In a flash, Wei Su thought of many things.
The three characters he had tampered with had been exposed. But that didn't necessarily mean... Shen Xingzhu knew the full truth.
She still didn't know exactly what those characters referred to, which was why she had come to question him.
But at the same time, she clearly already realized that the meaning behind them was critical, and possibly directly tied to why Li Hongling had refused to end the siege outside the city.
After all... anyone with half a mind, if they thought carefully, would find Li Hongling's recent behavior highly suspicious.
Wei Su couldn't help but feel regret. In a moment of anger, he had drawn Shen Xingzhu into this mess, trying to manipulate her into acting on his behalf.
If it had been anyone else, both Li Hongling and he would have been much more cautious.
But unfortunately, this was Shen Xingzhu.
Shen Xingzhu's "walk among mortals" was famous across the world. Anyone who had heard her name would instinctively believe: so long as your actions didn't violate her Dao, she would never interfere.
Even if you skirted the edge of her bottom line, she likely wouldn't take it personally, so long as you could explain yourself and speak with reason.
There had once been a widely known example:
A commoner, a woodsman from Mount Lai'an in the Jin Yang Kingdom, made his living chopping wood. Though poor, he had a devoted wife and two children. They lived simply, but happily.
But one day, tragedy struck.
Returning home from the mountains, he found his wife and children dead, his home collapsed into a crater.
After investigating, he learned that a battle between Moon-Embracing Realm cultivators had taken place nearby. One of them had been struck down, and happened to crash directly onto his home.
An utterly random calamity. He and his family were simply collateral.
The woodsman changed after that. He sought immortality and revenge, eventually becoming a disciple of a demonic cultivator.
Three years later, having reached the Tower Ascension Realm with demonic techniques, he finally tracked down the man who had destroyed his family, only to find that the man had recently renounced his cultivation in order to break into the Master Realm.
He now lived as a mortal, with a new wife and children.
The roles had reversed and the former mortal was now a blood-soaked demonic cultivator while the former cultivator was now an ordinary man.
The woodsman smashed the wife's skull with a single palm and, before the man's eyes, boiled the children alive to vent his three years of hatred.
Just as he was about to finish off the former cultivator, Shen Xingzhu appeared.
The ex-cultivator immediately begged her for help, while the demonic cultivator dared not act rashly.
At that moment, the two children still clung to life.
Shen Xingzhu looked upon the scene and first asked: "Did your children ever cultivate?"
The former cultivator truthfully answered, "Though I had renounced the Dao, I could not bear to see them suffer from sickness, so I taught them basic Qi Refinement."
Shen Xingzhu said simply: "Cultivators contend by their own strength. I do not save them."
And so the children died, their eyes wide open.
The former cultivator howled in despair and the demonic one laughed. "My vengeance is fulfilled. I will not kill you. I want you to live in regret."
Shen Xingzhu then asked, "Have you resumed cultivation?"
He replied, "No. My body is mortal, my cultivation completely gone."
She answered: "If you forcefully reignite your Dao, you will return to the Tower Ascension Realm. You still won't be able to kill him."
The man suddenly laughed, stepped forward,
and then impaled himself on the demon's blade, dying on the spot.
Before the demon could even react, Shen Xingzhu said: "You killed mortals. This is a violation of the Dao. You must be executed."
And thus, she killed the demon as well.
To others, this case was confusing, right and wrong were completely blurred.
But to Shen Xingzhu, it was startlingly clear.
She didn't care who was morally right. She only judged whether someone's actions aligned with her Dao.
In the end, both of them died. Their cycle of vengeance concluded and oddly enough, it seemed like a fitting end.
Some speculated that Shen Xingzhu had spoken on purpose, manipulating the former cultivator into suicide so that the demon would cross her line.
But the decision had been his to make, Shen Xingzhu simply followed her Dao.
Because of stories like this, Wei Su knew that without solid evidence, Shen Xingzhu would never easily take someone's life.
But that didn't mean Wei Su wasn't afraid.
Shen Xingzhu's aura was too overbearing. What he feared was that Li Hongling had already violated the rules, and would implicate him as well.
So he had no choice but to bring out all his backing. Even if he had to spill some secrets, he had to separate himself from blame.
It wasn't hesitation, he simply had no other choice.
If Shen Xingzhu chose to act, no amount of backing would save him.
Wei Su gave a bitter smile.
"Those syllables... They mean 'Elixir of Immortality.'"
Shen Xingzhu narrowed her eyes, studying his face. After a few seconds, she sheathed her sword.
"Mortal emperors have always sought immortality. Usually, they're chasing delusions. But this time, they found the real thing?"
Wei Su nodded cautiously. "Yes. Su Yu once sent men across the seas to the Penglai Immortal Sect. He even built a Ministry of Divination and appointed a charlatan Daoist as the national teacher, all to seek a single Elixir of Immortality."
"But ironically... this elixir had nothing to do with any of that. It came from a strange legend."
Shen Xingzhu gave him a sidelong glance.
"A cultivator of your level, of the Sea-Cleaving Realm, actually believes in ghost stories?"
Wei Su laughed awkwardly, then grew serious:
"This elixir appeared in such a bizarre way, we couldn't help but believe."
"There are rumors, one night, Su Yu was woken by knocking at his bed curtain. Startled and thinking it was an assassin, he called out in fear. But then a voice outside said, 'Your Majesty, do not be alarmed. I've come to give you medicine, as I admire your devotion.'"
"The figure reached into their robes and offered him a round pill."
"Su Yu, trembling, reached out beyond the curtain, and really did touch a pill."
"He was overjoyed. But when he opened the curtain to give thanks, there was no one there. Just his own shadow, cast upon the curtain, holding the pill, exactly like the figure he'd just seen."
To this day, no one knows if Su Yu had truly received medicine from a wraith, or if he had invented the tale himself.
But the Eastern Emperor Saint divined the heavens and confirmed that such an elixir did exist.
Shen Xingzhu said, "So Li Hongling imprisoned that musician to get the elixir?"
Wei Su nodded. "I suspect he holds a clue. Li Hongling is wary of him, yet lacks the Divine Soul techniques to extract information. She also didn't want to share the lead with me, so she locked him up and is playing for time."
He added, quickly:
"I may have wanted to use the musician for my own ends, but I never intended to suppress the weak or abuse power, Daoist friend Shen..."
There was no response.
Wei Su looked up, Shen Xingzhu was gone.
"...Whew."
He exhaled sharply, finally relaxing. He fanned himself with his white fan to cool down.
After a while, he looked down at the blank face of the fan... and suddenly smiled.
What he had tampered with using Stealing Heaven, Swapping Sun wasn't just "Elixir of Immortality."
It was the Eternal Life Lock.
So long as that wasn't exposed, even if Shen Xingzhu knew about the elixir, it wouldn't matter.
His eyes gleamed.
"How did Shen Xingzhu learn about those syllables? Only one possibility, the musician told her."
"And if he mentioned it directly, he's trying to use her, just like I did."
But something didn't add up. If he really knew where the elixir was..
He could just tell both Shen Xingzhu and Li Hongling, and they'd immediately turn on each other.
But he hadn't.
"Is he... not smart enough?"
"No, no... Anyone who can negotiate with Li Hongling isn't a fool."
Wei Su muttered, "Either he's lying, or, he doesn't have the elixir at all."
He knows... but he doesn't have it?
Suddenly, the pieces clicked in his mind.
He shot to his feet.
A nearly impossible possibility had just occurred to him.