CHAPTER 677: CHAPTER 544: THE MYSTERIOUS OLD SERVANT

Yan Jiu’s men were efficient, and they soon arrived at Sifang City.

Sifang City is an ancient city with a long history. It is rumored to be older than any country on the mainland. The City Lord of Sifang City is deemed to hold the same caliber of Great Power as the Three Sects Sect Master.

There are also rumors that the Sifang City Lord is an old monster, whose age is frighteningly great.

However, unlike the Three Sects Sect Master, the Sifang City Lord always keeps out of sight, and even the people within the Sifang City Lord’s Mansion have no idea what he actually looks like.

He is not keen on the mortal world’s fame and wealth; his only hobby is Artifact Refining.

Every ten years, Sifang City would host the event called World’s First Refining. Artifact Refiners from all over the mainland would gather there to display their best Spiritual Artifacts and select the most outstanding one.

This period right now is the deadline for the registration of the World’s First Refining, and people from all over the mainland are coming in an endless stream.

Yan Jiu’s subordinates, while registering, overheard a few Alchemists who were signing up and whispering to each other.

"Have you heard? The roads to Sifang City have been anything but safe recently."

Yan Jiu’s subordinates kept a straight face.

Indeed, many Spiritual Artifacts headed to the World’s First Refining in Sifang City attracted the greed of some robbers.

"Did you hear too? I heard that lately there are villains who prey and murder children, especially six or seven-year-olds. Even some smaller ones have been killed."

"No idea who’s doing it, such cruelty."

"It’s said to be Evil Alchemists from the Central Plains, who kill youngsters and harvest their hearts for Alchemy."

The two Alchemists continued discussing, and as it was finally their turn, they stopped talking.

Yan Jiu’s subordinate understood the situation well after listening.

It seems the City Lord’s guesses were not wrong, people from the Long Family indeed have not given up. Fortunately, Long Baobao was not exposed; otherwise, he would have certainly faced more danger than luck.

After completing the registration, that subordinate quickly left Sifang City.

The two Jade Boxes were then stored in the storeroom of Sifang City.

Sifang City’s storeroom stacked mountains-high with Spiritual Artifacts.

All inside were Grade Spiritual Artifacts, with even a significant number being Earth Rank.

Each Spiritual Artifact would undergo preliminary screening before entering the preliminary contest.

Three or four Maids were sorting out the Spiritual Artifacts that had just been collected that day, categorizing them briefly before registering them in order.

One of them opened the two Jade Boxes that had arrived earlier from Mercenary City.

"Little Yu, look, this fan is really beautiful."

"I think this little bag is quite exquisite; look at this fabric."

The two Maids whispered to each other about the fan and the Qiankun Bag in the Box.

"What are you two chattering about? Who let you slack off instead of working?" A commanding voice came from behind.

A middle-aged man with a dignified appearance walked over.

When the two maids saw him, they promptly bowed in respect.

"Housekeeper Qin, we were just registering the Spiritual Artifacts that arrived today for the contest."

This Housekeeper Qin, one of the four major stewards in the Sifang City Lord’s Mansion, is known for his authority, and the servants in the mansion all fear him greatly.

Housekeeper Qin glanced at the participating Spiritual Artifacts, and a fleeting gleam flickered across his eyes when he saw the fan belonging to Long Baobao.

A thought flashed through his mind about a month ago, when Long Sixuan, the Acting Family Head of the Long Family, made a personal visit. He brought with him a silver note worth two million taels.

No one doesn’t love wealth. Housekeeper Qin accepted the silver note, and he promised Long Sixuan that he would intercept any fan-shaped Spiritual Artifact he saw among the contest entries.

Long Sixuan is extremely cunning. Even though he had already seen "Long Baobao’s" head and obtained the Glazed Jade Fan, he was still paranoid and simply bribed Housekeeper Qin.

In this way, as the only fan-shaped Spiritual Artifact, the Glazed Jade Fan would undoubtedly take the spotlight during the contest.

"How could you do such a poor job? Even collecting such lowly Yellow-grade Spiritual Artifacts—take them out and throw them away right now." Housekeeper Qin slapped the fan and the Qiankun Bag to the ground with a bang.

The two Maids were terrified, their faces pale with fright.

They were just ordinary Maids, clueless about the quality of the Spiritual Artifacts.

Judging by Housekeeper Qin’s expression, it seemed that these two Spiritual Artifacts really were subpar.

Not daring to make a sound, the two Maids quickly picked up those two items along with the Jade Boxes and discarded them to the side.

Only then did Housekeeper Qin nod in satisfaction and continued to inspect the other Spiritual Artifacts with his hands behind his back.

Late at night, within the City Lord’s Mansion, an old servant with a hunched back was sweeping the courtyard with a broom.

The old servant seemed very aged, and his movements were slow.

His broom knocked into many Jade Boxes.

Those discarded Boxes were filled with Spiritual Artifacts below Xuan-grade, not even qualifying for the preliminaries.

The old servant’s somewhat muddy eyes cast a glance over those Boxes.

"These people really treat the World’s First Refining as if it’s a place for trash, sending whatever they have here."

Right then, the old servant noticed one of the Boxes.

"What’s this?"

The old servant picked up the fan from inside and unfurled it with a swoosh.

It was a fan painted with ink landscapes, smaller than the typical scholar’s fan, appearing to be made from fine silk.

But the old servant could affirm, this fan was not made from silk.

On the fan, a riverband of jade and a grand mountain range lay depicted.

Under the moonlight, the mountains and rivers on the fan became vivid as if coming to life.

Hiss—

The old servant took a keen interest, caressing the fan’s surface with his callused hands.

"The refining method is a bit immature, but it already shows promise. What a fine Earth Rank Luo Book River and Mountain Fan. Which blind person threw away such a fan."

The old servant disapproved.

As he was about to take the fan with him, his eyelids suddenly twitched.

He noticed a small pouch next to the fan.

Upon laying eyes on that pouch, the old servant’s murky eyes suddenly became clear.

"A Life Qiankun Bag, is it really the Life Qiankun Bag?"

A vitality never seen before bloomed on the old servant’s wrinkled face.

With a touch of excitement, he looked through the two Boxes.

He noted names ’Hei Xiaoling’ and ’Hei Yue.’

These two names were unheard of by the old servant; there was only one possibility: either the two had used aliases.

"Ha ha, to think all the years I’ve searched without finding someone to inherit my mantle, this year I’ve unexpectedly come across not just one, but two. This year’s ’World’s First Refining’ truly makes this old man’s expectations soar." The old servant laughed loudly, sweeping the Mountain and River Fan and the Qiankun Bag into his sleeve with a flick.