Volume 5 Chapter 29

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Volume 5 Chapter 29: The Strange

"Taoist Friend Xu, are you interested in meeting these esteemed guests with me?"

Gu Fulu turned to Xu Qingfan and asked, his tone full of intrigue and mystery. His small eyes flashed with a sharp light, as if carefully observing Xu Qingfan’s reaction.

Seeing Gu Fulu probe him time and again, Xu Qingfan couldn’t help but furrow his brow slightly and suddenly thought of a possibility.

Based on Gu Fulu’s repeated probing, it was evident he believed Xu Qingfan had some connection with the upcoming esteemed guest. Xu Qingfan himself was traveling the cultivation world as the Southern Wasteland rogue cultivator Xu Fan. He didn’t have many contacts in the cultivation world, but if there were any, they might be people from the Righteous Alliance.

Could it be that the esteemed guest Gu Fulu mentioned is someone from the Righteous Alliance?

With this in mind, Xu Qingfan hesitated. Though he didn’t want to get into any trouble this time and just wanted to gather the materials needed for his closed-door cultivation and return to the mountain, if it involved the Righteous Alliance, he couldn’t ignore it. Especially if the visitor from the Righteous Alliance might be an old acquaintance of his.

Thinking of this, Xu Qingfan slowly asked, "May I know who this esteemed guest is that Manager Gu values so highly?"

Gu Fulu chuckled softly, "There are two groups of esteemed guests. One is the old friends of my family master, and the other is here to do business with our ‘Treasure Pavilion’."

Hearing Gu Fulu’s cautious words, Xu Qingfan furrowed his brow slightly and pondered for a moment before finally saying, "Since the esteemed guests have already arrived, I might as well meet them before I leave."

Gu Fulu nodded with a smile, "Please."

Saying this, Gu Fulu gestured with his hands, and suddenly, the walls on both sides split open, revealing more than ten hidden doors. From these doors emerged over ten puppet girls. At the same time, the jade door in front of them opened silently, casting a bright light ahead, and these puppet girls flew out just like before, lining up in two rows to welcome the esteemed guest Gu Fulu spoke of.

Once all the puppets left, Xu Qingfan and Gu Fulu also walked towards the door.

Outside the door, three figures were floating silently in mid-air in front of two rows of girl-like puppets. Seeing these three figures, Xu Qingfan was slightly taken aback and finally understood why Gu Fulu had been so cautious earlier. He mused that in this world, coincidences truly make a story intriguing.

These three figures varied in stature and attire, but shared one notable feature – each wore a half-black mask just like Xu Qingfan’s!

Moreover, the three cultivators exuded an intense sense of danger to Xu Qingfan. Though except for the one in the center, the other two matched Xu Qingfan’s strength, he could feel an extremely perilous aura emanating from them. It seemed that even though their abilities were equivalent, they possessed some hidden, immensely powerful abilities that were irresistible.

As for the person in the center, Xu Qingfan couldn’t gauge their power at all, and that very fact was even more alarming.

Xu Qingfan had already achieved the Real Golden Core Stage, yet couldn’t fathom this person’s cultivation level, indicating that they had at least reached the Golden Core Stage.

The mask on Xu Qingfan’s face was obtained from a shabby-looking cultivator at the cultivator market. It could block "Sky Eye Skill" and Divine Sense detection. Initially, Xu Qingfan thought it was just a common low-level artifact in the cultivation world. However, he later accidentally learned from a book that the mask was an exclusive artifact of a mysterious organization that vanished eight hundred years ago. Since this organization had disappeared so long ago, Xu Qingfan didn’t pay it much mind. But he never expected to see three cultivators now wearing identical masks.

Could it be that the mysterious organization from eight hundred years ago had reemerged?

No wonder when Xu Qingfan first arrived at the "Treasure Pavilion," he felt Gu Fulu’s attitude wasn’t quite that of dealing with an ordinary customer. This time, with even more probing, it turned out Gu Fulu mistook Xu Qingfan as a member of this mysterious organization.

The three mysterious cultivators in front of him paused slightly when they saw the masked face of Xu Qingfan, studying him intently. After a moment, they seemed to reconsider and regarded him merely as an ordinary guest of the "Treasure Pavilion."

Xu Qingfan couldn’t tell if it was his imagination, but he felt like he had seen the white-robed cultivator on the left before.

At that moment, Gu Fulu finally spoke.

"Haha, it’s a pleasure to have you, Venerable Ones. I’ve been waiting here all day for you."

Xu Qingfan was surprised to notice a rare hint of respect and a touch of fear in Gu Fulu’s tone.

The cultivator in the center didn’t answer, simply gazing at a certain spot in the aerial pavilion, as if expecting something there.

The cultivator on the left said coldly, "We were followed on the way. I didn’t want to cause trouble for your master, so we dealt with them."

Gu Fulu nodded slightly, bowed, and gestured with a smile, "Please come inside."

As the three cultivators were about to enter the "Treasure Pavilion," Xu Qingfan felt increasingly uneasy about the situation’s strangeness. He hadn’t expected that the esteemed guests would be so powerful, and from their conversation, it seemed the mysterious founder of the "Treasure Pavilion" might appear today.

Both sides were able to mention it openly in front of Xu Qingfan. Maybe Gu Fulu thought Xu Qingfan was part of the same group as those three cultivators, but who knows what those three cultivators were thinking.

Even so, upon seeing this scene, Xu Qingfan held on to the hope he wouldn’t have to stay and said to Gu Fulu, "Since your distinguished guests have arrived, I will not intrude further. I bid you farewell."

Hearing what Xu Qingfan said, the smile on Gu Fulu’s face slightly froze. From Xu Qingfan’s tone, it seemed he truly wasn’t allied with those three cultivators and wasn’t even aware of their existence, which left both of Gu Fulu’s initial guesses unfounded.

Thinking of this, Gu Fulu didn’t panic. A flicker of intense hostility flashed in his small eyes, but he didn’t answer Xu Qingfan’s question. Instead, he turned to look at the three mysterious cultivators.

At this moment, the cultivator in the center finally withdrew his gaze and looked at Xu Qingfan. There was nothing unusual in his eyes as he softly asked Xu Qingfan, "May I ask, Taoist friend, where did you acquire the mask on your face?"

Xu Qingfan quickly thought of a plan but showed no change in expression, casually answering, "I picked it up by chance at a nearby cultivator market three years ago. I didn’t expect you three Taoist friends to have one too. It’s quite a coincidence."

The cultivator in the center also smiled slightly. To Xu Qingfan’s surprise, the cultivator did nothing more but led the other two inside the airborne pavilion.

Though puzzled, Xu Qingfan didn’t wish to linger longer. After nodding at the three cultivators and Gu Fulu, he swiftly flew away into the distance.

Meanwhile, after Gu Fulu brought the three mysterious cultivators into the "Treasure Pavilion," he couldn’t help but ask curiously, "Was that person not really a member of the organization?"

A mysterious cultivator impatiently said, "How could you mess this up? How do you manage things?"

Gu Fulu smiled wryly, "My family master only recently told me about the organization and mentioned that people wearing these masks are important guests. I didn’t expect he wasn’t one of them."

The leading cultivator calmly said, "When the organization went to war with ‘Ming’ years ago, there were heavy casualties, and many members went missing. It’s not surprising that the masks were spread outside and accidentally acquired by others. Your family master was negligent."

Gu Fulu asked, puzzled, "So are the three Venerable Ones just going to let him go? Our conversation might have given him some clues."

The leading cultivator smiled faintly and softly said, "We came here to meet your family master and don’t want any other trouble. However, although we won’t take action, is there truly no one else here to deal with that person? When he left earlier, I sensed three shadow slaves in motion."

Gu Fulu, realizing the mysterious cultivator had seen through his thoughts, awkwardly smiled but said nothing more, merely leading the three further into the "Treasure Pavilion."

During the conversation, the four of them arrived at a hidden room.