My health recovery is incredibly fast.

The moment Rexor confirms that the portal attacked by the Otherworldly is the secret portal used to transport the Otherworldly, the August family will become the focus of suspicion.

Bovaru has already had top-secret files fabricated to deal with the Demon Hunter's investigation.

Bovaru had only one goal: to sever all ties between the attacked teleportation portal and the alien demons that had appeared in the Western Continent.

Therefore, simply preparing forged top-secret files was not enough. Bovaru knew very well that the Witcher Masters were a group of people who did not like to leave empty-handed.

Therefore, Bovar prepared another teleportation channel for Rexor and placed traces of the Otherworldly activities there.

If Rexor can accept the forged top-secret files and the forged teleportation channel, then the August family can completely sever ties with the Otherworldly Demons of the Western Continent.

Bovaru exchanged a few words with the family elder sitting cross-legged on the metal plate beside him. After receiving the password, the elder was teleported away from the Cloud Sea Terrace, and soon only the still charming female mage remained.

"Could it be Xia Zuo's doing?" the female mage asked Bovaru after everyone else had left.

"His spacetime power is superior to yours, so he will basically not appear in the future you predict. In other words, when you are deducing the future, you cannot include him as an important factor in your predictions."

"He secretly revealed the exact location of the underwater lava cave to Rexor, which allowed Rexor to arrive there ahead of time."

“I have considered this issue.” Bovaru nodded slowly, then shook his head again:

"If Xia Zuo interfered with my prediction, then what about the alien demons that attacked the underwater lava cave?"

"Or, let's try a different approach."

"According to what you said, Xia Zuo knows the exact location of the underwater lava cave, so he probably knows that there would be an alien demon attacking the underwater lava cave last night."

"In this situation, the best time for Rexol to discover the underwater lava cave would not be when the Otherworldly Demons attacked it, but after the family guards were defeated."

"After the family guards were defeated, the underwater lava cavern was occupied by the Otherworldly Demons. Rexor, who arrived there, could have used the pretext of eliminating the Otherworldly Demons to summon the Temple army for help, directly take control of the underwater lava cavern, and slowly investigate the teleportation passage."

"Instead of what is happening now, where Rexor is blocked by the top-secret mission that Zixar mentioned, and can only barely gather intelligence before hurriedly leaving."

Bovaru looked at the female mage meaningfully:

“It is true that Xia Zuo’s spacetime power is higher than mine. But that doesn’t mean he will really fight against the August family. Otherwise, it would be him sitting here now, not me, and he wouldn’t be living in such a barren place in the Western Continent, content with the status quo.”

The female mage's lips twitched as if she wanted to say something, but she swallowed her words and lowered her head, remaining silent.

Bovaru glanced at the other person's expression, a look of satisfaction flashing in his eyes.

Chapter 67 Indirect Conspiracy

Using one enemy to devour another is one of the strategies Xia Zuo adopted to deal with the August family.

As the most loyal group in the temple, the Demon Hunter School can definitely be described as hating evil as if it were their enemy. Even the high-ranking Holy Mark Department does not want to be taken over by the Demon Hunter School.

Within the entire temple, only the Tribunal and the temple army, which have relatively independent authority and operating models, are exempt from dealing with the Demon Hunter School. All other departments, including the Holy Mark Department, must unconditionally cooperate with the Demon Hunter School's investigation; otherwise, they will be directly handed over to the Tribunal for processing.

The August family must do something to clear their name and deal with the Witcher school to avoid getting into real trouble.

After using the [Spacetime Phase Simulator] to deduce the problem, Xia Zuo clearly understood that the August family had three ways to solve their current predicament:

The first type is framing someone else, like a misdirection.

The August family forged a top-secret mission order and discovered a temple department secretly building a teleportation channel in the western continent.

A forged command document was used to prove that the teleportation portal attacked last night complied with the Temple's ordinances.

The Temple department that secretly built the teleportation channel became the scapegoat.

The August family will place traces of otherworldly beings on their teleportation channels, creating a false case that the otherworldly beings secretly used the teleportation channels because the teleportation identification code was accidentally leaked.

The August family's second method was to use the Otherworldly to kill Rexor.

This can be achieved by arranging a chance encounter between Rexor and Granzabage.

The third method is to divert Rexor's attention with a battle.

For example, assemble an army and launch a probing attack on the territory of the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, or use an emergency mobilization order to draw Rexor away.

The strategy the August family ultimately adopts depends entirely on Rexor's attitude.

If he's content with the mission instructions and a teleportation channel that's falsely accused of colluding with the Otherworldly Demons, then this matter ends here. The origin of the Otherworldly Demons who invaded the Western Continent can now be considered clear.

However, if Rexor does not accept this result and wants to follow his so-called Witcher's intuition to dig deeper into the clues behind it—to study the authenticity of the mission command or to conduct an in-depth investigation into the framed Temple Department—then the August family will come up with the latter two methods.

The true meaning of "driving wolves to devour tigers" is not to let a single wolf foolishly rush up and fight a group of tigers, but to make the tigers lower their guard first, let a large pack of wolves surround the tigers, and then suddenly launch an attack.

For Xia Zuo, the most difficult thing was figuring out how to make the tiger lower its guard.

The most difficult part is figuring out how to make Xia Zuo believe that the August family has lowered their guard.

It's like two strangers walking towards each other, each wanting to punch the other, but also knowing that the other wants to punch them.

The two used tactics such as showing goodwill to each other, making a verbal agreement not to punch each other, and swearing not to fight, in order to lower each other's guard, with the sole purpose of actually punching the unsuspecting other.

This is a classic undercover drama where seasoned veterans put on a show of acting prowess. The performance, full of cunning and scheming, will only come to an end when one of them is held at gunpoint and the other is caught off guard.

Xia Zuo has a unique advantage in this scene:

His spacetime power is too strong, so he will not appear in any of the futures predicted by anyone.

Bovaru's spacetime powers are inferior to Shazo's. Shazo can freely deduce Bovaru's actions, but he must remember one thing:

Before Bovaru successfully led his family away from the planet, everything he did was solely for this purpose, not to truly submit to Shazo, beg for mercy, or plead for forgiveness.

Through the [Space-Time Phase Simulator], Xia Zuo witnessed Bovaru explaining to the female mage beside him that the demonic attack the previous night and Rexor's early discovery of the underwater lava cave had nothing to do with Xia Zuo.

Bovaru's apparent kindness was merely a facade.

The female mage who had followed Bovaru for many years knew why he said that, which is why she remained silent.

Xia Zuo saw through the disguise and realized that his battle with Bovaru from afar had begun.

From this moment forward, there will be a disconnect between what Bovaru says and what he does in the shadows, in order to deal with Shazo, who is invisible to him.

With the enemy out of sight, can Bovaru lead the August family to suppress Shazo?

...

What kind of person is Rexol?

Beneath her seemingly rough exterior lies a meticulous and observant mind;

Experienced and tactful, with years of interpersonal interactions, they have a deep understanding of people's hearts and can see the patterns in people's lives. They are good at saying different things to different people in order to achieve their own communication goals.

Loyal to their faction, they will kill any demons they discover without mercy;

Be loyal to the Temple; any act that violates the law will attract the attention of the Demon Hunter.

He is persistent and diligent, and when he has a task to complete, he will definitely do his best to fulfill his responsibilities—using alcohol to pass the time while waiting for a research report is not considered slacking off.

By thoroughly understanding Rexol's personality, thought patterns, and style of doing things, and with a little guidance, one can lead him onto the right path.

...

Early morning.

Early in the morning, the clouds in the sky and the mist on the ground went home, leaving only the dazzling sun hanging alone in the sky, giving full play to its light and heat, and greeting every early riser with its extremely warm temperature.

As usual, Xia Zuo left his dormitory, had breakfast with An Ru'er, and then went to the alchemy room in the tower to conduct experiments.

Having developed to this point, the experience and attribute rewards gained through alchemy, reading, and practicing spells are no longer sufficient.

However, in order to maintain his laid-back persona and deal with the watchful eyes of those secretly observing him, Xia Zuo had no choice but to conduct research in the alchemy room every day, just like an ordinary pure-blooded mage.

Last night, I arranged for the No. 12 turret mage to meet and talk with Rexor. Shazo specially made the No. 12 turret look like a faceless man in order to give the bald man a greater impact, and at the same time enhance the credibility of the information conveyed by the No. 12 turret.

This arrangement proved remarkably effective. The appearance of the faceless man and the information he brought kept the bald man calm for an entire night, so much so that when Rexor knocked on the alchemy room door this morning, his face was filled with exhaustion and worry.

"Master, what's wrong with you?" Xia Zuo invited the bald man into the alchemy room and brought him some refreshing tea. "Was the information you found in the deep sea last night not good? This is the first time I've seen you so fragile..."

"The situation is indeed not good... cough cough cough..." Rexor coughed a few times hoarsely, picked up his hot tea and took a sip. After his throat was softened by the tea and his voice returned to normal, he continued:

"Late last night, I found an underwater cavern emitting the glow of a teleportation channel in the deep sea. A group of August family guards were stationed there, adjusting the energy flow of the teleportation channel. It seems they were closing this teleportation channel, which wasn't registered on the temple's list..."

Rexol recounted what had happened the previous night, then bent his arm and rested it on the edge of the desk, pressing his palm against his forehead:

"The person guarding the underwater cave told me that it is a top-secret mission location with special privileges."

"I checked with my colleagues in the temple, and there is indeed such a top-secret mission that is not open to anyone with knowledge of the secrets at any level."

"This means we've come to the wrong place. That underwater cave is located directly in my direction of travel, which is why I encountered it. The teleportation passage we're really looking for is further south of this underwater cave."

Xia Zuo sat at his desk, pondered for a moment, and nodded. "So, are you going again today?"

“Yes.” Rexol downed his cup of hot tea in one gulp. “Just like yesterday, you wait for me on the shore. I’ll go into the deep sea alone to find my target. Let’s go now.”

"Ok."

...

The deep sea is constantly in motion. The foul blood left by the Blood Wax Demon will flow far away with the seawater, eventually being diluted and cleaned up, or it will be inhaled by unsuspecting fish and sink into the deeper ocean along with the suddenly dead fish.

Only the traces left by fierce fighting could barely stay in the dark zone for one night.

Rexor started from the same cliff face, swimming in the same direction and at the same depth.

If it weren't for the traces of demon blood corroding the stone walls of the underwater lava cave, Rexor would have almost thought that the battle that took place here last night was an illusion.

Overnight, the underwater cavern was completely empty.

The glowing teleportation tunnel was gone, the alchemy device was gone, and the ground had been cleaned up with the [Shaping] spell, erasing all traces left by the event.

The top-secret mission order stated that the Holy Rune Department hired mages from the August family to build a teleportation channel in a remote corner of the Western Continent, as a convenient route for the Holy Rune Department's envoys to investigate the progress of the Western Continent.

This teleportation channel was built 110 years ago and was not used until the teleportation hall in the western continent was completed.

The alchemists and family guards who appeared here last night were ordered by the Holy Rune Department to close the teleportation channel.

Because it involved a secret mission from the Holy Emblem Department, it was not reported to Starry Night Academy.

With written evidence available, Rexol chose to believe it for the time being.

He bypassed the underwater cave and headed further south.

A kilometer south of the underwater cavern, Rexor stopped and carefully examined the energy monitoring device in his hand.

The pointer on the dashboard still points due south.

This indicates that the energy fluctuations tracked by this device are located in the south.

Passing by the underwater lava cave last night was quite a coincidence.