A Charade

Silence hung in the room for a moment. The speaker had been a white-haired crone with a raspy voice laced with thinly veiled anxiety. She seemed rather dissatisfied that the Grand Elder she spoke of had departed at such a time. Beside her sat a middle-aged man with sharp, resolute features and eyes like daggers. In both status and bearing, he was fully her equal. Remarkably, both of them were at the middle Nascent Soul stage! They were none other than elders of Xuantian Palace! Everyone in the room wore robes of similar design, differing only in their embroidered trimmings. The hems of the crone and the middle-aged man bore gold patterns, while the rest were adorned in silver. The middle-aged man understood very well what the crone was worried about, so he offered consolingly, "There is rarely smoke without fire. True or false, it does no harm to go and verify it. The Grand Elder was also worried that if the rumor proved true, we might miss the prime opportunity while all of us remained on guard at Hunmo Island. If that sacred relic were handed over to Great Sage Tianpeng by those demon kings, getting it back would be harder still!" As he spoke, the middle-aged man recalled the information they had received earlier. It was said that near the Star Sand Islands in the northern reaches of the Crescent Moon Realm, someone had spotted several demon kings pursuing a mysterious white-robed figure over some unknown treasure, creating quite a disturbance. Because the report was so vague and lacked specifics, they had been inclined to dismiss it as false. Yet the wretched traitor who stole the sacred relic had indeed fled into the demon realm. If the wretch had managed to cross the demon territory alive, surfacing recently around the Star Sand Islands was entirely plausible. Such a coincidence was enough to catch their attention. Thus, the Grand Elder had decided to investigate in person. If Qin Sang were to learn of this, he would immediately guess that this was information leaked by Master Feng and his companions. They had wanted to stir up trouble for Bi Fang without getting dragged into the vortex themselves, so they had deliberately kept things murky—just clear enough for Xuantian Palace to read between the lines. Pausing briefly, the middle-aged man continued, "Even without the Grand Elder, our strength is more than sufficient to apprehend that wretch. Wait... the timing of this news... Reaching our ears right before the Myriad Demons Assembly, could it be a deliberate diversion by that wretch to split our forces? He knows the palace's situation inside and out. Unless forced into an absolute corner, we cannot let word of the sacred relic's theft leak out, much less dare disturb the Palace Master. That prevents us from mobilizing openly for a massive manhunt." "That would be for the best. This old woman will wait right here for that wretch!" The old woman let out a cold snort, suppressing the surge of anger that suddenly flared within her, then changed her tone. "Even if that wretch has transformed into an ice demon physique, his strength is at most equivalent to an early Nascent Soul cultivator. This old woman does not fear him slipping through our fingers." The middle-aged man's expression shifted slightly. "Is Elder Mei worried about that old fiend, Old Man Hunmo?" "Indeed!" The old woman nodded heavily. "Old Man Hunmo is perverse and treacherous; our fabricated excuse will hardly deceive him for long. Although we made him swear an inner demon oath, there is no guaranteeing he won't pull some underhanded trick behind our backs. Without the Grand Elder here, we can barely keep him in check." At these words, the expressions of the cultivators in the room grew exceptionally solemn. The pressure exerted by a great cultivator was something no one dared take lightly. After a moment's thought, the middle-aged man said, "The Grand Elder departed in secret, and that old fiend remains in the dark. Even if he has intentions, he won't dare act openly. By the time he realizes what has happened, our objective will already be accomplished." He then sighed ruefully. "Unless one has reached the Deity Transformation stage or is exceptionally versed in the ice element, it is virtually impossible to open the ten-thousand-year profound ice chest. Who could have imagined a traitor would emerge from our own ranks, taking advantage of the turmoil to steal the sacred relic most vital to Xuantian Palace? Had we waited any longer, that wretch might have actually managed to unravel the seal. Were it not for this, we would never have been forced into a transaction with that old fiend, pushing to convene the Myriad Demons Assembly early just to lure that wretch out." If these words were to spread outside, they would surely cause an immense uproar. The unearthing of Huang Longshi's temporary palace and Old Man Hunmo's brutal slaughter of the Xuantian Palace elders were, from start to finish, nothing more than a charade played before the eyes of the entire world! Just then, one of the white-robed figures seated below could not resist asking, "Elder Lan, did the Grand Elder truly give Huang Longshi's relic to Old Man Hunmo? Isn't it said that Huang Longshi maintained several temporary palaces rather than permanent abodes, and that the secret of this relic points toward Huang Longshi's true cave abode?" The middle-aged man glanced at him. "Do you believe that merely a temporary palace we already picked clean, plus a few items from the Cold Bone Path, would be enough to make Old Man Hunmo cooperate with us?" The man opened his mouth, struck speechless. Seeing his reaction, the middle-aged man's expression softened, and he said in an easy tone, "That it points to Huang Longshi's cave abode is merely our speculation. Over all these years, the Grand Elder searched repeatedly with that item in hand, yet found nothing every time. Whether a true cave abode even exists remains uncertain. After all, so many Cold Bone Path treasures were kept in that temporary palace; given Huang Longshi's cultivation, those were not things he could just casually discard. Besides, even if Old Man Hunmo finds it, so what? It is nothing more than the cave abode of a late Nascent Soul cultivator!" The middle-aged man's voice radiated confidence, calming the white-robed subordinate's uneasy heart. At this moment, the middle-aged man exchanged a glance with the old woman. Tapping his fingers lightly against the armrest, he addressed the white-robed figures below in a deep voice: "The auction will begin shortly. Disperse and disguise yourselves immediately. Search in secret for anyone who has been purchasing large quantities of ice-attributed treasures in recent days. With that wretch's insufficient cultivation, his only way to break the seal is by laying down the Counter-Yin Formation. Heh... the Counter-Yin Formation requires an extraordinarily immense amount of glacial energy, which can only be supplied through a vast array of treasures. As long as he is desperate to undo the seal and sever the connection to the sacred relic, he will never pass up the opportunity to gather treasures at the Myriad Demons Assembly." "Understood!" The white-robed figures accepted their orders and withdrew. Once their subordinates had departed, the old woman coughed softly and said, "That wretch is crafty by nature. If given enough time, he will certainly control several low-level cultivators to make separate purchases on his behalf. If so, rooting him out won't be easy. Our greatest hope still rests on locking onto him with the Yinli Pearl provided by the Grand Elder... Has the disguise been completed?" The middle-aged man nodded. "Rest assured, Elder Mei. The disguise will definitely be finished before the trade fair begins. To anyone else, the Yinli Pearl appears as nothing more than an ordinary yin pearl and won't draw much notice. As long as that wretch is lured in by the Cold Bone Path treasures to attend the trade fair, his unique ice demon physique will allow him to sense the anomaly within the Yinli Pearl." Hearing this, the old woman smiled faintly. "It seems our people caught wind of traces of those two girls, Shi Xue and Liu Li, in Myriad Demons City. Do not let your clever scheme backfire into having them buy it up instead." "I heard about that as well! The Liu Li girl's Ice Soul Divine Light has yet to reach great attainment, so her spiritual perception cannot match the sharpness of an ice demon physique. There is no way she can see through the Yinli Pearl's disguise. You may rest easy, Elder Mei." With that, the middle-aged man stood up and strode toward the back hall instead of returning to his quiet meditation chamber. The old woman was momentarily taken aback and asked, "What else are you going to do?"