the point:

"Speak."

So that confirmed the identity?

Li Fugui was curious—what kind of sword was that one his master mentioned?

But he couldn't go on yet. Following his master's instructions, he added: "You also need to prove your identity."

"Hmm?" The voice from the bead showed emotion now, clearly displeased.

"Cough, cough, it's what my master said!" Li Fugui hurriedly explained, then braced himself to ask:

"Ba Zun An, please answer this: In the ancient and modern Wang You Lou, there are three people. Among them, who likes to fly high the most?"

The bead went silent again for a good while before a voice replied:

"Me."

Li Fugui took a deep breath: "Why?"

"He blew it up."

Li Fugui set the bead down and gently lifted a corner of the carriage window, breathing in a bit of fresh air from outside. Only then did he manage to calm his racing heart.

"Congratulations, you got it right, but no prize."

As soon as he finished, the bead suddenly grew heavy, as if it could crush a person.

Amid the static, a low laugh emerged, and Ba Zun An spoke with a chuckle:

"You're Li Fugui?"

Li Fugui froze, his heart skipping a beat.

He didn't dare answer that question directly and instead said: "My master is trapped in Changde Zhen. He wants to know why there's still no support. Are you all taking a dump or something?"

"Heh." Ba Zun An seemed amused. "Anything else? What else did he say?"

"Kui Lei Han won't help us at all. That 'peerless genius' you mentioned? We haven't even caught a whiff of it. Have you gone stupid from sealing your sword? How dare you make such big claims?"

"More?"

"The Sheng Di Qilin is basically in Sheng Di Bei Shi's pocket. Do you really not know, or are you pretending? Are you trying to send me to my death?"

"Anything else?"

"Uh, my master said you better answer the previous question first, or he won't let it go..."

"Truly clueless."

"Good! You know nothing and still sent me out? You've got a tumor in your brain, some massive illness!" Li Fugui said, trembling.

The bead erupted in low laughter again. "If my answer were 'I know,' what would he say?"

"It's not pretty—you're better off not hearing it..." Li Fugui didn't dare repeat those vulgar words. He still valued his life!

Even though, after tonight, he might have half a life left anyway.

"What support does he need?"

"My master said he needs you to fly the Sky City right into that showy old Daoist's face and smash that old ghost to death. He doesn't want to play anymore."

"Be realistic."

"Oh, right, Ba Zun An..." Li Fugui swallowed hard and bluntly betrayed his master. "My master's bottom line is, you don't have to send anyone else, but at the very least, get Mr. Si Ren back to us."

"I'll think about it."

"This isn't something to think about—my master's in real danger right now!" Li Fugui added this line himself, mimicking his master's tone.

"Anything else?"

"That's it—just hurry up, or my master won't hold out." Li Fugui threw in another line of his own.

"I'll think about it." The bead paused before continuing, "You're Li Fugui?"

Li Fugui jolted in fear and quickly pulled the bead farther away. "Hello? Ba Zun... sir?"

"You're Li Fugui?" Ba Zun An repeated.

Li Fugui's face turned green. He clutched his neck, his voice faltering: "Can you... hear me? Ba Zun... sir? ...Say... something?"

The other end went silent.

Seizing the chance, Li Fugui cut off the communication, his face ashen.

He sat in the carriage for a long time, lost in thought.

Finally, Li Fugui shook his head, sorting out his tangled emotions.

"He actually knows about me..."

He put away the communication bead, gave a self-mocking smile, then took out a Blood Tree Yin Branch. After infusing it with spiritual energy, he said respectfully:

"Please help me, Long Xing predecessor."

This was his master's second backup plan!

He said this Blood Tree Yin Branch could connect to the Tianren Wushuai of Yan Wang.

If they could get this figure involved, even Dao Qiong Cang's tightly woven scheme might have a slim chance of going wrong.

If not... well, Li Fugui had seen those scenes in Xing Jie.

Tianren Wushuai had been taken down in less than a round by the Dao Dianzhu— they weren't even in the same league!

It was normal if they couldn't be summoned.

After all, Tianren Wushuai had already died once.

Though he didn't know why his master insisted on calling on a dead person, his master always had his reasons.

So, just do it!

A soft "buzz" sounded as the Blood Tree Yin Branch emitted a faint golden glow.

At the same time, in the carriage, Li Fugui felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

He heard eerie winds howling and sensed his mind being pulled toward some strange place.

"Long Xing predecessor, please protect me!"

Li Fugui called out nervously, truly afraid.

The aura of the Dead Saint lingered, and the reputation of the Decaying Body was terrifying—he didn't want any accidents.

As soon as he spoke, a faint golden glow surrounded him, and he barely managed to keep his senses under control.

In his ears, winds not belonging to the carriage shop howled, and before his eyes, an ancient tomb appeared.

"Please don't let me see it!" Li Fugui cried out in terror, squeezing his eyes shut, but the image lingered in his mind.

"Long Xing predecessor!" He panicked.

The golden glow on the Blood Tree Yin Branch flared again, and the wind in his ears vanished, along with the tomb in his mind.

The branch trembled, and a weak voice emerged:

"Xu... Xiao... Shou?"

Li Fugui shuddered and quickly produced a recording bead, activating it. His master's voice played:

"Qingyuan Shan—come for revenge if you want. I'm waiting for you."

With that done, without waiting another second, Li Fugui severed the connection to the Blood Tree Yin Branch.

He stuffed the creepy thing into a separate spatial ring and hurriedly unbound the ring's blood seal.

After a rustle of activity, he washed himself with life holy water from Xing Jie, changed into brand-new clothes in the carriage, and finally felt like he'd shaken off the bad luck.

He threw on a black windcoat, switched to a different face, and put on a mask. Only then did he pull out a teleportation array disc.

"Activate!"

With a surge of spiritual energy, the fixed-space teleportation array disc sprang to life.

Li Fugui arrived in the dark market north of Changde Zhen.

He still had one major task: to hand over a recording bead that could summon the Space Mystery Banisheng Ye Xiaotian to someone else and have them throw it in Changde Zhen.

This "someone" could be a dead man or anyone else, as long as it wasn't him.

This was his master's third backup plan!

If all else failed and he needed to escort people out but couldn't enter Xing Jie...

His master hadn't awakened yet, so pulling the Space Mystery into this was the only option.

As soon as he landed, a "buzz" echoed in the night, and a light shone from the direction of Qingyuan Shan.

Li Fugui froze, looking up to see part of Qingyuan Shan within his view covered in intricate Tianji Dao patterns.

"This is..."

Had the battlefield shifted?

They'd fought from Changde Zhen all the way to Qingyuan Shan?

Li Fugui furrowed his brow and cautiously extended his spiritual sense toward Changde Zhen. Soon, he saw the town's ruins after the battle.

Almost no one there was still conscious—only wails of agony filled the air, heart-wrenching cries echoing everywhere.

"Hmm? Cries?"

Li Fugui slipped into Changde Zhen unnoticed, ready to flee at any moment.

Quickly, he spotted a burly man at the former Cao family blacksmith site, hugging a large wine barrel and sobbing loudly.

Besides him, the town seemed to have no immediate threats.

As a former Hua Cao Ge intelligence agent, Li Fugui's professional instincts kicked in. With one glance, he recognized the big guy.

"Cao Er Zhu!"

The latest intelligence from Hua Cao Ge on the blacksmith shop didn't say much about Cao Er Zhu—just that he seemed to have low intelligence...

But intelligence reports were just that—reports!

During his time at Hua Cao Ge, Li Fugui had been burned by false info countless times, nearly dying in the gutters more than once.

He didn't fully trust it.

As the old saying went, fortune favors the bold!

Li Fugui took a deep breath, steadying his breathing to its lowest frequency. He adjusted his mask, flicked his black windcoat, and pulled out a black cubic box, tucking it into his embrace. His aura instantly transformed.

—It became like that of a lofty dark overlord, cold and merciless.

"To deal with different people, use different approaches!"

The Empty Momentum Box could grant the bearer an unparalleled aura, effective only on non-brute refiners below the Taixu level.

No offensive power at all.

Get exposed, and you're done for.

"Old dad!!!"

At the blacksmith site, Cao Er Zhu was still crying over the wine barrel.

He hadn't expected that after just a trip to Qingyuan Shan, he'd return to find his father's head severed and stuck in the barrel.

Who could have done this?

If he found out, he'd tear them apart with his own hands!

Footsteps approached softly, stopping beside him.

Cao Er Zhu was too lost in grief to even turn around, immersed in his own world.

"Kui Lei Han... is dead?"

That slightly stunned voice pulled him back to reality. Cao Er Zhu whipped around:

"Who are you?!"

He saw a man in a black mask and black cloak, exuding an aura stronger than any refiner he'd ever met!

Was he the one who killed his dad?

Cao Er Zhu's eyes sharpened, like a slumbering lion awakening, his gaze growing fiercer.

"I regret to learn of this news."

"Not long ago, I intended to visit your father..."

The black-clad figure sighed and squatted down, closing the distance.

He didn't even dare lie, sticking to the truth to avoid provoking the young man:

"I know what you're thinking, but with my strength, I couldn't have killed your father."

"At most, at most, I could fight him to a draw. Well, if some accident occurred..."

Cao Er Zhu was stunned by this and slumped to the ground, still hugging the barrel, his sorrow overflowing:

"Then who killed my dad? Waaah..."

He could tell this person respected—feared, even—his father.

Cao Er Zhu had this innate gift for sensing such connections, drawing truths from nature's feedback.

For instance, at Qingyuan Shan, he could easily see that Yu Zhiwen meant him no harm, while that ancient sword cultivator did.

So, he knew how to respond—one with a punch, the other with two.

Similarly, he could intuitively confirm that this man wasn't his father's killer.

Otherwise, his aura would feel repulsive, not approachable.

As for whether he was his father's friend, that was unclear, and Cao Er Zhu didn't have the energy to ponder it.

"Only the Ten Venerables could match him in battle." The black-clad figure adjusted his cloak and said something cryptic.

Cao Er Zhu stopped crying.

Did he know the truth?

"I don't know who killed your father, but in all the world, those who could are few and far between..."

The black-clad figure pointed to the "handshake" pattern on the barrel. "All I can see is this."

"What's that?" Cao Er Zhu looked over—he recognized it too.

"Tianji technique."

"I know it's a Tianji technique..."

"From a Tianji master."

"A Tianji master..."

Cao Er Zhu suddenly recalled— that woman named Yu Zhiwen had called herself a Tianji master.

"All Tianji masters in the world come from the Sheng Shen Dian Tang Dao Department; the foremost among them is the Dao Dianzhu!"

The black-clad figure left it at that.

"Dao Department, Dao Dianzhu..." Cao Er Zhu murmured, the names feeling foreign.

The black-clad figure pulled out a portrait. "That person is so powerful you shouldn't even say his name aloud—it could draw his attention."

Cao Er Zhu stared intently.

The person in the portrait was exactly that strange uncle he'd met before!

The one who left the "handshake" mark on his hand, which only a release-type thorough divine sense could wash away.

And now, the same mark was on the barrel—had he killed his dad too?

"Dao Dianzhu..."

Cao Er Zhu clenched his fists.

He felt the identical "handshake" marks couldn't be a coincidence—they must mean something.

The black-clad figure shook his head, his posture relaxing, as if he'd done this many times before. He advised:

"I'm not certain if it's this person who killed your father."

"Even if you want revenge, I don't recommend it."

"Because right now, your chances of beating the Dao Dianzhu are virtually zero."

Cao Er Zhu didn't care about that.

He just needed to get in front of that person and look him in the eye.

Just one look—no words needed—and he'd know for sure who the real killer was!

"Do you know where he is?" Cao Er Zhu grabbed the portrait, tears streaming, and looked at the black-clad figure.

"Don't lead yourself to ruin." The figure stood up slowly and said:

"Come with me, and I can make you strong!"

"When the time is right, you can seek your enemy and avenge your father's death!"

But as soon as he said this, Cao Er Zhu became wary, as if he'd been warned about such lines countless times, his gaze full of distrust.

"Are you a bad guy?"

The black-clad figure paused, then chuckled knowingly.

"Never mind."

He waved it off and turned to leave.

"Please, senior, tell me where I can find him!" Cao Er Zhu called out anxiously.

He wouldn't be foolish enough to be lured away, but he wanted info on his father's killer, even if it wasn't exact.

The figure stopped, glanced toward the only bright spot in the night, and said mysteriously:

"Far away at the edge of the sky, close at hand before your eyes."

What...?

Cao Er Zhu was baffled, but following the gaze, he saw Qingyuan Shan. "He's at Qingyuan Shan?"

"I said nothing."

"I get it!"

"Sigh, your path will be tough. Since fate brought us together, I'll give you something." The figure flipped his hand.

With spiritual energy carrying it, a bead floated over to Cao Er Zhu.

Cao Er Zhu hesitated and didn't take it.

"Don't take things from strangers, and don't listen to strangers—that's what your father taught you, right?"

"Take it. It's just a recording bead. It won't harm you. If you don't trust me, crush it yourself." The figure laughed.

Cao Er Zhu hesitated, checked it with his spiritual sense multiple times to confirm it was harmless, and finally accepted it.

"Infuse it with spiritual energy if you're in danger."

"This recording bead might save your life, or it might do nothing at all..."

"Sigh, you should know—fate is like the wind, ever-changing and unpredictable."

The figure walked away, his back seeming to lament the fragility of life, growing even taller with those final words.

Fate is like the wind, ever-changing and unpredictable... Cao Er Zhu murmured silently, feeling inspired.

To him, it meant there was still a chance for his revenge, right?

Cao Er Zhu stood up with the barrel, watching the figure fade into the distance. He suddenly realized this might be what the refining world called "fate's opportunity."

He'd lost his father and didn't want to miss this chance.

After all, with no one else left, his only tie to this world was his sister.

And she was in the refining world.

Cao Er Zhu chased after the figure, shouting:

"Who are you?!"

"How can I find you?"

The wind scattered the black silhouette.

In the ruined town, only faint, echoing remnants lingered:

"If fate wills it..."

"Call me Li Daren!"