Wait a minute, where is my master?

Brother Li, bound to the pillar: "!?!"

Li Mi was somewhat surprised when he heard what Jin Xu had said, turning to say something.

Suddenly, he heard a cracking sound near his ear.

From his years of experience as a watchman, he judged that this sound was generally made when a skull was fractured.

He turned around to look.

Indeed.

The head of the Jingyu Building assassin had changed from an O shape to a () shape.

Li Mi turned his gaze toward the initiator of this event, who was the owner of the spiritual power hand—Kui Lei.

"Commander Kui, you..."

Kui Lei, standing nearby, stuck out her tongue slightly, with a somewhat embarrassed expression, "Cough, Mr. Li, as you know, I used to work in the imperial guards, where we had to act quickly on orders from the superiors. So when the Taoist gave the command, I instinctively acted."

Li Mi's face was a mix of emotions, but he had heard about the imperial guards' speed, and indeed, that was the requirement there.

"It's just one assassin, dead is dead. I'm only worried that the secret he hadn't revealed might affect young Taoist Jin Xu."

"There's no problem, I watched your entire interrogation just now."

Jin Xu was holding the Recording Ball, stepping forward.

After scanning over the Jingyu Building assassin, whose expression was one of reluctance, but who had taken his secrets with him to death, he seriously said, "He had confessed before, in Gusu City, Shangjing City, Qing State, and along the way to Great Xia, Jingyu Building had arranged people to leave traces on me.

"In that case, let's publicize my return to Shangjing City."

"Mr. Jin, do you want to use yourself as bait to fish out the person behind this?"

The Empress of Great Xia, who had been silent up until now, suddenly interjected.

The young Taoist did not speak, smiling quietly as he nodded, and naturally recalled the scene in Qingmu City.

...

In Qingmu City.

He had once asked the old dean of the academy what realm the Demon Sect cultivator he had killed was in. The answer was that he was in the Mahayana Realm, the same as him.

Initially, Jin Xu was startled by this information, not expecting that a cultivator of the Mahayana Realm could be so weak?

Then he realized.

His strength seemed to be stronger than he had imagined.

After asking that question, the young Taoist further inquired about the strength of a True Immortal in the world, to which the dean replied that he had never seen one, as the Nine Provinces Realm hadn't seen a cultivator of that realm for a very long time.

After all, generally, cultivators at the top of the Mahayana Realm who had the capability and no attachments would choose to ascend.

It seems that the only one capable of ascending but who had not yet done so in the Nine Provinces Realm was that old fellow from the Kunlun Immortal Palace.

Hearing this, Jin Xu felt much more confident.

Even feeling a bit inflated.

...

Inside the prison.

The young Taoist caressed the Recording Ball in his hand, ending his reminiscence.

It was precisely because of the old dean's words from Qingmu Academy that he had just made this risky decision to use himself as bait.

After all, the one who had moved Jingyu Building to act, though probably another Mahayana Realm cultivator, couldn't be a living True Immortal, could he?

Such beings did not currently exist in the Nine Provinces Realm.

...

In a place known as the Immortal Realm in the Nine Provinces Realm.

Atop a towering peak, four differently colored apparitions silently watched the elderly man in a green robe at the center.

Time passed by minute by minute.

The four silhouettes remained silent.

The elder with a long beard felt the pressure mounting. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, consuming each other until they grew to the size of soybeans and slid down the side of his face, dampening his beard.

After a long while, just when the elder felt he could no longer stand and was about to collapse, the silhouette in the east finally spoke up.

"Lin Yuju, what was it that you wanted to discuss with us?"

"Right, weren't we sleeping? How did we end up here?"

Following the words of the eastern silhouette, the black silhouette in the north also chimed in.

The voices of the two silhouettes shook the entire mountain.

The long-bearded elder finally could no longer hold himself up and collapsed to the ground.

"Big Brother, Fourth Brother, your memories are really poor. Little Lin had called us here to... eh, Little Lin, what was it you wanted to tell us?"

The fiery red silhouette in the south spoke, her voice suggesting she was a woman.

"Hahahaha, Second Sister, you mock the memory of Big Brother and Fourth Brother, but you are not much better. However, who is this little sapling? Did we four siblings know him before?"

The golden silhouette on the west side intended to tease but found themselves confused as well.

Lin Yuju, sitting on the ground, sighed deeply in his heart upon seeing the divine monarchs' forgetfulness and struggled to stand up.

He began his narrative for the third time.

"Divine Monarchs, I once left a legacy in a small world called the Nine Provinces. Some days ago, someone breached that legacy, and the sliver of divine consciousness I left there was triggered. I never imagined that the person who crossed the legacy would actually..."

The slow yet firm voice of the long-bearded elder once again lingered over this lofty peak piercing the clouds.

...

Nine Provinces Realm, Shangjing City.

The residence where Xia Yunzhao lived when she was still a princess, in the backyard of the estate granted to Jin Xu.

The small Taoist and his companions stood still, their faces lined with frustration.

The household butler looked awkward, his mouth slightly open as if trying to explain something.

"Temple master, I think the big fellow seems to be enjoying himself quite a bit. Maybe we shouldn't intervene."

"Right, my lord, I think Little White has a point."

Jin Xu remained silent, not uttering a word but merely closed his eyes.

He had no choice, the scene in the courtyard at this moment was truly eye-watering!

The deaf and blind Xu Qian was currently in the courtyard, playing the game of eagle catches chicks with a group of men—dressed in gauzy skirts and emitting fragrant scents.

As he ran, he shouted, "Beauties, your Brother Xu is coming, make sure to hide well—"

"Housekeeper Wang, I entrusted you to take good care of this person, what is happening now!"

Xia Yunzhao could hardly stand it anymore and asked coldly.

"To reply to Your Majesty, this, this, this... I truly had no choice!"

Housekeeper Wang lifted his skirt and knelt down with a plop, hurriedly explaining.

"Lord Xu has been bored recently and wanted to play some games with the maids. I informed him that Your Majesty had already ordered all maids to be moved out of the estate.

But then Lord Xu told me that we could hire some professional women from outside.

I thought bringing those kind of women into the estate would anger Your Majesty.

Then I thought since Lord Xu can neither see nor hear, it would be sufficient if they smelled and felt like women.

So, I ordered people to buy cosmetics and gauzy skirts, and had all the male servants in the household dress up and use them.

And then...

Then Your Majesty and the lords arrived."

The old butler finished with a mournful expression. Before Xia Yunzhao could say anything,

Little White couldn't hold back any longer.

"Pfft, Sister Yunzhao, this butler of yours is really a piece of work!"