84: Chapter 84 The Hidden Bird

In the Great Yu Cultivation World, in a quiet private room of a teahouse in the Outer City of Yunze Immortal City.

Wisps of sandalwood incense swirled in the room, yet they could not mask the faint trace of blood in the air.

Leng Wuhen, an inner Sect deacon of the Blood Fiend Sect, sat upright in a chair, wearing a simple grey cloth robe. His face was as cold and hard as iron, his Qi Refining 9th Layer Spiritual Pressure perfectly contained within his body. He lifted his teacup and gently skimmed off the foam.

Sitting opposite him was Fang Cheng, the manager of a well-known spiritual materials firm in the Outer City of Yunze Immortal City.

"Deacon Leng, you must be exhausted from your journey." Fang Cheng respectfully refilled the tea and lowered his voice. "I have received the Sect's transmission. However... this Yunze Immortal City is, after all, the heartland of the Danding Sect. In recent days, the Danding Sect's Law Enforcement Squad has doubled their patrol frequency, and the city gate inspections are extremely strict. It seems they are secretly searching for someone."

A cold sneer flashed in Leng Wuhen's eyes. "The Danding Sect naturally has to investigate. That old geezer from Qingmu Cliff's True Disciple ran off with the item; they are even more anxious than we are."

"Fang Cheng, you have operated in this Immortal City for many years and have eyes and ears among all walks of life. It is inconvenient for me to make a big scene while bringing people into the city." Leng Wuhen set down his teacup, his voice like ice. "The Sect has ordered us to watch all black market pawnshops and underground firms in the Outer City. If there are any unfamiliar faces selling Magical Artifacts marked with the Qingmu Cliff seal, or those desperate to offload large amounts of stolen goods of unknown origin, inform me immediately."

Fang Cheng felt a jolt in his heart and quickly cupped his hands. "Rest assured, Deacon. The Blood River Dark Assembly will begin in half a month, and all sorts of demons and monsters are gathering in the city. As long as that rat dares to show its face in the Immortal City to offload the goods, it will never escape the dark net we have set."

Leng Wuhen nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on the bustling street outside the window, like a venomous snake lying in wait in the shadows.

...

Thirty miles outside the Immortal City, by the side of a wild post road.

Gu Shen stood side by side with the mysterious Sword Cultivator Wei Lingfeng. In the distance, Yunze Immortal City looked like a primordial beast shrouded in the spiritual light of a massive Formation, devouring Cultivators from all directions.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, there are too many eyes and ears ahead. It would be too conspicuous for us to travel together. Why don't we part ways here?" Wei Lingfeng's bamboo hat was pulled very low, his tone calm.

Gu Shen naturally couldn't ask for more. Two people with unknown origins tied together would only lead to mutual exposure.

"Fellow Daoist Wei is right. The mountains are high and the waters are long, we shall meet again." Gu Shen said in a hoarse voice, cupping his hands in a salute.

Wei Lingfeng returned the salute slightly, then turned and transformed into a faint wisp of green smoke, merging into the stream of people heading toward the Immortal City.

Gu Shen stood where he was, watching coldly as Wei Lingfeng's back completely disappeared beyond the range of his Divine Sense.

"This Sword Cultivator carries a very strong scent of Blood Fiend; he is definitely not a good person. The muddy waters of Yunze Immortal City will only become murkier with his arrival."

Gu Shen did not hesitate, turning and walking into a dense forest beside the main road.

He released his Divine Sense, confirming there was no one around. Gu Shen reached up and wiped his face. As his mana surged, Thousand Faces squirmed violently, and the skin of the sallow-faced, withered old man quickly peeled away and changed.

Within moments, his originally tall and straight figure became extremely burly, his skin turned dark, and a hideous scar appeared on his chin. His entire body exuded a fierce aura of someone who had spent years licking blood from the edge of a blade.

His mana fluctuations were also precisely adjusted to the Peak of Qi Refinement Level 6.

A fledgling new to the world is easily robbed, and a dying old man is easily looked down upon. But a lone Body Cultivator at Qi Refinement Level 6 with a fleshy face is the most inconspicuous "ordinary passerby" in the markets of the Cultivation World.

"Crab, enter deep silence. Do not emit any vibration frequency unless called by my Divine Sense." Gu Shen ordered coldly in his heart.

"Understood, Master. Low-level dormancy has been activated." The iron spider on his shoulder was like a truly inanimate object.

Half an hour later.

Gu Shen swaggered up to the massive city gate of Yunze Immortal City.

On both sides of the gate stood two rows of Law Enforcement Squad Disciples dressed in the azure robes of the Danding Sect. A huge Bone-Illuminating Treasure Mirror hung directly above the gate, emitting a hazy blue light.

Gu Shen looked as usual, following the crowd forward.

"Entrance fee, two Low-Grade Spirit Stones," a Danding Sect Disciple said coldly.

Gu Shen took out two Spirit Stones from his Storage Pouch with extreme reluctance and handed them over.

The Bone-Illuminating Treasure Mirror above his head swept across with blue light; Thousand Faces exquisitely masked his bone age and true blood energy, and the mirror showed no reaction.

He successfully entered the city.

As soon as he stepped onto the streets of the Outer City, an extremely noisy heat wave and rich Spiritual Qi rushed towards him. The streets were lined with shops, and the sounds of hawking and the neighing of Spirit Beasts were endless.

Gu Shen was in no hurry to find a pawnshop. He acted like a rough Loose Cultivator who had just arrived, wandering aimlessly between various stalls and firms.

He wandered for three hours straight.

Gu Shen's brows gradually furrowed.

He acutely noticed that near several of the slightly larger pawnshops and black market entrances in the Outer City, there were several idle Cultivators with extremely sinister gazes loitering about. Their gazes, like venomous snakes, were fixed on every unfamiliar face entering or leaving the shops.

"Have the scouts already been spread into the Immortal City?" Gu Shen sneered in his heart.

The people from the Blood Fiend Sect were looking for the fugitive from Qingmu Cliff. Although he was not the fugitive, the items he had to sell were also not something to be seen in public. If he went to those watched shops, he would immediately attract endless questioning and tracking.

"I cannot take the usual route to offload stolen goods. I must find a place with an extremely deep background, so deep that even the secret agents of the Blood Fiend Sect and the Danding Sect would not dare to easily interfere."

Gu Shen sat down in front of a tea stall, ordered a pot of the lowest-quality spiritual tea, and while pretending to rest, listened with great patience to the loud talk of the surrounding Loose Cultivators.

Teahouses and taverns in the Cultivation World are always the places where information flows the fastest.

"Have you heard? The Wandu Pavilion in the Inner City posted a bounty today, offering a heavy reward for rare toxic miasma essences of the 3rd Tier or above!" a skinny man at the next table said mysteriously.

"Pfft, who doesn't know the background of the Wandu Pavilion? It is an industry secretly supported by a highly eccentric Core Formation Grand Elder of the Danding Sect. That Elder loves to study unorthodox Pill Formulas that use poison to fight poison. It's a pity, though; where would we mud-legged Outer City folks find the life to get 3rd Tier poisonous items?"

Gu Shen's hand holding the teacup paused slightly.

Wandu Pavilion. Backed by a Core Formation Elder. Specializes in collecting rare poisonous items.

This was a buyer tailor-made for the poisonous items he extracted from the Wasteland nuclear pollution!

A business run by a Core Formation Elder—let alone a few secret sentries from the Blood Fiend Sect, even the Danding Sect's own Law Enforcement Squad would not dare to act recklessly at the entrance of the Wandu Pavilion.

Gu Shen put down his teacup, tossed down a piece of crystal, and stood up, striding into the crowd.

Although the waters of this Yunze Immortal City were deep, the cards in his hand were enough to smash a huge whirlpool at the bottom of the water.