Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

The sun sank in the west, and night fell. The Xu estate no longer had its old, moonlit elegance. All that remained was a stretch of ruined rubble. Compared with half an hour ago, before Xu Yuan had entered the pavilion, the estate at least had a little more life in it now.

The martial apprentices and guards urgently dispatched from the Calm Sky Merchant Association and Martial Halls were moving in orderly fashion through one collapsed pile of stone after another, searching for anyone who might still be alive.

But aside from them, Xu Yuan also saw many corpses still steaming faintly in the winter night. Some were martial apprentices, but most were ordinary people. Their deaths came in all shapes and forms, and the sight was mildly nauseating.

As he walked, Xu Yuan could roughly guess what had happened inside the Xu estate during the past half hour. Whenever disaster descended, there would always be a group of people who believed fortune favored the bold.

The walls around the Xu residence had collapsed. There was no way the number of people trying to sneak in and loot would be small. All it took was one person to lead the charge. Then greedy desire and herd instinct would sweep through the crowd like an avalanche.

Riverwatch Tower stood at the edge of the northwest courtyard of the Xu residence. It was a seven-story building that overlooked the bustling streets on both banks of the Stillwater River, as well as the pleasure boats drifting across the water. It was also one of the few buildings in the estate that had survived the disaster. The guard said the Eldest Young Master was resting there.

Xu Yuan went upstairs alone. He did not knock. He simply pushed the door open and entered. Moonlight poured down like a waterfall. The night markets along both sides of the Stillwater River’s tributary had not grown much quieter because of what had happened to the Xu estate.

It was hell inside, paradise outside. A man in azure robes stood before the window with his hands behind his back, looking down over the river scenery and the ruins. The night wind stirred gently, lifting the sleeves of his robe and his long, jet-black hair.

At the sight, Xu Yuan’s eyelid twitched almost imperceptibly. Had Heaven not created you, Xu Changge, the Dao of Looking Cool would have languished in eternal night.

He stood at the door for a second.

Xu Changge said nothing.

So Xu Yuan calmly walked over to the tea tray in the room, sat down, poured himself a cup of tea, and began drinking at an unhurried pace.

Silence filled the upper floor.

The clamor of the streets and the cries from within the estate drifted over from afar, mingling together. The silence between the two brothers lasted for about fifteen minutes.

In the end, it was Xu Changge who turned around and spoke first. “Changtian, what is it?”

Xu Yuan gave him a sidelong glance, set down his teacup at an unhurried pace, and went straight to the point. “Xu Changge, have you heard of the Heaven Deriving Art?”

Xu Changge frowned. The look he gave Xu Yuan turned a little strange. This third brother of his seemed to have learned something again. After a brief pause to think, he shook his head slightly. “I have not.”

Xu Yuan did not speak right away. He pointed at the cushion opposite him, indicating for Xu Changge to sit first.

Xu Changge was silent for a few breaths, then walked over and sat down on the cushion. In a low voice, he asked, “This Heaven Deriving Art sounds like a cultivation art. Is it the one you practice, Changtian?”

Xu Yuan shook his head. “No. It’s a cultivation art that can divine the workings of heaven.”

“Divine the workings of heaven?” Xu Changge narrowed his eyes, a thoughtful look appearing in them. After pondering for a while, he asked quietly, “Where did you learn of this?”

Xu Yuan answered casually, “From Ran Qingmo, naturally.”

Xu Changge looked slightly surprised and asked in a low voice, “Is it all right for you to tell me this?”

Would it not affect his relationship with that woman?

Xu Yuan gave a soft laugh. “Don’t worry. She doesn’t mind.”

Xu Changge looked at the smile on his third brother’s face. After a moment of hesitation, he still gave him a reminder. “Changtian, you’ve read so many internal reports. You should know what Father intends to do. Know where to draw the line. Ran Qingmo is still someone from the sects.”

Xu Yuan’s gaze tightened at those words, and he sighed softly. “We’ll talk about that in a moment.”

Xu Changge’s tone rose slightly. “Oh? It seems you have quite a few things to tell me.”

Xu Yuan chuckled, then deliberately showed off at just the right level. “Xu Changge, that Sage’s remnant soul that Qin Mo was carrying was only discovered because of me.”

Xu Changge fell silent for a moment. Then a faint, gratified smile appeared in his eyes. “Yes. It was indeed because of you, Changtian.”

For Qin Mo to be holding that soul ring was simply a criminal waste of a heavenly treasure. A Sage’s remnant soul was a treasure trove. The information a Sage had gathered over their countless years of existence, the techniques they understood, the entrances to secret realms they knew of, none of these were things a single person could ever fully digest.

The intelligence obtained from the Sage just now would take even the Chancellor’s Manor some time to absorb.

The Sage’s cultivation arts and secret arts would become exchangeable rewards within the Chancellor's Manor’s internal martial armory system, and they would also become a source of income through the techniques sold by the Calm Sky Merchant Association.

As for the entrances to various secret realms, they would be developed under the power of the Chancellor's Manor. The cultivation resources within them would flow like running water into the estate’s treasury. In some of those secret realms, they might even find and make up for certain strategic resources the Chancellor's Manor currently lacked.

And the beginning of all this had been the information about Qin Mo brought by the third brother sitting before him.

At that thought, Xu Changge smiled faintly and spoke again. “Changtian, well done.”

Xu Yuan raised a hand and cut him off. “All right, enough. Let’s talk about the Heaven Deriving Art first. But I think it would be best to mention this to Father.”

Xu Changge’s gaze sharpened. He nodded slightly. “Good.”

Seeing this, Xu Yuan prepared to get up and head to the underground secret chamber, but Xu Changge simply raised his hand and used his source qi to press him back down onto the cushion.

While Xu Yuan was still puzzled, a small crystal orb appeared in midair inside the room.

Xu Yuan frowned slightly. His soul sense brushed over it, and his pupils abruptly shrank. This... this was the formation of the communication crystal orb in the secret chamber.

The original communication array patterns had covered nearly a hundred square meters of floor, but now, those intricate and complicated markings had actually been compressed onto a crystal orb of this size.

It was a portable communication crystal orb.

As Xu Changge operated it, he explained to Xu Yuan, “The Skyfone Crystal Orb, or just a Skyfone. It was made by the Calm Sky Merchant Association’s Institute of Applied Research. For now, there are only two prototypes. They were prepared for the army.”

Xu Yuan’s pupils contracted. If such a portable communication crystal orb could truly be mass-produced, then with long-distance real-time communication, the way wars were fought in this world might be completely overturned.

After two seconds of silence, Xu Yuan stared at the crystal orb and licked his lips. “Ahem. Eldest Brother, this thing...”

Xu Changge noticed the look in Xu Yuan’s eyes and could not help letting out a low, amused laugh. “You little brat. This thing is still being developed. You can’t use it yet. When you reach the second rank, or when the Institute of Applied Research perfects it, Father will naturally give you one.”

Xu Yuan shut his mouth. He had sensed that the Skyfone’s energy supply came from Xu Changge’s source qi, which surged endlessly like a vast tide.

If Xu Yuan tried using it, he would be drained dry in an instant.

A moment later, the steady voice of the Great Flame’s Chancellor rang out inside the room. “Changge, what is it this time?”

Clearly, the father and son had already spoken once earlier about the Sage’s remnant soul.

Xu Changge’s voice was warm and relaxed. “Father, Changtian would like to ask whether you know of a cultivation art called the Heaven Deriving Art.”

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