Is it because I'm not as cute as I was when I was little?

"Tch~ If you wanted the goods, you should have said so earlier. Why all the cloak and dagger? You gave me a fright."

The attendant, who was panicked at first, suddenly gave a disdainful smile upon hearing this. He quickly pulled a stack of shadow recording talismans from his robes. "These are the latest arrivals—high-definition and uncensored, with incredibly lifelike visuals. Most importantly, they can be viewed and enjoyed repeatedly. That'll be two hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones each. How many do you want?"

"Let me see!"

Just as the attendant finished speaking, Lu Changfeng lunged forward and snatched one, impatiently probing it with a sliver of Divine Sense.

In the next instant, his body stiffened, his mouth fell wide open, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Could it be real?

Seeing this, Qi Yuan grew curious and took one from the attendant's hand to check.

In an instant, he saw a scantily-clad female Cultivator in a pink dress posing provocatively in the image.

The woman's appearance did indeed bear a subtle resemblance to the real Linglong Saintess, but her temperament was worlds apart. One look was enough to tell that some kind of disguise technique had been used to pass off a fake as the real thing.

The quality was crude and the acting affected. Even though Qi Yuan had never met the Linglong Saintess, he could tell the person inside was an impostor; it was pure roleplay.

Presumably, the seller was capitalizing on men's desire for excitement, intentionally adding a halo of noble and ethereal status to the 'actress' as a gimmick to lure buyers.

Even if a buyer discovered they'd been duped afterward, they wouldn't dare make a scene. After all, one couldn't exactly report to the Linglong Holy Land that they'd been scammed while buying a video of their Saintess, could they?

"This isn't good enough."

Qi Yuan snapped out of it and was about to expose the scam on the spot, but he saw Lu Changfeng hurriedly pull out a large bag of Spirit Stones from his storage bracelet and shove it into the seller's hand. "I'll take all of these. Why don't you leave a contact method? I'll come pick up the new stock myself in the future."

"No problem. I'll give you an address, and you can just go there to buy them directly. There are discounts for bulk orders."

After receiving the Spirit Stones, the seller's Face lit up with joy. He whispered a few words into Lu Changfeng's ear and then turned to leave, full of delight.

After the seller left, Qi Yuan looked at Lu Changfeng with some confusion. "Aren't those shadow recording talismans all fakes? Why did you buy so many?"

Lu Changfeng sneered. "Of course I know they're fake. But how can I sit idly by while someone publicly tarnishes Fairy Xiao's reputation?"

"By pretending to be a major client this time, I've made them lower their guard so I could find the location of their production den. I'm going to report this to Senior Martial Uncle Pang of the Linglong Holy Land later, so we can wipe out that group of swindlers in one fell swoop."

Qi Yuan came to a sudden realization upon hearing this and said approvingly:

"Not bad. I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful."

As he spoke, he pointed to the large stack of shadow recording talismans in Lu Changfeng's hand. "How should these be handled? Do you want me to help you destroy them?"

Before Qi Yuan could finish, Lu Changfeng tucked the shadow recording talismans into his robes with a 'whoosh' and said with mock seriousness:

"These are all blatant pieces of evidence. I haven't had time to critique them one by one yet, so of course I have to keep them..."

You were practically drooling when you looked at the images just now. Does that look like 'serious critiquing' to you?

I'm too embarrassed to even call you out!

Qi Yuan curled his lip, not bothering to pay the fellow any more mind. He poured himself a cup of spiritual tea and began to drink slowly.

After a short while, an exceptionally ugly male Cultivator in green robes came downstairs. It was the Celestial Pole Dao Son, Pu Genshuo, whom they had been waiting for.

Upon seeing Qi Yuan and the other, Pu Genshuo's eyes lit up, and he greeted them with a smile. "Sorry for the wait. I was just discussing the Dao over tea with Fairy Murong of the Joyful Union Sect. I got a bit carried away and stayed longer than intended. Don't mind me, brothers."

Qi Yuan didn't waste words. He casually deployed an isolation Restriction to block out the surrounding noise and then asked point-blank:

"Senior Brother Piao, you said you have a thorough understanding of the inner workings of the Linglong Holy Land. I happen to have some questions I'd like to ask."

Hearing this, Pu Genshuo immediately grew boastful and patted his chest.

"That's right. My family's grand-aunt and the Linglong Holy Land's Sect Master of the Holy Land have been best friends for thousands of years. Their relationship is so close they might as well share the same skirt."

"The world says the Linglong Holy Land is a forbidden zone for men, where even a fly has to have its gender checked before passing through. But as a child, I went in and out of the Linglong Holy Land like it was a playground. The beauties there were incredibly enthusiastic and proactive when they saw me."

Lu Changfeng listened with solemn respect and said with an envious expression, "I didn't expect Brother Piao to have such a connection. I truly apologize for my previous lack of respect. If you can take me into the Linglong Holy Land to meet Fairy Xiao this time, I will be eternally grateful."

"I was talking about when I was a child." Pu Genshuo shook his head with an awkward expression and a sigh of nostalgia. "For some reason, after I grew up, those women suddenly had a change in attitude and listed me as one of the most unwelcome men."

"Now, unless I receive an invitation, I am forbidden from setting foot in the Linglong Holy Land."

As he spoke, he gave a dejected sigh:

"Sigh... Could it be because I'm not as cute as when I was a child?"

Seeing his bewildered expression, Qi Yuan couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Do you really have no self-awareness? Women care about looks too. You're so ugly, yet you keep trying to hang around that group of women in the Linglong Holy Land. Aren't you just trying to disgust them?

It's thanks to your grand-aunt's Face that you haven't been hacked to death yet... Thinking about how he still needed to inquire about the whereabouts of the Innate Divine Beast, Qi Yuan took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. "Senior Brother Piao, are there any very powerful Yao Beasts in the Linglong Holy Land?"

"Yao Beasts?"

Pu Genshuo blinked and then said thoughtfully, "Those women do like to keep demon pets, but they're all small, good-looking Yao Beasts—merely decorative things like Gold Spirit Dogs, Snow Flower Cats, and Purple Jade Martens. They can't really be called powerful."

Qi Yuan frowned and pressed further, "What I mean is, are there any Yao Beasts with very high cultivation levels in the Linglong Holy Land? For example... the Mahayana Realm?"

"Impossible." Pu Genshuo shook his head with certainty. "The Linglong Holy Land doesn't specialize in beast taming. Yao Beasts at the Mahayana level usually have incredible Divine Abilities and extraordinary talent. Even three or four Mahayana Realm Cultivators working together would find it hard to subdue one."

"Mahayana Realm Yao Beasts are extremely rare in the Cultivation World, and every single one is well-known. If such a thing had actually happened, it would have definitely spread across the world long ago. It's impossible for there to be no word of it."

Hearing this, Qi Yuan fell silent. Although the compass had reacted, finding that Innate Divine Beast was indeed no simple task.

Ultimately, the Linglong Holy Land was not an existence one could easily offend. He had to be extremely cautious during his investigation to avoid bringing trouble upon himself.

Currently, his only hope was that the Divine Beast was lurking in the Linglong Holy Land in secret without exposing its identity. Otherwise, his plan to use a Command Seal to subdue the Innate Divine Beast would likely fall through... With this in mind, he pulled his thoughts back and asked casually:

"Brother Piao, these years, have any strange things happened in the Linglong Holy Land?"