Liao Delun was relieved to hear this. He wasn't afraid of death but of getting tortured. "Can you let me go first?"
Yun Lintian stared straight into Liao Delun's eyes and let go of his neck.
Liao Delun gasped for a few deep breaths and said. "Have you ever been curious how we, the Red Skull pirate group, could become a giant?"
Yun Lintian nodded and waited for further explanation.
"Simply because our backer is powerful." Liao Delun said calmly. "You should know the Star Pavilion, right?"
You Lintian frowned slightly. "They are your backer?"
"Yes." Liao Delun replied calmly. "It's not only us. They are also backing many pirate groups out there. Most of the time, we will have to perform a mission they gave us. Mainly finding information for them. Now you should understand why we know so much."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtYun Lintian nodded gently. The Star Pavilion was rumored to be the Star Gazing Palace's subsidiary. This rumor was later confirmed by the Cloud Shadow team. Before this, Yun Lintian had always been curious about their information-gathering method. Who would have thought they actually sponsored these pirates to work for them?
In the distance, Hu An, who was feeding Wen Yunshan a healing pill, looked at Liao Delun in shock. He was, of course, familiar with the Star Pavilion and had even used their service many times in the past. It turned out they were behind the disturbance in the Southern Endless Sea for all this time.
Liao Delun seemed to see through Hu An's thoughts. He chuckled. "Your four great sects, including the Divine Phoenix Palace, are surely blind. The enemy is standing in front of you all this time, yet you know nothing about them."
Yun Lintian thought for a moment and asked. "Did you come here for a mission?"
Liao Delun nodded. "Indeed. Our goal of coming here is to learn about the four monuments at the island's center, including investigating the Poison Valley's movement."
He paused for a moment and continued. "Because the four great sects' disciples were killed by the Poison Valley's remnants, the Star Pavilion has issued a task to stop all of you from investigating this matter. However, they didn't expect the Divine Phoenix Palace to participate in this."
The frown between Yun Lintian's brows grew deeper… Why would they want to stop the four great sects from investigating this incident? Were they trying to protect the Poison Valley? If that was the case, it made sense since the Star Pavilion couldn't find any trace of the Poison Valley for all this time. More precisely, they should be hiding it from everyone.
Liao Delun didn't interrupt Yun Lintian's thoughts, and he didn't intend to find a chance to escape. As a captain of this fleet, his talent and judgment were naturally top-notch. He could see that Yun Lintian was far stronger than Wen Yunshan and himself. Basically, he had zero chance of escaping from his palm.
A moment later, he said. "I see that you are probably suspecting the Star Pavilion to have anything with the Poison Valley. Although my position in the group is not low, I am really clueless about this matter. This is what you have to find out by yourself."
"How much do you know about the Star Pavilion? For example, what method are they using to contact all of you?" Yun Lintian asked.
Liao Delun shook his head. "There are various ways. Sometimes they would contact us through a waiter at some random restaurants. Sometimes they simply dropped a letter by our ship without us knowing… Honestly, they are too mysterious for me."
Yun Lintian was slightly puzzled. Since the Star Pavilion seemed to have their own intelligence network personnel, why would they risk being exposed by backing these pirates? It didn't make sense at all. At least, he wouldn't choose to do that… Unless they were confident that no one could do anything to them even if people knew it.
"Is there anything else?" Yun Lintian asked.
Liao Delun shook his head and then seemed to think of something. "Oh, there is one thing. Before coming here, they gave me information about this island. They said this place is an artifact, and the key to controlling it is related to the four monuments in the center area. They also said the Poison Valley's goal is to occupy this island."
"I see." Yun Lintian immediately understood everything. At the same time, he was curious. How did the Star Pavilion and the Poison Valley know about this? Where did they get the information from? Could they have an existence similar to Hongyue?
"Interesting. I'm getting more curious about the mastermind behind this so-called Poison Valley. One thing that I am certain of is that this person is coming from the world above." Hongyue's voice suddenly resounded.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Can you make a guess?" Yun Lintian hurriedly asked.
"How could I guess it? There are billions of billions of stars in this universe. And those with the dark element like this are everywhere." Even though Hongyue said this, she seemed to have a particular name in her mind. It was just that she wasn't sure about it, and speaking it out might distract Yun Lintian further.
"You don't have to waste your brain thinking about it. Just focus on increasing your strength. These people will eventually show up before you by themselves at some points." Hongyue said calmly.
Yun Lintian took a deep breath and looked at Liao Delun. "Last question, where is your base?"
Liao Delun replied immediately. "If you go west around two thousand kilometers from here, you will find a small island called Red Reef Island. The Red Skull base is located under this island."
Yun Lintian looked at Liao Delun strangely. "I thought you wouldn't tell me."
Liao Delun laughed heartily. "Do you really think I am loyal to them? Nah, most of us join the group simply because of the benefits. And I am about to die soon. What's the point of protecting them?"
Yun Lintian took a deep look at Liao Delun and said. "Very good. I'll make it quick."
Before Liao Delun could say anything further, his entire body instantly froze, becoming an ice sculpture before shattering into countless ice particles…