443: Chapter 443 Everyone's a Villain

Inside a small bamboo hut, Zhou Yan sat opposite an elderly man on a bamboo bed. A small wooden table stood between them, laden with various fruits and a pot of wine.

The man was a lean, energetic little old fellow, wearing a moon-white Daoist robe with a dark blue overcoat draped over his shoulders.

This person was the current Sect Head of the Dao Sect, Zhang Mingyuan.

"No, wait—there are almost more spies here than your actual Disciples. Aren't you worried at all?"

"Old Ancestor, those are minor matters. The urgent issue right now is: do you really have no memories of the Immortal Realm?"

"I have confirmed this many times already. My memories of the Immortal Realm have been erased for certain reasons."

"And those things I do remember, I cannot tell you directly. It would be bad for both of us."

Zhou Yan pushed away the wine cup offered to him and looked at Zhang Mingyuan, truly unable to read the man.

Two hours ago, Zhou Yan had been "escorted" by a group of fake Dao Sect Disciples and forced to head toward the Dao Sect.

Fortunately, he had made various excuses to ensure his female body kept up and didn't fall behind.

He had originally planned that if this Dao Sect Sect Head also had issues, he would spend whatever time necessary to flee Eastern Purvavideha.

Even finding a small island overseas would be better than staying in such a devil's den.

To his surprise, the Sect Head was actually waiting for him at the foot of the mountain. Not only did he resolve the situation, but he also treated Zhou Yan with great courtesy.

Originally, Zhou Yan hadn't intended to be so blunt. But when he subtly revealed his authority as a City God and hinted at an even higher identity, the other man's friendliness level turned a glowing green.

Because of this, Zhou Yan dared to lay everything out, yet the other party didn't seem to appreciate the gravity of the situation.

"Old Ancestor, you must have just returned recently and don't yet understand the current landscape of this world," Zhang Mingyuan said, stroking his beard and laughing heartily.

Under the other man's questioning, Zhou Yan had initially told a half-truth: that he was a City God of a city with independent sovereignty and its own independent underworld.

In Zhang Mingyuan's understanding, however, this translated into him being some sort of Prefectural City God.

This was followed by a series of exclamations, with Zhang Mingyuan repeatedly saying things like, "Then that explains the national destiny on you."

Then he wanted to ask what his hidden identity in the heavens actually was.

But Zhou Yan didn't understand the Immortal Realm at all. The only names he knew were Meng Zhang and Kun Gou.

God knows if anyone in this era even knew who those two were, so it was better not to court trouble.

He simply said, "Those who know, know."

The other man seemingly really did "know," becoming inexplicably more convinced of Zhou Yan's status. Zhou Yan had no idea what he had supposedly understood.

"The landscape? Tell me about it. This world is indeed different from what I know. Not to speak of distant places, but even the Dao Sect Ancestral Court shouldn't be here."

At the mention of the Dao Sect, Zhang Mingyuan's originally friendly expression turned cold for an instant, though it quickly returned to normal, albeit tinged with a trace of sorrow.

"Old Ancestor, you may not know, but roughly two thousand years ago, the sudden disappearance of the Immortal Realm and everything related to it threw the entire world into chaos."

"No one knows what happened. The path forward was completely cut off, and the upper limits for all living beings were sealed shut."

"The ones hit hardest were our Dao and Buddhist Sects."

He picked up his wine cup and drained it himself.

"Cultivators of the Dao and Buddhist Sects may have their own pursuits, but the goal for most of them was Ascension."

"For us who moved forward for the sake of Ascension, the severing of the path meant all our efforts came to nothing."

"Conversely, the Imperial Dynasties, which focused on increasing strength to keep the populace stable, grew stronger by the day."

"Without the deterrence of the Immortal Realm, they developed thoughts they shouldn't have had. They actually chose to swallow the entire world."

"Because it is easier to practice their methods and the threshold is lower, they pushed our two sects to the brink through sheer numbers. In the end, we could only bow our heads and submit, falling to our current state."

"But constant yielding only makes us more passive."

"Our system naturally puts us at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. So even though we still have the Immortal Artifact legacies and us old fogies are still around, two fists are no match for four hands. This cannot go on forever."

"In the past, they could use numbers to kill off our younger generations and threaten us old men. In the future, they will find even more ways to threaten us. Since we cannot ascend, we can only wait for our Lifespan to run out. Once our Lifespan is gone, we will be even more powerless to resist."

"So we desperately need a way to break the deadlock. Perhaps even the heavens couldn't stand it anymore; the Imperial Dynasty's near-tyrannical rule has made life miserable for the people, and the grievances of all living beings are heard everywhere."

"This allowed the Yao Race to find an opening. Although it still results in great suffering, it has at least brought a new Opportunity, leaving the Human Race Imperial Dynasty exhausted from dealing with them. This has given us our chance."

"So, this is the reason why Zheng Dafu exists."

"You want to use the Yao Race to break the deadlock, so you actively let them in? You want the Yao Race to rebel in your stead—if they succeed, you take the credit; if they fail, the Yao Race takes the blame?"

Zhou Yan's mind was in a bit of a mess. Although this Old Daoist Priest had a righteous-looking panel and was easy to talk to, why did he sound like a villain based on those few sentences?

"Old Ancestor, you are mistaken on one point. The Yao Race's infiltration was due to their own malicious intent. We are only doing it for better monitoring, not to alert the enemy. So we paid a small price to keep them under control."

"As for any riots that occurred, at most they can be considered a momentary lapse in oversight. I'm sure even if something did happen, the Imperial Dynasty wouldn't mind."

Looking at the man's kind smile, he now seemed like a 'smiling tiger.' Was this guy really a Daoist? He felt even less human than those fake Daoists.

Inviting an external race inside just to test the Imperial Court's bottom line—is this really something a Daoist would do? And hearing him talk like that, could it be the Buddhist Sect did it too?

Wait, buddy, you're just telling me all this directly?

Zhang Mingyuan's thoughts were actually very simple.

Since Zhou Yan had made it clear he held dual divine offices, his Karma and national destiny spoke volumes.

This was no different from a high-ranking official publicly admitting that several commercial streets were his own private property.

Thus, in Zhang Mingyuan's mind, Zhou Yan's persona—through his own accidental nonsense—had become that of a righteously corrupt official.

Because the various characteristics Zhou Yan displayed happened to support this theory, Zhang Mingyuan was naturally convinced.

After all, would you believe someone obtained massive amounts of human Karma because they reconnected the Human Dao and made it reappear in the world for an instant?

Or would you believe he was an honest, step-by-step corrupt official who embezzled that much human Karma?

So in Zhang Mingyuan's eyes, Zhou Yan was not a purely good person either. Therefore, he had no reason to hide things known among the high-level circles.

He assumed this 'not-so-clean' Old Ancestor of his would understand the sacrifices he made for the Dao Sect.

Everything was for the continuation of the Dao Sect!

However, to Zhou Yan, this was quite a disaster.

Just out of the tiger's den and into the wolf's lair. He thought encountering a Yao spy was unlucky enough, but now he had met a human traitor.

A person who could casually decide the miserable fate of countless commoners perfectly fit the image of an evil Cultivator from various novels.

Yet this was a high-ranking member of the 'righteous' faction, and if he was doing this, others likely were too.

In other words, the upper echelons of this world were already rotten to the core.

To hell with this world; he should just hurry up and Breakthrough to Soul Transformation, then get the hell out of here.

Seeing that Zhou Yan hadn't responded for a while, Zhang Mingyuan thought he was still worried about the spies, so he explained patiently.

"Old Ancestor, do not worry. The Dao Sect Legacy will be fine. Zheng Dafu is my Disciple; his every move is under my control."

"A Essence Spirit born from an old Daoist temple gate is indeed suited to be a spy in my sect. If I hadn't noticed him early on, he might have actually succeeded once he came into his own."

"But it's nearly impossible for him to succeed. After all, he is just an ordinary door frame, a pile of dead wood. What kind of destiny could he possibly have?"

"So," Zhang Mingyuan opened his hand, revealing a golden key floating in his palm to Zhou Yan.

"So I acted in the shadows and gave him a very thoughtful external power."

"Old Ancestor, you are an Immortal. Although you have lost much of your memory, perhaps you still remember some Cultivators from humble beginnings who achieved great things."

"So you might subconsciously believe he reached this step through his own strength and luck."

"But that is from your perspective as an Immortal. In reality, behind every such achiever, there are countless failures."

"He is the same. How could a mere door frame spirit Cultivate to the Middle Stage of Void Refining?"

"It was all because I disguised a lock as a Dao Sect Opportunity and gave it to him. Everything he obtained—resources, Legacy, guidance—was received through the remote connection between the lock and this key in my hand."

"It can be said that his ability to reach such a Realm depends entirely on me. Because of this, he has long since become a subordinate of the key and has lost his autonomy."

"Rather than a Yao spy, he is more like a Puppet of the key in my hand."

"Hahaha."

"Old Ancestor, why aren't you laughing?"