125: A Wonderful Family-Friendly List

Early the next morning, Zhou Yan left home.

After the unexpected windfall last night, Zhou Yan was in a good mood.

He handed the gold and silver to Yuan Chenling, telling him to exchange them for Spirit Stones at the Lianxing Pavilion, and also to retrieve the Spirit Stones Yi Sanyi had given him. Zhou Yan then headed to the Misty Rain Painted Barge first.

After all, they still had a score to settle.

However, for Mu Qianqiu's sake, Zhou Yan decided to see how the other party would handle it first.

On the flower boat of the Misty Rain Painted Barge.

"Young Master, please come this way."

"Brother, you're so handsome! Would you like a grape?"

"Wow, handsome, your hands are so big, much bigger than mine."

"Oh dear, how annoying, I have serious business to discuss. Are you trying to test an imperial official with this?" Surrounded by a group of beauties, Zhou Yan righteously and sternly refused.

But the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upwards.

Finally, after some pushing and shoving, he managed to get rid of them and met Boss Mei.

Seeing the other party's smiling face, Zhou Yan felt a little flushed.

What's going on? Why is it that every time I'm about to get angry, everyone is so sensible?

Aren't you supposed to be about elegant art? Suddenly you're being so vulgar, and it's vulgar in a way that appeals to me. What am I supposed to say?

Zhou Yan asked himself, ever since he started cultivating, he had indeed become much more pure-hearted and less desirous.

But as people age, they inevitably enjoy seeing things that are fragrant and alluring.

With such an arrangement, it was indeed difficult for Zhou Yan to directly lash out.

"I've been waiting for a long time, Lord Zhou, please come inside first."

As if sensing Zhou Yan's awkwardness, Boss Mei led him into the room.

Upon entering, Zhou Yan instinctively scanned the room, wanting to see if Meng Ke was there.

"Lord, no need to look. Young Miss has already departed for the Capital. You will naturally see her once you also arrive in the Capital."

Zhou Yan didn't actually want to see Meng Ke; it was just that after his cultivation improved, his panel had updated, and he wanted to see if Meng Ke's bug had been fixed.

However, since Meng Ke wasn't here, that was even better. Zhou Yan strode to the main seat and arrogantly propped his legs on the table.

"How can you be so sure I'll go to the Capital? And right off the bat, you present me with these vulgarities, defiling my spirit."

"My education will not allow me to be so easily moved."

Seeing that Zhou Yan was clearly looking for trouble, Boss Mei got straight to the point and offered compensation.

"Lord also knows that while our Misty Rain Painted Barge sounds grand, it's actually just an information broker."

"This world is never black and white. Under various levels of maneuvering, our small business is also very difficult to run."

"Of course, this is not to shirk responsibility. This time, we were indeed at fault first, so we have prepared three items of compensation, hoping you will be satisfied."

"Heh, what about three items of compensation, three..."

Before Zhou Yan could finish, he saw three Spirit Stones shining with dazzling red light appear before him.

Three Top-Grade Spirit Stones! Good heavens!

Zhou Yan took his legs off the table and sat up straighter. Although still a bit arrogant, he was noticeably more restrained.

"The Truth Cult offered one Top-Grade Spirit Stone at the time for us to hand over the key to the Lord and convey some information."

"After we handed you the key and completed the transaction, we immediately contacted your Sect, but we didn't expect you, Lord, to contact your Sect before us."

"However, we later provided some relevant information, which helped with your Sect's personnel deployment. If you inquire, you should be able to learn about it."

"Ultimately, we were forced to accept this transaction."

"So, we naturally dared not keep the Spirit Stone given by the Truth Cult, and handed it over to you, Lord, to dispose of."

"As for the other two, one is our compensation, and the other is Young Miss Meng Ke's personal compensation."

"We know that a distinguished person like you, Lord, would not be moved by vulgar things like Spirit Stones, but I believe with your magnanimity, once the matter is clarified and the misunderstanding resolved, you will naturally not make things difficult for us."

"You're a good judge of character; I am indeed magnanimous." Zhou Yan was already smiling, and naturally accepted the Spirit Stones.

These were not just three million; they were also essential Materials for using Formations.

To fully unleash the Sect's Formation, Top-Grade Spirit Stones must be embedded, with other Spirit Stones serving as fuel.

Zhou Yan had used one Top-Grade Spirit Stone as the core of the Formation when he instantly killed the 'Seafood Duo'.

That Spirit Stone is still embedded there now and cannot be removed until it's used up.

He hadn't earned fewer Spirit Stones now, but Top-Grade Spirit Stones were hard to come by without a background. If he didn't ask the Sect for them, each one used was one less.

Just the first item of compensation made Zhou Yan forget most of his previous grievances. He wondered what surprises the next two items would bring.

Seeing Zhou Yan accept the Spirit Stones, Boss Mei naturally brought out the second item of apology.

It was a small booklet.

"What is this? A Cultivation Technique?"

Boss Mei didn't explain, she just opened the booklet.

Zhou Yan's brows furrowed as he saw the contents of the booklet, and he read it carefully.

"A person with a chivalrous heart like you, Lord, would certainly not stand idly by. That's why my Young Miss said she would wait for you in the Capital."

Zhou Yan looked at Boss Mei's beautiful smile, his tone somewhat heavy.

"Boss Mei, you're not very 'Mahayana'."

"Showing me this, surely you're not setting another trap for me, are you?"

Boss Mei's expression stiffened, and she quickly explained.

"Lord, you've misunderstood, this is not a trap. On the contrary, these are the people who want to draw you into a trap."

"Everyone listed here is either involved in your recent peril, or may cause you peril in the future."

"As a prospective Saint, you will inevitably travel. The Great Yu is vast, with a territory spanning ten thousand li. But the Great Yu is also very small; every region has a Nascent Soul expert overseeing it."

"If you don't leave the Great Yu, it will probably be difficult to complete your training unhindered before reaching the Nascent Soul stage."

"Of course, I can't say too much about these matters, after all, I'm just an information broker. How to use this information is entirely up to you, Lord."

Zhou Yan took the booklet, lost in thought.

The booklet contained nothing but lists of names, positions, their dirty deeds, and their attitudes towards Zhou Yan.

The reason Zhou Yan's expression was serious just now was precisely because the attitudes of these people towards him were not friendly.

But then again, how could anyone sent as compensation be friendly towards him?

Zhou Yan didn't know how to deal with the people listed, but he saw one name.

Qiao Wenbin, the Judicial Commissioner of Jiangzhou.

Other matters aside, this one really needed to be dealt with.

"What's the third item? Hurry up and bring it."

Zhou Yan's emotions were complex now, his earlier joy gone. He looked at the small booklet in his hand, which increasingly resembled a Death Note, so he urgently needed to go back and think carefully about what to do.

"This last item of apology is also information."

"You can ask any three questions, Lord, as long as it's information our Misty Rain Painted Barge can collect."

"Ah? This counts as compensation too?"

Zhou Yan instantly broke his composure and looked at Boss Mei.

Seeing Zhou Yan's 'are you kidding me' expression, Boss Mei confidently explained.

"Many things are difficult for those on the Righteous Path to investigate. Not that they can't find out, but it's inconvenient."

"And even if Righteous Path cultivators find out, they won't just casually speak about it."

"Just like there are some things you, Lord, wouldn't tell children."

"But there are always curious children who like to explore secrets, aren't there?"

Zhou Yan understood.

The Misty Rain Painted Barge was equivalent to the Restricted Section of Hogwarts.

With this explanation, he became interested.

"I heard that the Truth Cult was behind the trouble during my Secret Realm trip. But they're not on your list, what's going on?"

"Is this the first piece of information you require?" Boss Mei confirmed again.

"Yes."

After receiving Zhou Yan's affirmation, Boss Mei immediately sold out the Truth Cult without another word.

Since it involved a transaction, it no longer concerned personal feelings, so they couldn't say anything about being sold out by the Truth Cult.

After all, everyone in the Desire Realm does things this way; they're very particular about it.

"Because the target this time was the local Truth Cult of the Great Yu."

"And the Truth Cult also sent people, but their target wasn't you; it was just that the local Truth Cult had other plans and drew you into their scheme."

"The internal divisions within the Truth Cult are also very complex. The Truth Cult was unified only when the first Mahayana of the Truth Cult, Physical Mahayana Niu Tianzun, was still alive."

"At other times, they merely shared a common name."

"After Niu Tianzun's passing, the Truth Cult split into multiple schools, and each school had further subdivisions."

"So each of them represents an organization or force."

"Under this intricate structure, the Truth Cult is even more scattered than loose sand. So many of the people on this booklet are actually members of the Great Yu Truth Cult."

"Wait, wait!" Zhou Yan hastily interrupted. Luckily, he wasn't drinking anything, or he would have spat it out.

"You just said the Truth Cult's Mahayana... what was his name?"