Liu Mu could not wait to share the news. "I only found out after I heard some people talking about it."
"Cyan Silk Algae is a natural element that grows in the River of Forgetfulness, and a superior-grade one at that!"
Liu Mu's eyes glazed over, lost in thought. "Superior grade... If anyone manages to fuse with a superior-grade element, I bet countless factions would pour all their resources into nurturing them. They could reach at least the 6th Tier."
Li Ban nodded, thinking of the terrifying display of the Cyan Silk Algae in the River of Forgetfulness.
If someone could fuse with the Cyan Silk Algae, their combat prowess would undoubtedly be astonishing.
He would not go so far as to say they could take on a hundred opponents alone, but taking on ten would certainly be no problem.
At that moment, Huo Jiang walked over, wearing his usual honest facade.
Hearing their conversation, he let out a heavy sigh.
"Never mind 6th Tier Spirit Cultivators, even those above the 6th Tier wouldn't be able to resist snatching a superior-grade element if they saw one."
"The Eternal Trading Association released this information because the spore plate of the Cyan Silk Algae they obtained fell off. It can no longer produce seeds, so they can only try to recultivate it from its root system."
"However, the chances of such cultivation succeeding are incredibly slim, and it would take decades. That is why they plan to find an opportunity to auction off the Cyan Silk Algae's root system and main stem directly."
Liu Mu was very respectful to Huo Jiang, just as he was in front of Zhang Baishan.
"Official Huo, I heard the Myriad Ancient Pagoda lost a lot of people trying to dredge up the Cyan Silk Algae. In the end, they didn't even get the spore plate. Pagoda Master Wan must be furious."
Huo Jiang, who never put on airs, spread his hands. "Yeah, they took a massive loss. But before knowing the outcome, who could resist the temptation to take a gamble?"
Seeing the two chatting back and forth, Li Ban asked, "How do you know all this?"
The Death Prison was a highly isolated place.
Li Ban had just returned from the Black Market and hadn't heard any of these rumors.
Liu Mu simply smiled and said nothing.
Huo Jiang answered, "I went to deliver corpses to the Myriad Ancient Pagoda yesterday."
Li Ban looked surprised. "Doesn't Lu Qinghe usually go?"
Errands like delivering corpses weren't typically given to a prison official.
Huo Jiang gave a vague reply. "Chief Du sent Lu Qinghe out recently, and I happened to have business at the Myriad Ancient Pagoda anyway."
Delivering corpses to the Myriad Ancient Pagoda again?
Li Ban wondered if he should mention the Myriad Ancient Pagoda's suspicious activity to the Director the next time he temporarily logged out.
Du An used to be a subordinate of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda's master. That meant his collection of Spirit Practitioner corpses in the Death Prison might have been authorized by the pagoda master.
If they wanted to confirm the General's identity and find the Core Element as quickly as possible, they couldn't focus entirely on the Death Prison.
Li Ban knew that the Laboratory had sent many other people into the Wizard World besides him and Ze.
He wondered if the Laboratory had any spies inside the Myriad Ancient Pagoda.
Noticing that Li Ban had been silent for a while, Huo Jiang asked, "Li Ban, what are you spacing out for?"
Li Ban looked up and immediately replied, "I was wondering if I should visit the Eternal Trading Association to see if there are any suitable elements. I could also take the chance to see what the main stem of the Cyan Silk Algae they're selling looks like."
Liu Mu shook his head. "You're not thinking of going to the River of Forgetfulness to pick up Cyan Silk Algae, are you? Forget it. The Fanggu Pagoda sends people down to the riverbed to check every day now. Besides, the Cyan Silk Algae's strength underwater is comparable to a 5th Tier Spirit Cultivator. We can only dream about it."
Huo Jiang suddenly dropped the smile from his eyes and turned to Liu Mu. "I almost forgot. The servant in charge of the fourth level got injured. Liu Mu, go take Yu Li and cover the fourth level for now. Then tell that injured idiot to scram to the Second Level."
Liu Mu opened his mouth, feeling that Huo Jiang had brought this topic up rather abruptly.
However, he quickly agreed and immediately went to carry out the order.
But when he reached the entrance of the Death Prison, he couldn't help looking back at Li Ban and Huo Jiang standing outside the training grounds.
Although he and Li Ban were currently both prison guards, Li Ban was already running errands for the higher-ups. They would soon be walking very different paths.
Sometimes, Liu Mu would harbor dark thoughts: 'Gu Yueqi died, and Li Ban took his place. If Li Ban dies, would the superiors give me a chance?'
But remembering Tree-Person B's tragic fate, Liu Mu shivered and hastily suppressed those dark thoughts.
On the other side, after Liu Mu left, Huo Jiang made sure no one was around before handing a small pouch to Li Ban.
"This is the mask the Chief gave you. Remember to wear it whenever you have a mission outside. Also, you don't need to worry about Zhou Jinhai's corpse. His head is already in the stomach of a ring-tailed black panther."
The man who reared a tiger to his own detriment had ultimately ended up in its belly.
However—
"Did you send people into the mountains to find Zhou Jinhai?"
"Just to confirm that you didn't leave any traces behind. Don't worry, the people who went into the mountains don't know about you, nor do they know who killed Zhou Jinhai."
Huo Jiang wasn't worried about Li Ban; he just needed to ensure that no one would use Li Ban to discover Zhai Liu's existence.
Li Ban pocketed the mask. He certainly didn't think Huo Jiang and Zhai Liu were trying to protect him.
They merely wanted him to complete some unknown, arduous task.
"One more thing," Huo Jiang said, resting his hands behind his back. "Although it's not the right time yet, I'll let you know in advance. Even if you get promoted to a Copper Badge in the Assassin Hall, do not fuse with any elements. Come back. We have already prepared a suitable element for you."
They had actually... prepared another element!
Li Ban's face twisted into a bitter expression. "I actually bought an element to keep on hand."
"It's fine. You can sell whatever you don't need, or save it for later. If you can complete the tasks the Chief assigns you, do you really think you'll have to worry about not being able to advance?"
Li Ban could only nod honestly, regretting that the time to reveal the elements he had fused with would have to be delayed again.
Having finished his instructions, Huo Jiang left.
Li Ban remained on the training grounds to continue his practice.
Only this time, he was somewhat distracted.
Zhai Liu was able to influence Du An's decisions. He had terrified the prisoner Lin Han, originally a 5th Tier Spirit Cultivator, into cowering like a mouse, and he had even dared to help the Cat Girl break out of prison.
That meant he had to be at least a 6th Tier figure.
Would the people at the Laboratory know about Zhai Liu's situation?
Since Chen Dong had also served as a prison guard, could he have seen Zhai Liu before?
But the Director clearly didn't want to tell him any extra information.
Li Ban could sense that the Director didn't care about him as a spy nearly as much as he pretended to.
He was just doing everything he could to make Li Ban bring back as much useful information as possible.
One day, the Laboratory would move Li Ban around like a useful chess piece, or even sacrifice him for some hidden purpose.
After all, it wouldn't be a true death.
And Li Ban was far from the only chess piece they had.
After some thought, he decided against revealing anything about Zhai Liu.
It was better to prevent the Laboratory from conducting reckless investigations that might backfire and get him killed.
Moreover, after observing for a while, Li Ban didn't believe Zhai Liu was the "General" either.
The network of connections behind Zhai Liu was incredibly complex.
Du An had warned Li Ban that if anyone discovered Zhai Liu was in the Death Prison, it would bring an enormous crisis upon the facility.
No matter how one looked at it, Zhai Liu was a mysterious local bigwig of the Wizard World.
Most importantly, there was absolutely nothing on Zhai Liu that resembled a Core Element.
The Death Prison didn't even give him a shred of meat, much less whole corpses.
Since Zhai Liu wasn't highly suspicious, there was no need to report him. "Is this how you practice your saber techniques?"
A voice interrupted Li Ban's deep thoughts.
He looked up and saw that Zhou Gu had unexpectedly appeared on the training grounds.
"Official Zhou!"
Zhou Gu, whom he had not seen in a long time, had shed his previous decadence. A renewed light actually shone in his eyes.
He had once fallen into depression after failing to fuse three times, rendering him unable to advance any further. For some unknown reason, his fighting spirit had been reignited.
Zhou Gu walked up to Li Ban and crossed his arms. "I sold your liquor-distilling technique. You can't sell the blueprints to anyone else from now on."
Li Ban nodded, entirely unbothered.
Nowadays, he mainly relied on killing people to make money.