"Qianyu has been in that room for three whole days. Should we check on her?"
"I don't know. What if she gets angry at us?"
Lin Qingcheng and Zhou Ziyun stood at the far end of the hallway that led to the special room. Although they were far away, they conversed in whispers, afraid to disturb Wu Qianyu's closed-door cultivation.
"Let's let her be." Zhou Ziyun said, "The longest she ever stayed in seclusion was close to two weeks, remember?"
"Yeah, but that was with master accompanying her. What if something goes wrong?" Lin Qingcheng asked.
"If you're really worried, we can ask Elder Mo."
Lin Qingcheng rolled her eyes, "Never mind. Let's go back. Wasn't there something you wanted to show me?"
"Yeah, come on."
The two walked away down another corridor, arm in arm. Several minutes after they left, an inconspicuous disciple of the House of Paradise walked past the same place where they had stood. Her footsteps paused for only a split second next to the doorway, letting her hand brush against the wooden frame.
In that split second, a tiny insect appeared out of the wooden frame and crawled into her sleeve. If it had stayed still, it was perfectly camouflaged and impossible to detect. After all, pests were common in all human dwellings. Tiny creatures with negligible life auras wouldn't draw the attention of the average cultivator.
However, this exchange did not go unnoticed. Not one but two shadow anchors in the corridor had picked up on this suspicious activity. Ever the careful person, Chen Wentian made sure to cover the entirety of the House of Paradise with shadow anchors from top to bottom.
This disciple's name was Zheng Jinmei. She was a prostitute from Red Bamboo Province. She had average looks but a very large pair of breasts. When the House of Paradise took power, she saw the opportunity and joined up. In the past few years, her performance could be considered neither good nor bad. She didn't stand out too much or try to rise up the ranks. She was entirely unremarkable so she was able to hide within the crowd.
Zheng Jinmei swiftly left the corridor, with Chen Wentian's shadow in tow. She returned to her duties without any change in behavior. She danced for guests in the banquet hall and was even able to entice a young man to pay for the night. Nothing out of the ordinary happened until the next morning when she went out to get breakfast from street vendors, one of her habits.
These days, Thousand Flower City was filled with people from all kinds of places. The morning streets were bustling with people trying to get where they needed to go as well as countless food vendors selling breakfast. Some sold noodles, popular in the west. Rice noodles, wheat noodles, they came in all shapes in sizes. Some made steamed buns. Others pan-fried them until crispy on the bottom. These were a hit with people from the northern provinces.
Zheng Jinmei crossed several streets and stopped in front of a popular steamed bun shop. This one specialized in large meat buns, where just a single one was enough to fill an ordinary person's stomach for the morning. She ordered two meat buns from the vendor. When she reached over to pay, she handed over several bronze coins. One of the coins happened to be hollow and contained the tiny bug which had been spying on Wu Qianyu. With the message delivered, Zheng Jinmei left and visited a few more stalls. She did nothing remarkable and returned to the House of Paradise soon after.
Chen Wentian switched his target and started to tail the meat bun vendor. The street corner was already covered by a shadow anchor he had placed a while ago to observe the city. However, if he had not tailed Zheng Jinmei today, he would have not caught onto this covert exchange. After all, his shadow fox was only a single soul. He could place down many shadow anchors but he couldn't observe them at the same time.
Later in the morning, the meat bun vendor closed up shop and returned home. There, he finally revealed his true identity as well as the identity of his accomplices who shared the room. They were from the Black Feather Merchant Group. They were a little famous in the western provinces but not considered a significant power. They had one Spirit Lord leading the group but no hope for a successor with the same strength. They were no threat to Ten Thousand Flower Valley but this didn't mean they were harmless. It all depended on which one of the greater powers was supporting this merchant group in secret.
Chen Wentian soon left these people, leaving behind some shadow anchors as well as a special mark that would attract void bees. This was the fourth suspicious group he had found this week. They were popping up everywhere like weeds. At the moment, all he could do was keep an eye out without resorting to violence.
All this effort was costing him a lot. Shadow anchors were easy to create but they weren't free. Having Chen Mo completely occupied meant less time for more useful tasks. Keeping an eye on the entire city also required a large portion of his void bees. This meant fewer bees working to collect void-attribute spiritual energy and making money for the sect.
The situation reminded him of the sudden uprising of demon infestations across the eastern region about a year ago. At that time, the attacks were spread out and seemingly random. This time, only he was the target. It was a much more dangerous and uncertain situation.
He knew what these people wanted. They wanted to know his secrets, why his first three disciples were too amazing. They also wanted to find out the identifies of the first elder Immortal Royal Moon and the mysterious Elder Mo. He just wasn't sure how far some people were willing to go to achieve their goals.
The timing was awkward. He would feel better if he was present but he couldn't leave the Great Smoky Mountains at the moment. He also couldn't count on Jasmine. Revealing her existence was the last thing he wanted.
As it stood, he had to rely on his disciples. Lin Qingcheng, Zhou Ziyun, Wu Qianyu; they would have to take the lead in dealing with problems. He could only support them from the shadows and trust in their ability to work together.
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