Chapter 341: Chapter 341

But soon he dismissed this thought. He understood his subordinates—they couldn't possibly be careless. Even if one person might be, it was impossible for everyone to be .

So the explanation was that Xiaoyao and the other person had somehow hidden themselves.

Impossible. He had arranged surveillance around the area. The outside of the stronghold was open ground—if anyone came out, they would definitely be discovered. Up to now, no one had come out, except for the victimized villagers who had left earlier, but that was before Xiaoyao entered, so there was no possibility he had mixed in with them.

"Dig three feet deep if you have to, but find them. Two living people—let's see where they can hide," Fan Gao indeed ordered a search, just as Hei Xue had expected.

This was actually a good thing for Xiaoyao, because only this way could they find those secret passages. When that happened, it would mislead Fan Gao's thinking. Even if Fan Gao didn't believe Xiaoyao and the other person had escaped through the secret passages, he would still have doubts in his heart, and then he would loosen the defenses here.

But all this would happen after finding the secret passages. Right now, Fan Gao was only thinking about one thing—how had Xiaoyao disappeared from right under his nose? This process seemed blank, which was what frightened him.

Two people who were clearly under his control had mysteriously vanished. Wasn't this indicating that his arrangements had fatal weaknesses? If these two were life-and-death enemies, his own life might be in danger.

Fan Gao couldn't just muddle through and ignore such danger. He had to figure it out to prevent similar situations from happening again.

"How exactly did he do it? I've heard some rumors about him before and thought they were just rumors. It seems this boy that Hei Xue likes has some real skills..."

Fan Gao thought to himself. Previously, he had thought Xiaoyao was just someone Hei Xue liked, and besides that point, there was nothing that made him feel important. He thought Hei Xue's regard for Xiaoyao was due to her personal reasons and didn't need much attention.

But now his thinking was beginning to change, because Xiaoyao had vanished right under his nose. Looking back from the beginning until now, while surrounded by his men, Xiaoyao had never shown the slightest nervousness. This calm expression now seemed to be confidence, a kind of indifference.

From start to finish, this kid had never taken the current situation seriously because he already had a way to deal with it—and it was a method that would give him a headache.

Now Fan Gao faced a new choice: if he couldn't find the two people, what should he do?

Set fire to this place? This action would be too big and would invite speculation from some people. Moreover, he was from Ten Thousand Swords Sect, an orthodox sect—he couldn't do such things.

Also, if anything happened to either Xiaoyao or Hei Xue, he would have a headache.

Needless to say about Xiaoyao—in the Demon Cult's eyes, he was the only orthodox bloodline in three thousand years. This point alone was enough to give Fan Gao a headache. If others knew he had burned the Demon Cult's orthodox heir, his support rate in the Demon Cult would become very low, which would be very unfavorable to his position.

And Xiaoyao's parents behind him were also a problem. If they came looking later, the consequences would be very serious.

Even excluding Xiaoyao as a factor, using fire against Hei Xue alone was also a great taboo in the Demon Cult. Unless he could keep this secret, he couldn't do it.

Obviously, with so many people knowing about it, even his own subordinates would let others know—this was just a matter of time. This was a reason he had to abandon this idea.

Fan Gao didn't think there were problems with his subordinates' loyalty, but loyalty didn't necessarily control tongues—this was a wonderful thing.

Also, even setting fire might not work and could even give Xiaoyao and the other person an opportunity. Fire would make the scene chaotic—an unstable factor. Orıginal content can be found at novel⚑fire.net

These unstable factors weren't good news for Fan Gao—this was something he had to eliminate.

Finally, whether Xiaoyao and the other person would be affected by the fire was still unknown. If they weren't affected, it would be a waste of effort and would also affect their attitude toward him.

If he did that, the grudge would be great, unlike now when the situation was mild and everyone had a consensus of peaceful coexistence on the surface.

Considering future matters, this also couldn't be done. Therefore, the only thing he could do now was search—search carefully.

"Discovered a secret passage?"

After searching for about a day, Fan Gao finally received new information. However, this information had no direct connection to the whereabouts of Xiaoyao and the other person. They had found the secret passage Xiaoyao mentioned, and it was just one of them.

It had to be said that Black Wind Stronghold's management over these years was quite good, especially regarding this secret passage. It had taken Fan Gao's people so long to find it, which was enough to show this secret passage's concealment.

The other passages hadn't been found yet, but surely they would be soon...

"Another secret passage? It seems we don't understand this Black Wind Stronghold well enough. Well, it was a temporary decision, so insufficient preparation is understandable."

When the second and third secret passages appeared, Fan Gao's expression was no longer as surprised as before. At this moment, he seemed to understand that this place wasn't as simple as he had thought. His preparation was insufficient—it seemed he would lose control over Xiaoyao and the other person this time.

Fan Gao didn't find this hard to believe. After all, when he originally came here, he hadn't expected this situation to develop . He hadn't expected Xiaoyao's blood could open that box, hadn't expected Xiaoyao would suddenly disappear with Hei Xue, hadn't expected Black Wind Stronghold would have so many secret passages, hadn't expected...

Regardless, all of this had exceeded his expectations by far. This made him feel he had been too careless this time. Although he had prepared quite enough, it still wasn't sufficient.

Perhaps next time he should also consider those almost impossible events. Maybe next time similar situations would occur. This time could serve as a lesson—fortunately, this lesson wasn't fatal. At most, it would just make his plan fail this time.

That's right—if this time failed, Fan Gao wouldn't lose anything. He would just lose the opportunity to seize Demon Cult power, but he didn't originally possess this power, so it couldn't be called losing it. His own position would remain the same—this wouldn't change.

The only loss would be wasting so much time and energy and offending Hei Xue, this woman. But this wasn't much either—at most it would clarify their relationship. Previously, this woman hadn't been good to him either.

"Let's go, withdraw. Proceed according to the original plan. I hope that Xiaoyao really doesn't appear."

Finally, Fan Gao made a decision—to continue according to his original plan. Having come this far, he couldn't give up the opportunity to try.

In fact, his original plan hadn't been destroyed. What needed to be done had been done—there was just the additional unstable factor of Xiaoyao. If this unstable factor of Xiaoyao didn't appear, then this plan would still succeed, and he could still gain everyone's support with the secrets from this box.

This decision was undoubtedly very correct. Xiaoyao obviously wouldn't go to the Demon Cult, and even if he did, he wouldn't compete with Fan Gao for any position. Fan Gao would still possess the status he wanted.

Xiaoyao and the other person didn't know about Fan Gao's withdrawal. Fan Gao didn't notify them of his actions, and at that time it was also late at night—both people were still sleeping.

If Fan Gao and others knew about this situation, they would probably become extremely depressed. They had been searching here for Xiaoyao and the other person continuously, not even sleeping well, while the subjects of their search had been sleeping peacefully the whole time, right under their noses.

The next morning, Hei Xue got up as she did every day here, came to the basin of clean water Xiaoyao had prepared for her, washed and groomed herself, then ate the breakfast Xiaoyao had prepared. In the morning light, she prepared to do what she needed to do today.

The first thing to do was watch Xiaoyao meditating in the courtyard, watching continuously until Xiaoyao finished meditating. She found herself increasingly liking this feeling—quietly watching Xiaoyao in a daze.

Perhaps spending a lifetime watching wouldn't be bad...

"We can leave here now. They've all gone," After finishing his meditation, Xiaoyao looked at Hei Xue, naturally accepting her gaze, and spoke calmly.

"What? Oh, they've all left? How could it be so fast..." Hei Xue was first stunned by this information, then felt somewhat resentful. She resented Fan Gao for moving too quickly. She really liked the days here, living under Xiaoyao's care and being able to constantly watch Xiaoyao in a daze.

"Isn't it better if they leave early? What a strange woman. On the first day, weren't you constantly praying, hoping the people outside would leave early? Now why do you hope they don't leave so quickly?" Xiaoyao asked, somewhat puzzled.

"That was then. Don't you know women are changeable?" Hei Xue said with pouted lips. "I like being with you. Don't you like it?"

"I don't like it, not at all," Xiaoyao replied directly. "When we leave later, we'll go our separate ways. You go back to your Demon Cult."

"No, I don't want to. If I go back now, I'll only cause trouble for the Demon Cult. I want to follow you. You can't drag me away and then abandon me here," Hei Xue immediately jumped to Xiaoyao's side, grabbing his arm and looking at him pitifully.