By the way, this is my Patreon! Please support it! With enough support, I'll upload more chapters each week (I plan to upload seven a day).
There are ten chapters available in advance!
https://patreon.com/Raven_Feather?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
----------------------------
"...A cat? What do you mean?"
Qing Xuanling blinked, momentarily not understanding what Su Meiren meant.
"Haha, did you really think you managed to escape the Ink Sword Sect's pursuit that easily? They might not be very strong, but they at least have capable hunting hounds that can sniff out their prey no matter how well it hides."
Su Meiren looked at Qing Xuanling with a mocking expression.
"If you managed to get this far, it wasn't because of your own skills. You only escaped because someone wanted to use you to intensify the conflict between the city's three major forces."
Su Meiren's words shocked the young Qing clan members, leaving their minds blank for a moment.
"I... see." Qing Xuanling was the first to react. "No wonder I always felt everything was too easy. Still, why does this 'cat' you mentioned want to use us? As far as I know, no one should know or believe we're important to the clan..."
"How naive of you~" Su Meiren brought her hand to her mouth, stifling a laugh. "Do you think you can only enrage a clan or sect by killing important people? Brat, there are many ways to provoke an organization, especially a clan like yours."
Su Meiren's brown eyes darkened with an indescribably profound emotion.
"You can torture their people, humiliate them, force them to speak ill of their people, or even... violate them." A strange smile appeared on Su Meiren's delicate, beautiful face. "Tell me, what would happen if videos of all those things happening to them started appearing around the city? How do you think the Qing clan would react?"
A chill ran down Qing Xuanling's spine. Su Meiren's eyes and smile made her nauseous, even though they contained no malice directed at her. But the coldness and calmness with which she mentioned those horrible things made her heart tremble.
At the same time, the darkness in the hearts of those plotting in the shadows left her frozen.
She had always imagined that the worst thing that could happen to her was death, but Su Meiren's words shattered that naive, foolish idea. Apparently, death could even be considered a mercy...
Su Meiren's gaze softened slightly when she saw the look on Qing Xuanling's face.
"Don't worry, this kind of thing is usually quite rare in the world. Even we demonic cultivators don't typically do things like this. You just had the bad luck that the sickest, most monstrous people on the continent are plotting against your clan..."
Qing Xuanling took a deep breath. "Alright, I understand what you meant. It was truly fortunate to run into you... And thank you. I don't know why you're being so kind to me now, but you've undoubtedly done me a great favor."
Su Meiren let out a soft chuckle. "I've always been kind to you, I just don't like Mei Yechan very much.... Anyway. Now that I've told you all this, will you agree to cooperate with me?"
The answer, after hearing all that, was clear. Qing Xuanling just cast a brief glance at her companions to confirm things and looked back at Su Meiren.
"We accept. What exactly do you want us to find?"
Su Meiren's smile widened. She clapped her hands happily. "Good, good, I won't have to worry with talented youngsters like you helping me! As for what I want you to find... Well, it's mainly information that confirms who has been behind the underground auction these past few months. I'll tell you where to find that information when the time comes."
Qing Xuanling and her companions sighed in relief.
However, Su Meiren's next words left them a bit bewildered.
"So, how about you wait with me until the day the underground auction opens? It should be better than hiding in dirty, uninhabitable places!"
-------------------------------------
After much deliberation, Qing Xuanling's team decided to stay with Su Meiren for the sake of comfort.
Su Meiren's courtyard looked quite nice compared to the abandoned houses they had seen before. Since they were going to be working with that woman anyway, there shouldn't be any issues staying with her.
The next six days passed fairly quickly as Qing Xuanling's ten-person team stayed together with Su Meiren.
Staying together in one place was quite a novelty for all of them. It was like the things called "sleepovers" that the Young Master sometimes mentioned. They stayed up late talking about anything and everything, ate various delicacies, and played games.
Of course, Qing Xuanling didn't stop her training just because she was having a good time.
She always woke up in the mornings to practice her swordsmanship, cultivate, and even temper her body. She also didn't forget to continue filling out the star map and practicing the spells she had learned from the spell control class.
Basically, she had a fairly packed schedule.
Still, they were quite pleasant six days for Qing Xuanling. Her relationship with Su Meiren even improved considerably. Even though that woman had practically confirmed she was a demonic cultivator, she was surprisingly easy to get along with.
Qing Xuanling found herself casually chatting with her several times while practicing her swordsmanship in the mornings.
So, she couldn't help but look at her back now that she was leading the way to the entrance of the underground auction.
Although the caution toward her had never truly disappeared from her heart, Qing Xuanling simply couldn't consider Su Meiren a stranger in her heart anymore. For now, Su Meiren had already been categorized as someone she would greet if she ran into her on the street.
It was worth mentioning that before this, Qing Xuanling would have tried with all her might to avoid Su Meiren if she saw her from afar. It was quite a big step forward.
'Sigh... She's undoubtedly a demonic cultivator. She seems so sweet that she easily wins people's trust.'
Qing Xuanling shook her head and stopped thinking about it. Instead, she looked around. They were descending into a basement in Su Meiren's courtyard, which strangely was inside a supposed teahouse.
"Senior Sister Su, I never asked before, but how can such a large courtyard fit inside such a small teahouse?" Qing Tanwei suddenly asked, looking at Su Meiren with curiosity.
The rest had also drawn closer to the enigmatic woman, especially Qing Tanwei, who was the oldest woman in the team.
Su Meiren laughed. "It's just a few formations containing some spatial mysteries. They belonged to the leader of the intelligence organization I took over by force, so I'm not sure about the details, but they seem to be low-grade, second-tier formations."
Everyone let out sighs of admiration. Anything related to space was extremely expensive. Not even the Qing clan possessed this kind of formation, as far as they knew. That an intelligence organization had it was highly impressive.
Su Meiren led everyone to the end of the basement while they chatted casually. Upon arriving, they found a fairly clean stone basement. The room was completely empty, except for a scroll hanging on the back wall.
The scroll depicted a plaza in a prosperous, beautiful city where immortals and mystical beasts strolled under a radiant sun, creating a harmonious and captivating scene.
But there was nothing else besides that. Nor was there a secret entrance to take them elsewhere.
Qing Xuanling frowned as her hand moved toward the hilt of Memory. "Senior Sister Su, weren't you supposed to take us to the underground auction...?"
Su Meiren rolled her eyes at Qing Xuanling's actions.
"Brat, if I wanted to harm you, I would have done it long ago." She shook her head in exasperation before smiling mockingly. "And I brought you right to the entrance of the underground auction."
Qing Xuanling frowned and couldn't help but inspect the basement again, searching for the supposed entrance, but no matter how hard she looked, she found nothing. Exasperated, she looked back at Su Meiren and was about to protest, but someone interrupted her.
"Does that painting contain a separate space inside it?!" Qing Xunwei opened her mouth, showing the greatest display of emotion Qing Xuanling had ever seen from her. "No, that's not it, rather, it's connected to a separate space! It's more like a door, not the space itself!"
Qing Xunwei's silver eyes shone intensely as her face seemed slightly thrilled. It was the first time she had seen this kind of treasure in person!
Su Meiren's gaze toward Qing Xunwei turned peculiar. The corner of her lip trembled as she nodded.
"Correct... From what I've researched, the Ink Sword Sect possesses several ancestral legacies, among them the Immortal Market Painting, discovered in ruins hundreds of years ago. Of course, this painting isn't the original. It's merely an imitation created by a talented painter from the Ink Sword Sect a few decades ago."
Su Meiren explained the painting's origin before looking at Qing Xunwei with a strange expression.
"It's a great treasure, but what surprises me is your ability to see through it at a glance. The Qing clan... is undoubtedly blessed with great fortune. It's impressive." Su Meiren sighed in amazement.
She never expected a girl from the Qing clan to have special eyes capable of seeing through a third-tier artifact at a single glance.
Qing Xunwei nodded naturally, as if the compliments were only to be expected, and continued to carefully study the imitation of the Immortal Market Painting.
Qing Tanwei smiled awkwardly and changed the subject. "I suppose we can go in now, right? How about you give us a map of the interior so we know where to look for what you need? It would be really inconvenient if we failed to accomplish anything because we got lost."
A contemplative look appeared on Su Meiren's face as she nodded. "Indeed, the Immortal Market is quite large. A map wouldn't hurt you. Here."
She tossed a map to Qing Tanwei while warning them. "Be careful inside. I didn't tell you before, but while you won't encounter any Foundation Establishment cultivators inside since the space isn't stable enough to support their presence, there will be countless cultivators at the peak of the Qi refination stage. The danger is not small."
Qing Xuanling nodded. They had heard something similar from the Young Master. Apparently, the interior of the Immortal Market was full of dangerous people.
After a few more warnings, Qing Xuanling's group was finally ready to enter.
Su Meiren stepped in front of the painting and pointed at it with her finger. "You just need to touch it, and your bodies will be pulled into the painting. You'll exit into a secret room, so don't worry about being seen. The exit is the same as the entrance, so make sure not to forget the location of the secret room."
Qing Tanwei nodded with a smile. "Thank you, Senior Sister Su. I promise we'll do everything we can to get what you need."
With that, she touched the scroll, and her body distorted, being sucked into the painting.
Everyone watched the scene in awe. Qing Xuanling had never witnessed anything so magical before. She sighed in amazement and watched as the rest entered one by one. She was the last.
She approached the painting but stopped just as she was about to touch it. "You said you weren't a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so why don't you go in and get what you're looking for yourself?"
Su Meiren laughed. "As suspicious as ever. It's not that I don't want to go in, it's that I can't. Even though I'm not yet a Foundation Establishment cultivator, that painting can't withstand my presence. I'm still quite strong and impressive, you know?"
Qing Xuanling looked at her doubtfully, but had no choice but to nod. "If you say so..."
With that, she touched the painting and was sucked in like the rest.
Su Meiren watched her disappearing figure as all emotion gradually drained from her eyes.
"They're smart and talented kids, so they should be able to get the secret reports. Now the important thing is to create enough commotion so that damn cat doesn't interfere with the Immortal Market's space..."
Su Meiren turned around, cracking her neck, her eyes icy. But her heart was pounding. After all, she was finally about to obtain a clue after years of research.