483: Chapter 127 Zhou Sheng, Nathan Island

With the Shuangquan Hand, the expansion of Qu Tong's intelligence network proceeded very smoothly.

However, her investigations into the Eight Peculiar Skills and the Jia Shen Rebellion refocused her attention back on the country.

Thus, the new intelligence organization "Yaoxing Society" was formally established and rose rapidly.

As her investigation deepened, Qu Tong learned of Feng Baobao's existence.

While tracking the descendants of those who had comprehended the Eight Peculiar Skills, she also unexpectedly met the one who had comprehended the Wind-After Odd Gates—Zhou Sheng!

He was the tall, thin old man who had used the Eight Doors Transportation to help her escape earlier.

Zhou Sheng ranked third among the Thirty-Six Thieves, so Qu Tong addressed him as "Third Master."

When they first met, Zhou Sheng had already cultivated the Wind-After Odd Gates to a level where he could transform himself at will, an effect that seemed no different from the legendary seventy-two transformations.

This further convinced Qu Tong that the Eight Peculiar Skills were Immortal arts, their origin connected to the legendary Immortals.

Through their interactions, Qu Tong gained some understanding of Zhou Sheng.

Zhou Sheng not only looked like a monkey, but his heart was as wild as one too. Ever since achieving success in the Wind-After Odd Gates, he had relied on his transformations to wander everywhere, feeling free and unfettered, and considered this the most important thing.

However, he still had some concerns on his mind.

Such as finding a suitable successor to pass on the Wind-After Odd Gates.

Or, for example, searching for the other individuals who had comprehended the Eight Peculiar Skills back then, and looking after their descendants.

It's just that Zhou Sheng handled all these matters quite poorly.

To pass on the Wind-After Odd Gates, he secretly returned to Wudang, left the Wind-After diagram, and left without even showing his face, let alone explaining any precautions.

The result was that several of his fellow Senior Brothers directly fell into the trap, trapped in the inner landscape and unable to get out.

Having caused this disaster, Zhou Sheng was unable to resolve it and from then on dared not return to Wudang.

Later, when Wang Ye accidentally learned the Wind-After Odd Gates, Zhou Sheng, fearing it would affect his carefree life, had no intention of revealing himself to meet him. Even when he intended to offer guidance, he acted under the cover of opportunities where he could fish in troubled waters, and even then, he was secretive about it, transforming into another person's appearance to do so.

As for searching for the other Eight Peculiar Skills comprehenders and looking after their descendants...

Zhou Sheng didn't handle that well either, and was even used by Qu Tong.

In order to better pursue the origin of the Eight Peculiar Skills, Qu Tong, leveraging her Shuangquan Hand and her connection with Duanmu Ying, established a certain level of cooperation with Zhou Sheng.

This cooperation included searching for the other Eight Peculiar Skills comprehenders and looking after their descendants.

Zhou Sheng could transform, and even through the inner landscape, he could, in a sense, be omniscient.

But he wasn't the real Great Sage; he couldn't skillfully create Clones.

Moreover, seeking answers through the inner landscape came at a price.

Qu Tong's intelligence network, however, could help him find people, allowing him to avoid paying that price.

This was the foundation of their cooperation.

But Qu Tong wasn't that kind-hearted. In the matter of Ma Xianhong's family, she tricked Zhou Sheng.

The situation was largely as Meng Li had previously deduced: Qu Tong found Ma Xianhong's family, obtained the Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements from Ma Yuanlu, only to discover that this peculiar skill not only required talent in Artifact Refining, but heavily depended on it.

Qu Tong had no suitable candidates among her subordinates, so she could only choose Ma Xianhong.

At that time, Zhou Sheng was off wandering elsewhere. By the time he learned about the Ma family's situation and rushed to help, it was too late.

Ma Xianhong had already become Qu Tong's good younger brother.

Qu Tong had also set up the situation: she used the subordinates who had originally pursued the Ma family as scapegoats, deceiving Zhou Sheng into believing she had saved the Ma family, dealt with those who had troubled them, and relocated Ma Yuanlu's family to a safe place. The condition was that the Ma family would have Ma Xianhong help her with Artifact Refining, and Ma Xianhong would only be responsible for refining artifacts.

Regarding this, Zhou Sheng didn't investigate deeply. As for whether he truly believed it in his heart...

Qu Tong guessed he certainly didn't believe it completely.

But it wasn't important. What mattered was that the result—'the Ma family's stability in exchange for one child'—was something he could accept. Simultaneously, with the Ma family's matter resolved, he could have one less concern and continue his carefree life.

This further confirmed Qu Tong's speculation about Zhou Sheng: for this Third Master, his own affairs and his carefree life were the most important; other people and matters had to take a back seat.

As long as she could grasp this point, she thought it wouldn't be difficult to control this old monkey, even if he truly possessed seventy-two transformations.

Additionally, Qu Tong unexpectedly discovered that Zhou Sheng cared especially about Feng Baobao.

She didn't know the specifics, but that didn't stop her from using this matter to further control Zhou Sheng.

Having grasped the two key points to control Zhou Sheng, Qu Tong's awe and wariness towards this Third Master greatly diminished. However, she did not succeed in learning the origin of the Eight Peculiar Skills, because Zhou Sheng and the other comprehenders were under a Restriction, unable to reveal related information.

But Qu Tong gradually became bolder, even doing things that would anger Zhou Sheng.

For example, sending people to eliminate Zhang Chulan, who hindered her from obtaining Feng Baobao and ruined the Self-Cultivation Furnace plan.

After learning of this later, Zhou Sheng had an outburst with Qu Tong. But since Zhang Chulan wasn't dead, and they still needed to cooperate later, he didn't completely break ties, only warning Qu Tong not to send anyone to kill Zhang Chulan again in the future.

To this, Qu Tong chose to agree, not out of fear of Zhou Sheng, but because she had learned that Zhang Chulan had an infant qi within him, its ability Suspected Rootless Life's Spirit of Divinity.

This made her feel that Zhang Chulan alive was more valuable than dead.

For this purpose, she planned to establish cooperation with Zhang Chulan under the identity of a descendant of the Eight Peculiar Skills, and began making arrangements.

This scheme was also related to Ruan Feng, the one who had comprehended the Six Treasury Immortal Thief.

Ruan Feng was on Nason Island.

Nason Island is a very mystical island. Its specific location is little known, and all the islanders are superhumans.

These islanders can roughly be divided into two categories: one consists of superhumans from around the world who couldn't survive elsewhere and could only retreat from the world; Ruan Feng was one of them. The other category is the indigenous people. The reason all these indigenous people are superhumans is because there is a divine tree on the island.

Under the influence of the divine tree, all children born on Nason Island are superhumans.

Therefore, the indigenous people of Nason Island regard the divine tree as the supreme sacred object.

Beneath the divine tree, the indigenous people of Nason Island exist in three classes, from highest to lowest: the Nason King, the Nason Guards, and the ordinary Nason islanders.

There is only one Nason King at a time, generally chosen autonomously by the divine tree.

His main duties are to protect the divine tree, command the Nason islanders, and defend Nason Island.

However, being chosen by the divine tree doesn't mean the Nason King can rest easy. If someone wants to replace him and become the new king, they only need to break a branch from the divine tree and then kill the current Nason King.

There are nine Nason Guards, also chosen by the divine tree.

They have different divisions of labor, but their main duty is to protect the divine tree and guard the Nason King.

The number of indigenous Nason islanders is unknown. Their fundamental ideology is to protect the divine tree and support the Nason King.

In short, according to the intelligence Qu Tong obtained, all indigenous Nason islanders, from the Nason King down to the ordinary islanders, prioritize protecting the divine tree as their foremost duty.

Moreover, both the Nason King and the Nason Guards are chosen by the divine tree.

This situation gave Meng Li a sense that "the indigenous people of Nason Island have all been brainwashed and controlled by the divine tree."

Later, he discovered in Qu Tong's memories that this was indeed the case...