Iron Token Envoy, Maidservant Sister

As night fell.

The full moon hung in the sky like a bright yellow lantern, illuminating the mountains and wilderness, making them appear like a transparent world of crystal.

Within the mountains and wilderness lay a steep canyon, resembling a narrow crack in the sky. The Heaven and Earth Incense Cult's stronghold was situated on the mountainside deep within this canyon, hidden and strategically advantageous.

At this moment, in a spacious stone cave deep within the stronghold, a tall, cloaked man was burning incense and worshiping an unknown bronze statue.

The statue depicted a red-faced, fanged figure covered in red hair, standing about twenty feet tall. It was elaborately colored and adorned with gold, possessing an imposing aura, yet it exuded an air of evil and strangeness.

Behind him, many other cloaked figures had gathered. Under the dim lamplight, the faces hidden beneath their hoods were as cold as iron ingots, creating a somber and mysterious atmosphere.

After a while, seeing the man finish his worship, one of the cloaked figures reported.

"Esteemed Envoy, it seems the Linyuan City yamen has already set their sights on us. Any scout who shows themselves in the city will be exposed. It won't be long before they make a move against us."

The tall, cloaked man in front folded his hands behind his back and said coldly, "With their strength, they can only contend with us outside our stronghold. Coming to our base is seeking death. Don't forget, Lord Cang is resting here. Although he's in seclusion and I can't disturb him, if anyone dares to charge in... hehehe."

The informant nodded and added, "But Fu Wei and the others have been missing for several days. Before they disappeared, they sent us a list of wealthy individuals in the city, detailing five rich men. I've assigned scouts to observe all five. Apart from one who is an apprentice at the Tiger Martial Arts School, none of them seem special. That Tiger Martial Arts School apprentice is just an ordinary Muscle Refining Warrior, not a threat. Could there be other experts in Linyuan City who secretly eliminated Fu Wei and his group when they were raiding the city? Should we report to Lord Cang?"

"Experts...?"

The tall Iron Token Envoy murmured, then scoffed, "Impossible. Unless Fu Wei and his group ran into Tian Youji... Never mind!"

The Iron Token Envoy waved his hand. "Lord Cang is still in seclusion. His identity is special, and I cannot disturb him. I have already reported the situation here to the prefectural city stronghold. Our people in the city will cooperate actively. Speed is of the essence; once our people in the city mobilize within two days, we will make our move."

Fourth floor of the Fulai Inn.

From the toad-shaped incense burners in the four corners of the room, wisps of fragrant smoke rose, exuding a scent like orchids and musk, clearing the mind.

Chu Ge propped up the Shadow Lanterns he had finished making.

The maidservants depicted on the Shadow Lanterns were all charming, exquisitely painted, and graceful without being overtly seductive or vulgar.

He activated the Dragon Bell, offering the lanterns for its appraisal. Items offered could be retrieved at any time within ten breaths, but if the time exceeded ten breaths, they could no longer be retrieved.

Soon, information about the item appeared in the center of the bell.

"Shadow Puppet - Lady Lantern: Description: (A Shadow Lantern made using the techniques of the Shadow Puppet Door God Manual. It is imbued with the creator's spirit and essence. When paired with a guiding yellow paper and infused with a certain amount of Exotic Power, it can be used for warnings and observation within a certain range. With increased usage, the item will be damaged by Exotic Power.)"

Chu Ge nodded slightly and took out the lady lantern.

He infused a wisp of Exotic Power into the lady lantern.

Soon, the shadow puppet maidservants on the lantern seemed to come alive, lifelike, all looking at Chu Ge and giggling, as if shyly greeting him.

"I'll have to trouble all of you sisters next."

A satisfied smile appeared on Chu Ge's face.

He pulled out the yellow paper that established the connection from the lantern and kept it close.

Then he walked to the balcony and hung the two lanterns under the eaves, facing the direction of the County Yamen diagonally opposite, letting them sway in the wind.

The process of making the lady lanterns was relatively simple, and the materials were relatively easy to gather.

Ordinary lanterns could be used, but the material for the shadow puppets required snow-white fish skin. The painted patterns needed to be combined with golden and silver liquids, as well as the blood of a maiden born during the yin hours.

According to the records of the wondrous techniques, there was a more powerful version of the Door God Lantern, but its materials were extremely complicated and precious, requiring special insight, which Chu Ge could not currently create.

With these two lanterns serving as his 'eyes,' Chu Ge could easily monitor the movements of the County Yamen and focus on his cultivation with peace of mind.

He returned to the room.

Chu Ge rolled up his sleeves and checked the remaining Exotic Power in the Dragon Bell.

Even after consuming two wisps of Exotic Power for the lady lanterns, the Exotic Power swirling around the center of the bell was still eighty-one strands. This was mainly because after he had eliminated Fu Wei and the Thirteen Golden Spear Bandits that day, he had offered them to the bell. After abandoning the inheritance and mastery of most of the martial arts and abilities refined by those individuals, he had gained over fifty strands of Exotic Power. Currently, only Fu Wei's perfected Thirteen Golden Spear Forms martial art remained.

"Thirteen Golden Spear Forms: (Perfected Mortal Art): (Upon inheritance, one can directly master the profound mysteries of the perfected Thirteen Golden Spear Forms martial art. Maintaining the execution of this martial art requires the consumption of a certain amount of Exotic Power)."

Chu Ge looked at the information displayed in the Dragon Bell and, after some thought, decided to abandon this perfected mortal art and offer it to the Dragon Bell.

Instantly, sixteen more strands of Exotic Power were added to the center of the bell.

"It's too little. A perfected martial art from a Bone Training Realm warrior only contributed sixteen strands of Exotic Power."

Chu Ge felt that his golden finger, the Dragon Bell, was a bit dim.

Sixteen strands of Exotic Power, used for cultivation, could only save him two months of hard work.

However, even if he kept this great accomplishment martial art for inheritance, its improvement to him would be limited.

The main issue was that every time he used it, it consumed the already scarce Exotic Power, unless he could gradually learn to master it himself with each use.

But the Exotic Power and energy consumed by this great accomplishment mortal realm martial art had a low cost-effectiveness, unless it was at the perfect completion stage.

The Exotic Power refined by the Dragon Bell had many uses for him, so he had to use it sparingly.

Chu Ge looked at the 'Crimson Scale Claws' talent that remained in the bell's core, un-sacrificed.

After pondering for a moment, he still did not inherit this talent immediately.

The earlier he inherited this talent, the sooner he would need to expend Exotic Power to maintain the talent's state within his body.

"Although I need to familiarize myself with the Crimson Scale Claws, I don't need to do it right now. I can delay it and save some Exotic Power."

Chu Ge returned to his room and sat down amidst the fragrant aroma, beginning to circulate his Qi and Blood for cultivation.

As a strand of Exotic Power flowed out from the Dragon Bell on his wrist and into his body.

Instantly, his entire body's Qi and Blood began to boil as if injected with stimulants, the veins beneath his skin writhing like earthworms.

The Exotic Power was quickly broken down into thousands of strands of Qi and Blood, merging with his own Qi and Blood, strengthening it and tempering his physique.

This strand of Exotic Power, after being broken down and integrated into his Qi and Blood, was equivalent to four days of his own hard work, greatly accelerating his cultivation.

At this moment, his Qi and Blood surged and converged, making his body like a Qi and Blood furnace, with Qi flowing through his entire being, and his spirit also improving amidst the surging aura.

When his Qi and Blood became powerful and robust to a certain extent, the three flowers of essence, Qi, and spirit would converge above his head, which was the moment of breaking through to the Blood Change Realm and touching Spirituality.

Soon, it was the latter half of the night.

After consuming two strands of Exotic Power for cultivation, Chu Ge felt a slight fatigue in his meridians, knowing he was nearing his limit.

Consuming Exotic Power to enhance Qi and Blood and speed up cultivation also had its limits.

This was because everyone was made of flesh and blood, and their meridians and acupoints had a limited capacity, unable to withstand the continuous surging of Qi and Blood power. They could not cultivate for twelve hours straight.

Perhaps some people with strong Martial Arts talent were strong precisely because their meridians had greater endurance, allowing them to cultivate for more hours each day.

For Chu Ge, his limit was absorbing four strands of Exotic Power per day.

At this moment, he did not absorb any more Exotic Power. Instead, he took out the Blood-Generating Pill his eldest sister had given him, poured one out, rubbed off the wax wrapping, and took it to test the pill's effects.

This continued until dawn.

Chu Ge tested the efficacy of the Blood-Generating Pill, finding it to be roughly equivalent to half a strand of Exotic Power.

After refining one pill, it could roughly substitute for two days of his hard cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, two days passed.

In addition to his cultivation, Chu Ge had successfully crafted Fu Wei's Shadow Puppets.

However, there was still no movement from the County Yamen, as if they had no intention of taking action against the Heaven and Earth Incense Cult.

Just as Chu Ge was growing increasingly confused and impatient, the Wang Family's steward personally came to visit. He was brought by Steward Fu to the Fu Lai Inn and proposed to purchase the Chu Family's assets within the city.

This could be considered an unexpected surprise.

It meant that his trip to the Wang Family two days ago was not in vain. Wang Youcai, the richest man, had truly taken the bait, and he was about to receive a large sum of money.