Chapter 287: "Holy Saint, You Forgot Your Marriage Certificate"
Luo Wusheng took a deep breath.
Earlier, while in the pavilion within Sword Rain City, he had briefly explained to the Sword Fairy beside him how he came to be carrying this sack full of Demon Sect disciples.
After all, when the incident occurred, the little girl was sleeping in her room thanks to the formation that she had set up, and thus, completely unaware of the event.
However, Luo Wusheng's explanation wasn't particularly complex. He merely mentioned that this group of Demon Sect disciples had stirred up trouble, which had attracted the suppression of a high-level cultivator. The cultivator, however, out of consideration for the Demon Sect's reputation, had merely given them a light punishment.
He then claimed that he had only just remembered this matter and was concerned that the high-level cultivator might have left behind some additional measures. Thus, he decided to unseal these disciples now—when there was a Nascent Soul cultivator nearby and the surroundings were conveniently empty.
As for bringing them back to the royal city, he could utilize the space within his Antediluvian Nether Eye. With his current cultivation, storing dozens of Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment disciples posed no problem at all.
After renaming the Antediluvian Nether Eye as a spatial artifact, Luo Wusheng—just as he had explained to Xiao Yuli earlier—began briefing Ji Yanyao and Xuan Ming.
However, his gaze flickered subtly as he spoke.
'Hah... I didn't expect that after my disappearance that day, Bai Xiaoyao would take it upon herself to investigate this matter.'
Lacking the ability to search for him directly and armed with information from the little pink fox that he was safe, his junior sister instead shifted her focus to uncovering the peculiarities behind the day's events.
And she had indeed found clues, which led her to formulate a hypothesis, painstakingly dissecting and verifying it until she arrived at an astonishing conclusion.
'Truly worthy of the title "demoness," isn't she?'
Fragments of text floated through Luo Wusheng's mind:
[What first aroused my suspicion was the sudden resonance of a cultivation technique I experienced that day at the Wandering Immortal Inn.]
[At the time, I thought it was Senior Brother contacting me through the technique, but the resonance vanished instantly. Upon leaving my room, I confirmed that Senior Brother hadn't activated the technique…]
[Logically speaking, the only people in the world capable of resonating with my technique are Senior Brother and master. Of course, I can't rule out the possibility that master passed the technique to someone else or that there exist other techniques with similar effects, but I began by assuming it was master.]
[If master used a resonance technique within the royal city that day, and if master has indeed been watching in secret... I revisited the prior intelligence I had gathered and cross-referenced it with that day's events. That led me to identify the most suspicious individual.]
The bald cart driver.
When Luo Wusheng first read this part, he wasn't sure how to feel—caught between surprise and a strange sense of inevitability.
While the bald cart driver's appearances had always been eerily well-timed, and his actions clearly targeted Luo Wusheng, the latter had never suffered any harm as a result. Instead, he had merely been unable to discern the driver's true intentions.
And now, with the Sword Province incident...
[On the day Senior Brother disappeared, that man's actions outside the royal city gave me a sense of contradiction... He suddenly appeared, displayed such overwhelming power, and yet only sealed all the low-level Demon Sect disciples who had come to the city. Moreover, the seal wasn't particularly strong…]
[And as per earlier reports, before Senior Brother arrived in the royal city, he engaged in similarly enigmatic behavior, bringing people to the city and then vanishing.]
[But when I revisited this intelligence, I noticed something I hadn't before.]
[The first time he brought people to the royal city and caused an incident was ten days before Senior Brother arrived—on the day Senior Brother boarded the Sea-Crossing Boat.]
[But upon further investigation, I pinpointed the precise timing of this event…]
'It happened exactly one hour before... I accepted the Demon Artifact Pavilion Head position task in the Spiritual Domain.'
Compared to the hypothesis that the bald cart driver was the Sect Master of the Demon Sect, this was the real bombshell revelation for Luo Wusheng.
Because at that time, he had still been in the Netherworld Domain, with his memories having just awakened—or possibly not even awakened yet!
At that point, he hadn't even decided to go to the royal city to take up the position of Demon Artifact Pavilion Head!
The storyline hadn't even diverged, yet these events had already occurred... Someone had been watching him all along? Anticipating his actions?
No, was "anticipating" even the right word?
A fringe asset in the royal city, a key event in the early storyline, the optimal choice to stay clear of the Demon Purging War...
At first glance, it seemed like he had many paths to choose from, but in the end, through a "comprehensive judgment," he had selected this one.
His thoughts jumbled and reassembled.
The reason Bai Xiaoyao ultimately hypothesized that the bald cart driver was the Sect Master of the Demon Sect and decided to use the Holy Maiden Token for verification was based on Luo Wusheng's explanation: that his arrival in the royal city had been under his master's orders.
Her reasoning was exceptionally clear… At a time when her senior brother had not yet officially taken on the mission, the only one who could have predicted he would head to the royal city was likely the "master who orchestrated this plan."
But Luo Wusheng knew that the so-called "master's command" had never existed from the start.
'How much did he see, what are his goals, is he friend or foe...'
If he wanted answers...
Luo Wusheng slowly extended his hand, his palm hovering over the bulging sack.
His instincts told him that the Demon Sect disciples inside would lead him to the "follow-up."
And now, everything was ready.
Compared to the royal city, where prying eyes and complications abounded, this location was perhaps the ideal place for what came next.
"Then…"
Spiritual energy surged.
<+>
Due to his myriad swirling thoughts, Luo Wusheng had envisioned all sorts of possible outcomes as he unsealed the sack containing the Demon Sect disciples.
He had even braced himself for the possibility that if the disciples somehow merged and evolved into a full-blown Demon Sect Sect Master, he wouldn't be too surprised.
But in just a short time, he realized how wrong he had been.
That releasing these disciples might lead to unexpected events had been a premonition he carried from the beginning, and he had mentally prepared himself to accept surprises.
But not this kind of surprise!
Outside Sword Rain City, the previously empty ground in front of Luo Wusheng now featured a sprawled mass of Demon Sect disciples.
Among them, one figure stood at the forefront before Luo Wusheng and the other three.
He was an older man, his hair streaked with gray, bowing deeply and respectfully as he presented something to his Holy Saint.
In the dead silence, only his voice echoed through the clearing.
"Holy Saint! Now that I have met you! I have fulfilled my mission! I can finally give you this—"
"The marriage contract between the Holy Saint and the current Empress of the Immortal Kingdom, which was agreed upon by the Sect Master and the former Emperor of the Immortal Nation, is now handed over to you!"
Luo Wusheng: ….
The Holy Saint gaze instinctively shifted to his right.
Miss Yanyao appeared utterly stunned.
He turned to his left.
The Sword Fairy beside him was also staring at him, though her eyes seemed to have lost their usual brilliance.
And so, the Holy Saint of the Demon Sect came to a conclusion:
His "master" was undoubtedly an enemy.
<+>
Note: Link to the character Illustration:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD
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