Star Trace Gate

Ren sat on the edge of the well, his hands supporting his chin, his expression focused as he carefully deduced all the information he had gathered.

After meeting Zhou Taozhi, he felt that he was very close to the truth. However, the current clues were too messy, and he needed to rearrange them logically and verify them one by one with Zhao Mi.

The sky was dark and the wilderness was quiet.

Time passed second by second, and his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Seeing his infatuated expression, the storyteller couldn't bear to interrupt his reverie. He waited patiently for a long time before the other man slowly stood up.

"That should be it...!"

Ren nodded repeatedly, his expression filled with excitement as he muttered to himself.

"What should it be like?" the storyteller couldn't help but ask.

Ren slowly turned his head to look at him, his voice hoarse as he said, "Without a doubt, the person who stole my original eyes is currently the most suspicious, Zhao Mi. But if we want to confirm his identity as a shameless thief, we must figure out his motives and behavioral logic, including his psychological profile, such as his personality, behavioral characteristics, and so on...!"

The storyteller's eyes lit up, then he paused and said, "Psychological profiling?! That's a very evocative term."

Ren ignored his praise and frowned, saying, "Over the years, no matter what happened in Xuwang Village or the Zhao family, Zhao Mi has always insisted that I spend an hour at his house every night so that he can secretly observe my star core and comprehend the Three Thousand Great Daos. This almost pathological persistence is enough to show that he is a serious martial arts fanatic. To put it bluntly, he can live without sex, but he cannot live without cultivating the Dao."

"He's a ruthless man," the storyteller agreed.

“With this basic personality profile, many of his behaviors become much easier to explain.” Ren Ye narrated softly as he walked, “Okay, now let’s go back to the night before I was taken out of the coffin. After Zhao Mi finished eating and defecating, he put on his sturdy bathrobe, stood by the wooden window with his hands behind his back, letting the night wind blow through his disheveled hair…!”

Upon hearing this description, the storyteller nodded in approval: "It's very detailed. I suggest adding a section about Zhao Mi and his wife's after-dinner activities...!"

Ren ignored the old show-off and continued, "He stared intently at the direction of the Tomb of Illusions, his heart filled with growing resentment. Why was he resentful? Because the Village of Illusions emphasized 'the accomplished are respected,' while I was just a young stray dog ​​who had been asleep for countless years, completely unqualified to possess that mysterious inheritance that countless people eagerly awaited—the Eyes of Origin. He, on the other hand, had long stood at the highest point of the Village of Illusions, a supreme powerhouse who could look down upon all living beings… This earth-shattering inheritance should rightfully be his."

"The more he thought about it, the more unbalanced he became, and the more he longed to possess the Eyes of Origin. So he took action. He secretly broke into the Tomb of the Illusory God, forcing Zhou Taozhi to fall into the Hall of Immortality. Then he killed Xue Que and Li Fengchen, and finally succeeded in opening my coffin and stealing my Eyes of Origin."

"However, he thought that by obtaining my original eyes, he could obtain this peerless inheritance from the Tomb of Gods, but he did not expect... my inheritance is quite special, it is a 'one lineage, two secrets' existence."

Ren spoke very steadily and meticulously, making perfect sense.

Upon hearing this, the storyteller asked, puzzled, "What is meant by 'one lineage, two secrets'?"

"This is a term I coined. Simply put, the inheritance I bear has two mysterious aspects. One is my eyes, and the other is the star core inside my abdomen. They are like two keys. Only when they come together can the door to the complete inheritance be opened." Ren Ye frowned and said, "But at the beginning, Zhao Mi probably didn't realize the importance of the star core inside my abdomen. He only thought that the original eyes were the real secret of the inheritance. Stealing them was equivalent to possessing everything."

"So, after he stole my original eyes, he thought he had succeeded, but he didn't expect that he only obtained half of the inheritance secrets, which made it impossible for him to cultivate or fully comprehend them."

"But by the time he realized what was happening, I had already walked out of the Divine Tomb in full view of everyone, and the Clan Hall had already discovered that my Origin Eyes were missing, and also learned that I had completely become a cripple. Therefore, he could no longer forcibly extract my Star Core. After all, with two tomb guardians dead and one tomb guardian insane, everyone must have already suspected that I may have been harmed by someone else the night before I was taken out of the coffin. If Zhao Mi were to jump out and cause trouble at this time, it would be easy for the other three families to find a handle against him."

"After all, many of the elderly people here are very rigid and meticulous, and they are extremely protective of the extreme rules of the Illusionary Village."

Upon hearing this, the storyteller nodded slightly: "So far, the logic is sound and there are no flaws."

Ren Ye walked with his hands behind his back, continuing to speak intently: "For Zhao Mi, he was the head of the clan hall of the Void Village, and also a highly respected supreme expert, the patriarch of the first clan. He risked disgrace and his family being besieged, only to steal half of the inheritance in the end, which was obviously unacceptable. Therefore, he had to achieve his goal and also plan for the long term. Then, he proposed to the clan hall that I work in the Heavenly Prison, secretly keeping me in check. Then, with the favor of this job, he secretly made a deal with me, allowing me to spend an hour at his house every day so that he could secretly spy on the secrets of my star core."

"After Xue Que and Li Fengchen died tragically, Zhou Taozhi, the only person who knew the truth, also went mad. Therefore, the case of him stealing my Origin Eyes that night became a completely unsolved mystery with no way to verify the truth. Even if the Clan Hall wanted to investigate, it would have no way to start."

Upon hearing this, the storyteller asked, "Then why didn't he kill Zhou Taozhi? Wouldn't that have been more decisive and avoided any future troubles?"

"We'll talk about that later." Ren waved his hand and continued, "In the following years, Zhao Mi's cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds once again by peering into my star core and comprehending my primordial eyes...!"

“Wait a minute, something still doesn’t quite add up.” The storyteller, acting as a questioner, interrupted with meticulous thought: “You said that Zhao Mi had reservations about you because of the death of the tomb keeper, and therefore dared not touch you for the time being, which is quite reasonable. But so many years have passed, your status as a good-for-nothing has long been established, and many people no longer pay attention to you; in addition, the case has been over for so long, and its aftermath has long since dissipated… So why didn’t he just dig out your star core and take it for himself?! Even if digging out your star core would kill you, it wouldn’t be difficult for him.”

"On the night Zhao Mi broke into the Divine Tomb, he had already broken the shackles in his heart and violated the extreme rules of the Illusionary Village. That means he had no qualms about committing the crime against you. Killing you would be easier than killing an ant, so why would he bother to go to your house every day to spy on you?"

Upon hearing this question, Ren Ye turned a cold gaze to the storyteller: "You must understand, the secret of my inheritance lies in my body and soul, not in external objects. The Origin Eyes and the Star Core are not two magical treasures placed on my body that I can take at any time, but rather characteristics of the Great Dao physique that I was born with. This is crucial...!"

The storyteller fell into deep thought upon hearing this.

Ren slowly raised his head, his gaze firm, and said, "I speculate that the reason he didn't forcibly take away my star core is because even if he did, he wouldn't be able to keep it for himself. My star core is still very young, and perhaps it can only grow safely within me; or perhaps, when it's young, it will dissipate if it leaves my body and cannot be preserved by Zhao Mi."

"That's an interesting point," the storyteller nodded slightly in agreement. "Many people in the world are born with extraordinary talents and physiques. It is indeed very difficult for others to take them away."

“That’s right. I also speculate that the Origin Eyes and the Star Core inside the abdomen are extremely similar in this respect.” Ren Ye replied, “Zhao Mi may not have been able to understand even a fraction of my Origin Eyes after obtaining them… let alone nurture them and make them work for him.”

The storyteller frowned: "But if Zhao Mi really stole your Origin Eyes, and given the bizarre and tragic death of the tomb keeper, the leaders of the various clans and patriarchs in this Illusionary Village, while not openly suspecting it, should be curious about this unsolved case or perhaps launch an investigation, right?! The Zhao family is such a large clan, if the Origin Eyes are hidden on Zhao Mi's body, or somewhere within the Zhao family... how could so many years have passed without a single word leaking out?! That's impossible, isn't it?"

"I refuse to believe that the three major clans, and those old men in the clan hall, never tested Zhao Mi, nor searched for your lost Origin Eyes!" The storyteller paused here, "Furthermore, since you speculate that Zhao Mi is unable to nurture your Origin Eyes, let alone make them work for him... then how did he preserve them until now? Or did he simply seal them away, failing to nurture them over the years, or... perhaps he simply killed your Origin Eyes?!"

After pondering for a few moments, Ren suddenly looked at the storyteller and exclaimed, "My guess is—the Tomb of the Gods!!!"

Upon hearing this, the storyteller suddenly jumped up, his eyes shining brightly, and exclaimed, "Interesting! Very interesting! Tell me, why do you think it's a tomb of gods?!"

"Two clues."

Ren replied earnestly, "I've also been thinking about how Zhao Mi will preserve and nurture my Origin Eyes after obtaining them. But I just remembered that the Heavenly Prison holds a death sacrifice ceremony every now and then... and the executed prisoners are also cast in specially refined gold liquid, becoming sealed living dead, and then sent to the outer perimeter of the Divine Tomb to serve as nourishment for the tomb to slowly devour and absorb its energy."

“This is the first clue.” Little Bad King thought carefully, then added, “I visited the Sun family before and had a frank conversation with Sun Qingxue. During our chat, I inadvertently discovered that she had set up a very special small array in her cultivation place. The function of that array was quite simple: to devour external spiritual objects to enhance itself. But she tried countless times and ultimately failed. I asked her where this inspiration came from, and she told me that she had borrowed the strange devouring power of the Divine Tomb… but she couldn’t grasp the true essence of this devouring power and could only imitate it superficially…!”

"However, she told me that Sun Michen had told her that Zhao Mi's cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years because he had initially mastered the secret method of this devouring power."

"It's going to work, it's going to work!" The storyteller nodded in agreement.

"Combining these two clues, we can make a conjecture." The Little Bad King's eyes brightened completely, and he said, word by word, "After Zhao Mi stole my Origin Eyes, he discovered that he couldn't nurture them, and they couldn't even last long in his hands. So, he sent them back to the Divine Tomb, and relying on his understanding of the Divine Tomb's devouring power... he allowed the Origin Eyes to hide in the Divine Tomb, quietly absorbing the flesh and blood essence and divine soul power of the Little Golden Man as nourishment, thus slowly growing...!"

Upon hearing this, the storyteller suddenly became incredibly clever, bursting with inspiration as he added, "That's why he didn't kill Zhou Taozhi?!"

“That’s right.” Ren Ye nodded emphatically. “Do you remember? In Zhou Tao’s illusory soul, we saw what happened to him in the Hanging Coffin Land. At that time, the strange gray mist that sucked him into the Undying Hall had that mysterious devouring power… In other words, Zhao Mi also glimpsed this at that time.”

“Yes, yes.” The storyteller nodded repeatedly: “Zhou Taozhi is the only person in the entire Illusion Village who has entered the Undying Hall and come out alive. Zhao Mi witnessed the eerie devouring power of the gray mist that day… That’s why he didn’t kill Zhou Taozhi, but wanted to find the secret of the Undying Hall from this madman, so as to gain a deeper understanding of the devouring power contained in the Divine Tomb…!”