Chapter 122: A Traitor’s Demeanor
“You’re back, how did it go?”
Xuan Qing saw Jiang Ce return and rose from the table, wanting to inquire about the situation.
But Jiang Ce just picked up the teapot on the table, poured himself a cup of tea, drank it all in one go, and then said dismally: “They’re just some Jianghu swindlers, proficient in deception techniques, good at bewitching people, but I couldn’t find a single one with cultivation.”
“So, these Daoist temples can’t even handle a few swindlers.”
Lou Leshan walked over munching on a piece of watermelon, spat out his complaint, and then turned around and left.
“Heh, the Daoist Sect is like that.” Ku Zhen eerily chimed in, immediately igniting Xuan Qing’s anger.
“Can you not escalate everything to the Daoist Sect?”
Jiang Ce looked at Ku Zhen this little black fan and silently shook his head, then got up to prepare to return to his room to sleep.
But as he reached the door, he was suddenly called by Liang Zhi Che.
“Big Brother, someone came looking for you earlier, and left after knowing you weren’t here.”
Jiang Ce frowned: “Who.”
“Looked like an ordinary pilgrim, brought by the Lu Shan Sect’s gatekeeper, not sure how he knew you.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I said you weren’t here, and before I could ask who he was or what he wanted from you, he left. At the time, Martial Uncle Xuan Qing and Master Ku Zhen were out sightseeing, only a few of us were there, but we didn’t notice anything wrong.”
Jiang Ce nodded thoughtfully: “Got it.”
Back in his room, he closed the door, sat down at the table in the room, and started scrolling videos.
He sat until late into the night, Jiang Ce couldn’t help but yawn, when suddenly he heard a strange noise.
He turned his head, looked toward the direction the voice came from, and found that the window had been blown shut by the wind at some point.
He squinted toward the other still-open window, then silently turned back, only to see a living person had appeared in front of him at some point.
Jiang Ce was startled out of nowhere: “Fuck your mom, you trying to kill me?”
That person sat directly across from Jiang Ce, wearing a mask, face unclear, but Jiang Ce could still tell he was smiling from his curved eyes.
“The Gatekeeper doesn’t seem to be all about propriety either, your skill at cursing is truly rare.”
“Who are you?”
Jiang Ce vigilantly stared at the other and asked.
Upon hearing this, the other’s eyes curved even more, Jiang Ce could almost imagine how smugly his mouth was grinning under the mask.
“You disguised yourself as us to swagger and deceive, splash dirty water on us, and in the end you’re questioning who I am? You’re really something.”
Jiang Ce suddenly realized, startled into standing and retreating two steps, stumbling and nearly falling to the ground: “Gluttonous Ghost?!”
But his disheveled appearance seemed to satisfy the other: “I prefer everyone call us the Holy Cult.”
Jiang Ce was stunned, then made to call for help.
“Go ahead and call.” The other said, legs crossed: “Lucky for you, single room to yourself, I’ve already set up a magic array around, scream your throat out and no one will hear.”
Jiang Ce’s face was full of despair: “Do you know what this place is? And you’re just acting so brazenly?”
The other sneered: “Why didn’t you think it was brazen when you impersonated us?”
“What do you want?” Jiang Ce stared at him.
The other shrugged: “Do I need to spell it out? Make it so you can never splash dirty water on us again.”
With that, he stood up, looking at Jiang Ce with mockery.
The next moment, ghostly figures swirled around him, countless wails ringing in Jiang Ce’s ears, making his head spin and eyes blur.
Evil art, this was absolutely genuine evil art.
Seeing this, Jiang Ce anxiously shouted: “Wait! Do you know who I am?! I’m Wei Lao Wei Men Shen’s disciple! If you move against me, unless you want to die!”
The other was clearly stunned, then withdrew his hand, frowning.
“Wei Wen Zheng’s disciple?”
Just as Jiang Ce thought he’d scared him, he heard the other laugh excitedly instead.
“Didn’t expect a reckless fool, but caught a big fish instead.
You’re right, I can’t act now, but taking you away is no problem, the Cult Leader will know what to do.”
In his eyes, Jiang Ce was no longer a petty crook, but a walking first-class merit.
Jiang Ce’s expression changed, blurting out: “Wait, I want to make a deal with you!”
“A deal? What deal?”
Jiang Ce took a deep breath: “I know a lot of the Gatekeeper’s internal matters, I can be your inside man!”
The other clearly didn’t react at first, even couldn’t help saying: “You… you’re really not like the Gatekeepers I imagined.”
“I’m not lying to you, among the Gatekeeper I do have considerable status, but not as important as you think.”
Jiang Ce said seriously:
“Although I’m Wei Men Shen’s disciple, it’s only been a short time, plus my current strength is low, if you try to use me for leverage, you’ll be disappointed, I think Wei Lao won’t sacrifice the Gatekeeper’s interests for me.
But if I become your inside man, you’ll get much more, feel free to send people to investigate, I just recently attended the Daoist Grand Ceremony, even the Shaolin Temple’s Ten Generations of Buddha Heart successor wasn’t my opponent.
I can say, my future in the Gatekeeper is immeasurable, with my strength, becoming the Gatekeeper is just a matter of time, think about it, a worthless hostage versus a Gatekeeper inside man, which is more important.”
After hearing Jiang Ce’s words, the other was clearly hesitant, but still asked steadily: “I’ll investigate what you said myself, but why should I believe you’re sincere?”
“Because you know I disguised as you to target the Lu Shan Sect, if exposed, I can’t survive in the righteous path, I’ll be like a street rat everyone wants to beat, joining you is my only choice.”
Jiang Ce answered seriously.
The other pondered for a moment, nodded: “Makes sense.”
“But… I can’t fully trust you, I’ll investigate later, but in the meantime, I need you to”
“I understand.” Before he finished, Jiang Ce proactively said: “I’ll stay here until you finish investigating and come find me.
Your people must be watching nearby, otherwise you wouldn’t come up the mountain to probe, and pinpoint my room so quickly after I returned, probably the Lu Shan Sect really has your people.”
“Am I talking or are you?”
The other glared at Jiang Ce, muttering: “So cooperative…”
He was also a bit surprised inside, because Jiang Ce had guessed almost exactly right, the person who came up the mountain during the day to find Jiang Ce was someone he sent, mainly to check the strength setup here.
There were indeed people watching nearby to ensure no empty run.
“Right.” Jiang Ce seemed to suddenly remember something: “I’ll give you another piece of intel as a pledge of allegiance.”
“Speak.”
“You’d better be careful, because lately the Gatekeeper is plotting action against you, investigate this Daoist Grand Ceremony, you’ll find some interesting differences from before.”
“Just say what you know, I’ll verify, if I have to investigate everything, what’s the point of having you as inside man?”
The other said with dissatisfaction, Jiang Ce immediately nodded and smiled:
“Didn’t I just say I beat a Ten Generations of Buddha Heart monk at the Daoist Grand Ceremony? Aren’t you curious why there was a monk at the Daoist Grand Ceremony?
Truth is, this time it was the Gatekeeper’s setup, to promote Dao-Buddhist alliance with the Gatekeeper to oppose you, besides that, the Gatekeeper is also preparing to absorb other powers, though I don’t know the specifics.
Because as I said, I’m not as important as you imagine, Wei Lao doesn’t tell me many things, I can only guess, but since I’m telling you, it’s definitely real, you can investigate.
I won’t leave these few days, I’ll wait here, don’t worry.”
The other was half-believing, but chose to temporarily trust Jiang Ce.
He said nothing, just left a warning look, then vanished before Jiang Ce.
And after he disappeared, an obscure smile appeared on Jiang Ce’s face.
In fact, Jiang Ce hadn’t even eaten and had been waiting in the room, because he guessed someone would come find him at night.
His interpersonal relationships could be called extremely simple, almost none.
Totally just his former master and senior brothers, then the Gatekeeper, and now barely adding the Celestial Master’s Mansion.
If the daytime visitor was from the Gatekeeper, Liang Zhi Che and them had no reason not to recognize, the Celestial Master’s Mansion side was busy helping him frame Gao Song, no spare hands, and even if they wanted him, no need to hide.
As for master and senior brothers side, when he saw Third Senior Brother daytime he didn’t tell about his current situation, and after leaving there he didn’t wander around, came straight back, timing doesn’t match.
So who the other was became obvious.
Gluttonous Ghost!
From when Jiang Ce realized the Gatekeeper wasn’t as safe as imagined, he started preparing two hands.
In his view, a Dao-Buddhist alliance’s importance, for Cao Zheng above Half-Immortal, might still be a bit thin, so he set his sights on the Gluttonous Ghost.
The most dangerous place is the safest, though it has the suspicion of drinking poison to quench thirst, but for Jiang Ce with no sentiments, slipping away is just slipping away.
Though the situation then might not be as bad as imagined, paving the road early is still necessary.
By his thinking, I may not slip, but I can’t have no place to slip to.
This is also why he openly impersonated Gluttonous Ghost to mess with so many Daoist temples, the purpose of making the act real does exist, but not primary, more important is to spread the news, let Gluttonous Ghost know there’s such a bastard doing bad things in their name, then shift blame.
This way, both sides have karma tied, bound to have contact eventually.
As long as contact happens, Jiang Ce has confidence to leverage his identity and intel to maneuver between Gatekeeper and Gluttonous Ghost, become a double agent, as long as leeway is kept, no matter which side weakens slightly, he can instantly become a fence-sitter, living comfortably from start to finish.
Worst case, if Cao Zheng has ideas about him, just join Gluttonous Ghost, nothing to say, no retreat anyway.
But if the second trial for achieving Heaven-Reaching Dharma Master passes, ensuring safety, then continue lurking, eat from both sides, lean toward whichever offers better treatment, you know.
Even if exposed, no big deal, whichever side discovers, immediately sell the other, shape an image of enduring humiliation as a sleeper agent, on-the-spot two-way reversal.
Anyway, he’ll never be the one losing.
The only problem is others are easy to fool, but Luocheng’s Gluttonous Ghost is hard to fool, because he absorbed that someone’s disciple, he has blood curse, if they meet he can recognize, so after success first thing is figure out how to eliminate Luocheng’s Gluttonous Ghost, ensure Luocheng’s Gluttonous Ghost Helmsman never gets a chance to meet him.
This way, his reason for leaving Luocheng is confidential to Gatekeeper side, no one knows he killed Gluttonous Ghost Ghost Disciple, once Luocheng Helmsman dies, as long as not tearing face with Cao Zheng and Wei Lao at the end, this stays secret forever.
Of course, this doesn’t contradict his original intent, that someone is definitely dying anyway, to teach such a disciple who strikes at disagreement, imagine how vicious the master is, public and private, can’t let him go.
Now Jiang Ce has met so many big shots, his vision is much higher.
Before, Gluttonous Ghost Helmsman, he wouldn’t dare touch, per Wei Lao, even achieving Heaven-Reaching Dharma Master with Unity of Heaven and Man, can only serve as bait, at most some self-preservation.
But now it’s different, though I’m only Third Rank, but I can call in help.
What Return to Origin Limitless, don’t know them, small fries, better than my thugs?
As long as stay behind the scenes, let Gluttonous Ghost not know I’m involved, afterward pretend helpless, then crocodile tears, end with self-ashamed excuse, find an disliked sect to offset the debt and show loyalty, then depending on situation give extra benefits, isn’t the matter over?
Anyway on surface he has zero relation to Luocheng Gluttonous Ghost wipeout, no reason for them to suspect him, from start to end his actions are aboveboard.
Of course, this offset candidate he’s long eyed, no other than Lu Shan Sect Sect Leader Gao Song.
Per plan he was supposed to die at Celestial Master’s Mansion, but that night after left and right thinking it felt off, after second Old Celestial Master matter, he remorsefully said conscience discovered, can’t do things to the extreme, after all same Daoist Sect, framing Lu Shan Sect to disgust them is enough.
So Old Celestial Master’s attitude changed from initial have-to-comply to reluctant acceptance, even sent Zhang Ze Xing to help prop the scene.
The whole plan links ring by ring, echoes front and back, up to now, everything proceeding orderly.
The only surprise is the whole process faster than imagined, Gluttonous Ghost’s nose so sharp, found him so quickly.
And intuition tells him, daytime person was just a probe, to observe their group’s strength, they must still be nearby, he took main road up mountain, probably spotted.
That means tonight they’d likely appear.
Sure enough, appeared, and smoother than expected.
Not only successfully got preliminary belief, more importantly, the other was actually Heaven-Reaching Dharma Master at Unity of Heaven and Man realm, saving him the trouble of bridging, directly talking to someone with authority.
What he needs now is simply wait here, for good news to arrive.
