Chapter 385 - 237: Making a Move
Fang Yue frowned, lost in thought. He tried his best to recall everything that had happened since he obtained the Luck Jade Token.
He went over every detail, every possible clue that could have revealed his whereabouts, leaving nothing unchecked.
However, after a long time spent thinking, he still couldn’t find a definitive answer as to how the black-robed man had tracked him down.
’Could it be some special scent or mark on me that’s allowing him to track me?’
A thought suddenly struck Fang Yue.
’He might have an inside man!’
’Or rather, someone told him my location.’
The thought flashed through Fang Yue’s mind, making his heart pound.
’If that’s really the case, then my every move at the Observatory could be known to him. That would undoubtedly allow him to guess my itinerary and track me accordingly.’
Fang Yue’s brow furrowed. He began to carefully recall every moment at the Observatory, every person he had come into contact with.
He searched desperately for any tiny clue that might have exposed his movements.
’It can’t be a scent or a mark,’
he muttered to himself. ’If that were the case, I would have been tracked down long ago, not just now.’
The more Fang Yue thought about it, the more likely the "inside man" theory seemed.
He began to suspect that someone within the Observatory had revealed his whereabouts to the black-robed man.
This thought weighed heavily on his mind.
He knew that if there truly was a mole, he would be in grave danger.
Fang Yue’s heart sank.
He knew that any large organization, whether it be the imperial court or a Sect, was bound to have factional strife and conflicts of interest.
While the Observatory appeared to be a monolithic entity on the surface, it likely had its own undercurrents of complex relationships and struggles.
In such an environment,
the black-robed man’s status and influence as a Tributor of the Great Wei Dynasty’s Sacrificial Department were anything but trivial.
For a figure like him, infiltrating the Observatory and buying off a few insiders would likely not be difficult.
Moreover, the fact that the black-robed man could track him down only served to confirm Fang Yue’s suspicions. The man had most likely learned of his whereabouts and secrets through some channel.
Fang Yue even connected this to the Observatory’s recent operation targeting the northeast of Yuanzhou Prefecture.
Although there was no compulsory draft, the fact that he was shortlisted was clearly suspicious.
It was probably related to this black-robed Tributor.
’Looks like I can’t just go back. I have to find a way to deal with this threat!’
Fang Yue had made his decision; he knew he couldn’t just wait for death. The black-robed man’s threat loomed over him like a shadow. If he didn’t eliminate this hidden danger soon, he would never know a day of peace.
Besides, this mission from the Observatory also felt strange to him.
Though it wasn’t a compulsory draft, his involvement as a candidate made it hard to deny that the black-robed man was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Fang Yue decided to investigate this matter thoroughly and uncover the black-robed man’s true objective.
He knew that to deal with the threat of the black-robed man, he first had to ascertain his identity and background.
As a Tributor of the Great Wei Dynasty’s Sacrificial Department, the black-robed man surely possessed a profound foundation and powerful backing.
Fang Yue needed to gather more information to formulate a detailed plan.
In addition, he also needed to increase his own strength.
Only with sufficient strength could he deal with the black-robed man’s tracking and attacks.
~~~~~~
After resting in the city for a day, Fang Yue went to the local Observatory branch and used his authority to begin accessing their intelligence archives.
He first reviewed all the files on the Great Wei Dynasty’s Sacrificial Department, trying to find information about the black-robed man’s identity and background.
However, as one of the dynasty’s core institutions, the Sacrificial Department’s member files were naturally top secret, and Fang Yue didn’t find much useful information.
But he wasn’t discouraged.
Fang Yue knew that investigating the black-robed man’s identity and background was like untangling a knotted mess of rope—it required patience and meticulousness.
Although the files of the Great Wei Dynasty Sacrificial Department were highly confidential, he believed there were always clues to be found.
At the very least, he could start with the characteristics of the black-robed man’s Martial Arts and Transformation. Since the fiend had refined a Shadow Leopard Demon Fiend, starting there should reveal some clues.
Sure enough, when he approached it from this angle, Fang Yue immediately found three suspicious individuals.
All three were rather famous Cultivators from the Great Wei Dynasty within the last fifty years. They each specialized in different fields, but all of them matched some of the black-robed man’s characteristics.
The first target was a master from Gongzhou Prefecture. This person was renowned for his skill in stealth and infiltration, and had originally been an assassin.
His movements were secretive, he rarely interacted with others, but his strength was unfathomable.
As for the other two, one was too old, and the other had recently appeared in Guangfeng Prefecture. Based on the timeline, it would have been impossible for him to be in Yuanzhou Prefecture.
Therefore, Fang Yue focused his attention on the first person.
The master from Gongzhou Prefecture.
According to the intelligence, during his decade-plus as an assassin, he had carried out countless missions, from assassinations to intelligence theft, and had never once failed.
His Stealth Technique was considered second to none; even those with a slightly higher cultivation level had difficulty detecting him.
’Such methods are indeed quite similar to the black-robed man’s. I’m afraid this is him,’ Fang Yue mused.
He then looked at the person’s detailed information.
Gongzhou Prefecture, Zhou Tiande.
Zhou Tiande. That name was not unfamiliar in the cultivation world of the Great Wei Dynasty.