Southern Continent, Xuanwu Kingdom.
Within Yuzhou City.
Xu Linglong wore a veil, her gaze sweeping across the surroundings of Yuzhou City—the vendors hawking their wares, the occasional patrol of city guards passing by.
Bai Bo walked at Xu Linglong's side, his black clothing concealing nearly his entire body, his face covered by an oddly shaped hat. Yet his proportions, which were distinctly non-human, still drew attention on the main street.
Always attracting stares.
Bai Bo did not like these curious, measuring gazes—ants had no right to look at a god with curiosity and doubt.
The only things they were allowed to feel were terror and reverence.
"Must we really go into the city?"
Bai Bo watched Xu Linglong browsing like a young girl out shopping and couldn't help but ask.
"Of course. We've chased down so many leads only to end up here. If we don't investigate thoroughly now, what was the point of all that effort?"
Xu Linglong's tone carried a playful edge. She glanced at a candied hawthorn vendor on the street, her slender fingers lifting slightly, and the next instant a skewer of candied hawthorn materialized in her hand:
"The Western Niu Continent won't buy us much more time."
"Chu Xingchen is proving difficult. He's trying to shift the Buddhist sect's problems onto us while forcing us to monitor developments there."
"If that Radiant Buddha truly enters the Great Thunder Temple with his profound Buddhist cultivation, we might as well dig our own graves."
"After all, if things came to that, even I would want to sell you all out just to survive safely."
"I have to say, Tianyan Sect really knows how to find a Buddha with great Buddhist cultivation to draw fire at exactly the right moment."
"Oh, and there's worse news I haven't told you yet."
Bai Bo's headache deepened as he listened. When Xu Linglong indicated there was still worse news to come, his emotions grew complicated. After a moment of silence, he still asked:
"What other bad news?"
Xu Linglong bit into a candied hawthorn, chewing it up before speaking with her mouth somewhat full:
"Several days ago, my little Donggua I placed in the Central Province got caught. She wasn't killed, and it doesn't seem like she was interrogated either. Now she's heading straight for the Western Niu Continent."
"In a few more days, she'll probably end up in someone's hands."
"Who knows what they'll do with my poor little Donggua."
Bai Bo frowned. "It's certainly not going to be good for us. Why not just eliminate Donggua directly?"
"You're quite ruthless." Xu Linglong pointed her candied hawthorn at Bai Bo. "That girl must be useful—otherwise, even if we tore her into a hundred pieces, we couldn't have slipped one past Tianyan Sect's doorstep."
Bai Bo said, "This could be a diversionary tactic."
"Even a diversion gives us information, which is better than nothing." Xu Linglong tossed aside the half-eaten candied hawthorn since it didn't suit her taste, then continued:
"The world's growing more constrained these days."
"We used to just fight when we were displeased, but now even with our Tribulation Transcendence cultivation, we have to gather intelligence like ordinary mortals."
Bai Bo sighed lightly. "You don't need to test me. I understand that small patience prevents great disasters."
Xu Linglong's clear laughter rang out from beneath her gauze hat:
"See? After spending some time with me, your brain's finally working."
Bai Bo snorted, his tone slightly annoyed:
"Stop teasing me. Chu Xingchen may have left traces here, but finding his weakness won't be easy. The key disciples have already been taken to Tianyan Sect, and those who weren't taken aren't important figures."
Xu Linglong waved her hand dismissively:
"How much do you actually know about Chu Xingchen? That he's ruthless in the dark? That his origins are unknown? What do you think the more critical information is?"
Bai Bo turned his head away:
"Just say what you want to say. I know my brain doesn't work as well as yours."
Xu Linglong stopped walking, her gaze fixed on the entrance to Yuzhou City's Demon Suppression Bureau ahead:
"What's more critical is understanding what kind of person he is normally, how his logic works when he operates. No matter how erratic someone's thinking is, there's still a general pattern."
"From what I know, many of a person's logical patterns are established when they're at their weakest and most vulnerable."
"To change those foundational patterns requires a complete upheaval."
"Just knowing who Chu Xingchen associates with isn't enough. We need to learn to understand him."
"And then… prepare ourselves to take him down!"
"Whether it's the Buddhist sect's chaos or the Central Province's grand schemes."
"We lost to the Heavenly Mandate last time, and we should learn from that experience."
"We need to deal with the Heavenly Mandate first, otherwise everything else is just empty talk."
"This is both a crisis and our final opportunity, and we can pay a heavy price for it."
Bai Bo also looked toward the Demon Suppression Bureau and asked:
"But how do you know Chu Xingchen's true nature isn't that of a true dragon?"
Xu Linglong's tone grew calm:
"Because a true dragon is just a fool who roars and claws, thinking he can solve everything."
"Chu Xingchen is a chess player who knows how to leverage circumstances and arrange everything."
"Before victory, I won't underestimate Chu Xingchen even slightly."
Bai Bo watched the once-proudest Xu Linglong now treating someone with such gravity.
Even willing to personally gather intelligence.
Bai Bo adjusted the hat on his head:
"I'll follow your lead. Let's go."
Xu Linglong stopped at his words, sizing Bai Bo up from head to toe, arms crossed in silence.
Bai Bo looked at her in confusion and asked:
"What's wrong?"
Xu Linglong's tone was gentle:
"Just wait here for me."
Bai Bo asked in confusion: "Why?"
"Because you don't look much like a person."
After saying that, Xu Linglong waved her hand slightly and headed toward the Demon Suppression Bureau entrance alone.
Bai Bo stood where he was, watching Xu Linglong's departing figure.
For a moment, he wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment—because he really didn't like humans.
Fine. Less work meant less teasing from Xu Linglong.
Working with Xu Linglong meant he could leave the thinking to her. Staying silent showed disdain, but if he actually used his brain, she'd just give him that pitying look.
The most infuriating part was that she always insisted he think for himself.
Otherwise she'd start mocking and ridiculing him.
Xu Linglong concealed her aura and strode directly through the front entrance of the Demon Suppression Bureau.
The two Qi Refining guards at the door didn't react at all.
Once inside, Xu Linglong didn't reveal herself immediately. Instead, she surveyed the entire facility inside and out.
She extended her spiritual consciousness outward, beginning to monitor the entire Demon Suppression Bureau.
She also located her destination—the archives.
Xu Linglong walked into the archives just as openly, then casually placed the archivist under an illusion while setting up a grand illusion array outside the archives.
Every sealed document in the archives floated into the air.
Xu Linglong rapidly scanned through these documents with her spiritual consciousness.
Chu Xingchen and the Demon Suppression Bureau personnel had dealt with the Evil Spirit Cult together. As long as it was properly filed, there had to be case records of the event here.
Through the case files, she could naturally learn who had worked alongside Chu Xingchen on this matter.
Once she had a starting point, everything else would follow logically.
Within just a few breaths, Xu Linglong's eyebrows lifted—she'd found it.
Xu Linglong raised her hand slightly, and the document fell into her grasp. Just as she was about to examine it more closely—
Her monitoring spiritual consciousness caught someone mentioning a name—Chu Xingchen.
Xu Linglong focused her spiritual consciousness to search.
She found only a female physician.
The female physician seemed to be brewing medicine, still talking to herself:
"Did you hold back when teaching me? Why does it still feel like something's missing?"
The corners of Xu Linglong's mouth curved upward slightly.
Teaching?
Master and disciple?
An unexpected windfall.
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