Two Golden Core cultivators darted through the city of Luofeng Commandery. Clearly having memorized the route by heart, they skillfully bypassed the patrol paths of the cultivators assigned to guard the commandery at night.
Meanwhile, Li Haoran had been awakened by Su Yiren. After hearing his fiancée briefly recount the sequence of events, his expression grew rather strange.
"Senior Brother Meng's flaunting of his wealth finally caught someone's attention?"
"What do you mean, 'flaunting wealth'? Am I not allowed to tell people I'm rich?" Meng Jingzhou glared. Back when he was the young master of the Meng Family in the Imperial City, who would dare set their sights on his belongings?
Su Yiren secretly led the three of them in pursuit of the two Golden Core cultivators. As they leapt across the rooftops, Lu Yang caught sight of figures flitting across roofs in the distance, just like them, out of the corner of his eye.
"Are the nights in Luofeng Commandery always this lively?"
Lu Yang had intended to give chase and see what was going on, but then he saw the two Golden Core cultivators vault over the wall into a high-walled compound, leaving him no choice but to attend to the matter at hand first.
"If I remember correctly, isn't this... the Commandery Governor's Estate?" Li Haoran hesitated, wondering if his memory was failing him.
A Phoenix Blood Stone worth five hundred thousand spirit stones was indeed precious, but not precious enough to tempt a commandery governor.
Unless there was more to the Phoenix Blood Stone Senior Brother Meng had bought than met the eye.
The high-walled estate was shrouded in a formation. Anyone advancing rashly without knowing the method would be detected by those inside.
Su Yiren ignored the formation completely, smoothly leading the three of them inside the estate.
"Master, we have returned," the two Golden Core cultivators said respectfully to a middle-aged man standing with his hands behind his back.
Li Haoran had never seen the commandery governor before and didn't know whether this middle-aged man was the governor himself or a figure like a head steward.
The middle-aged man gave a calm hum. "Did you get that thing?"
The two looked rather ashamed. "We ran into an unexpected mishap. Fearing that causing too much commotion would blow our cover, we didn't proceed with stealing it."
"A mishap?"
"Yes. At Li Haoran's house, we encountered people who had also come to steal the item. Although they didn't reveal their identities, I suspect they were sent by the Mo Family."
"What happened? Give me the details."
The two recounted the scene down to the last detail. To their surprise, the master flew into a rage. "Hmph! You fools were duped! The people you ran into weren't from the Mo Family at all—they were Dao Seeking Sect disciples!
"If I am not mistaken, they are eavesdropping from the roof right now!
"Now that I've called you out, why don't you show yourselves? Let's have an open and honest chat."
Li Haoran's heart jolted. Just as he was about to reveal himself, Lu Yang held him back.
Lu Yang shook his head without a word.
The master waited for a long time, but no one appeared. "It seems you truly did encounter people from the Mo Family. So the Mo Family has indeed learned of that item's existence."
He had merely been bluffing just now.
Yesterday, his subordinates had reported that three Foundation Establishment Dao Seeking Sect disciples had arrived in Luofeng Commandery, one of whom was a local. However, he hadn't paid it any mind.
Who would have thought that this afternoon, his subordinates would report that one of the Dao Seeking Sect disciples had purchased an extremely rare Phoenix Blood Stone and gone around other shops looking for similar ones?
Hearing his subordinate's description of the Phoenix Blood Stone's appearance, his heart had leaped in alarm, suspecting it was that problematic Phoenix Blood Stone.
It absolutely could not fall into the hands of the Dao Seeking Sect. If the Dao Seeking Sect discovered any clues, it would be disastrous.
So he had sent two subordinates to steal the stone, only for them to cross paths with the Mo Family.
The Mo Family was the premier family in Luofeng Commandery. They were at odds with him, the commandery governor, and had always been trying to catch him red-handed.
"Tsk, I have no idea how that thing managed to leak out. Did you question the shopkeeper who sold it?"
"He's already gone. According to the shop clerks, after making a huge fortune, the shopkeeper took his wife and kids on a pleasure trip and won't be back anytime soon. Only a few clerks are left watching the shop."
"Must be nice."
"Huh? Master, what did you just say?"
"Nothing."
The commandery governor thought to himself that once he finished this big job, he would also take his wife and kids on a tour elsewhere.
"What's the word from the mine? When will the work be done? We can't keep using a mine collapse as an excuse to stop the miners from going in."
The excuse of a collapsed shaft could only stall for so long. After all, in the cultivation world, finding a few high-cultivation individuals would easily clear a new mine shaft in no time.
Taking the governor himself as an example, if he made a move, he could carve out a mine shaft in half a day. Right now, he claimed to the outside world that his cultivation had gone awry and he couldn't act for half a month.
"They said they still need three days."
"Tell them to speed it up, but maintain strict secrecy! Under no circumstances can outsiders learn of this. This matter concerns not only us, but also the interests of the Phoenix Clan!"
"Understood!"
Lu Yang and the other three were taken aback upon hearing this. From the sound of the governor's words, was he colluding with the Phoenix Clan?
With the arrival of the Golden Age, overt clashes and covert struggles between the Central Continent and various factions were intensifying, including tensions between the Central Continent and the demon race.
Among the demon race, some wished to wage war against the Great Xia Dynasty, while others wanted to ease relations with Great Xia and face the crises of the Golden Age together. Thus, the demon race was divided into a pro-war faction and a pro-peace faction.
'I just don't know which faction the Dragon Clan and Phoenix Clan belong to.'
Lu Yang had heard that the demon race had dispatched numerous spies to infiltrate the Central Continent with plans to secretly stir up chaos.
"Also, you know how to deal with them once they finish this, right?"
As he said this, the governor showed an expression of reluctance, as though forced into it against his will.
The two Golden Core cultivators paused, and murderous intent promptly flared in their eyes.
"You mean... these past few days count as overtime, so we should settle their wages at triple pay?"
"Yes."
The governor turned his head and caught the look in the two Golden Core cultivators' eyes, freezing for a moment.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
The two Golden Core cultivators replied with rather aggrieved tones: "Master, when we work the night shift, you've never mentioned giving us extra pay—like tonight, for instance."
Even if Golden Core cultivators don't need sleep, you can't just use us all day and keep using us all night, can you?
Our wives are still waiting under the blankets.
How come other people get overtime pay when they work late, while they work for free?
"...I'll give you overtime pay too."
"Master, what about that Phoenix Blood Stone?"
"Hmph! Since doing it in secret won't work, we'll do it openly. Tomorrow, disguise yourselves as merchants, claim that Phoenix Blood Stone is exceptionally rare, and buy it for a hefty sum!"
"How hefty?"
"One million spirit stones!" The governor refused to believe that a Foundation Establishment Dao Seeking Sect disciple wouldn't be tempted by a deal that earned a net profit of five hundred thousand spirit stones.
The two Golden Core cultivators wore hesitant expressions.
"What is it? Speak your mind."
"Master, that Dao Seeking Sect disciple might not be hurting for this little bit of spirit stones."
"Then one and a half million spirit stones!" The governor gritted his teeth. He refused to believe two million spirit stones wouldn't be enough to make the kid let go!
"That still might not be enough."
"Two million!"
"Still not enough."
The governor raged, "Then tell me, just how many spirit stones will it take for him to let it go?! I refuse to believe that a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator could have so many spirit stones that he wouldn't even be tempted by two million!"
"We heard that he's the eldest son of the Meng Family."
"Meng Family" and "eldest son"—put together, these two terms signified monstrous power and wealth that no one dared cross.
As the premier great clan of the Central Continent, the Meng Family's renown spread far and wide.
Hearing this, the governor grew even angrier, utterly unfazed by Meng Jingzhou's status. "So what if he's the eldest son of the Meng Family? Worst comes to worst, I'll go steal it myself tomorrow night!"
Chapter 224