Jiang Li understood what was going on. The Jiang Family, in order to use him as a banner, didn't dare to directly fabricate a close connection, so they merely gave others the impression that their relationship was very intimate.
"You said before that the missing children are related to Human Emperor Jiang. What's that all about?"
The middle-aged man's smile faded and he grew serious. He didn't want to say more to Jiang Li, even releasing the pressure of his Golden Core Stage to make Jiang Li back down. In his eyes, Jiang Li was just a little fellow at the Qi Refinement Stage.
As a Golden Core senior, he felt it was necessary to make this little fellow back down and not get involved in this dangerous matter.
"Don't talk about this matter. It's very dangerous for you!"
Who would have thought that Jiang Li would control his power to the Peak Nascent Soul Stage and release his own pressure in kind.
"I'd like to see just what danger there could be."
"Na-Nascent Soul Stage..."
This matter was clearly related to Jiang Li, and the middle-aged man also had a misunderstanding about him. If he revealed his true identity, the man would be even less likely to tell the truth. Thus, Jiang Li chose to disguise himself as a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator.
The Nascent Soul Stage wasn't overly powerful, but it was enough to intimidate the middle-aged man. The middle-aged man hurriedly bowed.
"So you are a Nascent Soul Stage senior. It was I, Yuan Wuxing, who failed to recognize a true master."
Cold sweat dripped down Yuan Wuxing's back. Who could have imagined that a righteously indignant youth he casually tried to dissuade by the roadside would be at the Nascent Soul Stage? He looked like a youth, but for all he knew, the other party could be an old monster who had lived for several hundred years.
Although his previous actions weren't impolite, it would be terrible if this senior happened to be narrow-minded. In Yuan Wuxing's eyes, the Nascent Soul Stage was already an extremely powerful level of cultivation. There were only a few such cultivators in all of Green City, and the Green City Lord himself was only at the early Nascent Soul Stage.
"Alright, I don't mean to blame you. Can you tell me about the missing children now?"
Jiang Li dispersed his pressure and asked indifferently. Yuan Wuxing struggled with himself for a moment before finally steeling his heart and saying, "Senior, can you swear to the heavens that you will not spread this matter to others?" On the path of Immortal Cultivation, one must follow the Heavenly Dao.
Therefore, swearing an oath to the heavens was no small matter. Most cultivators believed that if they broke their oath, the punishment declared during the oath would come to pass. Without hesitation, Jiang Li raised two fingers and said solemnly, "I swear to the heavens that no third person will know what Yuan Wuxing is about to tell me.
If I break this oath, may I be punished by the Immortal Ascension Tribulation!" Yuan Wuxing was filled with solemn respect. This was a very severe punishment.
To face the Immortal Ascension Tribulation for breaking an oath was a certain death sentence for someone at the Nascent Soul Stage. Of course, he didn't know that Jiang Li couldn't wish for anything more than to transcend a few more Immortal Ascension Tribulations.
"Senior, please come to my humble abode."
Yuan Wuxing invited Jiang Li into his home and skillfully laid down several layers of arrays. After a moment's thought, he gritted his teeth, crushed a precious jade, and set up another array that even a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator could not peer through.
Yuan Wuxing brewed a pot of his treasured tea, pouring a cup for Jiang Li first, then one for himself.
"This matter began ten years ago. At that time, I was already at the Peak Golden Core Stage, just a thin membrane away from breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage. But I spent twenty years stuck at that membrane with no clue, unable to find a way to break through. So, I came here to Green City, hoping to find some inspiration for my breakthrough."
"Soon after I arrived in Green City, I found that someone had lost a child. I like to help people, so I thought I'd lend them a hand. Who knew that upon investigation, I would discover that the matter was not so simple. It was horrifying. It wasn't just recent disappearances; for more than two hundred consecutive years, children have frequently gone missing in Green City and several nearby cities. And all the missing were infants less than a year old!"
"I then discovered that the timing of the children's disappearances was very similar to the timing of the Jiang Family's ancestor worship. The more frequently the Jiang Family performed ancestor worship, the more frequently children went missing. So, I investigated the Jiang Family and found that it was indeed them who were stealing the children.
I eavesdropped on a conversation between the Jiang Family Head and the City Lord. The Jiang Family has been colluding with successive Green City Lords to suppress the matter of the missing children.
Initially, the Green City Lord's Mansion would send people to pretend to search for the children, but in the last two years, they haven't even bothered to pretend anymore. They just say they don't have enough manpower and won't search! A bunch of bastards!"
As Yuan Wuxing spoke to this point, veins bulged on his forehead, and he forcefully crushed the teacup in his hand.
"The Jiang Family has the Human Emperor backing them. If I rashly expose this matter, the one who will suffer is not the Jiang Family, but me!"
"I must find concrete evidence and publicize it. That way, even if the Human Emperor himself were to come, he wouldn't be able to silence the voice of the masses!"
Jiang Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "What does the Jiang Family want with these infants?"
"This..."
Yuan Wuxing hesitated.
"... I don't know. Perhaps for refining magical artifacts."
Jiang Li stared into Yuan Wuxing's eyes, his voice exceptionally stern.
"You're lying. What are you afraid of!"
Yuan Wuxing's scalp tingled under his gaze.
"Senior, I really can't say it. Whoever speaks of it will die!"
Jiang Li took out a jade token from his storage ring. The front was inscribed with "Dao Sect", and on the back was a constantly spinning Taiji symbol. The entire jade plaque was a seamless whole, not looking like it was carved, but rather a work of nature's miraculous craftsmanship.
"How about now?"
Yuan Wuxing's eyes widened. He stared at the token in disbelief, his lips trembling, as if from fear of meeting a great personage, and also from the excitement of seeing a ray of hope.
"The Dao Sect Token! You are a Dao Sect Walker!?"
The Dao Sect Token. To see this token was like seeing the Dao Sect Master himself. Those who possessed a Dao Sect Token were either other Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivators or a Dao Sect Walker.
It was rumored that no more than five such tokens existed, and this Nascent Soul senior before him clearly belonged to the latter category.
This person was likely not the old monster who had lived for hundreds of years as he had previously imagined, but a cultivation genius who had reached the Nascent Soul Stage at around twenty years of age! Jiang Li nodded.
"This humble one's name is unchanging. The current Dao Sect Walker, Zhang Li."
Jiang Li had temporarily made up a name and identity for himself. Given his relationship with the Dao Sect Master, the other party wouldn't blame him for it.
"So you are the Dao Sect Walker! And I actually made you swear an oath, this... this... this..."
Yuan Wuxing was so excited he became incoherent. The Dao Sect Walker! That was the confirmed next Dao Sect Master, a future top-tier great cultivator.
The Dao Sect, as the most ancient sect, existed even longer than the Human Emperor Palace. It had produced numerous Immortals and possessed a profound foundation, making it one of the few powers that did not fear the Human Emperor Palace.
Of course, all of this was on the premise of excluding Jiang Li, the strongest Human Emperor in all of history. With a Dao Sect Walker involved in this matter, the certainty of overthrowing the Jiang Family was even greater! Yuan Wuxing's joy was written all over his face.
He had to silently recite the Heart Calming Mantra several times to barely calm himself down.
"The reason I didn't dare to speak was that I feared implicating you, Senior Zhang. Human Emperor Jiang would very likely act to eliminate the two of us because of this. But since Senior Zhang is the Dao Sect Walker, I presume you do not fear the Human Emperor."
"Human Emperor Jiang... may be cultivating the Demonic Path!"
Yuan Wuxing lowered his voice to an extreme whisper, as if speaking any louder would allow the Human Emperor to hear him. After saying this, he looked at Jiang Li, expecting to see expressions of shock and horror on his face.
Who would have thought that the other party would look completely unconcerned, and even show a faint hint of a smile.
(End of this chapter)