Chapter 81: There Is Always Someone Stronger

Inside the Taiping Sutra space.

Wang Ping opened his eyes and looked back, only to see the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag already resting in Liansheng Bodhisattva's hand. She was examining it with great interest.

This is bad.

He looked around. Of the towering scripture scrolls before him, only Perish Together with the Sun shone brilliantly. It was the anchor allowing him to remain in this secret realm.

He could only enter the Taiping Sutra space when using a scripture scroll. Right now, the cooldown for the Outer Heavenly Demon had not yet ended. The scrolls for a promise worth a thousand gold and Courage of the Noble Gentleman had both been exhausted. Only Perish Together with the Sun was still active, but it came with a time limit.

I won't be able to hold on much longer.

Once the time limit is up, I either trigger Perish Together with the Sun and leave on my own, or I'll be forced out. I have no other choice.

A crisis of life and death!

Since the Outer Heavenly Demon was still on cooldown, only Wang Ping's consciousness had entered the Taiping Sutra space. His physical body and soul remained in the real world.

And if he died right now...

Then I would really be dead!

At that thought, a creeping chill enveloped his mind. Intense regret surged within him. If he had known, he wouldn't have tried to play the hero...

By now, he finally understood.

The White Lotus Sect and the imperial court didn't just share a tacit understanding, as he had previously thought. The truth was far more shocking: they had been in it together from the very beginning!

Liansheng Bodhisattva, the figure behind the White Lotus Sect, was another true transmission disciple of the Immortal Gate. Unlike Daoist Nun You, who represented the Divine Weapon Courtyard, Liansheng Bodhisattva represented the Immortal Prescription Courtyard. One forged weapons while the other refined pills. The two factions were clear rivals within the Immortal Gate.

Piecing the clues together, Wang Ping continued to flesh out the truth.

Thinking about it now, the imperial court... or rather, the attitude of the Great Shun Emperor was highly suspicious. The National Academy was acting on orders from the Immortal Gate.

On what grounds could the Great Shun Emperor try to stop them?

Where did he get the nerve?

There's only one logical answer. The Great Shun Emperor also had a powerful backer in the Immortal Gate, just a different one from the Daoist Nun You behind the National Academy.

You in me, me in you—their factions were hopelessly intertwined. This was exactly how everything in the empire had gone so wrong.

And without a doubt, Liansheng Bodhisattva and the Immortal Prescription Courtyard behind her were his backers. That's why that secret edict ordered me to assist the rebels!

Having sorted that out, Wang Ping suddenly let out a bitter laugh.

It's all meaningless...

He really had done a lot.

He had killed corrupt officials, executed greedy bureaucrats, broken open the granaries to distribute food, and saved tens of thousands of refugees and villagers, preventing a tragedy that should have ended in rivers of blood.

But I didn't change a single thing.

...It was all for nothing.

Only at this moment did Wang Ping finally see through the Immortal Gate's overarching scheme in Longxing County. The ending to this grand play had been decided from the very start.

That scheme was to refine a life-extending artifact.

This life-extending item could be Daoist Nun You's Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd, but it could equally be Liansheng Bodhisattva's Anti-Tribulation Longevity Pill!

The lives and deaths of tens of thousands of commoners in Longxing County, the marrow-sucking grain taxes, the endless famines, the battle of wits between the National Academy and the Imperial Tribute Hall—in the end, it all just boiled down to a contest between two Immortal Gate true transmission disciples to see whose methods were slightly more brilliant!

Looking at the outcome.

Daoist Nun You had toiled only for another's benefit, ruthlessly exploited for her harvest of human livestock. It was clear that Liansheng Bodhisattva, who had the last laugh, was undoubtedly a step above.

But what if he looked even higher?

The clash between the two Immortal Gate true transmissions fundamentally revolved around this one objective: a life-extending item. And this was being prepared for Daoist Nun You's master.

A Qi Refining practitioner...

Wang Ping suddenly recalled the mighty power he had once witnessed. Daoist Nun You's master, that Immortal Gate Qi Refining practitioner, could even reverse time to resurrect the dead.

That person is likely the one orchestrating all of this.

Daoist Nun You is his disciple, acting under his orders to forge a life-extending supreme treasure for him. Without his tacit approval, would Liansheng Bodhisattva dare to strike at her from the shadows?

So the answer was obvious.

This contest between the Immortal Gate true transmissions was orchestrated by that Qi Refining practitioner from start to finish. It was impossible to fail. The only difference was how it would succeed!

If Daoist Nun You won and the National Academy's plan succeeded, everything would fall into place naturally, and the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd would be born. If Daoist Nun You failed, Liansheng Bodhisattva would step up at the final moment, set things right, and refine the Anti-Tribulation Longevity Pill. The end result remained exactly the same.

Realizing this, Wang Ping closed his eyes.

This is how the Immortal Gate rules the world...

If you didn't resist, the Immortal Gate achieved its goals without breaking a sweat. If you did resist, your rebellion simply became another tool to help them reach those goals.

It was absolutely foolproof!

This made Wang Ping think of Shouchong. Without his own interference, that old bastard, acting as the local leader of the White Lotus Sect, would undoubtedly have been the key to tipping the scales.

He must have been the backup plan Liansheng Bodhisattva prepared.

If I weren't here, he would have slaughtered all the black-headed commoners and innocent citizens in the city, turned them into demons, and then used human wave tactics to wear down Daoist Nun You.

But with me around, he had it easy.

...Huh?

Suddenly, Wang Ping's train of thought paused. It was as if a flash of inspiration had cut through the dark. The chain of clues in his mind that had seemed so clear just a moment ago suddenly revealed a few glaring holes.

Wait, something isn't right.

Wang Ping reexamined his recent deductions. At first glance, there didn't seem to be any issues. From the clues to the conclusion, everything was logical and reasonable, and it all basically lined up.

Something is wrong!

There's something, there is definitely something I missed! Wang Ping felt a surge of frustration. He knew something was off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

The entire Longxing County incident had begun when Daoist Nun You contacted the National Academy, which then dispatched Xu Bingzheng. Daoist Nun You established the Youren Temple in Longxing County. After that came the grain taxes and the famine. Then Xu Bingzheng laid his trap in the city, using talents like Lin Sheng to cultivate demons...

Boom!

In an instant, inspiration burst like a broken dam, washing away the obscurity and revealing the truth.

Ah... I get it!

Wang Ping smacked his hands together in excitement, finally catching the gap in the chain of clues. The timeline is wrong! The timeline for cultivating the demons doesn't match up!

When was Lin Sheng set up?

According to the diary in the haunted estate, on the very night he was suspended from duty, the magistrate Xu Bingzheng and an extraordinary person sought him out and implanted the strange technique into him.

Once the technique was planted, Lin Sheng craved flesh and blood, trapped in a constant state of starvation.

The Life-Stealing Thief.

Before this, Wang Ping had always assumed that the extraordinary person who accompanied Xu Bingzheng to frame Lin Sheng was the Perfected Wandering Spirit. But looking at it now, that didn't align at all.

Because Daoist Nun You, the one backing the Perfected Wandering Spirit, only obtained the Life-Stealing Thief after I forced my way into the county city and severely wounded Xu Bingzheng. By that point, Lin Sheng had already been implanted with the strange art... So the extraordinary person who plotted against Lin Sheng wasn't Daoist Nun You at all!

If it wasn't Daoist Nun You, then was it Liansheng Bodhisattva?

That's impossible too!

Liansheng Bodhisattva and the Great Shun Emperor are on the same side. Xu Bingzheng is from the National Academy. The two factions are like fire and water—how could they possibly act together?

Which means... there's a third person!

At that thought, Wang Ping was frightened by his own deduction. Not Daoist Nun You, and not Liansheng Bodhisattva. A third Immortal Gate cultivator!

There was a third person in Longxing County!

It was this person who colluded with Xu Bingzheng to set up Lin Sheng, implanting the Life-Stealing Thief so the demons rampaging through the city would gain the ability to steal lifespans.

More importantly... This person is very likely outside the control of that Immortal Gate Qi Refining practitioner. An anomaly outside the grand scheme. Neither Daoist Nun You nor Liansheng Bodhisattva noticed them!

Wang Ping paced back and forth in front of the towering scripture scrolls.

As the truth was unspooled layer by layer, his thoughts grew increasingly clear and his eyes shone brighter. It was as if he had spotted a sliver of survival in a desperate situation.

Before, I assumed Daoist Nun You knew the demons were implanted with the Life-Stealing Thief. But looking at it now, she might not have known at all. Yet the traits of the Life-Stealing Thief are so distinct, and it was happening right under her nose. How could she fail to recognize it? There's only one explanation.

Her mind was clouded without her realizing it.

When did it happen?

That Five Thieves Stealing Heaven Myriad Transformations Divine Talisman! When Daoist Nun You was transporting that thing, she was briefly enchanted before breaking free.

Wang Ping experienced a sudden supreme enlightenment. It seems I overestimated her. She didn't actually break free. The person behind the scenes voluntarily let her go once their goal was achieved!

He now understood why Daoist Nun You hadn't noticed a thing.

But why hadn't Liansheng Bodhisattva discovered the existence of the Life-Stealing Thief? After all, the Life-Stealing Thief was a cultivation method forbidden by the Immortal Gate.

If Liansheng Bodhisattva had truly noticed any clues, she wouldn't have needed to play any standard or brilliant moves on the Longxing County chessboard to deal with Daoist Nun You. She only needed to raise her hand and report Daoist Nun You to the Immortal Gate for secretly using a forbidden art. That would have effortlessly kicked her out of the game.

Yet she hadn't done so, which meant she was completely oblivious as well.

This raised the question—who could keep Liansheng Bodhisattva completely in the dark about this? She had never come into contact with the Five Thieves Stealing Heaven Myriad Transformations Divine Talisman.

Unlike Daoist Nun You.

Wang Ping didn't have any intelligence on Liansheng Bodhisattva. He only knew she was also a true transmission disciple of the Immortal Gate, so he could only deduce based on the clues he had.

Within the clues he possessed, who was the closest person to Liansheng Bodhisattva? Who could communicate with her? Who had the opportunity to plot against her?

Finally, the clues led back to the starting point.

After a moment of silence, Wang Ping opened his mouth and squeezed the name through his teeth:

...Shouchong?

Longxing County City.

Looking at the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag in her hand, Liansheng Bodhisattva appeared relaxed. "How interesting. What kind of trick is this, to be able to hide all consciousness?"

She had long been intrigued by the bizarre artifact spirit of this Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag. However, she had prioritized the bigger picture before, holding off on making a move. Now that the grand scheme was settled, she had finally initiated a soul search. Yet, the result was a complete failure. The other party's soul sea was entirely empty, looking nothing like something with sentience.

Could it be a relic from the previous dynasty?

Liansheng Bodhisattva speculated in her heart. Longxing County was, after all, the place where the Grand Ancestor of the previous dynasty had risen to power. And that figure... had quite a reputation even within the Immortal Gate.

Perhaps this artifact spirit had stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter related to him.

That would explain why its sentience had surged so greatly, even allowing it to backlash against its master.

Thinking up to this point, Liansheng Bodhisattva grew even more curious. She decided that when she left, she would simply take this precious flag with her and slowly study it later.

Just at that moment.

"Hmm...?"

Suddenly, Liansheng Bodhisattva lowered her head to look at the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag in her hand. She saw that the Six Desires Heavenly Demon King inside was actually raising his head to look back at her.

"So you can't hide anymore?"

Liansheng Bodhisattva chuckled softly. Looking at Wang Ping, who had just returned to reality, she didn't even bother to ask a question. Her vast spiritual sense surged out once more, preparing to directly search his soul.

Yet at this very moment, Wang Ping was no longer afraid.

Because he had already seen it. Right behind Liansheng Bodhisattva, a man in white was walking toward him with brisk, unhurried steps.