Over the next few days, various news about the Qiankun Sect poured into Wuji City.
Some said the sect had suffered more than half casualties, others said it was completely wiped out.
Some claimed it was an accident during a new formation experiment, while others said the spirit mine explosion was caused by a natural disaster.
As for the most classic version—revenge from an enemy—there were several variations.
In Wuji City, all sorts of guesses and rumors spread.
For a time, everyone had different opinions on the truth, and no one could say for sure.
However, no matter what the truth was, it was already a fact that the Qiankun Sect had suffered a heavy blow, enough to stir up a huge uproar across the entire North Domain.
At this moment.
Inside a second-floor private room of a tavern in the west of Wuji City.
The door was gently pushed open, and a young man with black hair and black eyes walked in.
He looked no more than sixteen or seventeen, with handsome features, but his gaze carried a depth and calmness that belied his age.
The newcomer was none other than Chen Yuyang.
In the private room, a plain-looking woman sat by the window.
She had been sitting by the window all along, looking out toward the city, lost in thought.
Hearing the door open, she slowly turned her head, her gaze falling on Chen Yuyang.
A hint of respect and politeness appeared on her face.
“Daoist Chen, I’ve been waiting for you.”
Chen Yuyang nodded slightly, sat down across from her, and asked directly, “Did you bring the information I requested?”
Qing He nodded, placed a ring on the table, and pushed it toward Chen Yuyang.
The young man reached out and took the ring, probing it with his spiritual sense.
Inside, there were a pile of jade slips and a large amount of paper documents.
Feeling this, Chen Yuyang raised an eyebrow slightly in surprise and looked at Qing He.
“No restrictions? Aren’t you worried I’ll read the contents but not pay?”
Upon hearing this, Qing He gave a meaningful smile.
“Daoist Chen is the number one young prodigy of the North Domain. I trust your character.”
Chen Yuyang couldn’t help but show a slightly embarrassed expression.
“You overestimate me. I’m not worthy of being called a young prodigy.”
Chen Yuyang felt that he was neither young nor a prodigy.
Qing He didn’t dwell on the topic and simply made a gesture of invitation.
“Won’t you take a look at the contents first?”
“How many spirit stones?”
Chen Yuyang didn’t immediately check the jade slips, but looked up at Qing He and asked the price first.
Qing He nodded, then said, “The sect has set the price for this batch of information at 930,000 high-grade spirit stones. That’s no small amount, Daoist Chen.”
Chen Yuyang showed no expression.
He simply took out another ring and placed it on the table.
“Inside is one million high-grade spirit stones. The extra 70,000 is for your trouble.”
After saying this, Chen Yuyang ignored Qing He and focused entirely on the pile of information that now belonged to him.
He probed with his spiritual sense and began rapidly flipping through the jade slips and documents.
There was quite a lot of material, but Chen Yuyang’s spiritual sense read just as quickly.
The information covered three main aspects.
The smallest part was about the extermination of the Yun family, to which his junior sister Yun Lian belonged.
In this regard, they had found information on many families and merchant associations that had once had business dealings or grudges with the Yun family.
But none of the clues had a definite connection, and there was also a lack of corroborating evidence.
They couldn’t really identify the murderer through all this.
Most importantly…
The forces mentioned in these reports didn’t have that kind of capability.
Not that they lacked the power to destroy the Yun family, but they didn’t have the power to also erase the archives within the Xuan family after the destruction.
The remaining materials were roughly half about living puppets and half about the Qiankun Sect.
The information on living puppets detailed various cases that had appeared in the Realm of Cultivation in recent decades, including some forbidden knowledge about refining living puppets.
It also mentioned a few demonic cult groups or demonic cultivators that had already been wiped out.
However, this information was messy and scattered, and it was hard to find a clear thread for now.
The focus was on the information about the Qiankun Sect.
The related reports recorded in great detail the strength growth, cultivation method progress, and travel records of key disciples, core personnel, and elders over the past thirty years.
930,000 spirit stones—this part alone was worth 800,000.
It covered several hundred people, all of whom were relatively core and high-ranking members of the Qiankun Sect, with as much detail as possible.
Chen Yuyang quickly flipped through them.
Among these several hundred people, there were three with abnormally rapid strength growth.
Apart from the already dead Long Zhizheng, there were two others.
One was Elder Dao Yi, one of the remaining three Mahayana Realm cultivators in the Qiankun Sect.
The information showed that Elder Dao Yi had a sixth-grade spiritual root.
His talent was good, but he had reached his limit.
He had only barely broken through to the eighth level of the Unity Realm when he was over 500 years old, and his cultivation had stagnated there for over a hundred years.
But just over twenty years ago, Dao Yi suddenly broke through that bottleneck and quickly rose to the second level of the Mahayana Realm.
The other was Mo Jiang, the son of Mo Chen.
When Mo Jiang was born, his spiritual root test showed only a second-grade root.
His talent was mediocre, and he had no special physique.
As the son of the Qiankun Sect’s leader, such talent was practically a disgrace.
But his cultivation speed had always been astonishingly fast.
He established his foundation at nine, formed his golden core at twelve, and at the age of twenty, he had already reached the third level of the Nascent Soul Realm—much faster than many core disciples of the Qiankun Sect who had fifth- or sixth-grade spiritual roots.
“Mo Jiang.”
Chen Yuyang murmured this name, his eyes narrowing unconsciously.
Dao Yi was a Mahayana Realm cultivator.
With his current cultivation, Chen Yuyang couldn’t investigate him deeply.
Relatively speaking, Mo Jiang, who was only at the third level of the Nascent Soul Realm, became the most suitable breakthrough point for his investigation.
He paused, then raised his eyebrows to look at Qing He, his eyes sharpening.
“I need more information. Continue investigating the living puppets and the Yun family… No!”
As he spoke, Chen Yuyang recalled Yun Lian’s strange behavior that night, so he changed his words.
“Investigate the background of my junior sister Yun Lian. What did she experience after the Yun family was destroyed? Where did she go? Who did she meet? How did her cultivation rise? Check all the information you can find, as detailed as possible!”
After saying that, Chen Yuyang continued in a deep voice.
“Also, investigate Mo Jiang’s background. Include all his experiences from childhood to now, the cultivation methods he practices, what he has done over the years, and any abnormal behavior he has shown.”
“The reward is still uncapped!”
Upon hearing this, Qing He’s eyes lit up instantly.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but take a deep breath, looking at Chen Yuyang with burning eyes.
What a big client!
A business worth over 900,000 spirit stones, and he didn’t even haggle.
Not only that, he voluntarily gave an extra 70,000 as a tip.
Now, he was immediately placing a new order, again with an uncapped reward!
This was simply the best client she had ever encountered since she started her information business, no contest.
“No problem, Daoist Chen! Rest assured, I guarantee I will investigate and deliver the information you want as soon as possible, clearly and thoroughly!”
Qing He immediately agreed wholeheartedly, her attitude toward Chen Yuyang even more respectful than before.
Chen Yuyang nodded slightly, said no more, and stood up to leave.
“Wait a moment, Daoist Chen.”
However, Qing He suddenly called out to him.
She hesitated for a moment, then asked, “Speaking of which, now that such a big incident has happened to the Qiankun Sect, aren’t you at all concerned?”
Chen Yuyang paused mid-step, turned sideways, and looked at Qing He with a calm expression.
“Should I be concerned?”
“You’ve always had us investigate people or information related to the Qiankun Sect. Now that such a major event has happened to the sect, you haven’t even asked a single question…” Qing He paused.
She knew she shouldn’t ask too much about a client’s affairs, but she couldn’t suppress her curiosity.
She continued, “This seems… unusual.”
Chen Yuyang smirked.
“Oh? So you’re saying that this information about the Qiankun Sect can be provided to me for free, Fellow Daoist Qing He?”
Qing He was taken aback, then realized.
So, he didn’t want to waste spirit stones on this?
But that wasn’t right.
He had just been so generous, spending a million spirit stones without batting an eye.
How could he care about the cost of this little information?
Or was he the type to save where he could and spend where he had to?
Qing He was momentarily confused, unable to figure out this client’s thoughts.
But she quickly stopped overthinking, put on a full smile, and continued.
“Daoist Chen is joking. You are our big client, so naturally, this small piece of information can be provided for free.”
She cleared her throat and continued.
“According to the news sent back by our sect’s informant embedded within the Qiankun Sect, the incident was indeed a man-made revenge attack.”
“Our informant found some remnants of formation flag fragments near the Qiankun Sect’s mountain-protecting formation. Although the perpetrators were very cautious and all the flags had self-destructed, judging from the material of the remaining fragments and the residual formation fluctuations, the one who did this was definitely a top-tier formation master.”
“However, even though it’s called revenge, the warning aspect of this action was even more prominent.”
Qing He continued analyzing seriously.
“Because although the formation was extremely powerful and its methods profound, destroying the Qiankun Sect’s spirit mine and severely injuring most of the sect’s disciples and elders… strangely, it did not cause mass casualties—or rather, no one died directly from the formation.”
“The deaths and injuries found so far basically come from the collapse of rocks and buildings caused by the explosion, and the number is very small—only a few people.”
“But regardless, the Qiankun Sect, which had established itself in the Realm of Cultivation through formations, was now attacked and destroyed by someone using formations, heavily injuring almost all its members and smashing the sect’s spirit mine…”
At this point, Qing He gently shook her head, a playful smile appearing on her face.
“The Qiankun Sect’s reputation is completely ruined now. It will take at least a hundred years for it to recover from the damage caused by this explosion.”
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