CSMCDB - Chapter 170
Chapter 170
Lin Jinyu was currently communicating with Sect Master Lin, describing her and Wen Yuncheng's recent plans. Thanks to the Life Transformation Fruit, Sect Master Lin's old injuries had healed, allowing him to resume his cultivation. He had now broken through to the second layer of the Star King rank. Hearing Wen Yuncheng's sigh, she only smiled faintly. It wasn't until she ended the communication that she hugged Wen Yuncheng in response.
"After you reach the Star Venerate rank, let's go to Yingtian City." Lin Jinyu calculated Wen Yuncheng's experience; if their operations went smoothly, Wen Yuncheng could reach the Star Venerate rank in a month. "I want to go see my grandfather."
Grandfather? Wen Yuncheng thought of the old man who had saved her from the Demonic Beast Great Forest and nodded. "Alright." Because Grandpa Lin's whereabouts were uncertain and he seemed to love traveling, she still hadn't had a chance to pay him a proper visit as his granddaughter-in-law.
"I've long since left the Wen family and don't want any connection to them… so there's no need to visit them." Wen Yuncheng scratched her head. Since Lin Jinyu had mentioned family, she felt she had to explain. "Even if they come looking for me in the future, you don't have to pay them any mind."
"I know." Lin Jinyu smiled. "They came looking for you after you enrolled, but they couldn't get past the academy gates." At the time, Lin Jinyu had just returned from the Flowing Cloud Sect. She recognized the troublemakers at the gate as being from the Wen family and figured out what was happening. After demanding a fee of one hundred thousand Star Stones, they left.
Wen Yuncheng naturally knew about this as well. Although she hadn't known at first, Yan Ling had later helped her deal with the Wen family's matters, so she learned everything. "You always had such a cold expression back then. I never thought you were helping me so much behind the scenes."
"…Showing up to cancel an engagement isn't something to be proud of. You were in a difficult situation, yet you didn't make a fuss about it. I felt I owed you a favor." Lin Jinyu explained hesitantly, "At the time, I was just repaying that favor."
"…I wasn't saying you liked me back then." Wen Yuncheng was a little helpless. Of course, she understood Lin Jinyu's thinking and found this side of her adorable. But if Lin Jinyu hadn't said it so bluntly, she could have at least fantasized a little that Lin Jinyu had been interested in her from the start. Still, the Lin Jinyu of back then was surprisingly innocent.
After the brief interlude, Wen Yuncheng and Lin Jinyu continued to hunt down dragons. However, the frequency of the dragons' harassment was steadily decreasing, while in various places, members of the Fu organization began to cause trouble and abduct residents.
When Wen Yuncheng and she returned to a nearby town after chasing a dragon deep into the mountains, they heard that many families in the town had already gone missing.
"The first family that disappeared… we just thought they'd sold their house and moved. But then more and more families vanished, overnight, entire households gone. Lao Ma said just yesterday she'd make clothes with me, but today her whole family is gone…"
"Missing people? Ah, I know Old Master Tong in town. I haven't seen him out for tea in days. I thought his successful grandson had come back to take him to the Imperial Capital…"
"You're asking about the people who disappeared? Hah, they're all just scared, looking for an excuse to get the Empire to move us to the inner cities. There's no 'missing people.' They probably all snuck off to the Imperial Capital in the middle of the night. If you ask me, with Star Venerates patrolling everywhere and the Dragon Tiger Guard and Star Emperors fighting for their lives in the war zones, we people in the rear should just live our lives quietly and not cause trouble for the Empire."
Wen Yuncheng had initially found the news of disappearances suspicious, but after asking around, she discovered that quite a few households had vanished overnight. Some believed those people had fled to the Imperial Capital in the night out of fear, as the town was too remote and its defenses were weak. But others, who had been close to the missing families, were certain they had met with disaster and were in a state of panic. They reported it to the town mayor, who assigned more people to patrol, but nothing was found.
While Wen Yuncheng was making inquiries, some families were already packing their luggage, preparing to seek refuge with relatives in other cities.
The Empire was currently tied down by the war with Huanling and the harassment from the Dragon Race, so minor incidents occurring in various towns were less conspicuous and easily overlooked. Moreover, with the tense war situation, it was normal for residents of remote towns to want to move toward the center. Plus, the disappearances were all entire families vanishing at once…
After gathering information, Lin Jinyu and Wen Yuncheng returned to the inn. The innkeeper also wore a worried expression. Seeing that Wen Yuncheng and Lin Jinyu were two young women, he kindly advised them not to wander around at a time like this, saying these remote towns weren't very safe.
The two got a room to rest. Wen Yuncheng sat directly on the floor and released Number One, Number Two, and Number Three, letting them begin their assembly work. She herself began to ponder the "disappearance" case.
This matter… asking the First Princess wouldn't be much use. Even if the residents here fled, it would be difficult for them to move directly to the Imperial Capital. As for population registration and verification, that wasn't easy to do right now either.
"Do you remember the Youth Tournament?" Lin Jinyu patted Wen Yuncheng's back, making the hunched-over girl sit up straight. "Perhaps this is Fu's handiwork?"
"The village massacre?" As soon as Lin Jinyu said it, Wen Yuncheng recalled the incident that had caused widespread panic back then. At that time, Fu had been planning a blood sacrifice. Could it be the same now…?
"Both Huanling and Dragon Island are making their moves. There's no reason for the Fu organization to lay low."
That was true. But even if they knew, how could they act… there was no place to start.
[Mission Triggered: Fu Organization's Scheme]
[Mission Details: As a Long Aotian, you have inadvertently glimpsed a corner of the Fu organization's conspiracy during the planar war… At this moment, how will you choose?]
[Choice One: Inform the Empire of your discovery and leave the town as soon as possible.]
[Choice Two: Thwart the scheme.]
This is… a new type of mission? With choices? Wen Yuncheng looked at the "leave the town as soon as possible" prompt. Could it be… that something is about to happen?
Wen Yuncheng told Lin Jinyu about the mission she had activated and asked for her opinion.
Wen Yuncheng herself wanted to stay. If she could continue to hunt for Fu's lairs, it would be an excellent way to level up. After all, the Empire had already captured many of the Star Emperors within the Fu organization; Fu's remaining strength was limited. As for that Huanling person in the organization? Now that the Huanling Continent was invading, Wen Yuncheng didn't believe he would still be hiding within Fu instead of going to join his own people.
"…Let's stay here," Lin Jinyu said after some thought. "But we should still report the situation to the Empire and contact the nearby sects."
Wen Yuncheng chose the second option and saw the reward that would be issued after thwarting the scheme pop up.
[Mission Reward: 100,000 EXP, 1,000 Points. Specific amount will be determined by the degree of mission completion.]
"!!!" Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but clutch her heart. Sometimes, happiness came so simply.
She quickly took out a communication stone and told the First Princess what she had discovered here. Although the Empire didn't have the spare energy right now, simple intelligence gathering was still possible. The disappearances might not be an isolated case; perhaps many towns had missing families, but the anomaly just hadn't been noticed. Or maybe some had noticed, but hadn't paid it any mind.
To make the Empire take it seriously, Wen Yuncheng brought up the Fu organization's blood sacrifice from years ago. The residents' disappearances were very likely the result of being captured by Fu for some evil ritual. After all, the organization had a notorious track record and a history of such crimes.
Lin Jinyu also told Sect Master Lin about the events here, asking the various sects to pay attention to these relatively inconspicuous incidents.
"When I was in seclusion at the Flowing Cloud Sect, were you busy with things like this?" Lin Jinyu looked at Wen Yuncheng. There was no anger in her words, and her tone was extremely calm. "Infiltrating Fu's strongholds, stealing their trade goods, marking various Star Kings… and then, just like now, triggering a mission and-"
"No! I really didn't! I've never triggered a mission like this before, really. I haven't been taking risks!" Wen Yuncheng explained loudly, eagerly professing her innocence before the Little Ice Mountain could finish. "While you were in seclusion, I was busy with bounties! Bounties aren't dangerous… just clearing out some third-rate mountain bandits, oh, and beating people up. Those kinds of missions are even less dangerous!"
Wen Yuncheng's agitation was so great that the three apostles, who had been diligently assembling parts, couldn't help but turn their heads to glance at her. The three apostles said nothing, and after a look, they lowered their heads and continued to work on the small components in their hands.
"…In your eyes, I'm afraid there's no such thing as a dangerous mission."
"That's not true. I think that mission to kill the Dragon King is pretty dangerous," Wen Yuncheng said, rubbing the tip of her nose, looking rather embarrassed.
Lin Jinyu: "…"
"Huh? Why are you taking out your sword? Wai-wait a second…" Wen Yuncheng's eyes widened. Lin Jinyu hadn't unsheathed her sword, but there was no mistaking her motion of raising it to strike. Wen Yuncheng shot up and scrambled back a few steps. "I was just kidding! I was just thinking about killing the Dragon King…"
[No, you're a Star King, and you're actually having ideas about the Dragon King?] 1947 felt a headache coming on just listening to her.
"No, I don't want to kill the Dragon King, really, I was just thinking… thinking about getting a dragon head…"
Wen Yuncheng, who spent her days dreaming of pie in the sky, had finally stumbled.
1947 watched Wen Yuncheng's frantic explanations with schadenfreude. Unfortunately, even though Lin Jinyu was so angry her eyes were slightly red, once Wen Yuncheng was cornered and had surrendered, Lin Jinyu couldn't bring herself to strike with the scabbard. This made 1947 feel utterly helpless: Just hit her! Go on, give her a beating!
"Can we just level up steadily and safely, please?" Lin Jinyu's tone softened as she saw Wen Yuncheng looking at her pitifully. "Hm?"
"Okay," Wen Yuncheng replied, ultimately not daring to say that she felt she had always been leveling up steadily. She reached up and rubbed her earlobe. When it came to matters like this, Lin Jinyu was as quick to anger as ever. And this was after she had accompanied her to kill quite a few dragons.
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