Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“You don’t plan to tell me what this object is, do you?” Su Yu asked as he stroked the pebble. He could tell that this object was precious.
The drop of blood turned over its head nonchalantly. “I already stated that it’s just an ordinary pebble. Lad, why are you always this skeptical? Don’t you trust me at all? In the past, I destroyed both heaven and earth and slaughtered so many beings that the starry sky was dyed. Would a great person like me swindle a lad like you out of your possession?”
Although it spoke these words, its eyes were still occasionally shooting looks at the Saint Blood Soul Nourishing Stone. Su Yu had a clear look at its current expression, and he turned his head around, looked at Division Vice Master Qi, and asked, “Where did you get this object?”
Division Vice Master Qi rolled his eyes, then said, “If you want to know, you must first let me out. Otherwise, you will never figure out where I got this pebble.”
“Tianzi’s Soul Control!” As Su Yu’s voice echoed, his eyes shone with a silver light.
Division Vice Master Qi was caught off guard, and when he was just about to fight back, he felt the Soul Space around him constricting, preventing him from moving an inch.
Even his mind became slower at that moment! Since his target wasn’t fighting back, Su Yu managed to easily use his soul power to control him.
“Where did you get it?” Su Yu then asked calmly.
Division Vice Master Qi replied involuntarily, “I was brought out from the Glittering Jewel Wonderland by an inner sanctum’s disciple. He wanted to sell it on the black market as a defective product, but I discovered it and bought it from him instead.”
The Glittering Jewel Wonderland? It’s that place once again! Su Yu’s eyes lit up upon hearing the name of the place.
“What is this object? Do you know what it is?” Su Yu asked with an ardent gaze.
Division Vice Master Qi shook his head. “I don’t know. I didn’t find any information about it in the sanctum’s ancient records when I looked at them. I just know that it’s extremely hard and nothing can cut it open. This was the reason why that inner sanctum’s disciple wanted to sell it as a defective product.”
The drop of blood next to them heaved a sigh of relief inwardly upon hearing this. It then grinned and asked, “Did you hear him? I already said that it isn’t worth anything, yet you still took it for a treasure.”
Su Yu just turned a deaf ear to it as he canceled the Tianzi’s Soul Control. He then said calmly, “I will hand over this soul to you now.”
After he spoke, Su Yu’s soul started dissipating, and it seemed like he was about to leave this Soul Space. The drop of blood was taken aback by this, and it tried to stop him, yelling, “Wait! Lad, leave that pebble to me!”
Upon witnessing this, Su Yu was still unmoved. Then, the drop of blood rolled its eyes and asked, “Don’t you want to know what it is? As long as you agree to give me half of it, I will immediately inform you of its origin, and also tell you how you can use it.”
Give you half? Su Yu just chuckled and left the Soul Space, while shouting back. “I don’t need you! I will find a way to understand it all by myself.” After he spoke, he left the Soul Space completely.
“Ah! That b*stardly lad is more sly than a thousand-year-old fox! I just wanted to get some small advantages! Does he assume that it’s easy for me to get them?” The drop of blood was flustered, exasperated, and soon flew into a rage. It seemed like it had just lost something that was very dear to it!
…
In the outside world, Su Yu’s eyes snapped open and he began to carefully observe the pebble that was now in his palm. It had blood-red patterns on it.
“The Saint Blood Soul Nourishing Stone? After I get to Tianya City, I must see whether or not I can find any ancient records about it, as I must investigate its origin! Since the Evil God was so concerned about it, it is surely not some crappy object!” Su Yu murmured aloud, his mood instantly brightening.
Su Yu collected the pebble, as well as the Five Elements Divine Prison, then tapped the ground with the tip of his foot and flew away from this place. The battle, which had happened a while ago, had caused a great disturbance, and even if it didn’t catch any nearby experts’ attention, his presence here might still lure some demonic beasts to come and cause him trouble!
After a day had passed, several people with powerful auras appeared in the dark sky. It seemed from their outfits that they belonged to the Red Blood Palace.
One among them was Palace Mistress Kong Chan, and she had several Cabinet Masters behind her. They all landed in the vicinity and started searching the region.
“Palace Mistress, I found four groups of ashes.” The Cabinet Masters managed to quickly find the pile of ashes.
Palace Mistress Kong Chan went over to the spot and stared at the ashes with a bewildered gaze. After a short while, an ice-cold look appeared on the face of a Cabinet Master next to her, who asked, “Palace Mistress, do they belong to Division Vice Master Qi, who recently went missing?”
Palace Mistress Kong Chan nodded. “It appears that this pile of ashes is the only thing left of him after his death. Division Vice Master Qi must really have been killed!”
Upon hearing her sad declaration, killing intent appeared on the faces of the Cabinet Masters who had come here with her. One of them immediately asked, “Who would be so daring and arrogant, daring to kill our Red Blood Palace’s Division Vice Master?”
The Red Blood Palace was one of the two rulers of the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands, so killing one of their disciples was tantamount to provoking the whole Red Blood Palace!
“Palace Mistress Kong Chan, this person is daring and presumptuous! We must surely find him and defend our Red Blood Palace’s dignity and honor,” another of her colleagues declared.
“That’s right, we must surely investigate this matter thoroughly,” yet another one added.
Palace Mistress Kong Chan got lost in her thoughts as she observed the pile of ashes. She didn’t listen to what they were saying at all.
After a short while, she murmured quietly, “Among the four groups of ashes, the owner of one of them was killed by a tyrannical demonic technique, and both his soul and body were exterminated. As for the rest, they were all killed by a mysterious technique. Moreover, the ashes still contain a wisp of Heavenly Wrath. Was it the Purple Cloud Palace’s Gu Taixu who killed them?”
They were only a few people in the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands who had managed to comprehend a Pure Divine Decree, and among them, only Gu Taixu was capable of controlling the Heavenly Wrath and using it to fight his enemies! He was known to be the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands’ number one genius, which made him comparable to the past Jian Wusheng.
As such, his Pure Divine Decree would replace Heaven and carry punishments on behalf of it. All of the people were aware of this.
“Was it the Purple Cloud Palace who attacked them?” The Palace Mistress felt like this matter was grave and serious, and she said in a deep voice, “You shouldn’t divulge the news of Division Vice Master Qi’s death to others, and this affair should be classified as one of the sanctum’s secrets. Anyone who dares to divulge it will be punished severely.”
The Cabinet Masters accompanying her became apprehensive upon hearing this, and they couldn’t help but wonder… What happened? Why is this affair suddenly being classified as a secret?
“Preserve their ashes. If this matter’s truth is like I expect, the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands’ peace will shortly come to an end,” Palace Mistress Kong Chan muttered.
Su Yu wasn’t aware that his unintentional actions had caused Gu Taixu to take the blame for everything, and soon, he finally reached Tianya city after traveling for three whole days. Tianya City was a great city that was on the border between the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands and Central Prefecture.
Those two regions had a subtle relationship between the two of them. The Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands were once one of the Central Prefecture’s five areas, but after the war between the ghost and the human clans, which had occurred a hundred years ago, they betrayed the Central Prefecture and announced their independence from them.
Moreover, many of that area’s experts had since formed many factions there, and many great experts had appeared among those factions. One of these experts was Gu Taixu, who had just appeared recently, as well as Jian Wusheng, who had appeared a hundred years ago.
In the past, the Central Prefecture attacked the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands, and it was only after the appearance of a great expert like Jian Wusheng that the Central Prefecture became apprehensive of them and negotiated peace with them. They had both signed a treaty of peace, and ever since then, the Central Prefecture wasn’t allowed to attack the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands.
However, the blessed and Heavenly Lands were still under the Central Prefecture’s jurisdiction nominally. Although in fact, the Central Prefecture’s factions couldn’t control this land.
The only exception to this were those who sent people to infiltrate this land’s factions and tried to control the Blessed and Heavenly Lands’ faction until they could manage to overthrow them all. At that time, the Central Prefecture could control the Blessed and Heavenly Lands once again.
As for Tianya City, it was a common border between all of those factions. It had all kinds of people and crooks within it and was also filled with many factions from the Central Prefecture. They were all making discreet inquiries about the Blessed and Heavenly Lands’ current situation. None of them were aware of how many spies the Central Prefecture had hidden in the city, nor did they know about the dark factions who were carrying out shady business deals that mustn’t be exposed!
At this time, the open factions controlled many of Tianya City’s industries, as Tianya City was in the past the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands greatest trade center, ranked fifth in the whole Central Prefecture. All kinds of trades were prosperous there, and all of the Blessed and Heavenly Lands’ small or big factions, and even familial factions, depended upon Tianya City’s industries for a large number of their resources.
It was because of this that it wasn’t just the two big tycoons, the Red Blood Palace and the Purple Cloud Palace, who had industries here, but even the other sixteen great factions had many industries here. Moreover, the Central Prefecture would surely not ignore such a great trade center, so it also had many industries here.
Almost half of all Tianya City’s industries belonged to the Central Prefecture. As for the other half, those were divided by all of the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands’ factions.
In the past, this trade center had belonged completely to the Blessed and Heavenly Lands, but later, the Central Prefecture had snatched around half of it. It could be seen from this how much they suppressed the Blessed and Heavenly Lands in Tianya City.
All of the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands’ industries were affected, and they didn’t have an easy time here. Thus, it would be difficult for Su Yu to make Tonglin Elixir Store’s business flourish.
As Su Yu looked at Tianya City from afar, it seemed like it stretched to the end of the world. It went as far as the eye could see, with no end in sight. Such a vast area of land was at least a hundred times more expansive than even Blue Mountain City!
If his cultivation didn’t reach the Fairy Realm, Su Yu would need to spend half a year just to get from the city’s southern district to the northern district! Even though Su Yu’s cultivation had already reached the Fairy Realm, he would still need half a day to travel across the whole city.
As he stood in front of the city, he felt how tiny and insignificant he was in comparison to it. When he entered it, a thunderous sound of a crowd reached his ears, while a sea of people appeared before his eyes.
There were countless experts in the city, and early-stage and middle-stage Fairies could be seen everywhere as well. Su Yu even saw several late-stage Fairies, whose cultivations were above the Level Seven Fairy Realm.
Moreover, Su Yu also felt several faint Divine Masters’ auras, and all of this was still just the tip of such a great iceberg that was the city itself! Su Yu would never have suspected that such a great city would be overseen by an All Creation Old Monster!
Su Yu couldn’t help but become apprehensive as he thought about this, as even though his power was pretty good, he would still suffer troubles if he ended up attracting some sinister expert’s attention! Hence he became vigilant and decided to handle all matters with a low profile.
He then decided to go directly to the General Manager’s residence. According to the instructions that he had received, Su Yu must go with the token to the headquarters that had been set up by the Red Blood Palace in Tianya City.
A General Manager should be present there, and this manager’s duty was supervising all of the industries in Tianya City. It was only Palace Mistress Mo Tianxuan’s trusted aids who could get such a post here. These people were extremely powerful and were also very loyal to her.
All of the sanctum members who came to hold a post here had to go to meet the General Manager with a suitable token and get his permission. The headquarters was set in the middle of Tianya City, and it was a nine-story building. This region was the most prosperous place in Tianya City, and it could be seen from this how great was the Red Blood Palace’s status in this city really was.
There was a floating island opposite the nine-story building. This was the Purple Cloud Palace’s headquarters.
As for the central prefecture’s factions, they didn’t have any headquarters because their industries’ owners came from different areas of the Central Prefecture and weren’t united together. This was also the reason why the Red Blood Palace and the Purple Cloud Palace seemed to be more prominent here.
Upon seeing this nine-story building that was adorned with gold and jade, Su Yu couldn’t help but start examining it closely. He soon discovered that a powerful formation seal was covering the building’s surface.
This gave him a great sense of crisis, and he felt that even if an early-stage Divine Master tried to force his way here, he would still be instantly killed by the formation. So, Su Yu only walked to the front of the building, but didn’t enter it rashly.
At this moment, a middle-aged guard walked out of this seemingly unfrequented building. He was a Level One Divine Master.
For just a mere guard to still be a Level One Divine Master was unheard of, as even Division Vice Master Qi was at that level! Tianya City’s headquarters was clearly really special, and it seemed like their status was higher than even the Elegant Spirit Mountain’s manor!
“Are you an outer sanctum disciple of the Red Blood Palace?” the middle-aged guard asked Su Yu. He had apparently recognized his outfit, which was adorned with blue stripes.
Su Yu nodded and took out his identity badge. “I’m an outer sanctum disciple. My name is Su Yuxian. I came here to speak with the General Manager.”
The middle-aged man walked out of the building, took Su Yu’s badge, and started examining. It was only after ascertaining that it was genuine that he said, “The General Manager is now in secluded cultivation, and he can’t stop for the time being. If it isn’t an urgent affair, you can just look for the Deputy General Manager.”
The General Manager was the “Greatest Shopkeeper” once mentioned by Division Vice Master Qi. He was in charge of all this region’s industries.
The Deputy General Manager? Su Yu found this role to be reasonable, as it would be difficult for just the General Manager alone to manage so many industries. Hence, a Deputy General Manager could work as his assistant, acting in his stead if he was occupied.
“I’m just carrying out a mission as the Tonglin Elixir Store’s shopkeeper. So, may I trouble you with leading the way?” Su Yu asked.
“The Tonglin Elixir Store?” The middle-aged man mulled it over for a moment, but it didn’t seem like had any impression of it. This was because the Red Blood Palace had several hundred low-grade stores, as well as numerous middle-grade and high-grade ones.
However, it seemed like the middle-aged man suddenly recalled it as he asked, “Oh… Are you talking about that elixir store that is always in debt?”
Su Yu was dumbfounded upon hearing this. It seemed like his Tonglin Elixir Store really had a bad reputation!
“That’s right,” Su Yu replied.
The middle-aged man looked at Su Yu with pity and said, “Little brother, next time, you should seek your elders’ opinions before choosing an elixir store. The Tonglin Elixir Store is in a remote region with very few people. It doesn’t have good prospects, and it will be very difficult to develop it.”
He then added, “It was already in debt, even when it had just opened for business, and as time has passed, its debt have only become worse. No one has dared to work as its shopkeeper for a whole year. Moreover, the General Manager already decided to close this store after two months…”
