Translator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_
As soon as Shakyamuni Jin Xu spoke these words, except for Luo Tongtian, everyone’s complexion drastically changed. All of them felt it was outrageous for him to speak these words.
In the Heavenly Luo Daoist Sect, if someone questioned the decision-making of the Head Dao Warrior publicly, it would be seen as challenging his power and prestige.
Revealing a gloomy complexion, a dark line emerged on Luo Tongtian’s forehead. He glared ruthlessly at Shakyamuni Jin Xu and said: “In this case, you are blaming us for making a big fuss of it, right?”
Shakyamuni Jin Xu understood Luo Tongtian’s personality very clearly as he knew today’s matter would not end well. Yet, since he’d made up his mind, he was free of fear as he said with a neither servile nor overbearing tone: “From the start, this matter was not the fault of the Head Dao Warrior. To clarify, the entire sect had pampered Luo Ting too much. It caused him to become undisciplined and out of control where he could not accept the slightest discouragement. He had, in fact, snuck out of the sect to deal with a young man from the Human Countries! For this matter, since the beginning, we had lost. Even if Luo Ting had been able to kill Qin Wushuang, what would he have gained? In addition to spoiling his reputation, and establishing the image of a narrow-minded person, what else would he have gained? Not to mention, he was incapable of killing Qin Wushuang and got himself killed!”
These words garnered a sympathetic response from many of the people present. However, they could inwardly agree to these words as no one dared to display it on the surface.
“Go on.” Luo Tongtian was expressionless.
Secretly, Zuo Lengshuang was pleased with himself. The more Shakyamuni Jin Xu acted this way, the more advantageous it would be to Zuo Lengshuang. The Shakyamuni was inviting trouble on himself.
“Luo Ting, he had exceptional talent and was ranked first among all core disciples. Yet what was the result? The result was that he got killed. What does it mean? When selecting an heir, not only must we be attentive to potential, but we must also emphasize the cultivation of personality and intelligence. If Luo Ting was slightly more open-minded, and had understood things more properly, how would he not have known the right decision to make? How would he have been unable to extricate himself from a groundless marriage proposal?”
After Shakyamuni Jin Xu spoke these words, he stopped for a moment and continued: “For such an heir, it would not have mattered if he died! However, to use half of the elite warriors of the sect to avenge him, that is unacceptable behavior! Could it be that the entire Heavenly Luo Daoist Sect will act naive, rude, and impetuous as Luo Ting?”
In fact, his words were incredibly reasonable. Especially for those who had taken part in the pursuit of Qin Wushuang, they felt that this matter had come without a cause.
Nothing was gained after half a year of hard work. Instead, their home was wrecked. This level of failure was like a double-edged sword and had resulted in them falling into a completely awful situation.
Luo Tongtian still wore a sneer as he stared at Shakyamuni Jin Xu: “You can certainly speak eloquently, you show wisdom through your thinking, and you are quick on things. However, for these words, why didn’t you speak before everyone’s departure? Now you are all talk, do you think that you are smarter than anyone else?”
Shakyamuni Jin Xu said loudly: “Head Dao Warrior, if you are to put it this way, please don’t blame me for offending you with my position. May I ask, with your personality, would you have listened to my words? If you are someone that is able to take in suggestions, you would not have made such decision!”
As soon as he spoke the words, it startled everyone. Seizing the opportunity, Zuo Lengshuang slapped the table and stood up: “You, Jin Xu, you are looking down on Head Dao’s authority, and accusing him of being narrow-minded.”
Still showing no fear, Jin Xu glared at Zuo Lengshuang: “Fourth Dao Warrior, do not try to act self-righteous. After the incident, you know better than anyone your own attitude. You ordered people to do this and that. But, what did you do? Besides hiding out here, I didn’t see you investigate the Nine Refined Mysterious Wind Valley nor did I see you stepping out to oversee things. One must have divine skills to destroy the Subduing Devil Stone Tablet. Hence, you were scared of the warrior with the divine skill, who doesn’t know that? If you fear death, then don’t wear the mantle of Dao Warrior! If you want the mantle, you must not fear death! If you fear death, and you send other people to their own graves, what kind of message does that send?”
The complexion of Zuo Lengshuang transformed from green to pale. He said angrily: “You are spewing garbage!”
Seeing the situation getting out of control, Luo Hengye, the Second Dao Warrior, immediately stepped out to soothe things: “Enough, enough is enough! What’s the use in you guys arguing to the point of becoming red with rage? Can you make up for the situation? Is it meaningful to shift blame? Head Dao Warrior, may I speak?”
Inwardly, Luo Tongtian had reached the point of barely holding back his anger. If it weren’t for all the people at the scene, most likely he would have killed Shakyamuni Jin Xu on the spot.
Upon suppressing the anger inside his heart, he said: “Go ahead.”
Luo Hengye said: “Jin Xu, let’s make a hypothesis. If this matter was truly schemed up by Luo Yang, even if all of us were present inside the mountain gate, I am afraid we would have been powerless to change the situation. Additionally, if we had not mobilized our main force, it’s possible that we would have suffered a greater casualty!”
Shakyamuni Jin Xu nodded: “The hypothesis of the Second Dao Warrior makes sense. I spoke those words in addition to this matter. From beginning to end, I think that for the development of the Heavenly Luo Daoist Sect, there is no need to haggle over small gains and losses. Like Luo Ting’s marriage proposal…”
“Ok ok, that’s enough. Everyone knows what you mean.” Luo Hengye was worried that if he continued to speak, the Head Dao Warrior would lash out.
In fact, he was protecting Shakyamuni Jin Xu by stopping him.
“Regardless of the motive of our mission, the result can be said to be a inadvertent blessing from this great misfortune. If everyone had remained in the sect, I am sure there would be much more casualties than what we had now. Based on this hypothesis, I think that regardless of who had stayed, most likely they would not have been able to stop this matter from happening. Therefore, the investigation of responsibility is less important. Now, the most important thing is to catch the murderer, and rebuild the Heavenly Luo Daoist sect!”
Indeed, these two things were the most important matter. Compared to it, assigning blame was in fact, unimportant. Apart from causing internal strife, it would not help them to gain anything.
Tian Mingshan also nodded and said: “The words of the Second Dao Warrior are justified. Honestly, if I were the one overseeing this place, I am afraid it would have been difficult for this matter to be prevented. Since this was an unexpected accident, no one could have predicted it.”
Zuo Lengshuang looked at Luo Hengye and Tian Mingshan with appreciation. Indeed, the words of these two Senior Brothers sounded more caring.
“Fourth, repeat all the details about what Luo Zhen had said. Let’s organize it again.” When Luo Hengye saw the atmosphere of the scene had somewhat softened, he changed the topic.
Zuo Lengshuang repeated the matter in detail.
“Head Dao Warrior, look, why would Luo Yang destroy the Subduing Devil Stone Tablet without a cause or reason? How would Luo Yang have the strength to destroy the tablet?”
The crucial aspect of the problem was pinpointed by Luo Hengye.
Suddenly, Shakyamuni Chongguang said: “Dao Warriors, here we have another attendant that works in the Sea of Bamboo Courtyard. On the day of the incident, he just happened to have been absent from the Courtyard and escaped the calamity. He said that before going to the Nine Refined Mysterious Wind Valley, Luo Yang had received someone.”
All expression of the four Dao Warriors changed drastically as they said: “Who is this person?”
“He is a local tyrant from the River Gate State City. His name is Zuo Yuting, and is nicknamed Landlord Zuo by the locals. He had a son named Zuo Shao who is a core disciple. His son also died at the Wolf Ivory Peak.”
“Who else has information related to this matter?” Vividly, Luo Hengye felt this matter was most likely connected to Landlord Zuo!
A disciple that had guarded the checkpoints in the mountain stepped out: “Dao Warrior, that Landlord Zuo spoke with me when he came. He brought six subordinates at that time. I announced his visit to Elder Luo Yang.”
This person was the disciple with the surname Tu who had stopped Landlord Zuo’s group.
“Right, Dao Warrior, the night before Elder Luo Yang departed, he had invited Landlord Zuo to a feast. At that moment, it seemed there were some accidents and some spiritual beasts had barged in. Elder Luo Yang’s subordinate went to pursue him.” That person who had reported before said.
“Landlord Zuo, look into this Landlord Zuo!” Luo Tongtian said while fuming with rage and gritted teeth, “I want to know everything about him, including who he had contacted before his departure and any abnormal activities!”
When the Heavenly Luo Daoist Sect wanted to investigate something thoroughly, they possessed extraordinary efficiency. In the Divine Brilliance Prefecture, the Heavenly Luo Daoist Sect were the unquestionable authority. As soon as the order was passed down, at their branch sect in the River Gate City, people immediately started a comprehensive investigation.
Soon, pieces of information were sent back to them.
“Before Landlord Zuo left the state city, two young men had visited him to give some gifts.”
“Those two young men had left afterwards. And it seemed Landlord Zuo also left and returned at nightfall. However, those two young man were not seen again.”
“I just received news from a restaurant of the city, a group of people had once asked for Landlord Zuo’s hobbies and personality.”
“The Bamboo Stone Gang in that city had once accosted the young man looking for Landlord Zuo. That young man was intelligent and seemed to be incredibly familiar with the tricks used in mainstream society…’
Information was continually sent over from the River Gate State City. The initially muddled situation became clearer and formed a clear indication.
Mysterious young man—Landlord Zuo—Luo Yang—Nine Refined Mysterious Wind Valley!
Instantly, the overall situation had become clearer. As soon as the context was revealed, the content also became plentiful. Luo Hengye mumbled: “It seems that from beginning to end, this was a planned operation! And, the other party had come prepared after determining that our sect would be empty!”
“The methods of this person is truly terrifying! After going through numerous steps, he made sure each step would not have one drop of water leaking out. His mind is sophisticated and he is also bold!” Tian Mingshan also commented on it.
The expression of Luo Tongtian became even worse.
Luo Hengye pointed to the context they had analyzed and asked with doubt: “Up to this point, I only have one question. How did this person know our sect possesses the Subduing Devil Stone Tablet, how did he learn that the stone tablet is connected to the life line of our sect?”
The most crucial point of the entire matter was here. All the questions also stopped at this point.
Luo Tongtian’s expression had turned extremely ugly. Vividly, he seemed to have thought of something. Yet, from the bottom of his heart, he despised this thought.
The more he resisted against it, the more this thought tormented him and kept surging to the surface. The more he thought about the more sure he was that this was what had happened.
“Head Dao Warrior, what’s wrong?” Noticing his body language, Luo Hengye had vaguely guessed that perhaps, the Head Dao Warrior had already learned something.
Luo Tongtian punched heavily onto a stone table and instantly turned it into a pile of debris. Gritting his teeth, Luo Tongtian felt endless resentment and spat out three words with extreme reluctance. Almost pausing for a moment between each word, it seemed as if he were to chew these three words into pieces.
“Qin—Wu—Shuang!”
As soon as he spoke these three words, everyone had became dumbstruck and appeared to be full of disbelief. All of them looked at Luo Tongtian because clearly, they could not believe that Qin Wushuang would be capable of being the mastermind behind everything!
