In Douluo Continent, I am the mastermind behind the scenes.

Huo Yuhao: "..."

Tang Ya really is useless at everything. Tang Sect, as the former number one sect on the continent, and with the same origin as the Sea God Pavilion and Shrek Academy, has such a prestigious reputation, yet it can't recruit any disciples or supporters within Shrek City. Can you believe it?

Later on, they even resorted to tricking a "ten-year" soul ring master into joining the Tang Sect, going to extremes with no regard for morality, which can be described as outrageous to the extreme.

Besides, Tang Ya's parents weren't exactly smart people. The Tang Clan had fallen to such a state, with no capable experts within and enemies eyeing them from the outside. Didn't they know to seek refuge in Shrek City?

Others may not know the relationship between the Tang Sect, the Sea God Pavilion, and Shrek Academy, but does the Tang Sect Master himself not know it?

Putting aside that filter, Huo Yuhao knew very well that Tang Ya was indeed a bit... well... intellectually challenged, the kind of person who squandered a good hand.

In this life... the Holy Spirit Cult truly had no reason to kidnap Tang Ya.

So where did Tang Ya go?

Thinking of this, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but ask, "Sister Yunxi, didn't the Sea God Pavilion send anyone out to search? Even if Sister Xiaoya has gone to the Sun Moon Empire's territory, with the Sea God Pavilion's intelligence network, surely they could find no trace of her, right?"

Yunxi said irritably, "We just can't find her. Tang Ya is a flag bearer of the Tang Sect. No matter how despicable she is, we shouldn't let her disappear without a trace. The Sea God Pavilion not only used the highest level intelligence network, but also sent some high-level soul masters to assist in the search. We searched for a whole month and still found nothing."

Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao picked up his teacup and drank it all in one gulp. He then stood up, waved his hand, and said in a strong, clear voice, "Let's go!"

"Where to?" A look of confusion flashed in Yunxi's eyes. With a major battle imminent, why would she abandon important matters and go to find someone insignificant?

Even if we're looking for Tang Ya, we need to have a direction. Douluo Continent is so vast; searching blindly is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Heavenly Dou City".

Huo Yuhao replied coldly, ignoring Yunxi, and strode out of the private room.

……

The scene shifts, and after being searched by professionals, Huo Yuhao and Yunxi are led by a palace maid into the former Heavenly Soul Empire's palace.

Of course, the two were not captured, but came to Tiandou City through official channels as special envoys of the Sea God Pavilion.

Soon, the two arrived at the Liangyi Palace. Although Zhu Ningyu was not fond of the Sea God Pavilion, she still received them with the highest honors.

After all... the "peace agreement" signed by the two camps has not been torn up yet. The conflict in the eastern sea is at most a civil war between the northern and southern spirit fighting factions. As long as high-level soul masters do not get involved, everything is still just children's play.

"Gentlemen, according to intelligence, you arrived in Lingdou City yesterday at noon. Why aren't you in Lake City overseeing the official schedule? What are you doing in our Tiandou City?"

As she spoke, Zhu Ningyu picked up a large apple and put it to her mouth, but then she thought that it would be a little unseemly to eat an apple in front of strangers, so she could only silently put the apple back on the fruit plate.

Seeing this, Huo Yuhao, who was about to reach for a pear, froze instantly, and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Could this be... a clever scheme to seize the birthday gifts?

(P.S.: For those who are unfamiliar with the plot of the robbery of the birthday gifts, here Huo Yuhao suspects that the fruit platter itself was not poisonous, nor was the large apple itself poisonous, but the act of picking it up caused the apple to become contaminated with toxins, thus polluting the entire fruit platter.)

In order to achieve sustainable development and improve the overall intelligence of the Douluo Continent, Qin Yi wrote and published quite a few enlightenment stories, and now it seems that the effect is quite obvious.

Huo Yuhao quickly withdrew his right hand, straightened his clothes, and looked at Zhu Ningyu in front of him. He said with a serious expression, "The information that the Sea God Pavilion mobilized a large number of people to search for something recently cannot be kept from you, Sect Leader Zhu. I can tell you clearly here that we did not lose anything, but a person. Tang Ya, the former sect leader of the Tang Clan, suddenly disappeared without a trace, as if she had vanished into thin air."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ningyu blinked and said thoughtfully, "Perhaps some powerful figure valued Tang Ya's talent but wasn't too fond of the Sea God Pavilion, so he secretly took Tang Ya as his disciple and secretly took her out of Shrek City."

"What talent does Sister Xiaoya possess that makes her so valued by those reclusive powerhouses?"

Huo Yuhao almost ground his back teeth to powder. He had seen people praise others before, but he had never seen anyone praise someone like this. What kind of praise was this? It was clearly sarcastic and insincere!

"Master Zhu, I know Xiaoya's situation better than anyone else, but she has done me a great favor. I can't just ignore her sudden disappearance."

"Alright, if Sect Leader Zhu can provide me with clues about Xiaoya's whereabouts, I'm willing to exchange a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast for the information. If Sect Leader Zhu can return Xiaoya to Shrek City intact, I'm willing to offer a forty-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's torso bone."

Please.

As he spoke, Huo Yuhao suddenly stood up and gave a slight bow in Zhu Ningyu's direction.

"I'll keep an eye out for you."

Zhu Ningyu said this expressionlessly, then waved her hand, making a gesture as if to see the guest out.

The original text can be found at 6#9@book/bar!

The two were somewhat perceptive; seeing that Zhu Ningyu was getting impatient, they quickly cupped their hands in greeting and, guided (and monitored) by a palace maid, silently left Liangyi Palace.

Watching Huo Yuhao and his companion's figures gradually disappear into the distance, Zhu Ningyu's gaze grew increasingly profound. She felt that... Tang Ya's sudden disappearance was far more complicated than she had imagined.

You may not take the Sea God Pavilion seriously, but you can't underestimate the power it controls. Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. After all, the Sea God Pavilion has been the supreme ruler of the three great empires of the original Douluo Continent for ten thousand years. The Ningyun Sect has only been established for a few decades, and its intelligence network may not be able to match the Sea God Pavilion's reach.

"How could a perfectly healthy person suddenly disappear?"

Zhu Ningyu crossed her arms and stared blankly at the Douluo Continent map on the wall.

She knew that even if the intelligence departments of Ningyun Sect and Sun Moon Empire investigated, they could only find some insignificant clues at most. It would be far from solving the mystery of Tang Ya's disappearance.

Fortunately... Zhu Ningyu possesses most of Qin Yi's memories, and as a transmigrator, she certainly won't limit her investigation to Tang Ya.

"Hongling, notify Xu Guiyue to thoroughly investigate all areas within our controlled territory. Look for any areas with excessively dense or sparse spiritual energy, or those frequently experiencing spatial fluctuations, or anything else that seems unusual. Compile a list of these areas and report back to me." (End of Chapter)