31: Chapter 31 Tie Ruyun's Helplessness

After about half an hour, Chong Tian stopped writing and handed the completed Disguise Technique to Meng Li.

Meng Li reached out and took it, quickly scanning it to confirm there were no issues, then put it away. He then waved his hand at Chong Tian and said, "You may leave."

Chong Tian was stunned: "You trust me that much? Aren't you afraid I tampered with it?"

Hearing this, Meng Li didn't answer directly, but asked instead: "Then did you tamper with it?"

Chong Tian: "..."

How am I supposed to answer when you ask like that?

Ultimately, he truthfully said: "No."

It wasn't that he was honest, but because it concerned his life, and Meng Li's previous actions had left a psychological shadow on him, he didn't dare to fool around.

"Then that's fine."

Chong Tian: "..."

You believe me just like that? Is it that casual?

If you were to roam the Jianghu, wouldn't you...

Alright, with his unfathomable Martial Arts, which almost seemed like Demonic Technique, ordinary people couldn't scheme against him.

If one dared to scheme, the possibility of losing one's life was greater.

Moreover, judging from his previous sneak attack on Liu Xi, this person was probably not truly simple-minded, just indifferent.

Or perhaps, he had a way to verify the content. If that were the case... Thinking of the last possibility, Chong Tian's heart tightened. He felt a wave of lingering fear and relief, and his gaze towards Meng Li became more uncertain. Not daring to stay longer, he quickly cupped his fists and said, "Thank you, Your Excellency, for your forgiveness and trust. I shall take my leave."

Meng Li waved his hand, saying nothing.

Chong Tian turned and left, disappearing shortly after.

Meng Li watched him leave with a silent smile, then took out the papers containing the Disguise Technique, crumpled them into a ball, and used his Qi to turn them into powder.

He believed that Chong Tian had not faked the content, but certainly not because he trusted the other party.

The two had just met and hadn't even exchanged names, so where would trust come from?

He confirmed that Chong Tian hadn't tampered with it because when the other party wrote down the Disguise Technique, he also added his name to the contract, and then, through the power of the Golden Finger contract, he had already obtained the Disguise Technique and could verify it.

Fortunately, Chong Tian didn't play any tricks, otherwise Meng Li wouldn't have minded experimenting with the interrogation Martial Arts he 'learned' from Liu Xi on him.

Such as the Bone-Separating Hand.

With the Disguise Technique in hand, Meng Li didn't linger here but returned to Tie Ruyun's location, where he found Tie Ruyun and Li Gao erecting gravestones.

There were three wooden gravestones, bearing the names Zhao Qianhe, Meng Zhongliu, and True Person Yuanyang respectively.

After the three wooden gravestones were erected, Li Gao sighed and asked Alliance Leader Tie Ruyun, "Alliance Leader Tie, although Liu Xi didn't catch us this time, given his nature, he probably won't let it go. What are your plans next?"

Tie Ruyun pondered, "I originally thought we could kill Liu Xi this time, but I didn't expect that eunuch dog to be so cunning. Instead, Zhao Qianhe and the two others were lost."

"With just the two of us, killing that eunuch dog will be even more difficult..."

Before he could finish, Li Gao interrupted, "We can gather other Martial Forest comrades to act together!"

"Eunuch Liu's Absorbing Qi Technique specializes in absorbing people's Martial Arts. Over the years, countless Martial Forest practitioners have fallen victim to it. If he masters the Remote Energy Absorption Skill, even more people will suffer his poison."

"You are the Wulin Alliance Leader. As long as you make the matter public and explain the stakes, I believe many comrades will respond."

"At that time, with everyone united, we will surely be able to kill that eunuch Liu."

Unexpectedly, Tie Ruyun shook his head and sighed, "Things are not as simple as you think."

He then explained, "Since I became the Wulin Alliance Leader, out of duty, I have handled many affairs in the Martial Forest. In the process, I discovered that behind many incidents, there are traces of the Eastern Depot, and I even suspect that some people have secretly pledged allegiance to the Eastern Depot."

"Since the founding of this dynasty, the Grand Ancestor established a treaty that, unless there is a major incident, the imperial court and the Martial Forest shall not interfere with each other."

"Now, the Eastern Depot has begun to infiltrate the Martial Forest, which makes me feel that they must have a significant goal, and it is not a small one."

"Therefore, as soon as I received news that you were summoned to Chang'an, I felt something was amiss."

"What happened later confirmed this point and also proved that the Eastern Depot's infiltration of the Martial Forest is more severe than I imagined."

"The Imperial Urgent Summons Token was established by the Grand Ancestor, so let's set that aside for now."

"Just speaking of Eunuch Liu's scheme to cultivate his skill, how vast is the Jianghu, yet he managed to gather five people with extremely Yang fate from it. This kind of thing cannot be done by the Eastern Depot alone. In the Martial Forest, I can only think of one place that could achieve this—Red Leaf Pavilion!"

"You also know what kind of place Red Leaf Pavilion is."

Li Gao fell silent.

Red Leaf Pavilion is the largest intelligence agency in the current Jianghu, passed down in a Family form, with each generation's master being called 'Master Red Leaf'.

Rumors in the Jianghu say that Red Leaf Pavilion holds all the history and secrets of the Martial Forest from the past few hundred years. This might be an exaggeration, but it's enough to show that Red Leaf Pavilion's intelligence gathering capabilities are terrifying. If Red Leaf Pavilion is colluding with the Eastern Depot, then the situation would be very bad.

Tie Ruyun paused, then continued, "Furthermore, regarding the ten masked experts, from what we know, they must all be prominent figures in the Jianghu."

"Even such figures could be manipulated by Eunuch Liu, even going against Martial Forest ethics to besiege their comrades."

"This shows how deep the Eastern Depot's infiltration of the Martial Forest is."

"Not to mention, True Person Yuanyang, who was with us, also colluded with the Eastern Depot, and even Meng Zhongliu might have ties to the Eastern Depot."

Li Gao wanted to say that Meng Zhongliu might not be involved, but then he remembered the other party's action of using the severely injured Zhao Qianhe as a shield when they were attacked, and he swallowed his words.

Tie Ruyun's words continued: "I can hardly imagine how many people in the current Martial Forest are secretly colluding with the Eastern Depot."

"You say to gather people to kill Eunuch Liu. What if there are traitors among them colluding with the Eastern Depot, who tip off Eunuch Liu? We would most likely fall there. I am one of the Five Yangs. Unless Eunuch Liu gives up the idea of cultivating his evil skill, he will surely pursue me. Dying to eliminate him is nothing."

"But if this implicates those in the Martial Forest who have not gone along with them, causing them to lose their lives, then I would be to blame a hundred times over."

Towards the end, Tie Ruyun felt a genuine sense of powerlessness.

He had a rough and straightforward personality and disliked scheming, so he chose the Jianghu.

In his initial vision, the Jianghu was a place of righteousness, primarily focused on upholding justice and eliminating evil, filled with grand ambitions and carefree joy.

But when he truly stepped into the Jianghu, he found that the reality was different from his imagination, so he decided to change it.

Thus, he diligently practiced Martial Arts and eventually overpowered the crowd to become the Wulin Alliance Leader.

He thought he could change the environment, but he discovered that beneath the Jianghu, undercurrents surged, and the depths of the Martial Forest were intricate and complex.

Upholding righteousness, acting heroically, eliminating evil, grand ambitions, carefree joy...

These were all ideals!

The reality was that most people were merely putting on a show, concealing their true faces beneath a glamorous facade, and the Jianghu's level of dirty scheming was not much better than the muddy waters of the imperial court.

Even as the Wulin Alliance Leader, Tie Ruyun found it difficult to turn reality into an ideal. He was even caught in a vortex, struggling even to protect himself.

For example, this time, he thought that he and the Four Great Experts would be enough to handle everything, but Liu Xi brought ten experts! Afterwards, the five of them tried to set a trap to kill the other party, but Liu Xi turned their scheme against them, sending a decoy into the trap while he lay in wait, like an oriole behind the mantis.

If it weren't for the help of that masked mysterious person, he would have fallen in the Chang'an Street Inn.

This wasn't even what hit Tie Ruyun the hardest.

What hit him the hardest was that his comrades, who had fought alongside him, were also colluding with the Eastern Depot.

...