Chapter 51 : The News Spread
Chapter 51: The News Spread
That afternoon, as dusk approached.
A swift-feather pigeon bearing a special mark swept in from the southeast, entered the Main Peak region of the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect, and flew into the grand hall’s message port.
About a quarter of an hour later, within the pocket realm of Moon-Washing Peak.
True Person Mingzhu was lazily seated in a lakeside pavilion, drinking tea and admiring the scenery.
Suddenly, a streak of sword light descended from the sky, revealing the figure of her eldest disciple, Su Muzhi.
“Master!” Su Muzhi strode quickly into the pavilion, a trace of excitement on her face.
“An urgent message just came from the Main Hall! The entrance to the Azurewood Demon Forest Secret Realm on the southeastern border… has been discovered by our patrol disciples!”
“Clack.”
The teacup lid that True Person Mingzhu had just lifted lightly struck the rim of the cup.
On the surface, she remained calm and unruffled, yet deep within her heart, colossal waves surged.
She could only maintain the serenity of her expression as she turned to look at her eldest disciple, her tone carrying just the right measure of doubt.
“Are you certain? The Azurewood Demon Forest… its last opening was barely twenty years ago.
How could it reopen so soon?”
Yet at this moment, her mind had already been completely occupied by another thought.
That Long Tao… what he had said yesterday, about the Itinerant Merchant and the secret realm entrance… was it actually true?! It had not been idle fabrication?
“When this disciple first heard it, I was also surprised, but the source of the news is absolutely reliable.” Su Muzhi nodded firmly.
“Moreover, it was discovered almost simultaneously with a patrol team from the Wuyi Sect! Both sides are still confronting each other at the entrance! The Sect Master has already issued an order, requiring all peaks to swiftly mobilize their elites and organize the first batch of exploration teams to rush over for support and begin reconnaissance! And True Person Zhiying has already been sent ahead to hold the line.”
True Person Mingzhu’s slender fingers unconsciously rubbed along the edge of the teacup as she casually followed up, “So they only discovered the entrance? There were no other unusual phenomena?”
She thought of the Green Luan and the Phoenix that Long Tao had mentioned yesterday.
At the time, she had dismissed it as marketplace rumor.
But now that the opening of the secret realm had been confirmed, then that latter half… might it also conceal some hidden truth? If such a secret were known to her alone…
“This… I haven’t heard anything about that.”
“Good.” True Person Mingzhu no longer hesitated.
In an instant, a decision had already been made in her heart.
Her voice returned to the cool clarity and decisiveness of a Peak Master.
“Immediately lift Yuchen’s confinement.
Order him to prepare together with Junior Sister Huaisu and join the first batch of teams exploring the secret realm.”
Hearing this, a trace of difficulty appeared on Su Muzhi’s face.
“This… Master, the slots for the first exploration teams are extremely tight.
One person might be manageable, but two… the other Peak Masters and elders may raise objections.”
True Person Mingzhu had already anticipated this.
She replied calmly, “Go at once and seek out True Person Bai Xian and True Person Gufeng.
Tell them this is my intent.
The spirit stones they owe may have their interest waived, with the term extended by another three years.
In return, they must work together to secure one slot for our Moon-Washing Peak.”
A glimmer of understanding flashed through Su Muzhi’s eyes.
She immediately bowed.
“Yes, Master! With these terms, there should be no issue.
This disciple will go handle it at once!”
Although she still did not understand why her Master would place such importance on a mid- to low-tier secret realm, even going so far as to expend personal favors, seeing the unquestionable look on her Master’s face, Su Muzhi knew there must be deeper meaning.
She did not ask further, mounted her sword, and sped away once more.
In the pavilion, only True Person Mingzhu remained.
She slowly rose to her feet, and a confusion she could not conceal surfaced on her exquisite face.
“This… an Itinerant Merchant… his perception could actually surpass the multiple layers of patrols and hidden sentries set up by two major sects, learning of the secret realm’s emergence a full day in advance? Then was he really… just an Itinerant Merchant? Or…”
Long Tao’s face, carrying a hint of slyness, flashed through her mind again.
If it were merely the opening of a secret realm, she would at most send Zhu Huaisu to gain some experience, or perhaps ignore it altogether.
But… Long Tao’s reminder about the “Green Luan” and the “Phoenix” was like a seed, taking root and sprouting within her heart, making her unable to suppress a powerful urge—to gamble once! To gamble on that one-in-ten-thousand chance of a Fortuitous Opportunity!
Unfortunately, her eldest and second disciples were already Golden Core cultivators and could not enter.
The third and fourth were traveling afar and had not yet returned… Nan Yuchen and Zhu Huaisu, her two youngest disciples, were currently the best possible candidates.
Yet even after calculating thus, she was still somewhat uneasy.
In the next moment, spiritual light flickered around her body, and her figure transformed into an escape light, flying toward the direction of the Main Peak grand hall.
……
Soon, the sun completely sank beyond the western mountains.
More than ten li north of the Main Peak, inside an old sect warehouse, Long Tao and Dong Jiayuan were slumped on the ground with their backs against piles of stored materials, gulping in great breaths of air, uncontrollable smiles hanging on their faces.
“Long Tao! We damn well gambled right!” Dong Jiayuan wiped the sweat from his forehead, his voice hoarse from excitement and exhaustion.
“The news about the secret realm entrance appearing has already spread through several major markets! Prices have started shooting up! Good thing we pushed ourselves hard during the day and got ahead of everyone else!”
“Indeed…” Long Tao nodded.
“Next, we just wait for the news to fully ferment and for prices to surge. However…” He paused and looked at Dong Jiayuan.
“Over the next few days, I might need to be busy with other matters. My breakthrough to the Qi-Refining Sixth Layer is at the final hurdle, and there are also various odds and ends to deal with. I’ll leave all the selling here entirely to you.”
He pointed at the pile of goods.
“Oh right, I’ll also take some pills, artifacts, and talismans for myself. Maybe… they can be used to exchange some favors, or serve as emergency measures at critical moments.”
Hearing this, Dong Jiayuan waved a hand dismissively.
“This whole thing succeeded thanks entirely to your intelligence and boldness! I just put in some legwork. How could these follow-up chores amount to anything? Don’t worry—go take care of your business. Once everything here is cleared out, I’ll make sure the accounts are calculated clearly for you!”
These words came straight from his heart.
This act of hoarding and speculation was the biggest gamble of his life—and he had won! Long Tao had not only provided the most crucial and timely intelligence, he had also shared this heaven-shaking secret with him alone! By comparison, the subsequent sales work he was responsible for, though tedious, was practically free profit.
“By the way, with the two of us stockpiling so much, won’t those merchants get angry and come looking for trouble?” Long Tao felt a bit of after-the-fact fear.
“Unlikely. First of all, we’ve always been disguised. Secondly… with our limited capital, the goods we stockpiled and the profit we’ll make are insignificant to the big shops. At most, it just makes them spend more time reallocating stock. They’ll certainly be annoyed, but not to the point of hunting someone down over this little bit of money.”
Long Tao nodded, no longer worried.
He took out an unremarkable cloth bundle, carefully selected some decent-quality pills, several practical low-tier artifacts, and a stack of talismans that might be useful in the secret realm, packed them up, then bade farewell to Dong Jiayuan and left the old warehouse with the bundle on his back.
He had, in fact, just told a small lie.
These supplies were not meant to sell favors at all—they were life-saving tools he had prepared for himself for entering the Azurewood Demon Forest Secret Realm to carry out that damned System Task.
……
When he walked back to Qixia Town, lanterns were just being lit, and the town was as lively as ever.
Long Tao found a fairly decent restaurant, intending to properly appease his five viscera and reward himself for a day of hard running about.
He had barely sat down and ordered two small dishes when the loud discussion at a neighboring table involuntarily drifted into his ears.
“Hey! Have you heard? As soon as that secret realm entrance appeared in the southeast, True Person Zhiying rushed over immediately to hold the line! Now things on our side are definitely stable!”
Upon hearing the words “secret realm entrance,” Long Tao’s ears immediately perked up, his body subtly leaning a bit in that direction.
Hearing that True Person Zhiying had personally gone, he merely raised an eyebrow, not finding it surprising.
The strongest among patrol disciples were only at the Foundation Establishment level.
If the Wuyi Sect decided to disregard propriety and secretly send a Golden Core cultivator to launch a sudden attack, then destroy the bodies and eliminate all evidence afterward, there would be no proof of anything.
Such dirty deeds were not unprecedented for the Wuyi Sect.
Therefore, during such a sensitive period, the sect would inevitably dispatch a powerful Golden Core True Person at once to stabilize the situation and form a deterrent.
No matter how fast a cloud vessel was, it could not surpass a Golden Core True Person exerting their full escape technique.
As for Nascent Soul True Lords? That was basically impossible.
Any hostile action from beings of that level could be interpreted by the other side as a signal of full-scale war.
A mere secret realm was not worth two major sects tearing their faces apart completely.
“Not just True Person Zhiying!” Another person lowered his voice, yet could not hide the excitement in his tone.
“I heard from my cousin’s wife’s uncle who’s on duty at the Main Hall… True Person Mingzhu has also set off!”
“Really?! If those two act together… my heavens! Both are top-grade Golden Core cultivators, and both have reached the late stage! Now we can really sleep soundly!”
Hearing this, Long Tao could not suppress the upward curl of his lips.
Excellent! True Person Mingzhu had indeed taken it seriously!
It seemed that the seed he had planted yesterday in the Scripture Pavilion regarding the “Phoenix” and “Green Luan” had finally taken effect, making her willing to gamble on that sliver of opportunity, even to the extent of personally heading out! This meant… that foolish kid Nan Yuchen had very likely already been released, and might even be on the list for the first batch of explorers!
The plan was advancing step by step toward the expected direction.
In high spirits, he raised his hand, intending to call over the waiter and order a few more hearty dishes to properly reward himself.
However, as his gaze inadvertently swept over the bustling street outside the restaurant window, two extremely eye-catching figures—absolutely impossible to mistake—entered his line of sight.
It was not that his eyesight was particularly extraordinary.
Rather, those two figures… on the largely human streets of Qixia Town, were simply far too conspicuous.
After all, two giant Spider Spirits that were half-human and half-spider would stand out anywhere.