Wang Boqin face turned in one of displeasure after hearing Tan Wen's words, but he had no option but to act now. And so, after extending his aura, he rushed towards Wu Guang. But as he neared the latter intending to kill him, his expression turned into one of surprise. The surprise was logical, after all, Wu Guang who was until now under the suppression of Tan Wen suddenly activated a movement technique and started escaping.

So indeed, how could Wang Boqin be not surprised after using his own, stronger, aura to suppress Wu Guang and seeing the latter disregard it and run away?

Still, he had no time to lose and so bolted behind him. Unexpectedly, Wu Guang's speed was too fast. To the point that even when Wang Boqin unleashed his movement technique, he could not catch up to him!

And so the more they moved, the more got agitated Wang Boqin. How could a 6th level of the Spirit realm compete in speed with a 3rd level of the Soul realm?

Wu Guang himself knew that this was the benefit of having his secondary meridians activated, but his pursuer did not know such and so could only curse inwardly at this situation. But he could not let him go away and find help, and so Wang Boqin continued his pursuit.

As for why Wu Guang suddenly began to escape, this was all part of the instructions he had received from Elder Di a few breaths ago. The Elder asked him via qi transmission to move north, towards a specific location where everything would be resolved. And accompanying the instructions, Wu Guang found out that strands of a far stronger aura were slowly gathering around him, letting him use his full strength without caring about the albeit light, but still suppression he was under.

It was late and there were no people on the streets, while the direction they were moving towards had practically no one in the first place. As for the guards, they were made to stay away, or at least such information Wang Boqin was told by the person that asked him to do this.

The pursuit only went up for a pair of minutes, but still, Wu Guang had moved more than six miles from the Manor. His current location was the far north part of the district, right below the walls.

This place was bad land as it constantly was flooded, and so except for a weekly or so guard patrol, it was always empty. As for the walls that reached this place, they were part of the old Pearl City perimeter, and so were abandoned several dozens of years ago.

Wang Boqin did not know why Wu Guang had brought him towards this place, but as the latter had stopped, it meant that he could either not escape further, or it was part of his plan.

Still, as a 3rd level of the Soul realm cultivator, how could he fear the plan of someone so weak? Granted, Wu Guang's speed was too fast and normally this would alarm someone with experience like the elder, but right now his mind was occupied by just one thought, to quickly kill Wu Guang and leave the district and city.

Regretfully for him, he was doomed to fail in any of this two...

*Whoosh*

An aura enveloped his body and Wang Boqin's went stiff.

"Since when are my Sect's disciples fish on the chopping block?" A calm voice sounded right behind him. But he could not even turn around as to see who was it. And how could he? The aura that had enveloped him was extremely strong, one that was five levels superior to his!

After a moment, the voice continued, without the speaker showing himself

"I will give you one chance. Reveal who was the one that asked you to do this, and you may escape torture" At this moment, the aura retracted slightly, allowing Wang Boqin to speak

"Who are you?! I am a cor..." But in place of cherishing this opportunity, Wang Boqin tried to try and defend himself with his status. And he paid for it before even finishing his phrase

*Slash* *plop*

The price was his left arm being chopped off!

"Ahhhhh!!! How you dar..."

*Slash* *plop*

His right arm followed the same fate as his left one right away.

One would expect that he would shout even louder, but he could not. After all, the aura that has been restricting him grew in intensity and not only he could not speak, but he was even slowly pressed towards the ground.

*Putt*

When the suppression was strong enough as to make him fall on his knees, the voice again sounded

"I gave you an opportunity, you did not cherish it. Either answer or your legs will follow!"

"I will talk, I will talk!" Given the opportunity to speak again, Wang Boqin did not dare to continue resisting, he did not even dare to show his pain now.

"Who asked you to do this and why did Tan Wen decide to help you"

"I... I was asked by Lu Shiren! He said that Lady Shenlan sends her regards for the previous task and needs me to do one thing more. He gave me a thousand gold coins that were used to bribe Tan Wen and also made the guards ignore the disturbance today. Milord, please spare me, I have told you everything!"

"What was Lady Shenlan's previous task?"

"It was to provoke the elder and disciples from milord's sect after they arrived in the district"

"Did she give you the order?"

"No... But Lu Shuren had said that she was the one that asked this of me, after all, she harbors feelings for my sect"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"I see, it seems that I have learned everything that I need"

"Milord, spare me! Spare me!" As Wang Boqin pleaded, he even started crying, but regretfully his fate was already sealed.

And so without being given a chance to resist, with a bang, his body was destroyed by the sheer pressure of the aura.

"Did you hear everything, young friend Wu Guang?"

"I did. Although I feel that Lady Shenlan's involvement is false, the rest goes along with what we have found"

"Mmm"

"Elder Di, I am worried about the Elites from the Discipline Palace, should we not return quickly? And what we do about this Wang Boqin?"

"You don't have to worry about Ren Ah and Liang Chin. Although their cultivation is a bit weaker, they are true elites of the Sect. They also are renowned for mastering the special skills of the Palace and so when working together, they will have no trouble to surmount such small difference"

"Elder Di means a paired skill?" Wu Guang's interest was understandable. Paired techniques or skills were extremely rare, and although their strength varied greatly, they would indeed allow to greatly improve the users' combat strength.

"Indeed. You will learn about this in time. But now, we should first finish this matter. I will fully destroy any remains of this Wang Boqin and any traces of our battle. Albeit someone with a similar or higher level of cultivation than mine will be able to learn something, this is only if they arrive in the next week"

"Understood. How should this Wu Guang proceed?"

"Return to the mansion. Tan Wen should have been already subjugated, as for the five disciples from the Leaf Shadows, I asked that girl Lan Yanzhi to keep an eye on them. When you return, let them go and make them believe that you escaped from Wang Boqin by relying on treasures and talismans. They did see that your speed was equivalent, and so they will confirm this when asked. As for when he went afterward, you are clueless. Still, don't forget to threaten them that you will inform the Sect about this matter. Also, make sure that they overhear about Ren Ah and Liang Chin's departure"

"Departure?"

"They have already hinted that they came to investigate Tan Wen, so now that they have captured him, they have to immediately escort him to the Discipline Palace for punishment"

"Understood"

Wu Guang arrived at the 'Three Waves' mansion an hour later. Not only he was covered in dirt and even had a few wounds, but he was also sweating and panting. All this was part of Elder Di's cover-up story, and so Wu Guang made sure to follow it perfectly. After all, if something went amiss later while he had acted as instructed, it would have nothing to do with him.

After returning, Wu Guang found that the now ex elder Tan Wen was covered in wounds and apprehended. His cultivation was sealed by a pair of rune shackles he was wearing. As for the two sect elites, they were unharmed.

Following the plan, he quickly discussed the fact that they will depart and asked them to report the matter about Wang Boqin to the Sect higher-ups. He made sure for the five Leaf Shadows inner disciples to hear his recounting of how he was forced to use several precious life-saving measures to escape. And as he was worried that the Elder would return to take revenge, he also solicited the Sect to send someone to accompany them on their journey back in two days.

Ren Ah and Liang Chin have already concluded that something like this would happen, so they cooperated perfectly and after a brief discussion prepared to set off. Still, before doing so, they made sure to accompany Wu Guang to speak with the five that were restrained by Lan Yanzhi.

Releasing them after asking them to pass along a message to their Core Elder that if he did not want to provoke a war, he would better forget about approaching Wu Guang.

With everything settled, Wu Guang and Lan Yanzhi were the only ones left in the mansion. The servants were dismissed by Tan Wen beforehand, while the other three disguised three had left after receiving a message glyph from Elder Yanshi. Seemingly Yuan Taotu and the rest had completed their task and so required a bit of assistance to return without being implicated later.

So while waiting for their return, Wu Guang and Lan Yanzhi spent a pair of hours in silence. The latter did try to speak a few times but pulled herself back to avoid distracting Wu Guang, who seemingly was deep in thought. Truth to be said, he was indeed contemplating several things, but they were by far not related with what had happened, or even to this plane.

Unexpectedly for him, his thoughts were about the future. If he would retake his identity as Bai Qi? Would assume a new one as his mind and character were already changed by the two fused-up personalities? Return to 'Four Forests'? Or simply cultivate as to complete his past life goal of entering the Divine realm.

In the end, he did not reach a definite conclusion. Still, he decided that he would not deliberately move towards 'Four Forests' and seek revenge. If the heavens were predisposed, then he would be able to do so while not affecting his new life. But if not, he would not endanger his current life.

After all, he was certain that he would not be able to repeat this feat of rebirth.