Supreme Cultivation Master

Chapter 706: Chapter 705: Mysterious Behind the Scenes

Ye Fan said, "No one believed I could defeat you, but you still died by my hand, no matter how arrogant you once were. No matter how powerful you might have been, you’re worthless now that you are dead. Your death might make me famous throughout the world, but in a few hundred years, who will even remember your name?"

This was what Ye Fan was thinking. After arriving in this dilapidated space, he began to search for anything useful. He held the Heroic Sword Technique and the Nine Dragon Emperor Technique in his hands.

"Although these two cultivation techniques are considered top-tier in the Divine Domain, they’re worthless to me," Ye Fan said with disdain. "Still, I might as well keep them. Maybe I’ll give them to someone else."

He stored the two cultivation techniques away. One was for swordsmanship, the other for martial arts, and they were the Little God Monarch’s most prized techniques. Even with the Little God Monarch dead, Ye Fan showed no signs of greed. He knew that although these were top-tier techniques, he already possessed ones that were far stronger, making them largely meaningless for his own cultivation.

Then, he resumed his search.

Damn it, where did the Hero Sword go?

Ye Fan was frustrated. The Hero Sword was gone. The whole reason he had taken the Little God Monarch’s head was to acquire the Hero Sword, but it was nowhere to be found. He wracked his brain, finally remembering where it had gone. It seemed the God Monarch Palace had recalled it the moment it moved to protect the Little God Monarch. The more Ye Fan thought about it, the more annoyed he became. Without the Hero Sword, the Little God Monarch’s storage space seemed worthless.

After searching for a while longer, he stumbled upon a hidden secret. It was a remnant of the Little God Monarch’s consciousness.

"I have always been your shadow. Everything I’ve done has been to pave the way for you! I can’t accept it! Why do you get everything without lifting a finger? I work so hard, yet everything I achieve is given to you. I hate you, and I hate those old geezers even more!"

Seeing these thoughts, Ye Fan was shocked. He understood the general meaning: everything the Little God Monarch had done was for someone else’s benefit. Who was this "someone else"? Could it be that the Little God Monarch wasn’t the number one genius of the God Monarch Palace? If that was true, the thought was terrifying. Defeating the Little God Monarch had nearly cost Ye Fan his life. He didn’t know if this remnant consciousness was real or fake, but it was hidden deep within the Little God Monarch’s mind.

That could only mean it was true. This mysterious person... Ye Fan couldn’t even imagine who they might be. Why would they strip the Little God Monarch of everything? The Little God Monarch already possessed the talent to reach for the Ancestor Realm, which meant the person lurking in the shadows had to be even more powerful.

Ye Fan hastily erased the remnant thought and withdrew from the Little God Monarch’s consciousness, his severed head still in hand.

Wait!

Ye Fan was startled. He immediately plunged back into the Little God Monarch’s consciousness. He had a feeling he’d seen a terrifying mark next to those words. He looked again at the Little God Monarch’s most resentful thoughts. This time, as he analyzed the writing, he discovered something truly alarming: a Black Butterfly mark.

Could it be that the person with the Black Butterfly mark is the one the Little God Monarch was talking about? Ye Fan was stunned. From the look of things, it was most likely true. He realized he would have to be wary of this person in the future.

Wait, have I seen this before?

The thought struck Ye Fan suddenly. He quickly rummaged through his own storage space and finally found it: a jade pendant. A Butterfly Jade Pendant. It was small and exquisitely crafted, clearly the work of a powerful expert. But now, he couldn’t look at it so casually.

The pendant was none other than the one given to him by the guard captain in the mine supervised by the Jingnan Divine Captain, just before the man died. The owner of the pendant was his sister. Could there be a connection? The more Ye Fan considered it, the more frightened he became.

He exited the Little God Monarch’s consciousness one last time, shattering the mental remnant completely. He then sent the head, along with the information about the person in the shadows, to the several Main Gods of the Righteous Divine Lineage.

By now, more than a month had passed since the war, but to Ye Fan, it felt as if the battle had just happened yesterday. Life was like that, always full of conflict. Soon, the Little God Monarch would fade into the annals of history, forgotten by all. If anyone did remember him, it would only be as a stepping stone in Ye Fan’s rise. The Little God Monarch was the first step on his path.

The Black Butterfly Jade Pendant was also etched into Ye Fan’s mind. If the message in the Little God Monarch’s consciousness was true, Ye Fan believed that his war with the Little God Monarch had actually been a conspiracy.

The Great Wilderness Main God arrived. He was now counted among the Righteous Gods, though he still cultivated the techniques of the Evil Gods, much like the Qin Heavenly Main God. But the Great Wilderness Main God didn’t care in the slightest. He was convinced he was on the right path.

Upon seeing Ye Fan, the two exchanged pleasantries for a moment. After all, he was Ye Fan’s de facto father-in-law.

"Senior, do you know about this?" Ye Fan asked.

"Still calling me Senior?" The Great Wilderness Main God laughed.

"My respects, Father-in-law!" Ye Fan quickly said.

The Great Wilderness Main God smiled with satisfaction. To be honest, even he was bewildered by the path his life had taken, having somehow stumbled into becoming a martial artist of the Righteous Divine Lineage. As they spoke, Huang Ji served them tea.

"Father-in-law, do you recognize this?" Ye Fan asked.

He had sketched the Black Butterfly and handed it to the Great Wilderness Main God. The Main God looked at it and said, "I don’t recognize this at all. What’s the matter?"

Ye Fan explained, "I beheaded the Little God Monarch. When I entered his consciousness, I found a resentful message, along with this mark." He then showed him the passage he had transcribed.

Seeing the words Ye Fan had written, the Great Wilderness Main God was shocked. He never expected the God Monarch Palace’s secrets to run so deep.

He asked Ye Fan, "Are you suggesting that the owner of this Black Butterfly mark is the person the Little God Monarch spoke of?"

Ye Fan nodded. "That’s right."

"And how did you come by this?" the Great Wilderness Main God asked curiously.

Ye Fan told him the entire story. Afterward, the Great Wilderness Main God declared, "This is simple enough. I will go and investigate! Although there’s no evidence, it won’t be difficult for me. I’ll find out the background of this guard captain!"

"Good!" Ye Fan nodded immediately.

The matter was urgent, so the Great Wilderness Main God didn’t delay, leaving at once to begin his investigation.

Half a month later, a message arrived from the Great Wilderness Main God. It contained information about the guard captain. Ye Fan marveled at the Main God’s intelligence network; to be able to dig up this information was truly impressive.

He opened the message and read that the guard’s name was Xu Ruiming. He had been born into humble circumstances as a lower-class citizen of the Divine Domain. At the age of ten, he was captured by the Jingnan Divine Captain and forced into slavery. After decades of servitude, his excellent performance earned him the position of guard captain, where he was put in charge of overseeing the other slaves.

When he finally returned to his hometown, he discovered his parents had died in a war—the Divine Domain was, after all, a place of constant turmoil. His sister had also disappeared. He searched everywhere but couldn’t find her. Defeated, he had no choice but to return to the mine and his post as guard captain.

Ye Fan was shocked after reading the report. So he really did have a sister. The question that remained was whether the owner of the Black Butterfly Jade Pendant was that sister. Was it all a coincidence, or was it fact? Even Ye Fan couldn’t be sure. Nevertheless, he committed the matter to memory.

This issue wasn’t going to be resolved easily. The Main Gods of the Righteous Divine Lineage had already begun their own investigations, but finding out if this person even existed would be extremely difficult. If they did exist, they were hidden deep within the powerful God Monarch Palace.

Meanwhile, Ye Fan’s own cultivation had reached a critical bottleneck, so he began preparing for a breakthrough. For him, this was now the most important task. He had avoided it before his fight with the Little God Monarch, afraid of the distraction. But now that the battle was long over, he knew it was time to break through.

He knew the dangers he would face in the future would be even more severe. The Evil Gods and the God Monarch Palace already bore a grudge against him, and they were neither kind nor merciful. They were likely already plotting to kill him by any means necessary. The only thing he could do was enhance his own power. Only overwhelming strength could guarantee his safety. In the end, he could only trust in his own power.