The No.1 Undercover in the Immortal World-Chapter 373 - 362: She Turns out to Be the Mastermind Behind the Crimes
Thousand Mechanism Valley rose to prominence through tomb raiding.
In this world, tomb raiding began eight thousand years ago, back when it was not yet the Great Zhou, as warlords divided the land and endless wars raged on.
To obtain resources for cultivation and wealth, official tomb raiding commenced.
Later, the land was usurped by the Demon Sect, and many lived in hardship, forcing them to take up tomb raiding to make a living.
Afterward, the Righteous Path defeated the Demon Sect, but the legacy of the tomb raiders was still preserved.
Thousand Mechanism Valley was considered an ambitious group among the tomb raiders; they aspired to uncover the secrets of the ancient times.
"Our line of Thousand Mechanism Valley, tracing back nearly a thousand years, has ceased tomb raiding. An ancestor once heard from a master skilled in Divination by Observing Qi that disturbing our ancestors would lead to great harm to our virtue and that we would rise by tomb raiding and also be destroyed by it.
Since then, our clan has started to do good deeds and build up virtue, and for more than a thousand years, we have been safe and sound."
Hua Ruolan continued, her voice tinged with regret, "When I was young, I was headstrong and rebellious, not taking our ancestral teachings seriously, and besides, the place mentioned in the ancestral notes was not a burial site but a suspected Dragon Palace. When I saw it in the notes, I happily set off.
My husband also accompanied me on the journey. He adored dragons, and knowing that I was searching for a Dragon Palace, he was extremely attentive along the way. Then we found this place."
"So, you’re saying that this relic was already opened by you decades ago?"
"It would be more accurate to say that this place had been opened more than a thousand years ago. My ancestor had come here, and he went mad after returning, leaving behind only half a notebook that recorded some of the mechanisms here and ways to break part of the formations.
After passing the Reversed Chaos Reincarnation, we found a Bone Dragon in the Panlong Hall. My husband tried to take a Dragon Tooth for its Dragon Qi but didn’t expect to awaken the Bone Dragon. He escaped on his own, while I, with my lower cultivation level, had to find another way out."
This was the classic case of a couple being birds of the same forest, who fly their separate ways when disaster strikes.
Yet when Hua Ruolan mentioned this part of her past, there were no signs of hatred or disdain in her voice.
The marriage was one of convenience. She was naturally restless and never one to settle down, while Daoist Master Huang Long preferred a more obedient and compliant wife. Naturally, the two of them could not speak of sharing life and death together.
Hua Ruolan fled and found herself at the entrance to the Land of Sealed Demons.
The Bone Dragon from Panlong Hall did not pursue her any further, but with Hua Ruolan’s level of cultivation, there was no possibility of going back.
Lin Yun couldn’t help but scratch his head; he hadn’t seen Panlong Hall when he had come over. Was it because of his violent method of breaking the formation?
Hua Ruolan continued to tell her story at a steady pace.
With no way back, she had no choice but to delve deeper into the Land of Sealed Demons in search of an escape.
This search led her to the Six Fan Gates.
She entered one at random and found herself at the Gate of Lust.
"Why did you end up at the Gate of Lust too?"
Lin Yun’s eyes held a bizarre look, which Hua Ruolan noticed, and she responded somewhat annoyedly, "Don’t misunderstand; which gate one enters is completely random."
Lin Yun: "..."
"You don’t believe me?"
"Of course, I believe. A decent young man like me also entered that gate, didn’t I? I believe you, really."
Hua Ruolan: "..."
She knew Lin Yun didn’t believe her. Sadly, she was currently unclothed and couldn’t give Lin Yun a lesson, so she had to bear it and act as though nothing had happened.
"It was there that I was struck by the Peach Blossom Miasma."
Lin Yun’s eyes sparkled; the crucial plot point was coming.
Speaking of this, Hua Ruolan was quite embarrassed. In a mortified tone, she said, "There is no way to break the Peach Blossom Miasma, only through Yin and Yang union. But at the time, there were no men by my side, so..."
As she reached the "so," she really couldn’t continue.
"So what happened?"
Lin Yun asked with mischievous curiosity.
"I found a tree branch."
What happened next didn’t need to be spelled out; Lin Yun got the picture.
It was like Jiang Chenyu under the spell of the Peach Blossom Miasma, and her behavior was truly ferocious.
"I didn’t expect that the branch was no ordinary object, but something sealed by King of Zhennan with his own blood, containing the purest Demonic Thoughts of the Six Desires Celestial Demon. After I came out from the Gate of Lust, I went through a few other gates and, after seeing some secret ancient texts, I learned about the existence of demons. And that tree branch was called the Qifeng Branch, a Divine Artifact."
Lin Yun: "..."
So, you used a Divine Artifact to...?
This Divine Artifact was also a sealed object—well, that was an operation I truly had not anticipated.
With the Qifeng Branch, Hua Ruolan smoothly walked out of the Land of Sealed Demons, the Bone Dragon not daring to approach.
There were many ancient texts within the Land of Sealed Demons, and Hua Ruolan began to focus on studying formations.
She had always wanted to create a formation capable of myriad transformations. Before entering the Land of Sealed Demons, she could only combine three formations, but with so many texts available there, plus her extraordinary comprehension, she audaciously envisioned the number one hundred and eight.
The techniques of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and then the combination of formations, would achieve a mutual inclusion and close interlocking, resulting in infinite variability.
Before she could finish her research on formations, Hua Ruolan discovered she was pregnant.
After learning the news, Daoist Master Huang Long silently went into seclusion in the Yu Ling Sect. She didn’t have the heart to reveal what had happened; after all, he had been the one to abandon her first, so whatever she had experienced or endured inside, he had no right to blame her.
However, no man can easily accept such a matter, especially as Hua Ruolan was one of the rare beauties in the world. The thought that a woman he had yet to taste was defiled by someone else...
Anyway, Daoist Master Huang Long’s mental state was somewhat shattered.
He didn’t have the nerve to claim the child wasn’t his. Spreading that sort of news would embarrass Hua Ruolan as well as himself, so he simply gritted his teeth and pretended nothing had happened. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
From then on, the husband and wife lived apart. Hua Ruolan gave birth to the child and named her Flower Fairy.
The name subtly suggested she was not a visitor from the mortal realm, but a gift from the heavens.
However, Hua Ruolan also had her suspicions; the Qifeng Branch, which had been sealed with the blood of the King of Zhennan to restrain the Six Desires Celestial Demon, might mean Flower Fairy was of the King of Zhennan’s bloodline.
Although the two had never met, fate had brought them together to conceive a child through this strange twist of chance.
If it had been only that, it would have been one thing, but what Hua Ruolan hadn’t expected was that the part of Demonic Thoughts might also be a part of Flower Fairy’s father.
As Flower Fairy grew up, the demon aura about her became increasingly apparent.
After Flower Fairy turned five, she would often go into fits of madness, forgetting everything when she came to. In order to avoid raising suspicions, Hua Ruolan took Flower Fairy to live in seclusion, pondering in secret how to solve the problem.
Hua Ruolan could be considered an accomplished scholar. She thought, since Flower Fairy had demon blood in her veins, why not perform a blood transfusion?
To carry out this plan, Hua Ruolan had to return to Thousand Mechanism Valley with Flower Fairy; she needed the help of Thousand Mechanism Valley’s grand formation "Reversed Chaos Reincarnation" to transfer Flower Fairy’s demonic blood into her own body.
Then, she would use a prearranged sealing formation to seal herself.
She didn’t tell Flower Fairy the truth about the blood transfusion, only that she wanted to pass on the most precious Exquisite Heart of Thousand Mechanism Valley to her.
The plan proceeded smoothly, and Hua Ruolan had arranged everything for after her demise, putting all her affairs in order.
Although this daughter wasn’t born out of love with any man, she was still the flesh and blood that Hua Ruolan had carried for ten months. For Flower Fairy’s sake, Hua Ruolan didn’t hesitate to sacrifice herself.
However, when the critical moment came, the Righteous Path Alliance arrived, accusing Thousand Mechanism Valley of colluding with the Demon Sect.
Worried that they would discover Flower Fairy was a demon, Hua Ruolan naturally refused to cooperate.
She also underestimated the Righteous Path Alliance’s determination. She had thought that, as Thousand Mechanism Valley was a large sect with considerable strength, equipped with puppets, formations, and mechanisms of notable combat capability, the Righteous Path wouldn’t act rashly over a baseless accusation, would they?
If she could just resolve Flower Fairy’s issue, she wouldn’t be afraid anymore.
Regrettably, she was wrong. The Righteous Path had Yuxuan’s divination to guide them; facing a world in turmoil caused by demons, they had to take it seriously. The orders they had received before the operation were clear: if Thousand Mechanism Valley did not comply, they were authorized to execute.
Lin Yun felt a complex mix of emotions upon hearing this.
He had always thought there was someone pulling strings from behind the curtain, and the biggest manipulator he suspected was Hua Ruolan. Now, after hearing her explain the situation, he initially wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the story and its seductive undertones.
He couldn’t help but imagine Hua Ruolan using the Qifeng Branch...
But as the story unfolded, he felt a pang of guilt for his frivolity and for maliciously suspecting Flower Fairy’s mother.
There wasn’t any mastermind behind it all; everything was just a series of coincidences.
Hu Yuling’s Demon Race aimed to obtain the Exquisite Heart by defaming Thousand Mechanism Valley, while the Righteous Path coincidentally divined a time of chaos brought by demons. There in Thousand Mechanism Valley, Hua Ruolan, striving to protect her daughter, only wanted to delay things a little.
Because they truly did have a demon among them, and not just any demon, but a formidable Heavenly Demon.
From the beginning, she never imagined that Thousand Mechanism Valley would be destroyed because of this.
If there was someone to blame for all this, it would be Hu Yuling. If her Demon Race hadn’t secretly stirred trouble, fabricating lies and framing others, then this catastrophic misunderstanding might have been avoided, precisely when Hua Ruolan was performing the blood transfusion for Flower Fairy, bringing them trouble.
In this scenario, Hua Ruolan would have willingly taken on the demonic blood, found a place to seal herself away, and Flower Fairy would have inherited Thousand Mechanism Valley, coexisting peacefully with the Righteous Path.
All because of her!
The next time they met, he would surely hang her up and give her the beating she deserved!
Lin Yun was seething with anger as he apologized sincerely to Hua Ruolan.
"I’m sorry, I misunderstood you."
"It’s alright."
Hua Ruolan smiled warmly, saying, "Knowing that my daughter has someone so caring in her life, I can rest easy."
Hua Ruolan smiled quite beautifully. Was this the allure of a married woman?
Lin Yun, aware he was being somewhat impertinent, quickly turned his head away and said, "Actually, she’s doing quite well. She’s a cultivation genius, has several close sisters, and also me, her gentle and considerate husband."
Hua Ruolan: "..."
So Lin Yun was Flower Fairy’s husband?
She felt even more embarrassed.
If it were some stranger, she could have brushed off the situation and moved on.
But this was her son-in-law!
Fortunately, she wasn’t long for this world; death would mean no more embarrassment.
"I hope you keep today’s events a secret, especially from Flower Fairy," she requested.
"I understand," Lin Yun replied, showing he knew how to be considerate of others’ feelings.
Primarily, he thought, revealing this would likely make Flower Fairy jealous, so it was better not to speak of it. There was no sense in asking for trouble.
"Flower Fairy’s demonic blood was never fully removed. During that time, the formation was interrupted, and some of the demonic blood flowed back, causing everyone present to fall into the Demonic Path. I vaguely remember what just happened. Did Flower Fairy fall into her demonic state again?" she asked.
Lin Yun: "..."
So, the abnormal slaughter by all the members of the Righteous Path back then was also because of Flower Fairy’s demonic blood.
To think that after many years of infiltration as an undercover agent, the source of the trouble was myself?
