: I'm an Official

Once he figured it out, Ning Zhuo began to act.

He spent a fortune to continue capturing wild monkeys, then hired demonic cultivators to poison the monkeys of the Monkey Head Gang. Finally, he deliberately failed in his attempt to assassinate Yuan Er.

Yuan Er and Yuan Dasheng felt immense pressure, turtling up in defense, allowing Ning Zhuo's first step to succeed.

Ning Zhuo pressed his advantage, playing the part of a villain in front of Fei Si, causing Fei Si to misjudge the situation. Ning Zhuo proactively gave up forty percent of the profits to obtain the monkey corpses from the Monkey Head Gang.

He gathered and refined the essence blood, obtaining blood energy that shared the same origin as Yuan Dasheng's.

He then deliberately participated in the rush production of mechanical monkeys at the Flying Disc Workshop, personally crafting a large number of inferior explosive mechanical monkeys. Secretly, he used the same-origin blood energy to activate the Blood Tendon Corruption Technique, infusing the blood energy into the explosive mechanical monkeys.

On the day of the Fire Persimmon Festival.

Ning Zhuo was stationed on the mountainside, within the confines of a formation. He risked using his Heart Seal to control the mechanical monkeys, inciting a riot and deliberately directing them to attack Yuan Er.

The mechanical monkeys were destroyed when Fei Si activated the formation, but the latent blood energy had already attached itself to Yuan Er's body.

Terrified, Yuan Er reunited with Yuan Dasheng.

As a result, Yuan Dasheng became contaminated and infiltrated.

Ning Zhuo had bet correctly!

Yuan Dasheng indeed couldn't perceive minute details, or perhaps it was too worried about Yuan Er at the time to notice the tiny amount of same-origin blood energy that had entered its body.

Although the amount of blood energy was small, at the critical moment, it affected Yuan Dasheng's fingers, creating its "mistake."

The thousand-year-old Fire Persimmon Grove exploded!

The trap Ning Zhuo designed was so exquisite that even Zhu Xuanji, using his Golden Eye, couldn't detect the same-origin blood energy.

Right under his nose, Ning Zhuo succeeded in his covert attack!

However, Zhu Xuanji saving Yuan Dasheng caused Ning Zhuo's mindset to momentarily falter.

He almost thought he had been discovered.

Yuan Dasheng being saved meant it still had a sliver of life! What worried Ning Zhuo even more was that Yuan Dasheng's body remained largely intact, not blown to pieces as he had expected.

Especially since all ten of Yuan Dasheng's fingers were unharmed, making Ning Zhuo realize he had left a flaw!

When Zhu Xuanji was treating Yuan Dasheng, he wasn't concerned with minor details. The same-origin blood energy provided the best camouflage, so he didn't notice the trickery in the fingers.

But if they continued to investigate afterward, inspecting every inch, wouldn't they find it?

Ning Zhuo didn't dare to gamble.

Therefore, Ning Zhuo had to kill Yuan Dasheng quickly to erase this flaw.

Ning Zhuo also couldn't act in his own name. He was merely a Qi Refining cultivator and couldn't bear the potential casual retaliation from Zhu Xuanji if he found out.

"I can use Lord Fei Si's name, making Zhu Xuanji wary of Fei Si afterward, identifying me as merely the executor, not the mastermind!"

Ning Zhuo threw himself into the scheme, risking everything. He successfully persuaded Yuan Er and ultimately achieved victory.

Just as he predicted, after Zhu Xuanji learned of the matter, he identified Fei Si as the mastermind. Even better, Fei Si also believed himself to be the mastermind.

"I actually pulled it off in the end!" Ning Zhuo sighed deeply within the Flying Disc Workshop.

Coming back to his senses, his aura calmed considerably, and his mood returned to normal.

Zhu Xuanji and the others had no idea they were only a minuscule distance away from discovering the key clue.

But because of that tiny distance, the truth remained buried.

A miss is as good as a mile.

"For now, I can still continue to hide." Ning Zhuo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and let out a light sigh.

It really hadn't been easy.

The entire process involved no direct combat, but it was like walking a tightrope over a cliff. Several times, Ning Zhuo's mental state almost collapsed.

He stood up: "Elder Chen, I'd like to handle Yuan Dasheng's corpse myself. This is the task Lord Fei Si assigned me. I want to show more initiative."

Even though the essence blood had been extracted and the flaw eliminated, Ning Zhuo, ever cautious, still didn't want Yuan Dasheng's corpse to fall into others' hands.

"You..." Elder Chen Tea sighed. "Very well, I'll pack it up for you."

"Get some proper rest. The corpse has already been pre-treated and can be preserved for a long time."

"There's no need to rush."

"It's really not worth it if you work yourself to exhaustion."

Ning Zhuo bowed in thanks: "Thank you, Elder Chen!"

Fei Si, Zhu Xuanji, and the third person returned to the Fire Persimmon Grove and continued digging.

They weren't just digging three feet down; they went down thirty feet. At the same time, several Golden Core cultivators took turns using various spells and magical instruments to probe.

There was no activity whatsoever.

Fei Si's face was as dark as water. He had a premonition that the shadowy demonic cultivator had truly escaped and wouldn't be appearing again.

Since things had come to this, he had to keep digging. Even if he had to dig straight through the foot of the mountain, he was determined to do it.

The logic was simple.

He had messed up this mission. At the very least, he needed to appear to be working hard, so the City Lord would know that even if he had no merit, he had put in the toil.

"I also 'returned the favor' to Zhu Xuanji this time, making things difficult for him."

"So, the problem probably isn't too big."

Fei Si pondered his own situation and naturally thought of Ning Zhuo.

He narrowed his eyes, his feelings slightly complicated.

From today's events, he had seen Ning Zhuo's talent.

Ning Zhuo was merely at the Qi Refining stage, yet he dared to venture into the Monkey Head Gang's base, coercing and enticing the Foundation Building stage Yuan Er, forcing the latter to abandon Yuan Dasheng. From this incident, it was clear that Ning Zhuo truly had ability and courage!

Fei Si was also very aware that Ning Zhuo acted this way due to his own selfish motives.

But Fei Si didn't mind. In fact, it made him feel he understood Ning Zhuo well, could control him effectively, and felt a strong sense of security and control.

These feelings made him appreciate this young man from the Ning family even more.

"He really reminds me of my younger self."

"And he has good judgment!"

"Though I wonder, was it him who caused the mechanical monkeys to riot and attack Yuan Er during the Fire Persimmon Festival?"

Fei Si wasn't foolish; he always maintained this suspicion.

In his view, Ning Zhuo had a strong motive!

Of course, he had also heard Ning Zhuo and Chen Tea's explanations regarding the matter. After receiving the report from his attendant, he had found it quite reasonable at the time.

But the suspicion wasn't completely dispelled.

"I don't understand anything about mechanical arts. Perhaps there's some method that allowed Ning Zhuo to control the mechanical monkeys?"

"Even if he couldn't control them himself, isn't Chen Tea a Foundation Building cultivator?"

"Even if Chen Tea wasn't an accomplice, maybe Ning Zhuo hired some demonic cultivators for a high price?"

As an official, Fei Si didn't care about evidence; he naturally suspected everything.

Of course, Fei Si leaned more toward the theory that the shadowy demonic cultivator had secretly controlled these mechanical monkeys! And the latter had successfully escaped in plain sight that very day.

He favored this speculation because it was the most beneficial for him.

The shadowy demonic cultivator had made fools of almost all the Golden Core cultivators in the city. Their strength was too formidable!

Thus, Fei Si's failure would be more easily accepted by the City Lord.

You see, even Zhu Xuanji, with his Golden Eye, failed to detect the shadowy demonic cultivator. I, Fei Si, was simply powerless.

Fei Si began racking his brains, thinking about how to substantiate this speculation and how to report it to the City Lord.

As for the truth, he didn't care one bit.

After managing the affairs of Fire Persimmon Immortal City for so many years, hadn't he encountered and handled plenty of unjust, false, and wrongfully decided cases?

"I'm an official, not someone from the Divine Constabulary!"

Investigating the truth was Zhu Xuanji's goal and responsibility. Fei Si only wanted to maintain the old order of Fire Persimmon Immortal City, follow the commands of City Lord Meng Kui, and protect his own authority and interests.

(End of )