58: Chapter 58 You have some good stuff on you too!

Mo Tang led the three people toward the City Defense Mansion.

The City Defense Mansion of Ranhuo City was located slightly north of the city center. The outer walls of this City Defense Mansion were black, and the gaps between the wall bricks were embedded with extremely fine dark red patterns, which were the melt marks left inside the bricks by the high temperature of the subterranean fire fissures all year round.

Standing at the entrance were two rows of armored guards. The style of their armor was different from those at the city gates, and their arm guards were embedded with the golden Phoenix emblem of the Zhou royal family. Double identification, double administration. After the tripartite joint investigation began, the defense of the City Defense Mansion was taken over by the Imperial Guards, and the Qingyun Sect had not yet dispatched anyone inside.

"Halt!"

"We are Artifact Hall Disciples of the Qingyun Sect, currently in Ranhuo City, reporting for duty by order."

Mo Tang displayed her Artifact Hall token at the entrance.

The guard took it, glanced at it, and then looked at the three people behind her.

After confirming everything was correct, the guard returned the token to her and stepped aside to clear the way.

The main hall of the City Defense Mansion was extremely large and spacious. Facing them was a subterranean fire stove two people high. The mouth of the stove was unsealed, and flames surged up from underground, bundled into a straight beam at the stove's mouth by rune circuits.

"A dignified City Defense Mansion, to actually set up a stove right in the middle? Are you guys going to forge iron as well?"

Xie Feng felt a bit strange. Within his Spiritual Qi perception, a familiar person was standing in front of the stove—it was precisely the Elder who had spoken out to reprimand him during the last meeting.

Qin Tianzong stood in front of the subterranean fire stove with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing dense, old burn scars on both of his forearms. His hair was completely white, but his eyebrows were still black, thick like two strokes of scorched ink horizontal across his eye sockets.

In his hand, he pinched an Ore sample picked out from the subterranean fire stove, turning it over and over against the bright light of the stove fire to examine it.

Standing beside him was an old man wearing a dark brown robe, with dark red piping of the Tianque Sect inlaid at the cuffs. His expression was heavy, probably that Elder Han.

Mo Tang walked up behind Qin Tianzong and called out, "Elder Qin."

Sounding exceptionally crisp in the echo of the main hall, Qin Tianzong turned around. His gaze first fell on Mo Tang's Face, showing a flash of joy before sweeping a glance backward.

When his gaze swept over Xie Feng, he paused blankly.

"Xie Feng." He placed the Ore sample beside the forging table, his tone somewhat dissatisfied. "When I saw you last time, you were at the Second Realm. Now you're at the First Realm Seventh Layer? Are you cultivating a Cultivation Technique in reverse?"

"A concealment Cultivation Technique," Xie Feng said.

"You hid it even from me? Did you steal your Cultivation Technique from the Sect Master's room?" Elder Qin directly pierced through the pretense, not giving Xie Feng much Face even in front of outsiders.

"Concealed to the First Realm? Conceal it for a while longer and you'll become a Mortal."

"Elder Qin." Mo Tang took a step forward, her tone soft, "We have a mission in Ranhuo City~"

"Your task is to draw rune diagrams," Qin Tianzong interrupted her. "Their tasks are not. Tu Ziguan, Inner Sect Disciple, not from the Artifact Hall. Gu Jian, Inner Sect Disciple, also not from the Artifact Hall. Xie Feng? He entered the inner Sect by special approval."

He pushed his sleeves up further, revealing an extremely deep old scar on his wrist. "Mo Tang, did you come to the City Defense Mansion to look for me? What are these three here for?"

Mo Tang did not back down; she went up and grabbed Elder Qin's hand, shaking it.

"I can't do the sample collection on the outer periphery of the mine pit alone. Elder Qin, you have stayed in the Artifact Hall for fifty years and have such rich experience; you know best how many people are needed for sampling. A sampling point requires at least two operators, and the outer mine pits have at least six sampling points. You only brought four Fourth Realm Disciples this time, which is not enough manpower. Aren't I here to help you out~"

Qin Tianzong looked at her for several breaths, then let out a cold hum from his nose.

"Don't you end up making things busier instead of helping? Alright, alright." He groped out three bronze talismans from his sleeve and threw them beside the forging table. "Three people, assistants, right?"

The bronze talismans were only half the size of a palm, with the cloud patterns of the Qingyun Sect branded on the front and the character "Assist" carved on the back.

"Hang them on your waists. With these, people won't stop you. Without them, the Imperial Guards at the edge of the three-li sealed restriction zone can directly execute you. I'm not joking."

He turned around and picked up the Ore sample again. The Ore emitted an extremely faint dark red in the light of the stove fire. He flipped the Ore over and looked at the texture on it against the light.

Xie Feng picked up a bronze talisman, his fingertips brushing over the cloud patterns on the talisman's surface. The rune circuits were extremely simple, but carved extremely deep. The strokes of the character "Assist" on the back were embedded with a very faint Spiritual Qi Seal, which did not look like the method of the Qingyun Sect.

"Elder Qin." Tu Ziguan hung the bronze talisman around his waist, "Has the first formal discussion of the tripartite joint investigation started?"

"Half an hour later." Qin Tianzong did not turn back, "Elder Han of the Tianque Sect has already arrived, and the Third Princess is waiting in the side hall. I am leading the team for the Qingyun Sect. The content of the discussion is not something you should worry about. What you should worry about is the outer mine pits, not the Seal."

He emphasized the two words "Outer" heavily.

"Understood."

Tu Ziguan nodded.

Xie Feng and Gu Jian followed behind him, and the flame of the subterranean fire stove in the main hall jumped once.

Ghatanothoa's mark grew warm in Xie Feng's chest for a split second.

"I knew there was still something going on in this dead city. I'll send a message to Elder Wen in a moment."

Xie Feng began to pay attention to his surroundings. The mark of the King of Volcanoes would not act recklessly; this was almost the most well-behaved and practical mark on his body.

The perception of Spiritual Qi spread toward the direction of the side hall. A row of Imperial Guards stood at the entrance of the side hall, and the golden Phoenix emblem of the Zhou royal family was branded on the armor Faces of the Imperial Guards. Xie Feng walked in that direction. The corridor between the main hall and the side hall was not long, a distance of about a dozen steps.

After taking a few steps, the door of the side hall opened, and a figure walked out from the door.

Extremely short in stature.

Xie Feng used Spiritual Qi perception to trace her from top to bottom; her height only reached his shoulder.

This height was not naturally short; the Spiritual Qi structure within her body was extremely dense, and her Realm was very high, but the texture of her Spiritual Qi was completely different from that of the Sect Cultivators. The Spiritual Qi within her body was more than a notch stronger than Sect Cultivators of the same Realm.

"Brat? Are you courting death? You dare to scan this Princess's body randomly?"

This young girl first paused blankly, and then her Spiritual Qi instantly burst outward. Her voice was completely different from her appearance—how should I put it, it was very mature, a commanding, mature woman's voice.

She was wearing a dark black long dress, with the hem slightly gathered at her ankles, and dark gold trimming inlaid at the cuffs and collar. The moment Spiritual Qi perception touched the surface of the skirt hem, it encountered an extremely thin metal wire mesh—an ultra-fine soft armor embedded in the fabric interlayer.

Her Face was very small, her cheekbones were not high, her jaw was sharp and slender, and between her brows and eyes carried a sense of indifference. She was not holding anything in her hands, but wore an extremely thin golden ring on her fingertip, carved with the pattern of Phoenix tail feathers on the ring.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm blind in both eyes, so I can only look at things this way."

Xie Feng quickly admitted defeat. This person was most likely the Third Princess, and if this Realm wasn't joking around, she could blast him flying.

"So you really are blind. Forget it, you can go." The Third Princess confirmed Xie Feng's eyes, and then left directly.

She walked past Xie Feng. Her stride length was very short, but her stepping frequency was extremely fast, and her skirt hem swayed back and forth at her ankles like a small bell blown by the wind.

Ghatanothoa's mark grew warm in Xie Feng's chest once again for a split second.

Xie Feng continued walking forward, his blind cane tapping on the stone slab floor of the corridor. Tu Ziguan walked beside him and asked in a low voice.

"That's the Third Princess?"

"Anyway, she's not a prince."

Tu Ziguan looked back at the end of the corridor. The Imperial Guards had already closed the door of the side hall, leaving only two rows of dark-armored guards nailed beside the door.

"That height is a bit too short. I'm not saying her being short doesn't look good, I just didn't expect it. A royal princess managing an entire team of Imperial Guards, standing in front of two Seventh Realm experts representing the imperial court to supervise the battle, yet she looks like a doll."

"Don't judge a book by its cover, even though she really looks like a child."

The guard nearby trembled slightly after hearing the conversation between the two.

Ghatanothoa's mark had already calmed down, leaving only a faint lingering warmth in his chest.

There was something inside her body that Ghatanothoa's mark recognized. What was it? The density of that thing was too low—so low that his Spiritual Qi perception failed to capture it. The momentary reaction of Ghatanothoa's mark told him that there was something there.

"Let's go, stop poking your nose into other people's business. This unlucky royal family is no ordinary person either..."

Regardless of what was sealed inside the Third Princess's body, as long as it didn't look for him, he wouldn't look for it. He already had enough trouble.