"Wh-What should I do then?"
True Monarch Guanqi said with complete confidence, "Simple. The Golden Cicada Slough can help conceal your spiritual roots. Unless an expert at the Tribulation Transcendence stage inspects you in person, no one will be able to see through your true root bone."
Only then did Tao Tingfeng heave a sigh of relief.
Soon, another question occurred to him. "By the way, True Monarch, you said before that you ended up like this because people were hunting you down. Who was chasing you?"
"You don't even have a cultivation base yet, so don't worry about such questions. That's far too distant for you. All you need to know is that you must hide my existence well and never let any outsider find out."
"All right." Even without True Monarch Guanqi's reminder, Tao Tingfeng would have done the same.
Observing in secret, Lu Yang heard the Immortal Fairy's warning.
"Three Body Integration cultivators are speeding this way, and their foundations are solid."
"What?!" Lu Yang was startled. Could it be that True Monarch Guanqi's enemies had caught up to him?
True Monarch Guanqi had robbed a Great Yu cultivator of the Golden Cicada Slough and killed two companions who had been blinded by greed. Whether for wealth or vengeance, someone was bound to seek him out.
"Should I summon Eldest Senior Sister?"
The Immortal Fairy waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing will happen. Just watch."
The three Body Integration cultivators flew at tremendous speed, drawing the eyes of everyone in Yanshan City.
They descended upon Mount Yan and located the exact spot where True Monarch Guanqi had previously crashed.
The man in the lead picked up an exquisitely crafted wooden box from the ground—the very box that had once held the Golden Cicada Slough.
He pinched his fingers to divine the clues, then abruptly turned his head toward Yanshan City at the foot of the mountain.
"Found you!"
True Monarch Guanqi saw the three Body Integration cultivators streak across the sky and turned pale with fright. "Kid, run! The people hunting me are here!"
"R-Run where?"
"Never mind where! Just run!"
Following True Monarch Guanqi's instructions, Tao Tingfeng didn't even bother gathering his belongings. He scrambled to his feet and bolted for the door.
A terrifying aura descended and enveloped him, making him feel as though he had fallen into endless darkness. Inside his spiritual space, True Monarch Guanqi was so terrified that he didn't dare make a move.
"Kid, let me ask you: is there another soul body inside you, or have you seen something resembling a golden cicada?"
"N-No, not at all." Tao Tingfeng forced himself to remain calm and squeezed out a stiff smile.
The leader frowned, clearly unsatisfied with Tao Tingfeng's answer, but he refrained from deliberately exerting his terrifying aura any further. "Kid, are you telling the truth?"
"It's the truth." Without the crushing aura bearing down on him, Tao Tingfeng panted heavily for breath.
At last, he dared to look at the newcomers.
Three unfamiliar cultivators, unquestionably powerful.
The leader looked at Tao Tingfeng, let out a sigh, and then said gravely:
"The three of us are Luoshui Guards. True Monarch Guanqi, you are hereby formally notified: you are under arrest on suspicion of robbery for having stolen the Golden Cicada Slough from a certain Great Yu cultivator."
The leader then shifted his gaze to Tao Tingfeng. "As for you, you are also under arrest for concealing and disguising criminal proceeds and harboring a criminal suspect."
The Luoshui Guards were the division in Great Xia specifically tasked with dealing with demonic cults, abusive cultivators who threw their weight around, and ancient cultivators who violated the law.
Both Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou recognized the man in the lead. He was a close friend of the Fifth Elder and one of the Nine Palaces of the Luoshui Guards who had participated multiple times in arresting the Fifth Elder for speeding: Yu Qian.
Chapter 721