Chapter 136: Chapter 136

“An earth-shattering secret?”

Luo Tangyin’s lovely eyes turned, ripples stirring in their depths.

Xiao Wu didn’t answer directly. Instead, he redirected.

“Think back, all of you. Did anything about this feast strike you as unusual?”

Ji Ning’s brow knotted tight. He fell into thought.

Luo Tangyin, too, lowered her gaze.

While the two were silent —

A spark flashed through Shen Xiuhan’s mind, and the words were out before he could stop them.

“The Bai family?”

“Exactly! The Bai family!”

Xiao Wu shot Shen Xiuhan an approving look and spoke in a low voice.

“Of the Five Great Families of Changyun, four — Wang, Luo, Ji, and Han — all sent their young to compete. Only the Bai family didn’t even send a single junior to show the flag. Do any of you know why?”

Shen Xiuhan’s heart skipped.

‘Don’t tell me it’s that…’

In the next breath, Xiao Wu spoke, his face set like iron.

“It’s because none of them are at the Bai estate. Not in the inner city. Not even in Changyun County.”

‘I knew it.’

Shen Xiuhan’s gaze darkened. He was certain now.

When the feast first opened, he’d noticed the Bai family’s absence and specifically asked Third Senior Brother Xiang Yunting.

The answer had been: “Word around the city is that the Bai family’s three young masters are so gifted they don’t need the feast to break through to Hidden Strength…”

Obviously just the Bai family’s smokescreen.

Through his intelligence, Shen Xiuhan had long known the truth.

The Bai family wore human faces over beasts’ hearts.

Under the pretext of “child snatchers,” they had been secretly abducting children from the outer city and sending them to a fishing island on the lake to practice demonic arts.

He’d originally planned to wait for the right moment to leak this to Xiao Wu, and let the force of destiny shatter the Bai family’s scheme.

But destiny was destiny…

Before Shen Xiuhan could say a word, Xiao Wu had found his way to the Bai family on his own.

Beside them, Ji Ning’s brow furrowed deeper. His voice was low.

“Not in Changyun? Then where?”

“On Yunshui Lake…”

Xiao Wu trailed off, as though weighing his words. He shook his head.

“They’re extremely careful. And the matter runs far too deep. If it gets out, it’ll trigger a bloodbath.”

He paused, sweeping his gaze across the three of them, his tone grave.

“I’m raising this today to give you all a heads-up. Wait a while. Once I’ve traced it to the end and have ironclad proof, I’ll use the Four Seas Heart-Link Disc to contact you. Then we meet in secret and discuss how to deal with it.”

Shen Xiuhan and the others exchanged glances and nodded solemnly.

“Then that’s settled. Until next time.”

Xiao Wu clasped his fists, and he and Luo Tangyin departed together.

Ji Ning likewise saluted and strode away.

Shen Xiuhan was quiet for a moment, then stepped out of the alley himself.

Lanterns were flickering to life along the long street. Shadows drifted. The noise of the city was the same as ever.

Shen Xiuhan walked toward home, but inside, without hesitation, he called:

‘Intelligence!’

Before his eyes, phantom golden text cascaded like a waterfall.

【Today’s Intelligence has refreshed!】

【Intelligence 1: Ten-odd days ago, Xiao Wu traveled Yunshui Lake on an exploratory trip. Along the way, he witnessed Bai Jing and Bai Xiu’an secretly transporting several children to a fishing island. Xiao Wu used a concealment technique to infiltrate the island and saw the two refining “human pills” from the children — practicing demonic arts!】

【The island was crawling with experts. Xiao Wu did not alert them. On his return trip, his spirit-beast, the golden-tailed rat, detected the scent of an Ink-Bone Green Fish and led him to it — which is how he met you and gifted you the spirit-embryo Four Seas Heart-Link Disc.】

‘So that’s how it happened…’

Shen Xiuhan’s gaze sharpened. He walked and thought.

The fishing island was the site where the Bai family colluded with the Chenjian Wu bandits to refine human pills. A location of critical importance.

The man originally responsible for guarding it had been Fifth Chief Tang Jin.

But Ji Ning’s sword had taken Tang Jin’s right arm, crippling him badly. There was no way he’d still be on watch duty.

His replacement was almost certainly one of the other Hidden Strength chiefs.

Tang Jin had been early Hidden Strength with three apertures open — the lowest-ranked of the five Hidden Strength chairs.

Whoever took over would only be stronger.

Shen Xiuhan shook his head and moved to the next entry.

【Intelligence 2: After his grievous injury, Tang Jin’s standing in Chenjian Wu plummeted. Duan Xiao stripped him of his chair. He now oversees farming duties.】

【Note: Tang Jin endures constant scorn on Dongyi Island. He has recently taken to drinking at the unlicensed wine-stalls on Changyun’s West Market wharf. Next drinking visit: thirty-one days from now, a quarter past dusk.】

Shen Xiuhan froze when he read this.

A scene surfaced in his memory —

The West Market wharf.

A figure clutching a wine-jug, stumbling forward.

His gaze flickered. A glint of something new entered his eyes.

‘That day at the West Market wharf — the one-armed man whose back looked like Tang Jin’s. I wasn’t sure then… but it really was him.’

Shen Xiuhan had personally used the spirit artifact Sea-Overturning Pearl to scout the waters near Chenjian Wu’s stronghold, Dongyi Island.

The island boasted a thousand acres of farmland, orchards in rows, and inside — wine-shops, eateries, even pleasure boats — everything a bandit could want.

Given Tang Jin’s rank, even after losing favor and dropping in status, wine and meat wouldn’t be hard to come by.

So why sneak all the way to a grimy, unlicensed stall in Changyun County to drink?

There was something deeper at play.

Now, confirmed by Intelligence, his suspicion was vindicated.

Shen Xiuhan narrowed his eyes, his fingertip tapping softly inside his sleeve.

‘After losing his standing in Chenjian Wu, Tang Jin was stripped of his chair and put to work in the fields… the fall from grace is staggering. An absolute humiliation.’

‘No wonder he comes to Changyun to drink. On that island, he probably can’t even drink in peace.’

Shen Xiuhan burned the date — thirty-one days from now, a quarter past dusk — into his memory.

【Intelligence 3: Wang Lin and Ding Ning are under orders to hunt down the traitor Tian Ping’an. This man killed comrades, stole military treasures and classified manuals, and deserted the Longxiang Army. Upon learning that Zhenyue Colonel Zhao Zheng had arrived in Changyun, he fled to Changshui County to hide, intending to resume his plans once Zhao Zheng departs.】

Tian Ping’an!

Shen Xiuhan’s gaze locked, then quickly shifted to something brighter.

The man had actually deserted the Longxiang Army!

And Senior Brother Wang Lin and Senior Sister Ding Ning were here under military orders to apprehend him…

Shen Xiuhan’s thoughts whirled.

Many things that hadn’t made sense suddenly fell into place.

‘I wondered why they disappeared after showing up at the hall that day. They were under orders — they had no time for anything else.’

Having worked it out, Shen Xiuhan’s brow creased again.

‘But so many days have passed, and they still haven’t caught him?’

The earlier Intelligence had been clear: Tian Ping’an was only Sinew Tempering.

Wang Lin and Ding Ning were unquestionably Hidden Strength.

Hidden Strength chasing Manifest Strength — a tiger running down a sheep. It should have been effortless.

Yet after all this time, the hunt was still empty-handed…

Did that mean Tian Ping’an had some trick up his sleeve that could elude Hidden Strength pursuers?

Shen Xiuhan’s expression grew solemn. He drew a breath and re-read the entry, word by word, not daring to miss a syllable.

‘Killed comrades, stole military treasures and classified manuals, deserted the Longxiang Army…’

What treasure?

What manual?

Shen Xiuhan’s eyes glinted. A suspicion was forming: the reason Tian Ping’an had evaded two Hidden Strength hunters…

Almost certainly had everything to do with that “treasure” or that “manual.”