Chapter 16: A Deep Scheme

While thinking, Yang Zhai saw that the monkey king was struggling to stand up. Yang Zhai knew that this was his chance.

So without waiting further, he pushed his hand forward and white light shot out, which turned into a black blade.

When the monkey king saw the blade appearing out of nowhere and that the blade was moving towards it, the monkey king tried to dodge but was unable to.

The blade hit the monkey king's chest and a deep wound was inflicted. It couldn't dodge because the monkey king was wounded on one leg and the blade's speed itself was extremely high.

Yang Zhai continued to attack and only stopped when the monkey king was barely alive. He didn't kill it because he was afraid that the other monkeys might sense it, or some other problems might occur, like what if the monkey king had a connection with the sand or this cave. He was afraid of any problems occurring.

When he made sure that the monkey king's eyes had lost their light and that it could barely hear anything, he jumped into the pond. He moved very slowly in the water, not because he was bad at swimming or something but because he didn't want any problems to occur and alert the monkey king.

After swimming for a while, Yang Zhai arrived in the middle of the pond and got out of water. When he landed on the land, he saw purple sand in the middle. The place he was standing at was not that big, at most two to three meters of total land. He took out a bottle from his storage ring and stored the Sand of Moisture in the bottle. After obtaining the sand, he silently jumped into the water and started swimming. After he got out of the water, he carefully left the cave and made sure that no sound was produced.

After Yang Zhai exited the cave of the monkey king, he went back to his cave. He saw that Bae Ah was still sitting next to the bed that Cho Byeol was on.

"You're back, what about the sand? Did you get it?" Bae Ah asked.

"Yeah, I did," Yang Zhai answered.

"Then quickly give it here,"

"Wait a sec, let me make a soup first and then mix the sand in it, then you can give it to her," Yang Zhai said.

After saying this, Yang Zhai started to make soup. After making it, he mixed a little bit of the Sand of Moisture in it.

It was worth noticing that the color of the soup was yellow before mixing the sand, but after Yang Zhai mixed the Sand of Moisture in it, the color changed to that of purple. This meant that the sand was working properly and could be used now. After seeing that the Sand was already showing its effects, Yang Zhai gave the soup to Bae Ah.

Bae Ah quickly took the soup and made Cho Byeol drink it, who was in a half-conscious state. There was no change in Cho Byeol, even after drinking the soup, and was still half-conscious. But a smoke started coming out of her body, that was of purple color, meaning the Sand of Moisture was working on her.

The Sand of Moisture lasted for several days, and Cho Byeol was also improving tremendously. Not just that, but her cultivation was also improving a little. Her aperture, which was damaged, also started to show signs of improvement. She could walk properly now.

This situation gave birth to some doubts in Yang Zhai's mind. And he said to Bae Ah, when Cho Byeol was sleeping, standing in front of her bed, at night.

"As I suspected. If I'm not wrong, you guys should be careful in the future."

"What do you mean?" Bae Ah asked, who was standing next to Yang Zhai, confused, as to what Yang Zhai was trying to say.

"You still don't understand it!"

"What?"

"Think about it a little, why was it that Su Zhao, Dong-Min's uncle knew about the physique of Cho Byeol's mother."

"From the things you told me about Cho Byeol and her mother, as I understand, nobody except your clan knew about her physique, right?" Yang Zhai said.

"Yeah, that's right. Only a few members of the clan knew about her physique. And even though I know about it, that's only because I'm Cho Byeol's friend. So, what about it?"

"What I'm getting at is, if nobody outside the clan knew about it, how was it that Su Zhao discovered it?! Not only that, if he needed a physique for something, how did he know that Cho Byeol's mother's physique was up to the requirements?!"

"Don't tell me!" Bae Ah's expression changed to fear as if she thought something dreadful.

"That's right. If nobody knew outside the clan, and Su Zhao still discovered it, it means only one thing, and that is that the information was leaked from the inside, meaning there's a traitor in the clan." Yang Zhai said seriously, with confidence. 

"Not only that, why was Su Zhao so fearless as he was even ready to go inside the small space. If I'm not wrong Cho Byeol's father should be stronger than Su Zhao and then there are also the other elders"

"A small space could also be considered a prison for the outsider, except if Su Zhao had an extraordinary method, but that's very unlikely. Even if he had one, what about the elders and her father, would Su Zhao be able to escape them?!"

"No, that's not possible. Cho Byeol's father alone would have been enough to eliminate Su Zhao, not to mention the clan leader, who is even stronger than Cho Byeol's father." Bae Ah answered after thinking.

"But her father was out, doing a mission. He was not present in the clan when Su Zhao and his nephew came."

"That is something only your clan knew, how did Su Zhao know about this. And it was too perfect of a timing to be a coincidence. If I am not wrong, he was deliberately sent on a mission"

"As for his fearlessness, he should've been confident enough, otherwise why would he risk his life by going straight into the tiger's den, he was confident that he would be able to come out alive"

"If what I think is right, then he was probably relying on the traitor and his help in completing the mission."

Bae Ah started sweating after hearing about all this. Drops of sweat started to appear on her face. Yang Zhai was right. Why was Su Zhao so confident and how did the information leak from the clan?

Yang Zhai was right about all of this. Even though she wanted to refuse all of this, this was the truth. There was a traitor in the clan.

"And tell me the truth, you guys ran from the clan, isn't it?"Yang Zhai looked toward Bae Ah and asked casually.

Bae Ah, who was anxious, also looked toward Yang Zhai.

"How did you know?!

"Simple, your behavior revealed everything, but I didn't want to ask you before, but it is different now, and you know how naive Cho Byeol is. Even if she is intelligent, she still trusts me completely. This nativity was also the reason for her mom's death" Yang Zhai said casually, not caring about Bae Ah's expressions.

"How dare you. How could you say this! Her mom died not because of her but because of Dong-Min, because of that traitor!" Bae Ah was angry at what Yang Zhai said.

Yang Zhai looked toward her but didn't say anything.

Bae Ah, who was looking straight into Yang Zhai's eyes lowered her head, not saying anything. Even if she didn't want to accept it, she knew Yang Zhai was right. If Cho Byeol had been careful, nothing would've happened to her mother and her.

Yang Zhai continued"Tell me another thing, how did you manage to run away from the clan?"

"What do you mean? We simply lied and ran, there's nothing else to it"

"Oh, is that so? Do you think with her condition, Cho Byeol's father would be so careless and let you come out of the clan?!"

"If you do, then you're naive too."

"What are you trying to say?!" Bae Ah asked seriously.

"What I think is that maybe Cho Byeol's father also knows about the traitor, at the very least, he should be suspicious of the same thing I told you"

"So, what you're trying to say is that he let us run from the clan because he wanted to protect us from the traitor. We were able to leave because he deliberately let us leave?" Bae Ah asked

"That's right, even though the world is full of dangers, a traitor can be even more dangerous. Therefore, right now the outside world is safer than the small space for you guys. After all, if Cho Byeol stays at the clan, they would also try to capture her and she can also accumulate experience in the outside world"

"And it is still unknown how many traitors are there in the clan, they can be one, two, or even more"

"And how did I confirm my guess, you may ask. I don't need to confirm it after all the evidence and facts I told you about. They are proof in themselves.But…" Yang Zhai stopped in the middle of his sentence.

"But, what?" Bae Ah asked, knowing that that was not all it. There might be more to it, that Yang Zhai discovered.

"Listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you now. You told me that you were both immortals before, then you should also know the profundities of an immortal body. When a person reaches Rank 6 they become false immortal."

"Even if a person's body is fragile, it will improve after becoming a false immortal. Whether it becomes too strong or not, it'll still improve, but that did not happen in Cho Byeol's state. If my calculations are correct, she also possesses a physique, even after having a physique, her body is still weak. Were no extra improvements obtained by her body after becoming a false immortal because of her physique?! That's not possible."

"A person with a physique is always stronger than their peers, especially in Rank 6, with some exceptions though."

"How could her body be healed by this Sand of Moisture and even her aperture is showing improvements, when even the immortal methods could not?!"

"But you said that it was not related to her psychological state, that's why she could be healed," Bae Ah said, confused.

"You're right, but still how could she be healed this much in just two weeks!. Don't you think that is impossible when even the immortal methods could not affect her after her mother's death?"

"And also her body still remained fragile even after she became immortal."

"What I think is that the traitor was giving her some kind of medicine or was using some method to make her become like this. And if that person was able to do it without letting anyone know, then it could only be someone special to her or her parents"Yang Zhai said carefully, looking at Cho Byeol with sadness on his face. How tragic it was that she was enduring this much from a young age and if his calculations were right, it was someone special to her.

Subconsciously two lines of tears started to fall from Bae Ah's face. She had also thought about it many times. Why couldn't Cho Byeol's body become strong even after she became immortal? Now that she thought about it, everything that Yang Zhai said made sense. Even after having a physique, Cho Byeol couldn't solve her problem, or more accurately a scheme.

Yang Zhai looked toward Bae Ah and then toward Cho Byeol, after which he left the cave. He knew that he should leave Bae Ah alone to absorb all of this.

Reality could be cruel sometimes. It's an experience obtained through endurance. And endurance makes you see things whether someone likes it or not. It will always pierce through your heart to your brain. Eventually becoming an experience again.

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(Sorry for the delay, I had to take care of the things in my life after the covid-19. And also my phone broke, it took me a while to purchase a new one)