“Hey!” Miao Yi shouted, but the other party completely ignored him. Instead, he ran away even faster after that. Miao Yi couldn’t help grumbling, “Why are you in such a rush to leave? I still haven’t checked the things you gave me.”

If he were put in the other party’s shoes, he’d probably run away as quick as he could too rather than deal with someone who incessantly asked for stuff like he did!

The white-robed person couldn’t help feeling the urge to give Miao Yi a good stomping. Even he himself had never received such treatment, but this little Blue Lotus cultivator just kept on complaining and complaining. To make things worse, there was a highly powerful person watching over their operation now, and they were afraid of giving him a bad impression. To put it simply, they wanted to show that highly important person that they were capable of handling things. As such, they had no choice but to comply with this bastard Miao Yi’s requests.

Miao Yi excitedly took a look inside the beast sack. As soon as he saw what was inside, his face darkened slightly. He finally understood why the other party had left in such a hurry.

The dragon steed was a given, but inside the beast sack there were also two large Blue-Feathered Swallows sleeping as well. From the needle on their head, it was evident that they had been promptly subdued after being captured. Having received a spiritual beast from Tan Lao before, Miao Yi was able to tell this much at least. He knew that this Blue-Feathered Swallow was among the weakest of the flying-type mounts. They were normally docile in nature, didn’t have much in combat capabilities, and had a short lifespan to boot. Furthermore, they weren’t especially capable when it came to flying long-distance either. To put it simply, they couldn’t even be considered spiritual beasts. The Chamber of Commerce was clearly messing with him by giving these two flying-type mounts to him.

He continued to examine the contents of the storage ring, even taking out a Glorious Star Immortal Herb the size of an average palm. It had a faint glow to it, and although it was indeed a little small, it was still better than nothing. Miao Yi quickly tucked it away.

He then took out a spear. After imprinting it with his transcendence energy signature and establishing himself as its master, he activated his arts and tried out the Spear Artifact. It immediately emitted a bright crimson glow.

After closer inspection, Miao Yi realized that this was nothing more than a normal Third Grade Transcendent Artifact. It was the type that was merely refined with an average Third Grade Yao Core and normal Crystalline Obsidian.

It was clear that they were giving him items that just barely met the minimum requirements. They were no longer as generous as they were the first time.

As he spun the spear around a couple times, he couldn’t help feeling as though something was missing. Suddenly, he slapped himself on the forehead and moaned, “How could I forget? I’m still missing one Third Grade Armor Artifact. Ah, forget it. It wouldn’t be nice to ask for too many things in one go. I’ll save that one for the next time I get to ask for stuff.”

He tucked away the spear and took out a jade archive from the storage ring. The document detailed the proper method to control the two Blue-Feathered Swallows. It was somewhat similar to the art that Tan Lao had taught him before. All he had to do was wake the Blue-Feathered Swallows up and make them recognize him as their master.

He was going to set off tomorrow. He had to make use of the time he had now to properly tame them. He might really end up having to use them after all.

The room was much too small to accommodate the massive statures of the two Blue-Feathered Swallows, so Miao Yi went to the courtyard outside and released the two sleeping mounts. He promptly plucked out the needle in their heads, then placed a few chunks of raw meat and crouched down in front of the beasts as he waited for them to awaken…

Inside the main assembly hall of the Chamber of Commerce, Celestial Nation’s Fifth Earthly Branch capital city. All unrelated personnel were asked to leave. One man was seated firmly on the high throne. The man was burly and muscular, with a youthful face that betrayed his actual age, accented by a very thin stubble. He adorned a golden crown above his head and was garbed in elegant and luxurious robes. Even though he was a very good-looking man, his expression at the moment was incomparably dark.

This person was none other than Celestial Sage Mu Fanjun’s first and eldest disciple—Huyan Taibao. This time, he had secretly come from the Realm Beyond Heaven to the capital city of the Fifth Earthly Branch; he didn’t inform the Overlord of the Fifth Earthly Branch.

Three people were kneeling down below. One of them was Huyan Yongpin, grandchild of Huyan Kang’an, son of Huyan Shou, who had died in the prison of the capital city. The other was Cao Lu, the Chamber of Commerce’s official auditor; his main task was to investigate into all the dealings of the Celestial Nation’s Chamber of Commerce. The third and final person was Su Yanran, manager of Traversing Water Palace’s Suppressing Tenth City’s Chamber of Commerce.

There was also a white-haired old man standing in front of them with his head lowered. The man was called Chen Yuan, a weakly old-timer with a buzz cut hairstyle, and he was one of the three Elder Deacons of the Celestial Nation’s Chamber of Commerce.

As a Deacon of the Chamber of Commerce, his authority was far beyond what the Deacons within the administration could compare to. Those Deacons were nothing more than mere employees. In contrast, the Deacon of the Chamber of Commerce was someone that was tasked with managing a significant aspect of the organization. This was even more so for one who bore the title of the Celestial Nation Chamber of Commerce’s three Elder Deacons. It was easy to imagine the kind of prestige they commanded within the Chamber of Commerce.

For Chen Yuan to be able to hold such a position, it was evident that he was one of Huyan Taibao’s trusted aides, and was normally much trusted by the latter. However, he didn’t even dare to raise his head right now.

“Huyan Yongping, lift your head!” Huyan Taibao was grinding his teeth in frustration as he asked, “Are you truly the mastermind behind this incident?”

Huyan Yongping shakily raised his head. As expected of someone that had come from an influential lineage; he was able to calm his emotions rather quickly. After kowtowing thrice to Huyan Taibao, he cried, “Ancestor, Father truly suffered an unjust death back in the capital city’s prison. It’s obvious that the deed was done by a cultivator. Back then, those people were the only ones who could bear a grudge against Father. The killer must be among them. Yet, after all this time, we still haven’t been able to avenge Father’s death. Even on his deathbed, Grandfather lamented his inability to get revenge! If I can’t get justice for Father and relieve Grandfather of his one regret in life, then I will be ashamed to call myself a son of the Huyan line! I won’t be able to live up to Ancestor’s undisputed strength and reputation! That was why I sought Ancestor Chen for help…”

“You bastard!” Huyan Taibao shouted.

Huyan Yongping was so frightened he hastily kowtowed, gluing his head back to the ground. The two kneeling beside him were also trembling with fear.

Huyan Taibao glared at the person standing below, pointing at Huyan Yongping as he said angrily, “Chen Yuan, he may be ignorant, but how could you also fail to understand the severity of the situation and follow along with his whims? How dare you leak out the information regarding the Netherdragon Ship just to kill a mere Miao Yi?! Are you tired of living?!”

Chen Yuan cupped his fists. “My lord, please calm yourself! This Chen Yuan has followed you for many years, and is nothing if not absolutely loyal to you. For a mere cultivator to attempt murder on one of your descendants, they clearly don’t hold you in any regard. This Chen Yuan cannot abide by such insolence. Hence, I had to take proper action against it. Forgive me for being blunt, my lord, but there has always been much uncertainty as to the rumors concerning the Netherdragon Ship. We’re only using this opportunity to eliminate a little pest. Once enough time has passed without getting any leads on the Netherdragon Ship’s whereabouts, this whole incident will gradually blow off as well in due time.”

“Why didn’t you inform me about this earlier?”

“My lord, I didn’t wish to alarm you with such a minor affair…”

“Bullshit! A minor affair?!” Huyan Taibao looked as if he was going to eat Chen Yuan alive. He barked, “The Celestial Sage has already personally set forth to deal with this ‘minor affair’ of yours. How dare you make light of the situation so?! Do you know how heavy a commotion you’ve caused? Are you aware of how many people we sent out, the amount of resources we’ve spent on this whole affair?!”

“The Celestial Sage has personally stepped in?!” Chen Yuan exclaimed. “How is this possible? The Celestial Sage has never gone this far before even when we received similar news in the past!”

Perhaps Huyan Yongping couldn’t understand what his own ancestor was talking about, but Cao Lu and Su Yanran who were kneeling beside him were utterly aghast, now quivering in fear.

Huyan Taibao pointed a finger at Chen Yuan and bellowed, “Of all the times you could have picked… There just so happened to be a fifty thousand year gap between the first and second time the Netherdragon Ship resurfaced. And now, it’s been another fifty thousand years since. The Celestial Sage predicts that there’s a high chance of it resurfacing again, and is confident that the rumors are true!”

Chen Yuan was absolutely dazed. Even though his cultivation was high, he still couldn’t help the cold sheen of sweat from beading on his forehead. The reason why he spared no effort in getting Miao Yi to leave Celestial Nation domain to kill him was precisely so that the incident would be quickly brushed aside. But now, the matter had completely blown out of proportion!

“Heavens!” Huyan Taibao pointed at each person, his eyes reflecting the stress he was feeling inside as he questioned, “What have you lunatics done?!”

He was the one who had single-handedly spearheaded this Netherdragon Ship operation from the shadows. As such, it wasn’t too difficult for him to get to the bottom of things and find out who had leaked the information. All he needed to do was go down the chain of trust and leave no stone unturned. Contrary to his expectations, it didn’t take long for the investigation to reach a conclusion. Once suspicion was pointed towards Chen Yuan, the old man secretly revealed the truth to him. Huyan Taibao was nothing if not shocked by the revelation, to say the least.

As it turned out, over the decades, Huyan Kang’an had been seeking Chen Yuan’s help with regards to this issue. It was because Chen Yuan was the one who had always been in charge of matters concerning Huyan Taibao’s descendants. After all, where would the person in question find the time to deal with all these descendants from god knows how many thousands of generations apart? He already had enough on his plate dealing with those that were actual cultivators.

Against a few little weaklings, this matter should have originally been resolved with minimal effort. However, Chen Yuan didn’t want to bring trouble to Huyan Taibao. After all, it was not a small deal to kill off a Manor Head within the Celestial Nation domain. The consequences would be dire once people started looking into it. The local powerhouses weren’t pushovers either. Chen Yuan was simply thinking on Huyan Taibao’s behalf.

Coincidentally, Su Jinsong and the others from Suppressing Tenth Hall were at odds with Miao Yi, Zhao Fei, and Sikong Wuwei. As such, Chen Yuan centered his plan around Su Jinsong, wanting to use the latter’s hatred towards the other three for cutting off his arm to send them out of Celestial Nation territory, so that he could promptly deal with them afterward. However, Su Jinsong declined his offer. After which, Huyan Kang’an passed away, and thus the whole affair was temporarily put on hold.

Unexpectedly, years later, Su Jinsong came looking for them of his own accord. Furthermore, Huyan Kang’an’s grandson also had the intention of avenging his father. As long as there was a suspect, he didn’t want to let a single one of them go. It didn’t matter to him if they were killed off one at a time, or even if he could only kill some of them. His hatred was understandable; there was no reconciling with the murderer of one’s parents. As such, the plan was once again set into motion.

Chen Yuan knew that Granny Tao would always go to the Realm Beyond Heaven to visit Mu Fanjun after handing over the annual tribute every year, and that the latter trusted Granny Tao deeply. He knew full well that if he told Mu Fanjun news concerning the Netherdragon Ship around that time, then Granny Tao would surely be tasked with the responsibility of investigating its whereabouts. And with Su Jinsong on the other end recommending Miao Yi and the others into the special task force, the whole affair was pretty much a done deal.

This was not something that required much effort on Chen Yuan’s part. All he needed to do was casually let slip some information and all the pieces would just fall into place after that. He didn’t think much about it. After all, no one could be certain when it came to news regarding the Netherdragon Ship. As such, he assumed that nothing major would happen. Now that the conditions were set, all he needed to do was get Cao Lu—his subordinate auditor, to secretly hire someone to have Miao Yi killed. Chen Yuan didn’t think that this would be a difficult thing to do.

Was this really the truth behind everything? Huyan Taibao didn’t want to believe it at first, which was why he had personally come all this way to interrogate all those in question.

Now, after finally confirming the truth, Huyan Taibao felt as though he was about to go mad. As it turned out, this whole incident had happened because of some idiot descendant of his whose name he couldn’t even remember! To think that the upper echelons of the entire Celestial Nation were thrown into disarray by the whims of a mere mortal!

It would’ve been fine if it were anyone else; he would be able to deal with the situation accordingly. However, the mastermind just had to be his own descendant. There was no way he could wipe his own slate clean now no matter how hard he tried. Huyan Taibao couldn’t bear to imagine the consequences that would befall him once the Celestial Sage found out about this. Although he had heard of prodigal sons before, he had never known that a prodigal descendant could exist as well. He was really screwed over this time!

“You planned to kill four people. What about the other three? What else have you imbeciles done? You’d better tell me everything right now. Don’t try to hide anything. Otherwise, we’ll be spending the rest of our lives cutting all the loose ends!” Huyan Taibao clenched his fists tightly as he tried to calm his own rage; he was afraid that he might just massacre everyone on the spot once he was unable to contain his fury!

Terrified, Chen Yuan answered, “After Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei were promoted to Hall Master, it became difficult to make our move on them, so we didn’t. The only people left were this Miao Yi and Ren Xuanming, who also happened to be in Flowing Clouds Dune Sea. We’ve tried our hand against Ren Xuanming twice as well, but we failed both times. It’s because he’s currently working under the subordinate of one of the Two Braves—Pang Wuji. On both occasions, he was rescued by someone else. After that, he completely cooped himself up, making it even harder to make our move on him.”

Huyan Taibao broke out into cold laughter. “Great! So after putting in so much effort, it turns out you couldn’t even manage to kill off a single person! Instead, you louts stirred up such a major commotion. What a great job you’ve been doing!”