Chapter 219: Divining the True Culprit
Although Zhang Chi had not seen and was not familiar with many high-tier puppet materials, he had learned about quite a few from the puppet-refining legacy he possessed.
More importantly, he had two ready-made Tier Three Peak Puppets, which he could directly manifest in the Dream Space.
In reality, he dared not casually disassemble and reassemble these two puppets, because if they broke, they would be gone for good.
But in the dream, he was not bound by this restriction.
After manifesting them, he directly disassembled and reassembled these two Tier Three Peak puppets. Although he failed every time, the two Tier Three Puppets in the real world were indeed unaffected.
Thanks to this Cultivation Technique, his skills in refining puppets, as well as Alchemy and Artifact Refining, immediately improved by leaps and bounds.
In less than a year, all the skills that had not yet broken through to Tier Three did so naturally.
At the same time, the improvement of Zhang Chi’s Sword Control Technique and various forms of Magic also noticeably accelerated.
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"Senior Brother Celestial Star, we’ll have to trouble you with this matter. This is a small token of our appreciation. We hope you will accept it."
Night. The starry sky was brilliant.
Deep within the Star Sect, in a Cloud-top Celestial Palace, an elderly woman with a powerful aura was conversing with a middle-aged cultivator who wore a Star Crown and carried the air of an immortal.
Standing behind the elderly woman was a young Female Cultivator, who was none other than Yu Wan.
"Haha, Senior Sister Fang, you are too kind. The target of this divination is just a junior at Foundation Establishment Peak. This won’t be too difficult for me."
"However, the target is in Yuan Bei, where the Celestial Secret is obscured. That will indeed cause some interference, so I will accept this gift."
The middle-aged cultivator took the black Jade Box the elderly woman pushed toward him, opened it for a look, and could not help but smile.
Then, he flew into the sky and, facing the starry expanse, began to perform a profound Secret Technique.
His feet traced strange steps, which seemed to correspond to the positions of specific stars.
The horsetail whisk in his hand waved continuously as he chanted incantations. Streaks of silver starlight were instantly drawn down, landing around him and forming profound patterns.
Below, Yu Wan and the elderly woman watched nervously.
Even with their profound Cultivation, they could not understand any of it, and they dared not make the slightest sound, afraid of disturbing him.
This elderly woman was, in fact, a Supreme Elder of the Cyan Cloud Sect, as well as Yu Wan’s master.
The master and disciple pair had never forgotten the massacre of the Yu Family decades ago. So, as soon as Celestial Star True Monarch came out of seclusion, they prepared a generous gift and came to visit him together.
The middle-aged cultivator in the sky was undoubtedly Celestial Star True Monarch, a master of the advanced Celestial Mechanism Inference Skill and a friend of Yu Wan’s master.
Yu Wan’s master was older, but Celestial Star True Monarch’s Cultivation was higher, so they addressed each other as Senior Brother and Senior Sister.
"Senior Sister, I have completed the divination. The one who massacred the entire Yu Family back then was not Xiao Yunhong of the Profound Yin Sect."
"The culprit is someone else, but this true culprit’s fate is shrouded by some great power. I am also unable to divine who it is."
"I could only deduce that the true culprit is in the south. To get more detailed information, you will need to provide me with more clues. And when that time comes, the Power of Celestial Secret Retribution will certainly be even greater."
"Therefore, I suggest it would be better to stop divining this matter."
A long time later, Celestial Star True Monarch finished his divination and flew down into the Celestial Palace. His face was as pale as paper, and a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
To be able to leave a Nascent Soul True Monarch in such a sorry state, the power of the backlash from this divination was clearly immense.
In fact, it had far exceeded Celestial Star True Monarch’s initial expectations.
Celestial Star True Monarch felt a pang of regret, but it was too late. As he spoke, he immediately took out the golden Pill from the Jade Box and consumed it. Only then did his condition improve slightly.
But when he mentioned what had just happened, he still felt a lingering fear.
He realized that the target of this divination likely also mastered the Celestial Mechanism Inference Skill, and their level and Cultivation were no lower than his own.
Or perhaps the target’s own Cultivation was not high and they did not know the Celestial Mechanism Inference Skill, but they were backed by a powerful expert who did.
Of course, there were other possibilities, such as the target being a Child of Destiny of the Great Abyss, or the reincarnation of a Great Power.
And no matter which it was, he had no desire to provoke them any further.
"It’s not Xiao Yunhong? Impossible! If not him, then who? That Xiao Yunhong must have an expert behind him, someone who obscured the Celestial Secret. Yes, that must be it!"
Hearing this, Yu Wan’s face was a mask of disbelief, and she could not help but feel immensely disappointed.
She had waited decades for this day, never imagining this would be the result.
She even suspected that this Celestial Star True Monarch was just a fraud seeking fame, or perhaps he simply had not given it his all.
After all, the culprit back then clearly was not strong. Decades had passed, but there was no way they could have become that powerful.
"Wan’Er, calm down. Since Celestial Star True Monarch says it wasn’t him, then it probably really wasn’t."
"Senior Brother Celestial Star, Wan’Er is still young and insensible. She’s just so desperate for revenge that she questioned you. Please don’t take offense."
The Nascent Soul Elder quickly rebuked Yu Wan and then hurriedly apologized to Celestial Star True Monarch.
At the same time, however, she was also extremely disappointed and astonished, almost suspecting she had misheard.
After all, she knew better than anyone how powerful Celestial Star True Monarch’s divination abilities were.
"It’s alright. The possibility of an expert backing Xiao Yunhong is low, but it does exist."
"Furthermore, although I couldn’t divine more information about the culprit, I did discover that they didn’t destroy the Yu Family out of simple malice, but because of some grudge between them."
"Therefore, you should think hard about whether you offended some enemy back then, leading to this result! If you combine that with the direction I’ve given you, it should be enough to identify the culprit."
Celestial Star True Monarch smiled and offered a few more reminders.
He had accepted the gift but failed to produce a result, which was a surprise even to him. He also felt a hint of shame.
"Offended an enemy? But we didn’t!"
But Yu Wan and her master were completely baffled.
Then, they could not help but think of a certain person, but neither of them spoke the relevant truth to help Celestial Star True Monarch deduce further.
After all, certain events from back then were a scandal for them. They did not want to bring it up, and they did not feel it was necessary.
"Very well, then there’s nothing more I can do to help. By the way, there is a more important matter now that we need to deal with."
"Just now, while divining the truth, I discovered that Xiao Yunhong is no longer in Yuan Bei. He has arrived here, in our Yuan South!"
Seeing the master and disciple’s reaction, Celestial Star True Monarch did not press the matter further; in fact, he was eager for the subject to be dropped.
He then brought up another matter, his gaze growing more solemn.
Xiao Yunhong was merely at the Foundation Establishment Peak, someone utterly insignificant to him.
But Xiao Yunhong’s arrival in Yuan South gave him a premonition of disaster.
It was just a pity that he had just performed a divination and the backlash he suffered was already significant. He certainly could not withstand another one right away.
Moreover, if this involved the grand turn of events, the backlash from divining it would surely be just as immense. Thus, he could only make some guesses.
"Xiao Yunhong is in Yuan South? Could he have snuck across? But the defenses of Yuan South are so tight, how could he have gotten through? Oh no... this must be the Demon Sect invading our Yuan South!"
"Only a Nascent Soul True Monarch, working together with numerous Golden Core cultivators to pass through the Nine Heavens Gang Wind Layer, could arrive in Yuan South so silently!"
The Nascent Soul Elder was stunned by this revelation. After a moment of thought, her expression changed drastically.