Priest Qian Que sighed gently. "We have successfully ambushed Xiao Suo three times in a row. I am pleased about it, but I fear our luck won't hold past the third attempt."
Li Ban understood Priest Qian Que's concerns. "Xiao Suo's clones are closely linked. He must have noticed by now that several of them vanished completely without leaving a single message behind."
"Exactly. I'm worried he'll deliberately lay a trap once he notices the missing clones. If he realizes we know his secret, ambushing him in the future will be nearly impossible."
It was rare for Priest Qian Que to speak this much, which proved his worries were genuine.
Remembering something else, he told Li Ban, "By the way, there is something you might not know."
"What is it?"
"The Mutated Element that turned Yun Province into the Nihility State was originally a vine-type element."
"So that's how it is!" Suddenly, a lot of things made perfect sense to Li Ban.
"Xiao Suo claims to be a Great Wizard's inner demon, and this Great Wizard is definitely deeply connected to the Wizard World. After using the vine element to destroy a single province, Xiao Suo wants to repeat the process and destroy the Nine Provinces."
Li Ban asked, "Is there any way to find out which Wizard Lord's inner demon Xiao Suo is?"
Priest Qian Que shook his head, his tone full of implication. "There's no way to investigate. And the Wizard Lords wouldn't tell us anyway."
Inner demons could be born starting from the level of a Solar Priest.
Even Great Wizards were no exception.
And an inner demon was their ultimate weakness.
Not even a Wizard Lord would dare let others know their weakness.
It wasn't that many white-robed priests lacked the courage to embrace the darkness, but rather that the cost of doing so far outweighed the benefits.
Once outsiders learned a Great Wizard's weakness, there was no telling who might harbor malicious intentions.
As for the current Priest Li He... Li Ban couldn't say for sure.
But he was certain of one thing: as long as there was enough profit to be made, the Priest Li He at the Recycling Station would absolutely choose to embrace the darkness.
Xiao Suo definitely knew that no Great Wizard would ever confirm or deny him being their inner demon, which was why he dared to proclaim it so brazenly.
And there was simply no way to verify whether he was telling the truth.
Yet, the priests were left with no choice but to treat him seriously as an inner demon.
"Then we have no choice but to investigate this vine. However, to prevent Xiao Suo from observing us from the shadows, we can conduct the search covertly," Li Ban suggested.
"How do you plan to investigate covertly?"
Li Ban smiled. "The last time Priest Hunyou of the Imperial Dynasty and I went to the Nihility State, we noticed some low-tier spirit practitioners risking their lives to enter the region just to earn money. Xiao Suo is only one person. No matter how many clones he can make, it's impossible for him to keep an eye on a bunch of 3rd and 4th Tier spirit practitioners."
"Good." Qian Que stroked his beard. "What do you want to do? I'll make the arrangements."
A month later. Yingzhou, Weiyun Martial Arts Hall.
Qiao Zhen'er sat in her bedroom, her eyes flickering as she counted the broken silver pieces in her money box.
"I'm still short two hundred taels. I'll probably have to make two more trips to save up enough silver."
She rested her chin on her hand, looking a little troubled. "If I didn't have to give the hall master such a large cut, I would have had enough by now. Sigh, but if I don't feed the master enough silver, he definitely won't fully support me.
"We lost a man on each of our last two trips. The others aren't nearly as enthusiastic as they used to be.
"Honestly, they want to make big money without taking any risks. A bunch of grown men, yet they have less courage than a woman like me."
Just then, someone knocked on the outer door. The voice of her senior apprentice, Lu Jiu, rang out from outside.
"Master, the hall master is asking for you."
Qiao Zhen'er put away the silver pieces, frowning as she asked, "It's almost midnight. What does the hall master want with me at this hour?"
"I don't know."
Qiao Zhen'er rolled her eyes.
If you don't know, then ask! If you don't know, use your eyes to look!
Her senior apprentice's hard qigong was the only impressive thing about him.
She walked to the door and pulled it open. "Next time the hall master comes looking for me at this hour, tell him I'm already asleep."
"Oh, okay," Lu Jiu replied blankly.
Back then, Qiao Zhen'er had accepted Lu Jiu as an apprentice because he was honest and simple-minded, not the type to fake being earnest.
But who would have thought that being too honest was also a problem? She didn't dare entrust him with any delicate tasks.
Later, Qiao Zhen'er took in a junior apprentice.
Her junior apprentice was clever.
Before taking him in, she even went out of her way to grant him a few favors to ensure he would follow her loyally.
Unfortunately, she had sent her junior apprentice Zhao De out on an errand, so he wasn't here tonight. Otherwise, he never would have let the hall master disturb her this late.
But now that her senior apprentice had already answered the call, could she still claim she was asleep?
"Let's go." Qiao Zhen'er stepped out the door. She took two steps before looking back at Lu Jiu. "Go back and watch the door. Don't let anyone in."
"Yes, Master!" Lu Jiu hurriedly ran back to Qiao Zhen'er's door. Broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, he stood there like a burly guardian deity.
Qiao Zhen'er shook her head inwardly, then turned and headed toward the hall master's courtyard.
Qiao Zhen'er was one of the few women in the martial arts hall, so her courtyard was located in a relatively remote corner.
She quickened her pace, but it still took her nearly half a quarter-hour to reach the main courtyard.
Guided by the master's apprentice, Qiao Zhen'er entered the quiet room.
The hall master didn't have a study. Whenever there was an important matter to discuss, they would come to this quiet room, which had been converted from the western side-room.
Seeing Qiao Zhen'er enter, the hall master stood up to welcome her. "Deputy Master, I really didn't want to disturb you this late, but it truly is an urgent matter."
Qiao Zhen'er smiled but said nothing.
Every time the hall master came looking for her at an inappropriate time, he claimed it was an urgent matter.
Yet even pleading on behalf of his worthless apprentices could be considered an "urgent matter."
Qiao Zhen'er couldn't be bothered to exchange pleasantries anymore and asked directly, "Master, what did you need to see me about?"
The hall master saw the obvious impatience on Qiao Zhen'er's face, and his warm smile faltered slightly. "Haha, it really is urgent today. Otherwise, I wouldn't have called for you so late."
He guided Qiao Zhen'er to a seat and even poured her tea himself.
"It's like this. A few days ago, the hall spent a large sum to reserve a fine-grade element from Mist Valley. I was originally planning to use the payment from our last job to cover the deposit. Who knew the client would use his status as the Prefect's brother-in-law to drag his feet? He refuses to pay, saying we need to wait another month. But even if I can wait, Mist Valley can't! If we don't pay the full deposit within ten days, we'll have to hand over the fine-grade element we fought so hard to reserve."
Qiao Zhen'er frowned again and set her teacup down on the table. "Master, I hate to criticize you, but that fine-grade element was just cultivated. Its price is heavily inflated right now. If you waited two or three years, it would definitely be much cheaper. Why did you insist on snatching up a spot in the second batch?"
The hall master's voice deepened. "It wasn't that I wanted to snatch it up; it's that time waits for no man. I was forced to. Did you know the granary in the northwest corner of the city was relocated a few days ago?"
"I heard something about that."
"Someone bought the land to open a new martial arts hall. Rumor has it that their official tier has already been settled—they're starting all the way at the 5th Tier!"
"If our Weiyun Martial Arts Hall doesn't secure a new centerpiece, we definitely won't be able to compete with them for business or disciples!"