Chapter 143: Clue and Suspicious

“That ungrateful dog!”

Boom!

Fei Wuyan struck his golden throne in anger, shattering it in the process. Looking at his hand, he forced himself to calm down. There was no use crying over spilled milk.

He turned to the messenger.

“Keep the gold pieces from my throne. From today onward, the Money Gang is no more. All of you hide and go underground.”

“Thank… thank you, Boss!” The messenger quickly bowed and collected the gold pieces from the shattered throne.

Fei Wuyan watched for a moment before snorting and quickly retreating. He did this not out of generosity, but because he deliberately left the messenger to face whatever might come through the front door.

By doing so, the messenger’s gratitude might buy him some time, time that he desperately needed to escape.

Fei Wuyan walked to his room, dismissed all of his concubines, and changed into night-wandering clothes. He then took out a cowl to obscure his face, grabbed some money and spirit stones from the emergency safe, and put them into his storage ring, preparing to disappear.

But before he could do anything, a cold wind from outside brushed against his back. He turned toward the source of the chill and found that the window was open.

He cursed his concubines’ clumsiness in his heart. How could they leave the window open while being with him?

“If I ever return, I’ll dismiss all of them… a bunch of stupid bitches!” he grumbled and ignored the open window, walking toward the entrance.

“Wait… you’re not going anywhere.”

A cold and mysterious voice stopped him. Fei Wuyan’s heart leaped and skipped a beat, as if it were about to fail. The voice had sounded from inside his room.

Fei Wuyan slowly and cautiously turned toward the direction of the voice.

A dark figure stood there, dressed in black cloth, with both arms unnaturally long, hanging past his knees. His eyes shone in the darkness, single-slit reptilian pupils set in yellow irises, staring at him coldly like a predator observing its prey.

Being stared at by those pupils made his skin crawl. At that moment, a piece of knowledge jolted his mind. There was a division within the Sky-Severing Demon Valley. This division was known among those in the higher hierarchy as one of the most effective units for infiltration and assassination.

This division had its own set of cultivation and combat techniques, with members trained since childhood. Most of them developed minor defects due to their cultivation, but none of the people within the division saw them as flaws. They believed their cultivation made their bodies stronger and their work easier because of those defects.

It was the Hidden Cloud Division, the feared and dreadful force within the Sky-Severing Demon Valley. If the Sword Division was like a hammer, the overwhelming power ready to destroy anyone in direct confrontation,

Then…. the Hidden Cloud Division was like a surgical knife that commanders and generals on the battlefield feared. Their battlefield was not in the open. It was the quiet of the night, and they would strike when their target least expected it.

“Err… what… what do you want?” Fei Wuyan asked, stuttering as dread crept into his heart.

“Lord Mo Jue wants an audience with you. Follow me.” With that said, the man with snake-like eyes turned and led the way.

Fei Wuyan had no choice but to follow. He knew this was not a request. It was an order.

He followed the man with the snake-like eyes for about half an hour before arriving at the Thousand Treasure Pavilion. He was led into one of the audience halls, where Mo Jue was seated on the throne, waiting like a king.

“Fei Wuyan, the leader of the Money Gang, greets Patriarch Mo,” Fei Wuyan said, trying to hide his trembling voice as he cupped his fists.

“I will get straight to the point,” Mo Jue said, leaning forward. “I want three things from you. Give me these three things, and the matter of your gang breaking the rules of this city will be wiped clean.”

Hearing this, Fei Wuyan saw a chance to survive.

“Please… tell me what you need, Patriarch Mo. Even if I must climb a mountain of swords or wade into a sea of fire, I will…”

Before Fei Wuyan could finish his sentence, Mo Jue raised his hand, stopping him from continuing his flattery.

“I do not need that from you. Just three things that you can easily provide.”

“First, regarding Fatty Ding Lao. The debt will be nullified, and the money you scammed from him must be returned.”

“It will be done, Patriarch Mo!” This was very easy for him. The Money Gang had plenty of money. Returning the principal and all the profit they gained from Fatty Ding Lao would not even make a dent in their resources.

However, this sent him a clear message. Fatty Ding Lao had somehow secured the backing of the Sky-Severing Demon Valley.

He could not help but feel his heart tremble in trepidation.

“Second, we have already paid the rent to Fatty Ding Lao for the use of his home, along with compensation for the new renovations. From now on, his home belongs to the Sky-Severing Demon Valley. Keep your dirty hands away from it.”

This order struck Fei Wuyan like a hammer to the chest. At this rate, there was no way he could get his hands on that place. He would also have to answer to his backer for this failure and for bringing the Sky-Severing Demon Valley into the matter.

“Y… yes… Patriarch Mo. What is the last one?” Fei Wuyan accepted with a resigned heart.

“Third… who is your backer? Who wants that place?” Mo Jue asked.

This short question nearly stopped Fei Wuyan’s heart. This was something he could not tell Mo Jue.

“Lord Mo… please… this is the only thing I cannot tell you. If I say it, my life will be in danger!” he pleaded.

Mo Jue rested his right arm on the armrest and placed his chin on his fist, watching Fei Wuyan with amusement, as if observing a clown waiting to perform.

“Why are you so confident that if you do not tell me, your life will be safe?” he said with an amused smile.

At that moment, a group from the Sword Division walked out from a side room. The man with snake-like eyes also looked at Fei Wuyan with his cold, reptilian gaze.

“This…” Fei Wuyan hesitated. It was not that he did not want to speak. It was that he could not. If he spoke, he would immediately drop dead in an agonizing manner right here and now.

He had a life-and-death contract with his backer that forbade him from revealing his identity. The contract prevented him from telling anyone in any way.

“If you are bound by a contract or something like a heart-bound or life-bound gu worm that would kill you painfully, then you only need to stand there. I will continue calling out names, and we will handle the rest,” Mo Jue offered.

This brought hope to Fei Wuyan.

“I will begin, then…” Mo Jue said as he started listing names that were on his mind.

“Jin Wu, elder of the Golden Cauldron Sect… Wu Shanxue, the Grand Elder of…” Mo Jue continued recounting names. All of them were renowned alchemists from the righteous path whom he knew had problems refining pills or were stuck at a bottleneck while attempting to advance to the next level.

About twenty minutes passed, and the list of names in Mo Jue’s mind was exhausted. He looked at the man with reptilian eyes, but the man shook his head. None of the names were correct.

Then Mo Jue decided to call out one particular name. It was a name he had kept in mind due to suspicion, but had hesitated to say because of that person’s reputation.

“Jin Taishan, the Golden Cauldron Sage, Sect Leader of the Golden Cauldron Sect.”

At that moment, Fei Wuyan’s heart skipped a beat. This was the name. The name of his backer.

The man with reptilian eyes cupped his fists and immediately confirmed, “My Lord… it is this name. Jin Taishan is the current backer of the Money Gang.”

Upon receiving the confirmation, Mo Jue let out a cunning smile.

“So, it is that old fox? That old man acts so righteous, yet in the dark he covets this treasure land?” Mo Jue thought. “Was I wrong about him, or has something changed recently?” He pondered.

When speaking of the Golden Cauldron Sect in the Azure River Province, anyone would think of the renowned alchemy sect with a grand reputation and a long history of supporting the righteous path.

In particular, the leader of the Golden Cauldron Sect always bears the title Golden Cauldron Sage. This title is a testament to the sect leader’s skill and knowledge in alchemy. Every leader is the most accomplished alchemist within the sect.

Most of these leaders come from the Jin Clan, the founding family of the sect, but there have been precedents where the leader was not originally from the Jin Clan.

One such precedent was the righteous Ming Taishan, which was his former name. He changed his name to Jin Taishan after marrying into the Jin family.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep