“What are you doing?” Li Ye asked.

His gaze was unfriendly, one arm around Er’er while the other directly formed a seal in front of the Diviner of the Heavenly Way.

This was a highly disrespectful action. Not far away, Xin Wu watched with a twitching eyelid, hesitating to speak.

The Diviner of the Heavenly Way commanded the Nine Heavens, his spiritual power reserves far beyond what other gods could fathom. Even Li Ye shouldn’t be so offensive to him. If perhaps…

Before he could think further, the Diviner of the Heavenly Way suddenly laughed.

“It’s rare to see you like this.” He withdrew his hand, paying no mind to Li Ye’s gesture, only smiling as he fixed his gaze on Er’er. “However, since this immortal has something to say, you should let her finish.”

Li Ye felt irritated, wanting to knock out the person in his arms and take her away. Even his fingers twitched impatiently.

But when he looked down, he met her misty eyes.

“Don’t rush,” she whispered. “I’m just giving testimony. It won’t take long.”

…

…

Li Ye frowned, about to say that the life or death of those two had nothing to do with her, when her soft hand slipped into his palm.

Her index finger slid between his fingers, gently interlocking with his hand. Er’er pouted at him, swaying their hands slightly.

Does this tactic always work?

Yes, it does.

With a cold snort, he let go of her hand and withdrew the hand that had been forming the seal, stiffly turning his head to the other side.

So Er’er walked to a spot not far from the Diviner of the Heavenly Way, bowing respectfully: “At dusk approaching night, Higher God Xin Wu and Long Xu were indeed together, right in the busy market street. I had accidentally entered this realm and couldn’t find my way out, and it was Long Xu who guided me.”

The Diviner of the Heavenly Way listened quietly, his pitch-black eyes sweeping over her exceptionally clear spiritual platform and the mixed spiritual power in her body, his face showing no emotion. But as soon as Er’er finished speaking, without further questioning, he turned directly to Dui Ren and asked: “So, has anyone else visited Xiaxin Palace?”

Dui Ren was internally shocked. He didn’t understand why the Diviner of the Heavenly Way trusted this minor immortal so much, but since he had spoken, there was no use in persisting. He could only say half-believingly: “Today there were many affairs in the Dui clan. People from Xiading Palace and the Qian clan came to pay visits. Although my brother didn’t manage affairs, he had many private connections with various gods. According to the immortal attendants, three or four visitors came and went.”

“Then it’s even more impossible to directly blame Higher God Xin Wu and Long Xu,” Er’er shrugged.

“What do you know?” Dui Ren said with slight annoyance. “Besides them, who else would wish for my brother’s death?”

“Anyone could wish for your brother’s death, except him and me,” Long Xu said, covering her hand with a groan. “Rather than pinning false charges, why not consider that with Dui Feng’s death, you become the legitimate ruler of the Dui clan, saving you a lot of trouble.”

“You!” As if his tail had been stepped on, Dui Ren flew into a rage and immediately moved to summon his magical weapon.

The Diviner of the Heavenly Way raised his hand slightly.

“Enough,” Sanskrit sounds arose.

Everyone’s movements slowed. Dui Ren’s face turned red with suppressed anger. With trembling hands, he put away his magical weapon but still couldn’t help but angrily protest: “I would never kill my brother.”

Sighing lightly, the Diviner of the Heavenly Way pinched his fingers, materializing a strand of the lingering soul he had collected. His left hand lightly hooked out a barely perceptible trace of black energy from the soul fragment.

“It should be the work of an evil spirit,” he said. “The Nine Heavens have been unstable recently, with many evil beings taking the opportunity to break in.”

Everyone looked toward that trace of black energy. Dui Ren stepped forward to look, his pupils constricting: “How is that possible? Even if it was an evil spirit, my brother had no grudge with them…”

“Can you say that without guilt?” Long Xu interrupted with a cold laugh. “What your brother was guarding, you know better than anyone.”

“…” His face changed slightly as Dui Ren clenched his fists.

As the highest immortal sect of the Golden Path, the Dui clan possessed many secret mechanisms. The Gate of Life and Death, which suppressed the netherworld, required vast amounts of spiritual power to maintain and had always been a headache for the Dui clan.

When Dui Ren first took power, he turned his attention to Dui Feng. Nourished by the spiritual power of various gods, the place where Dui Feng resided naturally had enough spiritual power to suppress the Gate of Life and Death. Dui Feng had a gentle nature; after hearing his brother’s tearful pleas twice, he agreed to his request and secretly helped guard the gate.

Unexpectedly, this brought him a deadly disaster.

His face alternating between white and green, Dui Ren found this difficult to accept. He cupped his hands toward the Diviner of the Heavenly Way and hurriedly walked toward the location of the Gate of Life and Death.

The crowd listened in confusion, but the Diviner of the Heavenly Way understood clearly. He sighed lightly and shook his head: “It’s too late.”

With Dui Feng’s death, the Gate of Life and Death would naturally escape its bonds. The netherworld below would receive an extremely abundant supply of resentful energy. The world was likely to fall into chaos.

“I will have someone investigate how the murderer entered, to remedy the situation,” he said softly. “As for everyone else, cultivate diligently. If even a lower-level evil spirit can break into Xiaxin Palace and kill someone, you all should be on alert.”

“Yes,” the gods replied in unison.

He turned and looked at Xin Wu, saying with a half-smile: “You should also settle down.”

Xin Wu stood in silence, neither responding nor looking up, the corners of his eyes full of weariness. Long Xu gazed at him from afar, somewhat worried.

“Are you finished?” Li Ye asked.

The Diviner of the Heavenly Way was startled and turned to look at him. Just as he was about to speak, a white, plump figure rolled to his side.

“All done!” Er’er pulled Li Ye along, hopping as they walked away, saying very lightly: “This way I have no guilt.”

“Those two aren’t good people anyway, what do you have to feel guilty about?” He rolled his eyes, allowing her to pull him along, following reluctantly.

“That won’t do. No matter how bad they are, they shouldn’t be falsely accused. What exists exists, what doesn’t doesn’t,” Er’er said righteously. “Even if they end up in a pig cage for their affair later, that’s none of my business, but today’s murderer wasn’t them.”

“There are no pig cages in the Nine Heavens.”

“Then what do they use? Bird cages?”

“…”

As the two moved further away until their figures disappeared into a cloud of mist, the Diviner of the Heavenly Way could still hear Li Ye’s disdainful snort.

He was somewhat stunned, his fingertips that held the divination unconsciously trembling.

“Do you have a divination?” Xin Wu suddenly spoke up. “I’m curious too.”

Realizing that Xin Wu had seen through what he was calculating, the Diviner of the Heavenly Way quickly broke the divination pattern and laughed softly: “He is a god born with heaven and earth, beyond the reach of my divination.”

Giving him a deep look, Xin Wu turned away with a flick of his sleeve: “I thought you would never acknowledge his identity.”

“Identities are fleeting as clouds,” the Diviner of the Heavenly Way answered softly behind him. “Who someone is doesn’t matter; what they intend to do does.”

Stubborn and obstinate.

Xin Wu distastefully gathered his sleeves and stepped onto his traveling cloud. Just as he was about to leave, he felt a weight beside him.

Long Xu had struggled to climb onto his traveling cloud, standing beside him quite naturally.

Hostility welled up in his eyes as Xin Wu’s face darkened.