I Have 10 Equipment Slots-Chapter 60 - 54: A Century-Spanning Plot

"PANT, PANT..."

Cao Handing’s chest heaved. The pain from his broken ribs sent waves of numbness to his limbs. As the Divine Wondrous energy throughout his body dissipated, his head spun with a mix of astonishment and horror.

He couldn’t believe it. He truly would never have dreamed that Gu Zheng, whom he had met only once before, was in the Super Body Realm and even possessed a Qing King’s Body!

’Wait, a Qing King’s Body?’

"...You... you have the Qing King’s bloodline?" Cao Handing forced the words out, his voice hoarse. "You... you’re the Qing King... AAGH!"

Suddenly, Cao Handing let out a bloodcurdling scream. His already wide eyes bulged even further, filling with shock, resistance, and madness.

"You... Don’t you dare..."

He spoke one halting word at a time, his entire body trembling. He wanted to stand up, wave his arms, or kick his legs, but his strength was completely spent from the previous moment. With his Divine Wondrous energy shattered, all he could do was flop in place like a fish out of water.

But with Gu Zheng’s foot on his chest, he couldn’t even manage a flop. Only a defiant roar from the depths of his throat showed his resistance.

However, this resistance didn’t last long. It slowly weakened and finally ceased. He stopped fighting, spread his limbs, and relaxed his mind.

His wide eyes slowly returned to normal. Though they were still bloodshot, the madness, fury, and horror had vanished.

In their place was respect, submission, and clarity...

"Whew!"

Gu Zheng exhaled, retracted his foot, and took two steps back to the side. He relaxed his mind, deactivating the Bronze Elephant Body. His frame, which had swelled to over two meters tall, slowly shrank back to its normal size.

Climbing out of the pit, Cao Handing straightened up, then bowed at the appropriate moment and said respectfully, "Master!"

"Mm. Go recover from your injuries."

Gu Zheng nodded nonchalantly and gave the order before walking to the small stream to wash his body, which was still steaming from the exertion.

That’s right. After unlocking his Bronze Elephant Body to 70% and defeating Cao Handing, the last thing Gu Zheng did was implant his second Nether Heart Slave Seal.

Killing Cao Handing would only provide a moment of satisfaction.

Enslaving Cao Handing with the seal, on the other hand, would maximize his benefits in the long run.

Two Nether Heart Slave Seals, two Super Body Realm Seal Slaves who would never betray him.

Such a good thing was something few people could ever possess.

...

"SPLASH~"

He used the stream to take a cold bath, then changed back into the clothes Zhang Meiyuan handed him.

Gu Zheng gestured for Cao Handing to come over and introduced him to Zhang Meiyuan.

Then, he asked, "You had Wu Qingzhou try to kill me to get revenge for Chen Zhizhen, right?"

"No."

Cao Handing shook his head and explained, "Chen Zhizhen’s death had some impact, but it wasn’t important. This subordinate had Wu Qingzhou ambush Master because I didn’t actually destroy the Lizard Demon’s lair. Instead, I let the Lizard Demon relocate."

"...The Lizard Demon wasn’t destroyed?" Gu Zheng raised an eyebrow. "You mean, you colluded with the Lizard Demon, but you told us you had already wiped it out. You were afraid we’d let it slip, or that we’d see the Lizard Demon again and realize you were lying. So, you had Wu Qingzhou ambush us to silence us?"

Cao Handing replied, "Correct."

’Correct my ass.’

Gu Zheng laughed in anger.

He knew something had felt strange the last time he saw Cao Handing.

And Ba Xingyu’s death had been so bizarre.

It turned out Cao Handing had been trying to kill them to silence them on behalf of the Lizard Demon!

"...Tell me, what benefit did you get from colluding with the Lizard Demon?"

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Gu Zheng asked, "You must have gained something from colluding with Demon Fiends, right?"

"There were gains. Some resources from the Demon Realm are helpful for our cultivation. But the main reason for colluding with Demon Fiends was a mission passed down from above," Cao Handing answered respectfully.

Gu Zheng raised an eyebrow. "A mission passed down from above? Who is ’above’? Is it one of the Demon-slaying Grand Generals in the Demon Slayer Bureau’s Command Headquarters?"

"No."

Cao Handing shook his head. "I don’t know if any Demon-slaying Grand Generals in the Command Headquarters are colluding with Demon Fiends. I am the one in charge of my particular undercover branch. Chen Zhizhen was one of my subordinates. Besides him, there are eighteen others in total, spread across the Internal Affairs Department and the Logistics Department."

"We can talk about them later."

Gu Zheng held up a hand and pressed, "First, tell me who your superior is."

"I don’t know." Cao Handing shook his head. "My superior has never shown their face when passing on messages. The missions are always delivered to me by unrelated people—street vendors, children, common folk, beggars, and so on. I thought about investigating, but I was warned against it every time."

"Warned? You mean threatened."

Gu Zheng analyzed the situation. "With that kind of threat, you could have reported it to the Demon Slayer Bureau’s Command Headquarters or told the Commander directly. That should have been enough to resolve it, right?"

"No. This infiltration mission of mine began when I was ten, but it has existed since my grandfather’s generation." Cao Handing’s expression was calm. "Master, how old do you think this subordinate is now?"

"...You look about fifty." Gu Zheng glanced at Cao Handing, a strange look on his face. "Wait, you’re not going to tell me you’re over a hundred, are you? Can someone in the Super Body Realm live that long?"

"A person in the Super Body Realm can live for one hundred and eighty years, which is three sixty-year cycles."

Cao Handing explained, "Physically, this subordinate is indeed fifty-one years old. However, I have existed for one hundred and seventy-one years."

"What do you mean?" Gu Zheng raised an eyebrow.

"He was in a deep sleep for one hundred and twenty years."

Zhang Meiyuan couldn’t help but interject, "Cao Handing, you entered the Zhong Family’s Ancestral Land and slept in the ’Ice Pupa Pool’ for one hundred and twenty years, didn’t you?"

"Yes."

Cao Handing glanced at Zhang Meiyuan and nodded. "One hundred and twenty years ago, I was selected by the royal Zhong Family and secretly trained until I reached the Shadow stage of the Alien Body. Then, I entered the Zhong Family’s Ancestral Land and fell into a deep sleep at the bottom of a pool that was waterless but incredibly cold."

"I slept for one hundred and twenty years. Of course, at first, this subordinate didn’t know so much time had passed. It was only after I consumed a Fifth-Turn Treasure Pill, broke through to the Super Body Realm, and came out that I learned one hundred and twenty years had gone by in the outside world."

"But even so, the person who ordered me to collude with Demon Fiends came to find me on the third day. They gave me my mission and informed me about Chen Zhizhen and the others."

Gu Zheng fell silent.

The information Cao Handing had just revealed was truly staggering.

This was no longer a simple, insidious scheme.

This was a grand conspiracy, a master plan spanning centuries!

The royal Zhong Family of the Jing Country had started laying their plans over a hundred years ago.

And the person behind Cao Handing had been planning for a hundred...

No, the person behind Cao Handing had started their plan over two hundred years ago.

Cao Handing’s grandfather’s generation had been chosen to infiltrate the royal Zhong Family as a sleeper agent.

And the only ones capable of such a feat were undoubtedly the Noble Families.

Only the great Noble Families, with their legacies stretching back thousands or even tens of thousands of years, had that kind of power and ability.

’They...’

’Knew about the Celestial Change and the descent of Demon Fiends hundreds of years in advance!’

’These people...’

’What in the world are they trying to do?’

Both the Jing Country’s royal Zhong Family and the mysterious Noble Family that had Cao Handing infiltrate them were plotting something!

’What are they plotting?’