38: Chapter 38 doesn't seem to be too offensive.

"Process of elimination?" Tang Xiaowu was taken aback. This was the first time she had heard the term, and it felt quite fresh to her.

Chen Shanzhi pulled back the smile on his face, leaned forward slightly, and lowered his voice:

"Think about it carefully."

"Whether it's the Nine-Turn Golden Body Art of the Witch God or the formation diagram for the Ten Thousand Poison Barrier, what do they mean to your Wu Clan?"

"They are core secrets," Tang Xiaowu answered without hesitation.

"Exactly."

Chen Shanzhi clapped his hands and continued:

"Ordinary members of the Wu Clan don't even have the qualification to come into contact with core secrets of this level."

"Those who can access them and know exactly where these two things are hidden must be the true upper echelon of your Wu Clan."

Chen Shanzhi's gaze sharpened, and he spoke one word at a time:

"Therefore, the mole who cooperated with Wang Yuanhua to put on this show is very likely among those people!"

Hearing this, Tang Xiaowu's face instantly turned pale.

She took a sudden step back, shaking her head repeatedly, resisting this conclusion:

"That's impossible!"

"Those who can access these secrets are all Elders who watched me grow up, respected Elders of the clan."

"Back then, they fought against the Demon People for the sake of the Wu Clan, shedding blood and risking their lives!"

"How could they possibly betray the Wu Clan?"

"People change, especially when interests are involved," Chen Shanzhi replied indifferently.

"Furthermore..."

Tang Xiaowu bit her lip, looking troubled, and her voice weakened:

"Even if you're right, Third Brother, and someone among the Elders really has a problem."

"But these people hold the great power of the Wu Clan; pulling one hair moves the whole body."

"I am just a Saintess. If I were to investigate them..."

"Without solid evidence, it would immediately cause internal strife within the Wu Clan."

"When that time comes, we would collapse from within before that Supervising Officer, who is hiding in the shadows after faking his death, even has to lift a finger."

Listening to Tang Xiaowu's analysis, Chen Shanzhi did not get angry; instead, a flash of admiration crossed his eyes.

Though this girl was simple, she wasn't stupid; she knew how to consider the big picture.

"Who said I'm letting you investigate them yourself?"

Seeing her distressed expression with her small face scrunched up into a ball,

Chen Shanzhi couldn't help himself and reached out, flicking her smooth, full forehead.

*Thump!*

"Ouch!"

Tang Xiaowu clutched her forehead, the pain nearly bringing tears to her eyes.

She gave Chen Shanzhi a reproachful glare and pouted, "Why did you hit me all of a sudden!"

"To wake you up, so you don't keep driving yourself into dead ends."

Chen Shanzhi withdrew his hand and said:

"You can't do it, but someone can."

"Who?" Tang Xiaowu asked huffily, still holding her forehead.

"Your father, Clan Chief Miao."

Chen Shanzhi crossed his arms, leaning lazily against the table as he analyzed things methodically:

"In the clan, you are the Saintess. Currently, it seems your symbolic significance is greater than your actual power. None of those people will truly take you seriously."

"But your father is different. He is the legitimate Clan Chief of your Wu Clan."

"His strength reaches the heavens, and his prestige in the clan is unmatched."

"As long as you can make him believe there is a mole among them,"

"Then if someone really does have a problem, with your father's insight and methods,"

"Under intentional observation, he will definitely be able to spot a flaw!"

Tang Xiaowu's hand rubbing her forehead stopped. She nodded thoughtfully but then ran into another difficulty:

"But how am I supposed to convince my father?"

"Am I supposed to just rush over and tell him: 'Dad, we have a mole in our clan, they're among the Elders, go investigate quickly'?"

"If I really did that, he'd think I'd lost my mind and put me in solitary confinement for sure!"

"Of course you can't say it directly like that; only a hotheaded fool would do something so stupid."

Chen Shanzhi shook his head.

He extended a slender finger and beckoned Tang Xiaowu closer, signaling her to lean in.

Tang Xiaowu looked at his mysterious act and hesitated for a moment.

However, intense curiosity overcame her defensiveness. She obediently leaned forward, offering her fair ear.

The distance between them closed instantly.

A delicate, elegant fragrance unique to young girls, mixed with a faint scent of herbs, drifted into Chen Shanzhi's nostrils unguarded.

Chen Shanzhi's mind wavered slightly, his gaze unconsciously sweeping over her slender, jade-like neck so close at hand.

But he quickly composed himself; business came first.

Chen Shanzhi lowered his voice, his lips almost brushing against Tang Xiaowu's sensitive earlobe as he whispered:

"If I'm not mistaken, regarding the alliance with Great Zhou within the Wu Clan..."

"Attitudes must be polarized, with a significant portion of people strongly opposed to it."

"Otherwise, your Wu Clan wouldn't have been playing Tai Chi with us all this time, not even daring to give a straight answer."

The warm breath brushing against her earlobe caused a strange numbness to spread through Tang Xiaowu's body.

But she was drawn in by Chen Shanzhi's words. Enduring that strange sensation, she straightened up and nodded seriously:

"That's right, Third Brother, your guess is very accurate."

"Although my father has always advocated for an alliance with Great Zhou to jointly resist the Demon People,"

"Among the Elders, there are indeed several powerful ones who have maintained strong opposition."

"They feel that the people of Great Zhou are cunning and untrustworthy. They advocate for sealing the mountains and isolating ourselves, cutting off all contact."

"After all, the perimeter of our Wu Clan is surrounded by the Ten Thousand Poison Miasma. As long as we don't go out, outsiders can't fight their way in. It's very safe."

"Just as I expected."

A sharp light flashed in Chen Shanzhi's eyes as he made a decision:

"In that case, you can directly use Wang Yuanhua's 'fake death' to make your move!"

"Go tell your father that there is definitely something suspicious about Wang Yuanhua's death, and it could never have been done by Sang Ji."

"Though Sang Ji is a Genius, he is only in the Life Fire Realm."

"He doesn't have the ability to silently consume Wang Yuanhua, who is in the same Realm, until only bones remain in such a short time."

"Follow this logic further,"

"Say that the only ones capable of doing something so extreme and leaving no trace on Wu Clan territory..."

"...are the upper echelon of the Wu Clan!"

"And the ones with the strongest motive, the biggest suspects, are those Elders who strongly oppose the alliance!"

A cold, sharp arc curled at the corner of Chen Shanzhi's mouth:

"Tell your father that these people have only one goal in doing this."

"That is to deliberately pin the crime of murdering the Supervising Officer on Sang Ji, completely blocking the path for an alliance between Great Zhou and the Wu Clan!"

Hearing Chen Shanzhi's words, Tang Xiaowu hesitated:

"But there are many people who oppose the alliance, and the factions involved under them are quite numerous."

"With just this rhetoric, even if my father believes it,"

"He can only suspect them. He wouldn't be able to find out specifically who is colluding with Wang Yuanhua."

"Stupid!"

Chen Shanzhi looked at her with an expression of 'why are you so hopeless':

"Our current goal is not to rely on these few words to directly drag that person out and execute them on the spot."

"That's unrealistic."

"Our goal is to beat the grass and startle the snake!"

"Beat the grass and startle the snake?"

"Exactly." A sharp light flickered in Chen Shanzhi's eyes:

"You just need to say these words to your father."

"Then have your father express extreme fury at the clan meeting regarding a mole sabotaging the alliance."

"Furthermore, have him put on a posture of investigating to the very end, preferring to kill the innocent rather than let the guilty go!"

"You can even deliberately leak some rumors, saying that the Divine Shaman has already discovered extremely critical clues at the scene and will soon be able to lock onto the target."

Chen Shanzhi gave a cold laugh. "Think about it. Faced with such a situation, how would a mole with a guilty conscience react?"

Tang Xiaowu's eyes widened bit by bit. "He... he will panic!"

"Right! He will definitely panic!"

Chen Shanzhi snapped his fingers:

"Under extreme panic and high pressure, a person cannot remain absolutely rational."

"As long as he panics, he will think of covering his tracks, he will want to act prematurely, and he will show flaws that he would never normally show!"

"When that happens, your father only needs to sit firmly on the fishing platform and watch secretly."

"To see which of these Elders has the most abnormal reaction and who is making the most small movements."

"Won't the scope narrow down immediately?"

"That's absolutely brilliant!" Tang Xiaowu couldn't help but clap her hands.

But then, her delicate brows furrowed slightly as she raised another question:

"But there's still one problem..."

"What if the mole we're looking for, the one colluding with Wang Yuanhua,"

"...isn't among those Elders who oppose the alliance at all?"

"What if he's someone who superficially supports the alliance but stabs us in the back?"

"Then wouldn't we be wasting our energy by making such a big fuss to investigate the opposition?"

"Furthermore, this might make the real mole suspicious, causing him to heighten his guard and hide even deeper!"

Hearing Tang Xiaowu being able to think to this level through inference, Chen Shanzhi's eyes held a hint of admiration:

"Good question."

"If this person really doesn't belong to the group of Elders opposing the alliance, then for us, it's actually a wonderful thing."

Tang Xiaowu was completely baffled, her face full of doubt. "Why? How is that a good thing?"

A smile of total control curled on Chen Shanzhi's lips, like a cunning old fox:

"If the mole is someone else, then when he sees us focusing all our energy on those who oppose the alliance,"

"How do you think someone who has been lurking for so long will feel when they see their goal right in front of them while your attention is on others?"

"Will he think this is a god-given opportunity and take the chance to act, to steal that Cultivation Technique and the formation diagram?"

Chen Shanzhi laughed coldly again and again:

"As long as he can't hold back and takes action at that moment, while we have actually already placed part of our attention on everyone else in advance,"

"Tell me, won't his 'perfect' action be caught red-handed by us?"

These words were like a bolt of lightning cutting through the fog in Tang Xiaowu's heart.

She looked at the man talking eloquently before her, her eyes sparkling with wonder.

Clearly, they were in the same situation.

Clearly, the information they had obtained was the same.

Why could this guy's brain turn so fast?

This was simply taking one step and calculating ten, handling everyone's psychology perfectly!

Is... is this still that playboy heir in the capital who only knew how to kidnap women and go cockfighting and dog racing?

"Fine! I'll go find my father right now!"

Tang Xiaowu stood up excitedly and turned to rush out the door.

"Wait a moment."

Seeing her impulsive nature, Chen Shanzhi shook his head helplessly.

Quick as a flash, he grabbed Tang Xiaowu's slender wrist and then pulled back slightly with his arm.

Caught off guard, Tang Xiaowu's body stumbled, and she crashed directly into Chen Shanzhi's embrace.

"Ah!"

Tang Xiaowu instinctively pressed her hands against Chen Shanzhi's chest.

Through the thin fabric, she could clearly feel his firm muscles full of explosive power and his strong, rhythmic heartbeat.

A hot breath belonging to a mature male instantly enveloped her.

With a *whoosh*,

Tang Xiaowu's pure and beautiful face instantly turned so red it looked like it could drip blood.

Even her translucent little ears were dyed with a layer of pink mist.

"What... what are you doing?"

Tang Xiaowu asked stiltedly, like a startled little rabbit.

Chen Shanzhi did not let her go immediately.

Instead, he took the opportunity to extend his other hand, naturally wrapping it around her slender waist that could be held in one hand.

He sighed inwardly: I have to say, the waist of this Saintess of the Witch Clan is truly thin.

And from year-round cultivation of Wu Clan techniques, it was filled with amazing elasticity.

Chen Shanzhi lowered his head slightly, leaning close to Tang Xiaowu's ear.

His warm breath blew unreservedly onto her most sensitive earlobe and snowy-white neck, causing her a slight tremor.

"Miss A-Man, why are you in such a hurry to throw yourself into my arms?"

"Who... who's throwing themselves into your arms! You were clearly the one who pulled me!"

Tang Xiaowu was dying of shame and indignation. She struggled hard for a moment but found she couldn't break free at all.

Instead, because of the struggle, their bodies pressed even closer together.

Tang Xiaowu looked up in embarrassment and anger, her beautiful eyes glaring fiercely at Chen Shanzhi, but that gaze was so watery that it looked more like she was acting spoiled.

"Alright, I'll stop teasing you."

Chen Shanzhi understood the principle of stopping while ahead.

When flirting with such a pure girl, the most taboo thing was to be impatient; one had to pay attention to the push and pull.

He released his hand from her waist and very naturally helped her straighten her collar, which had become a bit messy from the pulling.

Then, he withdrew the frivolity from his face and said seriously:

"When you go to see your father, remember to add one most critical sentence."

Tang Xiaowu took a deep breath, trying hard to calm her heart that was about to jump out of her throat, and asked with a red face:

"What sentence?"

Chen Shanzhi said one word at a time:

"Just say that this matter concerns the life and death of the Wu Clan."

"Therefore, have your father make a big scene this time. He can use our Great Zhou as an excuse, saying he must give Great Zhou an explanation. Then make everyone believe that you are going to conduct a thorough investigation of those who oppose the alliance."

Tang Xiaowu nodded heavily:

"I understand. I will definitely tell my father every single word."

After saying that, she felt Chen Shanzhi's gaze still lingering on her face.

That aggressive look made her whole body feel hot.

"I... I'm leaving!"

She threw out those words and ran out of the room as if escaping.

With that flustered back, she didn't even dare to look back once, as if a big bad wolf were chasing her.

Looking at the door that had been hurriedly closed,

Chen Shanzhi rubbed his chin, the smooth sensation of the girl's waist seemingly still lingering between his fingers.

A smile appeared at the corner of Chen Shanzhi's mouth.

"This girl, though she says no with her mouth, her body's instinctive reaction just now didn't seem to dislike this kind of intimacy very much..."