Silver Guardian

After leading the pursuit for a while, the three of them gradually blended into the group. Then, seizing an opportunity while no one was paying attention, they slipped away again and returned the way they had come.

Thanks to Ling Yuanbao drawing off the main force, their journey toward the center of the cloth shop was much smoother. The three moved through hidden places, and only then did it truly feel like an infiltration.

The reason they had sent her to lure away the men in black was simple.

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

Second, she was not very bright, and staying behind might not have helped anyway.

By comparison, the two young people from the Evil Extermination Bureau were far more reliable.

As they advanced, Liang Yue asked curiously, "How did you come here?"

Logically speaking, an underground bank like this should have had nothing to do with the Evil Extermination Bureau.

Could this place have been run by Nine Yang spies?

"We interrogated the two spies we captured last time." Wen Yifan did not hide anything and answered directly, "Their main mission in hiding within Dragon Abyss City was to receive guilty officials from the court and help them flee to Nine Yang."

Liang Yue said, "So this was the sort of people who handled such things."

After the Battle of Heavenly Gorge years ago, Nine Yang's Wood Wolf Tribe existed in name only, and its territory had long since become part of the Yin Dynasty. Nine Yang now effectively had eight tribes. Among those eight, some bitterly hated the Nine Provinces and rejected every artifact and scrap of culture that spread there from the Nine Provinces, while others actively sought to learn from them.

The Azure Dragon Tribe, now the most powerful force in Nine Yang, had been the first to learn from the dynasties of the Nine Provinces. They had built many cities within their territory. One of them, Ancient Ruins City, had been constructed over several centuries. It was said to have been designed entirely after Dragon Abyss City, and its prosperity was proclaimed to "fall not short of the Divine Capital."

Though that claim surely contained some exaggeration, Ancient Ruins City gathered the treasures of all Nine Yang. Outside the Yin Dynasty, it might truly have been the foremost great city.

Over the years, many criminal officials had treated fleeing to Ancient Ruins City as a way out. So long as they could escape with their stolen silver before being arrested, they could still live in extravagance there.

Rumors of such things had always circulated among the people, but no one had expected Nine Yang to send people specifically to receive those criminal officials.

"Yu Wenlong had repeatedly helped them contact criminal officials within the court, and he knew this stronghold very well. That was why they feared Yu Wenlong might have revealed secrets to Phoenix Butterfly. Your guess was entirely 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. The price of helping criminal officials escape was extremely high: they had to pay one bolt of Gold Silk." Wen Yifan asked, "Since you came here, you should know about this item, right?"

Liang Yue held up the Gold Silk in his hand and sighed. "That's one hundred thousand taels of silver!"

Those criminal officials paid one hundred thousand taels merely to escape, yet could still live lavishly after arriving there. It showed just how ruthlessly they had plundered while in office.

"Correct." Wen Yifan nodded. "This underground bank provided enormous convenience for criminal officials fleeing the country. They could exchange their stolen silver for Gold Silk and hand it all over to those Nine Yang spies. Once they reached Ancient Ruins City, the Azure Dragon Tribe would deduct one hundred thousand taels, then transfer the remainder to them in full. And whenever those spies needed it, they could also come here to complete exchanges."

"This truly is hateful," Liang Yue said.

When criminal officials fled, they certainly traveled light and prioritized secrecy. They could not possibly carry such an enormous sum with them. These underground banks were throwing wide open the gates of convenience, providing them with immense assistance.

And once those criminal officials reached the Nine Yang tribes, they would surely hope Nine Yang could defeat the Nine Provinces, so their crimes would never be investigated. They would become Nine Yang's accomplices, sparing no effort to help Nine Yang devise ways of dealing with the Nine Provinces, becoming the vanguard in attacks against the Yin Dynasty.

No wonder Wen Yifan and the others had come here.

This matter was indeed far more serious than a single corruption case.

"Thus, we infiltrated this place to investigate and found that there truly was something fishy here. Now, we do not merely want to eliminate this bank—we also want to dig out the people behind it," Shang Yunhai continued.

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

Sure enough, a small three-story pavilion stood ahead. Around seven or eight men in black guarded it, making it clear that secrets were locked within. No matter how great the commotion had been over there earlier, the black-clad guards here had not left.

The three temporarily concealed themselves and observed it.

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

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

Wen Yifan said nothing. Her response was to point two fingers forward.

Hiss, hiss, hiss...

A streak of silver light from the flying sword in her sleeve split into eight. Sharp Sword Qi whistled through the air and pierced straight through all eight guards. Not a single one managed to make a sound. After circling once, the eight sword glints merged back into a single stream of light and returned to her sleeve.

The Mystic Sect's Sword Control Technique pierced through people without even staining itself with a drop of blood.

Then Miss Wen rose and calmly walked over, without even blinking.

Liang Yue, following behind her, secretly clicked his tongue. How ruthless.

The person was ruthless, and so was her sword.

A lock hung on the pavilion doors. The moment it was touched, it emitted a faint golden light that swirled around it. It appeared to be an artifact inscribed with formation runes.

Naturally, this could not stop Miss Wen either. A flash of sword light, a clang, and the lock split in two and fell to the ground.

There was not the slightest technique to the entire infiltration process. It was all brute force.

The moment they pushed open the door, the sight inside startled all three of them!

Though this pavilion appeared to have three floors, it actually had only one. Its interior was hollow, with merely an exceptionally high dome. More than a dozen wall pillars stood around it, each extending an iron chain covered in talismans.

All of those chains connected to one place—in the very center of the pavilion lay a crouching colossal beast with a savage form. Its rough purple-red flesh was covered in large, scale-like protrusions, making it look pitted and bumpy. Its head resembled that of a giant lion, and its huge mouth was exceptionally broad, as were its nostrils. It was currently asleep, white vapor exhaled with every breath condensing into clouds above its head.

It stood nearly two zhang tall even while crouching. If it rose, this pavilion would immediately be filled to the roof.

"What a huge... demon?" Liang Yue blurted out.

This was his first time seeing a demon beast with his own eyes.

Though people always said that gods, ghosts, demons, and devils existed in this world, ever since the Four Great Demon Territories had been divided and granted in ancient times, ordinary mortals had found it difficult to see demons apart from the rare occasions when demon calamities swept the Nine Provinces.

People living in remote mountains and wilderness might, if fortune smiled upon them, encounter a wild spirit beast becoming a demon once every few centuries. But it would soon be ruthlessly exterminated by Mystic Sect Disciples.

The four hanging mirrors at the gates of the Divine Capital did not permit any demon to pass through at all. For a child like Liang Yue, born and raised within Dragon Abyss City, it would have been stranger if he had ever seen a demon beast.

Naturally, Wen Yifan and Shang Yunhai were not seeing a demon beast for the first time, especially Shang Yunhai. He came from the Dragon Transformation Branch of the Mystic Sect, whose sect was located on the Wild Beast Plains in the north, where savage demon beasts were anything but scarce.

Yet when he saw the one before him, he was still slightly surprised. "Silver Guardian?"

"What?" Liang Yue found it rather strange.

"If I am not mistaken, this demon beast should be a bloodline passed down from ancient times, called the Silver Guardian Beast." Shang Yunhai explained, "This beast loves devouring gold and silver to gather wealth energy, but it stores them only in a space inside its stomach. If someone can make it acknowledge them as its master, they can have it swallow and disgorge treasures whenever they wish—store them away in ordinary times and retrieve them when needed, without the slightest error or loss. Ancient cultivators raised them in great numbers to guard their wealth, hence the name 'Silver Guardian.' In the last few thousand years, this beast has appeared very rarely. Many people believed it had gone extinct."

"Maybe because people these days are all short of money," Liang Yue muttered.

At a glance, this huge fellow was clearly not something an ordinary amount of gold and silver could afford to feed.

Still.

The name did sound rather auspicious.

"So it is the vault here?" Though Wen Yifan had never seen this beast, she immediately understood.

Shang Yunhai smiled. "That should be right."

Wen Yifan's gaze sharpened. She immediately sent out her flying sword, pointing forward with her fingertips as she once again attacked with Sword Control Technique.

Hiss—

The sword light flashed past, severing one of the rune-covered iron chains.

"Miss Wen's Sword Control Technique is incredibly strong," Liang Yue said with feeling.

Ever since meeting her, he had never seen anything capable of catching a single sword from Miss Wen.

"Of course." Shang Yunhai smiled. "Junior Sister Wen was born with an immortal body and is listed on the Young Phoenix Ranking. And this is the Ancient Sword Qingqiu, renowned throughout the Mystic Sect. How could it not be strong?"

Qingqiu...

Its long, plain-white blade and biting Sword Qi truly carried a desolate air.

As three or four iron chains fell to the ground, the Silver Guardian Beast seemed to sense something. Hot breath began to spray from its massive nostrils, and its eyes started rolling as though it were about to awaken.

Wen Yifan continued severing the chains, seeming not to worry in the least about how they would subdue the demon beast once it awoke.

Just as everything proceeded in orderly fashion, an angry shout suddenly came from behind them. "You dare touch my Silver Guardian Beast? What colossal nerve!"

It came with a gust of foul wind.

Liang Yue turned around and saw a menacing Black Robed Man striding through the wind toward them! The Black Robed Man wore a silver mask over his face, clearly marking him as far higher in rank than the others.

And beneath him, three other enormous shadows were bounding toward them. Foul wind and low growls came with them, and the fishy stench of demon wind made Liang Yue choke!

Killing intent arrived without warning.

"Awooo—"