Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 374 Internal and external cooperation
"Who is that Agula?" Song Xian continued to ask.

"He is a well-known bounty hunter in Donghai City. As for how he got in touch with Luoyun Sect, I don't know."

Bounty hunters are cultivators who earn money by taking on bounty missions. Many forces in the Muhe Grassland issue bounty missions.

For example, if a certain cultivation material is needed, or if a cultivator offends a certain power and runs away, a bounty will be placed on their head.

Of course, there are also bounty missions posted by individuals. Places like intelligence trading stations have a lot of personal bounty missions.

How did you know I would come to the market?

"It was the people from the Luoyun Sect who told us."

Song Xian's eyes narrowed: "Luoyun Sect, they've also arrived in Xijiang County? Who contacted you?"

"It's a Qi Refining cultivator named Xu Tian. We met briefly at the market inn last night. He told us that you might be attending the market auction today and asked us to keep watch inside. As he instructed, we arrived at the auction venue early this morning and kept an eye on you after you entered. We followed you until you left the market."

Song Xian had never heard of Xu Tian before. He figured Xu Tian must be someone in charge of intelligence within the Luo Yun Sect. How could he know that he would be going to the market to bid today?

This was definitely not a baseless guess; someone from within the Hunyuan Sect must have provided him with information.

Very few people within the sect knew that he was coming to the market to participate in the auction. Apart from a few core members, the most likely person to betray him was Deng Lin, a disciple of the sect who was currently in charge of intelligence. It was Deng Lin who reported to him that there would be Wutai Gold Essence for sale at the market auction.

This material is the main material for crafting second-tier high-grade puppets. It is not available for sale on the market. A long time ago, he had contacted the intelligence peak and given them several sets of puppet materials that could not be bought on the market, asking them to inquire more about them.

Song Xian's suspicion of Deng Lin was not solely due to the fact that Deng Lin was not a core member of the sect.

The most crucial evidence is that no titanium concentrate was sold at this auction, proving that his intelligence was wrong.

Considering the ambush incident, it's clear that it was a trap he and the man named Xu Tian had planned.

With the sect now in such a state of decline and morale low, it would be easy for the Falling Cloud Sect to win people over by offering them substantial rewards.

"Besides Xu Tian, ​​has the Luoyun Sect sent any Foundation Establishment cultivators?"

“I haven’t seen him; we’ve been in contact with Xu Tian.”

"What's your next plan? What do you intend to do after you kill me?"

"Agula plans to kill you first, then find a way to take over Huangyu Mountain and swallow all the spirit stones from your sect. He said that Luoyun Sect has spies inside Huangyu Mountain who can cooperate with our operation. As for the specific details of the operation, they have not yet been discussed."

Song Xian asked a lot more questions, such as Agula's whereabouts, the identity and background of the Foundation Establishment Level 5 cultivator, when Agula made contact with Luoyun Sect, and who the sect's spy was, etc.

The man answered each question directly, stating that he did not know if he did not know.

"I swear to heaven and earth that I will never make things difficult for you again. Wherever you are in the future, I will give way to you whenever I see you." Seeing that he remained silent, the man felt uneasy and quickly swore an oath, hoping that the other party would let him go.

Song Xian did not answer, and the huge fireball hovering in mid-air crashed down on him.

"You will be punished for breaking your promise."

Upon seeing this, the man realized that Song Xian had no intention of letting him go, so he roared loudly.

...

"Even if I die, I will never let you go." After a fierce exchange, the man was exhausted and his last protective barrier was breached. He screamed and cursed with red eyes.

The fireball crashed down, and the raging flames instantly engulfed him.

The man screamed and fell from mid-air.

With a thought, Song Xian summoned the golden-armored ant and the puppet back to his side.

The golden-armored ant raised its head, its mouth stained with blood and flesh, and gently rubbed against Song Xian's thigh, like a child seeking praise from an adult.

Song Xian gently stroked its head. The Golden Armor Ant had performed unexpectedly well today, and this was the first time he had seen it in actual combat after advancing to the next level.

In a one-on-one situation, the Golden-Armored Ant single-handedly defeated the opponent's spirit beast, the Black Moth.

Without its help, it would be hard to say who would win or lose.

The opponent was also well prepared, not only facing three against one, but also bringing along the Moth Spirit Beast.

For anyone else, this would be a dead end.

Without the Golden-Armored Ants and the second-tier puppets, he would be no match for them on his own.

After storing the Golden-Armored Ant and the Puppet in his storage bag and spirit beast bag respectively, he flashed to the dying man, took the storage bag from his waist, and opened the Blood Soul Banner, letting the Crimson Ghost inside absorb all his flesh and blood before leaving the place.

Upon returning to Huangyu Mountain, Song Xian immediately summoned Su Zhirou, Lin Zixiang, and Hu Xiaobao, and briefly recounted his ambush. All three were greatly shocked.

"Sect Leader, Deng Lin went out this morning and hasn't returned yet." Lu Yuan entered from outside and bowed to him.

"It really was him." Song Xian's face darkened. Deng Lin's escape basically confirmed the suspicion that he was the mole.

"Xiaobao."

"What are your orders, Sect Leader?"

"Immediately seal off this mountain and strictly prohibit anyone from entering or leaving."

"Yes." Hu Xiaobao responded and left.

"Senior Brother Zixiang, gather everyone and stand by."

"Okay." George Lam nodded and accepted the order.

"Why is my husband gathering people? Are we going to retaliate?"

"If I'm not mistaken, Deng Lin isn't the only spy from the Falling Cloud Sect within the sect. There must be others. We must find this person." Song Xian's eyes flickered slightly. Deng Lin had already left, so he definitely wouldn't be coming back.

Regardless of whether he can escape this calamity or not, Deng Lin is already a dead pawn that has been exposed. Even if he is killed, the others in the sect will launch an investigation and will soon find out about Deng Lin.

Therefore, it was impossible for him to continue staying at Huangyu Mountain as an inside agent. According to the Foundation Establishment Level 3 cultivator with a bulbous nose, their original plan was to kill him first and then attempt to take over Huangyu Mountain. They also said that Luoyun Sect had spies inside Huangyu Mountain who could cooperate with the operation.

This spy must be someone else.

If this person is not found, he will surely become a future problem.

The failure of Luoyun Sect's plan this time does not mean they will give up; they may come up with another plan if one fails.

Song Xian planned to narrow down the search first, find out those who had recently left Huangyu Mountain, and then use the mind-controlling talisman to interrogate them one by one.

The sect currently has only fifty disciples in total. It won't take much effort to identify this person by eliminating them one by one.

The simplest way is to capture the Luoyun Sect disciple named Xu Tian and extract information from him to uncover the traitor within the sect, which is much easier than investigating each individual one by one.

However, Song Xian did not know where Xu Tian was now. The man with the red nose at the third level of Foundation Establishment said that he had only seen him once, last night at the inn in the market, and Xu Tian took the initiative to come to him. Usually, he would contact the leader, Agula, alone.

Song Xian was worried about the situation at Huangyu Mountain, so he immediately rushed back. …

After a day of investigation, Lam Chi-cheung identified five suspects. Sung Yin summoned them one by one to a secret room for a meeting, and as he expected, one of them was the mole.

This person is named Zhang Rong. He was trained by the sect and originally served at Zhenqi Peak. Now he is a member of the array guards of Huangyu Mountain.

According to his confession, the Luoyun Sect contacted him half a month ago, and they made the connection through Jin Lai, a former disciple of the Tianshan Sect.

The two had a good relationship when they were in the Hunyuan Sect. After Jin Lai left the sect with Huang He, he joined the Luoyun Sect.

After the two sides met, Luoyun Sect offered him a generous reward, asking him to cooperate with others to destroy the great formation at a crucial moment.

As for when and how, he hasn't been told yet; he's just been told to prepare.

Song Xian executed the man in public and told his four other disciples to keep their mouths shut and not to tell anyone about the Mind-Bending Talisman.

.........

As night fell, in the brightly lit room, Su Zhirou leaned against Song Xian with a worried expression, her head resting in his chest.

"Isn't everything alright? There's nothing to worry about. Trying to take my life won't be so easy." Song Xian gently stroked her smooth, black hair.

“We’ve already left Bianxi City, why won’t they let my husband go? Why are they so determined to kill him? They don’t even care about our past relationship.” Su Zhirou murmured softly.

“Is Tao Jinyuan the kind of person who values ​​old friendships? We used to get along quite well with him, simply because we didn’t have any conflicts of interest.”

"Husband."

"Ok?"

"If one day we return to Bianxi City, will you let your aunt and him go?"

"Don't think about these things." Song Xian leaned down and kissed her cheek lightly. "From now on, we must be extremely careful and try not to go out."

.........

Dark clouds obscured the moon. In a secluded, deserted mountain forest in Xijiang County, a beam of light shot down, revealing the figure of a Muhe Grassland cultivator with slightly graying temples, a tall and slender build, deep-set eyes, and a high nose. It was none other than Agula.

With a wave of his hand, a burst of spiritual energy shot out. Immediately afterwards, a scream was heard, and a figure emerged from its concealed state not far away, flying backward and crashing heavily in front of a large tree, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Ah... Senior Agula, why are you doing this?" The man clutched his chest in pain, staring at the other party in shock, not understanding why the other party had suddenly attacked him.

Agula's face was ashen, his eyes fierce. In a flash, he appeared in front of the man, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up: "You dare to ask me? How did you do your job? You almost killed me."

"Senior Agula, I don't understand what you mean. When have we ever harmed you?"

"Why don't you mention that Song Xian has a second-tier spirit beast and a second-tier puppet?"

"I...I don't know." The man's face showed panic.

"Don't know? You said you didn't know, and I almost lost my life. How do you want to settle this score?" Agula stared at him fiercely, like a wild beast ready to devour its prey. If looks could kill, the man would have been sliced ​​to pieces by his sharp gaze long ago.

"Senior, please don't worry. What happened? From what you're saying, did the ambush fail?" The man swallowed hard, trying to remain calm.

"Hmph!" Agula shoved him to the ground: "I'll spare your life, but I'll tell your sect later that if they don't compensate me for my losses this time, I'll never let you off the hook."

The man took two deep breaths, leaned against a large tree, and slowly stood up. "Senior, could you please tell me what happened? Even if you want compensation from our sect, you must allow me to return and give an explanation. Otherwise, how can I report back to the sect without knowing the truth?"

"What happened? Do you even need to ask? There were three of us who set off, and now only I've returned. That's all there is to it." Agula snorted coldly.

"You mean? They're both dead?" The man's face was full of disbelief.

"One of them is already dead, and the other is probably in grave danger as well."

"Then, what about Song Xian?"

"What do you say?"

The man's pupils constricted, his heart filled with shock. Three Foundation Establishment cultivators—one at the eighth level, one at the fifth level, and one at the third level—had been killed by a single fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator. Two of them had been killed, and the third had fled back in a sorry state.

"How could this be? Could he have accomplices?"

"Didn't I tell you? He has a second-tier puppet and a second-tier spirit beast."

“But…” The man originally wanted to say, “But there are three of you. Even if it’s three against three, it shouldn’t be that the other side is completely unharmed. Two of you will die and one will escape.” However, looking at the other side’s fierce eyes, he swallowed his words.

"May I ask, senior, what level are his second-tier puppet and second-tier spirit beast?"

"The spirit beast is a golden ant. Although its spiritual energy aura is only at the fourth level, its combat power is much stronger than that of an ordinary fourth-level spirit beast. Its true strength is about the same as that of a fifth-level spirit beast, equivalent to a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator. The puppet's rank is unknown, but its strength should also be no weaker than that of a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator."

Agula, feeling ashamed, raised the strength of both his puppet and spirit beast by one level in an attempt to save face, and then threatened them in a vicious tone.

"This is all your fault. Why didn't you find out his background? You were the ones who started this, so you have to give me an explanation. Two of my three brothers are dead, and my fourth-tier spirit beast, the Illusionary Moth, which I painstakingly raised for many years, has also been lost. If your Falling Cloud Sect doesn't compensate me for my losses, I'll never let this go."

…………

The rain poured down, the wind howled, and the bamboo forest rustled as if a thousand horses were galloping.

Inside the brightly lit hall at the Luoyun Sect's mountain gate, Jin Yuanxing entered with a solemn expression.

"Master, news has come back from Xijiang County that Agula's ambush of Song Xian failed, and not only that, he also lost two of his companions."

Tao Jinyuan's eyes narrowed: "What's going on?"

"Xu Tian is back and waiting outside. Let him explain the details!"

“Summon him in.”

Soon, Xu Tian arrived and carefully recounted the whole story.

After hearing his words, Tao Jinyuan's expression became even more solemn, and he unconsciously tightened his grip on the armrest of the chair.

A brief silence fell over the hall. Tao Jinyuan's eyes flickered slightly, and it was unclear what he was thinking.

Jin Yuanxing broke the silence: "It seems we underestimated Song Xian. This kid is much stronger than we imagined. Agula is a well-known bounty hunter from the Muhe Grassland, so his strength is definitely not weak. He also found two helpers. The three of them joined forces to ambush him, but not only did they fail to capture Song Xian, two of them died and one escaped. This shows that Song Xian's personal strength is no weaker than a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Add his spirit beast and puppet, and it would probably take three late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators to go toe-to-toe with him."

"Reporting to the sect leader, Agula has threatened that our sect must compensate him for his losses, or else he will not rest with us."

"Hmph!" Tao Jinyuan snorted coldly: "Three men ambushed one, and he was slaughtered and lost his armor. He's a piece of trash, yet he dares to talk big."

Jin Yuanxing frowned: "The sect leader is right, Song Xian is indeed a major threat. If we don't get rid of him soon, the consequences will be endless. But after this failure, it will probably not be so easy to target him again."

Tao Jinyuan's eyes gleamed: "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, we still have a chance."

(End of this chapter)