“I need to enter Sovereign Chen Ling’s sleeping chamber to procure some dragon blood. Do you know any way for me to get in?” Zhang Xuan continued asking.
“I’m afraid that what you are asking for isn’t too easy to pull off. After Sovereign Chen Ling returned injured, his sleeping chamber has become a place that even I can’t enter easily. The only one who can walk freely in and out of his sleeping chamber right now is Ancient Sage Lan Ya, so he’s also the only one who knows the details of Sovereign Chen Ling’s current physical condition.”
At this point, Ancient Sage Mo Ling paused for a moment to organize his thoughts before continuing. “Ancient Sage Lan Ya has been following Sovereign Chen Ling ever since he was very young, and he can be said to be Sovereign Chen Ling’s most loyal subordinate. Even though he’s only at the Bloodline Continuance realm, his standing within Sovereign Chen Ling’s lineage is extremely high!”
Those words caused Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows to shoot up as a glint flashed through his eyes. “Is there a way to lure him out and… get rid of him?”
Since Ancient Sage Lan Ya was able to move freely in and out of the sleeping chamber, he might be able to disguise himself as the other party and infiltrate the sleeping chamber, similar to what he had done with Wu Tao.
In any case, Ancient Sage Lan Ya was part of the belligerent Sovereign Chen Ling’s faction, which bore malicious intentions toward mankind. The weaker Sovereign Chen Ling’s faction was, the safer mankind would be.
“You wish to kill Ancient Sage Lan Ya?” Not expecting the new guild leader to be so decisive, Ancient Sage Mo Ling’s lips twitched a little. He lowered his eyes worriedly for a moment before hesitantly speaking up. “I guess it’s not completely impossible to kill him. However, if Sovereign Chen Ling senses anything, we will find ourselves facing the full wrath of the entire Sovereign Chen Ling faction…”
Given how highly Sovereign Chen Ling regarded Ancient Sage Lan Ya, if the latter really lost his life, there was no doubt that Sovereign Chen Ling would overturn the entire capital if that was what it took to weed out the culprit.
Zhang Xuan pondered deeply for a moment before saying, “No one will notice it as long as we make ample preparations beforehand!”
Stealing the dragon blood from Sovereign Chen Ling was as good as completely turning the other party against him. Since it was fated that he would be standing on the opposite side from Sovereign Chen Ling, there was no need for him to hesitate to draw the other party’s fury.
“… I understand. I’ll go and make preparations!” Ancient Sage Mo Ling nodded before returning his soul to his physical body.
Hula!
Zhang Xuan also swiftly placed Vicious and the Infernal Blacksaber back in place. Once that was all done, the space around him blurred, and he found himself standing before countless appraisers and guards once more.
The two of them had entered a unique folded space before carrying on with their fight, so those who were in the hall were painfully oblivious to the major fight that had just happened a moment ago.
As soon as he returned back to the hall, Ancient Sage Mo Ling immediately bellowed, “Men!”
The middle-aged man immediately stepped forward.
“I have checked Wu Tao’s identity and verified that he’s innocent. He isn’t the person we are looking for. For the time being, I want you to continue with the investigation. Make sure to leave no stone unturned!” Ancient Sage Mo Ling ordered.
“Yes!” The middle-aged man quickly nodded before proceeding to relay orders to his subordinates.
While he found Wu Tao extremely suspicious, if even an Ancient Sage was unable to uncover anything about that man, it was unlikely that he would be able to find anything.
“Appraiser Wu Tao, I happen to have some treasures that I am still having trouble figuring out the identity of in my accommodation. If you have time, why don’t you follow me back to my residence to enlighten me?” After dumping everything onto his subordinates, Ancient Sage Mo Ling turned to Zhang Xuan and extended his invitation.
“It would be my honor to be of assistance to you!” Zhang Xuan’s face visibly beamed in delight as he hurriedly bowed in gratitude.
“I’ll be troubling you then, Appraiser Wu Tao,” Ancient Sage Mo Ling replied with a dignified air before turning to the middle-aged man. “I’ll be taking this man away with me. It won’t cause you any trouble, will it?”
“No, of course not!” the middle-aged man quickly replied.
It was just a single appraiser out of the army of two hundred that he had there. It would not affect the progress of the valuation going on.
“Good. As for the rest of you, I’ll be counting on you to continue the investigation. I believe I need not explain what will happen if the intruder foils Sovereign Chen Ling’s plans… Appraiser Wu Tao, follow me!”
After giving the guards a stern reminder, Ancient Sage Mo Ling waved his hand, and Zhang Xuan suddenly felt a force wrapping around him, pulling him up into the sky. Before he knew it, he was already standing before a stately building.
“This is the Hall of Sweetspring. It contains a natural spring that is rich in spirituality. Recently, Ancient Sage Lan Ya has been visiting this place at a fixed time every single day to fetch some water. My guess is that it has something to do with Sovereign Chen Ling’s current physical condition!” Ancient Sage Mo Ling said.
Pushing the door open, Zhang Xuan entered the building. At the very center of the room was a massive spring.
Gu, gu!
The water in the spring splished and splashed.
The water in the spring was transparent and rich in spiritual energy. Zhang Xuan walked forward to try a sip of the water, and it carried a slight hint of refreshing sweetness.
“Not bad!” Zhang Xuan nodded in approval.
Even though this spring water was not as rich in spiritual energy as spirit essence, it was completely free of impurities. If it was used for the forging of pills, it could significantly boost the chances of success.
“Guild leader, are you intending to make a move here? This place is located in close proximity to the sleeping chamber, so there’s a good chance that we might alarm others!” Ancient Sage Mo Ling said worriedly.
One should never underestimate the sensitivity of an Ancient Sage’s senses. Even though Ancient Sage Lan Ya was not that powerful, such that it was possible for them to kill him in a single blow, if Ancient Sage Lan Ya managed to let out a distress call or something similar, it could render his countless years of infiltrating the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe futile.
It was true that Ancient Sage Mo Ling had pulled Zhang Xuan into a folded space and fought with him earlier without drawing the notice of others, but that was because Zhang Xuan had wanted to hide his identity as well and had no intention of causing a huge fuss. If Ancient Sage Lan Ya attempted something, there was a very good chance that everything could go horribly wrong.
“You’re right. We’re certainly too close to the sleeping chamber at the moment. I’ll set up a formation right now to prevent anything from getting out!” Zhang Xuan said.
“You’ll set up a formation now? Can you make it in time?” Ancient Sage Mo Ling asked with a frown.
Be it setting up a formation or inscribing runes, these were extremely time-consuming activities that required prior preparation. With formation blueprints, for example, one would have to study them for a very long time to thoroughly understand them. Furthermore, a formation that could trap even an Ancient Sage had to be at grade-9 pinnacle at the very minimum, and even the most capable 9-star formation master would require at least one month to pull it off.
It seemed a little too late to be thinking of it then!
“It’s not late at all… Just give me a moment!” Knowing what Ancient Sage Mo Ling was thinking about, Zhang Xuan chuckled softly. He took a look around the room, and with a snap of his fingers, a few hundred formation flags immediately materialized and floated quietly in the air.
“Go!” Zhang Xuan raised his hand.
Hula!
The formation flags began flying in all directions like a loud gale. They pierced themselves into the ground all around the Hall of Sweetspring before vanishing all at once.
“You’re already done? Just like that?” Ancient Sage Mo Ling widened his eyes in disbelief.
Even though he had never seen a 9-star formation master setting up a grade-9 pinnacle formation in person, he had heard things about it. Yet, the young man had managed to complete it just like that!
Everything had happened so quickly that it felt like the young man was just playing a cruel prank on him!
“It has been too long since I last set up a formation, and it seems like I have gotten a little rusty…” Zhang Xuan lowered his head in shame.
He had read quite a number of books recently, which had significantly deepened his understanding of formations. However, it had been quite a while since he had last set up a formation, thus resulting in significant inefficiency in the set-up process. Otherwise, he would have been able to send the formation flags out right away and finish the set up in a heartbeat.
“Rusty…” Hearing those words, Ancient Sage Mo Ling’s cheeks twitched a little.
If this is how fast you are when you’re rusty, just how fast were you when you were in tiptop condition?
Isn’t this getting a little too exaggerated?
This newly appointed guild leader of ours… doesn’t seem to be a very reliable person!
In the end, Ancient Sage Mo Ling still could not help but doubt the reliability of a formation that had been constructed so quickly. This was similar to how one would not trust a chef who simply tossed a ton of miscellaneous ingredients into a pot and left it to boil afterward!
Deng deng deng!
Just as Ancient Sage Mo Ling was about to raise his doubts regarding the reliability of the formation, footsteps suddenly sounded outside the hall. It sounded like someone was heading their way.
Ancient Sage Mo Ling quickly calculated the time and realized that it was the hour at which Ancient Sage Lan Ya visited the Hall of Sweetspring every day. He immediately sent a telepathic message to Zhang Xuan to warn him, “Ancient Sage Lan Ya is coming…”
Hearing the footsteps too, Zhang Xuan knew that there was no time to be lost. “Take seven steps back and rein in your aura. Make a move only when I tell you to!”
“Take seven steps back?”
Ancient Sage Mo Ling had no idea what Zhang Xuan was up to, but he decided to obey the other party’s commands for the time being on the grounds that the other party was the guild leader.
Jiya!
Barely after they got into position, the door of the Hall of Sweetspring creaked open. A towering figure came into sight.
He was none other than Ancient Sage Lan Ya.
Ancient Sage Lan Ya habitually cast his gaze around the room before walking straight for the spring.
Seeing this, Ancient Sage Mo Ling could not help but narrow his eyes in shock.
He was simply standing still on the spot, not concealing himself at all… but it seemed like Ancient Sage Lan Ya could not see or even perceive his presence?
When had the other party become so blind?
