Chapter 163: Who Isn't a Bandit Cultivator!

"What are you looking at?"

Noticing Wang Ping's strange look, Daoist Xuanhe snapped, "Making a living in the Immortal Gate requires flexibility. It's a basic necessity."

So what if he was a bandit cultivator?

The Five Thieves Stealing Heaven Method was incredibly useful. It boosted cultivation speed in the early stages and added to one's combat arsenal later on. It was practically omnipotent. What kind of fool wouldn't use it?

As for the Immortal Gate's forbidden methods... it was the same old logic: if you weren't caught, it didn't happen. If you were caught, it just meant you were incompetent. There was nothing more to say. If you blindly adhered to sect rules and lacked even that much flexibility in your dao heart, you would have been reduced to an independent cultivator long ago.

Of course, it was easy to talk big.

Unless absolutely necessary, Daoist Xuanhe didn't want to expose his identity as a bandit cultivator either. Every additional person who knew was an additional risk.

Unfortunately, he had just gone bankrupt.

Besides, since they were already partnering up for the monumental task of murdering a True Transmission disciple, keeping his bandit cultivator identity a secret was meaningless. He might as well be open about it.

"Wait for my signal later,"

Daoist Xuanhe transmitted his voice. "We can't touch the inner sect disciples. Every one of them is ruthless and can't be taken down quickly. We'll have to make our move on the outer sect disciples."

Wang Ping quickly nodded. "Don't worry, Senior. I understand."

Punching down at weaker cultivators, of course!

Rather than fighting to the death with experts of the same realm and risking a disaster, it was better to kill a few in a lower realm. That was the steady path to happiness.

"Fairy Fengyuan, Xiaoxiang, Changyangzi... Senior, which one do you want to deal with?"

The moment Wang Ping said this, Daoist Xuanhe immediately looked over.

You brat... Daoist Xuanhe thought. Wait. It makes sense that I know these three fat sheep from the outer sect, but you just got here. How did you lock onto them so quickly?

The only explanation was that he had been looking for marks the moment he arrived at Dao Proving Mountain. To accurately pick out the three fattest sheep from a sea of people meant he not only had the intent but the capability. Did he possess some sort of spying spell? He really was a prime seedling for a bandit cultivator.

At that thought, Daoist Xuanhe's mindset shifted.

"Tell me what you think," he said, looking at Wang Ping. For the first time, he properly evaluated this Human Firewood he had previously ignored. "Who do you think is the best target?"

Hearing this, Wang Ping immediately clenched his fist. "We take all of them, of course!"

Daoist Xuanhe fell silent.

"Big talk is just empty posturing. You want them all? How do you plan to take them? I'll tell you straight: other than Xiaoxiang, the other two have backing."

Daoist Xuanhe said, exasperated, "Fairy Fengyuan's dao companion, Yun Xuantong, is from the inner sect. Changyangzi's master is a veteran of the inner sect about to undergo his life tribulation. He's going to risk it all. Even though the success rate is incredibly low and he will almost certainly die, this is exactly when no one dares to offend him."

"Then what does Senior suggest?" Wang Ping asked.

"Kill Xiaoxiang!" Daoist Xuanhe's tone was icy. "That man was careless. Without the protection of a Divine Powers cultivator, killing him is the easiest and least risky."

"At worst, the Heaven and Earth Pavilion will hold me accountable and suspect I did it... but we're going to fall out with them anyway, so this little detail doesn't matter."

Hearing this, Wang Ping shook his head. "That's a bad idea."

"It's exactly because we are about to fall out that we cannot alert the target... Senior, ask yourself honestly: if you weren't planning to turn against the Pavilion, would you kill Xiaoxiang?"

"...Of course not," Daoist Xuanhe sighed.

"Exactly."

Wang Ping spoke solemnly. "If something is out of the ordinary, there must be a sinister reason for it. Since you feel this way, the target will feel the same, and they will suspect that something is wrong with you."

"Because of that, the difficulty of luring him near the Eight Trigrams Furnace to set up an ambush will drastically increase. It isn't worth the risk."

Daoist Xuanhe's expression gradually turned gloomy, but he didn't retort. Wang Ping's words made perfect sense. He couldn't gamble on Kunyun not suspecting him after learning of Xiaoxiang's death... After all, he was currently the only cultivator who had met with Xiaoxiang from the Heaven and Earth Pavilion.

Therefore, if he failed to protect Xiaoxiang and the man was subsequently killed by a 'mysterious bandit cultivator,' he would undoubtedly be the prime suspect. That karma could not be shaken off no matter what.

Unless...

A second later, Wang Ping voiced the thought in Daoist Xuanhe's mind. "Unless many people clearly witness that you tried your absolute best to protect Xiaoxiang, yet he still died. Only then would it be perfectly reasonable."

"You mean..."

Daoist Xuanhe quickly caught on. "We need an ally to ambush and kill Xiaoxiang for us. We'll feign defeat and watch him die."

"One isn't enough."

Wang Ping shook his head. "The bandit cultivators must make a big show of it. It's best if there are two, or even three. Otherwise, how can you prove that you were powerless to stop them?"

Wang Ping stared straight at Daoist Xuanhe. The Daoist, however, decisively shook his head. "The identity of a bandit cultivator cannot be exposed to the light. Even if someone looked for allies, they would only seek out lower cultivators who are weaker than themselves and can be discarded at any time. There are too few bandit cultivator allies in the same realm."

"Hmm... then we can only drive the tiger to swallow the wolf."

Wang Ping thought for a moment and quickly formed an idea. He lowered his voice. "Senior, do you think we are the only two bandit cultivators interested in those three?"

"Of course not!"

Daoist Xuanhe said without hesitation. "Basically all the inner sect disciples who showed up there were interested. Didn't you hear them earlier?"

Hearing this, Wang Ping also recalled those three inner sect disciples.

"Red Brows, Yuhong, and Qixia."

Daoist Xuanhe directly stated the dao titles of the two men and one woman. "I have no proof, but I suspect it's highly likely that those three have also acted as bandit cultivators."

"Oh? Why?" Wang Ping asked curiously.

Daoist Xuanhe sneered. "Because, just like me, they lack a true spiritual root and fought their way up from being independent cultivators... The chances of people like that never having been bandit cultivators are far too low."

"Moreover, you heard him. Yuhong has always wanted a share of the inheritance from Changyangzi's dying master, so he secretly resents Changyangzi. Do you really think he was just casually complaining earlier? If I'm not mistaken, he will definitely make a move against Changyangzi on the way back!"

"He'll probably use the exact same method we just thought of."

"You mean..."

Wang Ping thought for a moment, his eyes lighting up slightly. "Daoist Yuhong outwardly escorts Changyangzi, while Daoist Chimei and Fairy Qixia disguise themselves as bandit cultivators and strike halfway?"

"Exactly."

Daoist Xuanhe nodded. "The result will certainly be Changyangzi's death. Yuhong will fight desperately against the two bandit cultivators but remain powerless to save him, leaving him no choice but to tearfully claim the inheritance."

"They've probably already agreed on how to split the spoils in private."

Wang Ping was left speechless.

He could only sigh that the Immortal Gate was truly the Immortal Gate. The disciples were all full of benevolence, morality, and deep brotherly affection, only to turn around and stab each other in the back the very next second.

"However... wouldn't Changyangzi know about this?"

Wang Ping stroked his chin. There were as many heroes in this world as carp crossing a river. Inner sect disciples might be ruthless, but outer sect disciples weren't naïve fools either.

His senior martial brother coveted their master's inheritance and was highly likely to mean him harm. How could Changyangzi not know? No matter how deep their brotherly affection seemed on the surface, as a disciple of the Immortal Gate, Changyangzi couldn't possibly trust him. Since he didn't trust Yuhong, how could he venture out this time without making any preparations?

"...Interesting."

Thinking up to this point, Wang Ping looked around. After the clamor died down, cultivators had gradually started leaving Dao Proving Mountain. It was no longer as lively as before.

Even Changyangzi had already left with Daoist Yuhong.

As for Daoist Chimei and Fairy Qixia, both had vanished without a trace, their whereabouts unknown. Fairy Fengyuan and her inner sect dao companion were gone as well.

Only Xiaoxiang was left standing eagerly a short distance away, looking as if he wanted to come over.

"Excellent."

Seeing this, the corners of Wang Ping's mouth curled up slightly. "Everything you just said was a guess, Senior. If I can verify it, I'll know exactly what we should do this time."

"...Oh?"

Daoist Xuanhe's eyes narrowed slightly. He suddenly realized that, at some unknown point, this Human Firewood in front of him had seized the initiative in their conversation.

Throughout all of this, the First Seat had remained entirely silent.

Coupled with Wang Ping's results on Dao Proving Mountain, Daoist Xuanhe had to admit that the person in front of him might really be a future powerhouse with immense potential.

With this thought in mind, he immediately softened his tone. "What do you plan to do?"

"Please cover for me, Senior."

Wang Ping raised his hand. Daoist Xuanhe tacitly understood and immediately waved his large hand, using his magic power to isolate them from the outside world. Then, he watched as Wang Ping gently shook his head.

Following that, Wang Ping's ears split apart.

Six ears formed. The tip of each one curved upward like the tip of a blade, twitching slightly, and their flesh was entirely covered in dense arrays of talismans that extended all the way into the ear canals.

Nine Mysterious Demon-Subduing Transformations: Six-Eared Spiritual Monkey!

Sound Perception!

With his six ears split between left and right, the left ears listened to the Three Primal Forces while the right ears listened to the Three Temporal Phases. Pushing the spell to its limits, he locked onto 'Man' and 'Past,' and began capturing the waves of sound.

Because there had been too many cultivators present earlier, he couldn't listen to the 'Present,' or else he would likely be discovered by those inner sect disciples. The best method was to wait until everyone had left and listen to the lingering echoes of the 'Past.' After all, most cultivators weren't cautious enough to deliberately wipe away the traces of words they had already spoken.

Wang Ping's ears twitched continuously.

A massive influx of sound waves poured into his ears. He digested and categorized them with his spiritual sense, plucking the most critical pieces of information from the sea of voices.

Finally, he heard it: "Red Brows, Qixia, I leave this to you."

"Don't worry. But according to our prior agreement, we split Changyangzi's assets equally, and you must give us thirty percent of the inheritance from his master."

"Deal!"

"Ah, it's just a pity about Xiaoxiang. With Xuanhe around, it won't be easy to conveniently rob him too."

"Consider him lucky."

"Fengyuan, Senior Brother Yun, I'll have to trouble you to protect me this time."

"Senior Brother Yuhong will highly likely try to harm me on the road. But as long as you keep me alive and ensure I return safely, I am willing to split my master's inheritance equally with you two!"

"It's a deal."

"Ah, it's just a pity about Xiaoxiang. We have to protect you, so it won't be easy to conveniently rob him too."

"Consider him lucky."

Boom!

Wang Ping's eyes abruptly snapped open. He retracted his six ears, interrupting the Sound Perception technique, and it took him quite a while to recover from the resulting headache.

Daoist Xuanhe had actually guessed correctly. Judging from what he had heard, every single one of these Immortal Gate disciples was a bandit cultivator!

Wang Ping sighed inwardly before turning to look at Daoist Xuanhe.

"How is it?" Daoist Xuanhe asked, his eyelids lowered.

"You predicted it like a god, Senior."

Wang Ping first offered a compliment before lowering his voice. "However, Changyangzi is indeed prepared. He roped in Fairy Fengyuan and her inner sect dao companion."

"Barring the unexpected, there should be a chaotic melee between them."

"Now that is truly..."

There was no need for Wang Ping to elaborate. Daoist Xuanhe had already caught his underlying meaning: a chaotic melee was wonderful. It was during chaotic melees that people most easily died inexplicable deaths!