Even though things didn’t work out as she had hoped, Long Shu Fen quickly told Tong Chen about the situation, still feeling hopeful.

The other guardian listened quietly, not interrupting her. His serene expression stayed the same throughout as if what she said wasn’t having much of an impact.

Zhi Guan wasn’t too familiar with him but he felt that they might not get the answer they were hoping for from him.

Just as Zhi Guan thought, Tong Chen lightly shook his head when Blue Butterfly finished speaking. “I may be able to see the potential future developments of a situation but since you’ve already left, those developments have already been cut off. I can’t tell you anything based on my ability.”

Long Shu Fen hung her head, groaning. If she had known, they shouldn’t have come back immediately. They should have only taken a quick trip and then returned. Thinking of this, she raised her head again, her eyes hopeful. “Would it work if we returned there now?”

Tong Chen shook his head again. “No. It has already passed. But …” He paused, sorting out what he wanted to convey in his mind. “While my ability isn’t useful here, I doubt there are many possibilities as to what is going on. Under usual circumstances, giving more information to one of the four great righteous sects shouldn’t be bad. If Disciple Zhi’s intuition tells him that this would be the case this time around, then there has to be a reason for it. As to what that is, I can only see two possibilities.”

Zhi Guan narrowed his eyes. “It should be that the information isn’t safe there.”

Tong Chen inclined his head. “This is probably the most likely explanation. As to whether it is because there is a traitor among the people of the sect — maybe even among the Elders who were called to gather and would have been given this information directly — or whether the demonic faction has another way of gaining information from the Jian Chu Sect specifically, that is a different question which can’t be answered just based on guesses.

“The second possibility might be less likely but based on the understanding I have gained from my ability over the years, the information people have on hand or don’t leads to different decisions they will make. So it might be that had you told Sect Master Du more and he had given that information to the Elders afterward, they would have decided to do something that negatively influenced the situation. As for what that is …” He shook his head. “It depends on too many factors to tell.”

Long Shu Fen pursed her lips, thinking of the people currently in the sect. Admittedly, she wasn’t too familiar with them. Apart from a few old Elders who had survived the war back then, the others were all from younger generations. Some might be previous disciples of her generation but she wouldn’t know. She wasn’t that involved in the sect. Naturally, she couldn’t tell how they would decide with any more conviction than Tong Chen would be able to.

Even though this was the case, she couldn’t help but speak up for her own sect. “I don’t think there is any traitor among them.” She just didn’t want to believe it. Even though she was disappointed in the current Sect Master and also in the current Elders who didn’t speak up to change her treatment or the state of the sect overall, she couldn’t imagine that things would be this bad. It just couldn’t be.

Tong Chen knew what she thought. Among the four of them, Long Shu Fen might be the one who might be the most closely connected to her sect. It wasn’t reflected in her position or her treatment but her wish to play an important role in the Jian Chu Sect had always influenced her a lot. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that compared to the rest of them, she had always had higher aspirations.

The rest of them … well, he simply pursued a higher understanding of sword arts and wanted to understand his ability, chasing after this elusive fate he was somehow connected with. Shang Qiang simply wanted to prove his own strength because people tended to look down on him due to his looks. As for Yan Jian Hong … when they were younger, he always joked he wanted to marry a gentle wife and have a child or two to raise. Later, after the war was over, he never brought it up again, likely having buried that dream at the bottom of the southern chasm.

Thinking about it now, Tong Chen couldn’t help but sigh that he seemed to be the only one who reached the goal he had set for himself. While it wasn’t perfectly fulfilled, it was enough. The others though … they hadn’t managed to achieve what they wanted. Long Shu Fen especially, she was even further from it than she had been originally and was even about to break with her sect.

And yet, despite all that, she still wanted to trust in the Jian Chu Sect. When such a grave matter was concerned, she didn’t want to face the possibility that things might be even worse than she had thought.

As her friend, he naturally wouldn’t forcefully pierce the window paper. They didn’t know the truth and they had no time and actually no need to figure it out at this moment either. It was alright to pretend, even if all three of them were aware in their hearts what the most likely answer was.

He took a moment to consider his words and finally nodded. “Yes, the demonic faction is insidious. Since we have found from the border region that their methods are even more varied than we knew of, some kind of array or fake ability may have been used to achieve such a feat. This can be investigated slowly after the main battle is over. For now … it is good that the two of you have prevented worse from happening.”