Rebirth Of The Villainous Crown Prince

Chapter 145 - How To Identify Sleeper Cells?

"What is the emergency here?"

Grand Elder Li looked at Elder Tu for an answer, who in turn, replied, "Grand Elder, it was due to Fang Chen and Jun Xie's persuasion that everyone was called here."

"What's the matter, Xie'er?" Grand Elder Li asked his disciple.

"Master, Fang Chen here has something to say about Sleeper Cells."

"What!?" It was Grand Elder Xuan who almost shouted when he heard Jun Xie's words, "What do you mean he has something to say about the Sleeper Cells? First of all, tell me, how does he even know about the Sleeper Cells?"

Ye Tian Yun didn't let Jun Xie speak first, he replied, "Grand Elder, I talked about Senior Brother about what was all this commotion for, and that's how I got to know about the sleeper cells."

Many elders frowned at his words, including both of the Grand Elders.

Ye Tian Yun didn't need a big brain to know what they were thinking, thus he continued, "And elders, you don't have to be worried about unnecessary things, Senior Brother Jun Xie is a good friend of mine, this is why he told me. He wouldn't reveal such an important thing to any random disciples."

Grand Elder Li still had a frown on his face as he asked Jun Xie, "You two know each other?"

Jun Xie made up a story, "Yes, Master. I met Fang Chen before he even became a part of the Gracious Sword Sect, and was surprised to see him at the banquet today."

"You just met him, and you already trust him enough to tell him sect secrets?" Grand Elder Xuan wasn't going to let such a good chance to push down Jun Xie go to waste.

"No, Grand Elder," Jun Xie shook his head, "I haven't met him only once, but rather, I have met him in occasional incidences and we soon became good friends. And as for the trust, Grand Elder, please don't forget that I cultivate illusion arts, and knowing people's nature and heart is the most important thing in it. So, trusting Fang Chen was definitely not without any reason."

"Hmm," Grand Elder Li nodded, and then looked at Ye Tian Yun and asked, "Speak, what do you want to share?"

Ye Tian Yun cupped his fists once again and answered, "Grand Elder, I know how to identify the Sleeper Cells."

His words were like a thunderclap to the elders. 

"What?" Grand Elder Li was first to recover from the shock, "You know how to identify the sleeper cells? Tell us, fast."

Ye Tian Yun nodded his head and said, "A Sleeper Cell's body prepares itself for the explosion in the three hours after the shout, and we see certain physical signs on the body of the sleeper cells."

"And among these physical signs, there are two most significant and easily identifiable changes."

"The first one is that the end of the hand-fingernails of these disciples will slowly sprout a black shade. This black shade will slowly increase, and after three hours, the nails will turn half-black and half-white."

"The second most noticeable thing we will observe is the bulging veins behind the left ear of the Sleeper Cells."

"So now, if we can take note of these two things among everyone present on the First Peak, we will be able to find out all the Sleeper Cells in no time."

Grand Elder Li narrowed his eyes at him and said, "You know quite a lot about these sleeper Cells. The things which you speak off aren't even known to the Crimson Pavilion, which boasts itself of having the best information network in the whole Lower Heavens."

"Tell us, how do you know about all this?"

"Grand Elder Li, I am from the Fang Clan of the Xin Capital City."

"Ah, yes." Suddenly something dawned upon Grand Elder Li, as most of his suspicion was now gone. 

He knew things about the Fang Clan which were not known to the common populace, including almost all of the elder present at the scene.

Grand Elder Xuan was also included among the ignorant people, who now stepped forward and said, "So what if you're from the Fang Clan? That doesn't answer the question. Tell us, how do you know about all this?"

"Leave it," Grand Elder Li interrupted, and then looking at Ye Tian Yun, he asked, "Boy, what more do you know? We don't have much time."

Ye Tian Yun nodded his head and said, "To identify the sleeper cells is pretty easy if we know what to look for," he then took a pause before continuing, "A sleeper cell's body explodes about three hours after the trigger is turned on, which in case here, was the shout by those assassins."

"However, the thing is, the body doesn't explode all of a sudden, it doesn't blast itself as soon as the three-hour timer ends, but in fact, it's the process of preparing the body to explode is what that takes three hours."

"The Sleeper Cells should have already exploded as soon as they heard the shout, however, they didn't, because their body wasn't prepared yet. By not prepared, I meant, that the thing which made them explode was lying dormant in their body."

"And when the shout of those assassins reached the ears of the Sleeper Cells, that thing reacted. It tried to explode the body, and the veins which pop out behind the ears of the Sleeper Cells are due to this."

"But the body didn't explode, so now it's preparing the body. And this preparation is what delays the explosion for three hours."

"This is also a major weakness because while preparing the body for the explosion, some distinct physical signs will appear on the body of the Sleeper Cells. Which are what I mentioned earlier and the signs we need to look for."

Ye Tian Yun took a pause, letting everyone present at the scene digest what he had said.

Grand Elder Xuan broke the silence, "I still can't make myself trust you. Maybe you are giving the right information, but we can't just believe you because of this. The Sect's whole existence is at stake. And I don't want to take any risk by trusting your words."

"Hn?" Ye Tian Yun had a confused expression on his face, he said, "Grand Elder Xuan, here I am telling everyone a way to find those Sleeper Cells and save everyone's lives, and you're saying that I shouldn't be trusted?"

Grand Elder Xuan shook his head, "Don't twist my words boy, I don't trust you not because I don't want to believe your words, but because of this question: What if you're giving us the wrong information, and trying to divert everyone's attention?"

Many elders present at the scene silently agreed with Grand Elder Xuan.

Elder Tu also said, "Yes, Disciples Fang Chen, no one here will trust your words because there's no base on your words. As Grand Elder Xuan said, what if you're trying to waste more time by diverting the attention?"

However, just then, someone stepped forward and said, "I trust him."

It was Sect Leader Su.

And he was looking straight at his son, Fang Chen.