The people of the Yun Zou Sect were not the only ones who were worried about how their plan was proceeding. In fact, the Chun Feng Sect was even more worried than them. Not only had they not heard back from Shen Qiang's side yet, meaning that he hadn't been able to uncover anything substantial, no, things were even turning for the worse on their own side.
Not long ago, one of the smaller sects had contacted them, asking about one of their disciples that had gone missing several months ago. Coincidentally, this disciple was precisely one of the demons that were currently in the Chun Feng Sect's dungeon.
Sect Master Xian Xun had still thought that it was a coincidence and that somebody had witnessed what had happened when his disciples took the demon away so he merely admitted to it and informed the sect about their disciple's true face. When they heard that the person they had always cherished was, in fact, a demon, that sect's Master soon let the matter go.
Xian Xun had been sure that this would be the end of it and had continued as before. Soon enough, he found out that things weren't that simple though. A week after the first sect contacted them, another sect sent a message over. This messenger also brought a name with him that corresponded to one of the disciples that they had imprisoned.
This time, Xian Xun couldn't very well tell himself that it was just a coincidence. Once was already an oversight that was unlikely to happen. But twice was downright impossible. He didn't believe that his disciples would overlook somebody spying on them twice in a row. This meant that somehow, some information must've been leaked.
Thankfully, it had been small sects both times so he was still able to deal with it. If the one that found out had been one of the higher-ranked sects … Things might have gotten troublesome. After all, even though it was their task to eliminate demons, these demons were still the prized disciples of the sect. They might not be the one succeeding the Sect Masters but at the very least, they would have been the head disciples of one of the Elders. The demons were naturally more talented than humans, after all. It was a given that they would be able to get a high position for themselves if they infiltrated a sect.
Xian Xun furrowed his brows. Who could have leaked the information? They had to find out and stop that person before things could get even worse.
Liu Cheng was sitting next to him, also furrowing his brows. "Could it have been Shen Qiang? He seemed quite smitten with that Nian Hong Fang when he made that suggestion. And it would fit in with the timeline. This only happened after he went to the Yun Zou Sect to meet up with him. If he got weak and exposed us …"
Xian Xun nodded slowly. "That could be. I'm not sure if he knows the names of all those disciples and the exact sects they were from though. And whoever the culprit is would have to know to inform them so precisely."
Liu Cheng nodded. "How about we check if he was part of the missions when they were caught? If he was, then it would be very likely for him to be the one behind this."
"Indeed but if he wasn't, it doesn't rule his involvement out. It will just be less likely. We should also see if there is a disciple that was involved in all of this. If that is the case, then we have to check more closely. If there's a black sheep among us, we definitely can't let this go on. You also know how these demons are. They're too crafty to be taken lightly. If they put some dangerous thoughts into the head of one of our disciples, we have to act soon."
"Of course, Master. I'll go and take care of it immediately."
Xian Xun nodded and watched his disciple leave. He still pondered further. Something didn't quite add up. He wasn't sure what it was but he did have a distinct feeling. Maybe it was in the way how the sects that had approached them were small. If this was somebody who really betrayed them, wouldn't he have informed the more powerful sects so this would cause bigger waves?
If the culprit behind this was Shen Qiang though, that might be a sign of his guilty conscience. He couldn't help himself but expose something in front of the beauty he fancied but he also couldn't bring himself to make too much trouble for the sect so he wouldn't talk about any of the important demons in the dungeon and just pulled out a few that he deemed to be nonthreatening.
If that was the case, then there wouldn't be too much to worry about. If it wasn't … He didn't even want to think about it. If this became any bigger, they would be in trouble. They couldn't let that happen. They had to find out who it was and make sure that that person wouldn't talk any longer. Otherwise, this issue would become troublesome.
Unfortunately for Sect Master Xian Xun, this matter was far from over and the row of sects knocking on the Chun Feng Sect's doors didn't get any shorter. The worst of it all was that with more and more cases appearing, their investigation got more complicated as well. And while Liu Cheng was still busy with finding out who might be behind this, somebody was watching them from close by.
Seeing the continued effort of the Chun Feng Sect, Xin Lan crossed his arms and smiled to himself. These people really thought it would be easy to undo what he had started. As if he'd let them walk away that easily after they had tried to make trouble for his Master. No, he would use this opportunity to vent some anger and slowly but surely make their whole house of cards collapse.
Speaking of which …
He took out a paper crane just like the humans used it, imbued some spiritual energy and sent it off to the next sect. After all, now, that the smaller sects had been informed and the Chun Feng Sect was getting more nervous by the day, it was time to escalate things a little more and make this more urgent for them. What better way was there than to expose a few more scandals? After all, they had more than enough of them.