"Based on what I've heard, I learned that the matchless figure who ultimately Dao-dissolved was the true protector of this world and he had almost united the Vast Thousand Domains and the Dark Realm and established a powerful dynasty. The top experts of the various races were his followers and this matchless figure had wanted to put an end to the endless fighting and chaos amongst the various races and wanted to put a stop to all wars and infighting. He had almost achieved his goal but someone betrayed him at the crucial moment and the ancestors of the various races managed to travel across s.p.a.ce and time to come to this era and ambush this matchless figure. In the end, his dynasty fell..." Marquis Tingtao continued to describe the scene in detail.

He had seen the truth and saw that it had been a horrifying ma.s.sacre caused by someone's betrayal. The matchless figure who had great foresight was forced to Dao-dissolve and this ended the peace and prosperity that he had been trying to bring into this world. During his reign, the Invaders had been defeated countless times and this great leader even came up with a plan to counter the Invader's attack, but unfortunately, these all came to an end because of that betrayal.

"Although there is a curse imprinted in the blood of those followers and they were forced to be known as Sinners for generations to come, they have Immortal bodies and they fight for their beliefs as they continued to resist the Invaders. They may be treated as Sinners who are persecuted and oppressed, but they firmly believe that their leader will return one day. They believe that one day, this matchless figure will reappear and they will regain all that they've lost," Marquis Tingtao sounded like a fervent believer as he said these words.

It was clear that he had been affected by the mysterious power of the Expansion Way of the Universe and this had caused a s.h.i.+ft in his beliefs to the point that he now sided with the Sinners.

Ye Qingyu had also been affected by his words.

One betrayal had brought an end to a flouris.h.i.+ng age.

If that matchless figure could truly lead his followers to counter the Invader's attacks, then the Vast Thousand Domains and the Dark Realm wouldn't be in such a state. Ye Qingyu couldn't help but feel fascinated by the picture that Lin Xuan had described.

He was surprised to hear that there had once been such a peerless figure who had existed in ancient times and that this person was so powerful that he had almost united an entire dimension and was even stronger than Martial Emperors. He had almost dominated the whole world and his presence forced the countless Martial Emperors who existed throughout history to cross time and s.p.a.ce to appear in the same timeline and they were the ones who had brought an end to everything.

"This is as much as I know," Lin Xuan gradually calmed down and said gravely, "After I returned to Royal City, some old friends of mine had visited me to find out what exactly had happened, but I didn't reveal anything to them. After they left my residence, they all vanished and I don't know if they're dead or alive but I haven't seen them since... Military Judge Zhang Longcheng, do you regret forcing me to reveal all these to you now?"

Ye Qingyu took a deep breath and he said calmly, "Marquis Lin Xuan, isn't it too late to talk about regrets now?"

Marquis Lin Xuan nodded and said, "I know that you have formulated a plan and you're in the midst of laying out your plan, but I still want to remind you to be careful the moment you step out of my residence. I don't want to hear about the disappearance of the [Military Judge of the Nine Swords], Zhang Longcheng from Royal City."

"Ha ha ha," Ye Qingyu laughed. There was no trace of fear on his face but rather, he seemed a little elated as he saluted Marquis Tingtao with both hands clasped and said, "Many thanks for your kind words."

The information he had found out today was way beyond anything he could have imagined, so he felt like this trip was well worth his while.

After he combined this information with w.a.n.g Jianru's words and the scenes he had seen within Snow Empire's imperial palace at Heaven Wasteland Domain, he felt as though he could guess the truth behind certain events, but there were still many other questions that he had to look further into.

He had to think of a solution to resolve the crisis at the Fire Province. Although [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei] was extraordinarily talented and possessed unparalleled strength, this was no longer a matter about the Fire Province falling to the Guardians but rather, it was about how the Fire Province had become a thorn in the Guardians' camp that had to be destroyed at all costs. If the Guardians' camp called upon all the strength they had, it would be a huge challenge for [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei] to resist them all.

"Please take care, Your Grace," Ye Qingyu bid Marquis Tingtao farewell and rose to his feet.

Marquis Tingtao Lin Xuan escorted him to the gates of the main hall.

"Are you done?" Linghu Buxiu who had been waiting patiently outside walked up to them with a smile. He watched Ye Qingyu's reaction closely and tried to guess what they could have been discussing inside.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw how relaxed Ye Qingyu seemed and said with a smile, "Ha ha, Old Lin, you were so evasive earlier but I guess it's not a huge secret after all. If I had known earlier, I would have thrown all caution to the wind and followed you inside."

Lin Xuan shook his head with a resigned expression.

Ye Qingyu gave Linghu Buxiu a pat on the shoulder and looked at him as though he was saying 'do whatever you want', but he didn't say anything else.

They both knew that even though Linghu Buxiu had not entered the main hall to listen to whatever Marquis Tingtao had to share, he had indeed stepped into the Marquis' residence, so his life was also in danger.

Linghu Buxiu was not aware of the secret just like all the other n.o.blemen who had vanished after visiting the Marquis' residence, so this did not mean that he was safe. As long as those hidden in the dark wanted this secret to remain hidden, they would definitely not spare him.

As history had shown, most of the time it was always safer to kill the wrong person than to spare them.

Ye Qingyu's actions and look left Linghu Buxiu feeling bewildered, but he clocked how grim their expressions were and immediately felt a little frightened.

"Let's go," Ye Qingyu patyed Linghu Buxiu's shoulder sympathetically. He thought that he should at least give him a warning and said, "It's better for you to remain on your guard over the next few days... If there's nothing urgent, don't look for me. You're probably better off staying by Commander Nie Tiankong's side and try to avoid heading out alone."

Linghu Buxiu felt his legs go wobbly with fear and said, "No way. Is it that serious?"

Ye Qingyu said grimly, "It is better to be on the safe side."

Marquis Tingtao Lin Xuan also gave him a few words of warning.

Linghu Buxiu was gripped by terror and felt as though he had mistakenly wandered into something terrible. The situation might truly be as bad as they made it out to be, and he might be swept into this huge calamity that was a lot more serious than he had thought.

"I will," he finally said miserably.

The three of them walked back to the front yard.

They immediately heard a childish voice saying, "Tell me again, what were your crimes? Quick, repeat your words earlier. I really like the way you're begging for mercy, do that again."

It was that round-faced young servant girl and she acted like an adult as she pursed her lips and looked grimly at Zhou Hailong who knelt on the floor. She held a burning stick in one hand and stuck the other hand on her shoulder as she continued to teach Zhou Hailong a lesson, looking as though she thoroughly enjoying his groveling.

Zhou Hailong's top priority was to escape with his life, so he had to force himself to pretend to be a dog and bark loudly to try to please that young servant girl with his antics.

"Father, you've wrapped up your discussion, ha ha," Lin Nanzhu happily skipped up to her father, but her gaze remained Ye Qingyu as she said, "Zhou Hailong has finally admitted to his wrongdoings and said that our business will be restored to us soon."

She looked extremely happy and contented as she spoke.

She felt as though the dark clouds that had been hanging over the Marquis' residence was finally about to dissipate and that everything would be back to normal soon enough.

Lin Xuan shook his head helplessly.

"Your businesses are considered to be a n.o.blemen's private business and would fall under the protection of the law of the Guardians' camp. Even if Zhou Hailong had the support of Marquis Bloodbone, he wouldn't have been able to wrest control of your businesses so easily," Ye Qingyu turned to Zhou Hailong and asked, "What exactly did you do?"

Zhou Hailong said fearfully, "Marquis Bloodbone had bribed the judge and made up some evidence, so the judge awarded these businesses to Marquis Bloodbone's residence."

Ye Qingyu nodded.

It made sense now.

These businesses had been robbed from Marquis Tingtao by despicable means.

"Tell that judge to reverse his verdict and come to the Military Judge Division to accept his punishment. I'll only give him three days," Ye Qingyu said.

"Yes yes yes, I'll definitely pa.s.s on the message," Zhou Hailong frantically kowtowed on the ground.

He released a sigh of relief because he could tell from Ye Qingyu's words that he would be spared tonight.

"Alright... get lost," Ye Qingyu said with a wave of his hand.

Zhou Hailong immediately thanked him for sparing his life, then scuttled away as fast as he could.

"Huh? You're letting him off so easily? I wasn't done toying with him..." the round-faced young servant girl said unhappily.

"Alright, Xiaoyu, stop it," Lin Xuan said with some resignation. This young servant girl was an orphan who had been adopted and even though she was a servant girl, he treated her like his own daughter, so Lin Nanzhu and her were as close as sisters.

"Oh," Xiaoyu said dejectedly.

Ye Qingyu was rather fond of this young servant girl.

Then, the young man walked over to them. He looked a little frightened but still got onto his knees and kowtowed to Ye Qingyu as he said, "Many thanks for saving my life that day..." He was full of grat.i.tude toward Ye Qingyu.

Ye Qingyu helped him back up to his feet and asked, "What's your name?"

"I'm Mo Weinan," the young man said deferentially.

Ye Qingyu smiled and said, "Mo Weinan? That's a nice name. Whatever happened that day was your lucky break, and you'll still have to rely on luck, talent, and hard work to make the most out of this opportunity. Good luck."

The young man thanked him once more.

Ye Qingyu walked toward the main gates of the residence.

Frankly, this young man reminded him of Bai Yuanxing.

He had been a little surprised to see this young man at Marquis Tingtao's residence and he had thought about taking this young man under his wing. After all, he had planted an energy seed within this young man that day and felt that this young man had a lot of potential. However, the situation had changed and it would be even more dangerous for this young man to follow him, so it would be better for this young man to remain at Marquis Tingtao's residence.

It would also be equally dangerous for the young man to remain at the Marquis' residence but now that Ye Qingyu's own life was in danger, it would be hard for him to protect more people.

Thus, he would have to leave it up to fate.

The group stood outside the Marquis' residence and bid each other farewell.

Ye Qingyu immediately noticed that he was being followed.

He sensed several dark and quiet auras in the distance secretly tracking him and knew that they bore him ill will.

That was fast!

Ye Qingyu was astonished.

He looked at Linghu Buxiu who stuck carefully beside him and thought to himself, Luck would determine whether you'll be dragged into this mess. I wouldn't be able to help you if you're unlucky. He was rather fond of Linghu Buxiu and thought that he was one of the better ones amongst the n.o.blemen and that he had a loyal heart.

He had spared Zhou Hailong because he was trying to save Linghu Buxiu.

As to whether these people would believe Zhou Hailong's version of these events and trust that Linghu Buxiu hadn't heard the secret, it was entirely up to fate. After all, he could not accurately predict everything.