Chapter 96: Lies Come Out Easily

Tang Yuansheng, a 102-year-old male, a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage, currently serves as an Inspector for the Immortal Sect.

He received a message from Branch Master Chu asking him to arrive earlier, so he decided to move up his schedule. He first arrived in Qinghuai County, which is separated from Yanjiang County by only one mountain.

He knew that once he crossed the mountain, he would reach the location Young Chu had mentioned. Suddenly, Tang Yuansheng detected a peculiar fluctuation of energy. He wondered what kind of energy it was.

Following the sensation, he arrived at the stables of an inn. Inside, an old horse with dragon scales on its forehead was nestled together with a brown mare, appearing to share a deep affection.

An inn stablehand brought a bundle of selected hay and placed it in the trough. The old horse glanced at it disdainfully, showing no intention of eating. Seeing the old horse's behavior, the stablehand mumbled to himself, wondering if it had gotten together with a new horse so quickly after the white mare left.

The old horse, as if understanding human speech, glared at the stablehand. Unwilling to provoke the exotic beast, the stablehand quickly ran off.

The premium hay left by the old horse's owner had long been consumed. After the premium feed ran out, there was no sign of the owner. The innkeeper speculated that something might have happened to them, or that they had died, especially since the owner had gone to Mount Song.

After the premium feed was gone, the innkeeper instructed the stablehand to feed it other hay, planning to use the old horse to cover the feed costs if the owner remained absent. However, the old horse disdained the inn's feed, refusing to eat a single bite. A month passed in this manner.

The innkeeper was terrified. This old horse was clearly not merely an exotic beast with scales on its forehead; it was a high-level Demonic Beast, having already reached the Bigu (abstinence from grains) realm!

Exotic beasts are a species between Demonic Beasts and wild animals. They possess Demonic Beast bloodline, but it is too diluted to be fully activated. They exhibit some atavistic traits, such as growing scales, feathers, or horns, and their bodies are stronger than wild animals, but only to a limited extent.

Tang Yuansheng was overjoyed upon seeing the old horse. This was actually a world-rare Dragon Horse, though he wondered about the purity of its bloodline. He was extremely excited, thinking that he truly wouldn't have recognized it had he not accidentally visited the vast Eastern Sea. This was a complete unexpected blessing.

How rare was a Dragon Horse! To find one in the stables of this remote little county, its owner must be unaware of its true value, and the Dragon Horse itself must not have awakened yet, which is why it was languishing here. He believed that as a powerful Nascent Soul cultivator who had never found a suitable mount, this must be an opportunity granted to him by the Immortal Sage, who had observed his devotion.

Tang Yuansheng prayed to the Immortal Sage for a moment, then flipped and leaped into the stables. The old horse glanced back at Tang Yuansheng, ignored him, and continued to nuzzle with the brown mare. "Poor Dragon Horse," he thought, "unaware of your noble status, falling in love with a mundane horse. Come with me, I will show you how powerful you truly are!"

Tang Yuansheng extended a golden, shimmering hand, intending to take the old horse. The old horse kicked its hind hooves backward, shattering Tang Yuansheng's hand. Tang Yuansheng felt a sudden tightness in his chest, coughed up a large mouthful of blood, and his aura instantly weakened.

He looked at the old horse in terror, his previous excitement replaced by boundless fear, and he turned to flee. There must be a mighty expert living here, someone who plays among mortals, keeping a Dragon Horse as a common horse in their stable! His recent actions surely couldn't escape the notice of such an expert. He had to run quickly, hoping the expert would spare his life out of consideration for his ignorance!

The old horse let out a triumphant whinny, showing off its strength to the mare.

Tang Yuansheng fled for a while. When he wasn't captured and brought back by the powerful entity, he realized that his actions hadn't bothered them. "Ugh!" He coughed up another mouthful of blood. He found an uninhabited spot, sat cross-legged, took a pill, and began to recover from his injuries. Those two kicks had severely depleted his vitality.

When he opened his eyes again, he heard a rumbling sound from the other side of the mountain, as if some colossal object had fallen. "It's already night?" Tang Yuansheng was surprised to see that it was dark, realizing that a full day had passed while he was recovering from his injuries.

Having recovered sufficiently to ensure his safety, he crossed Mount Song and arrived at the crashed flying boat, where he saw Branch Master Chu, impaled by Lu Yang's sword, lifeless. He thought, "...Is this the 'surprise' Young Chu mentioned?"

Whether it was a pleasant surprise was debatable, but Tang Yuansheng was certainly shocked. Before his arrival, the higher-ups of the Immortal Sect had instructed him to keep an eye on Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, and Mang Gu, even providing their portraits. Now, even if he didn't want to pay attention, he had no choice.

"Who are you!" Lu Yang asked, holding his sword defensively, glaring at Tang Yuansheng.

Tang Yuansheng looked at Lu Yang with a wry smile. "Lu Yang, how dare you point your sword at me? I am Tang Yuansheng, Inspector of the Immortal Sect."

Upon learning Tang Yuansheng's identity, Lu Yang discreetly gestured for Lan Ting to leave quickly, as Lan Ting's presence would be difficult to explain to Tang Yuansheng. "So it's Inspector Tang," Lu Yang said, his tone a little more polite, but he still regarded Tang Yuansheng with suspicion, clearly not fully trusting his identity.

Tang Yuansheng disdained to explain himself to Lu Yang and instead asked, "Why did you kill Li Shouyi?" Li Shouyi was the Prefect of Yanjiang County and Branch Master Chu's real name. Tang Yuansheng habitually called him Young Chu.

Lu Yang stated gravely, "Because he nearly exposed his identity as a member of the Immortal Sect!"

"Oh?" Tang Yuansheng looked at Lu Yang with interest, curious to hear his explanation.

Suddenly, a commotion arose at the foot of the mountain. Fang Qingyun was approaching with a large team to investigate the crashed flying boat. The team also included healers for rescue operations.

"Let's leave first!" Tang Yuansheng, still severely injured, did not wish to encounter the authorities. With a sweep of his sleeve, he enveloped Lu Yang and the other two, teleporting far away.

Tang Yuansheng, familiar with the route, led the three into the Yanjiang Branch, the safest place in Yanjiang County. "Now, tell me. Li Shouyi is meticulous in his work. How did he expose his identity?"

Lu Yang fully revealed the matter of the Reverse Lifespan Array. He continued, "Branch Master Chu... oh no, Prefect Li's plan was undeniably thorough. First, he used 'One-Foot Red' as a scapegoat, then secretly set up the Reverse Lifespan Array. As long as the small flags were destroyed afterward, there would be no trace left."

Tang Yuansheng nodded. Li Shouyi had always been cautious in his actions, using an extremely obscure Reverse Lifespan Array. This plan was flawless.

"However, an unforeseen event occurred. The three of us opened a barbecue restaurant here, a place most suitable for gathering local intelligence. We noticed a disciple from the Osmanthus Palace accidentally passing by. She seemed proficient in array formations and recognized the Reverse Lifespan Talismans on the small flags!"

"Disciples from the Five Great Immortal Sects cannot be harmed. We were worried that Prefect Li's actions would be exposed and implicate the entire Immortal Sect, so we urged him to hide quickly. However, he insisted that it was a critical period for him to use the Reverse Lifespan Array to advance to the Nascent Soul stage and absolutely could not hide. We had no choice but to kill him before the Great Xia could apprehend him, to eliminate future troubles!"

"You also noticed the government officials just now, didn't you? The leader was Chief Constable Fang Qingyun. Why would he bring so many people? It must have been to stop the Reverse Lifespan Array from activating and to arrest Prefect Li!"

Tang Yuansheng nodded, agreeing that Lu Yang and the other two had acted correctly. The presence of an Osmanthus Palace disciple in Yanjiang County was verifiable and undeniable, and Li Shouyi indeed valued his advancement to the Nascent Soul stage. Generally, branch masters are at the Nascent Soul stage. As Yanjiang County is a small county, its branch master was only at the Golden Core stage. Li Shouyi wanted to be promoted to a branch master in a cultivation-developed region, so he had to advance to the Nascent Soul stage immediately. The same applied to his official government position; without sufficient cultivation, promotion would be extremely difficult.

Mang Gu stared at Lu Yang in astonishment. The plan had not included encountering Tang Yuansheng after killing Branch Master Chu, nor had they even considered a reason for the killing. How had Brother Lu come up with it so spontaneously?

Meng Jingzhou subtly gave Lu Yang a thumbs-up. The reason Lu Yang had concocted was surprisingly similar to what he had quickly improvised.