Chapter 1644: Distant Shores' Lanterns
Li Yan spoke with a hint of regret, yet losing a clone was an essential part of the plan. It was meant to be the final obstruction at the critical moment.
To ensure success, Li Yan had left other clones at the East and West gates, the most likely exits. If Zhao Haiyang had managed to break through the gate, the clones would have self-detonated to stall his escape.
When Li Yan plotted, he plotted for the kill. He spared no expense to ensure the target’s demise. Of course, the plan wasn’t flawless—if Zhao Haiyang had chosen the North or South gates, things might have been different. But those gates were heavily guarded. Li Yan’s influence had reached its limit; as the saying goes, “even a man’s strength has its end.”
“How are your injuries?” Mu Guyue pressed.
“I suffered some backlash. After all, that body contained a portion of my Divine Sense. I’ll be fine after some rest,” Li Yan said, waving his hand.
A pill bottle appeared in his hand, and he immediately swallowed a medicinal pill.
His clones weren’t created through refining treasures or materials; they were manifestations of his cultivation technique. While he wouldn’t need to find new vessels like others might, it would still take years to condense another. For a while, he would only be able to manifest two clones.
Afterward, Li Yan and Mu Guyue carefully extended their Divine Sense toward Ghost Sound City, only to find it firmly encased within a grand array. They couldn’t be certain if Zhao Haiyang was dead.
Three months later, a pair of cultivators—a man and a woman—arrived at the outskirts of Ghost Sound City. They looked ordinary but possessed the cultivation of the Spirit Transformation stage, marking them as powerhouses.
The man radiated a chilling aura, clearly practicing some sinister ghost cultivation technique, while the woman’s aura was relatively normal for a ghost cultivator.
After queueing and undergoing inspection, they entered the city. These two were Li Yan and Mu Guyue, making a second, risky entry.
For the past three months, they hadn’t entered the city. Instead, they had stayed in the surrounding areas, truly searching for traces of Hong Luo Dao. After a thorough investigation, they had actually found some useful clues, which was an unexpected bonus.
“I didn’t expect that Zhao Haiyang to be so fierce. Trapped by the array and surrounded by several experts, he actually managed to collapse a section of the city wall. If he hadn’t tried to move against us, he would have been a formidable general. There’s no telling how far he could have gone on the immortal path,” Li Yan’s voice echoed in Mu Guyue’s mind as they walked, his tone carrying a hint of admiration.
They hadn’t entered the city because they wanted to let the heat from the battle die down. The infiltration of a Void Refining cultivator from the Moji Dao Sect was no small matter.
In this war, the scouts were mostly at the Nascent Soul stage, with Spirit Transformation cultivators being rare. Void Refining cultivators like Zhao Haiyang were high-ranking officers; they rarely went out on scouting missions personally. Such an event would surely draw the attention of the high-level leadership of both sides.
However, Li Yan believed that very few people knew about Zhao Haiyang’s attempt to kill them. Such a shameful act was something Zhao Haiyang would have kept secret. Even if investigators looked into it, the trail would likely lead to Kong Qianchi and Min Bufu, concluding that those two had some problem…
Over the last three months, they had searched for Hong Luo Dao’s trail while gathering news about Ghost Sound City from the outside. They didn’t dare sneak in until the storm had passed.
It was only a month ago that the city had reopened for normal business, but Li Yan and Mu Guyue had still waited for the right moment. While queueing outside earlier, they had overheard many cultivators whispering about the event, even though three months had passed. The impact of a Void Refining powerhouse’s fall was quite significant.
Zhao Haiyang had been cornered in the gate tunnel by four Void Refining cultivators and the city’s grand array. Such an array would have taken him a long time to break even if he were left undisturbed. How could he have had that kind of time?
He was valiant; once he realized escape was impossible, he chose to self-detonate himself and all his treasures. He had intended to take the four pursuers with him. The blast of a Void Refining cultivator and his treasures was enough to make one’s hair stand on end. The four cultivators had to join forces to contain the explosion.
In the end, the tunnel collapsed entirely. This occurred despite the suppression of the array and the four powerhouses, showing just how terrifying the blast was.
Li Yan was secretly shocked. A desperate Void Refining cultivator’s self-detonation was something even a Body Integration expert would hesitate to face head-on. He felt that such a man, if not for his malice, could have been considered a true hero.
“With a nature like his, his immortal path wouldn’t have gone far. He simply wasn’t afraid to die,” Mu Guyue’s cold voice echoed in Li Yan’s mind, offering a different perspective.
Li Yan looked at her. Though she looked ordinary, she still had that cold, distant air. Reflecting on her words, he agreed. A person’s nature and their courage were measured by different standards. Zhao Haiyang’s actions were driven more by courage and overconfidence.
Once inside the city, they completely set aside their scout mentality. If one acted with the intent to gather intel, their behavior would subconsciously change. The Moji Dao Sect and Mocha Palace had faced each other for so long that they had developed many ways to handle inspections, but the hardest part was blending into the environment.
Once you started poking around for information, traces would be left behind. Death would then be only a moment away.
However, the two of them hadn’t come to look for Hong Luo Dao or to scout military secrets. They were here for a shop, which was perfectly normal.
The last time they were here, they were focused on Zhao Haiyang and didn’t have time to look around for fear of complications.
They noticed the atmosphere in the city was still suppressed, with patrol frequency much higher than before. They even passed the site of the Prosperity Inn.
But cultivators were efficient. The leveled inn had already been rebuilt to look exactly as it had before.
After circling half the city, they stood at a street corner at a crossroad. At that moment, Li Yan felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He saw a scene that was incredibly familiar.
It was a three-story pavilion. In the middle of the second floor hung a massive golden plaque with four striking cinnabar characters.
‘Return-Home Trade House!’
Two well-dressed attendants stood at the door, occasionally speaking with passersby. Behind them, the shop was filled with workers moving about, and many customers were browsing or asking questions.
Seeing this, Li Yan’s long-buried memories surged like a tide.
“This must be it… it has to be,” Li Yan murmured.
Before this, he had been fairly certain that this shop was the one he was looking for, but he had still felt some anxiety. He had searched for so long and overcome so many hardships; if it turned out to be a coincidence, the disappointment would be hard to describe.
His guesses were based on his experiences with the Trade House in the lower realm. No one had ever told him for certain that the power behind it was in the upper realm. It wasn’t impossible for two shops to share the same name.
But seeing this familiar setup, his heart settled. He was finally certain.
Mu Guyue didn’t say anything, but she nodded in agreement. She, too, found the sight incredibly familiar.
The two looked at each other and then began to walk toward the shop.
In a private room on the third floor of the shop, a black-robed elder looked at the two before him, his face darkening.
When the worker had brought them up, he hadn’t said this. They had claimed to possess some unknown beast bones and needed an expert to appraise them. Sensing their Spirit Transformation cultivation, the worker had believed them and brought them straight to the private room.
“Fellow Daoists, are you making fun of this shop? You claimed to need an appraisal for beast bones, yet you suddenly say you’re looking for someone? I am not responsible for selling information. Can you not even confirm your purpose here?” the black-robed elder said bluntly. They weren’t afraid of other powers.
Li Yan smiled. He had done this to avoid speaking of his purpose on the first floor where many could hear. If an attendant or worker reacted with surprise, it might alert others.
Who exactly was Su Hong? Was she only powerful in the lower realm? If that were the case, the workers here might not know her. And a shopkeeper wouldn’t necessarily see a pair of Spirit Transformation cultivators just because they asked.
Thus, finding an appraisal deacon was a necessity. Such people were second only to the shopkeeper and were often treated with great respect.
Li Yan chose an appraisal deacon because deacons in charge of information were often too sharp for their own good. He didn’t want to deal with someone who was too shrewd; he had already considered all the possibilities.
“Hehe, Fellow Daoist, it’s not that I wished to be deceptive. It’s just that the news I seek might not be known by ordinary people in your shop. That’s why I sought you out. I hope you aren’t offended. I will pay the full appraisal fee regardless. What do you think?” Li Yan said with a smile. The elder was also at the Spirit Transformation stage, but his status in the shop meant he couldn’t be judged by cultivation alone.
“Oh? So that’s how it is. But as I said, I am not in charge of information. I likely won’t know the answer, so you should be prepared. Since you’re paying the fee, I won’t overcharge you. Three questions! Regardless of whether I know the answer, if there are more questions, we will have to renegotiate the price!”
The elder’s expression softened. Since the man was willing to pay, there was no reason to refuse. He had thought about mentioning that the information deacon would know more, but ultimately kept quiet. He wasn’t going to turn away a customer who wanted to give him Spirit Stones.
“Very well. First question: Is Shopkeeper Su Hong currently in the upper realm?” Li Yan asked directly.
As he asked, he caught Mu Guyue’s eye with a side glance, but she was focused on the question. He didn’t call her “Miss Su” or “Young Lady Su” because he remembered how he had introduced Zhao Min to her.
The elder, who had been indifferent, suddenly froze. He squinted his eyes and scrutinized the two of them again. He didn’t answer immediately. After ten breaths, he asked a question instead.
“Shopkeeper Su of the lower realm? You ask that… are you cultivators who ascended from the lower realm?”
The elder suspected they weren’t true disciples of the Mocha Palace, though their auras seemed fine. But that wasn’t his concern. The Trade House was here to do business. He knew that few ghost cultivators from the lower realm managed to join the Mocha Palace.
“Fellow Daoist, you haven’t answered my first question. This is exactly why I sought you out; a common deacon wouldn’t know of this,” Li Yan pressed calmly.
“Oh? But I know of several people named Su Hong in this Trade House. To answer you, I must know which one you refer to. Let’s put it this way: Which continent in the lower realm did the person you’re looking for reside on?”
The elder realized the question was significant.
“That Shopkeeper Su should still be in the lower realm. As for which continent, that’s hard to say. From what I know, she has appeared on the Desolate Moon Continent, the Wind God Continent, and the Verdant Continent. I am an old friend of hers. If you don’t believe me, you just need to tell her my name, and she will know I’m not lying!”
Li Yan spoke with certainty, assuming Su Hong was connected to this Trade House.
“I can tell you now that I do not know where that Shopkeeper Su is currently located!” the elder said. Once Li Yan mentioned the continents, he was certain the man had met the Young Lady. But how did he know her movements so well?
‘The Young Lady is traveling for experience in the lower realm, and this man was also wandering there?’ the elder thought. He truly didn’t know that Su Hong had already returned to the Immortal Spirit Realm. This place was quite remote compared to the rest of the North Ice Continent.