The Peace Sect

"Helmsman Song... the Grand Elder has defected to the inner city... recover the sacred relic..."

Fairy Bai's pleasant, bewitching voice passed through the bronze door of the private room and entered Yang Xiao's ears in broken fragments.

"Please rest assured, Saintess. Within seven days, this subordinate... will definitely recover it..."

Young Master Song Que's respectful voice sounded after that.

Yang Xiao listened until his scalp tingled. Just as he was about to keep eavesdropping, a sense of life-and-death crisis suddenly rose in his heart.

Yang Xiao's heart went cold at once. He hurriedly stopped circulating the Nine Cicada Hearing Technique, kept his eyes on his nose and his nose toward the floor, as if nothing had happened.

That dangerous feeling that filled Yang Xiao with dread lasted for a long while before it gradually faded.

But Yang Xiao did not dare be careless. He remained utterly still, doing his best to calm himself and pretending as if nothing had happened.

Only after another moment did the sense of crisis completely disperse, vanishing without a trace.

Inside the private room.

Fairy Bai withdrew her gaze from the door, her brows knitting slightly, her eyes full of uncertainty and suspicion.

Just now, Fairy Bai had felt as if someone were spying on her, but when she tried to trace it, she did not detect anything unusual.

"Saintess, there's no need for you to worry. The private rooms of Vermilion Bird Tower are all built from soundproof mystic black stone. Unless some old monster who has undergone three blood exchanges descends upon this place, no one could possibly eavesdrop on our conversation."

Song Que smiled.

"True."

Fairy Bai gave a slight nod, and only then did her brows ease a little.

In the Great Yan Dynasty, the martial atmosphere was flourishing. To ordinary people, undergoing even one blood exchange was practically a heavenly chasm, a towering mountain that could not be crossed.

Martial experts like Fairy Bai and Song Que, who had undergone two blood exchanges, were already outstanding figures among the younger generation. With the secret arts of the holy cult, so long as they did not provoke those old monsters who had undergone three blood exchanges, they could practically walk sideways wherever they went.

Those old monsters were proud and arrogant, every last one of them with eyes higher than the top of their heads. Naturally, they would not come here to eavesdrop.

"Saintess, if you are still uneasy, why don't I summon that waiter outside the door in..."

Song Que made a throat-slitting gesture, a cold glint flashing through his eyes.

"That won't be necessary."

Fairy Bai waved her hand. "That door attendant is rather clever. I tested him just now. There were no true qi fluctuations in his body; he's only a completely ordinary person. Besides, this is the Sixth Princess's territory. If we act rashly, we may instead beat the grass and startle the snake."

"I have already reserved this private room. From now on, every other day, you and I will meet here. To avoid long nights filled with dreams, Brother Song, go on for now!"

"Yes!" Song Que saluted respectfully, then turned and left the private room.

"Young Master Song, take care."

Yang Xiao put on a professional fake smile, nodding and bowing, his tone extremely fawning, every inch the petty lackey.

The contempt and disgust in Song Que's eyes flashed past and vanished. On the surface, however, he put on the appearance of a graceful gentleman, smiling and nodding as he waved his folding fan, then left with elegant ease.

"He's nothing but a dog under the Saintess's command. The way he bowed and scraped just now was trashier than me by who knows how many times. What's he pretending for?"

Yang Xiao sneered inwardly, but on the surface, he remained perfectly calm and continued standing quietly at the entrance to the private room, waiting.

Only after quite a while did Fairy Bai finally leave the private room. Amid Yang Xiao's nauseating flattery and endless calls of "fairy sister," she departed with a swaying, graceful gait.

"Good thing I'm a door attendant. According to Vermilion Bird Tower's rules, before the guests leave, I can't step even half a pace into the private room."

"Otherwise, if I'd really been serving inside that private room, I'm afraid I would've been silenced by now."

Yang Xiao could not help secretly rejoicing.

This matter also served as a reminder to Yang Xiao. Even in Vermilion Bird Tower, which was as solid as a metal fortress, being an ordinary waiter did not mean absolute safety.

Having max-level comprehension alone was no good if he had no way to protect his path!

Fortunately, he could observe qi and steal learning once a day, so this matter was not too urgent.

"Ye Feng, did you hear? The Peace Sect rebels have already broken through Qingzhou and are heading toward the capital."

"There's actually such a thing? Those demons of the Peace Sect are rumored to be able to scatter beans into soldiers and summon wind and rain. I wonder if it's true."

In the distance, two gray-clad errand boys were discussing in low voices.

But when they reached Yang Xiao's vicinity, the two of them very tacitly shut their mouths. With reverence on their faces, they entered the private room without saying a word and began cleaning up the leftovers.

"The Peace Sect, Saintess?"

Yang Xiao's eyelids twitched, and his mouth instantly went dry.

Although his eavesdropping just now had been broken and intermittent, according to Yang Xiao's conjecture, Fairy Bai was very likely the Saintess of the Peace Sect.

And that Young Master Song Que was the Peace Sect's helmsman in the capital, concealing his identity and lying low in secret.

"Looks like the capital is about to fall into chaos. No, I have to speed up my martial arts training, in case the Peace Sect fights its way in and I have no power to protect myself."

Yang Xiao felt an unprecedented sense of urgency.

Inside the private room.

A fat youth was kneeling on the floor, carefully wiping the floorboards with a towel.

Another thin, frail youth named Ye Feng carried a swill bucket filled with leftovers and left the private room, panting for breath.

Perhaps because the swill bucket was too heavy, Ye Feng had to stop and catch his breath every few steps, wheezing hard.

"Little Ye, here, I'll carry it with you."

Yang Xiao walked over without a change in expression.

"Brother Yang, this... this won't do. You're the doorman for the private rooms, an official waiter of noble status, while I'm only a lowly odd-job worker in charge of dumping swill, humble and insignificant..."

Ye Feng was terrified and overwhelmed, his little face turning pale with fright, almost dropping to his knees before Yang Xiao.

"Oh, come on. We're all bottom-rung folk serving others. What noble or not noble is there?"

"I'm off work anyway, and I've got nothing to do either way. It's just lifting a finger. If you refuse again, then you're looking down on me!"

Yang Xiao deliberately stiffened his face and barked a rebuke.

"Then... thank you, Brother Yang. Thank you, thank you."

Gratitude on his face, Ye Feng lifted the wooden bucket together with Yang Xiao, and only after quite some effort did they finally reach the rear courtyard of the kitchen.

"Brother Yang, the rear courtyard is too dirty and too stinking. Please don't go over. Here is fine."

When they reached the gate to the rear courtyard, Ye Feng refused no matter what to let Yang Xiao enter, insisting on carrying the bucket alone. Yang Xiao did not force him.

"Uncle Mute, sorry to trouble you."

Panting hard, Ye Feng carried the bucket with difficulty to a corner of the rear courtyard, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and handed the swill bucket to an old odd-job worker who stank all over, reeking of swill.

The old odd-job worker's face was expressionless, appearing extremely cold. With practiced ease, he poured the swill into the nearby wheelbarrow, then turned and lay down on the straw beneath a tree, lazily sunning his side and back, not caring in the slightest that the surroundings were piled with swill buckets, filthy and chaotic.

Ye Feng did not mind this either, and turned to leave the rear courtyard.

"Brother Yang, thank you for helping me today. Since you've come all this way, why don't this little brother host you and treat you to a meal?"

Ye Feng looked carefully toward Yang Xiao, expectation in his eyes.

To be able to know a household slave of the princess's residence, and one who was even a "big shot" from a family enslaved for generations, Ye Feng naturally did not want to miss the opportunity.

"A meal is fine, but you're an odd-job worker. How much monthly pay could you possibly have? This one's on me. Hurry up and change your clothes. Brother Yang will take you outside to eat at a restaurant—meat and wine!"

Yang Xiao felt amused inside and laughed heartily.

If Yang Xiao wanted to crouch low and develop in Vermilion Bird Tower, he naturally could not do without connections; otherwise, he would become blind with his eyes open.

The other waiters knew Yang Xiao's roots and would never associate with him at all, nor was it possible for them to obey his orders.

As for odd-job workers from poor families like Ye Feng, they belonged to the very bottom of Vermilion Bird Tower, doing the dirtiest and most tiring work, yet their monthly pay was pitifully meager, and they did not even have an "official post."

When a "respectable person" within the "official roster" like Yang Xiao was willing to befriend a "temporary worker," Ye Feng was naturally deeply grateful. How could he possibly refuse?

"Brother Yang, then please wait a moment. I'll go change clothes right now. After one incense stick's time, we'll meet here."

Ye Feng hurried off.

Yang Xiao stood where he was and waited, seeming as if nothing were wrong, yet every so often his gaze would, "by accident," land on the old odd-job worker in the rear courtyard.

Above the head of this filthy old odd-job worker, a streak of golden radiance that only Yang Xiao could see—shot into the heavens, piercing the sky and penetrating the earth!