Chapter 525: Reverse Soul Tree

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Seeing that the other party offered no further information, Qiu Ben didn't ask any more questions. Although he didn't know if what the other party said was true or false, since there was a way to verify, he certainly couldn't ignore it. And he had to hurry; if Shi Chun and his group were truly after some rat demon, they must quickly find its whereabouts. He quickly returned indoors to urgently relay the message upward, so that the Extreme Fire Sect could arrange for verification in Dazhi City as soon as possible.

Po Yuan, who had returned to the pavilion to continue drinking tea, was unaware of what kind of trouble his warning would bring upon himself.

In the evening, Lou Xiu, the Prefect of the Inner Court of Yaoshan City, was suddenly summoned urgently to the Divine Mountain, where he met Commander Huang Ye at the North Mountain Hub. He didn't know why Huang Ye had summoned him so urgently, and he greeted him, full of questions.

Huang Ye immediately asked, "Did you not see Shi Chun when you were in Dazhi City?"

Lou Xiu was startled, unsure why he would ask this. "No. My lord, do you mean he went to Dazhi City?"

Huang Ye asked again, "Do you know about the situation at Chaoyue Pavilion, that bookstore?"

Lou Xiu grew even more puzzled. "I should be quite clear on it. A family of five, the mistress passed away early..."

Huang Ye cut him off. "There's a handyman at the bookstore named Wang Ping. Haven't you heard of him?"

"Wang Ping..." Lou Xiu was instantly choked up. He wasn't sure if the Wang Ping the other party mentioned was *that* Wang Ping. The key was that there were so many people and things in Dazhi City; how could he pay attention to the names of minor figures? Not to mention a mere handyman, he couldn't even remember all the names of Dong Wenshu's children, the owner of the bookstore. But then again, with such a reminder from the Commander, he remembered too. When he had heard the name 'Wang Ping' before, it had sounded quite familiar. At the time, he had only thought it was an overly common, easily similar name, and hadn't given it much thought. Now that he thought about it, he cautiously ventured a question, "My lord, do you mean that the two Wang Pings are... are...?"

Huang Ye let out a cold snort. "Now I understand why you messed things up in Dazhi City. You dare to do anything, and you're far too complacent. That's right, the two Wang Pings are one and the same person. He never hides his true identity. Dazhi City was right under your nose, and in Yaoshan City, he's even more blatantly in front of you. He arrived in Dazhi City a year ago, and Wu Jinliang, who went by the alias Gao He, was working as a handyman at a horse farm outside Dazhi City. Yet you were utterly oblivious! Superiors are investigating related matters, and I did manage to find them out, but how am I supposed to report this now?"

The last sentence immediately made cold sweat break out on Lou Xiu's forehead. He also realized that Shi Chun's group had been lurking in Dazhi City for so long; it definitely wasn't simply to experience life, but was absolutely related to their scheme. He stammered slightly, "My lord, I beg you to put in a good word for your subordinate."

Huang Ye said, "You're incompetent; everything you do goes wrong. No amount of good words will help. First, do your job well. Having achievements there is the best recommendation. Currently, Shi Chun has left the bookstore and is now working as a handyman with Wu Jinliang at 'Bai's Rice Shop.' You are familiar with the situation in Dazhi City. Think carefully, what exactly is going on here?"

"He's gone to work at Bai's Rice Shop again..." Lou Xiu was very surprised. After a moment of thought, he tried asking, "Could it be for Huang Yingying? Commissioned by the rice shop owner's wife to save her husband?"

Huang Ye said, his gaze unkind, "You and Po Yuan are thinking alike!"

"Po Yuan..." Lou Xiu was startled. He didn't know how Po Yuan had gotten involved again.

Huang Ye snorted. "Highly unlikely! They've been lurking in Dazhi City for over a year. If they were truly after Huang Yingying, would they have waited until now? Also, for Grandma Qi to come to the mountain at this time, could it also be to rescue someone and coordinate with them? If they truly intended to rescue someone, with Grandma Qi's influence, they could simply plead directly with the Goddess. There's no need for all this trouble."

So Lou Xiu lowered his head and quickly thought. However, no matter how much he thought, he racked his brain but couldn't figure out the intricacies. He felt like anything was possible, yet at the same time, nothing quite made sense; he was completely bewildered.

"Never mind," Huang Ye realized that calling this fellow to ask was pointless; he was just as clueless about what was happening. He immediately reminded him, "A Xun and Po Yuan have a very good relationship. We didn't take it seriously before, but now we know that the Dazhi City affair ended unclearly. Po Yuan has strong opinions against you, or rather, against us. Or perhaps he suspects us of wrongdoing. He even suspects that you and Shi Chun were colluding in the Dazhi City affair. But he's powerless to deal with us, so he actually stirred up trouble with the Extreme Fire Sect, hoping to use external force to uncover the truth. It's not convenient to deal with him now. You'd best be careful yourself."

Upon hearing this, Lou Xiu cursed, "The matter was already concluded back then, but he insisted on reporting it and taking Huang Yingying away. I felt something was off; I felt like he still wanted to hold onto it. I was worried he wanted to dig something out of Huang Yingying's mouth. And sure enough..."

Huang Ye waved his hand, interrupting. "No matter how confusing the situation is, Shi Chun and his group must certainly know what's going on. So our plan remains unchanged. You need to keep a close eye on Shi Chun and their movements..."

As the two were discussing, outside Chaoyue Pavilion in Dazhi City, a simply dressed, somewhat timid-looking woman walked into the bookstore and asked if they were still hiring.

Inside the City Lord's Mansion, Li Xianghong acquired some fine wine and invited Bai Qiru to taste it with her.

On the top floor of Zhulang Pavilion, the night view was graceful, and the person was even more beautiful. Yin Xu stood before a lantern, personally drawing its pattern. Painting was her small hobby; all the lantern patterns on this floor were drawn by her own hand.

Second Steward Tian Shen came over and quietly reported, "Sister Hong, everything is ready. They can leave now."

Yin Xu's brush strokes remained steady; she was still focused. But she asked, "You said you had narrowed down the scope of the traitor who leaked the information, didn't you? Lou Xiu came again, and still no results?"

Tian Shen, however, slightly lowered his head.

Seeing no response, Yin Xu finally stopped painting and looked at him. She asked, "Who is it?"

A troubled expression appeared on Tian Shen's face, but he knew he couldn't hide it any longer. He sighed softly. "It's Meihua. After keeping an eye on her, we found that she secretly had contact with the city guards. After Wang Ping and the others returned, she secretly passed messages to the city guards again."

Yin Xu was stunned. Then a furious expression appeared on her face. She slammed down the brush in her hand. "It's one thing for others to betray us, but she's one of our own kin! Have we ever mistreated her?"

Tian Shen lowered his head. "Should we expel her?"

Despite her anger, Yin Xu quickly calmed down. After some thought, she said, "After sending Wang Ping and the others out, spread the word to Meihua that Wang Ping and the others have been cultivating in their rooms."

Tian Shen thought for a moment, nodded, hummed in acknowledgment, and left.

Yin Xu removed the hairpin from her hair. The evening breeze blowing from the rooftop tumbled her flowing long hair...

About an hour later, a carriage left the city. The checks at the city gate were very strict, but the guards didn't inspect this carriage; they let it pass directly. This was because the carriage belonged to the City Lord's Mansion.

The carriage stopped after reaching the designated spot. Two figures sprang out from the carriage window and immediately vanished into the Guxincao forest in the darkness. Then the carriage continued on its way.

Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang, hidden in the forest, watched for a moment. Then both turned and plunged deeper into the forest.

Their destination was naturally the Divine Mountain, but they didn't go straight there. They were still cautious of Yin Xu's side and only went through after circling a good distance. They didn't use earth evasion. In the dead of night, Shi Chun's right eye's special ability was enough to observe their surroundings.

It wasn't until they encountered the barrier of the invisible grand formation at the foot of the Divine Mountain that Wu Jinliang led Shi Chun underground. The two then took out the command arrow underground. This time, Shi Chun tried it himself. The process was very smooth. The light shield emitted by the command arrow sent them inside without any obstruction.

Once inside, the two emerged from underground. This was because when using earth evasion technique underground, if not very deep, the movement of earth churning underground could still be detected if passing near experts, and there might be many experts on the Divine Mountain. It didn't matter if they didn't use earth evasion. Shi Chun's right eye's special ability was just as effective; they could easily slip past both overt and covert sentinels. Sometimes, the two even strolled openly past a group of people and even chatted as they went. However, with the grand formation's protection, the sentinels within the Divine Mountain weren't much of a concern.

It wasn't until they entered the main mountain range area that the two slightly sensed a hint of tight security, but it didn't prevent them from heading towards the highest peak.

As they climbed halfway up the mountain, Shi Chun suddenly stopped, staring blankly beside a pavilion, repeatedly opening and closing his left eye. He saw the shadow of a tree about ten feet tall. Its overall outline was hazy white, but the core of its main trunk seemed to be black. Shi Chun quickly darted over and stood beneath the tree. His left eye saw nothing, but his right eye saw it right there. He reached out and touched, but couldn't feel anything; it was empty. Looking up, he observed the outline of its leaves, which matched the legendary descriptions; its leaves were like maple leaves.

This alone brought a joyful expression to his face, knowing that he had found the legendary Soul-Returning Tree. He hadn't expected it to be so smooth.

Wu Jinliang, who had run ahead, also came back and darted to his side. Seeing his expression, he guessed what was happening and tentatively asked, "Did you find it?"

Shi Chun nodded. "Mm, it's right in front of you."

Wu Jinliang looked left and right, seeing nothing. He also blindly groped in the empty air a couple of times, feeling nothing. He couldn't help but murmur, "If you can't touch it or see it, how do we get it?"

Shi Chun said, "Since A Xun could get it, it means there's a way. According to Huang Yingying, A Xun was able to find the Soul-Returning Tree, possibly due to his sense of smell. What do you think?"

Wu Jinliang replied, "That's certainly possible. A unique talent, able to do what others cannot."

Shi Chun asked again, "Then, after smelling the location of the Soul-Returning Tree, how could he find a way to harvest it?"

Wu Jinliang hesitated. "A unique talent is innate. Given his age, one can imagine it's probably unrelated to cultivation techniques. He probably succeeded after trying various methods. It might even be the result of many years of experimentation."

Shi Chun asked again, "The useful things he tried might have been just used up, but could there be any left? Does he usually collect more? Could he be carrying some on him?"

Hearing this, Wu Jinliang uttered a series of "ohs," pointing at him repeatedly with an expression of sudden realization. He now understood why Chun had gone to such lengths to obtain all of Lord A Xun's personal belongings, and why, even after confirming there was no 'Death-Defying Fragrance' among them, he still had him keep A Xun's relics well preserved. Now he understood: they could now take them out and try them one by one. What if there really was something useful? Even if it didn't work, at least it was a direction to try. And if it did work, it would save them a lot of trouble and a great deal of time.