After they had discussed and settled the concrete policy, only two days later the crowd could already see the walls of Langya Immortal City from afar.
Langya Immortal City was a frontier immortal city.
Relying on the natural barriers of the Mansong River and the Changxing Mountain Range, it was easy to defend and hard to attack, yet on average once every several decades a demon beast tide would assault the immortal city.
City walls more than thirty zhang high made people’s hearts give rise to reverence.
At this moment the city gates were wide open, and many cultivators and treasure merchants came and went along the main road.
He Shu and the six of them disguised their appearances and concealed their figures, mixing into the crowd without attracting the slightest notice.
Bai Liuli walked at the very front of the party, putting on the appearance of a young miss from a great clan.
“Ai, tell me, can we manage like this?”
Bai Liuli sneakily slowed her steps and nudged He Shu with her elbow.
“Hmph hmph. You must have confidence in my disguise technique. The city-guarding attendants will not be able to discover us. Besides, we are only going through the motions. The immortal city’s flow of people is so great. Look at those city-guarding attendants. How many of them are properly doing their work?”
With He Shu saying this, Bai Liuli slightly set her heart down.
Although she had served as a Southwind informant for nearly twenty years, she was not skilled at disguise.
“I am the young miss, you are my maidservant, and the four of them are guards. So how am I supposed to act as a young miss?”
Bai Liuli came from a background of loose cultivators, and her understanding of the children of great clans and families only floated on the surface.
He Shu glanced at her, then continued looking toward Langya Immortal City.
“Just restrain your temperament a little.”
There was meaning within He Shu’s words.
Bai Liuli gave two tactical coughs.
“Let us go. It is almost our turn.”
Lightly pushing He Shu’s back, Bai Liuli quickened her advancing steps.
She pulled the topic aside and began discussing the matter of the operation.
“A hundred-li radius around Langya Immortal City is a no-fly zone. It is somewhat too inconvenient for us to move.”
The Azure Parasol Immortal Kingdom’s transfer of power was imminent.
Hu Liu sealing off and establishing a no-air zone was extremely wise.
“One reign’s Son of Heaven, one reign’s ministers. A new official lighting three fires upon taking office. In the early period of Hu Chi’s enthronement, the interior of the Azure Parasol Immortal Kingdom is bound to have some turmoil.”
“This Hu Liu……”
The no-air zone defended against cultivators of Golden Core cultivation and above and basically had no effect on ordinary mortals and low-rank cultivators.
Just as He Shu had said, the city-guarding attendants only went through the motions, collected an entry fee of ten low-grade spirit stones from each person, routinely admonished them with a few sentences, and then let them pass.
After entering the city, Shen Qingci looked back at the city-guarding attendants and faintly knitted his brows.
At this moment his appearance had already greatly changed.
He looked middle-aged, wore blue-and-white tight clothes, and carried a dark-steel heavy bow on his back.
“He Shu, I always feel something is somewhat improper. Are the city-guarding attendants not slacking off too much? Does the Prince of Jin not worry in the slightest about assassins slipping in?”
“He will not,” He Shu said categorically.
“Hu Chi does not dare bear the crime of harming his own flesh-and-blood brothers. Right now the former emperor is about to pass away. You ought to know that the Prince of Jin is a person of the pro-Jade Water camp.”
He Shu’s words were like opening the Conception and Governing meridians.
Shen Qingci instantly associated a great many things.
“That is to say, the Prince of Jin establishing a no-air zone is only a front. The true purpose is to transmit a signal to the Jade Water Immortal Kingdom. Going a step further, the city-guarding attendants’ passive slacking may also be the Prince of Jin’s intent, to make it easier for Jade Water envoys to mix into the immortal city.”
From the city-guarding soldiers’ behavior alone, Shen Qingci had analyzed the Prince of Jin’s thoughts.
The Prince of Jin had ambition and also wished to sit upon the monarch’s seat, yet those ministers who supported him were completely insufficient.
He had to borrow the strength of the Jade Water Immortal Kingdom to assist himself.
Seeing that Shen Qingci had already come to enlightenment, He Shu shook her head on the surface.
“I did not say anything at all. Let us first find a restaurant and fill our stomachs.”
Shen Qingci revealed an I-understand expression.
The immortal city had many people and mixed eyes.
Some words were best not spoken aloud.
The Prince of Jin had activated the grand array of Langya Immortal City.
Within the array’s range, cultivators below Nascent Soul could not transmit sound by divine sense.
Shen Qingci’s analysis just now had also only been thought in his heart and had not been spoken from his mouth.
The best restaurant inside Langya Immortal City was the Drunken Immortal Tower.
Bai Liuli requested a private room and ordered a great table of wine and dishes.
Inside the private room there was a miniature array isolating inside from outside, an excellent place for discussing private affairs.
After all the mortal employees who had served the dishes had left, He Shu had Mei Hua go outside the box to keep watch, and only then began discussing proper business.
“Our Southwind Immortal Kingdom’s intelligence organization is divided into three grades. The first grade is a chief responsible person like me. The second grade is a Southwind specially dispatched undercover agent, similar to Shen Qingci. The third grade is recruited native specialists and informants, like Bai Liuli.”
“I once had some contact with the chief responsible person of the Azure Parasol Immortal Kingdom and know that we have people inside Langya Immortal City.”
He Shu stood on a stool, took out the map of Langya Immortal City she had previously bought from an intelligence merchant, spread it in midair, and pointed with a finger at one location.
“Here. The Yingyuan Trading Firm. Its main business is selling spirit medicines and artifacts, and its sideline undertakes antique appraisal. It is one of our Southwind Immortal Kingdom’s secret gathering places. Altogether eight colleagues are stationed there long-term. They are mainly responsible for logistics.”
“Shen Qingci.”
He Shu looked toward Shen Qingci.
“Mm.”
Shen Qingci responded.
“The domestic governor-general, in order to prevent the secret letter from being intercepted, did not tell the Yingyuan Merchant Association our identities.”
“In a moment you will go to the Yingyuan Merchant Association and take an antique-appraisal slot. Name that the owner must personally conduct the appraisal. Your attitude must be firm. This is the contact signal.”
“And the contact code phrase?”
He Shu awkwardly dry-laughed twice.
She and the responsible person of the Azure Parasol Immortal Kingdom had only had some contact in the past.
The flying messages they had exchanged did not exceed ten, and all of them had discussed overall matters.
How could she have specially inquired after the contact code phrase of some small stronghold?
At this thought, He Shu spread her hands.
“I do not know.”
Shen Qingci: “……”
He Shu waved a hand.
“This is not important. You have the monarch’s inner edict in your hand as a token and will easily obtain trust.”
He Shu then supplemented the details.
“The owner of the Yingyuan Merchant Association aliases himself ‘Zhou Yan.’ I have forgotten his true name. You and He Qingyuan as one team. Go over and directly reveal your identities.”
“Good.”
Shen Qingci nodded and looked toward He Qingyuan, who along the way had seemed like a transparent person.
He Qingyuan had no objection and likewise nodded.
Having arranged Shen Qingci, He Shu’s gaze turned toward Bai Liuli…… toward Mu Xinlian at her side.
“Little Mu, we have no way to be stationed long-term at the Yingyuan Merchant Association. You go find an inn to serve as our temporary stronghold, then keep house together with Mei Hua.”
He Shu did not worry that Mei Hua would make a move against Mu Xinlian, and Mei Hua did not have that kind of courage either.
Seeing that He Shu delayed and delayed without speaking of her own matter, Bai Liuli grew somewhat anxious.
“What about me, what about me? It cannot be that I also have to keep house, right?”
He Shu looked at Bai Liuli and revealed a shallow wicked smile.
“Naturally not. Your cultivation is the highest. You team with me. We will jump the wall into the Jin Prince Manor at midnight.”
Bai Liuli: “?”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.