Noticing Shen Lingxi’s unusual behavior, the Alliance Leader could not help but ask, “Saintess, is something the matter?”
“No.”
Shen Lingxi concealed the surprise on her face and shook her head gently. However, the corners of her mouth could not help but twitch upward slightly. After all these years, she had still recognized him at a single glance.
‘So he went to be an undercover agent,’ she thought to herself.
At that moment, the Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley—one of the five major powers of the Righteous Path Alliance—stared at the portrait and then glanced at the Alliance Leader. He could not resist saying, “Alliance Leader, do you have some sort of connection with this man named Gu Ming? The two of you look so much alike, and he even shares the surname Gu.”
The Alliance Leader shook his head and said with absolute certainty, “The Gu family only has one son. Furthermore, I have never heard anything about having a younger brother.”
“Could it be a cousin or something similar?” the Palace Master of the Divine Maiden Palace asked tentatively.
“No, I have seen my cousins. They do not look much like me,” the Alliance Leader replied, still shaking his head slightly.
“Looking like the Alliance Leader is merely a coincidence.” Shen Lingxi rested her chin in her hand as she looked at the portrait, her tone flat. “The world is a vast place. Is it really so strange for there to be one or two people who resemble the Alliance Leader?”
Almost everyone at the meeting turned to look at Shen Lingxi in unison. Even the Alliance Leader was somewhat surprised.
The Saintess was usually taciturn and almost never spoke. At most, she would say things like “Mm,” “No problem,” or “You all decide.”
Furthermore, she seemed to harbor a grudge against the Alliance Leader and never gave him a friendly look, let alone spoke up for him.
Today, however, the Saintess had unexpectedly spoken such a long sentence, and she had even done so on behalf of the Alliance Leader. It was truly bizarre.
“Saintess, are you all right?” the Palace Master of the Divine Maiden Palace asked with a strange expression.
“I am fine.” Shen Lingxi ignored them. She already had a plan in mind. As soon as the meeting ended, she would begin her work.
Cough, cough.
The Alliance Leader coughed twice to draw everyone’s attention back. He said, “This Gu Ming possesses no small amount of skill as a Demonic Cultivator. Several experts from the Righteous Path have fallen at his hands. However, he did not actually take their lives…”
The Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley was displeased and immediately interrupted, “What do you mean he didn’t take their lives? Several people from our Hundred Flowers Valley died miserably at his hands. Even my son…”
The Valley Master’s tone shifted, turning forceful. “I suggest we put a heavy bounty on his head.”
“Heh.”
Shen Lingxi let out a soft laugh, which immediately drew the Valley Master’s ire. The latter glared at her fiercely. “Saintess, what are you laughing at?”
Shen Lingxi narrowed her eyes. “Valley Master, do you not know what kind of person your son was? Hmph. The last time he dared to harass this Saintess, I only broke one of his arms. That was me giving you a massive amount of face.”
“Are you saying my son deserved to die?” the Valley Master asked, his voice heavy with resentment.
Shen Lingxi showed no fear and tilted her chin up slightly. “Exactly.”
“You!”
The Valley Master’s anger flared instantly. However, in the end, he did not dare to explode. Among the five major powers, his Hundred Flowers Valley was at the bottom. He naturally did not dare to go head-to-head with Saintess Mountain.
But he was fuming inside.
Suddenly, his eyes flickered, and he narrowed them as he questioned, “Saintess, you are speaking up for a member of the Demon Cult. What are your intentions?”
Shen Lingxi dismissed him with disdain, showing no fear. “What, do you wish to become an enemy of Saintess Mountain?”
The Valley Master immediately backed down and didn’t dare to make a sound. However, he still looked toward the representatives of the other powers for help. Yet, no one present had any intention of standing up for him.
Everyone understood that any power that went to war with Saintess Mountain would only find a dead end.
There was no other reason for this than the fact that the Saintess’s Deduction Technique had already reached the pinnacle of perfection.
She could use the Deduction Technique to lock onto anyone’s position in an instant and carry out a precision strike.
This was the reason why the Saintess was able to sit here and hold meetings with the heads of the other four major powers.
Even the Divine Maiden could not achieve this.
In the end, the meeting ended on an unpleasant note.
***
After the Righteous Path Alliance meeting concluded, Shen Lingxi rushed back to Saintess Mountain without stopping.
As soon as she returned to her courtyard, Shen Lingxi immediately performed the Deduction Method to calculate Gu Ming’s location.
Although she had recognized that the Demon Cult Protector was Gu Ming based only on the portrait during the meeting, she still wanted to use the Deduction Method to confirm it again.
Previously, she had failed several times because the search area was too large.
This time, however, she narrowed the deduction range to the Demon Cult Protector’s residence. The success rate increased significantly.
As long as the deduction was successful, it would indirectly prove that the Demon Cult Protector was indeed Gu Ming.
As time passed, Shen Lingxi watched the map of mountains and rivers on her hand with tension. Suddenly, a golden dot appeared in the Demon Cult’s territory on the map. Her beautiful eyes crinkled with joy.
She had finally found him.
The corners of her mouth could not help but curl upward.
However, there was a thorny problem now.
She was currently the Saintess of Saintess Mountain.
And he was a Demon Cult Protector.
The identities and statuses of the two were currently in opposition.
She could not go and find him.
That would make things difficult for him.
Furthermore, he might not even remember her.
The Alliance Leader had said before that he had erased Gu Ming’s memories of her.
However, she could make him come to her and stay by her side.
Even if she could use force to subdue him and tie him to her side, once the other powers found out—especially Hundred Flowers Valley—they would surely demand his public execution. That would put him in a dangerous situation.
Shen Lingxi did not want to see that happen.
After some careful consideration, a crazy plan popped into Shen Lingxi’s mind—
The Stand-in Plan.
She only needed to find someone who looked seventy or eighty percent like Gu Ming to act as her “White Moonlight.” Then, she would deliberately let the Great Elder find out.
Once the Great Elder knew, he would certainly not sit idly by.
The Saintess in love with a member of the Demon Cult?
What would people think?
If news of this spread, where would Saintess Mountain’s reputation go?
However, the Great Elder would not dare to have an open falling out with Shen Lingxi, so he would surely handle it secretly.
At that time, she would only need to find a suitable moment to deliberately break off relations with the Great Elder.
Then, she would only need to leak a bit of information to the Demon Cult.
Given the Demon Cult Leader’s personality, he would definitely not miss such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He would surely send Brother Gu Ming over to act as the stand-in for her White Moonlight to gain her trust and look for an opportunity to assassinate her.
But she knew Gu Ming would not. After all, he rarely killed people from the Righteous Path unless they were heinous criminals.
So, as long as Brother Gu Ming came over, she could keep him by her side legitimately.
Because everyone would know that Brother Gu Ming was merely a substitute for her White Moonlight.
This way, Brother Gu Ming would have a legitimate identity!
However, there was one problem, and that was the identity of the White Moonlight.
Shen Lingxi believed that both the Great Elder and others would investigate in secret.
Once they investigated, the secret would surely be revealed.
In order for this plan to be implemented perfectly, she had to use the Saintess’s Second Skill on the entire world: **Reality: Flip**. This would make the entire world believe that the White Moonlight was indeed real.
However, doing this would consume a great deal of her energy, and she would surely fall into a state of weakness.
Shen Lingxi only hesitated for a moment before her heart became resolute. She summoned her confidant and ordered them to find someone who looked seventy or eighty percent like Gu Ming…
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