"Are you sure you were the Nine Nether Cult Master in your past life?" Lu Yang looked Li Haoran up and down, unable to connect him in any way to the master of the Nine Nether Cult.
Li Haoran hesitated. "Most likely. Didn't Yiren say that as my realm advanced, I'd recover memory fragments and remember things from my past life?"
"Just now, after I broke through to middle Foundation Establishment, an image flashed through my mind."
"In the image, there was a man dressed in black—probably a subordinate of mine. The surroundings were pitch-black, so I couldn't see the scene clearly."
"The subordinate held several sheets of paper and said, 'Cult Master, here are the cult's spirit stone revenues and expenditures for the year. Please review them.' When I took them, the first line written on the paper was 'Nine Nether Cult Spirit Stone Revenues and Expenditures.'"
"Before I could read any further, the image disappeared."
"He addressed me as Cult Master and showed me the Nine Nether Cult's ledger. My identity in my past life is obvious."
The Nine Nether Cult was one of the Four Great Demonic Cults.
Just as the world did not know the name of the Immortal Cult Master, neither did anyone know the name of the Nine Nether Cult Master.
Now Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou knew: his name was Qin Haoran.
Lu Yang bowed his head in thought. Put that way, Li Haoran really was the reincarnation of the Nine Nether Cult Master.
He glanced at Meng Jingzhou, who was also deep in thought. "What do you think?"
Meng Jingzhou looked up, his brow furrowed. "The Nine Nether Cult is pretty poor. They couldn't even light a lamp."
"..."
Ignoring Meng Jingzhou's bizarre takeaway, Lu Yang analyzed, "If Junior Brother Li's past life was the Nine Nether Cult Master, then several things Senior Su mentioned fall right into place."
"For example, why Qin Haoran's existence was unknown to anyone despite being a late Body Integration cultivator. Either he practiced reclusive cultivation like Senior Su, or his identity was so sensitive that it couldn't be spoken of."
"Or why Qin Haoran was hunted down in the first place. Generally, there are two possibilities: either he obtained an extremely precious treasure and someone wanted to murder him for the loot, or his status was exceedingly high and someone was staging a coup to usurp his position."
"The former is very unlikely in the Central Continent. If that were the case, Qin Haoran's reaction would have been to seek help from the Great Xia Dynasty. And if he had done that, he wouldn't have ended up crashing headlong into Senior Su's cultivation abode."
"So the second possibility is far more probable. An internal rebellion broke out within the Nine Nether Cult to seize power, and Qin Haoran was overpowered and grievously wounded."
"Qin Haoran never told Senior Su his true identity, only insisting that what he was doing was extremely dangerous and that keeping her in the dark was the only way to ensure her safety. As the master of one of the Four Great Demonic Cults, of course he couldn't tell Senior Su! If she had known who he was, once the Nine Nether Cult's affairs came to light, she wouldn't have escaped severe punishment either."
"Qin Haoran also said his identity was special, and unless he broke through to the Tribulation Transcendence stage, he could never see the light of day. If the cult master of a demonic cult reached the Tribulation Transcendence stage, he would be able to do many things he never dared to do before."
In truth, Lu Yang had long suspected Qin Haoran's identity, but without proof, he couldn't very well tell Su Yiren to her face, "Your husband was from a demonic cult; he was no good."
Lu Yang turned to Li Haoran and smiled. "Junior Brother Li, do you believe you're Qin Haoran's reincarnation now?"
Actually, Lu Yang had also wondered if Su Yiren might have fabricated a memory and planted it in Li Haoran's mind. It wasn't very likely, but not impossible.
However, after confirming with the Immortal Fairy, he knew for sure this was Li Haoran's own memory, untouched by anyone.
Li Haoran hung his head dispiritedly. Given what had happened, he had to believe it whether he wanted to or not.
Suddenly, another thought struck him, and cold sweat broke out. "The Great Xia Dynasty doesn't have any laws holding people accountable for their past lives, right?"
Lu Yang quickly ran through the books he had read in his mind and said with certainty, "No. The legal principle of the Great Xia Dynasty is that death extinguishes liability. You've already reincarnated; Great Xia can't touch you."
Li Haoran breathed a sigh of relief.
"You three are up so early?" Mother Li beamed when she saw the three of them cultivating in the courtyard.
"Auntie, Haoran just broke through to middle Foundation Establishment," Lu Yang said with a smile.
Li Haoran's parents were both at early Foundation Establishment. Previously, Li Haoran had surpassed his parents in combat strength, but now he had surpassed them in cultivation realm as well, delighting Mother Li.
Li Haoran discovering his past-life identity was not something they could tell his parents, as it would only add to their worries.
"Oh! Then we must celebrate properly! See, what did I tell you? Hanging around more with Little Lu and Little Meng was bound to help you make progress!"
Li Haoran: "...Ah, right, right, right."
During the celebratory meal, Li Haoran told his parents that he needed to return to the sect, which came as a surprise to both Father and Mother Li.
Li Haoran being the Nine Nether Cult Master in his past life was far too big a matter for the three of them to handle; they had to return and report it to the sect as soon as possible.
"You've only been here a few days and you're leaving already? Little Lu, Little Meng, have you had enough fun?"
Lu Yang set down his chopsticks, a convincing smile gracing his lips. "Junior Brother Li has just broken through, and he needs sect elders to help stabilize his cultivation. We must head back as soon as possible."
This was a lie. The Dao Seeking Sect had always advocated solitary cultivation and never required elders to help stabilize one's cultivation. But Lu Yang's tone was so sincere that people easily believed him.
Hearing this, Father and Mother Li no longer urged the three to stay a few more days.
It was still the old horse pulling the carriage, ferrying the three back to the Dao Seeking Sect.
Meng Jingzhou urged the old horse to hurry back to the sect. The old horse nodded languidly and continued walking at the same unhurried pace as before, yet each step covered hundreds or thousands of li.
"Junior Brother Li, your identity as the Nine Nether Cult Master holds great potential! Once we get back to the sect, if we play our cards right, we can make quite a killing. When it's done, we'll split it thirty-seventy. How does that sound?"
"There's something that good?"
"Of course! Though we'll have to trouble you a bit first, Junior Brother."
Before long, the three arrived back at the Dao Seeking Sect and headed to the Mission Hall.
"Is Senior Brother Dai inside?" Lu Yang asked the senior brother on duty.
The senior brother looked up and saw the beaming faces of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, along with a burlap sack slung over Meng Jingzhou's shoulder.
"Senior Brother Dai is inside. He already told me that if you two ever need him, you can just go straight in without waiting for an announcement. But what's in that sack...?"
"Spoils of war."
"Oh, go on in then." The duty senior brother didn't think much of it; either way, it wouldn't be anything dangerous.
The two carried the sack into Dai Bufan's room. Dai Bufan was as engrossed as ever, flipping through dossiers in search of mission clues.
"Why are you two here? What do you need?"
Meng Jingzhou beat Lu Yang to the punch. "Great news, Senior Brother Dai! Through our tireless efforts, the two of us have finally captured the Nine Nether Cult Master! We were just wondering how many contribution points this accomplishment is worth."
"The Nine Nether Cult Master?" Dai Bufan looked suspiciously into Meng Jingzhou's eyes. Meng Jingzhou wasn't lying; with a completely clear conscience, he met Dai Bufan's gaze head-on.
Dai Bufan turned to Lu Yang. Lu Yang was the same, his conscience totally clean, daring to look right back at Dai Bufan.
Dai Bufan's suspicion deepened. Unable to figure out what scheme these two troublemakers were cooking up, he couldn't help muttering inwardly.
"Where is this Nine Nether Cult Master?"
Meng Jingzhou loosened the mouth of the burlap sack, revealing Li Haoran, bound and gagged. With an air of awe-inspiring righteousness, Meng Jingzhou pointed at him: "Behold this villain!"
Dai Bufan: "..."
Do you two take me for an idiot?
Chapter 232