Chapter 106 - Known Trap

At night, 

"So, what happened?" Elder Jun Nie knew that the plan had failed because Jun Haru was standing right in front of him. 

"Father, when we were about to reach the target's room, someone came and said that you were calling both Keal and Xin, so they left thinking that you needed something. I continued and entered the room but found no one. However, I found this paper after entering the room." Jun Haru handed the paper —that Yang Zhai gave him— to elder Jun Nie.

Jun Nie caught the paper and examined it. The paper was folded and something was written on one of the folded sides, which was

"Hand it to your father, if you open it, you will die." Elder Jun muttered.

"Father l, I did not open it after seeing the sentence written on it, thinking that it might have been for you." Jun Haru acted like he normally did and made sure everything was exactly as Yang Zhai had taught him.

Elder Jun opened the paper and read it in his mind, 

"Jun Nie, I am sparing your son as a warning. And your two disciples, Keal and Xin, are in my hands and will die, this is also a warning. Your personal disciple Yen Hu will be next if you don't mark my warning. After your disciple, it will be your turn if you keep insisting on your ways. I know you wanted to kill your own son, but remember this, the Ma clan leader already knows about this and is waiting for you to kill your son to use it as an excuse to get rid of you. And remember, I am in the shadows whilst you are in the open. So, don't try to find me. Your well-wisher,  your death." 

Yang Zhai added two sentences to the letter, one was that sparing your son is a warning and the second was that the clan leader is waiting for you to kill your son. Yang Zhai warned him that he can kill his son anytime and the clan leader will blame his own father. 

Of course, Yang Zhai had lied, the Ma clan leader knew nothing. If he did, he would not have sided with Jun Nie in his previous life when the Bai clan leader went to the Ma clan for answers. However, Jun Nie could not ask his clan leader about this. One reason was that there was no confirmation if the clan leader knew about Jun Nie's plans. If the person who wrote the letter lied, then would not Jun Nie be digging his own grave by asking the clan leader? The other reason was that if Jun Nie asked the clan leader, then what could he do to the clan leader? After all, even if the Ma clan leader knew his plans, the real culprit was still Jun Nie, wouldn't he be admitting his crime by himself by asking the clan leader? And if the clan leader really wanted to kill Jun Nie, then this confession was enough reason for the Ma clan leader to kill him. Therefore, he was stuck in a trap by Yang Zhai. He could not kill his son now, and he also could not confirm if the clan leader really knew.

Elder Jun Nie was not a fool, he understood what the letter was trying to say. He had become an elder on not just a fluke. His experience was plenty to let him know the real meaning of the letter. Even though Jun Nie knew the scheme of the person who wrote the letter, he could not do anything. 

Then the person wrote another sentence that said that his two disciples will die to tell him that the person who wrote the letter was not an all-talk and the person also declared this as a warning. After this, the letter mentioned Yen Hu. These two sentences had a deeper meaning. It meant that the person who wrote the letter knew Jun Nie very clearly. So clearly that he knew that Yen Hu was like a son to Jun Nie, he loved him even more than Jun Haru. Otherwise, he would not have tried to kill Jun Haru, and Jun Nie also revealed all of his schemes to Yen Hu because he trusted Yen Hu. It meant that the person who wrote the letter might be someone close to Jun Nie or could be keeping an eye on him. The letter clearly mentioned that Yen Hu would die if Jun Nie did not stop his schemes.

After that, the person even threatened to kill him. It meant two things, first was that he would kill Jun Haru and would put the blame on him to let the clan leader kill him. And the second was that the person himself was strong enough to kill him.

And then the letter said that Jun Nie wanted to kill his son to let Elder Jun know that the person who wrote the letter knew everything about him.

Jun Nie narrowed his eyes after reading this. His expression turned serious. He wrenched the paper and burned it. And what was worse was that he could not even search for Keal and Xin now. If he did ask the Bai clan to search for Keal and Xin, then there was a chance that the person who wrote the letter might reveal his scheme to the world.

And if this person managed to enter the clan leader's residence so easily, then this person was either a member of the Bai clan or he was so powerful that nobody noticed. Of course, Yang Zhai¹ and Jun Haru were guests, so they had no problem entering and leaving the residence.

"This person is no joke. He knows a lot more than even I know. Not just that, but he is quite clever, he is playing with me. Even after knowing his scheme, I can't do anything but fall into it." Elder Jun mumbled after reading the letter.

After seeing his father's expression, Jun Haru asked with a confused expression, 

"Father, what happened? Is something wrong?"

"Uhh, nothing. You should return to your room," Jun Nie looked at his son's expression and said. 

"Ok, if you say so." Jun Haru was about to leave when he was stopped by his father.

"Wait a minute, Do you remember the person who took Keal and Xin with him using my name?"

"I think he was a mortal servant. But I did not see him after that." Jun Haru turned around and answered.

"Very well, you can leave." 

Jun Haru left after listening to his father. 

Jun Nie knew that the person who wrote the letter was very clever and would not make such a mistake to tell his identity to a mortal servant. There was a high chance that the person had most likely changed his appearance to look like a servant. So, there was no use in searching for the servant. Even if the person had sent a servant, then the servant had most likely died at the person's hands by now. After all, according to the letter, even Keal and Xin were going to die, so what was a mortal servant to a cultivator?

Can Jun Haru be involved? No, he should not be. If he was, he would not have returned back even after knowing that I was going to kill him. And he is also not so intelligent as to write this letter with so much deep scheme written on it. This letter does not only contain a few sentences and threats, but it contains a full scheme and information, and Jun Haru is not so perceptive. And I don't think he opened the letter. After all, it was sealed by Red Wood Clay. Once this letter is opened by someone, this clay separates and would never stick anything again, indicating that the letter has been opened once: Elder Jun thought.

Red Wood Clay had the property to stick different parts or items together. However, once the two parts were separated, they could never be combined with the same Red Wood Clay. And the Red Wood Clay could also not be removed from the item or paper because it takes root in the item it was used on. Therefore, elder Jun knew that the sealed paper was not opened by his son.

Yang Zhai had done this on purpose to assure elder Jun that his son had not read the letter and knew nothing. Otherwise, he could have also handed the letter without using the Red Wood Clay. 

"Sigh, everything turned against me. I am completely stuck now. I have to wait for a while now to act again, especially until I find the person who wrote this letter."

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1: Yang Zhai is a guest because the clan leader's residence was not his home. He was only here to welcome the Ma clan people, which doesn't make this residence his house.