Volume 4, Chapter 74 – Encounter

Not too far from the city where Alos and the red-haired girl were staying, Bai Xiang slipped into another city controlled by Huhe Heaven. Wearing a bamboo hat, she casually found a place like a teahouse or tavern, intending to gather information there.

A disguise of only a bamboo hat naturally could not be called professional. But after her earlier experiences and lessons, Bai Xiang truly did not want to kill her way through the entire journey. She felt that wasted time.

Now that I already know the organ trade and even beautiful human appearances are highly valuable in this so-called Upper Realm, I might as well cover myself a little for now. Best if no idiots come to bother me.

The level of civilization in Shenwu Heaven was not particularly advanced. Its architecture was still mostly wooden in style. This particular teahouse-tavern was seven stories high and faced the main official road leading to the largest western city gate. At this moment, it was unexpectedly crowded and noisy, with quite a few finely dressed people gathered inside.

These people might not be ignorant of Shenwu Heaven’s impending destruction. Quite a few of them were drunk out of their minds, babbling nonsense. After coming upstairs, Bai Xiang gave them a rough glance, did not bother with them, and kept climbing until she reached the highest floor. Then she took a seat at one of the tables.

“What would this exalted immortal like to order?” An attentive servant immediately stepped forward to ask.

“Does this count as payment?” Bai Xiang stared at the disgusting ring of writhing tentacles on the servant’s face. After a moment’s thought, she took out from her sleeve a jet-black crystal, extremely pure and about the size of a fingernail.

The instant the crystal touched the table, it triggered a violent reaction. Crystallization spread outward from the point of contact, but compared to the black crystal itself, the purity of the crystallized portion was far worse. It could basically only be counted as rock.

“This… of course it counts!” The servant immediately took out a pair of red gloves and put them on, then carefully picked up the crystal and said somewhat nervously to Bai Xiang, “For this… we can value it at one hundred and twenty thousand void crystals.”

“Then would one hundred and twenty thousand void crystals be enough to buy a bit of information?” Bai Xiang removed her bamboo hat and revealed her true face, her pair of golden pupils locking firmly onto the servant’s eyes.

She had no intention of making too much effort to conceal herself in such matters. That was because, from everything she had seen along the way, she already knew that as long as one held the status of an outsider, one enjoyed the highest level of political standing in Shenwu Heaven itself.

The concept was roughly like the status of foreigners during a certain period of history in her previous life. The locals currently worshipped the “immortal masters from outside” without question. Her appearance alone was enough to show she was not native to this place. At times, that face could also help speed things along.

And the servant… the moment he met Bai Xiang’s golden eyes, he seemed to see two golden nebulae appear within them. In an instant, his entire consciousness was dragged inside, as though he had experienced the birth and destruction of a universe. When he came back to himself, he was drenched in sweat and stumbled backward several steps until he hit the wall.

Rеаⅾ оո ΚatRеαԁіngCαfе

He looked at Bai Xiang in uncertainty and alarm, but now he no longer dared meet her face directly. After only one glance, he lowered his head and said, “Whatever the exalted immortal wishes to ask, this lowly one will naturally tell all he knows.”

Bai Xiang was very satisfied with his attitude. She casually asked a few questions and learned that this place was territory effectively controlled by Huhe Heaven. As for the strategy Huhe Heaven specifically carried out, it was really no different from Jieving Heaven. They too were doing everything possible to deceive the locals into trading away the organs on their bodies, then helping them nourish other organs more deeply contaminated by demonic power, causing severe bodily distortions.

The logic behind it was plain enough. Shenwu Heaven might not even have a week of life left. Naturally, all the outsiders occupying this place were desperately squeezing out every last bit of value they could from its people.

Pretending? At a time like this, there was no need to pretend anymore.

It was simply a contest of who was harsher, who was more efficient, and who could devour more. Benevolence and morality were worth nothing at such a moment. No one cared about the life and death of the people at the bottom.

Listening to the servant’s description, Bai Xiang did indeed feel some emotion, but she felt little sympathy for them.

Because this servant had also mentioned a “failed war” once launched by Shenwu Heaven.

That could only refer to the invasion led by Wu Qing and the others against Maozhou.

And in the way he spoke of it, there was a strong note of regret, as if he believed that if the defeat had not been so disastrous, and the expeditionary army assembled from the power of the entire immortal dynasty had not been wiped out to the last man in another world, then Shenwu Heaven would never have fallen to such a state and been freely butchered by these other “immortal masters.”

He is clever. He has noticed that what I’m asking about is not ordinary, and wants to provoke me into clashing with Huhe Heaven?

Bai Xiang felt no emotional stir at this sort of cunning, so typical of the common rabble in the marketplace. She simply felt that the locals ending up in such a state was, in part, the retribution they had earned themselves.

Even a mere waiter like this knew of, and supported, Wu Qing’s plan. That meant a great many people here were not innocent at all.

Reαⅾ οո КαtRеаdіnɡСαfe

That was good.

Because when Bai Xiang left, she was certainly not going to take anyone else with her. Now she had no need to feel the slightest guilt over it.

“Does this Huhe Heaven have any especially conspicuous immortal masters?” Bai Xiang asked, getting to the key point.

She was trying to find out whether any of the four Immortal Venerable phantoms seated in the abyss belonged to Huhe Heaven.

“Yes!” The servant nodded. “There is a Daoist in an orange-yellow robe, with black and orange interwoven patterns at the sleeves. When he came down, he was the only one whom all the other immortal masters bowed to, calling him ‘Master.’”

“A Daoist? What weapon does he use? Does he carry a sword?”

“He only has a sword at his waist. I did not see any other weapon.”

After asking further about the man’s facial features, build, and the sort of crown he wore, Bai Xiang got a rough picture. This “Master” of Huhe Heaven was most likely one of the four, a man named Zhu Canghai.

This was a body cultivator. It was said that he too had once stumbled upon a lucky encounter. During one invasion of turbulent winds, he had caught hold of the skeleton of an Immortal Venerable, and from characters carved into the bones, he had comprehended a wondrous body-tempering scripture. By means of that, he had opened several hidden meridian passages and only then gained a bit of strength and fame.

Bai Xiang was not surprised at all that this man had also encountered a stroke of fortune. There were very few sentient beings who reached the level of Immortal Venerable or Venerable without some kind of fortuitous encounter. What she cared about was whether that wondrous body-tempering scripture contained hidden orifices she did not know about.

That Immortal Venerable’s skeleton had endured uncorrupted under the erosion of turbulent winds for years, and even the carved writing on the bones had remained intact. From that, it was clear that the body-tempering method mastered in life must also have been exceptionally profound. It might even have been on the level of the Sun-Chasing Scripture.

This matter must be kept in mind. When the time came, this Zhu Canghai deserved special attention.

Reaԁ оո ΚαtRеаⅾіոɡCаfе

Bai Xiang asked a few more miscellaneous questions, including whether these “immortal masters from outside” had a market where they interacted, and whether anyone nearby with “deep eye sockets and unusual hair color, belonging to other races” had appeared.

The answer she got was that both this city, Fengbo City, and the neighboring Blood-Robe City were effectively marketplaces. Many “immortal masters” moved about inside them, most likely using the local setting as a trading platform.

As for what they traded, there was all kinds of it. Various crystals, cultivation methods, weapons, rare curios, and of course organs and human appearances. Even large groups of slaves could be bought and sold there. Basically anything could be found in those markets.

As for “other races,” the servant clearly had no concrete concept of that. He merely told Bai Xiang that “there are many things here with unusual hair color,” which was information of no value at all.

Enough.

Bai Xiang had never expected him to know that much. This harvest was already sufficient, and she rose to leave.

At that very moment, however, her movement halted slightly.

When she looked up again, she saw that someone was already seated across from her. It was a Daoist in a black robe, with high cheekbones and a nose that was no more than two narrow holes, and he was staring at her with curious eyes.

“White hair?” he muttered. “How is it that I have never heard Tianfu Mountain has a seat-holder this beautiful?”

The moment he said that, Bai Xiang knew she had encountered someone who understood the situation.

She had not used Tianfu Mountain’s name to cover herself. Anyone who could connect her to that background had without exception recognized the Tianxuan Sword.

“Do you need something?” she looked openly at the man across from her, making no attempt at courtesy.

Reαⅾ on КatRеαԁіngСаfе

Other than the monk from the Spirit-Command Sect, whose background she still could not read, and herself, who had come here precisely to wreak slaughter, every one of these demonized people counted for exactly what they were. None of them were righteous or benevolent.

“We split up to search for your trail. I did not expect I would be the one to get the first step.” The black-robed Daoist gave a small sigh, then raised his hands and saluted Bai Xiang. “I am He Xian, Dao Lord of Cangying Heaven.”

“I have come in hopes of turning weapons of war into bolts of jade brocade. May I ask what fellow Daoist thinks of that?”

So he was one of the four.

At last, Bai Xiang understood.

Of those four figures, one was naturally Shenquan himself. Another was Zhu Canghai. Another was Meng Ye. The last was this old Daoist, He Xian, who was said to excel in shadow-escape techniques.

“Do you understand body cultivation?” Bai Xiang suddenly asked him a strange question.

Huh?

For a moment, He Xian did not react.

Yet the flower of his divine pool had already manifested above his head, as though it had sensed some kind of fatal danger.