Chapter 1302: Old Friends
It would be a lot safer with the body. Even if its body was destroyed, its soul could still escape.
Half an hour later, the Void Owl woke up. It walked on the ground, but seemed to be tripping itself over constantly. It didn't seem to be used to the body at all.
Not daring to express its anger with Lin Yun, it simply glared at Lord Shawn with its big round eyes.
Lord Shawn grinned, and then slapped the Void Owl a dozen meters away.
"What an idiot. You dare to glare at the great Lord Shawn? You're even dumber than Xiuban…"
Xiuban, who was sound asleep, didn't even open its eyes. It replied drowsily, "Who's calling the great Xiuban?"
The Void Owl became a lot more obedient now that Lord Shawn taught it a lesson. An hour later, Lin Yun left the Demiplane with the Void Owl, which wasn't fully accustomed yet. He then gave it to Faleau.
"This is Xiusi. Teach him the language of Noscent, and let it inform me if anything goes wrong."
After that, he gave Xiusi the permission to access his Natural Demiplane, and listened to Faleau's report. He then returned to his Demiplane for rest. Until he recovered from the previous accident, nobody could access his Natural Demiplane even with a Planar Path. Only the authorized creatures such as Xiusi could enter the Natural Demiplane through a Planar Path.
Recently, everything had been going well with the Gilded Rose. The Roosevelt Business Alliance, which caused trouble for it earlier, had been fully suppressed by the Lincoln Business Alliance, and only survived because of the desert ethnic group's support.
However, in the Odin Kingdom, many forces that had cooperated with the Roosevelt Business Alliance before were turning to the Lincoln Business Alliance. After all, they didn't care about the internal conflicts of the Sten Kingdom. Since the Lincoln Business Alliance's products were much better, they either sought cooperation with the Lincoln Business Alliance, or demanded that the Roosevelt Business Alliance lower the price.
The Roosevelt Business Alliance could hardly survive the disaster, and had no time to deal with the Gilded Rose. It avoided any more conflict with the Gilded Rose because it would be in even greater trouble in the Sten Kingdom if the Gilded Rose retaliated.
It had already lost a seat in the Upper Parliament. Although one seat was no more significant than one vote, it could change the result of a motion at a critical moment.
The Gilded Rose had no time to deal with the Roosevelt Business Alliance, either. The Roosevelt Business Alliance was suppressed, but could hardly be destroyed, not with the support of the desert ethnic group in the Sten Kingdom. That was the internal business of the Sten Kingdom.
The Gilded Rose seized the opportunity to expand. The third batch of stores had been established. Not counting the headquarters in Neverwinter City, the 38 branch stores had covered all the important cities in the north of the Odin Kingdom. Its potion market share was at the top in the north of the Odin Kingdom, and surpassed the Lodney Family's.
The Lodney Family didn't react. Nobody from the Lodney Family would ever appear in the place where the people of the Gilded Rose participated. Even if they were angry, they wouldn't really dare to escalate the conflict, and could only secretly curse them.
Wilder and the powerful elders of the Lodney Family all flinched from the Gilded Rose. Who else dared to do otherwise?
Lin Yun returned to his Natural Demiplane, and sat on the top of the pillar. He sorted through the dislocated laws. The Natural Demiplane had a great self-recovery ability. Most laws would be recovered in a couple of months. But Lin Yun didn't let go of the opportunity.
If he sorted through the laws in person, the recovery would be faster. Also, his connection to the Natural Demiplane and his control over it would be better.
Lin Yun rested inside the Natural Demiplane, and didn't worry that anybody would do anything to the mark he left. After all, he was in the central area of the Gilded Rose in Neverwinter City. Nobody could possibly sneak into that place.
While Lin Yun was away, Faleau was having a lot of trouble…
As a natural-born extraordinary life and a soul entity, Xiusi wasn't born by any void beast at all, but was born naturally in some special places. Otherwise, it wouldn't have boasted such great spatial abilities.
For Xiusi, it could live in any space as naturally as fish that swam in the water…
It was a natural-born extraordinary life with congenial wisdom, so it picked up Noscent's language easily. It was already able to speak in the Noscent's language instead of soul waves after being taught for the first time.
While learning the language, Xiusi, as a creature that had been wandering in the boundless void, was gradually attracted to Noscent, which was so prosperous that even a tree was more interesting than the desolation in the void.
As a bumpkin, Xiusi was interested in everything, especially after it had a bite of the food in Noscent.
In only one month, Xiusi the bumpkin had grown into Xiusi the fox.
"Faleau, I'm hungry. The great Xiusi is hungry. Where is my mousse? Oh, damn it. This is the mousse made by the small-eyed fool in the east of the city. He added sweetener to the mousse. I don't want that. Let's destroy his store someday.
"He dares to fool the great Xiusi. I want the cake from the noble store in the west of the city. Their pastries are made of the finest sap…"
With a bitter smile, Faleau slightly shook his head.
He didn't know where Sir Merlin found Xiusi, but the latter was truly terrifying. He had picked up eight languages in one month, and could even communicate in the Nesser language. He had grown from an ignorant bumpkin into a wily old fox who was better at cursing than a vixen…
Never mind. It was just cake, and didn't cost much purple gold. Considering how terrifying Xiusi was, it could carry out a lot of difficult tasks.
It only took Xiusi five minutes to track down the idiot who sold counterfeits of Gilded Rose's products. Also, Faleau didn't even see how it left. He didn't detect any spatial waves. Even the level-5 Heaven Rank spatial mages were probably incapable of doing that…
With a smile, Faleau took out a piece of six-inch mousse.
"Sir Xiusi, it is very difficult to buy such cakes. It's made by the greatest cook with a lot of time and effort, so the productivity is very low.
"Every piece of the cake has to be ordered in advance. I've paid a fortune to buy this one from someone else. Please take your time…"
Xiusi narrowed its eyes in delight. It swallowed the cake that it despised earlier, and then chewed the new cake unhurriedly.
Its soul waves gradually spread out, and it patted Faleau's shoulder with its wings.
"Faleau, well done. If Master hadn't warned me that I shouldn't cause trouble in Neverwinter City, I would've fetched the food myself.
"It's not bad that you can buy the food with a normal method. If you're in any trouble, just tell the great Xiusi. I'll take care of it for you…
"Wow, it tastes so delicious! How wonderful my life is!
"It's truly lucky for me to come to this place with my master. I couldn't even find sh*t in the goddamn void…"
Xiusi spoke in a blurry tone with its mouth full of cake. It ignored Faleau. The latter narrowed his eyes and left quietly. Xiusi wasn't easy to deal with, but there wouldn't be any problem as long as they had delicious pastries…
At the same time, another two visitors came to the Lodney Family.
Two weird female mages, both in their thirties and wearing gray robes, were seated in the Lodney Family's meeting room. They seemed to have completely melted into the environment, and could barely be detected. The servants who served them even ignored them several times.
On the other hand, Wilder, after a whole day of meditation, listened to the report and pulled a long face. He was almost gnashing his teeth.
"What? Those two b*tches are here again? Tell them to f*ck off! I won't see them!"
The chief elder seemed worried.
"Leader, their family is more powerful than ours. Also, their family consists of all kinds of weird talents. I don't think it's appropriate to offend them so openly…"
Wilder sneered.
"Have you forgotten who's to blame for the Lodney Family's misfortune? Had it not been for those two b*tches, would we have challenged Mafa Merlin and sought to claim the Gilded Rose?
"Would our ancestor have been imprisoned in the forbidden land for 100 years without them? We'd better keep a low profile in these 100 years. We must not let anyone else know that our ancestor is imprisoned.
"Those two b*tches must be here to deal with Mafa Merlin again. They're not doing anything, yet they expect us to deal with Mafa Merlin at great costs. Not a chance!
"If it weren't for the ancestor, I would kill both of them here today!
"Tell them that I'm learning from the ancestor in the forbidden land. Let them leave!"
Wilder stormed off, and did leave for the forbidden land…
The chief elder smiled helplessly, and went to the meeting room.
"Honorable guests, I'm truly sorry. Our family leader was summoned by the ancestor. We are not allowed to enter the forbidden land without permission. I've prepared a delicious banquet for you. I hope you can forgive us…"
The chief elder spoke apologetically and courteously.
However, both of the female mages stood up at the same time, and distant voices spread out of their illusionary bodies.
"That's alright. We shouldn't have come uninvited. We hope to see Mr. Wilder next time. We have other business to do. Thank you for your hospitality…"
They left the Lodney Family, and soon came to the Roosevelt Business Alliance's headquarters in the Odin Kingdom.
They stayed for more than an hour in the meeting room, but didn't see the Roosevelt Business Alliance's director.
Two hours later, Reynolds, who had just left a noble's banquet, received his subordinates' report.
Reynolds put on an awful expression before he heard all the report…
"Two female mages in gray robes? They look rather docile?"
Hearing the keywords, Reynolds felt that his eyelids were cramping.
Those two wretched b*tches were here again. Were they trying to fool him into dealing with the Gilded Rose?
He was truly stupid to have been convinced by them that the Gilded Rose had no powerful supporter and only advanced technology.
He was not an idiot. If he hadn't trusted those two bitches, he wouldn't have tried to claim the Universal Core technology of the Gilded Rose.
If he had frankly negotiated with the Gilded Rose, he might have been able to strike a deal with them easily. He was the first to notice the Gilded Rose, not the idiots of the Lincoln Business Alliance.
Those idiots didn't realize the Universal Core's value until a long time later. No. At first, they probably only cooperated with the Gilded Rose because they hated the Roosevelt Business Alliance.
Damn it, he was so stupid. If the people in the headquarters learned that this fiasco was because he believed those two b*tches, he probably would die before the sunrise next day…
The headquarters had already done research. The Universal Core wasn't sophisticated at all, and could be manufactured by Masters, but the material was the key!
It was made of a material that had never been seen or exploited in any of the known planes. There wasn't even a similar material. The Gilded Rose didn't have any powerful support? Stop kidding…
Their usage of the material indicated that they had discovered and developed a plane.
Could an organization that had conquered and developed a plane only have technology? Also, the technology was not something that the dumb alchemists in the business alliances could've developed…
He couldn't let anybody know that he made the stupid decision because he was tricked by outsiders. Absolutely not. Should he kill the two b*tches? But they came from powerful backgrounds. Killing them might get him exposed…
Changing his expression quickly, Reynolds looked at his trusted subordinates, and spoke in a low voice.
"Those two… women. Just tell them that I was invited to a marquis's banquet, and that because of the Roosevelt Business Alliance's trouble, I haven't returned in one month. I've been on business trips…"
Seeing that his subordinates didn't seem to follow, Reynolds heaved a sigh.
"Don't piss off women, especially powerful ones. They're all thorny, poisonous roses…
"Hey, remember not to tell anyone else about this…"
Immediately, the people of the Roosevelt Business Alliance were enlightened, and all put on a smile of understanding.
The subordinate who came to report, in particular, remembered that the two women were both Heaven Rank experts, and looked at Reynolds in admiration.
"Don't worry, my lord. Nobody else will know this. Just rest assured."
They all left. Reynolds fled in a hurry. Those trusted subordinates looked at each other with a smile, and clearly thought that the visitors were Reynolds' mistresses. Naturally, they had to cover up for him.
In no more than half an hour, the two female mages were courteously sent away by the people of the Roosevelt Business Alliance…
Looking back at the Roosevelt Business Alliance's manor, the two mages were so cold that the air was almost frozen.
"Those wretched fools. None of them is willing to meet us!"
One of the mages trembled with fury. She seemed to be surrounded by gray mist. As she unleashed her scary aura, the insects that disregarded and approached them were all killed. All the insects turned black and gray before they were corroded and dissolved.
"Never mind. Those people are untrustworthy. They're idiots. If they see returns, they'll all be as motivated as hyenas that smell blood, but if they don't see returns, they'll immediately bite back. We can't count on them. We must do something."
"If the Gilded Rose continues developing like this, it won't be easy to deal with…"
"Any progress in the Raging Flame Plane?"
"None at all. All interests in the Raging Flame Plane have been divided, and Mafa Merlin is involved in almost everything. Even the stupid orcs whose heads are filled with nothing but brawn and magma think very highly of them. If we sabotage their cooperation, those stupid orcs won't hesitate to start a war…"
"All forces in the Raging Flame Plane will be our enemies. A lot of things about us will be exposed. Forget about the Raging Flame Plane. We must deal with the Gilded Rose in the Odin Kingdom, and seize a chance to kill Mafa Merlin."
The mages left quietly, and soon came to a plain-looking material store in Neverwinter City.
They came to the rear of the store, where there was a room that was full of all kinds of alchemy arrays. A mage who seemed quite ordinary was waiting for them.
"Madam Emmy, Madam Sunny, good day."
The two cold-looking mages nodded. Emmy looked at the male mage calmly.
"Mr. Neo, you fought Mafa Merlin before. What do you think we need to do in order to kill him?"
To be continued