Hu Yanlin asked nervously.
He was afraid He Mingxuan would state outright that the Wolf Demon had died at Chu Lingguang’s hands.
"This Official from Mazhou Prefecture, Yang Lijun—we kept finding traces of her wherever the Wolf Demon appeared. Her name was on the registry at the last few post stations, too. I suspect the Wolf Demon was chasing her here," He Mingxuan analyzed.
"The Wolf Demon ignored the danger and invaded human territory. Something must be attracting it, and perhaps that something is on Yang Lijun."
"As for what that could be?"
"Whatever can attract the attention of a Wolf Demon is certainly no ordinary item. It might even be what we at the Demon Suppression Bureau need most," He Mingxuan continued.
"Sir, in that case, should we...?" Hu Yanlin was eager to take action.
"The only thing is, I don’t know if the mysterious person who killed the Wolf Demon is with Yang Lijun, or if the item has already fallen into their hands," He Mingxuan said, sounding uncertain.
"Forget it. Let’s chase them and see. We might still have a chance."
He Mingxuan had been tracking the Wolf Demon all along and had long suspected it was searching for something important. Upon seeing Yang Lijun’s name again, he instantly understood the key to the mystery.
Using Yang Lijun’s identity information, he led Hu Yanlin and the others on their Han Gao Steeds, galloping toward Mazhou Prefecture.
"WHOA!"
Six hours later, the sky brightened.
Worried that Little Red Horse hadn’t rested enough, Chu Lingguang stopped at a tea stall by the main road, a common resting spot for passing merchant caravans.
He was there to replenish Little Red Horse’s feed.
He and Yang Lijun also ate pastries at the tea stall. After witnessing his strength, Yang Lijun was no longer as nervous as before and sat down to rest, completely at ease.
"If we travel for another half a day, we’ll be able to meet your four brothers," Yang Lijun said.
"I haven’t seen them in half a year. I wonder how they’re doing," Chu Lingguang replied casually.
"BUZZ!"
Suddenly, the object inside Yang Lijun’s wooden box vibrated violently.
Startled, Yang Lijun quickly clamped her hand over it and scanned her surroundings cautiously.
Chu Lingguang released a Spiritual Sense Fluctuation, spreading it out in all directions, paying special attention to the dense forests lining the road.
Supported by his powerful Sea of Consciousness Power, Chu Lingguang discovered a terrifying aura approaching from the forest to their left.
Behind that aura were several others, all rushing toward them at full speed.
Each one was formidable.
He couldn’t help but glance at Yang Lijun.
’The debt of gratitude to Mr. Du was, in truth, settled when I handed over the Spiritual Monkey.’
’Helping her last night was mostly just an easy favor. Besides, her attacker was a Wolf Demon. Humans and demons are like fire and water; killing it was no big deal. I don’t feel any guilt about it.’
’But from the looks of it now, it’s not just one Wolf Demon that’s after the item in the wooden box.’
’I’ve also realized that the item in the box seems to allow certain people and demons to sense its presence, which is how they’ve been able to track her all this way.’
’This thing is going to be endless trouble.’
"I need to know exactly what’s inside that wooden box," Chu Lingguang said seriously after careful consideration.
’If the four from Mo Shan weren’t waiting for us at the next station, I probably would have parted ways with Yang Lijun right after dealing with the Wolf Demon.’
Yang Lijun heard the undeniable command in his voice.
’I have two options,’ she thought.
’One: tell him the truth. After weighing the facts, Chu Lingguang might decide to keep helping me.’
’Two: keep it a secret, and he would abandon me on the spot.’
’He might even go ahead and prevent the four from Mo Shan from coming close.’
"There’s no harm in telling Lord Chu," Yang Lijun said in a hushed voice, after weighing her options. "The item in the wooden box is a heart. Whoever eats it can rapidly awaken the responsive power within their body and even break through the True Martial Realm to enter the Qi Refining Realm, all without the aid of a Cultivation Technique."
Even before Yang Lijun had spoken, Chu Lingguang had released a wave of his Sea of Consciousness Power to interfere with their surroundings, preventing anyone from overhearing their conversation.
"A heart?"
Chu Lingguang was visibly shocked.
Especially after Yang Lijun’s description of it.
"Why haven’t you eaten it yourself?"
’A heart that could let someone break through the True Martial Realm and reach the Qi Refining Realm... how could Yang Lijun possibly resist such a temptation? Even I feel a stir of desire upon hearing about it.’
"My own power isn’t refined enough. If I ate it, I’d suffer a backlash and turn into a demonic creature, neither human nor ghost," Yang Lijun explained.
’It feels like she said that for my benefit,’ Chu Lingguang thought, ’a warning not to get any ideas.’
"Are you planning to offer this heart to Mr. Du, or did he specifically instruct you to bring it to him?" Chu Lingguang asked again.
’He had already learned from Liu Ziyun that due to the restrictions of the Yuanchu Mountain Cultivation Techniques, almost no one in the secular world was able to elevate their cultivation to the Qi Refining Realm.’
’Whether it was Zhang Tao, the Governor of Qiling Prefecture; Mr. Du; his master, Guo Wei; or even Liu Ziyun and Eunuch Liu—the highest cultivation they had reached was the third level of the True Martial Realm, the Life and Death Realm. They had all hit a bottleneck long ago.’
’None of them had ever been able to break through.’
’Even he himself, despite having awakened all the responses of the third level of the Mental Realm, had failed to break through the True Martial Realm. It was as if an invisible hand was holding everyone down from above.’
’It plunged everyone’s cultivation path into darkness, leaving them without guidance, unable to break their physical shackles.’
’Everyone understood the fundamental truth of cultivation: gain power from responses, fuse those powers together, and thereby break the body’s shackles.’
’But the method for *how* to gain power from responses and fuse them together was a secret held by Yuanchu Mountain. Without their help, a breakthrough was next to impossible.’
’And yet, the heart in the wooden box could grant that very breakthrough. If word of this got out, what would all those people who had been stuck in the Life and Death Realm for years, with no hope in sight, do?’
’They’d all swarm for it, no doubt!’
’Even someone like Guo Wei would be sorely tempted!’
"How did it fall into your hands?" Chu Lingguang asked, completely baffled.
’Logically, for something this important, Mr. Du should have come to retrieve it personally. How could he possibly let Yang Lijun escort it alone?’
"Mr. Du doesn’t know what’s in the wooden box," Yang Lijun explained. "I only sent a message telling him I had something even more important than the Spiritual Monkey to present to him, and asked him to send people to meet me."
"Even if you can’t eat it, haven’t you thought about trading it for something else?" Chu Lingguang asked with suspicion.
"Of course. But right now, the only people I can trust are Mr. Du and..." Yang Lijun trailed off, looking straight at Chu Lingguang.
"And me?" Chu Lingguang frowned.
"That’s right." Yang Lijun nodded and continued, "I serve under Mr. Du. While he has most of the same flaws you’d find in any high-ranking official, he values integrity and is fair with his rewards and punishments. I was hoping to use this heart to get him to use his power to help me with something."
"If you can help me instead, I can give this heart to you."
When she finished, she watched Chu Lingguang with a nervous expression.
’She was gambling that the rumors about him were true.’
’If Chu Lingguang turned out to be a hypocrite, he might just kill her now that he knew the heart’s true value and take it for himself.’
"You still haven’t told me where you got this heart."
However, Chu Lingguang knew she hadn’t revealed the most critical piece of information yet.
’How could a mere Official from the three shifts of government constables, with a cultivation at only Qi Sea Perfection, possibly obtain a heart that would drive every True Martial Realm expert to madness?’
"It’s a long story..."
"Then make it short," Chu Lingguang cut in.
"My father, my uncle, and their men obtained this from the Blood Wolf Cave at the cost of their lives, just before the members of the Celestial Fragrance Pavilion arrived. I was willing to offer it to Mr. Du because I wanted him to help me eliminate the people from Celestial Fragrance Pavilion. If they hadn’t blocked the escape route, my father and the others would never have died in the Blood Wolf Cave."
Yang Lijun’s eyes grew bloodshot, and as she became more agitated, tears streamed down her face.
Chu Lingguang’s Spiritual Sense remained fixed on her, carefully sensing her heartbeat and aura fluctuations. He could tell she wasn’t lying.
’He might not trust people’s hearts.’
’But he trusted his own power.’
’Even Lian Yunhong’s Sea of Consciousness Power was no match for his. With Yang Lijun sitting right in front of him, enveloped by his Sea of Consciousness Power, it was impossible for him not to detect the slightest lie.’
"Why trust me?" he couldn’t help but ask again.
Yang Lijun let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "You helped Mr. Du find the Spiritual Monkey, you risked your life to kill Batu Mu to save the four from Mo Shan, and during the final round of the Imperial Examination, you gave up your title of Hui Yuan to go back and save Young Master Yan. I know about all of it. If someone like you can’t be trusted, then who can?"
"If I had known your true strength and identity from the start, I probably would have given you the wooden box much sooner."
As she spoke, Yang Lijun untied the wooden box from her person and pushed it toward Chu Lingguang.