"Miss Ran Xi, please wait!"
The middle-aged man had already decided that the woman before him was a true expert. He had to keep her here.
Yunxi waved a hand without even looking back. "No need to persuade me. If you cannot answer my questions, there is no point in my staying. Report to your superiors. When you can answer me directly, come find me."
With that, she pressed the down button on the elevator.
The man and woman in black suits stepped forward to stop Yunxi, but the middle-aged man stopped them. He understood very well that they could not detain this person by force. Her level was above theirs.
Yunxi left the solitary Motian Building without trouble. She took out her phone and contacted Lan Lan, asking her to pick her up.
On the other end, Lan Lan took a moment to inform Xia Mengmeng, who was on set, then immediately drove over.
Lan Lan had already heard the rough outline from Xia Mengmeng. She had been badly frightened. A horror film set was eerie enough, and she had not expected Sister Xia to be truly possessed. Fortunately, Master Ran Xi acted in time. Otherwise, she suspected she would have been the next victim.
Now Lan Lan respected Master Ran Xi from the bottom of her heart, so she drove as fast as she safely could.
Yunxi walked slowly down the road with Li Li in her arms, discussing her deductions with him. Li Li responded with soft "woo-woo" sounds from time to time. To outsiders, it looked like chickens and ducks talking, yet somehow perfectly in sync.
It was in this scene that Lan Lan pulled up beside Yunxi, hurried over to open the door, and welcomed both woman and pet into the car. After picking them up, she laid on the compliments in rainbow layers, even praising Li Li from the tips of his ears to the end of his tail. Only then did she ask,
"Master Ran Xi, should we go to Sister Xia's residence at the studio, or would you prefer to stay temporarily at Sister Xia's villa here?"
Yunxi thought for a moment. "Take me to the studio. That place is interesting. But I will not squeeze in with Xia Mengmeng. Rent me a separate place, one that allows pets."
"Alright, no problem."
Lan Lan immediately changed course toward the Film City.
Yunxi had previously used her divine sense to probe the Film City. It could truly rival a large city in the cultivation world. The grounds were vast and contained everything one could need. Within the sprawling complex, thousands of sets recreated different eras and styles, almost perfectly restoring real scenes from Azure Star's historical dynasties.
And the extras came from every sort of background. Whatever one could imagine existed there. Yunxi found it fascinating and planned to stay for a while, waiting for an official response and gathering more information about Azure Star. She still knew too little to make a precise judgment.
News that Yunxi had settled at the Film City reached Azure Star's special division immediately. After reading the report, the middle-aged man instructed his subordinates,
"Dig up everything on this Ran Xi. I want her entire movement trail."
"Yes, Minister."
After the subordinate left, the man stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring out at the city in a daze. He kept feeling that this woman named Ran Xi knew something. Just then, the twins walked into the minister's office, faces alight with excitement.
"Minister, we have delivered the spirits that woman detained to the Purification Department. They said these thirty-two spirits do not require purification and can be implanted directly into the wombs."
The middle-aged man snapped his head around. "Are you certain?"
"Yes. The Purification Department's minister refused to take it on faith and tested personally. There is virtually no negative energy in the soul bodies. They can be implanted directly."
One of the twins answered at once.
"No wonder she asked those questions. She must know about our division's predicament." The middle-aged man muttered to himself.
"Minister, please let me and my younger brother monitor her. We might find answers through the people she contacts." Gongsun Jing, one of the twins, volunteered.
Gongsun Ming echoed him. "That's right, Minister. Since we know she holds key information, we cannot let her leave the special division's sight."
The middle-aged man tapped the table with a finger, then said in a deep voice, "I will return to headquarters personally. You two halt your current assignments and keep an eye on Miss Ran Xi. Do not startle her. We do not want the opposite effect."
"Yes, Minister."
They answered immediately.
The man then hurried out of the skyscraper. Some matters could not be discussed over the phone, so he had to return to headquarters.
At present, Yunxi and the special division held asymmetric information, so neither side could make a precise judgment.
Because of the Master Yu incident, the special division believed Ran Xi had grasped the confidential reincarnation protocol that was not public. Yunxi, for her part, pieced together scattered clues with her own experience and inferred that Azure Star's souls had been tainted, guessing blindly that the underworld had a problem.
Each side believed the other was deliberately hiding crucial facts, so both began watching the other in secret.
At this time, Yunxi took out a message jade slip and sent separate messages to Xun Kun, Han Lian, and Yun Chen, hoping to receive their replies. However, a long while passed with no response.
She rubbed the Buddhist bead set into her storage bracelet once more. The bead remained silent, proving that all three were quite far from her, beyond the range of her divine sense. At the moment, her divine sense was suppressed to the Golden Core stage, leaving her half blind. It was an uncomfortable feeling.
The three people on Yunxi's mind had each fallen into different places on Azure Star and were dealing with their own headaches.
After feeling the red cord around his wrist snap, Xun Kun gave up on pulling Yunxi to his side and immediately activated his protective jade talisman. This had been compensation from Wu Tong Zūnzhě, said to substitute for Jin Can's apology gift.
Xun Kun had not wanted to accept it, but he had promised to explore the Northern region's Polar Extreme Wind Zone with Ran Xi and, for the moment, had no plans to return to the Southern region. In the end, he accepted the talisman and put the matter with Jin Can behind him.
When Xun Kun was thrown into Azure Star, the protective jade talisman shattered completely. He avoided the lethal grinding of the spatial gale, but he was still badly injured and fell unconscious in the descent. Before losing consciousness, he triggered his protective mask.
The filigreed mask Xun Kun wore was not only the emblem of Kunmo Sect, it was also a protective spirit treasure that would shield him if he was attacked while unconscious.
He plunged headfirst into an outdoor swimming pool, startling Miss Daphne Sack, who was vacationing at this private estate. She ordered the butler to fish the unconscious Xun Kun from the water and had the accompanying physician examine him.
Miss Daphne was very curious about the man's mask and wanted to see his face, but she could not remove the mysterious black mask. Her curiosity only grew. She turned and instructed,
"Butler, you must take good care of him. Do not let him die. When he wakes, I want him to repay my life-saving grace."
"Yes, Miss Daphne. I will look after him."
The butler answered respectfully, then urged Miss Daphne to return to her room.