"He possesses two Daos: Light and Shadow."
The Nirvana Sage Elder's soul floated in the main hall.
Having completely lost all hope, he figured he might as well spill everything—at least he could drag some others down with him.
"Two Daos?"
The expressions of the family members darkened.
"Yes, Light and Shadow." The Nirvana Sage Elder said numbly,
"The only time I fought him was alongside the Rising Sun and the Dragon Bird.
That was also after we discovered that Min Tiange had planted Dao Seeds among our tribesmen, leading us to set an ambush to fight him."
"He actually fell into your ambush?" Li Yaoqing was doubtful.
If the Nirvana Sage Elder had the ability to ambush Min Tiange, what had the Department of Immortal Suppression and the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion been doing all this time?
However, the Nirvana Sage Elder's next words made everyone's hearts grow heavier.
"Yes, but he never cared in the slightest whether we set a trap for him."
The Nirvana Sage Elder gave a bitter laugh.
"His Daos of Light and Shadow allow him to transform into light, which is the absolute limit of speed in this world."
"He can transform into a shadow, and where in the world are there no shadows? He is omnipresent. Arrays, barriers, Dharma Treasures—none of them can trap him."
"He said we were still useful, and that was the only reason we were allowed to live after daring to offend him."
Li Wei calculated in his mind.
Which was faster: Min Tiange's Light and Shadow, or his spatial rules? It was just that his spatial rules were far from reaching the realm of a 'Dao'.
Li Wei also admitted that if the family were to fight Min Tiange, even now, they only had the ability to protect themselves.
Between the Dao-Glimpsing realm and the Dao Integration realm lay a massive gap in cultivation; it had taken him and Ah Tie over a year of combined effort just to deal with Uncle Rain.
Thinking of this, Li Wei slightly raised his hand, looking at the spatial ring he held.
Inside the ring floated two long spears.
One was a blue long spear—Uncle Rain's lifebound Spirit Treasure.
The other was the North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear that had collapsed during the great battle.
There were also many, many other items inside. He believed that once he fully digested Uncle Rain's final gift, his combat power would elevate to another level.
The same applied to his descendants.
He then asked the Nirvana Sage Elder, "Since you already knew you were no match for him, you still dared to investigate him? You certainly have guts."
"Because you were also investigating him." The Nirvana Sage Elder's words astonished everyone.
"The Department of Immortal Suppression?" Li Wei raised an eyebrow.
Unexpectedly, the Nirvana Sage Elder shook his head.
"Many, very many. Our Wu Tribe breaking the old rules and invading the Imperial Dynasty involved many coincidences.
The Human Emperor's physical condition, the cooperation with the Demon Tribe, and the matter of the Dao Seeds were only part of it.
I was sent to test the waters because, within our Wu Tribe, we felt a threat."
"A threat?" The more Li Wei inquired, the more bizarre the Western Frontier seemed.
Back then, Nirvana had charged in with such unbridled arrogance, yet now he claimed he had felt a threat.
Seeming to hear the confusion in Li Wei's words, the Nirvana Sage Elder said,
"Threats and karmic opportunities are equivalent. Your Crown Prince was in the Western Frontier for over a hundred years cultivating the Corpse-Stitching Art; how could that escape our eyes? He was merely a puppet on Min Tiange's strings."
The corners of Li Wei's mouth twitched. Turning around, he realized that from top to bottom, inside and out, the entire Western Frontier was filled with scheming old bastards.
Their Li Clan was the only group of honest people.
"Crown Prince Fei Heng spent over a hundred years in the Western Frontier secretly cultivating the Corpse-Stitching Art, using the entire Southern Frontier as his foundation.
His schemes were grand, yet he was entirely preparing a dowry for Min Tiange.
Many factions within your Imperial Dynasty were paying close attention to the Western Frontier, but they turned a blind eye and let it happen."
"Damn it," Li Wei cursed silently. No wonder back at the Dusheng Nunnery, hardly anyone cared about Fei Heng's safety.
Under normal circumstances, protecting the Crown Prince should have been the main priority, but in the end, only Perfected Qinghe from the relatively honest Heavenly Secrets Pavilion went to save him.
So everyone already knew there was something wrong with Fei Heng.
"Within your Imperial Dynasty, a group of people wanted to see if Crown Prince Fei Heng could truly grow.
If he could, then so what if the great war in the Western Frontier served as a dowry to strengthen his Corpse-Stitching Art?"
The Nirvana Sage Elder sneered.
"Another group of people were also waiting—waiting for Crown Prince Fei Heng to put on a show so that Wenren Xianyi could seize supreme power over the Imperial Dynasty."
"But the true victor was Min Tiange."
"For over a decade under the Blood Moon in the Western Frontier, did anyone ever care?"
Li Wei's breath hitched. Yes, their Li Clan cared constantly, always thinking about how to take down that son of a bitch and stuff him back into Min Youguo's pants!
"The only ones who truly cared were us." The Nirvana Sage Elder exhaled a long breath.
"We couldn't investigate exactly what the Blood Moon was. We only knew that the Blood Moon encompassed the entire Western Frontier and was advancing toward our Endless Forest. One day, Min Tiange would use it to become a Mahayana expert."
"Some in the Imperial Dynasty hoped Min Tiange would reach the Mahayana realm, while others wanted to wait for the moment of his breakthrough to replace him."
The Nirvana Sage Elder looked at the Li Clan members.
"He is your Imperial Dynasty's genius, the person with the greatest hope of reaching the Mahayana realm and contending for the imperial throne.
Even though his track record is riddled with misdeeds, there will always be conflicts of interest, and there will be people whose goals align with his."
"Just like you. You cultivate unorthodox arts, yet there are still people willing to associate with you."
"..."
The soul was returned into the baby's body.
Because he cooperated obediently, Li Zhijing placed the Nirvana Sage Elder inside the Old Tree's body and had Tian Xing feed the Nirvana Sage Elder milk.