Chapter 3053 - The Mysterious Figure Behind the Scenes

The streets were thoroughly lamplit, and so packed that the pedestrians frequently bumped shoulders. There were hawkers all over the street, a cacophony of voices.

Su Yi stepped leisurely into the crowd, but his divine sense was already activating all manner of mysterious secret techniques, letting him survey the market in elaborate detail.

He saw the cultivation bases of everyone here, as well as every word they spoke and every subtle shifting of their expressions. He also saw every item on display in each of the shops. Nothing could elude his perception.

A group of men and women walked side-by-side in pairs, laughing and chatting. They were all obviously from the same sect.

When Su Yi passed, one of them, a woman in green, blinked her beautiful eyes and transmitted to her companions, “See that man in blue? If I’m not mistaken, he’s staying in the ninth pavilion. He sure looks young!”

The rest of them blinked, then looked over. The woman in green, meanwhile, rallied her courage. “I’m going to go say hi and see if I can learn his name.”

She walked over and waved. “Daoist Brother...”

Su Yi suddenly stopped in his tracks, seized her by the arm, and yanked her to the side.

A sharp knife appeared soundlessly where she’d stood just moments prior. Had Su Yi not intervened, it would have pierced her throat!

Crack!

Su Yi stretched out his finger and tapped. The blade split into pieces.

Only then did the woman in green realize what had just happened. The blood drained from her face.

All of her companions looked stricken. That was an ambush!

“Go back to your friends, and be more careful going forward,” Su Yi said casually, relaxing his grip on her arm.

The woman lowered her head bashfully. “Thank you, Daoist Brother!”

But the moment she lowered her head, a black blade shot out of her sleeves, thrusting at Su Yi’s stomach.

But it was as if Su Yi had precognition. He stretched out his right hand and pressed down.

Bang!

The black blade shattered, and the woman in green staggered backward. Her face paled even further, and she stammered in panic, “That... that wasn’t me. I...”

She was obviously scared out of her wits and completely flustered.

Su Yi took a sip of wine. “Don’t be afraid. I know it wasn’t you.”

In others’ eyes, the bustling marketplace seemed perfectly ordinary, but Su Yi saw something else entirely. All of the buildings were shrouded in invisible, calamitous power. Wisps of it wrapped around every cultivator present, but it was as fine as mist, formless and intangible.

That strange power was like an invisible net. It covered the entire area and everyone in it.

The two strange attacks that followed the woman in green’s approach were not her doing. Rather, they were connected to that web of strange power.

Su Yi was searching for the net’s owner. He whispered, “You’ve chosen a bustling marketplace for a battlefield, and you’re using the lives of innocents as pawns. Don’t you think that’s beneath your status?”

An unbelievable scene followed. Everyone in the marketplace stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him. All of the hustle and bustle died down. The voices fell silent, and all was still save for the swaying lamplight.

Everyone present, regardless of age, sex, or cultivation base, smiled and spoke in unison. “I’m just playing. No need to make such a fuss over nothing.”

Their tones and demeanors were completely identical.

“Are you the Mister Wen I heard about?” Su Yi asked casually, all the while using his divine sense and secret heart power to search for the person directing things from the shadows.

“A pseudonym I picked at random.”

This time, the voice came from close quarters. The speaker was the very woman in green whom Su Yi had just saved.

She stood there, hands behind her back, her gaze inquisitive. “You’re using a pseudonym too, aren’t you?”

The streets were now deathly silent. Everyone froze like a clay statue, their eyes locked on Su Yi. Only the woman in green spoke.

Of course, Su Yi knew that she’d been stripped of her awareness. The man behind the scenes was using some strange method to control her.

“Does that mean you’re the one behind everything that happened here, and that you’ve been targeting me all this time?” asked Su Yi.

“Yes, and it’s no secret,” the woman in green said with a laugh. She walked up to Su Yi, looking him up and down, her gaze rife with meaning. “Let’s cut a deal. Give me the Cauldron of Fate, and I’ll tell you Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan’s whereabouts.”

Su Yi’s gaze focused. He really has figured out who I am! Whoever is hiding in the shadows knows why I’ve come to the Southern Sea, but that’s not all. He knows I have the Cauldron of Fate!

A lot occurred to Su Yi at once.

Perhaps many in this world could see through his disguises, and perhaps many could sense that he was carrying the Cauldron of Fate, but only a tiny handful knew that he’d come to the Southern Sea in search of Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan!

Instinct told Su Yi that his opponent was most likely a Heavenly Sovereign, and an old acquaintance at that.

Su Yi pondered briefly, then said, “And how am I supposed to trust that you know Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan’s whereabouts?”

The woman in green smiled, then flipped her palm. A strange power surged forth, then transformed into a curtain of light.

The curtain of light reflected an indistinct, illusory stretch of ruin covered in blooming red lotuses.

Two figures hid in a giant flower. As indistinct as the scene was, Su Yi recognized one of them as Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan!

Both he and his companion looked trapped in that strange, mysterious ruin. Their only choice was to seek refuge in the giant flower.

The woman in green lowered her palm, and the scene vanished. Then, she smiled at Su Yi. “Do you believe me now? I wouldn’t mind revealing a few more details: Ol’ Ku Xuan’s situation is rather dire. He’s like a beast in a cage, and he might well meet with disaster at any moment.”

Su Yi was confident that this was true; if Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan weren’t trapped, he’d have responded to his messages by now.

“Who exactly are you?” asked Su Yi. The Threelives Buddha? No, this isn’t how the bald donkey does things.

Su Yi racked his brain, but he could only come up with a handful of likely suspects.

“You’ll find out who I am later,” said the woman in green. “But now, it’s time to decide whether or not you’ll accept my deal.”

Su Yi didn’t even pause to think. “Sure. So long as you come in the flesh, I’ll give you the Cauldron of Fate immediately.”

The woman in green laughed. “You want to seize the opportunity to capture me? Ah, but that makes sense. With Heavenly Sovereign Qingyi’s help, you might well have a shot at catching me off guard.”

Su Yi furrowed his brow. This guy isn’t simple. He even knows about Hua Qingyi!

The woman in green then wiped away her smile and said calmly, “I’ll count to three. If you don’t agree by then, you’ll have no further opportunities to accept my deal.”

She paused, then started counting. “One.”

“Two.”

But just as she was about to say three, Su Yi tossed her the Cauldron of Fate. “It’s time you gave me answers.”

The woman took the Cauldron of Fate and smiled. “I’ll leave the answers in that Yun Rong girl’s memories.”

“And how am I supposed to trust that they’re true?” asked Su Yi.

The woman said flatly, “And how am I supposed to know that you didn't place any traps in the Cauldron of Fate?”

Neither trusted the other, and neither backed down.

In the end, Su Yi just laughed. “Very well. I’ll just have to take a gamble. If you deceived me, I’ll find you, and I’ll make you live a life worse than death, unable to die no matter how much you long to do so.”

He said it quite casually, too.

The woman in green couldn’t help but laugh. “I wouldn’t have thought a sword cultivator like you would make such threats.”

She then tossed the Cauldron of Fate into the air. It blurred into a beam of light and vanished.

Su Yi didn’t stop her, nor could he have stopped her. Whoever the mastermind behind the scenes was, they’d obviously come prepared.

“Watch yourself!” Su Yi glanced at the woman in green, then turned and left the marketplace.

“Su Yi, does this count as you lowering your head and compromising?” the woman asked suddenly.

“Victory and defeat have yet to be determined,” said Su Yi. “Don’t get a swelled head.”

The woman in green burst into laughter. A moment later, the streets returned to normal. The frozen market-goers reacted as if awakening from a dream. Their expressions shifted dramatically, and the whole market descended into uproar.

The woman in green toppled to the ground, her eyes full of bewilderment. “What... what just happened?”

Su Yi immediately noticed that the web of strange power had vanished, but he disregarded it. Instead, he went looking for Yun Rong and explained that he needed to look for something in her soul.

Yun Rong agreed without hesitation.

Before long, Su Yi found that there was indeed a strange seal hidden in Yun Rong’s memories. It contained but a few sentences.

“I know you must have done something to the Cauldron of Fate, so how could I possibly tell you Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan’s whereabouts? That said, I have the cauldron. That’s enough for me.

“Su Yi, if you really want to learn Ku Xuan’s whereabouts, come to Shattered Star City in the Southern Sea in two weeks’ time. I’ll be waiting for you. Remember, this is your last chance. Believe me or don’t. Go or don’t. It’s entirely up to you.”

Su Yi took this in calmly. He didn’t lose his temper. He’d anticipated that the mysterious “Mister Wen” wouldn’t give him answers so easily, so there was naturally nothing to be upset about.

You want to use Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan’s whereabouts as bait to lead me around by the nose, huh? We’ll just have to see whether or not you’re capable of that.

Meanwhile, far from the Dragonbone Worldship, the waves churned, rumbling like thunder beneath ink-black skies.

A little boat floated in the turbulent waters. A man in a conical hat sat on board.

He suddenly looked into the distance. A figure was whooshing toward him from afar.

He was an unassuming, scholarly-looking, middle-aged man. Had Luo Yun’an been there, he’d have recognized him as “Mister Wen!”