Chapter 95: Master's Debt Disciple Returns

  "In three months, eighteen medium and small sects were purged. This is a situation we didn't anticipate before!" The speaker was wearing a yellow hemp garment, with a thin and pale face, as if he hadn't had a decent meal in over ten days.

  He was echoing his tone. His voice was also slightly hoarse, with a heavy accent. I don't know where he came from. If you don't listen carefully to what he says, Kong Zhuo really can't understand what he's saying.

  This is one of the branches of Moon Sect's base.

  Kong Zhan entered the Moon Sect and was assigned here. This place is specifically responsible for handling the bloody cases that have occurred in the cultivation world over the past few months.

  It seems that in Kong Zhan's eyes, this Moon Sect is indeed a strange place. It is completely different from the cultivation sects he knew before. In comparison, it is more similar to the mortal government offices.

  A few people form a small group. There is a leader. Each group has its own responsibilities, such as the group that Kong Zhuan is currently in, where the thin man Tie Xuan is the leader. He is specifically responsible for investigating the blood cases of the past few months. At the same time, Kong Zhuan also understood why the three sects of Ri Yue Xing are no longer known to the public. It's because when they investigate or handle matters, they need to contact other cultivators or cultivation sects. They use the names of the six major sects, such as now. They are using the banner of a joint investigation by the six major sects, and this banner is also recognized by the six major sects.

  Doing so would greatly facilitate the operation, but on the other hand, it is not necessarily a way for the six major sects to expand their influence while suppressing the influence of the three religions.

  These three sects are absolutely not fools. At least, Kong Zhuan realized after staying in this sect for a few days that everyone in these three sects is intelligent, just like the guy in front of him who can analyze things clearly with just one or two small clues within a few days. How could such intelligent people not understand what the six major sects are up to?

  Is it really like what they said and propagated that the three religions of Dayue Xing are only for the peace of the cultivation world, and never contend for fame and gain?

  From their words and deeds, it seems to be quite like that, but Kong Zhuo always feels vaguely that something is not quite right in some places. But what exactly is not quite right, he can't say.

  As a man with a belly full of tricks, he has always been accustomed to measuring others' hearts with his own mean mind.

  But that was just his curiosity. Indeed. This thing looks strange, but it has existed for thousands of years.

  The same thing and method can last for thousands of years. There must be some reason behind it, just like the way of heaven. Everyone knows its existence, but not many people can truly understand it. Yet it still exists. This is a very strange question. And such a strange question is generally difficult to investigate deeply, Kong Zhuan doesn't plan to investigate deeply either, anyway he came to this Moon Sect with the intention of muddling through each day, what's the point of thinking so much?

  "We've investigated this before. These sects that were purged or the cultivators, they don't have any significant connection or special relationship with each other, and their enemies are also unrelated. Some of them don't even have enemies, which is quite unusual. To dare to do something like this, two conditions must be met: first, extraordinary strength; second, sufficient reason. Let's not talk about the aspect of strength for now. Anyone who kills people must have a reason, no matter how crazy they are. They kill people because they have their own reasons. And yet, we can't think of any reason why these sects were purged at the same time based on our previous investigation."

  "Maybe there are some unknown and more secret reasons behind this?" someone interrupted. Kong Zhuo's eyelids lifted, and he smiled. Zhu Zifan's face turned pale.

  It's been so many days since I came here. Zhū Zǐ Fán obviously has some hostility towards himself, and hasn't spoken to him before, but now that he's spoken up, Kǒng Zhuó doesn't think they have anything to talk about either. It's just that at this moment, he opened his mouth, treating it as if he had never seen this person before, only now did he open his mouth, which caught Kǒng Zhuó's attention.

  "We've also thought of secret reasons, but it can't be established!" The thin man smiled and said, "I've already said that before. These cultivators who were purged had no great connection with the sect beforehand, neither openly nor secretly."

  "This is interesting!" Kong Zhuo was slightly stunned. On the surface and in secret, there was no connection, could it be that this murderer was a madman? Killing people without any reason? Or...!

  "Kong Zhuo, what do you think?" Just as Kong Zhuo was thinking about it, that thin man suddenly called out his name, which made him jump in fright.

  Since that month, he has been in a mixed state of mind. As if he were a walking corpse, he would stand in the most inconspicuous corner and sit in the least noticeable place. If others didn't greet him, he wouldn't greet them either. Even when others greeted him, he would only respond with a simple "uh-huh".

  Unexpectedly, he suddenly mentioned his name at this point.

  "Oh, what?!" Kong Zan raised his head, looking utterly bewildered.

  Tie Xuan Dao said, "I saw your eyes flashing just now. It seems like you've figured something out. Isn't that right?"

  "Oh. I didn't think anything through!" Kong Zhuo shook his head. "I just suddenly thought of a way to make a dish!"

  For a moment, the atmosphere in the room solidified, and Tie Xuan's face also stiffened. Just now, he saw that this young man seemed to have gained something. He wanted to see what kind of thinking this talented youngster, who had made a name for himself at the Dragon Platform Immortal Conference, had. But he didn't expect to get such an answer. Instead, it was somewhat unexpected for him.

  It's been a long time since I've seen such an unscrupulous and arrogant young man who doesn't put himself in others' shoes.

  Tie Xuan's small eyes narrowed. "New dish? Well, I'd like to hear it. What delicious thing have you come up with?"

  "Sorry, I didn't mean to share my own insights with others!" Kong Zhan said, his voice very calm, as if he were talking about a very ordinary thing.

  Tie Xuan's face stiffened, but only for an instant. He seemed to have suddenly understood something and burst out laughing. His dry, yellowish complexion wrinkled up in laughter, revealing his full set of yellow teeth.

  "You must be Mo Xuetu's disciple!" Tie Xuan asked.

  "It's settled!" Kong Zhuo nodded with great satisfaction, his originally slouching body straightened up, and his big belly poked out. "I am Mo Xiu's disciple!"

  "Eighty years ago, your master obtained a piece of high-quality Western Tai Bai Jingjin! Iron Xuan said in a low voice, "In order to refine it into a sword embryo, he borrowed a dou of Tianhe Star Sand from me. Until now, he has not returned it. This is his IOU!" As he spoke, he shook his hand and a yellowed paper slip was shaken out, floating in front of Kong Zhuo, "It was agreed that it would be returned within fifty years, but now eighty years have passed, and he has disappeared without a trace. You are his disciple, so naturally you will take on this debt. Either return the Tianhe Star Sand to me immediately, or stay obediently in the Moon Sect. Don't think about any more evil ideas!"

  Repaying debts is a matter of course and justice.

  Now the debt is a Tianhe Xingsha, this thing really adds up. It's not cheaper than Xianying. Kong Zhuo never thought that this account would end up on his own body. The IOU was real, and he still remembered the scribbled words of his master. Although he had the urge to tear it to shreds, in a crowded place like this, if he really did so, it would be a loss of face for both his master and their school. So, he suppressed this desire and impulse. Kong Zhuo awkwardly chuckled twice, then gently picked up the IOU and handed it to Tie Xuan, "Hehe, this... Iron Uncle, just kidding! Just kidding!" At this time, Kong Zhuo's originally slightly awkward smile had become enthusiastic. An extreme enthusiasm, similar to that of a young waiter welcoming guests at the entrance of a large restaurant.

  Tie Xuan's eyebrows twitched. Looking at Kong Yan's smile, which was completely impossible for a cultivator to have, he also felt helpless. This Mo Xiu, was originally an extreme case. Who would have thought that his disciple would be the same? "Speak up. What did you think of, don't tell me it's braised pork again."

  "Braised pork is outdated!" Kong Zhuo laughed. "My dad used to tell me that things have a reversal, and it's abnormal if they don't. So many unrelated cleansings are very unusual. The dead are all cultivators, and there are many masters among them. So the murderer must be a cultivator too. And their cultivation won't be low. They can kill people so recklessly like this. Don't they fear affecting their mental state? Looking at the entire Central Plains, only the Demon Gate would dare to do things so brazenly!"

  "This is obvious, anyone can guess!" Zhu Zifan sneered. He and Kong Zhendong's daughter were already engaged, now hearing Kong Zhendong say so much, only to come up with this conclusion, couldn't help but sneer.

  "I'm not finished yet!" Kong Zhuo smiled politely at Zhu Zifan. "Manners, manners, Brother Zhu! As a disciple of Emei, how can you be so impolite?"

  "You...!"

  "Shut up, Kong Zhuo!" Tie Xuan interrupted the two. "You've learned your master's glib tongue to perfection. But don't show off in front of me, speak up, what's going on down there...!"

  "There's a saying that goes 'the abnormal is the strange', Master Shifu, you've said it before. No matter what kind of person, killing people always has a purpose, and to kill for the sake of killing is the act of a madman. The murderer clearly isn't a madman, his goal in killing so many people was just to cover something up!" He paused for a moment, looked at Tie Xue, saw that his expression didn't change, but a hint of a smile appeared in his eyes.

  "It's possible that they just wanted to kill one of these people, but were afraid of being exposed, so they killed others to make it seem like a random act. Of course, this possibility is low, because the people and factions involved in the purge don't have any significant background, and killing just one or eliminating just one wouldn't cause too much trouble for the perpetrator. Therefore, there's another possibility: these dead people and factions must have some kind of connection, not necessarily all of them, but most of them. They must have some kind of connection that we haven't discovered yet. Either our work wasn't thorough enough, or this connection is too ordinary, so we overlooked it."

  He smiled slyly at Tie Xuan and said, "I hope it's not the first one, otherwise we're in trouble!"

  "It's the first one, but we don't bother!" Tetsu Gen said. "Their target is Rōyūshi!"

  "Lang Youzi?!" Kong Zhan was taken aback. He had never heard of this name.

  "Lang Youzi was an ordinary cultivator. His strength was at the middle stage of Jie Shen, nothing special, but recently, he had been chasing after a woman from the Liu Lin family for some time. It seemed that he wanted to dual cultivate with her!"

  "Is that the Liu Lin family?!" Kong Zhuo's eyes narrowed, recalling that among the dozen or so third-generation disciples who had competed on Dragon Platform, there was indeed a female disciple from the Liu Lin family. She seemed to have quite impressive cultivation.

  "Does this have something to do with the Liu family?!"

  "This matter has something to do with Xian Xu!" Tie Xuan said, "As for the Liu Lin family, they've been extinct for a long time!"

  Kong Zhan's face stiffened for a moment, then he immediately understood. His complexion changed slightly, "Master Shu's meaning is...?"

  "The murderer should be from the Demon Gate. The goal is Xianxu, and then slaughtered the Liu Lin family's entire household. Then, Li Daitaoji, this Liu Lin family is a secretive cultivation sect, usually not interacting with others, so they didn't expect to be recognized by acquaintances. However, this wandering son had some entanglements with the Liu Lin family in the end. He was also a person who liked excitement. He would definitely go to the Xianxu gathering. The murderer feared being exposed in front of him, so he simply killed him to settle the matter. Then, to cover up all this, they slaughtered a certain number of cultivators. Although the incident became big, but the Liu Lin family's affairs were no longer noticed by anyone!"

  "Although we've figured it out now, they've still achieved their goal!" Kong Zhuang continued to say, "They took the immortal apricot and ran. Anyway, no one knows where they went. Can't investigate, can't chase. It's quite straightforward!"

  "We already have the clue!"

  Kong Zhan was taken aback and raised his head, revealing a puzzled expression. "Since you've already investigated clearly, then it's none of our Moon Sect's business, let's just drop it!"

  "In theory, it's okay!"

  "What's the fact?"

  "The people of Ri Zong were tied up with another urgent matter, so this matter was left to us for investigation and pursuit."

  Tied up with another urgent matter!

  Kong Zuo was startled, and instinctively thought of Mo Xiu, thinking of Li Shao Dong being killed, but this idea only turned around in his mind for a moment, and his expression didn't change at all.

  "What's the big deal? Must you look for trouble?" Kong Zan asked seemingly unintentionally.

  "The previous master of Wansheng Valley was killed, this is no small matter. Moreover, you have also seen the strength of the other party, a dragon, which is not something that ordinary people can summon. So, Ri Zong has made an all-out effort this time!"

  "So soon there's a lead on the culprit?! Kong Zan's face showed a hint of surprise, 'Who was in charge of the investigation? The efficiency is really high!'"

  "You're quite concerned about this matter, aren't you?" Tie Xuan smiled slightly, his face showing a hint of weirdness as he looked at Kong Zhuo. "Otherwise, I'll have you transferred to the team investigating this case!"

  "Alright......!" Kong Zhan almost blurted out, but the words got stuck in his throat and he forced a smile on his face. "Master Tie is joking. I don't have that kind of skill, I'm just admiring the various masters from the Moon Sect."

  "It's fine. Some things. Some people, it's not your turn to worry about!" Tie Xuan said with a smile full of deep meaning. "You just need to take care of your own affairs for now, understand?"

  "I see!"

  "Alright, then. Let's get into position!" Tie Xuan retreated a few steps, "There are eight of us here, excluding Zi Fan, all of us are in the Void Realm! He paused for a moment, "According to the information we've obtained, the other side is led by a Void Realm cultivator. The others are all in the Nascent Soul stage. So we don't need to worry too much. Kong Zhuo, Zhu Zi Fan!"

  "Disciple is here!" The two replied in unison.

  "Leave those below the Void Realm to you two to deal with!"

  "Ah?!" The two of them were shocked at the same time. They looked at each other and then immediately looked away, "Disciple obeys!"

  "There's still an old place. Road Junior Brother. You've handled it well!"

  "Got it!" Lu Kang nodded expressionlessly, his small eyes glancing at Kong Zhuo. A hint of abnormality flashed across the bottom of his pupils. But just as Tie Xuan looked over, that abnormality disappeared without a trace. What appeared instead was a smile with a hint of flattery.