Chapter 86: Clean-up and Framing
Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Clean-up and Framing
This transaction lasted for nearly ten years, and it was carried out in extreme secrecy.
The specifics of the deal were that the cultivator surnamed Ye had asked Hu Feng to tamper with the pills being refined for the Wang family’s patriarch. In exchange, he promised Hu Feng the Immortal City’s Tier Three Pill Master legacy as payment.
The Demon Cultivator had tampered with the pills twice. The first time was when the Wang family’s patriarch asked him to refine Spirit-Subduing Liquid to help him break through to Late-stage Foundation Establishment. The second was when the patriarch asked him to refine a Foundation Establishment Pill!
He tampered with the alchemy process on two separate occasions.
The first instance of tampering caused the Wang family patriarch’s attempt to break through to Late-stage Foundation Establishment to fail, damaging his Origin and leading to his premature death.
The second instance caused that unlucky Late-stage Qi Refining cultivator from the Wang family to fail in his attempts to reach Foundation Establishment twice. As a result, the Wang family was left with no Foundation Establishment Cultivator to protect it.
After reading the contents of the Jade Scroll, Li Ping had to admire the cultivator surnamed Ye.
To sabotage the Wang family, he hadn’t needed any overly elaborate schemes. He had simply exploited the flaws in the patriarch’s own character, making a god-like move at the most critical moment, all without anyone noticing!
According to what Li Ping had heard, the Wang family was likely to be expelled from the Immortal City, root and stem, for scheming to defraud Loose Cultivators of their Spirit Stones.
Once expelled from the Immortal City, given the enmities the Wang family had accumulated over the past few hundred years, they wouldn’t make it far before their entire clan was annihilated!
In other words, this cultivator surnamed Ye...
All by himself, in less than ten years, he had brought down a Foundation Establishment Immortal Race that had stood for several hundred years!
He had done it all flawlessly. It looked as if the Wang family’s patriarch had brought it all upon himself. Anyone, even the other families in a defensive alliance with the Wangs...
...would see the Wang family’s ultimate fate and think they only had themselves to blame.
...
If Hu Feng had truly been a Loose Cultivator and Alchemy Master, he would have kept his mouth firmly shut after obtaining the Tier Three Alchemy legacy, never breathing a word of it to anyone.
After all, he had tampered with pills and caused the death of one of the Immortal City’s Foundation Establishment cultivators. If that were ever exposed...
...not only would he have completely offended the Immortal City’s officials and be hunted to death with a warrant on his head...
...but even if he managed to escape to another country in time...
...as an Alchemist, he had secretly tampered with a client’s commission. If word of that ever got out, his reputation would be ruined. Who would dare ask him for alchemy then?
His career would be utterly finished.
Unfortunately for the cultivator surnamed Ye, he didn’t know that the Hu Feng he was collaborating with was actually a Demon Cultivator in disguise.
This turned his once-flawless plan into a complete joke.
Once the Demon Cultivator left the Immortal City, the identity of "Hu Feng" would vanish completely.
’Would he be afraid of ’Hu Feng’ being hunted by the Immortal City? Afraid of ’Hu Feng’s’ reputation being ruined?’
The answer, of course, was no.
He would love nothing more than to throw the Immortal City into chaos.
And that was why Li Ping now held this Jade Scroll.
...
’The Demon Cultivator left the Jade Scroll here, so the Meng family must have been the ones intended to find it first,’ Li Ping mused. ’Therefore, the Meng family must be on good terms with the Wang family and in a hostile relationship with the cultivator surnamed Ye and his faction.’
Li Ping didn’t know the specifics of the internal strife among the Immortal City’s cultivators, but the Jade Scroll left by the Demon Cultivator allowed him to guess the general situation.
’A cultivator surnamed Ye?’ A playful glint appeared in his eyes. ’Among the two people Dai Sangyu sent to "invite" me to Cyan Dragon Mountain, wasn’t there someone called Junior Brother Ye?’
’Fenglan Master doesn’t have many Foundation Establishment disciples. It’s highly likely that this cultivator surnamed Ye and that Junior Brother Ye are one and the same!’
Holding the Jade Scroll, Li Ping’s expression was uncertain for a moment before a smile spread across his face. He whispered, ’This damn Demon Cultivator was just spouting alarmist nonsense!’
’How could a mere Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator like him dare to plot against the Wang family patriarch, a cultivator at the peak of Mid-stage Foundation Establishment?’
’He wouldn’t have the guts to take on a Foundation Establishment Immortal Race with a centuries-long legacy. There must be someone else behind him, pulling the strings!’
Li Ping already had candidates in mind for who might be pulling Junior Brother Ye’s strings.
There were two of them: that damn Sword Cultivator, Dai Sangyu, and that Senior Brother Xiong, who reeked of a certain roguish air!
’Since Dai Sangyu could order Senior Brother Xiong and Junior Brother Ye to "invite" him back to Cyan Dragon Mountain, it proved they were all in it together. So, it stood to reason that the two of them had ordered Junior Brother Ye to move against the Wang family.’
’That made perfect sense.’
...
With this in mind, Li Ping submerged his Divine Sense into the Jade Scroll and began modifying its contents.
Since he didn’t know the full details of the transaction, Li Ping didn’t alter much. He only made two changes.
The first was in the section where Junior Brother Ye initially approached Hu Feng to make the deal.
Li Ping added a passage detailing Hu Feng’s internal turmoil.
In this passage, Hu Feng was depicted as being extremely worried about plotting against the Wang family’s patriarch and reluctant to get involved.
However, the cultivator surnamed Ye told him not to worry, hinting that he had the backing of a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment senior brother and a Perfect Foundation Establishment senior sister who was on the verge of Core Formation.
And that moving against the Wang family was their idea as well.
After understanding the cultivator’s hints, Hu Feng felt he had no choice but to agree.
The second alteration was at the end.
Hu Feng was made to state that after receiving the Tier Three Pill Master legacy from the deal, he was plagued by anxiety every day, his conscience heavy.
Therefore, he was leaving this Jade Scroll behind to bring everything to light, and so on and so forth...
...
’"Much better. This is far more plausible,"’ Li Ping nodded in satisfaction.
He then placed the Jade Scroll back where he found it. To be safe, he also made several copies to take with him.
If the Meng family got their hands on the Jade Scroll but decided to sit on the information, he would secretly distribute the copies throughout the Immortal City himself.
’He was determined to see justice done for the Wang family!’
Carefully erasing all traces of his presence, Li Ping manipulated the array to exit the Demon Cultivator’s lair. Then, a Fireball materialized in his palm, and he promptly destroyed the lair’s entrance Token.
Finally, he sauntered away from Immortal Peach Mountain, heading toward the Ten Thousand Laws Tower.
...
The Ten Thousand Laws Tower was a shop operated by the Immortal City’s officials. Its main business was selling Cultivation Techniques, legacies, and Magic, but it also dealt in other cultivation resources like Dharma Artifacts, Pills, and Spirit Talismans.
Li Ping had been here a few times before, both to sell Pills and to buy medicinal herbs.
Dressed in his usual ’black market’ attire, he walked into the Ten Thousand Laws Tower. After briefly revealing a hint of his Foundation Establishment aura, he was led by the Shopkeeper to the second floor to meet a high-tier Steward.
The man who received Li Ping was middle-aged, with a long face and a goatee. He was unfazed by Li Ping’s strange attire. "Fellow Daoist," he said, "how may our tower be of service?"
Hearing this, Li Ping sized up the man before him with a strange expression. The man was none other than Han Xingyan, the Elder from the Talisman Alliance who had once visited him—Fellow Daoist Han!
However, thanks to his mask, the other man couldn’t see his change in expression.
Li Ping sat down casually and chuckled in a low voice, "Heh heh... Easy now. I’m looking to buy a Magical Treasure. Does your tower have any?"
"A Magical Treasure? You need such a Treasure, Fellow Daoist?" Han Xingyan couldn’t help but shake his head with a sigh and patiently explain, "Forget the Ten Thousand Laws Tower, you probably couldn’t find a Treasure of that tier for sale in the entire Immortal City."
"You see, Magical Treasures can typically only be wielded by Core Formation Masters, and the materials required to forge them are incredibly precious. As a result, Core Formation Masters are usually the only ones who gather the materials to have one custom-made for their own use. They don’t typically circulate in the market."
Hearing that there were no Magical Treasures for sale, Li Ping again spoke in his low voice, "Well then, does your tower have any Foundation Establishment Pills for sale?"
Han Xingyan couldn’t help but look up at the heavily cloaked Cultivator before him. He dearly wanted to ask if the man was just there to cause trouble.
But he shook his head internally and said, "You must be joking, Fellow Daoist. This tower doesn’t have the qualifications to sell Foundation Establishment Pills. If you need one, you should keep an eye on the upcoming Immortal City auction."
As he spoke, his tone had grown rather impatient.
"Hmph... Can’t buy a single thing. What a useless place." Li Ping feigned anger, stood up, and stormed out. As he did, a Storage Bag that had been hanging at his waist "accidentally" fell into a corner by the table.
Han Xingyan’s attention was caught by his angry outburst. Furthermore, since he was dealing with a Cultivator of the same cultivation level, he refrained from using his Divine Sense to avoid potential conflict.
As a result, he failed to notice the Storage Bag fall.
However, not long after Li Ping left, a servant from the Ten Thousand Laws Tower came to clean the second-floor private room, immediately spotted the fallen Storage Bag, and handed it over to Han Xingyan.
By the time Han Xingyan tried to find Li Ping, where could he possibly be found?
...
Leaving the Ten Thousand Laws Tower, Li Ping made a beeline for the outskirts of the Immortal City.
At his speed, he reached the gates of the Outer City in no time.
Then, under the respectful gazes of the gate guard Cultivators and the passing Qi Refining Cultivators, he leaped into the air and transformed into a streak of cyan Escape Light, speeding toward Gaoji Mountain.
After flying for about a thousand li, Li Ping found a raging Great River. He upended the Storage Bag containing the ashes, which poured into the water below like a waterfall.
Hovering above the Great River, he watched until every last trace of the ashes had been washed away by the current. Only then did Li Ping nod and fly off.
He then proceeded to two remote valleys, several hundred li apart, where he dug holes, buried two more Storage Bags, and erased all traces of his work before marking their locations on his map.
After all that was done, he finally let out a sigh of relief and leisurely flew his Escape Light toward Gaoji Mountain.
As he flew, he mentally reviewed his battle with the Demon Cultivator and the subsequent cleanup, checking for any oversights.
’The Immortal Peach Mountain situation should be fine. Demon Cultivators are selfish by nature; while disguised as Alchemy Master Hu Feng, he probably didn’t tell any of his accomplices about this place.’
’To an outside observer, what happened at Immortal Peach Mountain would simply look like an Alchemy Master fleeing to escape punishment for his crimes.’
"As for the Demon Cultivator’s belongings, Li Ping had placed most of the items he suspected were problematic—including Pills and the Celestial Secret Mirror—into a single Storage Bag, which he had then ’accidentally’ left behind at the Ten Thousand Laws Tower."
It would most likely end up in the hands of the Immortal City’s officials.
’If the Demon Cultivator’s accomplices really came looking, their first suspect would be the Immortal City officials. They would never suspect a minor Early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator like him.’
The remaining items—a few Dharma Artifacts, the Pill Furnace, and the Blood-Colored Armor Fragment, which Li Ping had inspected but couldn’t be one hundred percent certain about—were packed into two separate Storage Bags and buried in different locations.
That way, even if the Demon Cultivator had left some hidden mark on them, it wouldn’t lead directly back to Li Ping.
’The worst that could happen was that he’d lose those Dharma Artifacts.’
Lost in thought, he didn’t even notice as Gaoji Mountain appeared on the horizon.