After Fei Si reported back, with Meng Kui's approval, he hurried back to Cloud City.
Upon seeing Zhu Xuanji and Song Fuli again, he first transmitted his voice to the former: "Lord Zhu, right now, Fire Persimmon Immortal City and the Magma Fairy Palace are under siege; we must unite and cooperate to overcome this crisis together."
"At the moment, we also need to rely on Song Fuli and his men to have a better chance against the demon beast tide and get through this crisis."
"I have already obtained Lord Meng Kui's authorization to discuss compensation matters with Song Fuli."
"I fear he might demand an exorbitant price... Alas, our position is indeed passive."
"Therefore, I hope that you, Lord Zhu, will consider us fellow citizens of Southern Bean Country and assist us!"
Zhu Xuanji nodded and quickly transmitted his voice back: "I am an official of the same court as Meng Kui, we are of one body; now that we are in the same boat, we must exert our efforts."
"Rest assured, I will also participate in the negotiations. I have authority over some matters of the royal family."
Both his personal position and the verbal contract in the dark had Zhu Xuanji actively participating in the negotiations.
With Zhu Xuanji's reinforcement, Fei Si secretly sighed in relief.
He invited Song Fuli to the City Lord's Mansion and asked Zhu Xuanji to accompany him, starting a negotiation.
It was obviously impossible to trace back the stolen valuables and return them to the Cloud Merchant in two days.
The City Lord's Mansion wanted to unite with the Cloud Merchant to combat the demon beast tide.
To show sincerity, they decided to negotiate compensation to draw in Song Fuli.
The negotiation was difficult, with the three parties entangled together, and the situation was quite complex.
On the surface, Zhu Xuanji and Fei Si were working together to negotiate with Song Fuli.
In the dark, Zhu Xuanji and Song Fuli had a tacit understanding, both wanting the City Lord's Mansion to bleed more.
After two hours, the compensation negotiation finally had a result.
Song Fuli's hearty laughter came from the reception room.
Fei Si's face was extremely grim. The City Lord's Mansion paid a huge price, and he almost didn't hold on to the bottom line left to him by Meng Kui.
Zhu Xuanji wiped the sweat off his forehead; he also paid a significant price on behalf of the Southern Bean Royal Family.
Song Fuli made a big profit!
Not only could he rightfully participate in the competition of the Magma Fairy Palace, but taking advantage of the demon beast tide, he made the City Lord's Mansion and the Southern Bean Royal Family pay high fees for their assistance.
In the end, the pit left by the stolen treasures was completely filled, and he still made a huge profit!
The three parties finalized the details and quickly signed the contract.
A knock on the door, a cultivator from the City Lord's Mansion came to report.
At this time, there was surely a significant event happening.
Fei Si thought there was a problem with the city defense and quickly let the subordinate in, only to hear about the "warehouse guard's embezzlement and dereliction of duty."
It turned out that during the demon beast attack, Fire Persimmon Immortal City had been on the defensive. Fei Si thought of mobilizing fire persimmons to make explosive materials on a large scale, to be used as a trump card in a critical moment.
However, when the subordinates went to the warehouse to fetch the fire persimmons, they found that a massive amount of fire persimmons had disappeared!
Since the fire persimmons were harvested during the Fire Persimmon Festival, the warehouse had been sealed, with only the management personnel being able to enter and leave.
The finger of blame pointed directly at the warehouse manager.
If it wasn't him who embezzled, then who else could it be?
This instantly infuriated Fei Si.
"Good, good, very good!"
"At such a critical moment, embezzlement and corruption, truly bringing shame to our City Lord's Mansion."
Fei Si's face turned a bit pale with anger.
He regretted calling in the subordinate and exposing this matter to Zhu Xuanji and Song Fuli.
Especially Song Fuli, who once again cast a distrustful look.
"I must have lost my mind, being so unwise as to handle official duties in front of outsiders!"
"Alas..."
Fei Si sighed. The negotiations just now had really drained his mind and energy; his senses were not sharp.
At this moment, he felt fortunate that they had already settled on the compensation and cooperation plan and signed the contract. Otherwise, Song Fuli might have taken this incident more lightly and demanded even more exorbitant prices from the City Lord's Mansion.
Given the circumstances, to restore the City's Lord Mansion's reputation, Fei Si decisively ordered: "Bring that embezzling officer here!"
Soon, the officer was escorted in, kneeling before Fei Si and the three Golden Core Cultivators.
"Speak up! How did you embezzle? What method did you use to forge the array records? Who did you sell those fire persimmons to?!" Fei Si demanded.
The Foundation Establishment level warehouse manager, terrified, cried: "Sir, Lord Fei Si, please judge the situation fairly!"
"I am innocent. I didn't embezzle a single persimmon."
"After the fire persimmons were harvested during the festival, they were directly delivered to the warehouse through the transport array."
"I only checked the surroundings and didn't dare touch them."
Fei Si's eyes were sharp: "Still dare to argue!"
"You inspected multiple times. Why didn't you discover this massive deficit until today when the fire persimmons were needed?"
The officer, in tears, replied: "Although I inspected daily, I only checked the exterior and didn't notice that the pile of fire persimmons had been hollowed out inside!"
"It's indeed my fault for neglecting my duties!"
"But I swear by the heavens, I didn't touch a single fire persimmon!"
The officer's weeping seemed sincere.
"Good, avoid the heavy and shift to the light. I'm sure you've already planned this, haven't you?" Fei Si's face darkened, revealing a murderous intent.
Zhu Xuanji sighed softly. He saw that Fei Si wanted to deal with this swiftly to set an example and restore the City Lord's Mansion's reputation.
This was hasty.
Zhu Xuanji couldn't bear it and stood up: "I just used a method to see. This person isn't lying."
"How many fire persimmons are missing?"
Fei Si's face was grim, glaring at Zhu Xuanji like a hawk.
The two exchanged glances. Ultimately, Fei Si did not want Song Fuli to see internal strife within the Southern Bean Country and hence decided to retreat a step, reporting a compromised number.
Zhu Xuanji's eyes shone with golden light, instantly recognizing that Fei Si was lying about the numbers.
Clearly, in such a situation, Fei Si could only report fewer losses.
This immediately made Zhu Xuanji frown deeply, his expression darkening: "So much?!"
A vast amount of fire persimmons, especially millennia and millennium-old fire persimmons, were missing.
Fire persimmons were akin to fire essence; if they were used by malicious individuals, they could cause massive harm to the Magma Fairy Palace, particularly during the ongoing attacks of the demon beast tide.
If the fire persimmons were to explode and cause a collapse at the front line, allowing the demon beasts to invade the city, it would lead to heavy casualties.
"This matter must be thoroughly investigated and not overlooked!"
Zhu Xuanji fixed his gaze on the officer, golden light radiating from his eyes.
This was truly a dreadful piece of news, even more crucial than the theft of Cloud Merchant's goods.
Song Fuli spoke: "Being able to steal from the City Lord's Mansion's treasury so easily and only now being discovered, could it be the same group of people?"
"The Bukong Sect?" Fei Si's eyes flashed with brilliance, "Highly possible!"
If not for Zhu Xuanji, he would immediately have concluded this. Whatever the case, he couldn't shoulder this blame alone; it would affect his career.
Zhu Xuanji, however, had principles and said: "We still need to investigate to determine the true culprit!"
Originally, he thought the Cloud Merchant issue was resolved, and he could return to the Magma Fairy Palace immediately, but he didn't expect the fire persimmon theft case to arise.
He wasted no time and immediately went to the warehouse for an on-site investigation.
Under his Golden Eyes, almost nothing could hide.
Soon, Zhu Xuanji made a shocking discovery!
"Black Shadow Demon Cultivator?!"
Tracing back, Zhu Xuanji "saw" a scene that had taken place there before.
A Black Shadow Demon Cultivator had hidden in the fire persimmon warehouse, taking large quantities of fire persimmons, then enveloped in black smoke, slithered out like a black python through the array's gaps.
The warehouse had six layers of arrays, yet the black python slipped through the gaps between arrays with ease!
"So, the Black Shadow Demon Cultivator had been hiding here all along? But is he the original Black Shadow Demon Cultivator?"
During the Golden Core War, several Black Shadow Demon Cultivators had appeared. Zhu Xuanji couldn't determine this one's true identity just from the past image.
"Was it the Meng Family's insider theft? Or is the City Lord's Mansion merely a victim?"
Suddenly, a fog of confusion shrouded Zhu Xuanji's mind.
Seeing Zhu Xuanji's changing expression, Fei Si urgently asked: "Lord Zhu, have you uncovered any key clues?"
"I have found something. It was a Black Shadow Demon Cultivator who stole the fire persimmons!" Zhu Xuanji decided to be frank.
Fei Si's eyes widened: "Black Shadow Demon Cultivator?!"
He was momentarily dazed before reacting: "Wait, then doesn't that mean anyone could be the culprit?"
After the Golden Core War, the identity of the Black Shadow Demon Cultivator had become widespread, and anyone could play that part.
Zhu Xuanji slowly nodded.
He said: "Fire Persimmon Mountain often tremors, even with the Magma Fairy Palace suppressing it, tremors are unavoidable."
"The City Protecting Great Array remains largely unchanged; due to mountain tremors, repairs and maintenance are perennial tasks."
"The six layers of arrays were initially set up tightly with no gaps."
"But over time, gaps inevitably formed due to the mountain's tremors."
"The Black Shadow Demon Cultivator exploited these gaps to enter and exit the warehouse."
Fei Si's eyes widened: "Such small gaps, can they fit a person?"
Zhu Xuanji sighed: "It seems they used some kind of spell or divine skills."
Fei Si was speechless.
After a moment of silence, he reacted completely.
Fei Si immediately bowed deeply to Zhu Xuanji, sincerely stating: The City Lord's Mansion's side was absolutely a victim; this was by no means a self-orchestrated event.
Zhu Xuanji's eyes radiated golden light, intensely staring at Fei Si.
"I know you're not lying. But just because you didn't do it, doesn't mean the City Lord's Mansion didn't. Right?" Zhu Xuanji transmitted.
Fei Si was dumbfounded.
Zhu Xuanji meant that Meng Kui could have arranged things behind Fei Si's back.
That was indeed possible.
After all, using a demon pawn for righteous purposes was taboo and best kept secret.
If such a thing truly existed, Fei Si would rather remain ignorant!
The more he knew about such secrets, the more danger he'd be in.
Fei Si subconsciously glanced at the Persimmon Mountain Peak, realizing his action was inappropriate.
He frowned, immediately assuring he would issue an order for a thorough investigation at the front line and all critical points in the immortal city.
"But regarding the Magma Fairy Palace, I'm powerless." Fei Si then sighed deeply, helplessly requesting Zhu Xuanji to follow through with the investigation down that line!
Zhu Xuanji also sighed: "I need to consider comprehensively."