The First Meeting
Xu Yuan has been in a good mood for the past two days.
One reason is that the first investment yielded a return.
The Succubus Miss has been working very hard in her recent cultivation, and her Will Soul growth rate is quite gratifying.
Secondly, Xu Changge arrived at Nine Origins City this morning.
Yes, it's the Nine Origins City that this older brother mentioned when he threatened him earlier. It's a small satellite town next to Jingjiang Prefecture, only forty li away from Jingjiang Prefecture.
The earlier casual threat from the other party wasn't entirely unfounded; it seemed there really was something to deal with in Nine Origins City.
According to what Aunt Lou Ji said, a large "Demon Beast breeding farm" deep in the mountains has run into trouble, which will affect the supply of a certain soul-type pill in the southwest.
certainly,
Beyond these superficial aspects, what pleased Xu Yuan even more was the improvement in his own strength.
Since using the Blood Mirror in actual combat that day, he seemed to have broken through some kind of bottleneck, and his combat strength was improving rapidly at a visible speed.
Although he still needs to fight those eighth-grade Pulse Tempering martial artists for a long time, these martial artists can hardly touch him now.
Of course, the cost of this strategy is that the consumption of Source Qi will increase rapidly.
Xu Yuan used to be able to fight these eighth-rank martial arts disciples for a whole morning in close combat, but now he would run out of Source Qi after five or six rounds.
We exited from the Lake Heart Pavilion.
While he was thinking about something, Xu Yuan suddenly noticed a group of people dressed as farmhands standing at the edge of the wetland lake.
Somewhat surprised.
This was the first time he had ever seen so many servants gathered by the lake; in the past, there would usually only be one or two servants trimming and cleaning there.
As his gaze swept over them and their eyes met, the servants hurriedly lowered their heads.
Just as Xu Yuan was about to put it out of his mind, he suddenly met a pair of eyes.
"."
The moment they made contact, those eyes immediately lowered.
Xu Yuan glanced at the owner of those eyes with a hint of surprise.
This was a young, muscular man dressed in gray linen clothes.
His face was very ordinary, his demeanor was also very ordinary, and he would be completely inconspicuous in a crowd.
But for some reason, Xu Yuan felt a strange sense of unease looking at him.
After a slight hesitation, Xu Yuan stopped in his tracks.
The foreman next to him kept a close eye on the Third Young Master out of the corner of his eye; keen observation was an essential skill for a nobody like him to survive.
Seeing the other person stop, the supervisor immediately walked over quickly and obsequiously, rubbing his hands together somewhat awkwardly.
"Hehe, what are your orders, Third Young Master?"
Xu Yuan glanced at the servants and laborers and asked:
Why are these people here?
Seeing this, the foreman cursed inwardly and immediately waved his hand discreetly at the newly recruited laborers, signaling them to get lost, while replying in a humble tone:
"These are the new servants and farmhands in the manor. I'm showing them around right now."
"."
Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
A new servant?
At this time?
How many days does it take to get from Rainbow Valley to Jingjiang City?
Feeling a slight unease, Xu Yuan subconsciously called out to the servants who were about to leave:
"Etc."
"."
As the young man in brocade robes spoke, Qin Mo suddenly caught a glimpse of the Grandmaster he had met before, who was slowly walking towards them from a distance.
A slight chill ran through my heart:
"Old man"
"Don't panic, I'm here. This kid only glanced at you, what's the rush?"
"Hmm," Qin Mo's mind calmed slightly.
And the next moment,
He then heard the young man in the brocade robe say the following words, in a rather annoyed tone:
"Don't bring so many people to gather by this lake in the future; it's an eyesore."
Upon hearing this, the foreman felt a pang of fear and quickly nodded and bowed, saying...
"Yes, yes, these good-for-nothings will never show up here again to bother you, Third Young Master."
Xu Yuan glanced at the foreman:
"The same to you."
"."foreman.
A brief conversation,
The foreman, with a sheepish grin on his face, quickly left with his group of servants.
Qin Mo, who was mixed in with the crowd, breathed a long sigh of relief and left with the crowd.
Watching the crowd walk away, Xu Yuan, who was standing still, let out a long sigh of relief.
He shouldn't have called out to the other person.
If there's no problem, then there's no need to stop them.
If there was a problem, then his subconscious action just now was to feed the enemy another kill.
He almost made a mistake, but luckily he reacted quickly.
After a moment's thought, I decided not to go to the Wuxuan Academy either.
Xu Yuan realized where the unease he had just felt came from.
Eyes.
Just now, when he glanced around, many servants met his gaze, but their eyes were filled with panic and fear.
But the ordinary-looking young man did not.
Although it was only for a moment, Xu Yuan clearly saw that there was no panic in the other person's eyes.
There was only calmness, even a hint of condescending confidence.
It stands out like a crane among chickens.
Even if a poor, pedantic scholar saw such a look, Xu Yuan wouldn't be surprised at all, given his reputation for being handsome.
But it appeared on a farmhand in the mansion.
This is not the previous life; this is a supernatural world with a strict hierarchy that can suffocate people.
Even the head steward of the manor was timid and hesitant in his presence, let alone the lowest-ranking servants and laborers in the manor.
This is very abnormal.
As his thoughts raced, Xu Yuan subconsciously thought of Qin Mo, feeling a sense of absurdity.
Was that Qin Mo just now?
Xu Yuan had considered that the other party might want to rescue Su Jinxuan, but he never expected that the other party would dare to come to the mansion to rescue her.
He came to him on his own before he even went to him.
Three Grandmaster, along with a powerful formation within Jingjiang Prefecture —they dare to come?
Are all the main characters in these kinds of stories really this bold?
Xu Yuan raised his hand and rubbed his temples.
That's not entirely true; Qin Mo might not have known that Grandmaster was protecting him.
Moreover, he also possesses a Soul Ring Soul Ring, within which resides a Saint.
From the other party's perspective, infiltrating the mansion to rescue people was not an impossible task.
"." Xu Yuan.
"Third Young Master, are you going to the Wuxuan Academy?"
As he was thinking about something, a voice came from behind Xu Yuan.
It's Zhou Chen.
Xu Yuan glanced at him sideways:
"I'm off today, I'm going to see Su Jinxuan."
After saying that, he turned and walked towards the northwest courtyard where the communication array was located. Ying'er had been "training" Su Jinxuan there recently.
The way to verify whether the person just now was Qin Mo is very simple: just have Su Jinxuan test him.
The Black Scale Guard had a plan to have Qin Mo rescue Su Jinxuan so that she could go undercover.
However, Xu Yuan rejected this plan as soon as it was proposed.
Killing Qin Mo was more important to Xu Yuan than the forces lurking in the shadows.
He was well aware of the other person's growth rate and even more aware of the heights they could reach in the future.
Silence all the way
As they entered the heavily guarded courtyard, Xu Yuan suddenly asked:
"Mr. Zhou, do you know how we recruit our long-term laborers and servants?"
"Um?"
Zhou Chen's eyes showed slight surprise. He subconsciously glanced at the servants who were gradually walking away and said with a smile:
"I'm not entirely sure about the specifics, but they basically recruit relatives of the old masters of the mansion, mostly through succession from their fathers."
"No exceptions?" Xu Yuan then asked.
Zhou Chen was a little puzzled as to why the other party would ask this, hesitated slightly, but still answered truthfully:
"Of course, and it's very common. There are many shady ways to get those third-class farmhand positions. Basically, someone in the government is selling these positions."
Zhou Chen had worked his way up from the bottom, so he was quite familiar with the ways people made money at the bottom.
Xu Yuan frowned upon hearing this and asked, "Sell?"
Zhou Chen said in a low voice:
"The world outside is in a bit of chaos right now. Many people are desperate to squeeze into the Aristocratic Clan families as long-term laborers, or even sell themselves into servitude. If there are people willing to buy, there will naturally be people willing to sell."
Xu Yuan frowned upon hearing this:
"Won't spies infiltrate if we recruit long-term laborers and servants like this?"
"The Third Young Master is thoughtful."
Zhou Chen clasped his hands in a fist salute and continued, "The people below are usually quite discreet about these things. Even if they were to sell, they wouldn't sell to strangers. Besides, it's rare for anyone to use this method to plant spies. Servants are servants their whole lives and have no access to any important information."
"What if someone uses this as an opportunity to assassinate me?" Xu Yuan then asked.
"Assassination."
Before Zhou Chen could answer, Xu Yuan waved his hand to interrupt, indicating that there was no need to explain.
His last question was a bit naive.
Whether one cultivates Qi or martial arts, the improvement of cultivation will continuously improve one's physical constitution.
Unless one cultivates to the fourth rank of Body Fusion, enabling their physical body to transcend the ordinary, or practices some precious Secret Method, it is difficult to conceal the improvement in this type of physique.
If one possesses cultivation, a simple examination of the physical body suffices.
Servants don't have so many rules.
As for those of the fourth rank or above, or those who have cultivated precious Secret Method, infiltrating to assassinate...
It's easy to be a thief for a thousand days, but difficult to guard against thieves for a thousand days.
Even in my past life, assassinations with firearms were difficult to defend against, let alone in the extraordinary world. If the other party is willing to spend a fortune to assassinate me, whether or not I have a way to enter the mansion is the same.
Seeing this, Zhou Chen changed the subject and asked softly:
"You ask this, Third Young Master? Is there anyone suspicious among those people just now?"
"Um."
Xu Yuan did not deny it.
Although he couldn't confirm whether it was Qin Mo, it didn't stop him from making arrangements in advance.
Zhou Chen frowned upon hearing this and looked towards the courtyard where the servants lived.
Upon seeing his gaze, Xu Yuan immediately spoke up to remind him:
Don't act rashly.
Zhou Chen stopped what he was doing, hesitated for two seconds, and asked in a low voice;
"Third Young Master suspects them, but what did you just discover?"
Xu Yuan truthfully stated:
"There's something off about one of these farmhands."
?
Is there something wrong with your gaze?
Zhou Chen was visibly taken aback upon hearing this, but quickly recovered and coughed lightly:
"Third Young Master, you are cautious, but isn't this a bit of an overreaction?"
"." Xu Yuan.
Xu Yuan wondered if he should make such a fuss over a single glance.
But the timing is just too coincidental.
Rainbow Valley is only 120 li away from Jingjiang Prefecture, and it can be reached in a few days. Qin Mo also has the motive and ability to infiltrate the mansion.
When it comes to matters involving one's life, one must be extremely cautious.
Without further explanation, Xu Yuan glanced at Zhou Chen and said:
"Have you seen me worry about anyone else all this time? Mr. Zhou, I suspect it was Qin Mo who infiltrated to rescue Su Jinxuan."
Zhou Chen pondered for a moment and said:
"That kid who reversed the Pulse Tempering and defeated a seventh-grade Bone Refining with an eighth-grade Meridian Tempering skill?"
"Hmm." Xu Yuan nodded.
Zhou Chen tentatively asked, "In that case, would the Third Young Master like me to go and take a look?"
Xu Yuan glanced at him and asked in return:
"Mr. Zhou, you should have investigated those servants earlier, right?"
"Nature has explored it."
"Can you sense the Qi (vital energy) on him?"
"."
Zhou Chen frowned upon hearing this.
Compared to Xu Yuan's judgment based on a single glance, Zhou Chen naturally preferred to trust the results of his own investigation.
But if Xu Yuan's judgment is true, then the other party is a powerful being who can shield his senses.
Although the probability is very small, it involves the safety of the Third Young Master, so even a one in ten thousand chance cannot be ignored.
His gaze grew serious, and Zhou Chen slightly clasped his hands in a fist salute:
"Third Young Master, would you mind coming back to my room with me? I'll go get my sword."
He could summon the sword from a distance, but that would cause fluctuations in his Source Qi. Since there's suspicion, everything needs to be done to be on the safe side.
Xu Yuan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and refused:
"For now, everything remains the same. Qin Mo chose to disguise himself as a farmhand instead of directly infiltrating to rescue people, which clearly shows that he is still somewhat wary and is unlikely to act immediately."
"Furthermore, I can't be sure that person is Qin Mo; we need to have Su Jinxuan test the waters first."
After saying that,
Xu Yuan paused for a moment, then added:
"As for you, Mr. Zhou, um... could you please go to the Communication Secret Array and truthfully relay what I just said to Xu Changge?"
When fighting a boss, it's best to have a skilled player carry you; otherwise, you can't solo it.
He needs to get the big boss to come over.
This chapter is a two-in-one.
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