The sun was beginning to set. Wu Jian, Hou Jingshu, Zhou Lihua, and Zhou Wen had discovered much about the current political and economic situation in the Sui Kingdom, so they traveled back to the meeting point, which was the tavern connected to Lam Village Inn.

  Wu Jian was hit with the aroma of simmering spices and the sounds of lively chatter bare moments after entering through the door. Both sound and scent drifted through the air.

  The interior was adorned with intricate wood carvings depicting mythical creatures and scenes from Sui Kingdom folklore, while lanterns fashioned from colored glass cast a soft, flickering glow over the polished tables and worn wooden stools. The atmosphere was cozy. Many of the inns patrons were lingering around, talking and drinking.

  Stretching alongside one wall was the bar. Its smooth surface was covered in gleaming brass fixtures and rows of beautifully polished glass bottles containing an array of exotic spirits and brews. Behind the bar, shelves were lined with ceramic jars filled with homemade rice wine and pickled delicacies.

  Wu Jian found Shuchang over by a hearth, the fires crackling and casting dancing shadows across the room. He twitched when he noticed the pair of women on the man’s lap. Neither of them was dressed scandalously. They wore long-sleeved tunics over loose-fitting trousers. The tunic appeared tailored to fit snugly around their bodies, with a high neckline and side slits that extended up to the waist. However, the trousers were wide-legged and comfortable, reaching down to their ankles. Both outfits were different colors. One was red and the other had a blue-green swirl pattern.

  “Did that really happen? No way! I don’t believe you!” one of the young woman said with an intoxicated smile.

  “I’m telling you it really happened!” Smiling and laughing, Shuchang regaled them with a tale that Wu Jian actually recognized. “It happened during my travels outside of the Sui Kingdom. I was wandering along a deep forest in search of rare ingredients to sell when I came upon a flame griffin. It was unlike anything I had seen before. It had the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. Wings spread from its back, covered in fire so hot I could feel it singing my hair. Its main was also made of flaming feathers. It was one of the biggest creatures I had ever seen, and so beautiful.”

  The other girl slapped his shoulder and leaned down, pressing her superlative chest into his arm. She had already hooked one of her legs around his and was casually stroking him with her thigh.

  “And that really happened? You’re not just pulling our legs?” she asked.

  Shuchang grinned as he reached out and squeezed their thighs. “I mean, I’m obviously pulling your legs right now.”

  “You’re so bad, Hong!”

  “Unbelievable. Did that man even try to get information?” asked Hou Jingshu.

  Wu Jian gave her a strained smile. “I believe he did. Shuchang might act frivolously, but he’s a good guy. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt.”

  Shuchang was a flirt and had been for as long as Wu Jian had known him. He was shocked the first time during the auction when Shuchang had begun flirting with the woman serving their booth, but it was something he had eventually learned to ignore. The man would always find some women to bed wherever they went. It was likely that confidence and charisma he carried that lured women to him.

  He thought briefly, then directed his companions to sit at a table that was just within viewing distance of Shuchang. Wu Jian thought the man might notice them if he did this. It took a while, but Shuchang did, in fact, notice them eventually. This was after he spent nearly a full twenty minutes necking with the two young women.

  “Hey, sorry I just now noticed you. Did you guys wait long?” was the first thing he said after wandering up to their table. The two young women had already left. They’d been a giggling mess.

  Hou Jingshu eyed the man in disgust. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

  “Pervert,” Zhou Lihua added.

  “I don’t want to hear that from someone who couldn’t keep quiet when she was in bed with Wu here,” Shuchang said, sitting down.

  How Jingshu’s entire face turned bright red. She glanced at Zhou Lihua, who suddenly looked away and began counting cracks on the ceiling, then at Wu Jian. He began whistling a tune.

  “Th-that is completely different! Jian Wu is my partner!” Hou Jingshu sputtered.

  “And? Doesn’t change the fact that you’re a horny woman.”

  “How dare you!!”

  Wu Jian sighed as he shoved an arm between the two. It was rare for these two to fight, but they did every so often. Hou Jingshu was very much a romantic. She believed that a man should be loyal to his spouses, so Shuchang’s frivolous attitude toward women and sex appalled her.

  “That’s enough of that,” he said. Hou Jingshu huffed and sat back down as Wu Jian eyed Shuchang. “Please, tell me you discovered something and didn’t spend all your time flirting?”

  “You have absolutely no faith in me, do you? Don’t answer that. It was a rhetorical question.” Shuchang flagged down a passing waiter and ordered a drink. As the young woman left, he crossed his arms and looked at them. “Those two young ladies might not look it, but they belong to the Undying Sun Sect. They’re just regular disciples so they’re not very high up on the social hierarchy. However, they did have a wealth of gossip to share.”

  “I guess you weren’t being a useless pervert, after all,” Hou Jingshu snarked.

  “Not now,” Wu Jian said with a very slight glare. Hou Jingshu huffed and crossed her arms. He turned back to Shuchang. “So? What did you learn?”

  “Master… Youmei is hungry,” Youmei interrupted before Shuchang could speak. He sighed and hailed down another waiter before ordering several servings of shellfish and meat.

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  Shuchang waited until the waiter left to speak. “I learned that the Undying Sun Sect is a literal fortress. According to Lin Mei and Xing Yua, the old palace was not only converted into their sect’s base, but it has been heavily modified. There is a sealing array called Luminous Eclipse Seal. Um, they didn’t know what it does, but according to rumor, it practically makes Qiang Bao invincible against invaders.”

  At that moment, Mei Xilan walked into the tavern and began looking around, so Wu Jian stood up and hailed her over. As she sat down beside them, he turned back to Shuchang.

  “So you don’t know what this sealing array does?” he asked.

  Shuchang shrugged. “It’s never been used before, according to those two. There’s no way I could figure out what it does.”

  “Right…” Wu Jian sighed and ran a hand over his face. He had taken another one of Zhou Lihua’s Face Changing Pills, so he didn’t have to worry about people seeing his real appearance, but it still felt weird to feel skin instead of his mask. “Well, that is good to know, but it’s not exactly useful if we don’t know what the sealing array does.”

  “Information like that wouldn’t be readily available,” Mei Xilan said. “A sealing array is a sect’s trump card. They’ll want to keep it hidden for as long as possible to surprise any potential foe.”

  “I guess that means we need to defeat Qiang Bao before he activates the sealing array,” Hou Jingshu mumbled.

  “Yes.”

  They spoke a bit more, but they didn’t have enough information to really make a plan. It was decided they would gather more intel tomorrow.

  ***

  Qiang Bao sat on his throne, leaning to one side as he rested his head on his hand, eyes closed. He took in a deep breath, feeling the power of the sun flow through him. When he released a breath, light particles filled with heat emerged from his mouth. He repeated this process over and over.

  “What do you want?” he asked out loud, opening his eyes.

  Luan Desheng stood before him. He had not noticed the man’s presence until just a few seconds ago. How long had he been standing there? Qiang Bao did not know, but it still bothered him that this man could slip past his detection so easily. If Luan Desheng didn’t need Qiang Bao and the Undying Sun Sect, he was sure the man would have already killed him.

  “I’ve received a report from my disciples that Mei Xilan Sui and her companions have entered the Sui Kingdom. They are here in the capital and gathering intelligence as we speak. They’re currently traveling under aliases. They have yet to realize that we already know who they are.”

  “Is that so?”

  Qiang Bao did not like the idea of Mei Xilan Sui being so close to the palace. It was an irrational fear. There was nothing she could do. It was not like she had any power in this place, but there were still many secrets the Sui Royal Family had left behind that he had yet to uncover and understand--artifacts that he could not activate, sealing arrays they could not remove. He was worried one of those things might fall into her hands and become his undoing.

  “I’m not so sure this is a good idea,” he said at last.

  “There are some risks involved in letting them come to us, of course. However, I believe this to be a much better idea than throwing our men at them.”

  Luan Desheng stroked his face and narrowed his eyes. “According to my disciples, Mei Xilan Sui is now at the first subrealm of the Deva Realm. What’s more, two of their members are at the Seeker Realm.”

  Qiang Bao sucked in a deep breath. “Which ones are at the Seeker Realm?”

  “There is Shuchang… formerly Huo Shuchang. He was a member of the Phoenix Clan before being disowned for accepting the blood of the Vermillion Bird and expelling all his phoenix blood. He is currently at the peak of the Seeker Realm.”

  “So he has the same cultivation level as you,” Qiang Bao murmured.

  Luan Desheng smiled. “Indeed. It’s quite impressive. I almost can’t believe someone so young was able to achieve this level of strength in so short a time. It’s been barely a year since the Xia Dynasty’s tournament and he has already increased his cultivation by an entire realm.”

  “And the other one?”

  “Her name is Hou Jingshu. She is the princess of the Shang Kingdom. She’s at the first subrealm of the Seeker Realm.”

  “I had not realized the Shang Kingdom’s princess was so powerful.”

  “She was only at the Human Limit Realm when our spies last saw her in the Shang Kingdom. However, it seems she has been training under Loong Chen this entire time. If you take that into account, her leap in cultivation makes a lot of sense.”

  “Loong Chen… first there’s someone with the blood of the Vermillion Bird and now we have the disciple of the Great Flood Dragon of Disaster. I can see now why you want me to use Luminous Eclipse Seal. It’s the surest way of killing those two.”

  Luminous Eclipse Seal was Qiang Bao’s ultimate trump card. It would render those two powerless. While their isolation played a great part in their defenses, this seal was one of the reasons no one had dared mess with the Undying Sun Sect after their successful coup d'etat. If not for it, then it would still have been easy for someone like Zhe Dāozhe to completely demolish their sect, mountains or no.

  “What of the others?” asked Qiang Bao.

  “There’s Jian Wu, of course. He’s at the Deva Realm. Mei Xilan Sui, of course. More concerning are the two with them. Zhou Lihua and Zhou Wen.”

  “MEMBERS OF THE ZHOU CLAN CAME WITH THEM?! WHY DID YOU WAIT UNTIL NOW TO TELL ME THIS?!”

  Qiang Bao leapt from his seat and glared at Luan Desheng, who remained calm despite the anger being directed at him. He wished he could cut this man down with eye contact alone. How dare he neglect to inform Qiang Bao of something so important!

  “Would it have made a difference if I told you?”

  “I would have sent people after them! I would have had them killed before they came here!”

  “Who would you send? None of your elders have the strength to match them. Even their weakest companions are a match for your strongest elder. You’d have just been sending them to their grave.”

  “Ngghh!”

  Qiang Bao gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as Luan Desheng spread his arms wide. It galled him that he couldn’t deny this man’s words. The Undying Sun Sect’s strongest elder was only at the first subrealm of the Deva Realm. The others were only at the Human Limit Realm. While that meant at least one of his elders had the same cultivation as their weakest companions, cultivation was not everything, and according to numerous reports, the one known as Jian Wu was strong enough that he could defeat Seeker Realm cultivators even though he was at the Deva Realm.

  “You need to relax, my friend. It won’t matter what their cultivation level is as long as you can activate Luminous Eclipse Seal. We’ll let them scurry around for now. It won’t make a difference. Besides, don’t you think this is a perfect opportunity to crush the resistance?”

  Qiang Bao perked up. “Crush the resistance, you say?”

  “Indeed. We still haven’t rooted out the remnants who are loyal to the crown… but if we let slip that Mei Xilan Sui has been spotted in the capital, we can galvanize them into making contact with her. Then, when we’ve gathered all our enemies in one place, we can crush them and put an end to their troublemaking.”

  “Hmmm.” It was an appealing prospect. He couldn’t deny that. “Very well. We will continue to do things your way. Ensure that Mei Xilan Sui meets with the resistance. Once they have gathered together, we will make our move.”

  “Very good. I shall do as your command.”

  With a sweeping bow, Luan Desheng left the entrance hall. Qiang Bao sat back down and contemplated everything he had just learned. The situation was dangerous. One wrong move could cause the scales to tip out of his favor, but if he played his cards right, he could finally rid himself of every nuisance that kept his seat of power from being secured. Yes, he would kill Mei Xilan Sui and the Royal Loyalists in a single fell swoop.

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