88: The Man Behind the Scenes

"When did I get the Scent-Seeking Insect mother's mucus on me?"

Han Yi's expression instantly turned grim, his mind surging.

Figures flashed through his mind, then were quickly dismissed.

Bai Sanren, Qian Xue?

Impossible, and unnecessary. If it were them, they wouldn't need such trouble; they would have acted during the wild dog mission.

What's more, if they wanted to harm me, why would they provide me with a safe place like the Bai Family Courtyard?

A Qiu, Xiao He?

Their probability is even lower. With the strength of these two, if they wanted to tamper with me, I would definitely detect it.

Pan Sheng, Li Feng?

If it were them trying to frame me, it would indeed be hard to discover. However, my relationship with them is quite good. Besides, if they truly wanted to harm me, wouldn't it have been easy when I was still in the outer Sect of the Crimson Flame Sect!

Han Yi felt a headache coming on. These were the only people he was familiar with, but no matter how he calculated, none of them seemed likely.

Chirp, chirp, chirp!

Suddenly, the Scent-Seeking Insect male in the bamboo tube chirped urgently, as if the mother insect was right before its eyes, frantically emitting a strong fragrance!

"What?"

At this moment, Han Yi had his arms crossed, and the green bamboo tube was exactly parallel to his shoulder.

"Could it be..."

Han Yi thought of a possibility.

He brought the bamboo tube closer to his shoulder.

Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!

The Scent-Seeking Insect male became even more excited, flapping its wings and chirping intensely. Han Yi even felt the bamboo tube in his hand shake slightly!

It seems the Scent-Seeking Insect mother's mucus might be residue on my shoulder...

"Shoulder..."

Han Yi's brows furrowed tightly, his expression stern.

A scene suddenly surfaced in his mind: his visit to the Li Residence in the morning to see Elder Li...

'A golden scale is not something found in a pond; I can tell you will be a person of great promise in the future...'

After saying this, Elder Li seemed to pat my shoulder...

"Could it be that Elder Li is the informant Iron Kill mentioned, and also the mole in the Crimson Flame Sect??"

Han Yi's pupils suddenly widened. He was shaken by his own thought.

However, Elder Li is a Tongmai Stage Martial Master, and even a rotating Elder of the Outer Affairs Hall of the Crimson Flame Sect. He has everything: wealth, status, and power!

Even in the vast An Yan City, Elder Li is a notable figure!

As for the Black Wind Stronghold, at most it only has a few hundred bandits, with those in the Lianxue Stage already considered strong.

Within the Black Wind Stronghold, only the Great Chieftain, Blood Butcher, is suspected to have Tongmai Stage strength.

But no matter what, compared to the massive Crimson Flame Sect, the Black Wind Stronghold is just a small force that can be eliminated with some effort.

Would someone like Elder Li collude with a small Black Wind Stronghold bandit?

Han Yi felt that anyone who heard this would think it was a fantasy and wouldn't believe it.

But after repeated speculation, eliminating all impossibilities, only this one possibility remained...

There is only one truth!

Perhaps Elder Li really has a problem!

If that's the case, when I first entered the city, Elder Li gave me a Secret Manual, encouraged me to leave the city, and took the trouble to arrange lodging for me...

The strength I exposed to Elder Li was also the Refining Bone Stage...

All sorts of strange things suddenly became logical!

I killed the second chieftain of the Black Wind Stronghold, Tie Lu.

Therefore, the Black Wind Stronghold wanted to find trouble with me, and Elder Li revealed my information to Iron Kill. Everything fits...

Thinking of this, large beads of cold sweat appeared on Han Yi's body. His clothes clung coldly to his skin, instantly making his hairs stand on end!

"Fortunately, Elder Li didn't make a move himself..."

He muttered to himself.

Elder Li is a Tongmai Stage Martial Master. If he had wanted to act against Han Yi with his strength, Han Yi would probably have died with regret long ago.

What's more, Elder Li doesn't need to act personally. His influence is vast; with just one command, countless experts would come looking for trouble with Han Yi!

"It seems the cooperation between Elder Li and the Black Wind Stronghold is just a superficial alliance, each with their own calculations."

Han Yi thought long and hard and came to this conclusion.

After all, he was on good terms with Li Feng and had no enmity with Elder Li. Furthermore, he himself subtly bore the label of the Li family.

If he were to become an Inner Sect Disciple of the Crimson Flame Sect in the future, he could even be considered a member of the Li family faction. In this situation, Elder Li should only be helping the Black Wind Stronghold incidentally, merely going through the motions.

However, this feeling of being betrayed is quite uncomfortable!

But...

Han Yi smiled bitterly. What could he do?

Could he report Elder Li to the Sect just because he patted his shoulder, using that as a reason?

That would likely make people laugh their heads off!

He was barely an Inner Sect Disciple, while the other party was a Tongmai Stage Martial Master who had been operating in An Yan City for many years, and he had no concrete evidence...

How could a gentle breeze topple a deeply rooted old tree?

"Difficult, too difficult, it's simply impossible!"

At least, with Han Yi's current status and strength, it's impossible!

The best solution now is to pretend not to know...

He can only pretend to be unaware, quietly lie low, endure the humiliation, secretly stay vigilant, and wait for Elder Li to expose himself, or for himself to develop!

After all, since Elder Li doesn't want to be exposed and hasn't completely fallen out and acted personally, then he will play along and have a game with Elder Li!

"I must Cultivate quickly. Becoming strong is never wrong!"

Han Yi now urgently wanted to improve his strength.

Whoosh!

Iron Kill's head rolled to the ground with a thud. Han Yi remembered that there seemed to be a bounty on Iron Kill in the Martial Alliance. He could exchange it for some silver to buy items for cultivation.

However, I don't seem to have brought the Martial Alliance's special cloth bag today...

Han Yi looked at the clothes of the several bandits around, and an idea came to him.

"Damn, these guys are even poorer!"

After tearing off the clothes of several people, he wrapped Iron Kill's head multiple layers and also searched the corpses.

Unfortunately, let alone gold or silver, these people didn't even have many large coins on them!

These bandits lived a life of 'carpe diem, spending thousands of gold only to see it return again'; they probably didn't know how to save money at all!

But for the sake of them providing the cloth, I'll dig a pit and bury them...

Clang, clang!

Han Yi threw these corpses along with their personal weapons into the large pit. These weapons were just ordinary swords and knives, not worth much. The only valuable item was Iron Kill's ghost-headed broadsword.

Unfortunately, it had also been broken into two by Han Yi!

"Right, and this Scent-Seeking Insect... how should I deal with it..."

Han Yi's eyes narrowed into slits, a glint flashing within.