Chapter 251: How Are We Supposed to Play This!?

After a moment of silence, Wang Ping chose to answer Jin Hai's transmission.

He had no choice. With things having reached this point, refusing to answer or hanging up on the spot would scream of a guilty conscience, making it impossible to ever clear his name.

Immediately after, a radiant Buddhist light shone forth.

Through the Void Joy Non-Dual Guardian Consort Talisman, Jin Hai's voice rang out, full of warmth and goodwill: "Martial Nephew, it's been a while."

"Thanks to the intelligence you provided last time, we were able to kill Kunyun. Oh, and regarding the current Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle, I wonder if you, Martial Nephew..."

Before he could finish, Wang Ping cut him off.

"What do you mean 'you'!"

His voice brimmed with bitter resentment as he shot back without a second's hesitation, "How dare you murder a true disciple of the Immortal Gate and frame me for it!"

Jin Hai froze.

What framing? Weren't you the one who gave me Kunyun's location and locked in the time? We even planned the entire assassination together.

What was the meaning of this?

Was he burning the bridge after crossing the river and refusing to admit his part in it?

Frowning at the thought, Jin Hai realized this wouldn't do. He had gone through far too much trouble to develop a mole within the Immortal Gate to just give up on him now.

"I..."

"What do you mean 'I'!"

Wang Ping cut him off again. "Don't you even think about fishing for information! Don't you dare ask who is hosting the Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle, or which cultivators are participating, or what their cultivation levels are! Never contact me again! If you do, I'll turn on you in a heartbeat!"

Bang!

With a sharp crack, Wang Ping severed the connection with Jin Hai. He glanced around the room, eyeing Kunlun, then Xianfu, before finally raising a hand.

"I will not share the same sky as the Brahma Nation!"

"Excellent!"

Seeing this, Xianfu cooperatively broke into applause. "There is no greater virtue than correcting one's mistakes. So what if you colluded with the Brahma Nation? Being swayed by petty favors is perfectly normal."

"As long as you don't lose your way when it comes to the grand scheme of things, it's fine."

"Besides, staying in touch with the Brahma Nation isn't necessarily a bad thing. You can feed them false information. What's truly rare is that you chose not to hide it. That is the ultimate display of loyalty."

"I beg to differ."

Kunlun shook his head. "A mole for the Brahma Nation for a day is a mole for the Brahma Nation for a lifetime. Senior Brother Xianfu, you'd best keep your guard up around him..."

He had barely finished speaking.

The Unified Mind Hall, which had only just settled down, suddenly flared with another anomaly. This time, there was no Buddhist chanting, only a streak of iridescent light completely unlike the rest.

Wang Ping saw it perfectly clearly.

The God-Stealing Thief!

It was the sole talisman from the Five Thieves Heaven-Stealing Series that he hadn't obtained. Right now, it was manifesting within Kunlun's sea of consciousness, projecting a blurry silhouette.

The Heaven-Stealing Thief!

Kunlun, who had just been fanning the flames, instantly froze.

"Aha!"

Wang Ping clapped his hands and pointed straight at Kunlun. "Senior Brother, look! I told you he was secretly in bed with the Heaven-Stealing Thief! What's the matter? You have the guts to do it, but not the guts to admit it!?"

Xianfu cast a sidelong glance at him.

Kunlun's eye twitched. After a beat of silence, he too chose to answer the incoming transmission from the Heaven-Stealing Thief. He had no choice. Otherwise, he truly would have no way to defend himself.

A moment later, the voice of the Heaven-Stealing Thief drifted through.

"Junior Brother, how's the situation? Have you met with Xianfu yet? Great Cultivator Tianxing told me earlier that the great cultivator has decided to pursue a mutually beneficial partnership with us."

"Also... hm?"

The voice cut off abruptly.

Kunlun hadn't spoken a single word, maintaining utter silence the entire time. The Heaven-Stealing Thief, however, seemed to realize something was amiss, instantly killing his casual chatter.

Only after a long pause did he let out a chuckle.

"Junior Brother Xianfu, what incredible nerve. To dare borrow a Spiritual Treasure like the Unified Mind Hall to involve yourself in this life tribulation—aren't you afraid of drawing down an even greater life tribulation upon yourself?"

Only then did Xianfu speak up.

"You worry too much, Senior Brother Gan. With your brilliant precedent leading the way, borrowing a single Spiritual Treasure is nothing. No matter how massive the life tribulation I draw down might be, it would pale in comparison to yours."

He then shifted his gaze to Wang Ping and Kunlun. "I knew it. With two such brilliant junior brothers by my side, why should I ever worry about failing to make a name for myself?"

"Whether it's Senior Brother Gan or the Brahma Cultivators, I've always admired capable people. As long as they're useful and willing to work for me, I will accept them all." Xianfu's voice suddenly dropped to a low murmur. "That includes the great cultivators standing behind you. I couldn't care less about their schemes."

He turned his gaze toward the Heaven-Stealing Thief and Kunlun.

"To return the Mid-Heaven Orthodox Origin Blended Harmony Qi to the human realm, and to see the Heavenly Craft Supreme Yang Nine Smeltings Qi wiped from existence entirely—I have nothing but the utmost respect for Great Cultivator Tianxing's dedication to seeking the truth."

Next, he looked at Wang Ping.

"Great Cultivator Mingyou refuses to let the Heavenly Craft Supreme Yang Nine Smeltings Qi vanish, instead hoping to rely on it to extend their lifespan. That is fine as well. I can cooperate with that just the same."

"But gentlemen."

As he finished speaking, the light inside the Unified Mind Hall flickered as if a lantern had just been lit. In that same instant, a profoundly lofty gaze descended from above.

Almost simultaneously, Xianfu murmured, "I am not Kunyun."

Everyone present was a true disciple of the Immortal Gate, quick on the uptake. Even that lofty gaze instantly grasped the underlying meaning behind Xianfu's words.

He was right. Xianfu and Kunyun were completely different.

It wasn't a gap in talent, cultivation base, or personal capability. It was a far more fundamental difference—one that carried immense weight within the Immortal Gate and was virtually insurmountable.

It was their background.

Kunyun had been born a Mortal, possessing absolutely no backing or roots to speak of. Xianfu, on the other hand, was the reincarnation of a True Monarch's Handwritten Manuscript—a talisman that had developed a spirit soul of its own before reincarnating and claiming the status of a true disciple.

That detail alone was enough to make all Qi Refining practitioners—and even True Persons—tread very carefully around this particular true disciple whenever they laid their schemes or struck out against their inferiors.

'So that's how it is.'

Wang Ping finally understood the true reason this third true disciple had summoned him and Kunlun here, going so far as to mobilize a Spiritual Treasure.

'He's laying his cards on the table.'

'He's laying out his hand to everyone scheming around the Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle. And to think he actually knows as much about those great cultivators' behind-the-scenes plots as I do.'

After all, Wang Ping had only pieced together the schemes and demands of Tianxing, the Heaven-Stealing Thief, and Kunlun because Mingyou had guided him to eavesdrop using the Sound Perception spell. And even then, he'd had the active assistance of the Master of Dao Proving Mountain—an entity suspected of being a True Person.

So how did Xianfu know?

'There's no doubt about it. He must have a mighty figure guiding him from the shadows too—someone who can see right through to the truth of the matter. It might even be another True Person!'

Incredible.

Compared to Kunyun—who had desperately scrambled around trying to carve out a chance of survival—Xianfu's absolute composure perfectly illustrated just how heavily background mattered within the Immortal Gate.

Silence descended upon the grand hall.

A long while passed before the inexplicable lantern light within the hall suddenly dimmed, and the lofty gaze pressing down upon the room withdrew. Only then did the atmosphere shift.

"Since that's the case, let's work together."

The Heaven-Stealing Thief spoke in a quiet, measured tone. "You want the Profound Firmament Governance-Bestowing Talisman-Wielding Qi to return from the human realm to the Heaven and Earth sequence. That doesn't conflict with our plans."

"The real conflict lies with the other party."

Kunlun shifted his gaze toward Wang Ping.

"It has nothing to do with me."

Wang Ping threw his hands up in surrender. "My master didn't give me any specific instructions. I was simply told to cover the entire Eight Trigrams Furnace with the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart."

Without a moment's hesitation, Wang Ping spilled every instruction Mingyou had given him. After all, that lofty presence had just peered into the hall, then left without uttering a single word.

Silence was tacit approval.

"Let's put aside the matter of that great cultivator for now," the Heaven-Stealing Thief said, entirely unfazed. He chuckled. "More importantly... walls have ears."

"True enough." Xianfu shifted his gaze toward a corner of the grand hall.

"Wouldn't you agree, Fellow Daoist Jin Hai?"

"Your concealment arts are truly formidable. Flawless and natural. Had we been outside, I wouldn't have sensed a thing. But inside the Unified Mind Hall, it's an entirely different story."

"..."

A dead silence hung over the grand hall.

But as the layered, radiant light converged, everyone's gaze fell upon a tiny, nearly invisible speck of filth on the floor of the Unified Mind Hall.

It was a speck of shit.

More accurately, it was a flattened, dried-out speck of shit reduced to a mere stain. Because it was so thoroughly decayed and rotten, its aura was entirely undetectable.

But the very next second...

Boom!

Crushed beneath the sheer oppressive might of the Spiritual Treasure, the speck of shit could hide no longer. Forced to expand, it transformed into a bubbling cesspit in the blink of an eye, radiating a stomach-turning stench.

The cesspit churned and molded itself into a human shape, shining with boundless golden light before finally coalescing into the figure of Jin Hai. It wasn't his true body, but a wisp of his divine sense.

He was no fool either. If the Heaven-Stealing Thief could sense something amiss, how could Jin Hai have missed the sudden shift in Wang Ping's attitude? Because of this, long before Wang Ping snapped their connection, he had quietly cleaved off a wisp of his divine sense, using a secret art to leave it lying in wait so he could see what was really going on.

Now, however, he regretted it.

'The Mid-Heaven Orthodox Origin Blended Harmony Qi returning to the human realm... the Heavenly Craft Supreme Yang Nine Smeltings Qi being wiped from existence... at least three great cultivators at the Qi Refining Tier scheming in the shadows...'

Amitabha your mother! Wasn't the Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle supposed to be a simple duel between disciples?

The weaker participants were in the Divine Powers realm, while the stronger ones were at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer. They were supposed to use the mortal world as a chessboard for a fair, just, and open magical duel, relying entirely on their own skills.

And instead, what had he just heard?

At least three Qi Refining practitioners were pulling the strings, with True Persons and even True Monarchs likely standing behind them. The level of power involved shot straight up to the Twenty-Four Qi, with the Three Primal Powers of Heaven, Earth, and Man acting as the absolute bare minimum!

What the hell were they doing?

If one had to describe Jin Hai's current mood in a single sentence, it would be: I thought I was swimming in a kiddie pool, but it turns out the water is completely infested with dragons!

The Immortal Gate... these Biyang's! How are we even supposed to play this!?