Chapter 626: I Know Nothing

A blue shadow in the void paused, cast a distant glance in the direction of their advance, then withdrew its gaze and turned to the other side.

"Dragon Assimilation Realm, White Flame, Sang Qiye..."

Gou Wuyue knew his old adversary was declaring war again. Judging by the intensity of this white flame, the longer they delayed, the more dire the White Garment Army's situation would become. However, if he chose to engage, he would inevitably lose track of Ba Zun'an, the First Elder of the Saint Servants, and Haitang'er.

"A choice between two?" Gou Wuyue hesitated for a moment. Logically, he was inclined to abandon the White Garment Army for the sake of the mission, continuing to pursue Ba Zun'an until he was apprehended. Given Ba Zun'an's current state of sealed swords, this might be the Saint Divine Palace's only opportunity!

Yet, powerful emotions also urged Gou Wuyue: Ba Zun'an's personal debt, the casualties among the White Garment Army, Sang Qiye's challenge... It seemed that at this moment, engaging was his only viable option.

"Not enough people came!" Gou Wuyue sighed. Or, perhaps it wasn't that the Saint Divine Palace sent too few people; rather, the Saint Servants' reinforcement this time truly exceeded all expectations. Nearly half of the Saint Servants' high-ranking figures, including regional leaders from various locations, had arrived. The forces initially dispatched to deal with a mere storyteller, even with the subsequent reinforcements called in after realizing another Saint Servant Elder was present, were simply insufficient to handle this unexpected turn of events. To request even more forces... Not only were they unaware of the current situation at the time, but based on the limited intelligence available then, it would have been impossible to call for more people, and the Saint Divine Palace wouldn't have provided them. Most crucially, even after receiving first-hand intelligence from the four combat zones, headquarters remained slow to provide support. This spoke volumes.

"Is this a test?" Gou Wuyue silently observed the epicenter of the white flame's explosion. He knew that his loyalty to the Saint Divine Palace, and whether they truly trusted him, would ultimately be revealed in this battle. Although he had joined the Saint Divine Palace only after establishing his reputation, it was normal for outsiders to question his true allegiance. Yet...

"My heart yearned for the bright moon, but the moon chose to illuminate a ditch." Gou Wuyue knew that this time, his loyalty might truly be compromised. The seven hundred White Garment soldiers searching the mountains had yet to appear. On his own journey, he had only encountered a handful of them. This indicated that the Storyteller had already acted covertly. But none of this was perceived or known by anyone! Instead of pursuing Ba Zun'an, a pursuit that might lead nowhere, Gou Wuyue was far more certain of Sang Qiye's genuine determination to fight. As long as he engaged in this battle, the Storyteller might dare to trap the White Garment soldiers, but would never harm them. As for the five Saint Servants, it was highly probable that only one would ultimately remain, which would be an unavoidable outcome. With no support from headquarters, how many of these Saint Servants would be easy to deal with? As long as he didn't return without results, what would happen next... "The next phase will probably be another test!"

Gou Wuyue understood the immense difficulty of all this, yet he had no way to explain it. If he reported the outcome of this battle, no one would listen to his explanations! Considering all this, Gou Wuyue let out a small laugh, no longer hesitated, and vanished in a flash. He gave up pursuing Ba Zun'an and instead flew towards Sang Qiye. Since he couldn't explain, he would simply follow his heart.

Meanwhile.

"He's here." Old Sang turned his head towards a certain direction, his eyes revealing a mix of relief and solemnity.

"What?" Xu Xiaoshou was puzzled. He was still contemplating whether the Yu Lingdi, which had completely fallen silent inside Old Sang, was truly dead. Or if, at the very last moment, the creature would reappear as it had before, emerging from some unexpected place with that chilling, bizarre laugh, saying, "Just kidding."

"No." Old Sang offered no explanation. After the brief distraction, he regained his focus, looked at Xu Xiaoshou, and asked, "Xu Xiaoshou, I ask you: have you joined the Saint Servants?"

"Yes." Xu Xiaoshou nodded, with no intention of denying his involvement. Perhaps this was something he couldn't tell others, but with Old Sang, the most reassuring thing was that he didn't have to lie.

"Ah..." The old man sighed, silently shook his head, and remained silent.

"Is that not allowed?" Xu Xiaoshou countered, "I've asked you about the Saint Servants before, and you never said a word. What's with this reaction now? Can't I join... Ow!"

*Thud!* Old Sang rapped his knuckles sharply on Xu Xiaoshou's head, making him yelp in pain.

"Attacked, passive value, 1." Old Sang sighed regretfully.

"It's not that you can't, but that the timing wasn't right. When I first took you as a disciple, my greatest fear was your identity being exposed before you had fully matured, which is why even your identity was kept secret. Later, a significant reason I took your junior sister under my wing was to create a diversion, to prevent future exposure..." Old Sang paused, then added, "Of course, another reason is your junior sister's exceptional talent."

Xu Xiaoshou remained silent. At that moment, he really wanted to release his junior sister from the Yuanfu to let her hear this conversation. Old Sang, however, seemed to have opened up. Unlike his usual reticence during Spiritual Palace inquiries, he now spoke continuously:

"Now that you've joined the Saint Servants, you must have encountered Ba Zun'an and gained a general understanding of the organization. And my own identity, I presume, should also be clear to you. My previous reluctance to let you interact with them, even my desire to quell your curiosity and interest in the Saint Servants, was simply out of fear that you would get too deeply involved and be noticed too early. Now that I think about it, ah, man proposes, God disposes..."

Xu Xiaoshou was speechless. "Suppression only leads to rebellion. Shouldn't you have clearly explained all this to me openly so I could make my own judgments?"

"Perhaps." Old Sang was noncommittal, though he held a different answer in his heart. Ba Zun'an had spotted this young man far too early. Had Xu Xiaoshou truly been allowed to understand and interact with them, he might not have lasted this long; he would have been recruited much sooner. After all, in this world, who could resist that man's allure?

"Further idle talk is pointless." Old Sang waved his hand, clearly unwilling to dwell on the past. His gaze flickered, and after a brief turn, he swiftly returned, his voice gaining a hurried edge. "Since you've joined the Saint Servants, I will speak candidly with you. The 'world cage' theory I spoke to you about on the night you became my disciple was neither a delusion nor mere idle talk. I genuinely had no other choice but to hide in a remote corner like the Heavenly Sang Spiritual Palace because I was at a dead end. Everyone in the world believes the Saint Divine Palace represents justice, and everything outside it is evil. The Saint Servants, naturally, are considered the latter. But do you know the truth?"

"The other way around?" Xu Xiaoshou's expression mixed surprise with a hint of something unexpected yet strangely plausible.

Old Sang once again rapped the young man's head, making him wince in pain. "Don't let anyone mislead your judgment." He warned sternly, "In this world, there is no absolute good or evil. I don't have time to explain this further. You only need to remember that the Saint Divine Palace exists for its own reasons. Similarly, the Saint Servants were established for their own fundamental reasons. But equally, the reasons for their confrontation also warrant deep thought. What's more, Ba Zun'an and I had different philosophies and went our separate ways. Therefore, I hope that in the future, when you make decisions, you will consider the reasons why and form your own judgments. And..."

"Are you writing your will?" Xu Xiaoshou interrupted. Why did his tone sound so strange? Old Sang wasn't usually so garrulous. Why did he seem like a different person today? Good heavens, he sounded like an old mother seeing her child off on a long journey.

With a flick of his hand, Old Sang promptly smacked the disrespectful young man into a deep crater in the ground. It took Xu Xiaoshou a long time to recover before he could slowly crawl out of the pit.

"You... you old man, just you wait..." He fumed this silently to himself.

"Xu Xiaoshou!" Old Sang's expression grew even more serious.

"What?" Xu Xiaoshou crawled out of the pit with a pained expression. He didn't dare to stand, so he squatted, looking up.

"Have you remembered what I told you?" Old Sang asked, with no hint of jest.

"Yes, I remember..."

"Be serious!" Old Sang sighed in exasperation. What frustrated him most was this young man's perpetual air of boredom.

"I am serious! I just don't understand why you keep hitting me!" Xu Xiaoshou complained.

"Your attitude doesn't convey seriousness..."

"Isn't it just ghost beasts?" Xu Xiaoshou muttered. Instantly, Old Sang's eyes narrowed, a hint of surprise in them, and his dark circles seemed to deepen.

"You know?"

"Mm-hm." Old Sang turned and glanced behind him. "Tell me what you know."

Xu Xiaoshou dusted himself off, stood up, and took a few steps back. "I'm not sure if my judgment is correct, so please correct me. Just don't hit me." He paused, then continued:

"The Saint Divine Palace is indeed righteous, but in reality, they don't just hunt and suppress ghost beasts; they also study them. Furthermore, ghost beasts aren't solely creatures from other dimensions; some are... humanoid? Anyway, I can tell that some of them, their thoughts and consciousness, don't resemble those of newly born interdimensional beings." Xu Xiaoshou thought of the Gray Mist Man.

Old Sang was startled. He hadn't expected this, despite having blocked Xu Xiaoshou's access to information for so long. Where had this young man learned all this? "How do you know?" he couldn't help but ask, curious.

"I saw a Red Garment Disciple whose body erupted with ghostly energy. Very few people know about this," Xu Xiaoshou replied.

"A Red Garment Disciple?"

"Yes, there are indeed ghost beast hosts among the Red Garment Disciples." Old Sang's pupils constricted. Xu Xiaoshou instantly realized the gravity of the situation. So, the Saint Servants' high-ranking members only suspected, but didn't actually know?

"Continue," Old Sang said, regaining his composure.

Xu Xiaoshou clicked his tongue, momentarily unsure how to proceed. "This Red Garment Disciple, as it turns out, is none other than Gou Wuyue's direct disciple..." He added this first, then grew uncertain himself. "But I now seriously doubt whether the Moonless Sword Immortal truly knows his disciple is a ghost beast host."

"It can't be..." His words trailed off. For a moment, Old Sang couldn't provide an answer to that question. Given Gou Wuyue's character in the past, it was undeniable that he would never allow such a thing to happen to one of his own. But now, the other party had joined the Saint Divine Palace. As a high-ranking member, privy to so many secrets, no one could truly say whether a person's character might change with their circumstances.

"Even Old Sang isn't sure..." Xu Xiaoshou mused silently. After this exchange, even though Old Sang often remained silent, Xu Xiaoshou could generally infer from his undisguised expressions that what he had learned in the White Cave was largely accurate. Likewise, deep down, he harbored profound confusion about these matters. He couldn't, dared not, trust the words of outsiders. But Old Sang was undoubtedly someone he could truly confide in and seek answers from.

Time was of the essence, so Xu Xiaoshou continued, "Following up on my previous point... The reason the Saint Servants oppose the Saint Divine Palace is evident from their motto: 'If one does not become a Saint, one remains a slave.' They know that the Saint Divine Palace is not merely righteous on the surface; in secret, they are indeed engaged in clandestine activities. These matters that cannot be brought to light might be because revealing them would compromise their noble cause. Or perhaps the Saint Divine Palace truly intends to wait until they have research breakthroughs before making an announcement. Both are possibilities. But knowing all this, and still being unwilling to accept it, still wanting to resist... I don't think the Saint Servants are that simple, are they?" Xu Xiaoshou hesitated as he spoke. He glanced at Old Sang's unruffled expression, deliberated, and then lowered his voice. "Do you... ah, no, do *they*, the Saint Servants, have other reasons?"

"What reasons?" Old Sang's gaze, sharp as a ghost's, cut through him.

"Hiss." A chill ran down Xu Xiaoshou's spine. "I daren't say."

"You brat..." Old Sang, at the opportune moment, sent a swift kick flying. This time, Xu Xiaoshou was prepared; with a *whoosh*, he ducked low and dodged it.

"Speak!" Old Sang recalled Xu Xiaoshou's uncannily accurate deductions just before they left the Spiritual Palace and absolutely dared not let the young man mess around on his own. He needed to understand the full extent of Xu Xiaoshou's knowledge.

"So, I'm really going to say it?"

"Are you asking for a beating..."

Xu Xiaoshou immediately rattled off a string of words: "There's a place called Void Island, where Saints are imprisoned. I don't know if they're Half-Saints or true Saint Emperors, but humanoid ghost beasts... it shouldn't be them!" Old Sang's pupils constricted, and his eyelids immediately dropped. However, Xu Xiaoshou's "perception" was incredibly sharp, instantly catching this subtle detail. He sped up his speech: "There's an interdimensional spatial rift in the White Cave that connects to Void Island. There's a Saint on that island who bestowed a renowned sword upon me. I don't know the origin of the Ember Light lineage, but the Ember Light Seed you fed me back then must have been obtained during the last opening of the White Cave. And since you trained under the Ember Light Half-Saint of the Saint Palace, the Ember Light Half-Saint shouldn't be that disheveled Saint. So, before you left the Saint Palace, or perhaps when you couldn't remain in the Central Domain and sought a secluded corner to live in... Your master, who is my grandmaster, certainly didn't give you a mission to come here and find the renowned sword Blazing Python! You only sent me here to complete a task you set – to find four swords, a task that could either be completed or not – simply because you were too powerful to enter the White Cave yourself? Is that all there is to it... and *I* went! Don't mess with me, I truly don't know anything!"