Chapter 179 - 130: Celestial Pillar
The goal was to complete all his objectives within four years.
He called it the "Four-Year Plan."
’It just sounds a bit awkward,’ he thought. ’A three-year plan or a five-year plan would be fine. Even a ten-year plan would work. But no, it had to be a four-year plan.’
Just then—
The Sound Transmission Talisman in his robes grew warm. He picked it up, and Zhou Mo’s urgent voice came through. "Domain Lord, someone was causing trouble in Mortal City. We’ve apprehended them and are waiting for you to decide their fate."
"Hm?"
Chen Fan frowned slightly. He rode on Hey Hey’s back, quickly reaching the foot of the mountain, and sent a sound transmission telling Shao Qiu to follow him.
Then he boarded the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage and sped toward Mortal City. He casually pulled a Mortal Realm Member over to act as the driver, as the Dragon Carriage wasn’t very difficult to operate.
He could have driven it himself, of course.
But it would have been a bit unseemly.
Soon!
The Nine-Five Dragon Carriage entered Mortal City. The Mortal Realm Marketplace Street was as lively as ever, but a crowd had gathered to watch a commotion. Faint pleas for mercy could be heard. Chen Fan disembarked from the Dragon Carriage and glanced at the members of various merchant associations gathered nearby.
The moment they saw Chen Fan, the crowd of onlookers instantly dispersed.
Seven or eight men were bound and held down by Mortal Realm Members. Zhou Mo, who was handling the situation, saw Chen Fan arrive and hurried over to report in a low voice, "This group has no identification. They entered the city this morning."
"One of them is an Architect."
"After entering the city, this Architect went to a corner at the end of the Marketplace and started building things like Ghost Fire and an Arrow Tower. But just as they were about to form, they suddenly dissipated. I led the men from the Battle Pavilion to apprehend them right away."
His report was concise.
"Mm."
Leaning on his Jade Staff, Chen Fan stood in the street and looked at the captured strangers. A long time ago, he had obtained an Exotic Treasure, the Eternal Night Land Title, whose effect was quite simple.
Once placed, the Lord gains absolute ownership of the land within the camp’s boundaries. Without permission, no one else can build or place any structures within that area.
This was his camp’s territory.
Naturally, any attempt to build or place structures within his territory would fail.
He glanced at the surrounding City Wall.
The rainy season was over, so there was no threat of Ghost Objects attacking the city. As such, he hadn’t placed many cannon towers on the walls—just twenty Level 4 Cannon Towers as a token deterrent.
"Domain Lord Chen, it’s a misunderstanding! All of it!"
One of the men being held down struggled to lift his head and look at Chen Fan, his voice trembling. "We came to the Mortal Realm to do business. We just wanted to showcase our faction’s Architect. If other factions need any construction done, they can come to us."
"We weren’t trying to cause trouble."
"It’s all a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding?"
Chen Fan couldn’t help but laugh. The excuse was plausible on the surface, but it fell apart under scrutiny. ’Building an Arrow Tower to show off your skills is one thing,’ he thought, ’but creating Ghost Fire is another. That’s not a demonstration; that’s preparing to activate the tower.’
’If I’m not mistaken,’
’this group was sent to create chaos. Then, another group would take advantage of the confusion to do something else.’
He glanced at the members of the other factions’ merchant associations.
’That other group might even be watching from the crowd right now.’
"Lame Monkey."
"Young Master, I’m here."
"As the Pavilion Master of the Punishment Pavilion, interrogation is one of your duties. Take these men back to the camp, pry their mouths open, and find out which faction is behind them and what their intentions were."
"Understood!"
Lame Monkey nodded with a grim expression. He and his men bound the prisoners, loaded them onto a carriage, and set off toward the Nameless Mountain camp.
"Just a small incident."
Chen Fan turned to the onlookers, his face a mask of gentle reassurance. He smiled and said, "It’s nothing. You can all disperse now."
Only then did he enter a nearby building.
...
Once inside the building, Chen Fan glanced at the Mortal Realm Members bustling about, then took out his Sound Transmission Talisman and spoke softly. "Lame Monkey, don’t bring them back to the camp. Take them to the back of Nameless Mountain."
He then glanced into the shadows in a corner behind him.
"Shao Qiu, follow them."
"Yes!"
A nearly inaudible voice replied. The shadow in the corner of the room shifted subtly, then fell still.
’Interesting.’
After making these arrangements, Chen Fan sat down on a chair, poured himself a cup of chilled tea, and drank it in one gulp, his eyes narrowing slightly.
’The Mortal Realm’s rise to prominence was bound to attract greedy eyes.’
’He just hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.’
’Let’s look at this from another angle.’
’If I were the enemy, knowing the Mortal Realm has a Nine-Five Dragon Carriage capable of annihilating the Pill Sect, how would I proceed? Would I really send a group of low-Cultivation Cultivators to escort a Low Level Architect into Mortal City just to create a little chaos?’
’And then what?’
’What happens after the chaos is created?’
’What could they possibly accomplish? This is the Mortal Realm’s main base. Once they’re interrogated and their backer is revealed, they’re all dead for sure.’
’Even a Death Warrior would have a hard time resisting a proper interrogation. It’s not something you can just endure.’
’So...’
After carefully considering things from the enemy’s perspective, and factoring in the genuine fear he saw in those men’s eyes, he arrived at a speculative conclusion: they were just pawns who didn’t even know who was pulling the strings.
Their goal wasn’t to create chaos.
Their goal was to be captured and taken back to the Mortal Realm’s main base for interrogation.
All to achieve their true objective.
’How do you guarantee an item gets delivered into the heart of the Mortal Realm? The simplest way is to create a mystery. A few troublemakers who don’t know who sent them? They’re certain to be taken back for interrogation.’
’And just like that, the real goal is achieved.’
What was their true objective? Self-detonation? Something else? He wasn’t sure. But he knew one thing: only by publicly announcing that he was taking them back to his main base for interrogation would the true enemy believe their plan had succeeded. Then they might let their guard down and reveal themselves.
This was precisely why he had annihilated the Pill Sect at all costs.
It forced any other faction that wanted to move against him to be much more thorough in their planning.
It also allowed him to narrow down the list of suspects.
Otherwise, it would be difficult for him to determine whether this group was part of a larger plan or had simply been sent by an incredibly stupid faction. The distinction was crucial to his judgment.
Stupidity and malice.
Sometimes, there was no real difference between the two; both were difficult to predict.
But even a stupid person knows how to judge strength and weakness. They wouldn’t easily provoke a power capable of destroying the Pill Sect.
If it wasn’t stupidity, then it had to be malice.
Therefore, when someone used a seemingly foolish method against him, it meant the enemy had another plan. This was another hidden benefit of having destroyed the Pill Sect.
...
「Jiangbei Marketplace.」
In a corner, hidden among the onlookers, two men exchanged a look after watching the entire event unfold. They blended into the crowd as one of them sent a message via his thoughts.
"The fish has taken the bait."
The two of them had eaten a Meat Ghost Mother-Child Fruit.
A major limitation of Sound Transmission Talismans was that you had to speak aloud, risking exposure. By consuming a Meat Ghost Mother-Child Fruit, however, one could transmit thoughts directly over a long distance, eliminating that risk.
...
"Uh..."
Lame Monkey was in the carriage, escorting the troublemakers back to the camp. Shortly after leaving Mortal City, he received the Young Master’s order. Although he didn’t know why, he obeyed and avoided entering the canyon.
Instead, he took a side path up the mountain, heading toward the back of Nameless Mountain.
The path was relatively flat, having been trodden down by Hey Hey.
But it was also quite steep.
It wasn’t an easy trek.
Just as they reached the back of the mountain and Lame Monkey was about to act, a voice suddenly reached his ears.
"Lame Pavilion Master."
Shao Qiu had appeared on a nearby tree at some point, and was now sitting on a branch looking down at him. "The Domain Lord has given an order. There’s something wrong with this group. He wants me to watch them. You should probably keep your distance to avoid getting caught in the crossfire."
"..."
Lame Monkey looked up at Shao Qiu in the tree, his brow furrowed. "Where’s your Token?" he asked in a raspy voice.
Shao Qiu brandished the Dark Pavilion Master’s Order in his hand.
Lame Monkey took out his own Pavilion Master’s Order as well. After feeling a warm sensation emanate from its surface, he lowered his guard and had his men quickly retreat to a safe distance around the carriage.
He had been worried that this Shao Qiu was an imposter.
Normally, Shao Qiu should have been at the Yunling Pavilion training his subordinates at this hour.
...
The men tied up in the carriage were completely unaware of what was happening outside. Their mouths were gagged, so they could only make muffled, struggling sounds.
Perched on his branch, Shao Qiu looked down at the carriage parked in the forest and muttered excitedly to himself.
"Please, don’t let me down..."
He was desperate for the Dark Pavilion to see some action. Only real combat provided the best training.
In truth, he had no idea what was so unusual about these men.
But since the Domain Lord had ordered him to watch them, he knew there had to be something out of the ordinary.