Cat Girl hadn't expected Priest Hunyou to suddenly blurt out why she had fused with the Chaotic Green Silk Algae. Since she had wanted to keep it a secret from Li Ban, her face instantly turned red.
Li Ban remained calm, looking as though he had guessed it long ago.
Valley Master Tan Qiyue felt conflicted, unsure whether to be envious or worried.
Priest Qian Que frowned briefly but remained silent.
"I know."
In truth, even if Li Ban hadn't gone missing, Cat Girl still would have done everything in her power to advance.
After leaving the Imperial Palace, she had come to Mist Valley with Priest Hunyou specifically to advance to the 6th Tier.
If nothing had happened to Li Ban, however, she wouldn't have been in such a rush; she would have taken a safer approach.
Li Ban's promise to reunite with Cat Girl was so he could help her when the time came.
Cat Girl might have wanted to rely on her astonishing perseverance to endure it, but Li Ban preferred a more suitable method to help Little Cat resolve the issue smoothly.
Next, to keep their ambush plan a secret, Priest Qian Que personally cast a mental protection spell on Tan Qiyue and Cat Girl to prevent other priests from reading their minds.
Afterward, Valley Master Tan left, pretending nothing had happened, and returned to prepare for the activation of the Xuanji Vine.
Li Ban and Cat Girl stayed with Priest Hunyou, waiting to accompany him on his visit to the Mist Realm in two days.
At noon two days later, Priest Hunyou set out at the time he had agreed upon with the Mist Realm Faction.
Morning and evening were when the fog across the Nai River was at its thickest, sometimes even rolling over to their side of the bank.
The priests of the Mist Realm had to watch for monsters using the fog as cover to escape, so they patrolled for two hours every morning and evening.
That was also their busiest time of day.
When visiting the priests of the Mist Realm Faction, most people chose to go at noon.
Priest Qian Que did not go with them.
Given his lack of familiarity with them, it was inappropriate for a Solar Priest like him to visit another faction's headquarters uninvited.
Moreover, his presence would make Priest Hunyou's routine visit seem far too high-profile.
The Mist Realm priests rarely traveled across the Nine Provinces; their camp was situated on the opposite side of the Nai River.
It was a place strictly forbidden to non-priests.
The Mist Zone across from Mist Valley had originally belonged to Yun Province.
Due to the chaos caused by a Mutated Element, it had transformed into the Nihility State and became the new Mist Zone.
Because so many people had died abruptly in the Nihility State, the area was now swarming with monsters.
It was far more dangerous than any other Mist Zone.
However, an abandoned province held a massive amount of resources and wealth. Yun Province, in particular, had originally been rich in mineral deposits. These inanimate materials wouldn't vanish due to the void transformation, drawing many greedy eyes and prompting people to risk their lives entering the Nihility State.
Likewise, these money-crazed adventurers knew that noon was the safest time to enter the Nihility State.
A group of five, dressed in grayish-white cloaks that best concealed their figures in the fog, wore masks with filter packs and crystal goggles over their eyes. Fully armed, they slid across the Nai River via a steel cable.
There used to be a magnificent, towering building there called Qiyue Tower. It had four stories, but now only ruined walls remained, standing indistinctly in the mist.
Qiyue Tower was just a bit shorter than the high platform blocking the Nai River on the Yingzhou side, allowing them to use gravity to glide across.
After the last person successfully slid across the cable and unhooked their copper ring, the leader stepped forward to grab the cable, then jumped straight down to the ground from the fourth floor of Qiyue Tower.
The middle section of the cable fell, sinking into the waters of the Nai River.
Afterward, the leader secured the hook at the end of the cable to a large stone pillar on the ground, then moved another rock over to conceal the traces of the cable on the bank.
This way, even if someone happened to pass by, they wouldn't notice the traces unless they inspected the area closely.
Done with this, the leader quickly retreated inside Qiyue Tower and peered through the broken windows, scanning the surroundings to ensure no one had spotted them.
The remaining four had just come downstairs, skillfully leaping over collapsed tables and chairs to join their leader.
"Sister-in-law, we've been here many times. Our gear has never been discovered. You don't need to keep watch for so long."
It turned out the leader was actually a woman. Her bulky grayish-white cloak completely concealed her figure, making it impossible to tell from the outside.
Another person stepped forward. "Yeah, Sister-in-law. We only have two hours at noon to scavenge. Let's get moving."
The woman they called Sister-in-law turned around, a cold gleam piercing through her crystal goggles. Her voice was as hoarse as an eighty-year-old woman's.
"What's the rush? Keep spouting nonsense and I'll throw you in the river!"
She looked at the two who hadn't spoken. "Bring chatterboxes like this into the team again, and I'll throw you in, too."
The two silent members, implicated and scolded all the same, exchanged a glance and smiled bitterly. "Understood."
Now the other two didn't dare speak, either. They could only stand quietly behind their Sister-in-law, waiting for her to finish keeping watch.
They had no choice. Sister-in-law was the only 4th Tier spirit practitioner in the entire team; the rest were only low-level 2nd Tier and 3rd Tier spirit practitioners. Without her leading them, they wouldn't dare enter the Nihility State at all.
They all belonged to the same martial arts hall. Normally, they taught martial arts, but during their days off, they came out to earn some extra money.
Ever since Sister-in-law had fused the element Flying Dart, she had come up with the idea of using it to shoot the steel cable across the Nai River for these expeditions.
At first, no one had dared to go with her, so she took two apprentices along.
On that trip, they brought back three gold bars, leaving the hall master absolutely stunned.
The hall master, who was also at the 4th Tier, immediately decided to send men into the Nihility State with Sister-in-law, while he stayed behind to manage the martial arts hall and provide cover for them.
In turn, Sister-in-law would hand over any hard-to-fence valuables to the hall master to liquidate.
They also distributed a portion of the profits to other insiders, ensuring word didn't leak out.
These expeditions had gone on for two whole years. They crossed the river once every month or two.
Thanks to Sister-in-law's caution, they had only lost two people to date—and that was because they hadn't listened to her orders and had essentially gotten themselves killed.
After that, Sister-in-law laid down a new rule.
Anyone who disobeyed orders, even if they made it back alive, would never be allowed on an expedition again.
Only those who personally participated in the expeditions received the largest cut of the profits, so everyone else fell in line.
At most, they'd just grumble and urge her to hurry up, like they just did.
After keeping watch for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Sister-in-law finally spoke. "Out the back door."
She immediately turned around, nimbly leaping over the debris on the ground, and exited through the back door of Qiyue Tower.
The other four quickly followed.
Even at noon, the visibility here was less than fifty meters.
If they got separated, it was very likely they would never find each other again.
However, this group of cautious, sneaky adventurers never imagined that their every move was being watched closely by three people right above them.