Dispute

Xu Yuan felt surprisingly calm upon hearing this piece of information. Perhaps it was because he had witnessed the madness of that couple firsthand, to the point that it would not surprise him in the least if they offered their Insect Saint father as kindling in a blood sacrifice for their son. Still, since the Insect Saint was dead, did the three Saints Mu Xingchen mentioned refer to Mu Xingyi's family of three? Mu Xingchen soon resolved this doubt for Xu Yuan. He recounted in detail what had transpired at the eye of the wind in the heart of Evil Ghost Gorge. As Transcendent Realm cultivators bold enough to leap tiers and subjugate a heavily injured Insect Saint, each member of their trio possessed Dao Charms and techniques that stood among the rarest of the rare within their realm. Unfortunately, it was an unequal fight. Because Mu Xingyi had broken through to Sainthood. When the ghost infant crawled out of the Insect Saint's remains, Mu Xingyi and Madame Wan had also appeared at the eye of the wind in Evil Ghost Gorge. Two Saints and a ghost infant of unknown strength—such a chasm in power was utterly despair-inducing. Even though Madame Wan, a Saint Tier yin ghost, remained weakened from giving birth, and even though the newly ascended Saint Mu Xingyi possessed no combat experience whatsoever, the battle turned into a one-sided slaughter from the very beginning. The only reason Mu Xingchen had managed to escape was that Mu Xingyi held back out of consideration for their past bond. Before parting, the "younger brother" he had raised with his own hands gave him an earnest warning: he told him to recover properly and under no circumstances return to Zhenxi Prefectural City. Yet after parting, Madame Wan directly led the ghost infant in pursuing Mu Xingchen relentlessly for an entire day. "...When I rescued the Saintess back then, I clashed with that yin ghost. Her condition was hardly any better than it was at that time, yet that ghost infant's power had nearly breached the Saint Tier." Mu Xingchen lowered his gaze to glance at his mutilated body and smiled faintly. "The arm and leg I lost were both severed by that ominous ghost infant wielding a wooden saber." At this point, Mu Xingchen raised his hand to grip the stump of his arm, wariness flashing through his eyes: "The moment that blade touched my flesh, I sensed that the ghost infant was steadily growing stronger by devouring the entity within the blade. It should take another three to seven days before it completely digests that saber." With that, he slowly raised his eyes to meet Xu Yuan's gaze. "These were my experiences in Evil Ghost Gorge that day, and they are also the source of my intelligence." Meeting the man's earnest gaze, Xu Yuan did not reply immediately. He felt as though the other man's ordeal sounded as preposterous as some bizarre ghost story. Back in the Silent Crypt, Xu Yuan had staked his very life and transformed into an aberrant ghost, yet had only reached the Transcendent Realm. How on earth had Mu Xingyi ascended to Sainthood just like that, without paying any price at all? By what right, damn it? Taking a deep breath, Xu Yuan collected himself and asked with a smile, "Are you saying... Mu Xingyi broke through to Sainthood in just over a month?" Mu Xingchen nodded helplessly and said in a low voice, "Hard though it may be to believe, that is the truth." Xu Yuan weighed his words for a moment before asking softly, "Then do you know the reason, sir? How was Mu Xingyi able to advance so quickly?" Subconsciously, Mu Xingchen rubbed the coarse weave of his straw raincoat with his sole remaining hand. His expression turned conflicted for a few moments, but he eventually spoke in a slow, measured tone: "I know nothing of that matter." "You know nothing?" Xu Yuan laughed at this. Staring into the man's eyes, he spoke in a deliberate, solemn voice, "Mister Mu, based on what you just revealed, your Mu Family Chamber of Commerce must have another backer behind the scenes. Otherwise, I truly cannot fathom where your chamber found the power to control that Insect Saint thirty years ago. "The plot those people hatched with your father went against your principles, which was why you could only fake your death and retreat from the world in agony. "This deduction isn't wrong, is it?" Mu Xingchen frowned slightly without denying it, merely asking, "Young Master, bringing this up all of a sudden is for..." "To tell you that my patience is nearly exhausted." Xu Yuan cut him off, enunciating each word clearly: "Mister Mu, I can understand your reluctance to betray your family due to filial piety and loyalty. But if you insist on stonewalling on this matter, then I, Zhou, can only apologize to you. "With your current wavering attitude, there is no way we can trust a word you say." Having said that, Xu Yuan smoothed away every trace of emotion from his face and calmly waited for Mu Xingchen's answer. The Mu Family Chamber of Commerce had seized the Insect Saint's bloodline using secret arts and kept Mu Xingyi in captivity for over twenty years, yet he now claimed to know nothing of the inside details? If the man wanted to speak in riddles, Xu Yuan had no intention of playing along. The atmosphere inside the cave grew increasingly heavy and profound, like a bottomless abyss. Locked in their stare, Mu Xingchen braced himself with his lone arm and leg to stand up from the ground, glaring at Xu Yuan. "The information I provided should already be enough..." "Let's go." The instant the man spoke, Xu Yuan turned on his heel. Seeing this, Tianye glanced at Mu Xingchen, her red lips curving into a mocking smirk as she trailed cheerfully behind Xu Yuan toward the cave entrance. "Halt!" A terrifying pressure surged out from the deepest part of the cavern. Mu Xingchen's brows knit tight, his gaze turning slightly cold. "I am merely asking you to deliver a message to the garrison of Zhenxi Prefectural City. Young Master, pray do not let insatiable greed cloud your judgment." Suppressed by the formidable aura behind him, Xu Yuan had no choice but to stop. Without looking back, his tone remained flat: "Shouldn't the phrase 'insatiable greed' be applied to yourself, Mister Mu? "If an error occurs when reporting such crucial military intelligence, resulting in troop redeployments that compromise the battlefront, the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion will be the one held accountable. "Mu Xingchen, "who do you think you're fooling with this sanctimonious act?" "..." The words were like blades, stabbing straight through Mu Xingchen's thoughts. Military intelligence was no trifling matter, let alone an assault on a city by Saints. As the eldest son of the Mu family who had ostensibly died twelve years ago, he held no standing to vouch for this intelligence, nor could he find any faction willing to endorse it. Because at this critical juncture, his father would likely be delighted to see several Saints burn Zhenxi Manor to the ground. In that state of helplessness, he had run into those three young women. They told him that the Saintess of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, whom he had conveniently saved before, was rushing toward Zhenxi Prefectural City. Thus, ignoring his wounds, he had rushed ahead to wait along her unavoidable path, hoping that the Saintess would endorse this intelligence in the name of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion. Yet now... Amid Mu Xingchen's silence, Tianye had already casually dispersed the pressure bearing down on them. Accompanied by the fading sound of footsteps, Xu Yuan's voice quietly drifted into Mu Xingchen's ears: "If you truly insist, sir, then for the sake of your having saved Tianyan, we can inform the city gate guards of your intelligence upon reaching Zhenxi Prefectural City, without revealing our identities." Fifteen minutes later, Xu Yuan and Tianye exited the cavern. Mu Xingchen had compromised. Between his principles and his filial loyalty, he ultimately chose the former.