What Xiao Yu did not know was that, just as he and Ling Yuling left the Outer Affairs Hall, Zhao Dan also departed with a chuckle and made his way to a green stone platform somewhere above the eightieth level.
The platform projected from the mountainside, looking as though it floated in midair amid wisps of white cloud.
An elegant, magnificent woman of peerless beauty already stood quietly upon it. Her gaze rested precisely where Xiao Yu and Ling Yuling had stopped to talk.
"This subordinate greets the Palace Master!" Zhao Dan landed at the edge of the platform and cupped his hands in salute.
The woman was none other than Wen Qing, one of the Twin Saints of Tianxing.
Without turning around, Wen Qing said to Zhao Dan, "There is no need for such ceremony, Elder Zhao. Is that man Xiao Yu?"
Zhao Dan stepped forward and followed Wen Qing's gaze, just in time to see Xiao Yu setting up a warning restriction.
"Yes, Palace Master! As you instructed, I asked him a few questions and made some arrangements."
"Mm. How did he answer?" Wen Qing asked mildly.
By then, Xiao Yu had finished setting up his restriction, and she could no longer hear his conversation with Ling Yuling through her divine sense. Although she could easily penetrate the restriction, doing so would alert him, so she did not force her way through to listen.
"Palace Master, this is what he said..." Zhao Dan repeated Xiao Yu's words exactly, without changing a single word.
After hearing him out, Wen Qing fell silent for a while before saying, "In that case, he does have some insight, and his loyalties lie with the Sacred Palace. You have had the most contact with him. What do you think of him?"
"Palace Master,