Ma Zhi Wu sighed and folded the letter back together, putting it into the envelope again and then hiding it in his clothes. He could imagine that the Chun Feng Sect would love to take it from him but there was no way he would hand over the only thing he had from Nian Hong Fang. They really couldn't expect that of him. It was more than enough that he was helping them.
He took a deep breath and then leaned back. "So you wanted to know about that array, the Grandmaster's disciple and the golden-haired person, didn't you?"
Xian Xun nodded his head. "Yes. Let's start with the two people. What can you tell us about them?"
"I'm not sure if there is a lot that you don't know about yet. The Grandmaster's disciple was taken in about ten years ago. He didn't have any relations to anyone for the first five years and only appeared in front of others at the Gathering of Practitioners.
"Most people thought that that was only true for outsiders but actually, he also didn't have any contact with the people in the sect. Everyone was surprised at his appearance. In fact, I think that even the Sect Master didn't know about him before the Gathering."
Xian Xun and his disciple raised their brows and exchanged a glance. They hadn't known that this was the case but it was very much in line with the behavior of a demon. It was easy for them to worm their way into the good graces of one person. After all, they had a natural talent for that. It was more difficult to do so with a group of people and especially so if the group was as big as a whole sect. If they tried to, it was much more likely for somebody to pick up on the fact that they weren't human.
Thus the demons would often start by enticing one person — preferably somebody who had some difficulties and would be susceptible to their charm — and then slowly learn from them what they could and couldn't do in front of this person.
When they were comfortable enough with that, they would broaden their scope of action and approach others as well, finally leaving the person they had originally used for a more useful target.
It was a little strange that the person this particular demon had chosen was the Grandmaster of all people but then again, the Grandmaster had probably been searching for a disciple for a long time but hadn't been able to be satisfied with anybody because of his high standards. And as shameful as it was, they couldn't deny that the demons did have a lot of talent in regards to cultivation.
So maybe this demon had been able to get close to the Grandmaster based on that and had somehow managed to cover up his origin. Maybe he also wasn't a full-blooded demon. This type often was able to fool anybody who wasn't a demon hunter.
Thinking of these possibilities, Xian Xun's brows furrowed together tightly. This wasn't nearly enough information to make sure they could win but it was a good place to start their further investigation. "What else?"
"I don't think there's anything I can tell you about the time after that. He left the sect for a while as far as I'm aware, traveling through the world with his beloved. They then came back shortly to go on some mission and were finally caught up in that accident in the Leyuan region as soon as they were called back."
Xian Xun nodded, feeling that things were starting to make sense. That accident … Maybe it hadn't been an accident at all. Maybe it had actually happened because of the machinations of one of these demons. It wasn't impossible.
And if it was the truth, then it was very likely that this person had some kind of plan in store. Maybe not only for the Yun Zou Sect but also for others. Anyway, they had to guard against them tightly or a lot of lives would be in danger. "Then what do you know about him personally?"
Ma Zhi Wu lowered his gaze, wondering just what he should say. In fact, he had only met Qiu Ling once. He really couldn't say that he knew him very well. This was something he had kept to himself when he made the deal with the Sect Master so he couldn't very well admit to it now.
If he did … the likelihood of ever being able to do something like this again and contact Nian Hong Fang would be even slimmer. He didn't want to risk that. Even if he couldn't say much, he had to at least give a plausible reason for that and try to give them a bit of what they wanted to hear.
Anyway, Grandmaster Zhangsun certainly kept an eye on his disciple and would save him if things got too troublesome. And considering the state the Yun Zou Sect had been in when he was kidnapped back then, the Sect Master and the Grandmaster certainly wouldn't rest until they had found Qiu Ling again if something really happened to him.
In that case, some simple information shouldn't hurt him. It might actually help with getting him out of the dungeon himself. Because if Qiu Ling somehow ended up here and the Yun Zou Sect tried to find him, then they would be freed together. Heavens, maybe he would even be able to team up with Qiu Ling and get out of here themselves.
The thought gave him a bit of hope even though he didn't want Qiu Ling to get into trouble. Still, if he could get out … Maybe it truly was worth it.
Ma Zhi Wu took a deep breath and just tried to present the little bit he knew well. "As I said just now, he has mostly kept to himself so there isn't much I can say about him. From what I know, he cares very much about his fiance. There were some troubles at first but they seem to have gotten rather close later on.
"Other than that, I know that he is very strong. If I had to compare him to the other disciples, I would think that he was probably the strongest among all the inner sect disciples."
Xian Xun nodded his head. This much was almost a given. Demons did have an innate advantage so they normally towered over humans in terms of strength and spiritual power. If one didn't use special weapons or a good tactic, it was almost impossible to catch one of them. "What else do you know?"
Ma Zhi Wu pondered but couldn't find anything to say. "It's been a long time since I last saw him. It's a little difficult to go into more detail about his personality like this. For all I know, he could've already changed a lot by now."
Xian Xun tightened his lips. Qiu Ling's strength wasn't surprising, the fact that he was supposed to care about that other boy from the Yun Zou Sect also wasn't any news. The only valuable information they had gotten out of Ma Zhi Wu just now had been this matter about him joining the Yun Zou Sect. That really wasn't much.
Liu Cheng glanced at his Master's expression and turned to interrogate Ma Zhi Wu in his stead. "Well, if you can't say anything more about him, then what can you tell us about that golden-haired person? Who is he?"
"An inner sect disciple of our Yun Zou Sect. His name is Xiao Dong."