The Restless Holy Ghost Cult

After news of Prince Yan's Palace recruiting new maids spread throughout Mingdu, Ma Xiaotao naturally received the information at once and secretly reveled in it.

Things had turned out exactly as she had predicted!

The beginning was always the hardest, and she had already completed the most difficult first step. Next, she only needed to successfully infiltrate the prince's palace, and half the plan would be complete.

The public maid recruitment was set for three days later, and Ma Xiaotao was quite pleased with that. During those three days, she could take advantage of the time to cram relevant knowledge from the few palace maids she had captured.

When the time came, the other applicants would know nothing about the inner workings of the prince's palace, while she would clearly know what should and should not be done, as well as how to do the job best.

With such an enormous advantage, Ma Xiaotao did not even know how she could possibly fail to get selected.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Although Mingdu appeared as peaceful as usual on the surface during those three days, undercurrents were surging in secret.

Prince Yan's Palace was publicly recruiting new maids, with priority given to those possessing soul power cultivation.

It had originally been a trap tailored specifically for Ma Xiaotao, yet it unexpectedly attracted the covetous eyes of wolves as well.

That was right—the Holy Ghost Cult had noticed the matter too.

To uncover Xu Tianming's true background, they had long tried all sorts of methods. Unfortunately, the Sun-Moon Imperial Family had protected Xu Tianming too well before this, leaving those evil soul masters with no opportunity to make a move.

But who would have thought that Prince Yan's Palace would suddenly break with convention? Rather than using maids specially trained by the imperial family, they had chosen to recruit openly from the public!

Though they felt there might be something else behind this matter, an opportunity like this could not be missed!

The few people in charge of intelligence discussed it briefly, then unanimously decided to seize this chance and send as many people as possible to infiltrate Prince Yan's Palace.

Because as long as they could obtain even the slightest bit of intelligence on Xu Tianming, everything they invested this time would be worthwhile.

After all, the Holy Ghost Cult's low-ranking evil soul masters were nothing more than expendable goods. Even if they died, no one would feel sorry for them.

Nana was one of those selected for this mission.

She was twelve years old this year. Her martial soul was a ghost, allowing her to control lingering souls and unleash mental attacks that were difficult for enemies to defend against. It naturally generated dense evil power, making it a typical evil soul master ability.

However, although she possessed the traits of an evil soul master, her nature was kind. The main reason she was controlled by the Holy Ghost Cult was that its people had detained her parents' souls. If she dared disobey, her parents would both die.

With no other choice, Nana could only obey every arrangement of the Holy Ghost Cult. Even if the mission was perilous enough to mean certain death, she would not so much as furrow her brow.

After all, if she hesitated, her parents would suffer terribly.

On the day of the public maid recruitment.

Outside the main gates of Prince Yan's Palace, a queue of young girls stretched as far as the eye could see early in the morning.

Ma Xiaotao had thought she had arrived early enough, but when she saw the sea of people at the scene, she was truly startled.

She suddenly realized that she might have underestimated just how valuable a job as a maid at Prince Yan's Palace was.

Judging by these applicants' looks and enthusiasm, this hardly seemed like a maid selection. People would believe it if someone said they were choosing concubines!

"There are only a few more competitors. That little difficulty won't stop me!"

After encouraging herself inwardly, Ma Xiaotao obediently joined the line and waited for the palace steward to come out.

At exactly eight o'clock, the gates of Prince Yan's Palace opened on schedule. Even Steward Zhao, who had been mentally prepared, was startled by the sea of people outside. After standing there dumbly for a moment, he hurried back into the palace to report to Xu Tianming and ask how the matter should be handled.

"What? You're saying there are at least two or three hundred girls lined up outside?"

Upon hearing this, Steward Zhao nodded forcefully.

"Your Highness, please make a decision quickly. If we interview them one by one, I'm afraid we still won't be done by the end of the day."

After confirming that the situation was true, Xu Tianming pondered briefly before saying, "How about this? Go tell those girls that anyone over sixteen should go home. Anyone shorter than 165 should go home. And anyone with soul power below Rank 20 should go home too!"

"After filtering them through those three conditions, there shouldn't be many left. Then bring the rest directly into the main courtyard of the prince's palace. I'll personally interview them."

Steward Zhao had always carried out Xu Tianming's orders without compromise. Once the three screening conditions were announced, most of the girls at the scene revealed regretful expressions. After taking one last reluctant look at the gates of Prince Yan's Palace, they turned and left without looking back. Not one of them stubbornly refused to go, throwing a tantrum and making a scene.

After all, no one living in Mingdu was foolish. Anyone who dared cause trouble outside a prince's palace was probably tired of seeing their entire clan live too long.

In a short while, the long line that had originally numbered over a hundred people was reduced to only twelve.

After all, none of the three conditions was particularly demanding on its own, but combining all three for screening was truly rather difficult.

"Congratulations to the twelve of you for passing the preliminary selection. Next, follow me into the prince's palace one at a time according to your place in line. His Highness will personally interview and assess you. Whether you can remain in the palace in the end will depend entirely on whether you can satisfy His Highness! Do you understand?"

At Steward Zhao's final question, Ma Xiaotao and Nana, who remained in the line, answered along with the others, "Understood."

Seeing this, Steward Zhao nodded and prepared to have the first girl in line follow him into the prince's palace.

However, at that very moment, a voice from behind him made his body tremble uncontrollably.

"Steward Zhao, where is Brother Tianming? Is he in the prince's palace?"

Turning toward the voice, Steward Zhao saw that the newcomer was indeed Meng Hongchen, the future princess consort of the palace. He hurriedly put on a smile.

"Miss Meng, have you come to play with His Highness again today?"

"Of course not! Didn't Brother Tianming say he was recruiting a few new maids for the household today? So I came specially to help Brother Tianming vet them!"

This young lady truly had the makings of a princess consort!

After silently remarking that they were a perfect match, Steward Zhao prepared to report the situation to his master first.

Although his master had previously instructed that Meng Hongchen did not need to be announced when she arrived, at such a special time, he felt it was still necessary to give his master some advance warning.

But before he could speak, Meng Hongchen, already impatient to see Xu Tianming, rushed into Prince Yan's Palace in a hurry, completely disregarding the demure restraint a young lady was supposed to have.

Phew! Looks like it hasn't started yet. Good thing I made it... I wonder what Brother Tianming is thinking, publicly recruiting maids when the household is short-staffed... Forget it, no time to think about that. The most important thing right now is that I absolutely cannot let even one vixen into Brother Tianming's home!