Standing at the shop's entrance, Xiahou Aotian felt a little awkward. Since he had already been spotted, he didn't bother agonizing over it any further. Calling to mind a character that flashed through his head, he rubbed his face vigorously to complete his disguise.
He stepped into the shop, his gaze sweeping across rows of shelves and taking in the low-grade materials scattered untidily across the floor, immediately confirming Lian Sanyue's identity.
She really was an artificer, and very likely someone from the Zhao family.
Although he had heard about the background of Wanbao House's proprietress from Brother Red Chicken before coming, only seeing it with his own eyes confirmed she was an artificer.
—Every artificer's workshop was as messy as a small machine factory's processing shop or a curbside hardware store.
Of course, Xiahou Aotian wasn't bothered by the clutter; if anything, he felt right at home.
Moving his gaze away from the shelves, he looked to the left. Against the wall on the left stood a checkout counter, and behind it sat a glamorous woman wearing a black leather jacket over a blue bandeau.
Between her fingers was a slender lady's cigarette. With lazy eyes and a charming, seductive aura, she looked very much like a female gang boss straight out of a movie.
"Are you Lian Sanyue?" Xiahou Aotian walked up to the counter.
Lian Sanyue looked at him in astonishment, momentarily forgetting to smoke. Dumbfounded, she blurted out, "Kakarot?"
She burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. "This is the first time I've ever seen someone shape their face into an anime protagonist! Hahahaha—"
*Have you laughed enough! A protagonist is a protagonist, regardless of dimensions!* Xiahou Aotian protested internally. Taking a deep breath, he said:
"I heard your reputation is solid and that you take on any business. I have a deal. I wonder if you'd be interested."
Lian Sanyue reined in her laughter and resumed her languid demeanor. Taking a pull from the cigarette, she exhaled white smoke from her flame-red lips. "Let's hear it."
Xiahou Aotian immediately retrieved a suit of armor, a bronze cauldron, and a string of copper coins from his inventory.
Lian Sanyue's eyes instantly narrowed. "Qin dynasty relics?"
Qin dynasty cultural relics consisted primarily of bronzeware and ceramics, bearing a massive difference from the antiques, calligraphy, and paintings familiar to later generations.
Paying no attention to the coins, she ran her fingers over the bronze cauldron and armor, assessing, "Fairly well preserved. Relics like these are rare even in Dominator-tier instances, and it would have to be an instance tied to Qin dynasty dignitaries. But I won't buy them."
Lian Sanyue smiled and said, "Cultural relics are meaningless to me, and their prices are steep. The customers who come to my Wanbao House only care about spirit realm materials and items. Your target audience should be wealthy collectors and antique investors."
Xiahou Aotian seemed to have anticipated this. His Kakarot face looked haughty and aloof. "I want to auction them off through you. I'll give you a ten percent cut."
Only then did Lian Sanyue nod. "Deal. Come back for the money in ten days."
Xiahou Aotian breathed a sigh of relief inwardly and added, "I want you to keep today's transaction confidential. How much hush money do you want?"
Lian Sanyue thought about it. "Give me two hundred thousand."
"Deal!"
Xiahou Aotian took off his backpack, pulled out four stacks of banknotes, and laid them on the counter.
Black-market transactions were always conducted in cash—he knew this bit of common sense.
If one didn't have enough cash, they could mortgage items to the black market host for cash, then repay it within the specified timeframe.
Having paid the cash, Xiahou Aotian turned to leave.
"Wait!" Lian Sanyue called out suddenly, smiling. "Since you're already here, why not check out Wanbao House's black market?"
*I have no money, and I have no interest in seeing it...* Xiahou Aotian was about to decline, but Lian Sanyue's next words piqued his interest.
"Although there aren't many good things in the black market, you can sometimes pick up a hidden gem."
Hearing those words, Xiahou Aotian felt his DNA tingling. *Isn't that an exclusive scenario meant only for protagonists?*
He immediately changed his mind. "Sure!"
"Entering the black market requires an entrance token. One hundred thousand each." Lian Sanyue opened her palm, revealing an oblong black-lacquered wooden token inscribed with four characters: *May Wealth Flow In*.
*One hundred thousand? Why don't you just rob someone!* Xiahou Aotian complained inwardly.
After paying for the token, he entered the Wanbao House black market, met with a bustling, lively scene.
"It's quite large..."
Filled with grand ambition, Xiahou Aotian began browsing the black market. As a knowledgeable Scholar backed by a grandpa in his ring, he was confident he could find a diamond in the rough.
Half an hour later, Xiahou Aotian stood dumbfounded in the black market.
*How could this place be full of fakes?*
It wasn't that there were no items or materials, but all of those had explicit price tags. There was no such thing as an actual item or material being mistaken for worthless trash.
In short, the real items and materials were very expensive, and even the garbage was very expensive. There was simply no possibility of picking up a hidden gem on the cheap.
*Clearly, something is wrong with this place, not with me. My opportunity doesn't lie here.* Annoyed that his hundred thousand had gone down the drain, Xiahou Aotian prepared to leave.
Just then, Lian Sanyue's voice sounded beside him: "Didn't find anything to your liking? Then are you interested in experiencing the feeling of artifact crafting?"
As a Fangshi, Xiahou Aotian felt his DNA stir again upon hearing this. "What do you mean?"
Swaying her hips with intoxicating allure, Lian Sanyue said, "Follow me."
Harboring curiosity and confusion, Xiahou Aotian followed her out of the black market, traversed the dueling ring, and arrived outside a room.
Lian Sanyue turned the doorknob, dismissed the two guards inside with a wave, and gestured toward a three-legged cauldron furnace with her chin, smiling. "It is the world's greatest artificer. You can touch it to check its properties."
Xiahou Aotian stepped forward, curiously extending his palm to press against the furnace body. A few seconds later, a look of shock appeared on his face: "It... it's actually a rule-based item?!"
Moreover, the furnace looked somewhat familiar to him. After a brief recollection, he remembered—on the scroll of Empress Wa enshrined in the underground palace treasury, there had been a similar furnace depicted!
At that moment, he sensed an intense mental fluctuation coming from his ring.
***
Songhai International Airport.
A silver-white Gulfstream sliced through the blue sky, slowly descending. After taxiing down the runway for a good distance, it came to a stop.
Wearing a baseball cap and a face mask, Zhang Yuanqing walked out of the cabin alongside the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter. Led by ground crew who had long been waiting, they boarded an airport shuttle bus.
Upon reaching the airport parking garage, the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter smilingly bid him farewell and departed on her own.
Zhang Yuanqing got into a luxury car arranged by Fu Qingyang and headed back to Fujia Bay.
He took out his phone and turned off airplane mode. Instantly, chimes rang out without pause—dozens of unread messages and over a dozen missed calls.
Three were from Xie Lingxi and Queen, while all the rest were from Guan Ya.
Zhang Yuanqing opened the messaging app to check the messages.
Guan Ya had sent him over twenty messages. Half were text, expressing deep regret and confusion while trying to win him back, explaining that she might have been under some kind of influence yesterday and breaking up had never been her intention.
She apologized for her irrational behavior the day before and hoped to talk things through.
Seeing that he hadn't responded for so long and that his phone had been powered off when she called, she had grown panicked and started sending voice messages, the last few carrying a tearful sob in her voice.
Xie Lingxi had sent two messages. One mentioned that her cousin Xie Lingzhou had died at Qinfeng Academy, and her family had summoned her back to attend the funeral, so she would be away from Songhai for a few days.
The other timidly asked: *Did you really break up with Sister Guan Ya?*
Since there was no breakup to speak of in her case, the little girl had woken up this morning once again thinking Brother Yuanshi was the man of her dreams, completely forgetting how cold she had acted yesterday.
Queen's message said that Guan Ya had visited the neighboring villa that morning, and upon returning had burst into tears and was emotionally unstable, hoping he could forgive Guan Ya and make up with her.
Evidently, although Queen always thought about stealing her best friend's boyfriend, she still cared deeply for Guan Ya.
Next were messages from Sun Miaomiao. The first was sent at nine in the morning, sincerely apologizing for her harsh words the previous day.
The second came at eleven, around noon. Having suffered through three hours of waiting without receiving Yuanshi Tianzun's forgiveness, she had tentatively sent another message: "Humph, petty!"
The final message was from Yin Ji. She explained that she had been assisting her master in capturing Sect Master Chunyang yesterday, which was why she had sounded somewhat impatient, and hoped they could speak on the phone if he had time.
Zhang Yuanqing immediately dialed Yin Ji's number. After ringing for a dozen seconds, the call finally connected.
"Yuanshi Tianzun," Yin Ji's gentle voice came through the receiver.
"Just call me Yuanshi," Zhang Yuanqing said in a teasing tone.
The other end fell silent for a second before she ignored his banter and cut straight to the chase. "The secret arts of the Lunar and Stars are the Taiyi Sect's core esoteric techniques. Before learning them, sect disciples take oaths never to disclose them to outsiders, and having received the Lunar blessing, they cannot be questioned through Spirit Communion either."
*An ordinary Night Walker certainly can't interrogate their spirits, but I have the Lunar shard... Still, I can't possibly hunt down Taiyi Sect Saints just for a secret art...* Zhang Yuanqing sighed and said, "I understand."
Seeming to detect the disappointment in his tone, Yin Ji lowered her voice. "But that isn't what I wanted to tell you..."
After a pause, she said, "Do you know why the sect master created secret arts for specializing in Lunar or Stars?"
*To become stronger?* That answer immediately sprang to Zhang Yuanqing's mind.
"I heard from my master that specializing in Lunar or Stars is meant to make it easier to integrate supreme powers upon reaching the demigod realm in the future. Of course, for ordinary Night Walkers, specializing in Lunar or Stars is merely a way to become stronger," Yin Ji said.
"Integrate supreme powers?" Zhang Yuanqing froze, then almost immediately grasped the meaning behind her words.
The supreme powers Elder Red Tassel spoke of likely referred to the three origin powers: Sun, Moon, and Stars.
So to take control of the three origin powers, one had to choose one power to specialize in before reaching demigod? Was that the true significance of the "Specialization Secret Arts"?
Yin Ji continued, "If one does not choose a specialization secret art, the three forces of Sun, Moon, and Stars will remain balanced when we advance to Dominator. But when you choose one power to specialize in, that power will suppress the other two."
"So?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
Yin Ji lowered her gentle voice even further, like a lover's soft whisper: "So the specific secret art isn't the key. The key is breaking the balance among the three powers. As long as you can achieve that, cultivating other secret arts works just as well—like the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record.
"It's just that such secret arts can only be found by serendipity; ordinary Night Walkers cannot obtain them at all. That is why our Taiyi Sect's secret arts are so precious."
*The Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record is a secret art?* This answer truly brought Zhang Yuanqing a pleasant surprise. If so, the divine power of the sun inside the Demon Refining Pot would be useful!
He could completely rely on that power to push the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record to minor completion.
*Wait, no. The divine power of the sun inside the Demon Refining Pot is far too dense. If I use it for cultivation, I'd most likely end up turning from a carbon-based lifeform into a pile of charcoal,* he thought.
"However, I don't recommend specializing in the Sun," Yin Ji said.
"Because progress is too slow?" Zhang Yuanqing recalled what he had learned at Qinfeng Academy.
"Slowness is one aspect. I once heard my master mention that the supreme power symbolizing the Sun seems to have run into some problems," Yin Ji said softly. "I only heard about it; I don't know the specifics."
*The Sun has run into problems? If that's the case, specializing in the Sun really does require careful consideration.* Zhang Yuanqing frowned.
Yin Ji didn't say anything either.
Listening to each other's breathing, the two remained silent for half a minute before Zhang Yuanqing broke free from his contemplation and asked casually, "How is the case regarding Sect Master Chunyang going?"
Yin Ji sighed. "A few days ago, Master set a trap to lure him in, but it failed. He enjoys concealment protection and isn't bound by Morality Points, so catching him won't happen overnight.
"Furthermore, we discovered that his strength is growing greater and greater. Recently, he must have hunted down quite a few Illusionists."
Zhang Yuanqing picked up on her distress and helplessness. "He hunted down a lot of Illusionists? Why not try cooperating with the Nihility Sect?"
Yin Ji gave a bitter laugh. "If it were the Soldier Master sect or the Spirit Society, we would have channels to reach them. But the Nihility Sect is elusive and unpredictable. Even the Taiyi Sect cannot find their upper echelon."
Among the three evil factions, the Nihility Sect was the most bizarre and secretive.
Furthermore, good and evil stood irreconcilable. Even with Sect Master Chunyang posing a common threat, both sides lacked a reliable intermediary to forge a collaboration.
*Sect Master Chunyang is cunning as a fox, protected by the Lunar power, and unbound by Morality Points—he has far too many dirty tricks. Still, if it's just facilitating cooperation with the Nihility Sect, I might be able to help out...* Zhang Yuanqing said, "I know an Illusionist. Perhaps I can bridge the gap."
Yin Ji's spirits lifted. After a moment of thought, she said, "I will report to Master first and see what she thinks."
Zhang Yuanqing gave an affirmative grunt. "I also need to confirm whether the other party is willing to cooperate."
Ending the call, he didn't contact Xiao Yuan right away, as he was about to arrive at Fujia Bay.
He would deal with other matters after reporting what they found in Takamagahara to Fu Qingyang.
Zhang Yuanqing clicked on Sun Miaomiao's avatar and sent a message: "My phone was turned off for a mission this morning. Miaomiao, even though you were rude to me, you're still my little sweetheart."
Sun Miaomiao replied in a second: "Eww~ You're so greasy."
Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself, *Now that's the right reaction. She says it's greasy, but she's definitely smiling right now.*
[Yuanshi Tianzun: There's something I need your help with.]
[Sun Miaomiao: If it's borrowing money, forget it.]
Zhang Yuanqing's lips twitched. He typed:
[Yuanshi Tianzun: Not borrowing money. I'd like to ask you to compile a list of all Taiyi Sect Night Walkers from 1990 to 2000 for me, including those who died in the line of duty. To be specific, from Saint to Dominator.]
He wanted to investigate the Night Walker who was one of the Twin Dark Shadows.
[Sun Miaomiao: What do you want this for?]
[Yuanshi Tianzun: I can't tell you yet. I might have similar favors to ask in the future. Once I get some solid clues, I'll let you know.]
[Sun Miaomiao: Alright, I'll try. If it involves elders, my clearance definitely won't be high enough, so I'll just have to trick my grandfather into letting me use his account.]
[Yuanshi Tianzun: Once it's done, dinner is on me.]
Before long, the driver slowed down and drove into Fujia Bay.
Without waiting for the car to come to a complete halt, Zhang Yuanqing snapped his fingers with flair. "Star Escape!"
Beneath the driver's astonished gaze, he vanished from the passenger compartment.
The next second, he appeared outside the study and knocked on the tall brown wooden door.
Chapter 452