Chapter 287 Don't Make Small Moves
"Really? That's amazing." Mu Jianjian stuck her head out, trying to peer forward, but the fat man blocked her with one hand.
"What are you doing? You ignorant commoner," the fat man narrowed his eyes, his expression particularly disdainful, "We only have this one 'Probing Stone' here, you can't afford to pay for it if you break it."
Is there only one?
Mu Jianjian's expression remained unchanged, but her mind was racing, and she had already thought about many things.
If they were to be asked such a question, it would be only a matter of time before they were exposed. Even if she could smooth things over with her words, Chunbai behind her certainly couldn't do the same.
She subtly extended her divine sense over the two people in the room, trying to gauge their strength.
"Oh, how expensive is it?" Mu Jianjian looked at the fat man with a worried and troubled expression. "What if I accidentally break it while using it?"
"Hmph, I'm afraid you don't have the ability to break it. This stone is made of Xuan Stone, and it is the work of Master Refiner Wu. There are no more than five of them in the entire Immortal Palace." The fat man moved the jade chair to the table and straightened his body. "It can withstand the full force of a Nascent Soul cultivator. You just need to put your divine sense into it when you answer questions."
A Nascent Soul cultivator's all-out attack!
Mu Jianjian was shocked. She was glad that she hadn't acted rashly towards the Probing Stone earlier, otherwise she would probably be in a difficult situation now.
She sneered inwardly. It seemed that destroying the Probing Stone was not an option. Even if she used her true energy to shatter it, the cultivators in the outer hall would likely notice the commotion.
"Alright, stop dawdling. Put your divine sense in!" The fat man pulled out a jade slip, slammed it on the table, and the pressure of the nascent soul was immediately revealed.
"Then my junior brother..." Mu Jianjian seemed to be startled by the shout. She put her hands on Chunbai's shoulders, looking somewhat at a loss.
"Take it one at a time, why the rush?" the fat man said impatiently.
"yes."
Mu Jianjian glanced at Awen, who was looking at her with a reassuring expression, and obediently extracted a wisp of her divine sense and placed it into the Probing Stone.
Under the watchful eyes of the two, they could not do anything. When their divine sense entered the stone, a wisp of smoke gradually rose from the translucent stone ball, slowly rolling and rising inside the ball.
"What's your name? Where are you from? How old are you?"
The fat man tossed aside the jade slip in front of him, and the emerald green jade slip floated on the table. Green characters were automatically carved on it, radiating a bright light.
"I'm twenty-one years old this year..." Mu Jianjian deliberately hesitated, choosing to use her age first to probe the scope of the Probing Stone, "I came from a desert full of sand, I walked to a transparent door, and then I passed through—"
"Stop talking nonsense!" The fat man slammed his hand on the table, his fat jiggling with the movement. "Which sect are you from? If you're not from a sect, state your purpose for being here! And your name!"
"I—"
Seeing the girl's incoherent and frightened appearance, Awen frowned and looked at the fat man beside her, "Immortal Official, they are the only ones who have come from the outside world here for a long time. You don't need to be so impatient."
"What do you know?" the fat man sneered. "Speak quickly and don't waste my time!"
“My friend calls me Mu Yuanyuan… I came here to find out how to restore my junior brother’s memories…” Mu Jianjian forced a smile.
The fat man glanced at the Probing Stone and saw that the white mist rising from its stone sphere was still pale and unchanged. He recalled the message from above about finding someone and didn't think much of it.
It seems they're going to interrogate someone strictly to find out who's from the outside... but what danger could someone from the outside possibly pose?
"Alright, alright, let him go next." The fat man yawned, shook his hand, and then suddenly remembered something, "Wait a minute."
Mu Jianjian, who had been remarking on the lack of scrutiny, was suddenly called back, and her relaxed heart jumped again. "Huh?"
"I ask you, since you and he are from the same sect, you must be cultivating in some sect. Have you ever heard of the Xuan Shuang Sect?"
“…I’ve heard of it.” She slowly released her grip on the pure white hand, raised her eyes, and looked at the closed door behind her.
As expected...
Even if the Celestial Palace is incredibly foolish, they will still be wary of them.
"Do you know a woman named Mu Jianjian?" The fat man raised his eyelids and asked casually.
This is the worst-case scenario: instead of an open-ended question-and-answer format, it forces you to answer "yes" or "no."
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—"
The probing stone emitted a soft sound, and the fat man turned his head to see that the color of the clouds inside the stone sphere was gradually turning yellow!
This is a sign that the other party has forcibly withdrawn their divine consciousness!
"you--"
Before he could even speak, the girl standing in the distance suddenly appeared in front of him, slammed her foot on the table with a thud, and swung the Fire Fox Dagger at his neck with her left hand.
The fat man gasped, struggling to lift his eyelids and open his eyes to look at the cold-faced girl in front of him, feeling somewhat disoriented by the reality of his surroundings.
Mu Jianjian ignored him and quickly raised her right hand, which condensed into Yellow Spring Water and enveloped Awen who was standing to the side.
In the blink of an eye, she had taken control of the two people in the room!
"Shut up." Mu Jianjian curled her lips, her previous ignorant and naive demeanor gone, replaced by indifference and coldness.
"Who are you...who are you?" The fat man had been working as an outsider registrar in this registration hall for many years. His job was easy and not dangerous, so he spent most of his time sleeping. Naturally, he had lost the most basic agility and reaction speed of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
He was so afraid that beads of sweat kept seeping from his forehead, and as they rolled down, they were instantly engulfed by the flames of the dagger burning at his neck.
"Mu Yuanyuan...you are Mu Jianjian, right?" Awen's expression was much calmer than the fat man's. At this moment, a corrosive liquid was wrapped around her neck, and she was in danger of suffocating to death at any time. Her situation was no better than the fat man's.
Mu Jianjian!
If it really is the woman mentioned above, and he reports this news, he might be able to leave Niyu City and go to the Immortal Palace to be highly valued!
The fat man's eyes widened instantly, bloodshot veins appearing in them. He slightly raised his fat hand and, without making a sound, used his true energy to lift the jade slip in the corner. Just as he was about to carve words in the girl's blind spot, a foot suddenly stepped on his hand.
"Ahhh—" The crushing sensation of breaking bones came from his right hand, and the fat man let out a scream. The jade slip also fell to the table with a "bang".
"Don't make any moves, okay?" Mu Jianjian turned her head slightly, plunging the Fire Fox Dagger deeper and deeper. She watched as the man's body began to tremble, yet he dared not back down. Her expression was indifferent. "Didn't you want to find me? Here I am."
The fat man couldn't understand how the girl from outside, who was asking all sorts of questions and dressed in drab dust just fifteen minutes ago, could now transform into such a domineering and imposing figure. He even found it difficult to lift himself up.
"This official... this cultivator has misunderstood me..." The fat man broke into a fawning smile, only to be interrupted by Mu Jianjian.
"Put your divine sense into the Probing Stone. I have something to ask you," she said, returning his previous words verbatim. "Hurry up, I don't have time to waste here with you."
After saying that, Mu Jianjian looked at the pure white figure wrapped in a cloak behind her and gestured for him to look at Awen beside her.
Although the boy didn't understand the situation, he obediently did as he was told.
His white eyelashes were like palm-leaf fans as he gazed indifferently at the Probing Stone on the table, a sense of familiarity welling up in his heart.
"Okay, okay..."
Seeing that the fat man obediently did as he was told, Mu Jianjian asked, "Who told you to ask those questions just now, and when did you start doing that?"
“It’s…someone from the Immortal Palace. I don’t know the specifics. We communicate through jade slips…it was a few years ago, but I can’t remember exactly,” the fat man hurriedly explained. “You can’t kill me! You can’t kill me! If you kill me, my life tablet in the Immortal Palace will shatter, and they’ll send people to investigate. Then you’ll be exposed!”
He desperately pleaded for his life, shouting, "I can do anything for you! Just don't kill me!"
At this point, he had long forgotten about making a contribution; survival was the most crucial goal.
“Four years ago,” Awen said slowly, raising her head. She looked solemnly at the boy in front of her whose face was mostly covered, and then said with certainty.
“Yes, yes, yes…it seems like it was four years ago,” the fat man agreed.
Four years ago.
This is the critical point in time when the upper realm sends people down to organize the killing banquet at the Yingzhou Demon Palace.
It seems that the fact that the Celestial Palace didn't deal with them that time... had already made them wary and put her on the wanted list.
"Besides me, who else is there?"
"No, no, only your name was revealed to us." The fat man shook his head vigorously.
Mu Jianjian glanced at the unchanging Probing Stone and asked, "Xuanmen, Ye Xuanzhi, have you heard of him?"
“I know, Young Master Ye is the only son of the Xuanmen Sect Master, but he has been missing for a long time, and many people say that he is dead…” Seeing that there was room for negotiation, the fat man was eager to tell all the information he knew in one go.
"Bang--"
Mu Jianjian slammed her fist on the table, raising an eyebrow. "Tell me everything you know about this, down to the last detail, understand?"
"As the young master of the Xuanmen sect, Ye Xuanzhi was fostered in the outside world by the sect leader and his wife when he was young. It was not until he grew up that news about him spread in the world. As for his disappearance two years ago, it was said that he was looking for something, but some people said that he was hiding somewhere to cultivate and advance in rank alone."
Ah Wen's voice was calm and methodical, which instantly earned her a glare from the fat man.
“However, there is another rumor,” she paused, her voice hesitant, “that Ye Xuanzhi has been a prodigy since birth, with many women admiring him… Some say he was imprisoned by one of those women who were madly in love with him.”
The veins on Mu Jianjian's forehead throbbed.
Rather than letting this immature person get into trouble, she would rather he had encountered the final situation.
“Alright,” she said, lowering her eyes, “then tell us about all the forces here, the relationships between them, and the people associated with each force.”
Just as the fat man was about to speak, Mu Jianjian looked at Awen in the corner and said, "Put your divine sense into the Probing Stone, and you can tell me what to do."
——
With the Probing Stone as a guarantee, Mu Jianjian found it much easier to understand the general situation of the Upper Realm. In addition, the rooms in this palace were remote and vacant, and the four of them stayed there for a long time without anyone coming to visit.
Only after the two swore by their Daoist hearts that they would not harm her and would not reveal a single word about what had happened that day did Mu Jianjian feel relieved and release them from control.
After all, her current strength is not enough to deal with the people sent by the Celestial Palace. Just in case, it's better to avoid trouble. I believe the two of them think the same way.
"See, if you cooperate obediently, I won't do anything to you." The girl spread her hands, feigning innocence.
Upon hearing this, the fat man subconsciously reached out to touch his blood-stained neck, still feeling lingering fear from her sudden change of expression.
Awen lowered her eyes and recalled the feeling of the slime coating her body.
Her true energy was being continuously drained, leaving her with no strength to resist. Agility and decisiveness were on full display in her; no wonder the people in the Immortal Palace warned her to be careful…
“Alright, let’s register again now,” Mu Jianjian said with a smile. “I’m Mu Yuanyuan, and he is my junior brother Chunbai. We come from a remote little sect, and our purpose in coming here is to restore his memories, okay?”
"Okay, okay." The fat man immediately wiped away the jade slip that had just been registered and began to carve words on it again. In no time, he had completed two jade slips. After making copies of the two jade slips for later use, he handed them to the two of them.
"So, according to common sense, after registering, my junior brother and I can leave?" Mu Jianjian checked the jade slip with her divine sense and then put the two pieces into their respective spaces.
"Uh..." the fat man stammered upon hearing this, and Awen, who was standing next to him, spoke up, "There is also an introduction process."
Seeing that the girl was interested, she continued, "The Immortal Palace likes to recruit talents, especially those from outside the city. After you register as usual, we will introduce you to a position in the City Lord's Mansion. If you agree, you can enter directly."
According to Awen's description, even though the Immortal Palace has declined over the past ten thousand years, it is still a weakened camel and can still stand at the top among the other forces in the Upper Realm. For a cultivator who has just entered an unfamiliar world, it is indeed a good choice.
Unfortunately, she didn't come here to live a peaceful life.
"The city lord of Niyu City, where our registration hall is located, is the daughter of the Supreme Lord of Yuhui Palace in the Immortal Palace. She is engaged today and will be married soon. At that time, the Supreme Lord Yuhui and other Immortal Lords will come."
Mu Jianjian was about to refuse when she swallowed it back.
No wonder I heard someone scattering elixirs in the city earlier; it turns out they had just gotten engaged...
“Okay,” she said with a pure and innocent smile, “then I’ll have to ask you to introduce me and my junior brother to each other.”
As if remembering something, she added, "Parts of your souls are with me, so don't try anything funny."
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