#530 - True and false, each with its own agenda

Ever since he first heard Zhuang Zhiming's name at the Elders Council, Wei Changtian felt like he had seen it somewhere before.

And today, after learning that the former was the Head of the Changwu Hall, Wei Changtian once thought he might have glimpsed it on a roster of "Major Forces Leaders of Da Ning" or something similar.

After all, Chu Xianping had indeed given him such a list, and Zhuang Zhiming's name might have been on it.

But just now, Wei Changtian suddenly remembered.

He hadn't seen "Zhuang Zhiming" on that roster, but in the freaking 《Martial Dao Great Pinnacle》!

[. This man is named Zhuang Zhiming, broad and fat, sometimes sinister and vicious, and sometimes a servile and obsequious sycophant.]

[However, such a person with two faces is actually one of the elders of Kui Dragon]

[.]

Damn it!

Zhuang Zhiming is actually an elder of Kui Dragon!

He only appeared in one chapter in the original work, a minor character if ever there was one.

That's why Wei Changtian found him familiar, but couldn't remember him before.

But now...

You need to know that the original work never mentioned the "Kui Dragon Elders Council", otherwise Wei Changtian wouldn't have sought information from the remnant soul.

But the various signs before have already shown that the structure of this world is completely in line with all the details in the original work.

So since the original work says that Zhuang Zhiming is a Kui Dragon elder, even if it may just be something the author wrote casually, it also means that Zhuang Zhiming must be a Kui Dragon elder.

And this means that among the four members of the Kui Dragon Elders Council besides himself, one is Zhuang Zhiming?

So it is also possible that Zhuang Zhiming, in his capacity as "Helm Master", passed Qin Zhengqiu's information to the Qingtai Elder, and then, because of the rule that "elders must not reveal their identities", he had to pretend to know nothing about it at the Elders Council.

Regardless of the situation, two points can be determined.

First, Zhuang Zhiming does have the dual identities of "Helm Master of Branch C-3" and "Elder of the Elders Council".

Second, Zhuang Zhiming's ability to disguise himself is indeed excellent.

Whether he is the Qingtai Elder, or the Chitai, Baitai, or Huangtai Elder.

At the very least, Wei Changtian didn't notice anything unusual during the meeting, and everyone reacted as they should have after hearing the news for the first time.

And the suggestions they made were all without any selfish motives, as if they were all planning for the overall benefit of Kui Dragon...

Thinking of this, Wei Changtian couldn't help but have a deeper understanding of Zhuang Zhiming, and also understood that this person was by no means easy to deal with, and his scheming was probably even more terrifying than You Wenzong.

Huh?

So, did my words and actions today reveal any flaws?

Especially at the moment when I heard Zhuang Zhiming announce his name, did my abnormal reaction at that time get captured by the former?

It shouldn't have...

After all, if he remembered correctly, Zhuang Zhiming was looking down at the time.

The more Wei Changtian thought about it, the less confident he became, but now there was nothing he could do, so he could only go back and further improve the response plan with Chu Xianping as much as possible.

Besides, even if Zhuang Zhiming noticed something unusual, it shouldn't be a big problem.

He couldn't possibly suspect that he had infiltrated the Elders Council for no reason.

As long as this matter is not exposed, everything else is easy to say...

"Zhang San, go to the Freemasons' hall."

The sudden appearance of Zhuang Zhiming implicated a series of problems, so Wei Changtian lost the interest in going home to play mahjong, and prepared to go to the Freemasons to discuss countermeasures with Chu Xianping immediately.

"Qin'er, I suddenly remembered that I have something else to do, you should go back first."

"Okay."

Liang Qin first responded softly, and then asked with some worry: "Brother Changtian, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

"No, it's just a small matter."

Wei Changtian smiled: "Don't worry."

"Mm."

Liang Qin nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

The two of them turned their heads to look out the window at the same time. The afternoon sun was warm and bright, and the streets were bustling with people.

However, in a place beyond their sight, someone had been silently tailing the speeding carriage, his figure flashing dozens of feet with each movement, and he had never been noticed.

Wei Changtian was actually always surrounded by hidden sentries, but now even the hidden sentries hadn't noticed the existence of the stalker.

This wasn't really because they were negligent.

But because the stalker's realm was too far above them.

Second-Rank Realm, the top combat power in the world.

Using such a master to tail Wei Changtian was too "generous".

And the only one who could have such a hand was naturally Kui Dragon.

Moreover, although Wei Changtian didn't know this Second-Rank master, Li Wutong was very familiar with him.

Because this person was one of the seven Second-Rank masters who sent her back to Shu Prefecture.

A quarter of an hour later.

"Helm Master, Wei Changtian didn't return to the mansion, but turned around and went to the Freemasons' hall halfway."

Inside a quiet room in the Changwu Hall, the stalker from before was standing in front of Zhuang Zhiming, reporting in a deep voice: "You said before that it's not appropriate to alert the enemy, so I didn't risk going in."

"Mm, I know."

Nodding slightly, Zhuang Zhiming at this time seemed to have become a different person. Although he was still that fat, the overall impression had undergone earth-shaking changes.

After responding, he didn't say anything more, and the stalker also wisely quickly retreated from the room.

"Creak ~"

The ordinary wooden door slowly closed, and a thoughtful expression slowly appeared on Zhuang Zhiming's face.

As the Helm Master of Branch C-3, he naturally knew about the remnant soul's two mobilizations of Kui Dragon's people.

Mm... That's not rigorous enough.

It should be said that Zhuang Zhiming didn't know about the existence of the Xuantian Sword and the remnant soul, but he had received instructions from the "Elders Council" twice in a row.

To be more precise, he had actually received two instructions in a row from the "rotating chairman" of the Elders Council, the Qingtai Elder.

One was to order himself to send five Second-Rank masters to Shu Prefecture to listen to the dispatch of a person named Xiao Feng.

The other was to order himself to send seven Second-Rank masters to Fengyuan to pick up a princess named Li Wutong and take her to Shu Prefecture.

Obviously, it was impossible for Zhuang Zhiming to order himself, so he could not be the Qingtai Elder.

And since he was also an elder, he naturally knew that these two orders had not actually been approved by the Elders Council, but were issued by the Qingtai Elder under the guise of the Elders Council.

This was actually the only drawback of the Kui Dragon Elders Council system—the "rotating elder" might use his private power to arbitrarily mobilize Kui Dragon's forces.

Of course, with the elders' identities being extremely confidential, such behavior was actually very difficult to detect.

If Zhuang Zhiming wasn't an elder, then he would definitely think that this was just a decision of the Elders Council, and then execute it meticulously.

But, as luck would have it, Zhuang Zhiming happened to be one of the elders, so he was well aware that Elder Qingtai was "abusing his power."

However, Zhuang Zhiming did not expose the latter; instead, he followed the orders as instructed.

There were two reasons for this.

First, exposing this matter would risk revealing his own identity.

Second, he wanted to use this opportunity to find out Elder Qingtai's identity and then threaten the latter into an "alliance" with him.

After all, the Elder Council only had five seats, so if two people formed an alliance, they would likely be able to control all decisions of the Elder Council, which would be equivalent to indirectly controlling Kuilong.

To this end, Zhuang Zhiming first investigated Xiao Feng.

But Xiao Feng was dead, killed by Wei Changtian, and the five members of Wu Tianqing's group had also disappeared without a trace.

In this situation, Zhuang Zhiming naturally wouldn't think that Wei Changtian had any relationship with Elder Qingtai.

After all, the whole thing looked like "Elder Qingtai sent someone to help Xiao Feng get revenge, but the avenger was killed by the enemy instead."

So Zhuang Zhiming simply investigated Wei Changtian and, finding nothing unusual, gave up, focusing instead on investigating Xiao Feng's various relationships.

It wasn't until more than a month ago that he received the order to "bring Li Wutong back to Shuzhou."

When both orders became associated with Wei Changtian, Zhuang Zhiming finally realized that the problem lay with Wei Changtian.

However, before he could mobilize manpower to launch a full investigation into the latter, Qin Zhengqiu suddenly appeared.

The appearance of a quasi-first-grade master was a major event, and Zhuang Zhiming naturally dared not neglect it.

In addition, he also wanted to use this opportunity to test Elder Qingtai's reaction, so he immediately passed on the information.

Elder Qingtai did convene an Elder Council meeting as required.

But Zhuang Zhiming didn't find anything unusual.

More importantly, when meeting Wei Changtian today, Zhuang Zhiming could see that Wei Changtian really didn't recognize him.

This meant that Wei Changtian was not Elder Qingtai, otherwise he wouldn't have reacted the way he did when he heard his name.

So... Elder Qingtai is someone close to Wei Changtian?

But that's not right either.

Because last year, Elder Qingtai ordered to help that Xiao Feng kill Wei Changtian.

How could they be enemies last year and friends this year?

Could it be that Elder Qingtai has been replaced?

The quiet room was extremely silent, and Zhuang Zhiming sat on the futon, pondering for a long time.

He played with a Kuilong token in his hand that was almost identical to Wei Changtian's. The candlelight shone on it, reflecting a faint and complex red light.

Meanwhile, in a space as dark and deep as the universe.

"Who is it?!"

"Who is it!!!"

"I hid the token so well! Who on earth found it!!!"

"Could it be that kid named Wei?"

"No, no! That kid is Heitai!"

"So... who exactly is that person in Qingtai?!"

"Why does that person know where I hid the token! And why do they know the secret method of transmitting messages?!"

"Aiya! This is infuriating!!!"

"After I recover my physical body, I will definitely tear this insidious villain to pieces!!!"

"Alas, recovering my physical body still depends on that kid..."

"Forget it, I should tell him about this."

"Otherwise, it would be bad if he really died..."

"..."

Half an hour later.

When Wei Changtian stood in the secret room of the Gongji Society, dumbfounded after listening to the remnant soul's words, he was stunned for almost five minutes.

What the hell?!

The remnant soul actually has the Elder Council's token???

And it's Elder Qingtai's token????

He had been relying on "forged" Elder Council resolutions to mobilize Kuilong's people before????

And then that token was lost????

The person who stole the token even convened an Elder Council meeting a few days ago????

No wonder you were so surprised when you heard about the meeting back then!!!!!

"..."

"Hey! Why didn't you tell me about such an important thing earlier?"

Finally recovering, Wei Changtian even omitted the "Senior" and directly cursed: "Also, didn't you put that token in the Xuantian Sword????"

"The Xuantian Sword cannot store things, how could I put it in?!"

The remnant soul's reply was equally tough: "I naturally hid it elsewhere!"

"How did you transmit messages if you hid it elsewhere????"

Wei Changtian was dumbfounded: "Could it be remote operation????"

"Huh?"

Obviously, the remnant soul hadn't heard the term "remote operation," but that didn't stop him from quickly understanding its meaning.

"Hmph, you naturally can't do it, but I am so powerful that I can."

"..."

No, you seem to be quite proud of it????

"Damn it..."

Wei Changtian blurted out another curse.

And although the remnant soul knew he was in the wrong, he still stubbornly argued:

"Kid, you don't have to panic so much!"

"As long as Zhuang Zhiming doesn't say anything about my issuing orders in the name of the Elder Council, who will know?"

"Now it's just that the token is lost, and I can no longer mobilize Kuilong's people, which isn't a big deal for you!"

"Anyway, you have a token now, and in another twenty years, it will be your turn..."

"Shut up!"

Finally, Wei Changtian couldn't bear it any longer and directly retorted the remnant soul's words.

Yes, from the remnant soul's perspective, it really wasn't a big deal.

At most, the token was lost, and the person who stole the token even "impersonated" the new Elder Qingtai.

But...

"Do you know?"

The angry roar echoed in the secret room, deafening.

"Zhuang Zhiming is also a Kuilong elder, damn it!"

"..."

"Ah????"

Zhuang Zhiming was also an elder, so he must know that the remnant soul was issuing instructions in the name of the Elder Council.

And since both orders were related to him, Zhuang Zhiming's approach to him was definitely not just for Qin Zhengqiu, but had a greater purpose.

When the remnant soul finally confessed the whole truth, Wei Changtian understood this almost instantly.

This was precisely why he was so anxious and angry now.

Originally, he wanted to play along with Zhuang Zhiming and even use him.

But in the end, the other party probably already knew everything about him.

This damn...

Under the double impact of Zhuang Zhiming being a Kuilong elder and the information provided by the remnant soul, Wei Changtian's mind was now full of how to deal with Zhuang Zhiming, and he temporarily ignored another matter that was actually equally important.

That was, who stole the remnant soul's token?

Why did this person know where the remnant soul hid the token? And why did they know the secret method of transmitting messages that only members of the Elder Council could understand?

This question seemed very complicated.

But as long as Wei Changtian thought about it a little, he should be able to easily come to an answer...

"..."

"Da da da, da da da."

Outside Longzhou City, two carriages drove out of the city gate, one after the other, heading towards Lingkai Mountain, where the Folian Temple was located.

The sound of hooves was rapid, the carriages bumpy, and the official road in Longzhou was still so difficult to travel.

Pulling open the curtain and looking up at the sun overhead, Xu Sui Sui suddenly smiled softly for no reason.

"After so many days, they should all know."

"Then everyone should meet again."

"..."

A quarter of an hour later.

Changwutang, Gongji Society.

Zhuang Zhiming and Wei Changtian, located in two different places in Shuzhou City, looked at the tokens in their hands at the same time.

[Three days later, at midnight, there is an important matter to discuss]