Star Trace Gate

Chapter 987 The Young Marquis Emerges from the Mountain, Iron Cavalry of the Underworld Traverses th

After hearing Niu Dali's instructions, the young marquis instantly realized that his chance to turn his life around and redeem himself had arrived.

Ever since entering the North Wind Town secret realm, he's faced constant setbacks and misfortune, becoming a loser on par with Qu Acai. Even after being successfully rescued, he frequently endured the sarcasm and ridicule of Master Chu. Therefore, he's been waiting so long for an opportunity. But not to prove his unparalleled genius; rather, to personally show the Little Bad King that when it comes down to it, he can be your father too!

The young marquis already knew that Jiu Zhi was someone Ren Ye absolutely needed to obtain, otherwise the other party wouldn't be able to complete the Heavenly Dao's task. So if he could capture this person, then he could unleash the Little Mischief King anytime, anywhere, to mock him, ridicule him, and torment him... he could even personally take off his pants and feed him that fine beef.

Thinking of this, the young marquis was filled with excitement and respectfully clasped his hands in a fist and said to Niu Dali, "Thank you for your trust, brother. I won't say more. In short, as long as I don't die, I will definitely help you bring Jiuzhi back."

“Good, that’s exactly what I appreciate about you – your straightforwardness.” Niu Dali nodded in satisfaction, then quickly added, “I’ll transfer thirty experts from the Imperial Guard to accompany you. Once we reach the East Gate, you don’t need to make things difficult for Wang Tudou. Just tell him you can agree to all his conditions and have him come to the Martial Monk’s Mansion to work with me. After that, once he hands over Jiuzhi, you can quietly take them back. As soon as he arrives, I’ll immediately hand him over to Lord Lingmao, and it will have its own way of sending Jiuzhi away silently. Then, I’ll be protected.”

"Understood." The young marquis nodded emphatically.

"Go quickly, go quickly. I'll have the guards on the back street clear a path for you. Take your men out through there and don't make a sound."

"it is good."

"...!"

After the two "brothers" finished their discussion, the young marquis hurriedly left and waited in the backyard for the thirty personal guards dispatched by Niu Dali to come and assemble.

About fifteen minutes later, the young marquis, accompanied by thirty personal guards, left from the back street, where the fighting was relatively less intense, and headed straight for the east gate.

As they crossed the back street, they encountered a large number of monk soldiers stationed there, causing some chaos. With strangers everywhere, the young marquis took the opportunity to release a small spirit rat from the spirit pouch in his sleeve, which quickly disappeared into the night.

The group rushed along the road and arrived at the East Gate in no time.

Chen Zhiyou, the garrison commander of the East Gate, led more than ten monk soldiers down the city wall to greet him, and clasped his hands in greeting, saying, "Lord Hou, you've finally arrived!"

In terms of official rank, the young marquis was merely a lowly errand boy in the martial monk's mansion, utterly unworthy of being addressed as "sir," let alone receiving a respectful "you" from Chen Zhiyou. But alas… he was Niu Dali's new favorite, and had even saved the commander's life, so Chen Zhiyou could only feign obsequiousness and adopt a very humble posture.

The young marquis bowed slightly: "Lord Chen, you are too kind. I am merely a foot soldier before my brother, and I dare not address myself as 'Lord.' Oh, by the way, where is Wang Tudou now?"

“He’s in the dark room down below the city gate.” Chen Zhiyou said with a serious expression when he saw him bring up serious matters. “The lord sent me a message that he has allowed Wang Tudou’s seven close friends to leave Beifeng Town. Now that he’s alone, there’s no chance for him to break through the gate, so I arranged for him to stay in the dark room to prevent the news from leaking out.”

The young marquis frowned: "Have you verified Wang Tudou's identity?"

“Oh, that’s natural. I forced him to release a wisp of his true soul aura and carefully sensed it… This true soul aura cannot be faked, so there is absolutely no possibility of impersonation or disguise,” Chen Zhiyou replied expertly.

"That's good." The young marquis nodded in satisfaction. "Now that his seven close friends have left through the east gate, have you managed to get him to reveal Jiuzhi's whereabouts?"

“I asked, but Wang Tudou said… he could only tell the trusted men sent by Lord Niu about Jiuzhi’s whereabouts.” Chen Zhiyou shook his head and replied, “He doesn’t seem to trust us city gate guards very much.”

"Alright, I understand." After a moment's thought, the young marquis immediately said, "I'll trouble Lord Chen to lead the way; I'll go see him right away."

"Please!" Chen Zhiyou immediately made a gesture of invitation.

Outside the city, in the desolate wilderness.

Yang Mingfan, leading seven members of the Potato Squad—Qin Heizi, Zhang Tan, Sanyue, Han Mengmeng, and Yang Sanhai—is speeding along.

Along the way, He Daoren, one of the two cannons, frowned and said in a puzzled tone, "I still can't understand why the captain would take such a risk?! This is not in line with our team's style of doing things..."

"I told you to go first, and he took all the risks by himself. Isn't that enough?!" After holding back for a long time, Qin Heizi finally retorted, "If you're not satisfied, then go back and leave the team."

"Can't I even say something?!" Daoist He retorted.

"Shut up, all of you!" Yang Mingfan glared at him and shouted sternly, "When carrying out a task, there is only execution, no objections. Have you all forgotten that rule?!"

The moment those words were spoken, the discord that had just arisen within the team vanished instantly. Everyone chose to remain silent, refraining from further chatter, and focusing solely on executing the team's plan.

In the desolate wilderness, under the bright stars and moon, the seven people flew swiftly, releasing their spiritual power without reservation, heading straight for the southeast.

In the dark room beneath the city gate tower, the young marquis, accompanied by thirty personal guards, met Wang Tudou, who had been waiting for a long time.

"I'm the one Lord Niu sent to pick you up. My surname is Hou, you can just call me Brother Monkey." The young Marquis put his hands behind his back, looked down at Wang Tudou sitting in the chair, and said succinctly, "No more nonsense, your seven close friends have already left, I want to see Jiuzhi now."

“Okay.” Wang Tudou didn’t hesitate and stood up immediately, saying, “Let’s go now. I’ll take you to find Jiuzhi.”

"please!"

Young Master, please step aside.

Before long, Wang Tudou followed the young marquis out of the east gate without looking back, and then headed straight for the inner palace.

……

On the long street outside the monks' mansion, Moro and his men were extremely anxious as they were unable to break through the great formation inside the mansion. They were urgently discussing countermeasures.

Behind the war-torn land, Ren Ye hid in his carriage, his heart filled with restlessness. Because they hadn't been able to capture the Martial Monk's Mansion or cause large-scale chaos, he had no chance to leave this place and secretly carry out his own plans.

"Wu Batian, you son of a bitch, you've come here to have some fun?!" Outside the carriage, Chu Daoye shouted loudly, "You son of a bitch, you better get over here right now and protect Master Zhenyi personally."

Not far away, Wu Batian had already fought his way in and out of the great formation of the Martial Monk's Mansion dozens of times. Judging from his actions, his ability to lead troops into battle was really quite ordinary, but his personal martial prowess was unparalleled among those of the third rank.

The great formation inside the Martial Monk's Mansion is capable of affecting the souls of cultivators, making it easier for those of lower rank to lose their way. However, this kid, with just two large hammers, managed to break into it dozens of times, committing a frenzied massacre, and almost managed to open a breach several times, leading the main force behind him to break in.

"What kind of turtle formation is this? It's so solid! And those monk soldiers inside aren't even fighting me anymore, they're just hiding in the illusion and launching sneak attacks, it's really hateful." Wu Batian, holding his double hammers like a goose, cursed and said, "Turtle generals and turtle soldiers, I'm not fighting anymore."

As soon as he finished speaking, he returned to Ren Ye's carriage to wait.

After seeing him return, Lord Chu boarded his carriage and said to Ren Ye in a very fast voice, "A great change has occurred on the young marquis's side, and I may have to help him."

"What happened?!" Ren asked with a surprised look.

"As you instructed, before today's uprising, I established an emergency communication method with the young marquis. I asked Liu Wei to buy a third-grade spirit rat in the bustling market, which is already familiar with my aura. Just now, the spirit rat returned with news of the young marquis." Chu Daoye lowered his voice and said, "Niu Dali sent people to keep an eye on Jiu Zhi, a total of nine people, but they were discovered by Wang Tudou and his men and killed on the spot. Therefore, Niu Dali did not have any reliable high-grade personnel at his disposal, so he temporarily transferred the young marquis to the East Gate to bring back Jiu Zhi."

Ren was completely confused and asked, somewhat puzzled, "No, I didn't understand. Wang Tudou discovered Niu Dali's spies and then killed them all... So why did he send the young marquis to the east gate to pick up Jiuzhi?!"

"That's how it is...!" Master Chu quickly relayed the information the young marquis had given him to Ren Ye, saying, "So... Wang Tudou is actively seeking cooperation with Niu Dali. He claims that as long as Niu Dali releases his seven team members first, he can hand over Jiu. As long as the other party can guarantee that this person doesn't die, he can return to the Divine Monk's Mansion with me to report back later."

Upon hearing this, Ren frowned, seemingly lost in deep thought once again.

Master Chu was also utterly perplexed, saying, "To be honest, I really can't see Wang Tudou's motives. You see, he already has Jiuzhi, so why would he go through all this trouble to cooperate with Niu Dali? It's completely unnecessary! He already has the person; he could just find a way to leave quietly. By handing over Jiuzhi willingly, the initiative... is completely out of his hands. What if Niu Dali suddenly loses his mind and kills Jiuzhi? He'd have nowhere to cry! Besides, cooperating with Niu Dali at this point... is purely 'Yu Tiange's' behavior! The situation is so complicated; who knows who will have the last laugh? Why would he want to wade into this mess?"

Ren slowly raised his head and blurted out, "There's only one explanation: he realized he couldn't escape, so he had to cooperate with Niu Dali. Judging from Wang Tudou's previous performance, he definitely hasn't been idle lately, and he probably already planned many ways to escape... So, it must have been an accident. Something unexpected happened to him, which prevented his escape plan from being implemented, and he was forced to side with Niu Dali."

“That makes sense. But I still can’t figure out what kind of accident could have happened to make him choose to stay behind and risk his life.” Master Chu was still puzzled.

"Logically speaking... if Wang Tudou had to side with someone and temporarily choose an ally, it should definitely be Moro. After all, he had been living in the inner palace and was familiar with Moro, so his actions would be more prudent. So... why did he choose Niu Dali?" Ren Ye muttered with a suspicious look.

"Could it be related to the Spirit Cat? Could it be that Wang Tudou thinks the Spirit Cat has a better chance of winning this battle?" Chu Daoye analyzed, following Ren Ye's train of thought. "Also, Niu Dali has never shown any interest in Jiu Zhi before, so why is he suddenly trying to take Jiu Zhi today... Could it also be a task that the Spirit Cat had already arranged? So... this bastard has been acting all along, and has actually been paying attention to Jiu Zhi for a long time?!"

Upon hearing this, Ren Ye's eyes suddenly lit up, and his face turned deathly pale. He exclaimed, "That's right! That's right! Niu Dali had never shown any interest in Jiu Zhi before, so why is he suddenly so determined to get this person today?!"

"Didn't I say? This might be a task the Spirit Cat ordered him to do!" Master Chu said, somewhat speechless. "Were you even listening to me?! Think about it, the background of the North Wind Town Secret Realm is based on the struggle between the Divine Court and the Tianzhao Temple. And you are the representative traveler of the Divine Court lineage, that's beyond doubt; while if the Spirit Cat really wants to obtain Jiuzhi, he will inevitably be the representative traveler of the Tianzhao Temple. Therefore, it's perfectly reasonable for Heaven to set up a conflict that forces the two of you to fight to the death! It also fits the theme of treacherous ministers and fierce generals...!"