Chapter 2222: Investigation
Bai Weiwei suddenly appeared above the turtle’s sh.e.l.l. She did her best to attack through the openings in the sea turtle’s sh.e.l.l, but the beast just shifted around, ensuring that the woman never faced anything other than its sh.e.l.l. Bai Weiwei was fast, but the turtle was even faster, and she could not find any openings.
Some time later, Bai Weiwei became frustrated, and she returned to the boat. "Let"s go. I can"t beat it."
Lu Yin asked, "Don"t you know a sourcebox array that can just teleport you around?"
Bai Weiwei shook her head, but then she suddenly remembered something. She turned to look at “Yu Hao” with glittering eyes. "Professor?"
Lu Yin smiled. "A teacher’s job is to teach."
Bai Weiwei absolutely wanted to learn “Yu Hao’s” sourcebox array, as the ability to instantly teleport would allow her to move faster than the sea turtle. Then, she would be able to get past the creature’s impenetrable sh.e.l.l. However, she did not know how she could ask for a sourcebox array that belonged to someone else.
She suddenly understood very well why every organization was so eager to recruit Grandmaster Gu Yan, as the benefits that his sourcebox arrays could provide were impossible to duplicate.
Sourcebox arrays were different from battle techniques, and they could have completely different functions. Oftentimes, sourcebox arrays had miraculous abilities.
Bai Weiwei was uncertain how to ask to learn a sourcebox array that could allow her to move about freely, and Lu Yin did not speak up to offer such a thing. As for the sea turtle, it just felt lucky to be left alone.
Just a few days later, the three people ran into another astral beast with the strength of a one-tribulation Envoy. The beast was part of a flock of seabirds, and it actually led the flock. Bai Weiwei targeted the alpha while Lu Yin and Prof. Bai held the rest of the birds back. After a while, Bai Weiwei eked out a victory. She had technically accomplished the task that she had been given, so it was time for them to return to Virtue Archives.
At this same time, a horrifying, heart-piercing shriek rang out from Shenwu’s Sky’s Junior Progenitor Planet. The sound came from the senior guardian of the planet who was a six-tribulation Envoy. Right after that, bellows were heard from both the White Dragon Clan’s planet and the Celestial Frost Sect’s planet. All of the commotion caused the G.o.d of Food to appear.
"What the h.e.l.l’s going on?" The G.o.d of Food was rather upset.
Madam Mo, the senior guardian of the w.a.n.g family"s Junior Progenitor Planet, was also caught off guard by all the noise. Had those three lost their minds?
A short time later, the headquarters of the four ruling powers shook, and Bai Teng, w.a.n.g Zheng, and Long Ke all moved out and made their way to the Junior Progenitor Planets. The three men represented three of the four ruling powers, and each of them were patriarchs of their own families.
The three men stared at the depleted planets. All that remained was a thin layer of star essence. There was less than 100 star essence left on each planet.
"Impossible! Who could make off with so much star essence?" Long Ke exclaimed.
Bai Teng"s face was stormy. "Either someone was able to transport it somehow, or a Semi-Progenitor took action."
As he spoke, Bai Teng glanced towards the Island of Hope. "Senior G.o.d of Food, are you not going to show yourself and say something?"
The G.o.d of Food appeared. He was also quite curious about who was capable of stealing so much from under his nose. His first thought was of Kui Luo, as there were no other possibilities aside from the old man. Only a Semi-Progenitor could steal so much star essence by hiding it all within their inner world.
However, was Kui Luo even capable of pulling off such a stunt while keeping everything hidden from the G.o.d of Food? How could he have improved so much?
"Senior G.o.d of Food, is there anything that you would like to say?" Bai Teng stared at the G.o.d of Food, and the patriarch made no attempt to sound polite.
The amount of star essence that had disappeared was astronomical, and if all three planets were combined, then more than a trillion star essence had been taken. It was a horrifying amount, and not even the four ruling powers could afford to eat such a loss.
The G.o.d of Food shrugged indifferently. "What do you want me to say?"
Bai Teng’s eyes narrowed.
Long Ke and w.a.n.g Zheng were both staring at the Semi-Progenitor as well. The only reason why they had felt comfortable not leaving the Junior Progenitor Planets under heavy guard was because of the G.o.d of Food’s presence. He was comparable to Grand Elder Ni Huang, and with Ni Huang absent, it was impossible for any of the remaining Semi-Progenitors to be able to sneak past the G.o.d of Food, unless, of course, the old man allowed such a thing to happen.
"Senior, don"t tell us that you don"t know who took all the star essence," Bai Teng retorted.
The G.o.d of Food blinked. He really did not know, but would anyone believe him?
"Honestly, I have no idea, and I’m even willing to swear an oath that it’s true."
Bai Teng’s brows rose high as he stared at the G.o.d of Food.
Long Ke and w.a.n.g Zheng glanced at each other. Despite the Semi-Progenitor’s words being unbelievable, if someone with the G.o.d of Food’s strength violated an oath, then it would prevent them from ever being able to reach the Progenitor realm. This was proof that the man was telling the truth, as this matter was not worth him violating an oath.
"Senior, you really don"t know?" w.a.n.g Zheng repeated the question.
The G.o.d of Food had no choice but to repeat once again, "I really don"t know."
He then gave w.a.n.g Zheng an odd look. "It seems that your w.a.n.g family hasn’t lost anything."
As soon as the words were spoken, both Bai Teng and Long Ke turned to stare at w.a.n.g Zheng.
w.a.n.g Zheng"s expression instantly turned ugly. "It’s possible that the thief reached their limit and wasn’t able to take any more away with them."
Bai Teng sneered. "If someone was able to take away everything from three of the Junior Progenitor Planets, then why would they leave your w.a.n.g family’s planet untouched?"
w.a.n.g Zheng frowned. "Sect Master Bai Teng, what are you trying to say?"
Bai Teng did not say anything explicitly, but his meaning could not be any clearer: he was suspicious of the w.a.n.g family.
w.a.n.g Zheng also felt quite frustrated, as there was no denying that the resources of the Junior Progenitor Planet were not that important to the w.a.n.g family, which made things even more suspicious.
Could someone be targeting his w.a.n.g family?
"Senior G.o.d of Food, has anyone visited the Island of Hope recently?" Long Ke asked.
The old man replied, "A few of my juniors from Virtue Archives recently came through, but the most powerful of them was only a three-tribulation Envoy. It’s impossible for them to have done this."
"Who?" Bai Teng quickly demanded.
If Long Ke or w.a.n.g Zheng had been the ones to ask, then the G.o.d of Food would not have wanted to answer. Furthermore, given his status, none of the junior present were capable of interrogating the Semi-Progenitor. However, Bai Teng had been the one to ask the question, and he was both the sect master of the Celestial Frost Sect as well as the patriarch of the Bai family. "Two were members of your Bai family, and they were traveling with Hao Yu."
Bai Teng was startled. "Members of my Bai family?"
Long Ke and w.a.n.g Zheng stared at Bai Teng again.
Bai Teng frowned. "There are only two people from my Bai family in Virtue Archives. Are you saying that it was Bai Lin and Weiwei?"
The G.o.d of Food nodded, and then he simply turned around and left. "They are the only ones who have recently visited the Island of Hope, but none of them could have stolen the star essence. You can look into the rest yourselves."
The three patriarchs looked at each other. They were surrounded by the Envoys who guarded the various Junior Progenitor Planets, but none of the guardians dared to say a thing, as they knew nothing about what had happened.
"We need to report this matter to the ancestors. If even Senior G.o.d of Food doesn"t know who stole the star essence, then only a Semi-Progenitor could be behind this, and a very powerful one at that," Long Ke solemnly stated.
Bai Teng stared at Hope Restaurant. Logically speaking, it should be impossible for the G.o.d of Food to use the offer of an oath to deceive them, but if the man felt that he would never reach the Progenitor realm, that might not be entirely true. Still, such a possibility was fleetingly remote.
This old man was simply too stable. He had not experienced a breakthrough in countless years. Normally, the longer one waited to attempt a breakthrough, the more difficult the breakthrough would become, but the G.o.d of Food seemed to be the opposite. The longer he procrastinated, the more uncertain others became of the man’s chances of success.
"We certainly do need to make a report to the ancestors, but we should at least conduct some investigation ourselves first. If we don’t, how will we explain ourselves to our ancestors?" Bai Teng challenged in a cold voice. He then sent out orders to stop Bai Weiwei and the others on their way back to Virtue Archives. The three needed to be sent to the Island of Hope to be questioned.
"You want to interrogate those three? Do you really think that any of them could have stolen the star essence here without being detected by the G.o.d of Food? Even if Senior weren’t here, those three wouldn’t have been able to hide anything even from the guardians of the Junior Progenitor Planets," Long Ke retorted.
Bai Teng snorted contemptuously. "Lu Xiaoxuan once upended the entire Higher Realm despite having no strength of his own. There is nothing impossible in this universe."
Long Ke had no argument to that, as it was true that Lu Xiaoxuan had used the name of Long Qi to deceive the entire White Dragon Clan. He had even nearly helped a branch family of the White Dragon Clan replace Long Ke’s family as the main branch of the clan. The entire incident had been incredibly humiliating for the White Dragon Clan.
Lu Yin and the other two had just reached the Middle Realm and were on their way back to Virtue Archives. They had already left the Middle Ocean and entered the Azure District when they were stopped and ordered to return to the Island of Hope.
Prof. Bai and Bai Weiwei shot questioning glances at each other, as they had no idea why they were being ordered back to the Island of Hope. Still, they did not argue, as the orders had come from Sect Master Bai Teng.
Lu Yin"s eyes flashed at the realization that the four ruling powers intended to question the three of them. The four ruling powers were truly cautious. Even though it was clear at a glance that “Yu Hao” and the other two could not have stolen anything without being detected by the G.o.d of Food and the other guardians protecting the Junior Progenitor Planets, they were still going to be questioned. Fortunately, Lu Yin had already prepared himself for this possibility.
Upon returning to the Island of Hope, Lu Yin was surprised to see that Long Ke was present. Seeing the patriarch brought a hint of a smile to Lu Yin’s eyes.
The questioning was intended to be very simple. After all, everything that the three people had done could be easily investigated.
At the moment, Bai Weiwei and Prof. Bai were still ignorant as to what had happened.
Even though it had been extremely easy to check into the recent whereabouts of Bai Weiwei and the other two, Bai Teng was not willing to drop the matter quite yet. After all, these three were the only people who had visited the Island of Hope recently. The sect master had constantly been staring at Lu Yin, and he had noticed the smile that had flitted across Lu Yin’s eyes when he saw the three patriarchs. Bai Teng had always felt that there was something fishy about this Yu Hao.
"Question them separately. I want to know what each of them did and how they reacted." Bai Teng continued to stare at Lu Yin as he coldly stated his demands.
w.a.n.g Zheng felt quite puzzled. "That’s unnecessary. Nothing about where they went or did is suspicious at all, and two of them are even members of your Celestial Frost Sect."
"It’s precisely because of that that I need to make sure that this investigation is conducted thoroughly. I will leave the two members of my Celestial Frost Sect to the two of you, and I will question Prof. Hao Yu," Bai Teng replied. He then immediately led Lu Yin a short ways away.
Long Ke and w.a.n.g Zheng looked at each other and laughed. As far as they were concerned, Bai Teng was going overboard, but his actions were also understandable as he was nothing more than a puppet. If not for Bai Xian’er, this man would have never managed to become the sect master of the Celestial Frost Sect.
While Bai Teng himself had no talent or impressive abilities, his children were shockingly impressive. Even if one ignored Bai Xian’er, Bai Shaohong had managed to become one of the four Junior Progenitors. If the youth had not been killed by Lu Xiaoxuan, then Bai Shaohong would have likely eventually become a Progenitor one day. If both Bai Shaohong and Bai Xian’er reached the Progenitor realm, it would have been the first time that a pair of siblings had accomplished such a feat since the ancient eras.
In the past, Bai Teng had been domineering, and even if he had essentially been a puppet, he had still been quite influential within the Celestial Frost Sect. In fact, even Semi-Progenitors had been cautious of the man.
However, Bai Shaohong was now dead, and Bai Xian"er did not care about her father. Despite being the sect master of the Celestial Frost Sect, Bai Teng’s position was not nearly as stable as it had been in the past. In fact, many people believed that Bai Xian’er would seize the position of sect master as soon as she emerged from seclusion, and Bai Teng would be forced into an early retirement.
This was why Bai Teng was so eager to accomplish something. He knew that his actions were pathetic, as he was trying to compete with his own daughter, but it was beyond his means.
Since Bai Teng had taken Prof. Hao Yu off to be questioned on his own, even though the other two patriarchs were absolutely certain that Bai Weiwei and Bai Lin had nothing to do with the theft, they still went through the motions of interrogating the two people. If anything was discovered, it could only be considered a lucky break.
Bai Teng was staring at “Yu Hao,” and “Yu Hao” was looking back at Bai Teng. There was no sign of any fear.
"I know that you’re Yu Hao, understand?" Bai Teng stated blandly.
Lu Yin put on a show of respect. "Greetings, Sect Master Bai Teng."
"Are you really Grandmaster Gu Yan’s disciple?" Bai Teng asked.
Lu Yin smiled. "Does the sect master have any questions for this junior? This junior can tell the sect master everything that happened recently, and if any discrepancies are discovered, then Sect Master Bai can handle it as he sees fit."