Cautious Probing

Cècè hurried through the wind and snow with Er Han. Before entering Great Li, she had already planned their route back to the Wasteland. Now that she had seen how utterly different Western Great Li was, she only needed to make a slight adjustment to the route.

After all, the closer they got to the Wasteland, the harder it was to see anyone.

As for that Joy Lantern Priest who had taken a fancy to Er Han and pursued them relentlessly, he was definitely doomed.

Great Li was unexpectedly willing to expend resources and operate flying boats to deliver grain to commoners. That meant it certainly would not let the White Sun Evil Sacrifice, which specialized in stirring up trouble among the lowest levels, off the hook. Otherwise, what would all their work be for?

When Cècè saw the Western Desolation Army's signal explode, she knew her little plan to borrow someone else's knife to kill had gone far more smoothly than she had predicted. Great Li attached extraordinary importance to what they were doing.

And that was exactly how things turned out.

The Great General of the Western Desolation had personally rushed to the place where the Joy Lantern Priest had appeared.

Even though the general knew that, even if several commoners really died, he would not suffer much for it, difficult tasks often came with opportunities. Completing a task beautifully without making mistakes meant earning great merit.

The one in the Eastern Palace was extraordinarily talented. Barely over a hundred years old, he had already become a renowned powerhouse, and he had always acted forcefully while acting as regent. At a time like this, adding to his responsibilities was truly giving him an opportunity.

Whether he could seize it depended entirely on himself.

The Great General of the Western Desolation personally took action. By the time he arrived, the Joy Lantern Priest was already locked in battle with soldiers of the Western Desolation Army and spies from the Shadow Division.

That fellow had only a mere handful of White Robed Dao Soldiers, but every one of them had at least reached the Body Transformation Realm. There was even a Dao Soldier in the Supernatural Realm.

That Dao Soldier in the Supernatural Realm had already awakened a supernatural ability. In battle, he fought with sweeping, powerful movements, and with his supernatural ability bolstering him, even a Sword Cultivator of the same rank found it difficult to break through his defenses for quite some time.

The other side retreated while fighting, moving with incredible speed. How could the Great General of the Western Desolation let him escape?

Someone this brazen, once discovered today and allowed to escape, would dare sneak back in tomorrow and create a catastrophe.

The Great General of the Western Desolation descended from the sky. Power coiled around his entire body, and his eyes were bloodshot. He seized the head of the Dao Soldier in the Supernatural Realm with one hand, then released his force through his palm and slammed the man's head straight into his stomach.

The Joy Lantern Priest, who had been fleeing wildly all this time, stared until the corners of his eyes nearly split. His mentality shattered on the spot. He was merely a fifth-tier Joy Lantern Priest—did the Great General of the Western Desolation really have to expend his strength and race all the way here to kill him personally?

Was that really necessary?

The Great General of the Western Desolation laughed heartily, striding like a dragon and tiger, his feet moving with astonishing speed.

"I heard you scraps love bullying Body Refiners most. What a coincidence—I specialize in Body Refining. Come, come, don't say I didn't give you a chance."

Though he said that, his movements looked nothing like he intended to give anyone a chance. His attacks were ruthless and decisive, overwhelming every technique with sheer force. Each move crippled a White Robed Dao Soldier, and after only a few steps, he suddenly crossed several li and appeared in front of the Joy Lantern Priest.

Without giving the other man any chance to use a secret technique, the Great General of the Western Desolation moved both hands at once. In the blink of an eye, the Joy Lantern Priest's four limbs had been torn from his body, his jaw dislocated, and his qi sea shattered. He passed out, and the Great General of the Western Desolation carried him by the hand like a dead dog.

When the people from the Shadow Division arrived, the Great General of the Western Desolation tossed the unconscious Joy Lantern Priest to them.

"Don't you boast every day that even a mute will start talking once he reaches your hands? Don't say I didn't give you a chance to earn merit. Take him. If you can't get anything out of him, stop boasting everywhere from now on and spare yourselves the humiliation."

The people from the Shadow Division wore smiles and thanked the Great General of the Western Desolation with utmost respect. They looked as though being spat upon by him was an honor. Since they had failed to discover the Joy Lantern Priest beforehand, they had to shoulder the blame properly.

Ever since the Eastern Palace issued the order to carry out these matters, the Emperor of Li had killed quite a few people these past days. Two censors who had once been able to spew filth recklessly and still thrive had already been dealt with.

By then, Cècè had already taken Er Han farther north for a while, traveling with a merchant caravan headed to Great Zhen.

The caravan leader was nominally the young master of the Household, but he was obviously making such a long journey for the first time. He was probably just following along to broaden his horizons. The person truly handling the entire caravan was the old steward.

"Big Sister Cècè, come in quickly. The wind and snow are getting heavier. It'll be another day before we reach the next town."

From a carriage made of ebony, the young girl lifted the curtain and called out to Cècè outside.

Cècè nodded with a smile and obediently climbed into the carriage.

The girl looked about sixteen, at the age of innocence and vivacity, but she kept her face taut, pretending to be mature and dignified. She was working hard to learn everything they needed to pay attention to along the journey.

Once inside the carriage, the girl eagerly took Cècè's hand and asked in a low voice.

"Big Sister Cècè, how did you do it? I feel like your guards listen to you so well and respect you so much.

"My guards are all very dutiful too, but they all treat me like a child."

"It's all right. If you follow along and learn properly, they'll respect you. No one can achieve everything in a single bound."

"Did Big Sister Cècè learn gradually too?"

"Yes. I also started out knowing nothing and learned little by little. It's just that I didn't have conditions as good as yours, where I could learn in peace and stability."

Cècè's expression grew slightly distant as she smiled and said,

"My hometown was only a small city in the Kuihou Kingdom. It was nowhere near as peaceful as Great Li. Once we reach the next town, we'll be leaving. Follow the steward and learn properly."

After two brief days of traveling together and riding with them, Cècè left with Er Han and entered the Wasteland.

Under this boundless wind and snow, even the traces Er Han left behind would soon be completely buried. At the very least, they had entered the Wasteland safely.

As for whether they had left any loose ends, there was no need to think about it. As long as they had passed through, they would certainly leave some clues. Given the current situation in Western Great Li, Great Li's people would inevitably discover something.

Cècè had never intended to hide everything completely. Being too timid and cautious would instead make her look somewhat guilty.

As long as the mad dogs of the White Sun Evil Sacrifice did not catch up, she was even willing to deliberately leave some things behind.

At Jinlan Mountain, Yu Ziqing was still busy with his great tree-planting undertaking. He had been absent for more than a chapter, and he was already bored to death.

Body Refining could not continue because he lacked resources, and his body had not recovered yet.

The aftereffects of his transformation had eased slightly, but they were still severe.

There were still many Hungry Ghosts, and more than half of the tree-planting project remained unfinished. For now, they had only surrounded this half-ring on the southern and eastern sides of Jinlan Mountain.

There was another reason the work could not continue. Hungry Ghosts hidden underground had sent word that there were traces of human activity to the west of Jinlan Mountain. The other party seemed to have noticed something and ultimately went around it.

Yu Ziqing's great tree-planting undertaking could only be put on hold for the time being.

Just as Old Yang had predicted, the stronger and more knowledgeable someone was, the less they dared to come to the Wasteland. The weaker and less knowledgeable they were, the more courage they tended to have.

After recuperating in the village for only a few days, Cècè and Er Han finally returned.

At the edge of the village, Cècè unfolded the Abyss of Despair. Everything she had brought was placed inside, and the villagers began entering and leaving the Abyss of Despair to unload the goods. The things meant for Old Yang were also left for him to check personally.

Any loose ends were dealt with by Old Yang on the spot, saving them from having their location sensed.

Old Yang rummaged around inside for a while, then chuckled. He opened his mouth and swallowed a piece of black metal patterned with ripples of water. After it circled once through his stomach, he spat it back out, and the metal had turned pure black.

"Someone took a fifth-grade material and made a fake material disguised as a third-grade one. What a talent."

"Cècè, has Western Great Li become this chaotic? A third of the things you purchased had been tampered with, and marks were left behind."

"I went to the Kuihou Kingdom."

"Hmm?" Old Yang was slightly taken aback. After thinking it over, he nodded in agreement.

There was no need for Yu Ziqing to interfere with the matters being handled here. He followed Cècè into the village and listened as she reported everything that had happened in recent days.

"That's about all there is to the purchases. I felt that going to Great Li was unsafe, so I took it upon myself to go to the Kuihou Kingdom. After all, I'm fairly familiar with the Kuihou Kingdom. I lived there from the age of five to fifteen."

"As for what happened afterward, there was an upheaval in Western Great Li..."

"After that, I encountered a merchant caravan traveling along the border between the Wasteland and Great Li. At first, I thought they were people from the Shadow Division, but later I realized they didn't seem to be. They were another group. I interacted with them and only noticed a little something unusual. It's also possible I was just overthinking it."

Cècè carefully recounted everything that had happened along the way to Yu Ziqing. He said nothing. When traveling outside, it was naturally necessary to adjust promptly according to the actual circumstances. There was nothing to criticize.

Killing a Joy Lantern Priest was nothing worth mentioning either. It had simply been convenient. If it had been him, he would have done the same.

"Tell me about it in the end. What unusual thing did you discover?"

"That old steward was hiding his strength. I couldn't tell exactly how strong he was. I only felt that his strength was somewhat excessive for the Lineage he served. That was all, and I wouldn't have paid it much mind. But once, I happened to notice that he seemed extremely respectful toward that young master who knew nothing."

"Respectful?"

"Yes, respectful."

"Respectful..." Yu Ziqing mulled it over, recalling the details Cècè had described.

It was simply a conventional story: an ordinary merchant caravan encountered a young mistress with Body Refining guards, and she hitched a ride with them.

Of course, the problem was that this caravan traveled between Great Zhen and Great Li, and its route ran close to the Wasteland...

"I don't think the unusual part was any of that. It was how naturally they let you join the caravan. They even dared to let the young master ride in the same carriage as you."

"It was so natural that when you recounted the matter, you didn't even realize that your being allowed to join the caravan in the first place was a huge problem."

"They dared to let you ride in the same carriage as that young master not because you were amiable, looked like an ordinary mortal, or merely seemed like a novice Spirit Refiner. It was because that old steward was absolutely certain you couldn't harm his young master."

Yu Ziqing suddenly smiled, then thought of the unexpected changes Cècè had mentioned in Western Great Li.

"When you left, they introduced themselves and left you a way to contact them, didn't they?"

"They did."

"Good. Stay in touch with them when you have nothing else to do. They already regard you as a close friend."

I went to take my big orange cat to the doctor and got back late. While I'm at it, I'd like to remind all the pet-owning scoopers out there: if your cat used to eat as though it wanted to chew up and swallow the bowl, but suddenly starts eating less one day, take it to get checked out immediately.