Zhang Ruochen deliberately hid the aura on his body, not to mention Mo Hanlin, even a strong person of the Ninth Transformation of the Fish Dragon could not see through Zhang Ruochen’s true identity.
Mo Hanlin retreated and went forward to report to the boss’s wife.
Zhang Ruochen, on the other hand, sat on the second floor of the lobby and waited quietly.
Two maidens, who were quite pretty in appearance, walked over. One of the maidservants, sixteen or seventeen years old, with delicate skin and soft, smouldering waves, held a crystal clear teapot and poured a cup of tea for Zhang Ruochen.
Inside the jade teacup, a wisp of hot white smoke emerged.
Another maid, who was slightly older, about eighteen or nineteen years old, threw a wink at Zhang Ruochen, and then, placed a dark golden book on top of the table beside Zhang Ruochen.
On the booklet, the prices of various pills, True Martial Treasures, and savage beasts from Qingxuan Pavilion were recorded and listed in a table, appearing clear at a glance.
If Zhang Ruochen wanted to purchase other cultivation resources, he would directly tick on the top of the table, and naturally, there would be a maid who would present the cultivation resources he purchased.
Other martial artists simply did not have such treatment. Who told Zhang Ruochen to purchase holy stones as soon as he arrived?
Such a big customer, of course, had to be served comfortably.
The slightly older maid, who made secret glances at Zhang Ruochen, softly said, “Master, do you need to purchase something?”
If Zhang Ruochen purchased more, they would naturally get a certain share of the cut. Especially for such a big customer, just by slightly purchasing a few cultivation resources, they would be able to give them a large share of the wealth.
Zhang Ruochen picked up the booklet and flipped through it a few times before putting it down again, saying, “When the Boss Lady comes out, I will personally talk to her.”
The two maids revealed a disappointed look and retreated behind Zhang Ruochen.
In the hinterland of the Qingxuan Pavilion, on top of a tower filled with pills, at this moment, Qin Ya and Duanmu Xingling were sitting opposite each other.
Qin Ya was wearing a big red embroidered phoenix dress, sitting on top of a golden nanmu bench, her hair in a high bun, with three golden hairpins in between her hair, bright beautiful eyes, scarlet lips, blowing skin, and a pair of full peaks in front of her breasts, although they were covered with a layer of red gauze, they could still be seen in a proud silhouette.
Qin Ya’s eyes were like autumn water, quite seductive, and she laughed, “Since your identity has been exposed, don’t go back to the Sacred Courtyard, go to the Nine Spectres City first, and let the High Priestess help you to unseal your body, and restore the identity of the Sacred Maiden.”
Duanmu Xingling acted as if she hadn’t heard Qin Ya’s words at all, her eyes were dull, her eyes were red and swollen, she gently flattened her mouth, her voice whimpering a little, “Auntie, I went to the Yellow Stone Plain, all that’s left there is a cooled rocky lake, and collapsed mountains, and I didn’t even find a single bone. Auntie, is he really dead?”
Qin Ya was a little worried when she saw Duanmu Xingling’s appearance and said, “The Nine Secrets Sword Saint personally struck, even a Saint would find it difficult to survive. Lingxi, people can’t come back from the dead, you should pull yourself together.”
Duanmu Xingling shook her head vigorously, reciting, “But he’s so outstanding, he’s even a Time Successor, how could he possibly die, it’s impossible surely not possible”
It seemed that even she, herself, didn’t quite believe the words, her voice getting weaker and weaker, and finally, disappearing completely.
Qin Ya elegantly stood up, her eyes looking into the distance, saying, “Since ancient times, I don’t know how many outstanding people who have passed through the heavens and the earth have been born, but a large portion of those geniuses, before they could truly grow up, have already fallen. The path of the Holy Way is inherently full of perils and unknowns, so what if you are even more outstanding, if you don’t become a Saint, you are ultimately just an ant to be slaughtered.”
“Lingxi, you’re the Holy Daughter of the Moon Worshipping Divine Sect, how can you sink like this?”
Duanmu Xingling’s real name was “Mu Lingxi”, a descendant of the Mu Clan.
On the contrary, Qin Ya was the real Duanmu Clan’s person, whose original name was “Duanmu Ya”.
At the beginning, when the Moon Worshipping Demon Sect decided to send Mu Lingshi into the Wu City Bank to work as an undercover agent, they had taken into consideration that the Wu City Bank would check her details.
Therefore, at the very beginning, they could only send Mu Lingshi to the Martial Market Bank in the Heavenly Devil Ridge, and then disguise her under the name of “Duanmu Xingling”.
Because the Heavenly Demon Ridge is located in the middle of nowhere, and is not taken seriously by the Martial Market Bank, even if it were to be investigated, it would be very difficult to find out the cracks.
As for Duanmu Ya and Mo Hanlin and the others, they infiltrated into the Heavenly Demon Ridge and were responsible for protecting Mu Lingshi’s safety, sheltering her all the way into the Holy Academy.
After Mu Lingshi, in the capacity of Duanmu Xingling, entered the Holy Academy, Duanmu Ya naturally retired after her work was done and returned to the Eastern Region Evil Lands again.
Allowing a holy maiden to enter the Holy Academy as an undercover agent was naturally quite a risky thing to do. However, if Mu Lingshi was able to cultivate into a saint in the future and enter the top echelons of the Martial Market Chambers, then it would be able to bring the Devil Cult great rewards.
Mo Hanlin walked up the Dan Tower, came behind Duanmu Ya, and with a respectful bow, said, “Chief Helmsman, just now, there was a mysterious young man who came to Qingxuan Pavilion, wanting to purchase holy stones.”
“Purchase holy stones?”
A sharp aura appeared in Duanmu Ya’s eyes as she immediately asked, “What is this person’s origin? Someone from the Blood Cloud Sect, someone from the Two Eyes Sect, or someone from the One Piece Hall side of the black market?”
Mo Hanlin said, “I’ve already sent people to check, and there are no results yet.”
Duanmu Ya immediately revealed a grave expression and began to ponder.
What kind of person would actually come to Liyuan City to purchase holy stones?
Although Liyuan City also had a population of hundreds of thousands, it could only be considered a medium-sized city in Qingyun County. To purchase holy stones, why not go to the county town?
Could it be that the other party had learnt in advance that Duanmu Ya was in Liyuan City, and thus, had come specifically to deal with her?
Duanmu Ya used to be the Demon Sect’s Chief Helmsman of the Heavenly Demon Ridge’s thirty-six counties, and now, she had been transferred back to the Eastern Region’s Evil Lands, but she was serving as the Chief Helmsman of the Fallen God’s Palace’s Qing Yun County.
Coming to Liyuan City, she was here to receive the Holy Maiden Mu Lingshi.
It was worth mentioning that the Black Market One Piece Hall also learnt from the First Central Empire’s method of governance, dividing the Eastern Domain Evil Earth into twelve state capitals, with each capital divided into eighteen counties.
However, the Eastern Region Evil Land did not have officials such as prefectural lords and county guards, nor did it have a unified army.
Each prefecture and county had a clear division of forces.
For example, the Qing Yun County where Zhang Ruochen was currently located was a vast land, 50,000 miles apart from north to south and 28,000 miles apart from east to west, roughly equivalent to the area of a superior county.
In total, there were more than a thousand cities in Qing Yun County, with a population of more than 500 million.
The largest evil force in Qing Yun County was called the Blood Cloud Sect, and at the same time, the Blood Cloud Sect was also the administrator of Qing Yun County. In this great land, all the other large and small evil path forces had to follow the orders of the Blood Cloud Sect.
In the Xuanwu Ruins Realm, the Iron Maiden who had once hunted down Zhang Ruochen was the tenth assassin of the Blood Cloud Sect.
To be able to cultivate an expert like the Iron Maiden, it could be seen that the Blood Cloud Sect was naturally still quite a powerful evil sect.
Although Duanmu Ya was the chief helmsman of the Demon Sect arranged in Qing Yun County, the Demon Sect’s power in the Eastern Region’s Evil Soil Lands was not too great, and was far from being able to be compared to the Black Market.
Duanmu Ya pondered for a long time and said, ”At first, the Black Market invited our Moon Worshipping Divine Sect to enter the Eastern Domain Evil Soil and fight against the imperial court’s attack together. That’s why the Moon Worshipping Divine Sect dispatched a large number of experts to enter the Eastern Region’s Evil Lands. Moreover, the Divine Sect has cultivated a large number of congregations between hundreds of years.”
“Nowadays, the Black Market has taken us, the Moon Worshipping Divine Sect, as a threat and wants to drive us out of the Eastern Region Evil Soil.”
Mo Hanlin laughed, “It’s easy to invite the gods but hard to send them away, since our Moon Worshipping Divine Sect came to the Eastern Region Evil Soil Land, how can we just say we’re leaving.”
Duanmu Ya said, “After hundreds of years of development, the power of the black market, too, has recovered quite a bit. Recently, they even retrieved the Nine Phoenix Cauldron, and their strength has increased greatly. Today’s Black Market no longer needs the Divine Religion to help them fight against the imperial court’s army and should make a move.”
Mo Hanlin’s expression twitched as he said, “Chief Helmsman suspects that the young man is someone sent by the Blood Cloud Sect to purchase the Holy Stone as a front, but is actually trying to test us?”
Duanmu Ya reached out and gently licked her crystalline red lips, narrowing her eyes and smiling, “He wants to test me, so, I’ll go and test him first? Make the arrangements, I’ll personally go and meet him for a while.”
“Good, I’ll make the arrangements now.”
Mo Hanlin once again saluted Duanmu Ya, then, retreated.
Duanmu Ya stared towards Mu Lingshi and said, “Lingshi, do you want to come with me?”
Mu Lingshi’s eyes remained dull, her hands propped up on her chin as she mechanically shook her head.
“Hehe! You think about it again! If you think clearly, go with me to the Nine Spectres City to meet the High Priestess, unlock the seal on your body, and restore your original identity.”
Duanmu Ya sighed and travelled down towards the Dan Tower.
Zhang Ruochen followed Mo Hanlin and walked through a corridor, entering the hinterland of Qingxuan Pavilion, and finally met Duanmu Ya by a turquoise-coloured pond.
At this moment, Duanmu Ya was sitting inside a four-square gazebo, with four maids waiting by her side. In the middle of the pavilion, a curtain of white gauze and silk was draped down, and Zhang Ruochen could only see a graceful and delicate shadow at a glance.
Zhang Ruochen mobilised his powerful spiritual power and carefully probed over, finally seeing that the stunning woman behind the curtain was none other than Duanmu Xingling’s aunt, Qin Ya.
“Please sit.”Duanmu Ya’s voice was very soft.
Zhang Ruochen retracted his spiritual energy and was not polite as he walked into the gazebo and sat on top of one of the chairs outside the white curtain.
Duanmu Ya’s voice, again coming out from behind the curtain, said, “Light and soundless footwork, smooth and unruffled breathing, Your Excellency’s cultivation, it seems to be not simple.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “The Boss Lady’s cultivation, is also not simple.”
Duanmu Ya smiled and said, “My slave’s compound surname is Duanmu, with a single name of Ya. What is your name?”
“Surname Zhang.”Zhang Ruochen said succinctly.
Duanmu Ya added, “How many Saint Stones do you want to purchase, Your Excellency Zhang?”
“The more the better.”Zhang Ruochen said.
Duanmu Ya was slightly surprised, but of course, it was only for a moment before she added, “How can I believe that you can afford to buy Saint Stones?”
