Grudge Breaker

Chapter 384 The Uninvited Guest (Part 2)
"Therefore, the beast tamer is someone else."

"With such beast-taming abilities, yet never leaving a trace in the martial world." Mo Tingfeng glanced sideways at Song Weichen, who was utterly exhausted and fast asleep. "In this Goddess Peak teeming with ferocious beasts, this person's level of danger is probably even greater than that of an Earth-type Rank A."

But who could it be? ...

Mo Tingfeng looked at Gu Cangyue, "Have you encountered any suspicious people these past two days?"

Yes, you are.

"Yesterday you took Weiwei away without a word and left her to face danger alone. What were you thinking?"

Big Bird knows how to kill by destroying one's spirit; one sentence almost drove Mo Ting to depression.

But if there were better options, how could he possibly do this? There are countless malicious eyes on Goddess Peak, especially in the first two days after entering the mountain. Whether Song Weichen follows him or Gu Cangyue, she will be in great danger.

Take today's surprise attack by ferocious beasts, for example. Those few fierce battles that defy description, if she had been there, even if he had risked his life to protect her, injuries would have been inevitable.

To lull her opponent into a false sense of security, Gu Cangyue deliberately planted a dream bud tainted with puppet energy in her eye before emerging from the cloud cocoon, feigning that she was still under the control of the dream bud and her mind was occasionally unstable. Although it was far less dangerous than the dream bud tainted with the blood of the Bibi, Mo Tingfeng dared not gamble. If Gu Cangyue lost her focus even slightly, the consequences would be unimaginable. For Song Weichen, this was not a matter of probability, but a targeted explosion.

The atmosphere suddenly turned somewhat cold, and even the candles inside the cave dimmed.

Fortunately, Gu Cangyue wasn't determined to confront Mo Tingfeng. Seeing that her words had saddened him, she offered him a way out.

"I've tested Hua Zhezhan's skills today. If you're worried that Weiwei will be in more danger with us, why don't you just find her, reveal Weiwei's identity, and have Hua Zhezhan protect her for the next few days?"

"General Hua..."

Mo Tingfeng hesitated for a moment, recalling the inexplicable interest Hua Zhezhan had shown in Song Weichen at the Lord of the Realm's banquet. For some reason, he felt that her concern was abnormal.

He surely understood the principle of choosing the lesser of two evils.

“I prefer you. When she wakes up, I will protect her and let Weiwei absorb the puppet energy that has already sprouted in your dream. We will perform this ritual every time we meet these days. This way, we can keep her puppet energy from dying out, and you will remain clear-headed. It will be a win-win situation.”

"really?"

Gu Cangyue was surprised that Mo Tingfeng was willing to let Song Weichen follow him. Her face instantly lit up with joy, and she found Mo Tingfeng much more pleasing to the eye. She subconsciously began to offer him advice.

"By the way, you asked about the suspicious person earlier."

"I met Qin Xueying last night."

"Out of curiosity, I secretly followed her for a while and found that she always went into deep caves, quickly going in and out, as if she was looking for something. Now that I think about it, that location should not be far from the area where you encountered the ferocious beast."

"Isn't she and Ruan Xingxuan close sisters? Logically, she should be taking this first trial seriously, both for personal and professional reasons, but it doesn't seem to be the case."

"If anything is suspicious, I think her behavior is suspicious."

They specifically chose to enter caves? After a moment's thought, Mo Tingfeng understood.

"The eldest princess is probably looking for the Yellow Springs Sun Grass. It seems that her primary goal is to win the second trial."

A thought suddenly flashed through Mo Tingfeng's mind—it's too coincidental. The timing that Gu Cangyue mentioned is too coincidental. It's very likely that those suddenly appearing ferocious beasts are the hosts in these nearby caves. Could it be... that their attack is related to Qin Xueying?

Gu Cangyue raised an eyebrow.

"Hey Mo, do you think it's possible that Qin Xueying and that top-tier beast tamer who appeared out of nowhere are in cahoots?"

"Do you remember what I said when we were analyzing Mengya's mischief at the Sikong Mansion? — Knowing that I would be attending the banquet, daring to make a move at the banquet, and having the ability to make a move against me at the banquet, there is probably only one surname in the entire Dream Realm: Qin."

"I now reasonably suspect that the mastermind behind the tampering with Mengya that night at the Lord's Mansion's victory celebration banquet was none other than Qin Xueying!"

……

Qin Xueying.

Although Gu Cangyue's words lacked concrete evidence, and Qin Xueying's motives and purposes for doing so could not be found at the moment, Mo Tingfeng felt for the first time that his words made sense.

Thinking about it carefully, Qin Xueying has been acting strangely for a long time.

It all started when she suddenly came to stay at Sichen Mansion for a while.

First, she used the Bewitching Heart Zither to bewitch Mo Tingfeng and get close to her; then she deliberately targeted Song Weichen at the Spring Banquet; then there was the blunderous marriage arrangement at the Lord of the Realm's celebration banquet; and then there was the farce involving the noble lady at Xi Man Lou—if these things were done by Ruan Mianmian, it would be understandable, but if they were done by Qin Xueying, every single one of them seemed unreasonable.

Since she didn't suddenly develop feelings for him, there must be a bigger conspiracy behind these actions.

Mo Tingfeng looked intently at Gu Cangyue.

"In your opinion, if Qin Xueying is truly related to this suddenly appearing beast tamer... what is her purpose in participating in the trial as an ordinary sorcerer?"

Gu Cangyue snorted coldly.
"Whatever she's trying to achieve, just tie her up and throw her to that old lord of the region, let him investigate himself!"

...Mo Ting was furious; he'd been careless... He really shouldn't have seriously discussed business with Gu Cangyue...

Enough of this. It's all just speculation. Since Qin Xueying's motives are still unclear and there's no concrete evidence to prove that she's the mastermind behind the corruption of Mengya, we shouldn't alert her.

"Leave her aside for now. If the princess is truly connected to the beast tamer, we should start with this newly appeared uninvited guest and follow the clues to find the source."
.
"Is it possible that the uninvited guest is Jing Zheng?"

Without warning, Song Weichen's voice suddenly came over, her words clear and without any trace of sleepiness—in fact, she had been pretending to be asleep the whole time. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to hear the "private conversation" that Mo Tingfeng was deliberately having with Gu Cangyue far away.

She wasn't stupid. With the blood all over him, how could what Mo Tingfeng had experienced be as trivial as he made it out to be?

And that's how the matter of the Beast Tamer came to light.

Seeing the two of them stunned by her sudden interruption, Song Weichen simply sat down next to them.
"We're talking about beast tamers, keep talking, why are you looking at me?"

"Yes, listen to Weiwei, let's get down to business." Gu Cangyue perked up this time, "...But who is Jing Zheng?"

Although Mo Tingfeng had just mentioned it, Gu Cangyue still had no recollection of the name—to the phoenix, all things in the world were like ants, so his reaction was not surprising.

Mo Tingfeng felt a pang of sadness; this birdman's brain capacity was probably already small, and now it had shrunk to the point where it could only hold one person.

However, he still added a sentence: "He was the chief镖头 (chief镖头 is a term for someone who is very skilled in controlling beasts) of the Jingmen镖局 (Jingmen Escort Agency) back then. Eight hundred years ago, he was ordered to quell a rebellion in a time of crisis. He later died in battle on the frontier and his body was never found. However, he was a rare master of beast control in the world."

"Uh-huh."

Gu Cangyue gave a perfunctory reply, but couldn't help turning her head to look at Song Weichen. She was only forced to withdraw her attention when she sensed Mo Tingfeng's "killing intent".

"Cough, what if it really is him? Weiwei said that after eliminating all the impossibilities, even if it's hard to believe, it's still the truth. If Ma Zhenchun could become a necromancer after death, why can't Jing Zheng?"

His words earned him repeated thumbs-ups from Song Weichen.
"Yes, yes, that's exactly what I meant. And Mr. Mo, you said that Jing Zheng's body was 'completely destroyed,' which means that he may have been turned into a living dead long ago."

Mo Tingfeng was taken aback, clearly not having considered this possibility. It must be said, Gu Cangyue's thought process was rather peculiar these days, probably somewhat influenced by Song Weichen.

After a moment's thought, he rejected this claim.

"impossible."

"Even if it were Jing Zheng, the missing person is his only granddaughter, Ruan Xingxuan. There is no way he could stop the Master of Destruction from searching for her."

“But the person is already dead, just like Ma Zhenchun, who has become a puppet, without likes or dislikes, love or hate, and is just following orders. What’s impossible?” Song Weichen reacted very quickly.

“Yes, I think Weiwei is right. Whatever Weiwei says is right.” Gu Cangyue had no principles.

“Weiwei is right.”

Mo Tingfeng, analyzing the case, was like a meditating monk, completely undisturbed by the two, calmly stating the facts—

"But Beast Tamers are different from others. They have an extremely strong ability to control their consciousness. Unless they do so willingly, it is impossible for their consciousness to be invaded and for them to become someone else's puppet."

"Even if it is based on voluntariness, the person who can control the Beast Tamer must be a Beast Tamer who is extremely skilled in controlling consciousness, and even stronger than Jing Zheng, in order to have any chance of success."

"Then we come back to the point. Apart from the other eight beast tamers mentioned earlier, such a person simply doesn't exist. But these eight people aren't here, so they had no opportunity to commit the crime. Therefore, we can deduce that the one who controlled the ferocious beasts to attack us couldn't have been Jing Zheng, who was controlled by these eight people."

"The last and most important point is that if Jing Zheng is like Ma Zhenchun, and is placed in an evil array after death and made into a strange creature, his beast-taming ability will be greatly reduced, and he will never be able to control a divine beast like 'Qiongqi' again."

"Since the person behind Jing Zheng has beast-taming abilities surpassing his own, why doesn't he go himself instead of going through all the trouble of enslaving a dead man?"

Mo Tingfeng's words silenced Song Weichen. Indeed, the intricacies of these beast tamers were far more complex than simply enslaving Ma Zhenchun, and could not be compared in a straightforward way.

"It seems the trail has gone cold again."

Song Weichen sighed.

A top-tier sorcerer, an oddball, the elusive Tinderbox, a suspicious princess, and now a beast tamer who can control a second-tier ferocious beast—how dare Goddess Peak act any more recklessly? How long would her health bar need to survive to go home?

"Tired, destroy."

Song Weichen leaned back, stretched out her limbs, and started to slouch, looking just like her illusory little meat guinea pig.
.
"My lord, we're back!"

Ding Heran's voice came from the cave entrance, and in the blink of an eye, she and Ye Wujiu were right in front of him.

Upon seeing that Gu Cangyue and Song Weichen were also present, he repeated the formalities before speaking.
"As for the Eldest Princess, since entering the mountains, there has been no evidence that she has had any clear contact with anyone; Madam Jing just left the supervisory office and went to investigate the place where Ruan Guiren's whereabouts were clearly found, as reported by the newly registered participants; in addition, Old Tree sent a targeted message to Wujiu, saying that he would try his best to restrain the Earth Element Class A to repay your past kindness, and asked you not to worry too much."

"As for other discoveries..." Ding Heran and Ye Wujiu stepped aside, revealing the person behind them.

"Let him say it himself."

After seeing the expressions on the faces of the people behind the two, Mo Tingfeng understood what was going on. He raised his hand, gesturing for the person to come forward.
"Perhaps the trail hasn't gone cold."