Chapter 349: Trail of Heaven Deceiving Pendant - 03

After the blood silhouette vanished underground, the Fate Weaving Sovereign couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.

That fool Xiao Ye was an ambitious sort, someone who would never tolerate being beneath another person’s thumb. The Fate Weaving Sovereign knew for a fact that Xiao Ye was a rogue agent of the Lord of the Underworld.

And since the Lord of the Underworld couldn’t actively interfere, being an existence outside the River of Fate, this fool had successfully avoided the Lord himself. He had even sent various troubles the Lord’s way, ensuring that the latter had no time or energy to come looking for him.

However, lately, it seemed that the Lord of the Underworld had finally gathered enough energy to fine-tune his avatar so that it wouldn’t destroy the lower realm the moment it appeared. Although the avatar could only remain for a short time, the Lord could now manifest without causing a catastrophe. He still couldn’t actively take action unless someone provoked him first, though.

The fact that the Lord of the Underworld had personally participated in Wei Chen’s wedding ceremony, posing as his master, spoke volumes.

Wei Chen was definitely going to become the Lord of the Underworld’s successor. That also explained why the Fate Weaving Sovereign couldn’t casually interfere with this man’s fate.

But...

By sending that fool after Wei Chen, he was bound to gain something from the outcome. Perhaps Xiao Ye could even alter Wei Chen’s fate into something easier to interfere with.

That would be the best-case scenario.

As for Xiao Ye actually killing Wei Chen?

Ha!

That was hilarious. Of course, if this fool ever learned the truth, he would probably run straight into hiding. For all his ambition, Xiao Ye was a cautious man. Once he realized who Wei Chen truly was and understood that the Lord of the Underworld was backing him, he wouldn’t dare go anywhere near Wei Chen, lest he attract the Lord’s attention.

And that would defeat the whole purpose of sending him after Wei Chen in the first place.

That was why the Fate Weaving Sovereign had already interfered with Xiao Ye’s fate, subtly altering certain details to keep him from discovering the truth too soon. Manipulating Xiao Ye’s fate hadn’t been easy, but compared to meddling with Wei Chen’s, it was a piece of cake.

Now, all that remained was to sit back and wait for the show to begin...

He could hardly wait to see how things would unfold.

— A few weeks Later - Lower Realm —

After learning what her husband was looking for, Mo Xingyao immediately mobilized her people to track down that damn snake, Chu Li. What followed was a search on an unprecedented scale.

Millions of bounty hunters were dispatched to scour cities, sects, trading hubs, ancient ruins, and remote mountain ranges. Hundreds of informant guilds received orders to dig up every scrap of information they could find, while bounties were posted across the cultivation world for anyone who could provide reliable information about Chu Li’s whereabouts.

His name spread through taverns, auction houses, black markets, and sect headquarters, becoming a subject of heated discussion among countless cultivators.

Some hunted him for the bounty, while others hoped to curry favor with Mo Xingyao and, through her, gain the favor of the renowned Underworld Palace. A few simply wanted to know what kind of fool could provoke both the Thousand Treasure Pavilion and the Underworld Palace.

Yet despite the enormous commotion, Chu Li remained nowhere to be found. Ever since Mo Xingyao had refused his offer to sell the Heaven-Deceiving Pendant, that damn snake had vanished without leaving so much as a scale behind.

Unwilling to let the matter rest, Mo Xingyao even enlisted Ximen Hao’s help. With the Ximen Clan’s immense resources and manpower added to the search, the entire cultivation world seemed to have become a net closing around Chu Li.

Informants exchanged intelligence, cultivators chased down rumors, and countless eyes watched the roads leading in and out of major cities. Every promising lead was investigated, only for the trail to end in a dead end.

More often than not, those who had provided the information ended up dead, their souls cleanly destroyed. There wasn’t even a chance for a rare demonic cultivator skilled in extracting information from corpses to learn anything from their remains.

From Mo Xingyao’s perspective, those who ended up dead were the very people who actually knew what was going on. Perhaps they could have provided a genuine clue in the search.

If only one of them had survived...

But there was no point dwelling on what-ifs. Now, all the leads had gone cold.

"Haah..." Mo Xingyao let out a long sigh. She lay flat on her desk, feeling utterly exhausted after the past few weeks.

The only saving grace was that she could use the search as an excuse to postpone her wifely duties in bed with her husband. But... judging from the state of her good sister Yu’er that morning, she wasn’t sure how much longer that excuse would hold.

Dark circles hung beneath Yu’er’s eyes like those of a panda. She looked utterly exhausted, and even her legs seemed to stagger beneath her.

It was only a matter of time before Dream Butterfly couldn’t take it anymore and finally had enough.

That girl might just snap, tie Mo Xingyao up, and deliver her to that man’s bed on a silver platter!

Mo Xingyao had once sneaked a peek at a demonstration of what the two did after closing the bedroom door. That thing looked more like a dragon than anything else! Just imagining what would happen if it entered her made her fear that her own instrument might end up torn apart!

While Mo Xingyao’s mind spiraled into chaos, Wei Chen entered the room.

"What are you doing, Yaoyao? Are you feeling unwell? Do you have a fever?" he asked worriedly, touching her forehead with the back of his hand.

"I’m a cultivator, you know? I’m not going to get sick from some measly flu," she corrected her husband.

"I see... So you’re just having a lazy day, huh?" Wei Chen nodded in understanding.

"No! If I were lazy, I’d make less money. I’m just exhausted because none of my investments have paid off."

"Your investments?" Wei Chen asked in confusion. Then he finally understood. "Oh! Is this because of the search for Chu Li?"

"Mm-hmm~" Mo Xingyao nodded, still lying flat on her desk.

Seeing his wife in such a state, Wei Chen could only smile helplessly. Over the past few weeks, he had been busy managing his own department and securing funding for his people. He had also held a serious discussion with his boss about trade between worlds.

His boss had initially been somewhat opposed to expanding trade and opening the border to allow people from the other side to enter. He was worried about the potential consequences further down the line.

However, when it came to bringing more entertainment from the other side, his boss was all for it.

After all, more entertainment would divert the attention of those idiots with too much free time on their hands, keeping them from spending all their time thinking with their lower heads.

Let them channel their idle energy into something else.

At present, the media subsidiaries established by the Gu Clan, the Li Clan, and the Jin Clan were all doing well, but the variety of their programs remained limited.

The most popular programs were still theatrical performances reenacting legends from ancient times, rather than newer forms of entertainment such as movies. There were still no soap operas or serialized dramas targeting older audiences, nor were there any series capable of captivating viewers the way Korean dramas did.

Most of the popular programs were still based on what Wei Chen had originally introduced. Documentaries about the mysterious realms remained among the most popular, followed by food variety shows that had captured the audience’s attention.

In particular, the program he had created with that fatty, Ding Lao, ’The Ruthless Kitchen’, was a huge hit!

They still needed to diversify their programs. However, judging by the numbers coming in from the Underworld, everything was progressing well, and his boss seemed to have more and more free time on his hands.

Wait... Media?

Wei Chen paused. Perhaps finding Chu Li wouldn’t be as difficult as they had thought after all!

"Yaoyao," he called out to his wife.

"Huh?" Mo Xingyao looked at him, still resting her chin on the desk.

"I think I have a good way to flush Chu Li out of hiding. The bounty!" Wei Chen declared with a smile, as though he’d just come up with a brilliant idea.

"Ugh..." Mo Xingyao’s mouth turned downward, her expression unimpressed. "If it were that simple, the ten million spirit stones and the promise of a favor from the Thousand Treasure Pavilion would have been enough to make Chu Li’s people betray him. But they didn’t. And those who did provide information all ended up dead, their souls scattered."

"But I think a direct promise from the Lord of the Underworld himself would do the trick!" Wei Chen said with a wink.

Hearing this, Mo Xingyao’s eyes widened!

This guy wanted to drag the Lord of the Underworld into this mess!? That incredibly powerful being!?

Seriously!?