Chapter 193: Who Did It?

The shadowy figure knew he was no match for Yunzhi; the gap between them was too vast, and his chances of successful escape were minimal. Rather than risk exposure, he decided to self-destruct as quickly as possible to protect his true body.

If Yunzhi were to find his lair, he and his true body would be out of the running in this grand contest. Damn it, why are there people like her in the Central Continent?!

Is all the luck of heaven and earth concentrated in the Central Continent?! And why did the Immortal Fairy revive?

Besides a select few, who else knew of the Immortal Fairy's existence, let alone her name! How exactly did the Immortal Fairy revive?!

Only by speaking her honorific and true name can she revive, so who spoke it?!

The Immortal Dao Fruit truly lives up to its description—eternal immortality, capable of revival even after complete death. As the shadowy figure self-destructed, a torrent of questions flooded his mind, none of which he could answer.

His self-destruction was silent; his body turned to dust, and the dust transformed into spiritual energy, returning to the world. "Did he escape?" Lu Yang wondered, confused by the shadowy figure's advanced techniques.

Yunzhi calmly shook her head, a hint of murderous intent and regret in her eyes. "He didn't escape; he took his own life."

"So, will his true body know what happened here? Know about the Immortal Fairy?" Lu Yang recalled the shadowy figure's last words before self-destruction: "It's a pity my true body won't know about this."

Was that meant to mislead, or was it truly the case?

Yunzhi's words dispelled Lu Yang's speculation. "His true body won't know, and the clone wouldn't dare let it know."

"If the clone's situation could be known by the true body, then I could use the connection between the clone and the true body to locate him."

Lu Yang still didn't fully grasp his senior sister's methods.

"However..." A trace of doubt flickered in Yunzhi's eyes, as if she were contemplating something. "However, what?"

"The shadowy figure feels very familiar; I might have fought him before." Lu Yang and the Immortal Fairy were both surprised.

Yunzhi continued, "It was about a hundred years ago. I coincidentally detected an immortal in the Central Continent. I asked him to reveal his identity, but he refused, and we began to fight."

"He likely underestimated my strength, as he was at a disadvantage from the start. I pressed my advantage and wounded him. Seeing that further combat would yield no good outcome, he feigned an attack on the city below. While I was protecting the city, he fled. By the time I wanted to pursue him, he was already gone."

"That person concealed himself with chaotic mist and used rather common techniques, making it impossible to discern his origin. He was very similar to the shadowy figure we encountered today."

Yunzhi believed that the shadowy figure today was a clone of the person she fought a hundred years ago.

Lu Yang pondered: if his senior sister's guess was correct, then the shadowy figure's statement, "Indeed, your strength is far beyond what you outwardly display," was a pretense of not understanding her true power—a lie.

The more Lu Yang thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. If he truly didn't know his senior sister's strength, why would his immediate reaction be self-destruction rather than escape? It defied logic.

The shadowy figure barely spoke throughout, and most of what he said was likely false. What a cunning old schemer.

The Immortal Fairy was greatly relieved, though the two celestial maidens hadn't held back when they hit him; one was heavier-handed than the other, but at least they hadn't killed him.

If he had fallen into the shadowy figure's hands, not only would his Dao Fruit have been stolen, but he would also have likely been silenced. "Fairy, can you guess who he is?" Lu Yang asked.

The Immortal Fairy frowned, a hint of hesitation in her voice. "Immortal Jiuzhong is the most skilled at manipulating clones, but the other three could imitate him if they wanted to."

"Is it possible there are other immortals besides the five of you?" Lu Yang pressed. This question made the Immortal Fairy uncertain.

Could it be that Immortal Jiuzhong truly wasn't the first immortal?

"How did you determine that Immortal Jiuzhong was the first immortal back then?"

The Immortal Fairy recalled, "When Immortal Jiuzhong ascended, celestial light bloomed across heaven and earth, immortal music resonated, and nine-colored raindrops fell from the sky, bringing blessings and cheers, bestowing fortune upon all beings. None of us four experienced this when we ascended later."

Lu Yang was astonished. "Is that the special treatment for the first one to ascend?"

Yunzhi nodded. She had seen records in ancient texts about Immortal Jiuzhong's ascension, which aligned with the Immortal Fairy's account, or rather, the Immortal Fairy, as a direct participant, described it in even greater detail.

The first ascender was indeed extraordinary.

The Immortal Fairy shook her head. "No, later, when the five of us were eating, Immortal Jiuzhong got drunk and confessed that all those phenomena back then were things he secretly conjured himself, at the cost of many precious natural treasures."

Lu Yang:

Yunzhi: "..."

How was it that every time they heard the Immortal Fairy recount ancient tales and oddities, their understanding was completely upended?

Lu Yang even felt that the ancient era described by the Immortal Fairy was completely different in style from the shadowy figure.

In a mysterious place, a dark figure sat upon a throne made of piled bones.

He opened his immortal eyes, radiating boundless celestial light that illuminated the surrounding area.

The boundless celestial light flashed, making the corpses and dry bones scattered across the ground appear eerily strange under its glow. The dark figure slowly rose, stretched, and frowned slightly. "Why is this chair so uncomfortable?"

"Whose idea was it to build a chair out of dry bones? There isn't even a cushion." The dark figure shook his head, deciding to find somewhere else to sleep.

Suddenly, the dark figure sensed something amiss and hummed. "My lord, what's wrong?" a servant cautiously asked.

"My clone sent to the Immortal Sect has gone missing?"

The dark figure had always been able to sense his connection with the clone, determining its location.

Just now, the clone's connection to him had been completely severed, which meant it had been eliminated. This clone had cost him immeasurable effort and resources, and it was gone just like that. To say he wasn't pained would be a lie. "What?! Your lord's clone is missing?!" The servant was greatly alarmed, his expression clearly genuine.

His lord was an immortal; an immortal clone was powerful enough to traverse the world freely, so how could it have disappeared in the Central Continent? The dark figure pondered, "Who could have done this?"

His first exclusion was the Immortal Fairy; he could guess the extent of a soul created by pure thought, and it was impossible for her to silently kill his clone.

There were only a few individuals in the Central Continent capable of killing his clone.

The reason he hadn't gone himself, choosing instead to send a clone to investigate, was his concern about being discovered by those few individuals in the Central Continent.

He did not wish to reveal his identity yet.

He had tampered with the clone so that even if it were captured, the opponent would absolutely not be able to deduce his identity from it; they might even be misled by the information on the clone, suspecting other immortals instead.

In life, caution is paramount.

Otherwise, living as carefree as the Immortal Fairy, one might be eliminated any day. "Was it that fellow in the Imperial Palace? Was it Yunzhi from the Dao Inquiring Sect? Or someone else?"

His clone was hidden within the Immortal Sect, and those who interacted with the Immortal Sect could only be the Great Xia Dynasty, which was constantly working to suppress demonic cults, and the Five Great Immortal Sects, which purged demons.

Some people die, but they don't fully die...