Xu Yi grabbed Desolate Ancestor and lifted him up, his face dark as he said, "Quit the nonsense. What exactly happened?"
Desolate Ancestor lowered his head. "Last night, I finally saw Wang Long and took him to the tavern at the foot of the mountain again. I spent the whole night raising my cup to him and catering to his every whim, but that bastard kept changing the subject and never once got to the point."
"I had no choice but to ask the shopkeeper to prepare five pots of Drunken Immortal and a table of Eight Delicacies Feast to send him, but he stopped me. As it turned out, Wang Long had realized I was interested in the exchange meeting. After beating around the bush for a while, he named his price: one Origin Pill, and he'd tell me everything he knew about the meeting."
"Considering Wang Long had always had a good reputation for keeping his word, and this matter didn't involve his vital interests, he had no reason to lie to me and ruin his standing in the circle. So I gritted my teeth and gave him an Origin Pill. Sure enough, he told me everything."
"As it turned out, this exchange meeting wasn't being held by our Xuanqing Sect. It was organized by the Five Lakes Merchant Alliance, and it wasn't just at our sect; other sects were hosting them too. The aim was to build ties with the sects and circulate resources, so the Five Lakes Merchant Alliance wouldn't charge any transaction fees for this meeting."
"The only requirement was a limit on the number of attendees, especially Spiritual Root stage cultivators. So the news hadn't spread; a certain elder was in charge of handing out the slots."
At this point, Xu Yi interrupted him.