Volume 1, Chapter 124 – The Journey Back

After returning to the low peak and meeting up with Gu Rentong, Shi Lan set out immediately, hurrying back to Ancient Phoenix City.

Not long after Shi Lan and the others left, the Sky Thunder Hall released a statement. It did dispel some of the crooked thoughts many people had, yet the undercurrents beneath the surface still surged violently, without the slightest sign of calming.

After half a day or so, at sunset, Shi Lan and Gu Rentong arrived at Ancient Phoenix City ahead of everyone else.

Once inside the city, Gu Rentong returned to the City Lord’s Manor first, while Shi Lan went back to the inn.

She had just reached the inn’s entrance and had not yet gone inside when a thunderous boom exploded by her ear.

Half of the inn’s brick wall, along with the entire front door, was blasted into fragments by a streak of snowy-white spear qi. Shards of stone sprayed out like rain.

The commoners nearby scattered like frightened birds and beasts. Even Body Tempering Realm martial artists did not dare linger. In the blink of an eye, the street that had still been fairly bustling was completely empty. Only a few scattered Innate Realm martial artists dared to watch from a distance.

Several broken windows of the guest rooms on the inn’s second floor barely hung from the floorboards. The paper on the frames fluttered in the wind, making the scene look rather desolate.

A black figure dropped from the second floor and landed less than three zhang away from Shi Lan.

Shi Lan looked up and saw Wu Lingkong, long spear in hand, anger written across her face.

Shi Lan frowned slightly and turned her gaze to that black shadow.

It was a young man who looked about twenty-three or twenty-four. He wore all black and his complexion was extremely pale, as if he had not seen sunlight in a long time. In his left hand he held a dagger; in his right, a green jade token. It was clearly a Demon-Suppressing Order.

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A green Demon-Suppressing Order belonged to a Centurion. Shi Lan’s own token was on her person. Judging from Wu Lingkong’s reaction, it was obvious whose token this one was.

As for the dagger, Shi Lan recognized it at a glance. It was the Fish-Gut Sword she had drawn not long ago. At the time she had felt it would be a pity to have the system recycle it directly, so she had casually tossed it into the pile of luggage.

The man lowered his head to glance at the Demon-Suppressing Order in his hand, then flipped the jade token toward Wu Lingkong. “I have no wish to become enemies with the Demon-Suppressing Army,” he said. His voice sounded somewhat cold and eerie.

Wu Lingkong caught the Demon-Suppressing Order and put it away in her palm. She was just about to speak when she caught sight of Shi Lan out of the corner of her eye. At once she shouted, “Shi Lan, help me capture this little thief!”

Before the words had finished leaving her mouth, Shi Lan had already stepped forward, charging up to the black-clad man and reaching for his wrist.

Her grab closed on empty air.

Shi Lan’s five fingers tightened. The air had no time to escape before it was pinched into a crisp popping sound.

The black-clad man’s figure seemed to slide sideways through thin air by almost three zhang, yet he still maintained the same distance from Shi Lan as before.

“I have no wish to become enemies with the Demon-Suppressing Army.”

The black-clad man’s expression did not ripple in the slightest as he repeated his earlier words.

Shi Lan lowered her hand and looked toward Wu Lingkong, who had leaped down from the second floor. “What happened?”

Wu Lingkong briefly explained the sequence of events.

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At first light that morning, as usual, Wu Lingkong had begun checking their luggage. Halfway through the inventory, this black-clad man suddenly appeared and offered two thousand spirit crystals to buy the Fish-Gut Sword.

Since the Fish-Gut Sword belonged to Shi Lan, Wu Lingkong naturally refused and turned him down. The man then raised the price to a staggering one hundred thousand spirit crystals. When he saw that Wu Lingkong still refused to loosen her stance, he left.

Less than two hours later, the black-clad man quietly returned. While he was in the middle of stealing, Wu Lingkong discovered him and the fight broke out.

At first Wu Lingkong had not planned to use heavy-handed tactics, but after a flurry of exchanges she realized she could not even so much as touch the hem of the man’s clothes. Instead, at some unknown point, the Demon-Suppressing Order at her waist had fallen into his hand.

With the Demon-Suppressing Order away from her, Wu Lingkong, in her panic, had no choice but to draw her artifact.

“I left spirit crystals behind, so it doesn’t count as theft. Earlier I also didn’t know you were from the Demon-Suppressing Army. I hope you can forgive me.” The black-clad man shook his head slightly.

In that brief span, Wang Ning and the others had also rushed out and surrounded the black-clad man in a loose circle.

“Why does Sir want this Fish-Gut Sword so badly?” Shi Lan asked after pondering for a moment.

The Fish-Gut Sword was only a one-star item, merely a somewhat sharper mortal weapon. It was hardly anything rare.

The man lowered his head to gently stroke the short sword in his hand, then looked at Shi Lan. “This weapon once belonged to a remarkable assassin. It is of great use to me. I beg you to part with it. Name your terms. As long as I can do it, I will.”

After thinking it over briefly, Shi Lan nodded. “One hundred thousand spirit crystals. The Fish-Gut Sword is yours.”

The system’s rating for the Fish-Gut Sword was one star. Shi Lan herself had examined it carefully before. She was certain this Fish-Gut Sword was nothing more than a slightly sharper mortal weapon, without the slightest special trait.

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Trading it for one hundred thousand spirit crystals was absolutely a bargain.

“The spirit crystals are on the second floor.” As soon as the man finished speaking, his figure was like thick ink dropped into water, suddenly dispersing and vanishing into the dusky afterglow, leaving no trace.

Shi Lan withdrew her gaze, glanced at the badly damaged inn, then looked to Wu Lingkong. “Pack up. We’ll go stay at the City Lord’s Manor for the night.”

Wu Lingkong nodded, turned, and went into the inn’s main hall. She found the innkeeper, who was cowering in a corner trying to avoid disaster, tossed him a spirit crystal as compensation, then began organizing the Demon-Suppressing Army to pack up their things.

Shi Lan leaped directly up to the second floor. As soon as she stepped onto the room’s floorboards, she saw ten crystal plates neatly stacked on the table.

She put the crystal plates away, gave the room a simple tidy, and went downstairs.

Once the luggage was checked, the group set out in force and arrived at the gates of the City Lord’s Manor.

Gu Rentong quickly received word and came out to welcome Shi Lan and the others into the manor.

After settling everyone, Shi Lan followed Gu Rentong toward the rear courtyard, while Wu Lingkong stayed behind in the guest room, not going to join in the commotion.

……

Gu Rentong led Shi Lan to a secluded courtyard. Gu Deyuan was already waiting there, holding a square bundle in his hands.

“This is the profit from the betting pool earlier, plus our token of thanks to you, young lady.”

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Gu Rentong spoke and gestured for Gu Deyuan to open the bundle.

Inside, crystal plates were stacked in perfectly tidy rows, divided into five rows of ten, fifty plates in total, which came to five hundred thousand spirit crystals.

Shi Lan’s initial estimate had been a bit over four hundred thousand. By rights, it should not have been this much. It seemed Gu Rentong had rounded the amount up for her.

However, Shi Lan did not dwell on the exact number of spirit crystals. Instead she looked at Gu Rentong. “Where is your grandson now?”

“He is in the room.”

Gu Rentong pointed to the only room in the courtyard and turned to lead the way.

The three of them pushed the door open and entered. As soon as she stepped inside, Shi Lan smelled a thick medicinal fragrance, wrapped around an extremely dense spiritual energy.

Array patterns flickered faintly on the walls all around the room, serving to seal in the spiritual energy.

In the center of the room, a bathing pool had been dug out. The bottom and sides of the pool were lined with white jade. A boy who looked to be just over ten sat at the edge of the pool, his expression vacant, his eyes completely lacking the lively spirit a child should have.

“This is my youngest grandson. His name is Qingcang.”