Cao Yun and Di Xihe entered the room. Of course, it wasn't as protected as the secluded room of the Major Hall, but it was isolated nonetheless. With Dian Mo and his own acute senses, Cao Yun would feel if someone were to try using spiritual senses to eavesdrop. Besides, he also used his Qi and his 'Ashen Feather Seal' to envelop himself and Di Xihe in a pseudo-array formation. No sound would leave this room.
Someone like Xiao Xuefeng or a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior might have been able to spy on them. But there was no such character in Qingyun City. Thus, they could speak freely.
"Show your real form!"
Di Xihe had no idea what Cao Yun wanted, but she knew he could somehow recognize her as Ming Huo. No one, not even a late Spirit Warrior had ever been able to do so. Of course, she was very wary of the young alchemist. But on the other hand, she didn't have much of a choice.
"Fine, I am Cang Yin. What do you want?"
The girl suddenly turned in front of Cao Yun. Her face subtly changed and so did her body. In reality, her true form wasn't so different from Di Xihe's appearance. However, she was a bit older. Like many people in the Subei Province, she had reddish hair but her skin was rather light. Her figure was slender with somewhat generous forms.
"What are you doing in the Governor's residence? Do you intend to steal from him?"
"This isn't any of your business. If you want some compensation because I stole from you, I'm sure we can work out something..."
As she spoke Cang Yin let one of her shoulders appear from under her robe. However, Cao Yun didn't seem to be interested.
"You've escaped from me once. I don't intend for that to happen again. Keep your tricks for a weaker man. But do not worry, I am not here to threaten you. In fact, I am here to make you a generous offer."
"I don't need your generosity. No matter what I want, I can take it for me!"
"Well, you couldn't take anything you wanted from the Huang family... And if your identity were to be discovered, I am certain there are other thefts we could pin on you. I wonder what would happen to you if the Governor were to learn that a thief was among his rank..."
"What do you want?!"
"Well, you've been able to deceive powerful cultivators, but not me... As it turns out, I am in need of a competent spy. And I happened to stumble upon you. You could say that this is fate. Moreover, I know that you won't leave this city until you've gotten whatever it is you want from the Governor and his family."
"You want me to spy on the Governor?!"
"No, I want you to infiltrate the Xue family. There are many things I need of you. If you do a good job, I am ready to reward you generously."
"As I said, money is not a problem to me!"
"I am not just talking about money. After all, I have ties with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. There are probably things that I could find which you cannot."
Cang Yin was at a loss. Although Cao Yun had not threatened her to do so, she knew that he could expose her at any moment. She had already had a run-in with him and she now was certain that she couldn't escape from his clutches. In her eyes, he was her worst nightmare. She was completely playing in his hand right now. But she had to admit that having him owe her a favor was a good thing indeed.
The main problem was that she didn't trust him at all. In fact, she absolutely wanted to get as far away from him as possible. All her tricks would be useless in front of this man and it made her anxious beyond belief. However, she couldn't leave Qingyun City if she wanted to find the answers she was looking for. The war with the demons would probably break out very soon. In a few years, she could imagine that this land would be burning under the fires of war. The Empyrean Asura Theocracy would declare his holy war against all of humanity soon enough.
Since she couldn't leave this city and Cao Yun would not leave this city either, she had to find some way for the both of them to coexist. Maybe making him indebted to her was the right move. After all, even as a servant in the Governor's residence, she had failed to find what she wanted. Infiltrating the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had been on her mind, but it was more difficult. She could be hired as a clerk easily, but in order to go higher, it would take years and more and more strenuous investigations of her background. As a lowly servant, it had been easier to enter the Governor's residence.
Unfortunately, she could only eavesdrop on some conversations. Even with her technique, sneaking away to try and gather information within the actual buildings was almost impossible. For weeks, she had been trying to devise plans but she had no idea what she should do.
If this Cao Yun was proposing her to infiltrate the Xue residence, he probably had some more clear idea in mind. The more she was thinking about it, the more enticing it seemed. However, she really didn't like that she was playing by Cao Yun's rules. The young man was not pressing her for an answer because he already knew her answer. And the more she thought about it, the fewer reasons she had to refuse, and the more upset and frustrated she was becoming.
As he had already seen her technique once, Cao Yun was now able to unveil her true form no matter what she could do. Besides, his cultivation was higher than her in all domains. There was no way for her to hide from his eyes. But he had to admit that if he had never seen her technique, he might have been fooled. In fact, he was confident that her ability to change her appearance was top-notch. With just his physical senses, he couldn't detect her. But because he was able to feel her Qi and even something peculiar in her blood, he could recognize her.
Were she to use even an altered form of 'Ashen Feather Seal', she might become the stealthiest person in the entire Hongchen Kingdom. As it happened, Cao Yun intended to give her a decent stealth technique. Of course, he would never share the 'Ashen Feather Seal'. First of all, he wouldn't because it was a gift of Huang Liyue, but also because it was way too dangerous. Stealth techniques were not the most destructive of techniques, but they were probably the scariest. With this technique in hands, combined with her ability to change her appearance so thoroughly, Cang Yin could become the most terrible assassin or spy on the planet.
If she worked for Cao Yun, this would be a good news. But he had no way to ensure that she would always work for him. Hopefully, she would stay in his service even after they were done with the current situation. But Cao Yun had no way of knowing for sure. When in doubts, he would make sure to always be able to detect her. Thus, he had already thought a long time about the stealth technique he would give her and how to alter it for his own use.
Finally, in her defying eyes, Cao Yun saw that she had come to a decision.
"Young miss, what say you?"
"... I'll do it. I'll work for you. But I hope that you at least have a good plan. As soon as my life is in danger, I'm out. After all, you'll only stay here until the Alchemy Conference. I could just disappear for a few months and come back."
"Of course, you could, but then, you would lose the opportunity to use my connections. Instead of infiltrating the Governor's residence, using the network of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to find out whatever it is you are after will be faster and safer. But do not worry. I do have a good plan in mind. And I don't ask a lot of you. I just need to have a detailed map of the Xue estate. When I say detailed I truly mean it. You will report everything to the point that I can picture every single leave on every single tree in their courtyard. It should be as though I was the one walking through their estate."
"Well, that is easy enough, but sneaking into some of the buildings might be difficult."
"I don't expect you to inspect all the buildings. However, I want you to find a specific one. I suspect that there is a powerful alchemist hiding there. He never leaves. What I expect of you is to find out in which building he resides. The best thing would be if you could even tell me in which room he stays, where his laboratory is."
"That... that can be done."
"Good. You only have a month to do so. After that, my offer is off the table. But in a month, if you've succeeded, I will give you all the information you want on the Governor's family."
"... Fine."
Strangely, she suspected that Cao Yun knew something about her that even she ignored. And she was right. Since she had not be raised by demons, she knew none of their technique except for this strange ability to change her own shape. As such, she couldn't sense that her own blood was so rich in demon blood to the point where it was clear that at least one of her parents, probably her mother, was a demon. Thanks to the information network of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, Cao Yun had found some interesting things when he knew where to look. Most likely, Cang Yin was looking for answers about her own lineage and he knew he could provide some.
Obviously, he didn't trust her. She was a thief. But as long as there was something for her, he could trust on her ability to secure her interests. For some time, Cao Yun gave all the details Cang Yin would need to succeed in her mission. His goal was clear. Now that he was almost certain that Gu Song was within the Xue estate, he needed to find his precise location. Once that was taken care of, he could finalize his plan. For now, everything seemed to go well.
Because he couldn't attack a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior from the front, he needed to manipulate him. And for that, he had several ways. The most important thing was that Gu Song had to imagine that Guai Mo was the kind of alchemist who could be swayed to become a demonic cultivator. With that in mind, Cao Yun knew precisely what he had to do. His plan wasn't perfect but as he had the Spirit Condensation Barrier, he felt safe enough to try it.
After he was done with Cang Yin and the Red Realm's Banquet Hall, Cao Yun left and went back to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall.
-
By now, the rumors about Guai Mo and Xue Rui's grudge had reached the entire city. Absolutely everyone knew about it. This had caused some excitement. Until then, the alchemy competition was almost decided before it even happened. Xue Rui was the most talented alchemist among all the representatives. Unless there was a huge surprise, he would win. But now that Guai Mo had entered into the mix, this wasn't so sure. Many were not too convinced since no one had really witnessed his alchemy. But the fact that Governor Jiahe had accepted for him to participate and the fact that Xue Rui had directly gone to him seemed to suggest he could potentially win.
This prompted all the families to talk about it. Among them was the Yun family of course.
General Yun Po was sitting with the elders of his family. Although he was the patriarch, it didn't mean that he had absolute authority in all manners. When it came to war, he could make all the decisions and everyone always followed him. But when it came to politics, he was not as highly regarded. Recently, there had been more and more tension within the Yun family. As much as Yun Ping was respected for his valiance during the demonic beast stampede, it was obvious that he wasn't fit to be holding 'Eternal Rampart' any longer.
Officially, no one had asked General Yun to take away the weapon, but it was clear that most of the elders wanted that. They wanted for someone else to be chosen. As was the tradition in the Hongchen Kingdom, competence had to be the main factor when considering who should be the next leader. General Yun was still young for a cultivator. But he was a soldier so he could die on the battlefield. If that happened, it would be better to ready have a successor in mind. Right now, his own son was the successor. And until now, everyone was pleased with that decision. After all, Yun Ping had been accepted in the Wubei Sect, the most powerful martial sect in the kingdom.
"General, we should at least try to rope this Guai Mo in. Since he's an enemy of the Xue family, that would be a good thing."
"But we don't have much to offer him. Although he only has a 1-star Human alchemist emblem, his actual talent is probably way higher than that. Otherwise, neither Governor Jiahe nor Xue Rui would have acted in such a manner."
"The good news is that he won't ever work for the old fox. Whether we rope him in or not is uncertain. But at the very least, we should order everyone not to cause trouble with him. Let him focus his grudge on the Xue family. If they lose during the competition, it would be a good thing for us. They can't best us on the battlefield, and now their pride, their alchemy, might be tarnished in public."
"Elders, your opinions are noted."
General Yun knew from his son that Guai Mo was in fact Chen Guo. As such, he knew that he would never officially join them in order to keep up appearances. Trusting his son, he wanted to make things easier for Cao Yun, but he would have to meet him in person first.
"I will personally send an invitation to Guai Mo. In two weeks, we will hold a martial art exhibition. This will be the perfect opportunity to invite many people, including Guai Mo himself."
"A martial art exhibition?"
All the elders were confused. Was General Yun trying to find someone else to replace his son?