The one who raised his hand to say he knew was Xiao Si Zi. The crowd was stunned for a moment and then all gave him a complicated look.

Gongsun poked him to make sure he was awake and then asked, “Xiao Si Zi, what do you know?”

Xiao Si Zi blinked. “Well, that person tricked Bai Bai into finding Jin Jin, but after finding him, suddenly wanted to kill him. And they weren’t even fully prepared. Isn’t that right?”

Everyone raised an eyebrow in surprise—oh! His logic was actually quite clear!

“Then do you know why?” Gongsun asked him.

“Because Bai Bai didn’t go alone!” Xiao Si Zi pointed at Zhan Zhao and then at Ouyang Shaozheng. “They both went too!”

The crowd exchanged glances. Simply put, that was indeed the situation, but…

Bao Zheng pointed at Zhan Zhao, then at Ouyang Shaozheng. “Are you saying that the reason they wanted to kill Tan Jin was because of both of them? Or just one of them?”

Xiao Si Zi pointed at Ouyang Shaozheng. “Because of Ah Si!”

Ouyang was stunned and pointed at his own nose. “Ah Si?”

“Yeah.” Xiao Si Zi grinned, looking quite pleased that this person’s name was similar to his.

“Why am I called Ah Si?” Ouyang Shaozheng was puzzled.

“Because your name has four characters.” Xiao Si Zi answered.

Zhao Pu patted his head. “Why Ah Si and not Zhan Zhao?”

“Because the first time those men in black tried to kill someone, it was you. The one connected to you and Jin Jin is Ah Si. If they wanted to kill Xiao Baozi, then it would have been related to Zhan Zhan!”

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

Although Xiao Si Zi’s words were a bit jumbled, his logic was clear. He just got one thing wrong—the other party wanted Bai Yutang to find Tan Jin but didn’t want Ouyang Shaozheng there. In other words, the real reason was that they didn’t want Zhao Pu to find Tan Jin. They wanted to kill Zhao Pu but didn’t want him to know about Tan Jin’s existence…

Zhao Pu became intrigued and looked at Tan Jin. “Do you know any military secrets?”

Tan Jin shook his head repeatedly. “I’ve been a commoner for so many years. What could I possibly know?”

“I know!”

Once again, everyone turned to look… and once again, the one who raised his hand was Xiao Si Zi.

Even Bai Yutang was surprised. “You know again?”

Xiao Si Zi nodded.

“Why?” The crowd was starting to doubt their own intelligence.

“Because Bai Bai is a jianghu person, and Jiu Jiu is a soldier.” Xiao Si Zi seemed to think it was such a simple question—why was everyone struggling with it?

At this point, everyone stared at Xiao Si Zi’s round, glutinous rice ball-like face, wanting to ask—why does it matter if one is from the martial world and the other is a soldier?

But they were too embarrassed to ask. Would Xiao Si Zi think all these adults were idiots?

“Is there a difference?” Bai Yutang was the first to ask Xiao Si Zi. “I am a jianghu person, and Dao Xing Feng is also from jianghu. The other side planned for this. Zhao Pu is a soldier, Bao Da Ren is an official, and Tan Jin was once an official. They want to kill Zhao Pu and Tan Jin but don’t want them to meet?”

The crowd genuinely admired him—indeed, heroes are heroes, never ashamed to ask questions…

Xiao Si Zi pointed at Zhao Pu. “The answer must be someone he knows.”

Everyone turned to Zhao Pu in unison, their expressions saying—well?

Zhao Pu was puzzled. But it seemed that everything revolved around him. He had come here on a whim, and suddenly everything had turned into chaos.

“Have you ever met Yang Caiseng?” Bai Yutang asked.

Zhao Pu frowned. “Who is Yang Caiseng?”

“Maybe let’s ask it differently!” Gongsun suddenly seemed to realize something and asked Zhao Pu, “Among the people you know, is there anyone with blood-red eyes, a violent temper, deep dark circles, around forty years old with graying temples, extremely skilled in martial arts, always carrying a curved blade, and with a tendency for killing?”

Before Gongsun could finish speaking and before Zhao Pu could reply, Zi Ying and Zhe Ying suddenly exclaimed, “Ah!” in unison.

“Who did you think of?”

“That madman from Xixia—Su Tulu!” Ouyang Shaozheng slapped his leg.

Zhao Pu also thought it was highly possible. Su Tulu did indeed match Gongsun’s description…

“But Su Tulu is from Xixia.” Zhao Pu was still confused.

“What does he look like?” Bai Yutang asked.

Zhe Ying described him in detail, and apart from being slightly older, he was very similar to Bai Yutang’s memory of Yang Caiseng.

“He really is from Xixia…” Bai Yutang frowned. “Did he come to the Central Plains to learn martial arts? And the stolen blade… and that foreign woman…”

“Let’s summarize again.” Zhan Zhao, as usual, stepped in to wrap things up. “Could it be that Yang Caiseng’s real name is Su Tulu? He came to the Central Plains to learn martial arts, and everything went smoothly. Then that woman was robbed of the Broken-Headed Blade and got injured, losing the blade. The blade ended up in Tan Jin’s hands. Yang Caiseng and that woman searched for a long time before finding the Broken-Headed Blade. After stealing it, they returned to Xixia… and then Tan Jin created a fake Yang Caiseng.”

“They took advantage of the situation and disappeared.” Zhao Pu stroked his chin. “But now, for some reason, they suddenly appeared in the Central Plains again and even deceived Tian Zun…”

“Maybe, from the very beginning, when he apprenticed under my master, it wasn’t just about learning martial arts.” Bai Yutang frowned and looked at Zhao Pu. “Just like how you came to me about the demon blade. Everyone knows my master is knowledgeable about blades. He tricked me and the people of the Blade Alliance into coming here, and then created the illusion that I and the Blade Alliance were at odds. He must have had a purpose.”

It seemed like they were getting close to the truth, yet something was still missing…

“Hey.” Zhao Pu folded his arms and leaned over to Xiao Si Zi. “What do you think?”

“Haaah…” Xiao Si Zi was getting sleepy and yawned. “What?”

“Why did Yang Caiseng stir up a fight between Bai Yutang and the Blade Alliance?”

Xiao Si Zi was startled. “Another fight? Why?”

“They framed Bai Yutang for killing the people of the Broken Blade Sect. The Blade Alliance controls the Broken Blade Sect,” Zhao Pu explained, unsure if he just enjoyed talking to Xiao Si Zi or teasing him.

After listening, Xiao Si Zi asked, “Why would Bai Bai kill people from the Broken Blade Sect?”

“He was framed,” Zhan Zhao reminded.

“Even if he was framed, people actually believed it?” Xiao Si Zi was puzzled.

Suddenly, Bao Zheng, who had been silent, laughed.

This startled Pang Ji. Bao Zheng had been deep in thought with his eyes closed for so long that Pang Ji thought he had fallen asleep, blending into the dark background.

“Xiao Si Zi is absolutely right—truly clever!” Bao Zheng stroked his beard. “Indeed, why would Bai Shaoxia wipe out the entire Broken Blade Sect?”

That’s right!

Why would Bai Yutang exterminate the entire Broken Blade Sect?

Everyone fell into deep thought.

Bai Yutang narrowed his eyes. “That’s exactly the problem. Since I have no reason to do so, why would the other side go to such lengths to frame me?”

“They didn’t just frame you.” Bao Zheng suddenly spoke again. “From the current situation, they were also trying to control the Blade Alliance. They wanted the Blade Alliance to completely turn against you, or even eliminate you altogether!”

Zhao Pu frowned. “What’s the use of that?”

“Unless they wanted to take control of the entire Blade Alliance,” Bai Yutang said coldly.

The crowd gasped.

“Control the Blade Alliance?” Zhan Zhao frowned. “What’s the benefit of that?”

“Naturally, it must be of great benefit!” Bao Zheng took a deep breath. “We’ve been thinking about this from the wrong angle. If it were just about the Broken-Headed Blade, why would they cause such a big commotion? They wouldn’t need to frame Bai Yutang, let alone involve the Blade Alliance. What if the real purpose of this entire scheme was actually… the Blade Alliance?”

Everyone looked at Bao Zheng in shock.

Bai Yutang tapped his fingers lightly on the table, deep in thought. “If that’s the case, then everything makes sense.”

“Then the key point is—who is the mastermind behind all this?” Zhan Zhao’s eyes sharpened.

Bao Zheng glanced at Bai Yutang. “Whoever wants the Blade Alliance the most!”

Bai Yutang pondered for a moment, then his gaze suddenly turned cold. “Someone in the Alliance?”

The room fell silent.

Zhao Pu rubbed his chin. “If that’s the case, then we’re in even bigger trouble.”