As the man turned to head back into the city, Lin Xiao’s heart sank. He hurried after him, but the gate guards barred his way.
“Stop!”
“Sir, I really do have urgent business—that’s why I came here. And you can see for yourself: I dared to bring this thing with me. That proves I had no choice. Otherwise, why would I risk entering alone?”
Since things had come to this, he might as well take the gamble. If he could get inside first, he could figure the rest out later!
Sure enough, upon hearing his words, the man turned back with a mocking smile. Lin Xiao thought he would be allowed in, but instead, after a long silence, the man asked: “You’re certain you came here with ten people?”
“Huh?”
Lin Xiao froze. He had come alone, hadn’t he? Since leaving the mountain, he hadn’t seen Zhang Nu. But going by those words… could it be—
“Not long ago, someone reported a suspicious figure caught at the gate. I came to see, and found you here. I thought you were the one they caught. But now… it seems you’re not him. Which means you’re together.” The man spoke with an air of certainty, a confident smile tugging at his lips.
So the one caught earlier was Zhang Nu! No wonder Lin Xiao hadn’t seen him along the way…
Then, a blindfold was thrown over Lin Xiao’s eyes, and he was dragged away, flanked on both sides. He didn’t know where they were taking him. Only when he felt firelight and waves of heat through the fabric did someone finally pull the blindfold off.
The burly man from before was now seated comfortably in a chair, sipping tea. He glanced at Lin Xiao with narrowed eyes.
“Speak. Who are you people? Why are you here?”
The genial smile from before was gone. In its place was a cold, sinister grin that promised trouble.
“I really do have important business with your city lord—”
“I am the city lord.”
Lin Xiao’s words were cut off.
“What?” He blinked. So this man was the lord of the city? All that time at the gate, and he had been speaking with the city lord himself? What a joke.
“Then you must be the famed Leng Hantian!”
Upon learning the man’s identity, Lin Xiao immediately changed his tone.
“No wonder! Back at the gate, when you said you’d seen me before, I didn’t catch on. So we really have met! Your feat of venturing into the frozen lands alone and slaying a snow beast—everyone knows that story!”
“Get to the point. Why are you here?” Once again, Leng Hantian cut him off. Clearly, he had no patience for flattery.
“You kept saying you were here for a trade, yet from start to finish, you’ve said nothing about it. Isn’t that proof you have ulterior motives? Carrying this box into my Imperial City—you’ve got guts.” Leng Hantian sneered.
Lin Xiao could guess—anyone carrying this wooden box would be assumed to have come for some rare prize in the frozen lands. And perhaps, whoever had come before him had never walked back out again. That was why Leng Hantian mocked him so.
What struck Lin Xiao as odd, however, was that Leng Hantian wasn’t half as terrifying as the rumors suggested. From the start, he had spoken calmly, almost politely.
“Of course, the name of Lord Leng is known everywhere. Since I dared come here, I naturally came prepared. To speak plainly, I possess a spirit stone unlike any other. I can name a price and offer it to Lord Leng in exchange.”
Leng Hantian’s treasures were countless, as he had swept through the entire black market. Ordinary valuables would never move him. But Lin Xiao still had some confidence in the stone he carried.
Hearing this, the attendants at Leng Hantian’s side covered their mouths and snickered. In this city, if there was one thing they lacked least of all, it was treasures.
“What kind of spirit stone?”
Leng Hantian’s face betrayed no change. To him, such words carried no weight. He had seen far too many so-called treasures.
Lin Xiao knew this, too. Someone who had conquered the black market—how could any random item impress him? Weren’t all the treasures others dared not touch eventually gathered into Leng Hantian’s hands? Many had even offered them up willingly.
That was why neither Leng Hantian’s power nor the city he built had ever been shaken.