70: Chapter 70 Get out of here with your damn sesame seed cake!

When Xie Feng leaned on his newly forged cold crystal blind staff and walked in through the main entrance of the City Defense Mansion, every single one of the two rows of Imperial Guards at the door stared at the staff in his hand.

The grayish-blue staff body emitted a very faint and cold fluorescent glow in the warm light of the earth fire stove in the main hall. Tu Ziguan followed behind him, the copper shells of the earth-shaking thunder at his waist clinking together, while he muttered, "This stick really looks quite cool, does it have a name yet?"

"I am not some big shot, what kind of name should I give it? It's just called a stick."

"You are so boring. Do you want a shaobing?"

"Can you have something else on your mind?"

Qin Tianzong stood in front of the forging table with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, pinching a testing board in his hand and looking at the rune decay data just organized by Mo Tang.

Elder Han sat on the other side of the long desk. His expression was not very pleasant, but it had eased up quite a bit compared to before going down into the Seal.

Qiao Song and Mo Tang squatted in the corner packing up iron boxes, their Faces full of exhaustion.

Xie Feng walked to the edge of the forging table and stopped in front of Qin Tianzong. "Elder Qin, a word in private, please."

Qin Tianzong raised his head, glanced at him, and then glanced at the cold crystal blind staff emitting a grayish-blue fluorescent glow in his hand. He put the testing board down on the forging table and followed him behind the porch pillars on the side of the main hall.

Xie Feng lowered his voice and explained everything: Master Huo's identity, the 600-year surveillance deal of the Voormis, more than half of the lower-level surveillance runes extinguishing, the forbidden Spell already being activated, the trigger conditions, and the one-week time limit.

After listening, Qin Tianzong pulled his hands out of his sleeves, dug in his ears, and wiped his Face.

"Next time you pull off something like this, can you give a heads-up in advance?"

"Is it my fault? I didn't know beforehand either!"

Xie Feng could read a certain mood from Elder Qin's Face.

Fucking hell.

Elder Qin looked at Xie Feng.

"Tell me now, which parts can be put on the table."

"The existence of the forbidden Spell, the trigger conditions, and the one-week time limit can be put on the table. The matter of the Voormis cannot be spoken in front of Elder Han. As for the Third Princess, Master Huo's identity can be withheld for now, but she must know about the forbidden Spell. She just protected Master Huo's shop in the name of the imperial court, and then immediately found out that Master Huo is not human. She needs some time to digest this."

Qin Tianzong nodded through clenched teeth, turned around, walked back to the long desk, pushed the testing board aside, and pressed both hands against the edge of the table.

Elder Han raised his head, saw Qin Tianzong's expression, and frowned slightly. "Elder Qin?"

Qin Tianzong talked about the forbidden Spell, beautifying it slightly by saying that a Seal structure also existed in the lower layer, which was a self-destruct forbidden Spell left behind by a powerful Cultivator back then. The forbidden Spell had already been activated, its trigger conditions were related to fragments breaking through the inner layer of the Seal, and the time limit was no more than one week.

After hearing this, Elder Han sprang up from his chair.

"Impossible!" His voice exploded in the main hall, causing even the Imperial Guards standing at the door to turn their heads for a look. "The Tianque Sect has been in Ranhuo City for six hundred years, and no records in any texts have ever mentioned any self-destruct forbidden Spell! Back then, when the powerful Cultivator sealed the fire anomaly, they still had surplus strength. If there were any backup plans, they would definitely have left writings for posterity. How could they..."

"Elder Han." Qin Tianzong interrupted him, "My Disciple saw that forbidden Spell with his own eyes at the bottom of the Seal. The previous City Master of your Tianque Sect failed to break through to the sixth realm five years ago and didn't manage to leave any words. This is not a problem with your texts; it's that the person who was supposed to pass on the message died."

Elder Han's Face turned pale instantly. His lips moved a few times, but no words came out.

Hearing that Elder Han stopped talking, Xie Feng felt a slight stir in his heart:

So you also knew there was something down below? This old bastard, were you planning to keep it hidden until you die? But then again, among so many generations of City Masters, someone was bound to have a loose mouth. However, Master Huo has hidden deep enough, hasn't he? How did he manage not to get caught?

When the Third Princess walked in from the side parlor, the atmosphere in the main hall had frozen to the extreme.

She had changed back into that mysterious black long dress, followed behind by the long-saber-wearing Imperial Guards Centurion. Her gaze lingered on Elder Han's Face for a moment, then turned to Qin Tianzong, and finally landed on the cold crystal blind staff emitting a grayish-blue fluorescent glow in Xie Feng's hand.

"Elder Qin. This Palace just received your spiritual message." Qin Tianzong repeated the matter of the forbidden Spell once more. This time, the wording was more concise, without mentioning any Cthulhu-like vocabulary, only saying that a self-destruct Spell was buried deep underground, which had already been activated with a one-week time limit. If triggered, all the earth fire veins of Ranhuo City would be completely blown up.

After listening, the Third Princess remained silent for quite a while. She walked to the front of the long desk and pressed both hands against the edge of the table. Even while standing, she was only half a head taller than the table.

"Elder Han. Just how many things are there in your Tianque Sect that this Palace does not know about?"

Elder Han did not answer. His fingers gripped the edge of the table until they turned white, and his entire person was like a stone statue nailed to the chair.

Xie Feng stood beside the porch pillars, leaning on the cold crystal blind staff, only feeling his teeth ache.

The matter had been laid out. Elder Han did not believe it, but he could not produce evidence to refute it; the previous City Master was indeed dead, the information chain of the Tianque Sect was indeed broken, the forbidden Spell at the bottom of the Seal was indeed there, and Master Huo had indeed activated it.

The Third Princess believed it, but she could not report back on this. She came to Ranhuo City to check the qualification rate of copper ingots on behalf of the imperial court, not to listen to a seventh-realm Elder report that a time bomb was buried beneath her own city.

The imperial court wanted copper ingots, and the Tianque Sect wanted the city; neither side wanted to evacuate.

Every single word Xie Feng said was true, but every single word was pushing the three seventh-realm figures present toward a direction none of them wanted to Face: evacuate, and the losses would be immeasurable; do not evacuate, and once the forbidden Spell was triggered, everyone would fly up to the heavens together.

Elder Qin had already started spreading out a map—he heard Qin Tianzong take out the market distribution map of Ranhuo City from his sleeve and spread it out on the table, calculating evacuation routes piece by piece with the Third Princess and the Centurion.

Elder Han, on the other hand, argued strongly on just grounds beside them, refusing to believe Xie Feng's words.

"Just based on a few words from a Disciple, the imperial court wants to burn our Ranhuo City to the ground? If no self-destruction occurs, who will bear this kind of loss? How can this Disciple guarantee it?!"

No, it's burning at your eyebrows and you still want to stall? Isn't this dragging the commoners and Disciples of an entire city to risk their lives? Can you bear such a consequence just for Face?

Xie Feng immediately felt displeased; just looking at that expression of his made him angry. This guy definitely knew something, at least knowing there was something below, but had always kept it hidden. Now that things were burning at his eyebrows, he was still stubbornly holding on, gambling the lives of the entire city for his own Face.

"I will guarantee it. The Disciples of our sect will not lie, let alone that Xie Feng is a special talent of our Qingyun Sect; he would even less lie in a place like this!"

Qin Tianzong stood up to refute. You can talk about your own family's child, but who gave an outsider like you the right to lecture them?

The Third Princess stood up.

"This Palace also does not support evacuation. The imperial court needs the Materials of Ranhuo City, and the Tianque Sect cannot give up an important city just because of a single sentence."

Elder Han was just overjoyed, but the Third Princess suddenly changed the subject.

"However, this Palace also believes that the intelligence of the Qingyun Sect cannot be groundless. Mr. Xie, do you know the location of the forbidden Spell? This Palace can invite enough manpower. Can we try to repair it?"

She even started calling him Mr. Xie; it seemed she was truly anxious.

Xie Feng carried the cold crystal blind staff over and replied:

"Your Highness, I do know, but I also have a request. I request that the commoners and Disciples in the city be evacuated from Ranhuo City first, leaving behind enough Cultivators and repair personnel. Once we reach the location of the forbidden Spell, the few of us will also evacuate Ranhuo City. We must ensure that our Qingyun Sect suffers no casualties."

Anyway, Ranhuo City did not belong to the Qingyun Sect. At worst, the Artifact Hall would stop doing business here first; human lives were the most important thing, and the rest of the matters could be left for the Third Princess and the Tianque Sect to have a headache over.

Before Elder Han could speak, the Third Princess had already nodded and agreed.

"Very well, this Palace agrees."

Qin Tianzong at the side nodded in relief, while Tu Ziguan gave Xie Feng a weird look.

"What is it?" Xie Feng turned back to look at Tu Wu.

"Nothing, just feel like you are so reliable, you don't even look like yourself."

"Go eat your shaobing, alright? I'm begging you!"