Chapter 259: Seeing Through the Plot and Playing Along

Qin Haoxuan lowered his voice and said, “You also feel that something is not right?”

Xing shrugged, a self-satisfied look on his face. “Even a blind man could see it; how could I not? In the time I’ve been with you in the Taichu Sect, I’ve come to understand some of your ways. Normally, your sect is high and mighty and doesn’t meddle in the affairs of the mortal world, but you still have a dedicated Hall of Worldly Affairs. That hall has a special elder in charge of finding, mining, and supervising spirit stone veins. To secretly withhold spirit stones is a grave crime punishable by the extermination of one’s nine generations, not just seven or eight!”

Qin Haoxuan also nodded in agreement. “Logically speaking, no matter how bold an official is, as long as he knows the significance of spirit stones to cultivators and the status of the Taichu Sect in the Soaring Dragon Nation, no one would dare to do such a thing. Yet this petty prefect dares to withhold them? And he dares to tell me this news without even knowing who I am in the sect? If he’s always been like this, then I’m truly curious how he’s managed to survive until today. But from his tone, I could tell he just wanted me to stay; he didn’t consider the adverse consequences that telling me this news would bring him.”

Just then, Lan Yan chimed in. “He definitely has ill intentions. The reason he didn’t consider the consequences is that he doesn’t care about you at all.”

Xing laughed. “Why think so much? If he’s willing to offer up low second-grade spirit stones for his family’s longevity, and if this spirit stone vein is real, then we’ve struck it rich. Besides, even if there’s a trap, don’t we still have the Thousand-Mile Talisman? With that, not even a Spirit Tree Realm cultivator could catch us.”

As he spoke, he wrinkled his nose and sniffed the air. “There’s the aura of other cultivators here.”

“You can smell it?” Qin Haoxuan was surprised. His nose was truly sharper than a dog’s.

Xing said proudly, “But of course. What are our demonic noses for, if not to smell you cultivators? To us, you are all delicious food. If we couldn’t even smell our food, wouldn’t we all starve to death?”

Qin Haoxuan said, “You’re not smelling my and Lan Yan’s scent, are you? You’re not getting any funny ideas about us, are you?”

“Pah! I wouldn’t be bothered to smell your aura. Meeting you was the unluckiest thing that ever happened to me. You won’t even let me eat cultivators. I’d rather eat shit than eat you!” Xing said with great righteousness. “I am certain there are other cultivators here.”

Qin Haoxuan muttered to himself, as if asking Xing, “How could there be other cultivators here?” Ordinary cultivators were either earning spirit stones or cultivating in seclusion. Who would have the time to come to a prefect’s yamen and act tyrannically?

“I don’t know, but I can be sure there’s more than one,” Xing answered with great certainty.

Qin Haoxuan frowned, thinking to himself, This prefect is trying everything to keep the three of us here. It’s surely not his own idea. Why would a mortal want to keep three cultivators for no reason? It must be the idea of the cultivators hiding in the shadows. I wonder what they’re up to?

He then asked Xing, “Do you know where they are?”

Xing wrinkled his nose and sniffed again. After a long moment, he said, “I can roughly smell them. If there are no surprises, they should be in the back hall.”

“Let’s go and see!” Now that his skills had grown, so had his courage. With the Thousand-Mile Talisman as protection, Qin Haoxuan was quite decisive.

Lan Yan quickly stopped him. “If you run over like that, you’ll surely be discovered. We don’t know how many of them there are, or what their strength is. Isn’t that just courting death?”

“Do you have a way?”

Lan Yan smiled elegantly and held out her right hand. “One thousand low third-grade spirit stones.”

From the cunning glint in her eye, he knew her price was inflated, so he unhesitatingly haggled. “Five hundred.”

“This is a matter of life and death, and you’re still being so cheap?” she said, her beautiful large eyes widening with a cute ferocity.

Qin Haoxuan said, “With your skill level, you certainly don’t need that many. Five hundred is enough. Besides, this isn’t just about my safety; it’s about the two of you as well. If we really run into danger, it doesn’t matter to me. At worst, I’ll just activate the Thousand-Mile Talisman and run, leaving you two behind.”

This reverse-threat was played beautifully. They certainly didn’t have a life-saving tool like his. Lan Yan blinked her eyes and finally said, “Five hundred it is.”

After giving her the stones, she did not immediately set up the array. Instead, she took out a hundred and gave them to Xing. “Well? Your big sister is generous, right?”

Xing’s mouth twisted into a wide grin. “Yes, you’re the generous one, the generous one! Crunch… crunch…” As he spoke, he began to chew on the spirit stones like beans, and in a short while, had eaten ten of them.

Seeing this, Qin Haoxuan slapped his head with regret. “So, four hundred spirit stones was enough.”

Xing was the first to show his disapproval of his miserly ways. “Hehe, buddy, it’s just that I have no strength right now. When I recover, the first one I’ll eat is you.”

“Didn’t you say you’d rather eat shit than eat me?” Qin Haoxuan said, draping an arm over his shoulder with a teasing look.

“That… that’s because I have no strength now. It’ll be different when I do…” Xing nudged his arm off with his shoulder and quickly changed the subject, urging Lan Yan, “Generous sister, hurry up and set up the array.”

At his urging, she finally took a few stones from the remaining four hundred, took out a small silver knife, and quickly carved inscriptions on them. She then used these as the core to lay out the other three hundred-plus stones in a formation, placing a yellow talisman paper in the center. She formed a hand seal, and the array flashed with a faint light. A nearby fly suddenly froze in mid-air. A moment later, although it could move again, it was now being controlled by her, and it flew towards the inner hall. The yellow paper in the center of the array also flashed, and like a mirror, it began to show what the fly was seeing.

The fly quickly flew into the inner hall. Never mind the servants; even the two cultivators who were secretly plotting did not notice such a small thing. As the fly flew, their faces appeared on the talisman paper. At the same time, twenty-one small specks of light lit up next to the paper, followed by another twenty. The two cultivators were at the Twenty-First-Leaf and the Twentieth-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm, respectively. With their strength, even on the battlefield between the Taichu Sect and the rogue cultivators, they would be considered relatively strong.

Qin Haoxuan couldn’t help but glance at Lan Yan. Ever since he had learned she was a Variant Seed who wouldn’t live past a hundred, he had always felt a bit of pity for her. Yet this very person he pitied was constantly pulling out things that left him dumbfounded. The Taichu Sect also had a Heaven’s Eye Talisman, which could probe the cultivation realm of anyone below the Spirit Tree Realm, but it could only do so within a fixed range. But her technique could not only be attached to a small fly, but could also use the fly’s perspective to see the other party’s appearance and strength. Not even the elders of the Taichu Sect knew such an art.

Who knew that before he could finish his lament, just as he had gotten a clear look at the two men, the yellow talisman paper suddenly went dark. He was taken aback and looked at her. “What happened?”

She replied irritably, “It was only four hundred low third-grade spirit stones. How long did you think the array could last?”

He was speechless with frustration. He had just been admiring her methods, and now it was gone after he had barely gotten a look. “What can you do in such a short time?”

“It’s only that much time. What can I do?” she said, shooting him a sidelong glance.

“What if I wanted to probe a thousand li away?”

She said with great certainty, “I can’t see that far.”

Lan Yan was not like Xing, who would boast even about things he couldn’t do. Qin Haoxuan nodded. “You’re very honest.” He sighed. Just to see her ability, he had spent so many spirit stones, only to get such a brief image. He should have just used the Thousand-Mile Mirror.

Although the image was gone, they could still hear their voices through the array.

“Senior Brother, we must act quickly.”

“Mm.”

Then, they heard one of them say to the prefect, “You take these spirit stones. After they have treated your mother, just give these to them.”

Taking the stones, the prefect’s voice trembled slightly. “High Immortals, this lowly official won’t be in any danger, will he?”

“Hmph! What danger could there be? He’s just a Tenth-Leaf brat. You just do as we say. After he leaves your residence, I will personally take action and finish them off. Senior Brother, you just watch the array. Leave these kids to me.” The one who spoke with such confidence had to be the Twentieth-Leaf rogue cultivator.

Just as they heard this, the voices were completely cut off. Qin Haoxuan gathered the residue from the spirit stones and then continued to act as if he knew nothing, leisurely waiting for the prefect. Since he had already prepared to ambush him, he certainly wouldn’t be foolish enough to actually eat his banquet or treat his mother. When the prefect came, he said directly, “We still have important business to attend to. Your family’s matter will have to wait.”

The prefect, who had already prepared the banquet, was anxious, but he couldn’t just keep them here. After all, in the eyes of these immortals, what was the difference between mortals like him and ants? Even if he was an official, in front of a High Immortal, he was still nothing.