Feng Jun chatted with Elder Qinghuang for a long time, but ultimately did not reveal how much he understood about the Void.

Elder Qinghuang shook his head and sighed, "Forget it, just do your best. I know Wan Qing has always liked you."

"Wha... what?" Feng Jun felt his tongue was a bit stiff, "He likes me, what does that mean?"

"It means exactly what it says," True Immortal Yi Jue finally spoke up, "There’s often talk that Wan Qing likes men, and it seems it’s true."

"Um... let me take a moment," Feng Jun felt his mind was a bit chaotic, the hair on his back stood up, and goosebumps appeared on his arms. For a Golden Core cultivator with an unhindered body, this was extremely rare.

After collecting himself, he asked incredulously, "Are you saying that Wan Qing has an inappropriate interest in me?"

"Isn’t that normal?" True Immortal Qinghuang replied indifferently, "The Jinwu Sect originally has a lot of male cultivators, Wan Qing grew up in such an environment, and being so handsome, he has interacted with many male cultivators early on. After eating Spirit Valley for so long, can’t one try Spirit Rice?"

"Is that so?" Feng Jun gave an uncertain glance at True Immortal Yi Jue, only to see her nodding very straightforwardly.

"I can’t accept this," Feng Jun stated bluntly, "Although I have interacted with many male cultivators, my preference will not change, I only like the opposite sex, same-sex stay away! It violates the natural laws of human reproduction and development... I suddenly don’t want to save Wan Qing anymore."

"He hasn’t forced you," True Immortal Qinghuang’s response was indeed jaw-dropping, using such a term, but then he stated his position, "If you manage to retrieve his physical body and end this karmic connection, wouldn’t that be good?"

"No!" Feng Jun shook his head decisively, "I originally didn’t have the ability to retrieve his physical body, and now it’s even more impossible... What if he wants to offer himself as a reward if I do bring it back?"

He didn’t believe that ending the karmic connection would be so simple. All his interactions with Wan Qing have been above board, so everything should continue to be above board to prevent sending any wrong signals—"above board" somehow doesn’t sound very proper?

"Anyway, just think about it," Elder Qinghuang didn’t mind, "He has done a lot for you, it’s good that you are aware."

Feng Jun really was aware. His previous encounters with True Immortal Wan Qing were all very smooth negotiations. He assumed it was because the other admired his ability and was willing to cooperate fully. Who would have thought... you have a crush on me?

Previously, he didn’t understand why Wan Qing would risk his life to protect him during an ambush, but now he understood a little. However, this understanding was more unsettling than not knowing. Just thinking about it gave him the chills.

For this reason, when leaving Blazing Flame, Feng Jun chose not to return to Kunhao but teleported to a place known as "San Men Town" before returning to Lantern Town—he didn’t want to come directly to Blazing Flame again the next time.

The reason for returning to Lantern Town was also a concern that someone might have set another ambush in the sky over White Pebble Beach. Although his heightened vigilance greatly reduced the chance of unknowingly encountering such a situation again, it’s always better to be on guard.

True Immortal Yi Jue also agreed with his caution, as the opponent was indeed too mysterious, but she couldn’t help complaining, "These nerve-racking days really spoil the mood."

"Who wouldn’t agree?" Feng Jun sighed deeply, "So we need to root out this mastermind as soon as possible."

The two flew close to the ground at a steady pace when True Immortal Yi Jue’s thoughts came through again, "Did you get any clues?"

Feng Jun was silent for a moment before asking with his mind, "Speculator... have you heard of it?"

This was something he perceived at the ambush site of True Immortal Jiu Cai. Oddly enough, he couldn’t trace back to past scenes anywhere else, but in that cave, he vaguely saw a mirror called Speculator.

"Speculator?" True Immortal Yi Jue almost stopped flying after hearing it, "What does it mean... is it a True Artifact?"

"Probably more than just a True Artifact," Feng Jun shook his head confidently. Over the past few days, he had carefully analyzed the existence of this item, "All other things have been disturbed, only this thing appears faintly, the level should be above a True Artifact."

Yi Jue felt the information he provided was a bit overwhelming, so she simply landed, "Wait, tell me more."

She raised her hand and released a Spiritual Qi Shield with a diameter of two meters, "Are you saying someone used this... Speculator?"

"Not just someone, it was that Jiu Cai scoundrel himself," Feng Jun answered very confidently, "It was placed in that cave thousands of miles away, he was observing us from there, that’s why we didn’t sense the danger."

Actually, they hadn’t completely failed to sense it; the key was that at that time, True Immortal Jiu Cai probably didn’t intend to strike hard, so there was no related energy pull, which means that later the helpers invited by True Immortal Jiu Cai were the real culprits who developed the intent to kill.

True Immortal Yi Jue nodded knowingly, "That’s true, we always suspected how such an operation could escape me and Wan Qing, so we proposed two guesses. One is that our senses were deceived, the other is... a secret technique."

Both she and Wan Qing True Immortal have strong perception abilities, and she is also skilled in deduction. They possess an almost instinctive judgment towards potential threats. If someone were to attack them on a whim, they might succeed, but setting up a large formation with such movement would be hard to go unnoticed.

Of course, if the other side comes prepared, accomplishing these tasks wouldn’t be difficult. As for possible methods, there are so many that they are beyond count. Even if everyone guesses these two possibilities, it’s impossible to verify each one.

As the saying goes, no one can understand all the methods of the Tianqin Plane.

And the "Speculator" method that Feng Jun mentioned is one that is unknown. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Yi Jue True Immortal pondered for a moment. She did not doubt Feng Jun’s information in the slightest and thoughtfully asked after a moment, "You mean to say... even if Jiu Cai’s knife, shield, and vine flag are all destroyed, no one would be willing to destroy the Speculator?"

Feng Jun nodded very confidently, "That’s right, this is a treasure that even chaos cannot completely shield. I reckon it’s at least at the True Treasure level. Who would be willing to destroy it? By the way... could it be possible that a major sect lent it to Jiu Cai?"

"Lend such a treasure?" Yi Jue True Immortal was obviously taken aback, then slowly shook her head, "Theoretically, it’s impossible. Jiu Cai is just a mere loose cultivator..."

When she interacted with Feng Jun, she didn’t despise his loose cultivator status, but when it comes to analysis, she does categorize loose cultivators separately. She’s mentioned this sort of thing several times recently.

Feng Jun didn’t mind either. He’s not so sensitive now. In fact, deep inside, he’s always been deceiving himself with the idea "I have a sect behind me"—a masterful fraudster, even deceiving himself.

So he nodded calmly, "Well, can we assume that whoever currently possesses the Speculator, or whichever force, must be closely related to the attacker?"

Yi Jue nodded upon hearing this, "I think this reasoning shouldn’t have too much controversy."

"Then the next steps are quite simple," Feng Jun grinned, "deduce who holds the Speculator, and we can catch the culprit... do you know anyone skilled in this kind of deduction?"

Yi Jue wasn’t surprised because she knew he was adept at "on-site deduction," but other areas indeed fell short.

Nevertheless, she frowned, "I’m not skilled in this kind of deduction, considering the other might obscure their aura, maybe we’ll have to ask a Nascent Soul to deduce... but if a Nascent Soul takes action, then the Speculator certainly won’t belong to you anymore."

She’s not someone who cares much about external objects, but even so, she couldn’t resist the temptation of the Speculator. After all, she’s very familiar with Feng Jun and has been through life-threatening battles with him, so she feels awkward to covet it—anyway, if he gets it, she could borrow it.

But if it were given to someone else, she would feel distressed for Feng Jun.

"If it doesn’t belong to me, then so be it," Feng Jun replied with calm unperturbedness, "Why worry about things not fated to be mine?"

In fact, his mood wasn’t as calm as he displayed. It’s just that he’s been pondering this problem for days, weighing it back and forth for a long time, ultimately believing that if the Speculator could bring peace to White Pebble Beach, it’s worth it.

No one likes living in fear every day, and he’s bringing along his family and a large group of people relying on him to earn a living. If something were to happen—thinking back to the time when he was missing, with the tense situation in the Earth Realm, one can imagine the consequences.

Moreover, it’s just a True Treasure. Now that he has the coordinates of the Void, once everything stabilizes, he can go treasure hunting in the Void. By that time, won’t treasures be within reach?

Yi Jue looked at him with surprise,"I didn’t think you’d see things so openly. I thought you valued wealth greatly."

"Of course I do," Feng Jun spread his hands helplessly, "But I dislike this constant feeling of being on guard even more... there’s a saying, you can be a thief for a thousand days, but how can you guard against a thief for a thousand days?"

Yi Jue True Immortal chuckled at his words, "Well said, very straightforward. I thought you’d say something like revenge is a must."

"Revenge is indeed a must," Feng Jun answered casually, "But if we really can’t beat them, life still goes on, and it’s only reasonable to temporarily avoid confrontation... My current priority is to find the culprit!"

"Can’t beat them?" Yi Jue laughed dismissively, thinking to herself, with Jinwu Sect and Spirit Plant Dao both having suffered losses, with us joining forces, what hurdle can’t we overcome?

However, she knew this herself, and there was no need to say it out loud, "Then you need to provide more information about the Speculator."

"As for that..." Feng Jun pondered for a moment, "Let’s wait until we return to the villa. I still need to deduce some more before I can describe it accurately."

(Update reaches here, it’s the end of the month, last three hours seeking monthly votes, the customary midnight update, planned guaranteed minimum monthly votes for August.)