After a few minutes passed, the door of the room opened, and a middle-aged man with a resolute face approached Su Chen.
"Greetings, Master Immortal," said the man.
"And you are?"
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Chen Cuxi, the crime minister and the person in charge of this matter. I am thankful for sir's presence."
Listening to his blabbering, Su Chen was not affected much. Being in such a high position made this person a good talker, but it had no effect on him.
Interrupting the minister's speech, Su Chen asked, "Can you please tell me about the cases of murders and disappearances in your Kingdom?"
After hearing Su Chen, Chen Cuxi stopped talking, and his face became serious.
"Sir, the case started about two months ago when cases of disappearance came from many cities. It wasn't taken seriously initially, but the missing people increased at an alarming rate. We have sent silver-armored guards, but we got nothing. As a last resort, the emperor requested Taiyi sect's help."
Listening to his talk, Su Chen was left in thought. Though realistic, he doubted that a whole kingdom couldn't capture bandits for information.
As he was about to ask, the minister continued, "Master Immortal must wonder why we can't get information. There's a mole inside the palace with a high position."
"What you said seems to be the case. What have you planned, and what am I supposed to do?"
"The plan is implemented, sir. We need your help to suppress the mastermind behind the scenes."
"For now, introduce me to your plan."
"Yes, sir Immortal. The plan is that..."
After 20 extra minutes, Su Chen left the room. A golden guard bowed respectfully.
"The emperor invites you to a welcome banquet tonight. Due to the kingdom's burden, he can't greet you personally and apologizes."
Thinking for a while, Su Chen agreed to join the banquet as he didn't have anything else to do.
The guard saluted Su Chen and went to inform the emperor. Su Chen went toward the palace gate, showing the token Chen Cuxi gave him to pass.
Outside, he saw the dilapidated city with few people hurrying in and out, reminding him of the time after the beast tide in his town.Even if Taiyi sect helped the orphans, but even then the living conditions were not good for them , if it were not for his nature mind , they couldn't have lived fine until he was admitted to Taiyi sect.
And the situation in this town, even if not identical, indicated the severity of the issue as people no longer dared to walk openly.
As he strolled down the road, he observed numerous stalls and shops shuttered along the way. Additionally, he couldn't help but notice pairs of eyes cautiously watching him from the surrounding houses.
Having taken a leisurely walk, he opted to head back to the palace since he currently had no other things to do at the moment.
While he was returning, Xiaohei suddenly reminded him that someone was following him from a considerable distance that he couldn't detect.
"Xiaohei, go and keep an eye on the person who is stalking me," Su Chen said, and Xiaohei immediately went towards the direction he sensed the peeping from.
"Well, it seems that the mastermind has better access to information in this kingdom than I expected," muttered Su Chen.
Then he went straight towards the palace and entered the guest room provided to him.
With plenty of time until the night banquet, Su Chen decided to increase proficiency in his skills rather than waiting bored and aimlessly.
Unknowingly, with an increase in his comprehension, his talent for learning and improving also improved by leaps and bounds, resulting in him advancing from novice to somewhat proficient just before the night came upon.
Observing the evening outside, he noticed that the time for the banquet had arrived. He waited silently until someone came to notify him about the start of the banquet.
After half an hour, he heard a knock at the door. When he allowed the person to come in, he saw a maid approaching.
"Sir, the banquet will start in about 10 minutes."
"Okay, you can go back."
After hearing this, the maid left the room.
"Let's see what interesting stuff they will have at the banquet," muttering this, Su Chen went towards the direction pointed out by the maid.
After a little time, he arrived in front of a door guarded by two royal guards.
"Welcome, Sir Immortal."
"Um."
Saying this, he went inside the room.
Observing the luxuriously decorated room, Su Chen still found it hard to adapt. From glowing stones used in place of bulbs to golden-colored walls, it resembled more an abode of immortals than a banquet hall in a mortal kingdom.
However, Su Chen knew that the light stones were just some inexpensive market appliances, belonging to a type of ore that could only be used for lighting and would extinguish slowly over time.
As for the gold, it was not considered a very valuable metal in the Immortal world, where many more expensive and spiritual metals existed compared to ordinary gold.
After he went to a corner to rest, within what seemed like five minutes, the hall became fuller than before.
Following a sound of heavy footsteps, the door opened, revealing a group of royal guards. Behind them came a man in his 30s, exuding a momentum that conveyed his high position.
After coming in, the guards dispersed, leaving only a few to guard at a proximal distance from the emperor.
"Look, it's the majesty Emperor," came chattering sounds from the surroundings, confirming to Su Chen that the man in front was the emperor.
"Please be quiet, everyone."
Along with the sound of the emperor talking, the audience immediately became silent, as if they were mute to begin with.
"Well, all of you must be aware of how the disappearance of citizens from many cities is affecting the functioning of the kingdom. In an effort to address this, I have sent a request to the Taiyi Sect, and in return, they have sent an immortal master to help us overcome this ordeal."