Having figured it out, Ning Zhuo set his plan in motion.
He spent a fortune, capturing wild monkeys and hiring demonic cultivators to poison the Monkey Head gang's monkeys.
Then, he staged a failed assassination attempt on Yuan Er.
Under tremendous pressure, Yuan Er and Yuan Dasheng retreated into a defensive stance, allowing Ning Zhuo's initial plan to succeed.
Seizing the opportunity, Ning Zhuo played the role of a sycophant in front of Fei Si, leading Fei Si to a misjudgment.
Ning Zhuo offered a forty-percent cut, obtaining the corpses of the Monkey Head gang's monkeys.
He gathered and refined their blood essence, securing blood qi identical to Yuan Dasheng’s.
Then, he deliberately joined the Flying Disc Workshop, actively participating in the production of mechanical monkeys and crafting a large number of substandard mechanical fire explosive monkeys.
He secretly infused the identical blood qi into these monkeys using the Demonic Blood Vein Technique.
On the day of the Fire Persimmon Festival, Ning Zhuo was stationed halfway up the mountain, shielded by an array formation.
He risked using a heart seal to control the mechanical monkeys, causing them to rebel and deliberately attack Yuan Er.
Fei Si activated the formation to destroy the monkeys, but the latent blood qi had already adhered to Yuan Er.
Frightened, Yuan Er retreated to Yuan Dasheng.
Yuan Dasheng was thus contaminated and infiltrated.
Ning Zhuo's gamble paid off!
Yuan Dasheng couldn’t detect the subtle infiltration, or perhaps he was so preoccupied with Yuan Er at the time that he failed to notice the minute amount of identical blood qi within himself.
Though minimal, this blood qi affected Yuan Dasheng’s finger movements at a critical moment, leading to his "mistake."
The millennium-old Fire Persimmon Forest erupted in flames!
The intricacy of Ning Zhuo’s trap was such that, even with his Heaven-Piercing Eyes, Zhu Xuanji couldn’t detect the identical blood qi.
Right under his nose, Ning Zhuo's scheme succeeded!
However, Zhu Xuanji's intervention to save Yuan Dasheng briefly unsettled Ning Zhuo’s composure.
He almost thought he’d been caught.
The fact that Yuan Dasheng was saved, with even a glimmer of life remaining, added to Ning Zhuo's anxiety.
Even more concerning was that Yuan Dasheng’s body remained intact, not blasted to pieces as he had hoped.
Particularly, Yuan Dasheng’s ten fingers were all intact, revealing a flaw in Ning Zhuo’s plan!
When Zhu Xuanji had saved Yuan Dasheng, he hadn’t concerned himself with minor details.
The identical blood qi was the perfect disguise, so he overlooked the subtle trick in the fingers.
But if they conducted a post-incident investigation, scrutinizing inch by inch, would they not uncover it?
Ning Zhuo couldn’t afford to take that risk.
Thus, Ning Zhuo needed to kill Yuan Dasheng quickly, eliminating this flaw.
However, he couldn’t act in his own name; as a mere qi refining cultivator, he couldn’t bear Zhu Xuanji’s potential backlash if the truth came out.
"I can borrow Fei Si’s authority, so Zhu Xuanji might attribute any reprisal to Fei Si instead of seeing me as the mastermind!"
Ning Zhuo threw himself into the situation, risking everything.
His surrender played out successfully, leading to ultimate victory.
Just as he had expected, Zhu Xuanji concluded that Fei Si was behind it.
Even better, Fei Si also believed himself to be the mastermind.
"In the end, it all worked out!" Ning Zhuo sighed deeply in the Flying Disc Workshop.
As he regained his composure, his breath steadied, and his mood returned to normal.
Zhu Xuanji and the others had no idea they’d come within a hair’s breadth of discovering the key clue.
Yet, just that hair’s breadth allowed the truth to remain buried.
An error of millimeters, and they missed it by miles.
"For now, I can continue hiding." Ning Zhuo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, exhaling a breath of relief.
It had been far from easy.
He hadn’t fought directly, yet he’d walked the razor’s edge the entire time.
More than once, Ning Zhuo had nearly lost his grip.
He stood up. "Elder Chen, I’d like to personally handle Yuan Dasheng’s body. This was a task entrusted to me by Lord Fei Si, and I’d like to make an impression."
Though the blood essence had been extracted and the flaw eliminated, Ning Zhuo remained cautious, unwilling to let Yuan Dasheng’s body fall into others' hands.
"You…" Chen Cha sighed deeply. "Fine, I’ll pack it up for you."
"Take good care of yourself. The corpse has already been pretreated and can be preserved for a long time."
"No need to rush."
"Truly exhausting yourself over this isn’t worth it."
Ning Zhuo bowed in gratitude. "Thank you, Elder Chen!"
…
Meanwhile, Fei Si, Zhu Xuanji, and the others had returned to the Fire Persimmon Forest, continuing to dig up the land.
It was more than just digging three feet deep; they had reached three fathoms. Numerous golden core cultivators took turns deploying various techniques and artifacts to investigate.
Nothing stirred.
Fei Si’s expression darkened, sensing that the Shadow Demon Cultivator had indeed escaped and would not reappear.
At this point, he was more determined than ever to keep digging, willing to upend the mountainside if needed.
The logic was simple.
If the mission failed, he at least had to look as if he’d worked hard, so the city lord would know that, even if he hadn’t achieved success, he’d put in the effort.
"I also ‘returned the favor’ to Zhu Xuanji, making him look foolish."
"So, the issue should be manageable."
Reflecting on his situation, Fei Si thought of Ning Zhuo.
Narrowing his eyes, his feelings were mixed.
From today’s events, he’d seen the talent in Ning Zhuo.
Despite being only in the qi refining stage, Ning Zhuo dared to infiltrate the Monkey Head gang’s territory, intimidating and bargaining with the foundation establishment stage Yuan Er, ultimately leading the latter to give up on Yuan Dasheng.
From this alone, Ning Zhuo clearly had ability and courage!
Fei Si knew well that Ning Zhuo acted out of personal motives.
Yet Fei Si didn’t mind; in fact, it made him feel he understood Ning Zhuo, feeling secure in his ability to control him.
These sentiments only made him appreciate the young Ning family member more.
"He really reminds me of my younger self."
"And he has quite the keen instinct!"
"But… I wonder, was it him who caused the mechanical monkeys to go berserk and attack Yuan Er at the Fire Persimmon Festival?"
Fei Si was not foolish, and he maintained his suspicion.
In his view, Ning Zhuo had a strong motive!
Of course, he’d heard Ning Zhuo and Chen Cha’s explanations.
At the time, after hearing his attendant’s report, he’d found it reasonable.
But his suspicions weren’t completely dispelled.
"I may not know much about mechanical arts, but who’s to say Ning Zhuo doesn’t have some technique to control the mechanical monkeys?"
"Even if he can’t control them, isn’t Chen Cha at the foundation establishment stage?"
"If Chen Cha isn’t an accomplice, perhaps Ning Zhuo hired some demonic cultivators for a high price?"
As an official, Fei Si naturally harbored suspicion about everything, evidence or no evidence.
However, Fei Si leaned towards the belief that the mechanical monkeys had been secretly controlled by the Shadow Demon Cultivator, who’d managed to escape that day in full view of everyone.
He preferred this theory because it worked in his favor.
The Shadow Demon Cultivator had made a mockery of nearly all the golden core cultivators in the city. His power was formidable!
Thus, Fei Si’s failure seemed more acceptable to the city lord.
Look, even Zhu Xuanji, with his Heaven-Piercing Eyes, couldn’t spot the Shadow Demon Cultivator. How could Fei Si be expected to?
Fei Si began racking his brain, considering how to solidify this assumption and present it in his report to the city lord.
As for the actual truth, he couldn’t care less.
In all his years handling affairs for Fire Persimmon Immortal City, he’d encountered and resolved countless cases, wrongful or not.
"I’m the official here, not a divine constable!"
It was Zhu Xuanji’s duty to uncover the truth.
Fei Si only wanted to maintain the established order of Fire Persimmon Immortal City, obeying City Lord Meng Kui and preserving his own authority and interests.