Silver Guardian

After leading the chase for a while, the three slowly blended into the group. Then, seizing an opportunity when no one was paying attention, they left the group again and returned the way they came.

Thanks to Ling Yuanbao diverting the main force, their path towards the center of the cloth shop was much smoother. The three advanced along the hidden areas, finally getting a sense of a true infiltration.

The reason for having her play the role of luring away the men in black was simple.

First, her cultivation was high enough that she could definitely escape.

Second, her intelligence wasn't high, so staying behind might not necessarily be helpful.

In contrast, the two young people from the Evil Extermination Bureau were much more reliable.

As they advanced, Liang Yue also asked curiously, "How did you end up here?"

Logically, this kind of underground bank shouldn't have anything to do with the Evil Extermination Bureau.

Could it be that this place was opened by Nine Yang spies?

"We interrogated the two spies we caught last time," Wen Yifan answered directly, without hiding anything. "They were hiding in Dragon Abyss City, and their main task was to receive corrupt officials from the court who were fleeing to Nine Yang."

Liang Yue said, "So this is the kind of people doing this."

After the Battle of Heavenly Gorge that year, the Nine Yang Wood Wolf Tribe existed in name only, and their territory has now become part of the Yin Dynasty. Currently, Nine Yang actually has eight tribes. Among these eight tribes, some are extremely hostile to the Nine Provinces, resisting all artifacts and culture that spread from the Nine Provinces, while others actively learn from the Nine Provinces.

The Azure Dragon Tribe, which is currently the most powerful force in Nine Yang, was the first to learn from the Nine Provinces dynasties. They built many cities in their territory. Among them is Ancient Ruins City, which has been under construction for hundreds of years and is said to be completely modeled after the design of Dragon Abyss City, claiming to be "no less prosperous than the Divine Capital."

Although this statement certainly contains elements of exaggeration, Ancient Ruins City concentrates the wealth of the entire Nine Yang. It might indeed be a top-tier city outside the Yin Dynasty.

In recent years, some corrupt officials who committed crimes have considered fleeing to Ancient Ruins City as a retreat. As long as they can escape with their ill-gotten silver before being apprehended, they can still live a life of luxury there.

There were rumors about these matters among the populace, but they didn't expect Nine Yang to even send special personnel to receive these corrupt officials.

"Yu Wenlong had helped them contact corrupt officials multiple times in the court and was very familiar with their stronghold, which is why they were worried that Yu Wenlong had revealed secrets to Phoenix Butterfly. Your guess is completely correct; Yu Wenlong took the Heart-Destroying Gu himself, and Phoenix Butterfly was killed by that group of spies."

"However, during the interrogation, we also learned another piece of information. That is, the cost for them to help corrupt officials escape is extremely high; they have to pay a bolt of Gold Silk," Wen Yifan said, then asked, "Since you're here, you should know about this item, right?"

Liang Yue showed the Gold Silk in his hand and sighed, "That's a hundred thousand taels of silver!"

Those corrupt officials paid a hundred thousand taels to escape and could still live luxuriously there, which shows how ruthlessly they must have plundered while in office.

"Exactly," Wen Yifan nodded. "This underground bank provides great convenience for corrupt officials to escape. They can exchange their ill-gotten silver for Gold Silk and hand it all over to those Nine Yang spies. When they reach Ancient Ruins City, the Azure Dragon Tribe will deduct a hundred thousand taels, and the rest will be transferred to them. And if those spies need it, they can come here to complete the exchange at any time."

"This is truly hateful," Liang Yue said.

When corrupt officials flee, they definitely travel light and keep a low profile, making it impossible to carry such a large sum of money. These underground banks opening their doors wide have indeed provided them with great assistance.

And when those corrupt officials reach the Nine Yang tribes, they definitely hope that Nine Yang can defeat the Nine Provinces so that their crimes will never be pursued. They will become accomplices of Nine Yang, helping Nine Yang think of ways to deal with the Nine Provinces without reservation, becoming the vanguard of attacks on the Yin Dynasty.

No wonder Wen Yifan and the others came here.

This matter is indeed much more serious than a single corruption case.

"So we infiltrated here to investigate and found that there is indeed something fishy here. Now, it's not just about getting rid of this bank, but also about digging out the person behind it," Shang Yunhai continued.

As they spoke, the three had already reached the center of the Longsheng Cloth Shop.

There was indeed a three-story small pavilion ahead, guarded by about seven or eight men in black around it. It looked like it definitely held secrets. Even though there was a lot of commotion over there just now, the black-clothed guards here did not leave.

The three temporarily concealed themselves and observed.

"This should be where they store important items!" Liang Yue said.

"Then we should go in and take a look," Shang Yunhai said.

Wen Yifan didn't speak, her response was to point forward with both fingers.

Chichichi...

A wisp of silver light from the flying sword in her sleeve transformed into eight streams. The sharp sword qi whistled through the air, directly piercing through the eight guards. Not a single person could make a sound. After circling once, the eight sword beams merged back into a single stream of light and returned to her sleeve.

The Mystic Sect's sword control technique, after passing through people, didn't even stain a drop of blood.

Then Miss Wen stood up and walked over calmly, not even blinking.

Liang Yue, who was following behind, secretly clicked his tongue in his heart: How ruthless.

Both the person and the sword were ruthless.

There was a lock on the door of the pavilion. Upon contact, it emitted a faint golden light that lingered around it. It seemed to be a magical artifact inscribed with array patterns.

This naturally couldn't stop Miss Wen. With a flash of sword light, there was a clang, and the two halves of the lock fell to the ground.

The entire infiltration process had no technique, only brute force.

As soon as the door was pushed open, the scene inside startled all three of them!

This pavilion appeared to have three stories, but in reality, it only had one. The interior was empty, only the dome was extremely high. Around the sides were more than a dozen wall pillars, from which extended iron chains covered in talismans.

All these iron chains were connected to one place – in the very center of the pavilion, a monstrous beast with a ferocious physique lay prone. Its entire body was covered in rough, purplish-red skin with large, scale-like protrusions that looked bumpy and uneven. Its head was like a giant lion's, with an exceptionally wide mouth and equally wide nostrils. It was currently asleep, and the white smoke it exhaled with each breath condensed into clouds above its head.

It was nearly two zhang tall while lying there. If it stood up, this pavilion would immediately be filled to the brim.

"Such a big... demon?" Liang Yue's exclamation blurted out.

This was the first time he had seen a demon beast with his own eyes.

Although it was always said that gods, ghosts, demons, and monsters existed in this world, ever since the four great demon lands were sealed in ancient times, ordinary mortals rarely saw demonic creatures, except for a few instances of demon plagues in the Nine Provinces.

People living in remote mountain areas might be lucky enough to encounter a wild spirit that had become a demon once every few hundred years, but even then, it would quickly be mercilessly exterminated by Mystic Sect disciples.

And the four gates of the Divine Capital were guarded by the Suspended Mirror, absolutely forbidding any demonic creatures from passing through. It would be strange for a child like Liang Yue, who was born and raised in Dragon Abyss City, to have seen a demon beast.

Wen Yifan and Shang Yunhai certainly weren't seeing a demon beast for the first time, especially Shang Yunhai. He came from the Dragon Transformation Branch of the Mystic Sect, and his sect was located in the Wild Beast Plains in the north, where there was no shortage of savage demon beasts.

But when he saw this one in front of him, he was still slightly surprised: "Silver Guardian?"

"What?" Liang Yue found it a bit strange.

"If I'm not mistaken, this demon beast should be a bloodline passed down from ancient times, named the Silver Guardian Beast," Shang Yunhai explained. "This beast is fond of swallowing gold and silver to accumulate wealth, but it only stores it in a space within its belly. If someone can make it recognize them as its master, then they can have it swallow and spit out treasures at any time. Store them in normally, take them out when needed, without any mistakes. Ancient cultivators raised them in large numbers for guarding wealth, hence the name 'Silver Guardian'. In the past few thousand years, this beast has rarely appeared, and many people thought it was extinct."

"Maybe it's because everyone is short on money now," Liang Yue muttered.

This big guy, at first glance, wasn't something that could be supported by an ordinary amount of gold and silver.

Speaking of which.

The name sounded quite auspicious.

"So it's the silver vault here?" Although Wen Yifan had never seen this beast, she immediately reacted and said.

Shang Yunhai smiled, "That should be right."

Wen Yifan's gaze was sharp. She immediately summoned her flying sword, pointed her finger forward, and attacked with her sword again.

Whoosh—

The sword light swept past, cutting off a runic iron chain.

"Miss Wen's sword control technique is so strong," Liang Yue said with emotion.

Since they met, he had never seen anything that could withstand a single sword strike from Miss Wen.

"Of course," Shang Yunhai smiled and said, "Junior Sister Wen has a natural Immortal Body and is on the Young Phoenix Ranking. This sword is also the famous ancient sword Qing Qiu from the Mystic Sect. How could it not be strong?"

Qing Qiu...

The sword's slender, plain white blade and sharp sword energy indeed carried a sense of desolation.

As three or four iron chains fell to the ground, the Silver Guardian Beast seemed to sense something. Hot air began to spew from its large nostrils, and its eyeballs started to roll, as if it was about to wake up.

Wen Yifan continued to cut the iron chains, seemingly not worried at all about the problem of subduing the beast after it woke up.

Just as everything was proceeding in an orderly manner, a furious roar suddenly came from behind: "How dare you touch my Silver Guardian Beast! You have some nerve!"

Accompanied by a gust of foul wind.

Liang Yue turned around and saw a menacing black-robed figure approaching on the wind! This black-robed figure wore a silver mask on his face, clearly indicating a higher rank than the others.

Below him, three other massive black shadows were leaping forward, accompanied by a gust of foul wind and low roars. The foul demonic wind made Liang Yue feel suffocated!

Killing intent suddenly arrived.

"Awoo—"