Jiang Li understood what was going on. The Jiang family, in order to associate themselves with him indirectly, gave others the impression of a very close relationship with him.
"How does the disappearance of the child relate to the Jiang Emperor?" Jiang Li inquired.
The middle-aged man's smile faded, and he became serious. He didn't want to speak much with Jiang Li and even released the pressure of his Golden Pill stage, making Jiang Li retreat. In his view, Jiang Li was just a small fry at the Qi Refining stage.
As an elder at the Golden Pill stage, it was necessary to make this young fellow retreat and not get involved in this dangerous event.
"Don’t talk about this. It's very dangerous for you!"
Unexpectedly, Jiang Li controlled his strength at the peak of the Elemental Infant stage and released his own pressure.
"I'd like to see what's so dangerous about it."
"Elemental, Elemental Infant stage..."
This matter was apparently related to Jiang Li, and the middle-aged man also misunderstood him. If he were to reveal his true identity, the man would be even less likely to tell the truth. So, Jiang Li chose to disguise himself as a cultivator at the stage of Elemental Infant, which was not too strong but enough to suppress the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man quickly saluted, "So it's an Elemental Infant stage senior, it's Yuan Wuxing's ignorance."
Yuan Wuxing broke out in a cold sweat. Who would have thought that the young man he casually advised on the roadside was at the Elemental Infant stage? From his appearance, the other party could be a several hundred-year-old old monster. Although his previous behavior was not rude, it would be a disaster if this senior had a narrow mind.
In Yuan Wuxing's eyes, the Elemental Infant stage cultivator was already a very powerful cultivator. There were not many in the entire Qingcheng, and even the lord of Qingcheng was only at the Elemental Infant initial stage.
"Alright, I didn't mean to blame you. Can you now tell me about the missing child?" Jiang Li dissipated his pressure and asked calmly.
After some hesitation, Yuan Wuxing finally said, "Senior, can you swear to the heavens that what I am about to tell you won't be disclosed to anyone else?"
Cultivation path emphasized compliance with the laws of heaven, so swearing to the heavens was not a trivial matter. Most cultivators believed that if they violated their oath, the punishment mentioned during the vow would come true.
Without hesitation, Jiang Li extended two fingers and solemnly said, "I swear to the heavens that what you tell me will not be known to any third party. If there is a breach, it will be punished by the heavenly tribulation!"
Yuan Wuxing's expression turned grave. This was a very serious punishment. For an Elemental Infant stage cultivator, a breach of the oath would undoubtedly mean certain death.
Of course, he didn't know that Jiang Li was more than happy to go through several heavenly tribulations.
"Senior, please come to my humble abode."
Yuan Wuxing invited Jiang Li home, skillfully set up several layers of formations, and then gritted his teeth and crushed a precious jade, laying down a layer of formation that even Elemental Infant stage cultivators couldn't penetrate.
Yuan Wuxing brewed a pot of rare tea, poured a cup for Jiang Li first, then poured himself a cup.
"The story starts from ten years ago. I was already at the peak of the Golden Pill stage, only one step away from breaking through to the Elemental Infant stage. But I was stuck at this bottleneck for 20 years, unable to find a way to break through. I thought of coming to Qingcheng to seek inspiration."
"As soon as I arrived in Qingcheng, I found out that a child had gone missing. I liked to help, so I wanted to assist them. But when I looked into it, things were not as simple as they seemed. It was chilling. It hasn't been just recently that children have gone missing. In Qingcheng and several nearby cities for over 200 years, babies under a year old have frequently gone missing. I also found that the time of the child’s disappearance coincided with the Jiang family's ancestral worship. The more frequent the worship by the Jiang family, the more frequent the child disappearances. So I investigated the Jiang family and discovered that they were indeed abducting the children. I eavesdropped on a conversation between the head of the Jiang family and the lord of Qingcheng. The Jiang family had colluded with the successive lords of Qingcheng to cover up the child abductions. Initially, the Qingcheng Prefecture even sent people to pretend to look for the children, but in the past two years, they have directly claimed that they didn’t have enough manpower and stopped searching! A bunch of scoundrels!"
As Yuan Wuxing spoke, the veins on his forehead bulged, and he crushed the teacup with force.
"The Jiang family has the Emperor Jiang backing them. If I rashly speak out, it won’t be the Jiang family that is unlucky; it will be me!"
"We must find concrete evidence, make it public. In this way, not even the Emperor can stop the public outcry!"
Jiang Li remained silent for a moment and asked, "What does the Jiang family want with these infants?"
"Well..." Yuan Wuxing hesitated. "...I don’t know, perhaps to refine them as artifacts."
Jiang Li stared into Yuan Wuxing's eyes and spoke sternly, "You're lying. What are you afraid of?"
Yuan Wuxing felt his scalp tingling. "Senior, I really can't talk about this. Whoever talks will die!"
From his storage ring, Jiang Li took out a jade token engraved with "Daoist Sect" on one side and a constantly rotating tai chi pattern on the other. The whole token seemed to have been crafted naturally, not carved with a tool but created with divine skill.
"And now?"
Yuan Wuxing widened his eyes, looking incredulously at the token, his lips quivering. He seemed both frightened, as if he had seen a great figure, and excited, as if he had seen the dawn.
"Daoist Sect token! Are you a member of the Daoist Sect!?"
The Daoist Sect token, to the one who held it, was like seeing the Sect Master of the Daoist Sect in person.
Those who possessed the Daoist Sect token were either ancient monstrous cultivators at the Transcendence stage or members of the Daoist Sect. There were said to be no more than five tokens in existence, and the present Elemental Infant stage cultivator in front of him clearly belonged to the latter.
This person was probably not the kind of ancient monstrous creature he had thought before, but a cultivation genius who had reached the Elemental Infant stage at around twenty years old!
Jiang Li nodded, "I exist under the same name and identity, the current Daoist Sect member, Zhang Li."
Jiang Li created a temporary name and identity for himself. With his relationship with the Sect Master of the Daoist Sect, the other party would not hold him accountable.
"So, you are a member of the Daoist Sect? And you made a vow..." Yuan Wuxing was excited and incoherent. A member of the Daoist Sect, that was the nailed-on future Sect Master of the Daoist Sect, a future great cultivator at the Transcendence stage. As the oldest sect, even older than the Emperor's Palace, with many immortal figures and profound heritage, it was one of the very few powers that were not afraid of the Emperor's Palace.
However, all of this was on the condition that Jiang Li, the strongest Emperor in history, was removed.
With a member of the Daoist Sect involved now, their chances of bringing down the Jiang family were greater!
Yuan Wuxing was visibly pleased, silently reciting the Qingxin Technique several times in order to barely calm his mood.
"The reason I dare not speak is, I fear it will implicate Senior Zhang. The Emperor of Jiang is likely to take action to eliminate the two of us because of it. But since Senior Zhang is a member of the Daoist sect, he must not fear the Emperor."
"The Emperor of Jiang... may be cultivating the demonic path."
Yuan Wuxing lowered his voice as if speaking any louder would be heard by the Emperor himself.
After speaking, he looked at Jiang Li, hoping to see a look of panic or horror on his face, but to his surprise, Jiang Li appeared completely indifferent, even with a hint of amusement.