"I didn't expect Shen Fang to deliver the letter himself."
Liu Shuyue watched the Prefect and his party leave, then murmured those words.
Chen Xuan chuckled. "He looked terrified, but he was certain you wouldn't kill him. In a way, that's a compliment to your character."
"But he had no reason to come. The King of Qi must have his own envoys, unless Shen Fang insisted on taking the job."
"How else could he see for himself how the Immortal Master and the refugees were doing?"
"Hmm?" Liu Shuyue shot him a displeased glance.
Chen Xuan laughed it off. "I mean, if we were barely getting by, he'd have no reason to keep dealing with us."
She raised an eyebrow. "You mean his real reason for coming wasn't to settle the remaining refugees?"
"That was probably incidental. This way, he can stay in touch with you without angering the King of Qi. As a local official, finding a way for his people to survive is beyond reproach." Chen Xuan paused. "As for his real purpose... honestly, I can't be sure. It's only a guess."
"Let's hear it," Liu Shuyue said curiously.
"You told me Luo Kingdom might invade Qi with your senior sister's help, right?"
"Yes." A shadow fell over Liu Shuyue's face. "I truly don't understand why Senior Sister Lan Qin would do such a thing. War brings suffering to countless lives. Sect disciples should do everything they can to prevent it. I sent her a message, but she still hasn't replied."
Maybe Lotus Cloud Sect simply doesn't care about bloodshed in the mortal world, Chen Xuan thought, but he kept it to himself.
"Do you think Qi can win?"
"Huh?" Liu Shuyue paused. She clearly hadn't considered the question. "That... depends on each side's strength, their armies and generals. How they use spells and Cultivators matters too. But if my senior sister fights on the front lines..."
"Qi's more likely to lose than win, right?" Chen Xuan picked up where she left off. "Shen Fang has probably considered that possibility too."
"He's worried the King of Qi will be defeated?"
"Qingzhou borders Luo Kingdom, so there's a good chance it'll become a battlefield. If Qi really can't win, where can the Prefect of Zhang Wei go? If he doesn't want to die for his country, he needs an escape route now. If Mala Village can establish itself, it would be a decent choice."
That phrase, "a true refuge from the world," probably referred not only to shelter for the refugees, but also to a place beyond the reach of war.
That was part of why Chen Xuan had let Shen Fang into the village and suggested Liu Shuyue receive him with the courtesy due an official envoy. If Mala Village was to find its footing, it would eventually need ties to the outside world.
Liu Shuyue let out a soft breath. "You really do think further ahead than I do."
"That's because you've spent so much of your time fighting monsters," Chen Xuan said. "Besides, it's only a guess. Shen Fang just doesn't strike me as the type to follow his king blindly."
She said nothing more, gazing north in thought.
Seeing her like that, Chen Xuan couldn't help sighing.
"You're not thinking of saving the Liu family, are you?"
"I... of course not." Liu Shuyue startled. "They invented a connection to Lotus Cloud Sect and seized benefits that never should have been theirs. That's what brought this danger upon them!"
"True," Chen Xuan agreed.
But after a moment, she said reluctantly, "Still, wiping out an entire family for lying is far too harsh. The Liu family doesn't deserve that. And what did the people living near them do wrong? The King of Qi says he'll punish them too. That's more than a hundred thousand people... could he really do it?"
"Hard to say. What if he does?"
"Then I'm afraid I can't stand by and watch..." Liu Shuyue clenched her fists without realizing it. "Those people are innocent. I can't let them be destroyed because of a rumor about me."
I knew it.
Chen Xuan wasn't surprised. When Liu Shuyue had fallen silent earlier, he had already realized what was on her mind.
"Have you considered that this might be a trap for you?"
If Liu Shuyue surrendered herself to the King of Qi, he would naturally be delighted. But luring her to Yun Prefecture would also give him a chance to lay a trap and capture her. As Qi's ruler, the king surely knew where the Auxiliary State Immortal Master had come from. The Liu family had simply stumbled into his sights.
Liu Shuyue nodded slowly. "He's certain I can't bear to see hundreds of thousands of innocent people die because of me, so he's using them to threaten me. But—"
Chen Xuan waited quietly for her to continue.
"But if I don't go, won't I end up no better than those Lotus Cloud Sect predecessors who disappeared?"
"Sect... predecessors?" Chen Xuan hadn't expected that answer.
"Like me, they left the mountains with a duty to help the world and its people. They entered mortal society, yet not one of them succeeded. They vanished, and the lives of the people of the Six Nations never fundamentally changed. I don't want to follow in their footsteps."
Liu Shuyue turned to Chen Xuan. "This may be a trap, but that doesn't mean it can hold me. The King of Qi doesn't know I'm no longer who I used to be. There were many things I couldn't accomplish alone before. Things are different now."
"Chen Xuan." She held out her hand. "Will you keep helping me?"
"Of course. Serving VIP customers has always been this shop's policy." Chen Xuan took her hand.
At his answer, Liu Shuyue's expression eased.
"Do you have a plan?" he asked.
"Not yet... But I want to visit Yun Prefecture as soon as possible, before word gets back to the Royal City. If the Liu family admits its mistakes and comes forward to clear up those lies, the King of Qi will have one less excuse."
"And if the King of Qi refuses to listen and insists on harming the local people..." Her voice grew firm. "Then he has no humanity left. To me, he'd be no different from a Demon."
After dealing with Shen Fang, she gathered all the villagers for another round of ability adjustments.
Ordinary people who bathed in Dragon Blood gained not only the ability to sense qi, but also a chance to awaken an innate talent.
Qi-Sensing itself was a transformation that reshaped the flesh, bones, and sinews of living beings, human and monster alike.
Monsters simply had no other techniques to learn, so they could only devote themselves to cultivating their innate spells.
Because these talents awakened on their own, which ability a person received was entirely down to luck.
Someone might excel in combat yet awaken a healing talent, and in the past, there was nothing to be done about it. That was why practitioners usually placed greater emphasis on study and effort. Qi-Sensing was merely the qualification to begin.
Chen Xuan's arrival had changed that.
"Duan Zhengquan, Hunting Squad!" A tall man stepped up to Chen Xuan, sat cross-legged, and cupped his fists solemnly. "I'm counting on you, shopkeeper!"
Chen Xuan aimed the Scanner Gun at his forehead.
"Not bad. A new ability."
"Let me see." Liu Shuyue leaned in beside him, close enough that he could smell the osmanthus fragrance in her hair.
The screen displayed "Divine Calculator LV1."
A note appeared below: A walking abacus, though still only an abacus.
"Not a combat ability, but it'd be good for someone who keeps the accounts," Chen Xuan said.
Hearing that it had nothing to do with combat, Duan Zhengquan looked disappointed.
"Then let's swap it with the talent that Logistics Team member awakened last time. Wang Shitong, I think his name was." Liu Shuyue called Wang Shitong over and exchanged his "Fleet-Footed" for "Divine Calculator."
She made sure to remind Duan Zhengquan, "Running fast may not be a combat ability, but paired with Spirit Sword Technique, it lets you close in on an enemy quickly. And don't forget, your training matters most. Don't lose heart because your innate talent seems weak."
"Yes! I'll remember your teachings, Immortal Master!" Duan Zhengquan replied respectfully.
"Next."
To Chen Xuan, Mala Village was an enormous treasure trove. Even if his inventory didn't grow, every successful trade brought in at least two Performance Points. That was why he was willing to work closely with Liu Shuyue. The chance to provide long-term service to thirty thousand promising secondary customers didn't come along every day. In fact, he had earned 450 Performance Points from the first ability adjustment alone, more efficiently than from all his previous business combined.
And innate talents weren't all these villagers possessed now that they had begun cultivating. As they grew and improved, they would learn more and more spells. Their potential might be far below Liu Shuyue's, but together they still represented a major deal with steady returns.
Chen Xuan now had a clear goal. Liu Shuyue was a formidable fighter, but she might not be as adept at handling schemes laid by her own kind. To protect the right to trade freely, he could not let anyone threaten his VIP customer's safety—not even the King of Qi.
Before you continue