14. Cloudmist City
Time flew by.
Two months passed like a fleeting dream, seemingly in an instant.
But for Gong Yiling, rediscovering the motherly love she had once rejected, and checking on the progress of her two “disciples” every now and then, brought her joy.
Her only complaint was experiencing menstruation as a man.
Those days were something she still didn’t want to revisit.
Although it was normal for someone her age, for some reason, while others experienced a light flow, hers was…
Well, let’s just say it looked like she had been attacked again. The sheer volume was alarming.
However, aside from these unpleasantries, everything else was satisfactory.
Whenever she had free time, Gong Muzhi would have meals with her, stroll around the Blood Orchid Palace, and even join her in causing minor mischief, resulting in Ghost Lord Nine’s “precious darling” being destroyed seventeen or eighteen times.
Not only did their mother-daughter relationship become closer, but Gong Muzhi also treated her daughter’s two maids much better.
Just like that, the two months of preparation passed, and Gong Yiling knew what she had to do next.
That night, the light in Gong Muzhi’s room stayed on late.
But the Palace Master of the Blood Orchid Palace had already lost her battle against sleep, dozing at her desk.
Gong Yiling quietly opened the door and gently draped a light green robe over her thinly clad mother, then placed a letter on her desk.
“Mom, I have something to do. I need to leave for a while.”
Looking at her mother, who seemed nothing like a demonic sect leader when they were together, she couldn’t help but lean down and perform her mother’s favorite gesture.
Forehead to forehead.
After doing this, Gong Yiling took a deep breath and turned to leave.
But just then—”Remember to come back soon…”
Her mother’s words surprised her, and she turned back to look.
The figure at the desk was just muttering in her sleep, a silly smile on her face.
“Remember to come back soon… Mother will draw you a hedgehog.”
So it was just sleep-talking?
Gong Yiling couldn’t help but smile, gave a soft “mm-hmm,” and left the room.
The next morning, a strange cry echoed from Gong Muzhi’s room.
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!”
Miss Gong’s letter to her mother contained only a few words:
“The world is so big, I want to go out and see—Written by Gong Yiling”
…
…
Two days later, Cloudmist City, Heartflame Empire.
The cities in the novel were largely based on Gong Youyuan’s imagination of ancient cities.
Square city walls enclosed grid-like streets and houses, lined with antique Tang-style wooden buildings.
Walking through the streets, watching ordinary people in coarse linen clothes and richly dressed cultivators or nobles, felt like stepping into a fantasized ancient era.
And on this day, a major event was about to take place at the Central Auction House in Cloudmist City.
It was said that a mysterious wandering alchemist had entrusted his disciple to sell some pills he had refined in his spare time.
These pills, after appraisal, were all mid-grade, supreme quality.
In the novel, pills were classified as low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, top-grade, Venerable-grade, Dao-grade, Immortal-grade, and Divine-grade. Each grade was further divided into five quality levels: flawed, ordinary, good, perfect, and supreme.
Supreme quality pills were extremely rare due to their difficulty in refinement. Alchemists capable of producing such pills, even low-grade supreme quality, were highly sought after by major families and sects.
These mid-grade supreme quality pills should, in principle, be the work of a master alchemist or above.
This explained why the appearance of these pills caused such a sensation.
After all, it was a wandering master alchemist. Gaining their favor would be incredibly beneficial.
However, the news of the auction was released in advance by the Central Auction House to generate hype. Knowing it would attract a large crowd seeking pills and the alchemist, they started pre-selling tickets a week ago.
The ticket prices skyrocketed, becoming incredibly scarce. Even offering hundreds of times the original price wouldn’t guarantee a ticket.
Of course, for some, this wasn’t a big problem.
In an inn, a waiter delivered a note to a black-clad man drinking wine.
It read: “The First Prince says, plans have changed. Come to the back alley quickly.”
The man frowned, threw down a few copper coins, and left the inn. He walked through a small path and arrived at a deserted back alley.
There, a man in white Daoist robes and a bamboo hat stood, fanning himself, seemingly having waited for a long time.
“Which division are you from?” The man in black asked, sensing something amiss.
“Heartflame Empire, Purple Fire Gold Banner Guards,” the man replied in a low voice.
“Do you have proof of identity?”
“Are you worthy?”
“You!” As the man in black was about to speak, vines suddenly sprouted from the ground, binding him tightly. The thick vines constricted his neck, quickly causing him to lose consciousness.
“Well done~”
Gong Yiling gave a thumbs-up to Qiu Shui, who was hiding in the corner, then walked over to the unconscious man and searched him, finding a small purple-blue booklet with the words “Central Auction House” on it.
“That’s it.”
She placed the booklet inside her clothes, smiling and clapping her hands. “The Black Armored Guards of the Heartflame Empire are nothing special.”
However, Chun Lian, standing beside Qiu Shui, couldn’t help but ask, “Is it okay to steal other people’s things?”
“Chun Lian, who do you think this Palace Master is?”
“The Young Palace Master of the Blood Orchid Palace.”
“Then does this Palace Master need to care about right or wrong, good or bad?”
“…It seems, not.”
Gong Yiling walked over to her and lightly tapped her head with the handle of her fan.
“You little fool. Besides, this guy also stole the invitation from someone else.”
“Wow—” Chun Lian rubbed her head, pouting. “How did the Young Palace Master know that?”
“Your Young Palace Master’s vast powers are not a recent development. Why ask?”
Gong Yiling smiled and turned away, dismissing the question with a simple sentence.
In the novel, the First Prince of the Heartflame Empire, also Yan Chuyue’s former fiancé, Shangguan Qingyun, upon hearing about the miraculous pills, sent the Black Armored Guards to buy tickets.
Learning of the exorbitant prices, the First Prince had them steal a ticket from a scalper, which was the one she now possessed.
So, in a sense, this was a righteous theft.
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