CSMCDB - Chapter 138
Chapter 138
Just as Wen Yuncheng was rushing to the location recorded by the monitor, the person actually moved again. After a moment of hesitation, Wen Yuncheng started to follow the guy's trail.
The man seemed to have a clear destination and didn't stop much to rest. Wen Yuncheng was happy to see this, tailing him from a distance, following his movements using the monitor's icon.
Until… the person actually arrived at a town and walked into the City Lord's manor.
Another one colluding with "Fu"? Collusion? Allegiance? Or just a simple matter of mutual interests. But it didn't matter. Wen Yuncheng fell silent for a moment, found a secluded alley, and released Number One. She sprayed Number One with black paint and had it squat aggrievedly next to a trash can. Then, she put on her cloak and mask, activated her disguise skill, and walked into the City Lord's manor.
She quickly passed through the front hall, went around the main hall, and after many twists and turns, finally found the room where the two were talking.
"Pay me an extra 10% of the transaction value in Star Stones, or I can't do it."
"That's too much. This thing won't sell for many Star Stones in the first place…"
"The black market is cracking down, the trading area was robbed, and your goods aren't that easy to offload." The person who spoke first sneered. "Don't talk to me about costs. This is something you got from murdering and robbing. Besides me, would you dare take it to an auction house? It wouldn't stand up to scrutiny."
Wen Yuncheng listened from outside the door. Pushing the door open would be too risky, so she could only eavesdrop like this.
—So it was a transaction. Trading with a dealer from Fu to sell goods from a less-than-honorable source. Wen Yuncheng looked at the recording crystal in her hand, a little disappointed.
"…Fine. Offload it as soon as possible. If anything goes wrong, you can't expose me."
"Don't worry. A pleasure doing business with you."
The two seemed to have reached an agreement and began the transaction. Wen Yuncheng rubbed her chin. This kind of relationship… didn't seem enough to sentence the City Lord to death. Whatever, she'd just hand the crystal to the First Princess and let the Empire handle it. Wen Yuncheng nodded to herself, and 1947 suddenly cried out in alarm.
[A Star Venerate is approaching fast! More than one Star Venerate!]
What? What the hell?! Wen Yuncheng glanced at the remaining time on her disguise skill. Phew, good, there were still over ten minutes left. She breathed a sigh of relief, but in the next instant, she felt the indiscriminate pressure of a Star Venerate bearing down. She hesitated for a moment on whether to swap places immediately, but didn't move.
She wanted to see what was happening. The approaching Star Venerate… was he from the Empire? If it was someone from the Empire, she didn't need to run.
Wen Yuncheng shifted along the wall outside the door. Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and the Fu dealer and the City Lord rushed out, their faces filled with shock.
"…Lord? My lord, why… why have you come here?" The Fu dealer immediately recognized the Star Venerate, as the newcomer made no attempt to hide his presence.
The Star Venerate gave a savage laugh. "Why am I here? I should be asking you! Tell me, what trick did you use to dare steal from the trading area…" His gaze shifted to the terrified City Lord. "Did you cooperate with this guy? Or were you helping him fence the stolen goods…"
This development? Wen Yuncheng was stunned. An idea flashed through her mind, and she suddenly thought of the yellow-rank scimitar in her storage ring. Could it have been marked?
Wen Yuncheng had guessed correctly. …However, because the scimitar had been placed in the storage ring and Wen Yuncheng hadn't used it, the signal wasn't very strong. The people at the stronghold had made several guesses, locking onto a few dealers who had left the trading area. They sensed for it bit by bit, investigating each one, and finally followed the signal and information to this dealer who had come to the City Lord's manor.
Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but swallow. That… was a close call.
No wonder they left a Spirit Treasure on the stall. So it was bait. Wen Yuncheng fell silent for a moment, glanced at the open door, and slowly crept inside. Holding her breath, she took out an empty storage ring and quickly transferred the scimitar into it. Then, looking at the room's furnishings, she noticed an exquisite little box on the table. Wen Yuncheng opened the box, took out the Star Stone card inside, and carefully placed the storage ring in its place.
Was this the Star Stone card they were just about to use for the transaction? Wen Yuncheng didn't think too much about it. She swiped the funds to her own card, then placed this Star Stone card underneath the storage ring and carefully closed the box.
1947! Aren't you supposed to be warning me!
[…You put it in the storage ring so quickly, and you never took it out again. How was I supposed to detect anything?] 1947 felt wronged and had to speak up.
That's true…
The crisis was temporarily averted. Wen Yuncheng quietly slipped back out. She saw the dealer already kneeling on the ground, constantly pleading his case. The City Lord also looked terrified, his legs trembling.
"You, come. Use the secret art and sense the location of that yellow-rank Spirit Treasure!" The Star Venerate sneered, gesturing for another cloaked dealer to step forward. The dealer came out, closed his eyes, and began to concentrate. As his Star Power surged, he spat out a mouthful of essence blood. He opened his eyes, turned, and knelt before the Star Venerate. "My lord, the item is in the room."
"Hahaha, what nonsense are you spouting? That's impossible. My lord, please, go and see for yourself. There is absolutely nothing in the room! I'm innocent!"
Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but think to herself: Although you're innocent, I'm not, so…
The dealer entered the room, scanned it briefly, and saw the box on the table. He walked over, opened it, picked up the storage ring, and after a quick check, hurried back out, presenting it with both hands to the Star Venerate hovering in the air.
The two Star Venerates exchanged a look. One of them raised a hand, using Star Power to pull the storage ring into his grasp. He checked it briefly, then violently threw the storage ring at the dealer, whose face had turned deathly pale with a sense of dread. The impact of the Star Power sent the dealer flying, coughing up blood continuously.
"No… I… don't know… anything…"
Wen Yuncheng glanced at the remaining time on her disguise and saw that it was running out. She didn't stick around to watch the show. She removed the monitor from the unlucky scapegoat, placed it on the silent Star Venerate standing to the side, then swapped places with Number One and recalled it.
Without lingering in the alley, she took off her cloak and mask, revealed herself, and walked out, heading to the flight station to return to the Imperial Capital.
Having done something bad, Wen Yuncheng felt a little guilty, but since she had screwed over "Fu," she felt it was no big deal.
As soon as she returned to the Imperial Capital, Wen Yuncheng heard that "Fu" had attacked a certain town's City Lord manor. As one of the people in the know, Wen Yuncheng didn't delay and hurried toward the Imperial Palace.
Then… she handed the recording crystal to the First Princess and briefly explained what she had discovered this time.
The First Princess was speechless. She wondered if Fu would regret issuing a series of bounties specifically targeting Wen Yuncheng if they knew she was the one behind all the recent chaos. But even if Fu knew, they would probably only regret not having killed Wen Yuncheng right from the start.
"Stop running around all day. Settle down and focus on your cultivation," Wei Qingyu couldn't help but remind her. "I know you're talented. With your Star Power Mutation, it's not impossible for you to reach the heights of a Star Venerate or Star Emperor in the future. If you do, you'll be the first in a thousand years."
Of course, Wen Yuncheng couldn't say that she was causing trouble just to level up. She simply nodded. "I just want to enter more secret realms."
"You don't even behave yourself when you're cultivating in secret realms. What can you possibly gain from messing around in a secret realm for two or three days?" As Wei Qingyu finished speaking, she saw Wen Yuncheng give a silly, perfunctory smile, trying to bluff her way through. She rolled her eyes, leaned back on the sofa, abandoning all pretense of decorum. "Does Lin Jinyu know what you've been up to? Sneaking into a Fu stronghold to steal things, grabbing a Spirit Treasure that someone else was tracking, and almost getting caught by a Star Venerate."
Wen Yuncheng's smile froze.
Wei Qingyu then sat up straight and laughed. She tapped her fingers lightly on the table. "Zero, do I have any business to attend to recently? Help me schedule a visit to the Flowing Cloud Sect."
"Your Highness!" Wen Yuncheng shot to her feet in fright. "No, no, I won't cause any more trouble! I'll just record the locations, I won't take any more risks!"
Zero, who had been standing in the shadows, slowly walked out. She stood by the First Princess's side, quietly watching her highness.
"No more… taking risks, huh?" Wei Qingyu looked up at Wen Yuncheng. "Fu is indeed detestable, but if you want to annihilate them and destroy their strongholds, at least wait until you're a Star King before you do anything risky."
Wen Yuncheng agreed in a low voice. But in her heart, she thought, When I reach the Star King level, you people will probably just tell me to wait until I'm a Star Venerate.
Other Long Aotians were reborn from desperate situations, constantly taking risks, courting death, and pulling off outrageous stunts. As long as the stunts didn't kill them, they kept doing them. Why was it that when she wanted to pull off a small operation, she got a lecture from her backer?
How old was the First Princess? She had to be thirty, right? Why was she still resorting to such a low-level tactic like tattling to the Little Ice Mountain?
Wen Yuncheng had entered the palace in high spirits and left completely dejected. It was utterly depressing.
The problem was, this time she had only managed to mess with a Star Venerate from the "Fu" organization for a bit of fun and hadn't gained any experience.
Whatever. Wen Yuncheng sighed and honestly went back to doing bounties.
As for that Star Venerate? The unlucky guy had returned to the previous stronghold. It seemed he was stationed there, as the red dot on her mini-map hadn't moved in a long time.
Wen Yuncheng's three monitors were all stuck together—the Star King, the randomly monitored person, and the Star Venerate were all holed up in that stronghold. This made it impossible for her to make any other progress.
"1947, issue some missions. If this keeps up, I can't go on living." Wen Yuncheng stared at her experience bar, worried. Gaining experience from bounties was just too slow. Weren't there any missions for instant max level or immediate ascension?
[You haven't encountered anything.] 1947 said helplessly. It checked its permissions. [Should I issue you some future missions ahead of time? Like missions to stop the Huanling Continent's invasion or kill Huanling creatures? Or maybe I can give you a dragon-slaying mission for fun?]
"…" If it issued those, she really would just be looking at them for fun. Wen Yuncheng sighed and continued toiling away on the bounty trail. She only occasionally glanced at the three pawns she had marked…
Fu had gone completely dormant recently, so the three people Wen Yuncheng had marked showed no movement.
Until a torrential downpour began, lasting for a whole week. It washed the night sky clean, making the stars shine even more brilliantly.
Continuous gloomy rain rarely lifts one's spirits. The rain had no effect on Wen Yuncheng, but the cultivators of the Starry Sky Continent discovered that after the rain, it seemed to become easier for them to absorb the power of the Stars. Their connection to the Stars, their distance from them, also seemed to have grown closer.
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