Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Clues about Water Cloud Palace
“Senior… senior…”

Little Red panted hard, fine beads of sweat breaking out on her forehead.

Just now, senior had walked so fast that she could not keep up and had been running the whole way.

Yu Zhao asked: “Little Red, in this Nanming City, who has lived here the longest and is the most knowledgeable?”

Now that she was in Nanming City, Yu Zhao did not want to leave with nothing.

She planned to make one last attempt. If she still could not find any clues, she would give up, leave this place, and come back another time if she had the chance.

Little Red raised her hand excitedly and answered: “I know, it’s Grandpa Tea! Grandpa Tea is the tea master of Floating Fragrance Teahouse. The tea he brews smells the best!”

Yu Zhao said: “Let’s go. Take me to see him.”

“Okay!” Little Red agreed at once.

She skillfully led Yu Zhao through the small alleys. Soon, they arrived outside a teahouse.

The two of them went up to the second floor together and followed the scent of tea to a tearoom where the tea master was brewing tea for customers.

The situation was urgent, and Yu Zhao did not have time to wait for the tea master to come out. She lifted her foot and kicked the tearoom door open.

“Hey, what are you doing!”

The two cultivators who were sitting in the private room drinking tea changed their expressions and glared angrily at Yu Zhao.

But when they realized they could not see through Yu Zhao’s cultivation level, the anger on their faces quickly turned into fawning smiles. They hurriedly stood up from their cushions and bowed respectfully, saying: “Greetings, senior.”

Yu Zhao tossed a high-grade spirit stone into the arms of one of them and said: “I have something to ask the tea master. Take this as an apology to you.”

When the two saw that what they were holding was actually a high-grade spirit stone, their mouths almost split to the back of their heads. How could they still be angry?

“Senior, we will leave right away, right away!”

They rushed out of the tearoom and kindly closed the door behind them.

The room fell silent.

The tea master, whose hair was already white but whose back was still straight, put down the teapot in his hand and asked calmly: “Young friend, you seem to be in quite a hurry. What do you want to ask?”

Yu Zhao went straight to the point and asked: “Tea master, I would like to ask if you know of a sect near Nanming City called Water Cloud Palace?”

“Water Cloud Palace?” The tea master looked at Yu Zhao in surprise and said: “Wasn’t that sect destroyed twenty years ago?”

A flash of joy passed through Yu Zhao’s eyes.

She had found the right person.

She asked quickly: “That is right. Do you know where Water Cloud Palace was located?”

The tea master frowned and said: “I only heard others talking about it back then. I cannot remember clearly for the moment.”

At this time, Little Red popped out from behind Yu Zhao and clasped her hands together, begging pitifully: “Grandpa Tea, this senior is my customer. Please help her.”

“So it is Little Red.” When the tea master saw Little Red, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened. He looked at Yu Zhao with some disapproval and said: “If you had said earlier that you were Little Red’s customer, I would have remembered sooner.”

Yu Zhao was speechless in her heart.

[Please stop pretending. You obviously saw Little Red earlier and were just waiting for her to speak.]

Seeing that it was enough, the tea master stopped teasing them and told Yu Zhao the detailed location of Water Cloud Palace.

Yu Zhao memorized it carefully, then prepared to give the tea master five high-grade spirit stones as thanks.

But the tea master refused and said: “I only said a few words. It is not worth so much. If you really must give them, then give them to Little Red. This child has had a hard life.”

Yu Zhao had noticed long ago that the tea master and Little Red were very close, so she was not surprised.

She simply added one more high-grade spirit stone, then took out a food box filled with food. In front of the tea master, she handed everything to Little Red and said: “I am leaving. This is your payment for being my guide today.”

Little Red stared blankly at the clear, sparkling spirit stones in Yu Zhao’s hand.

These were for her?

Her heart was in a panic, and she waved her hands again and again, saying: “No, senior, it is too much. I cannot take it.”

The tea master watched anxiously from the side, wishing he could snatch everything from Yu Zhao’s hand and force it all into Little Red’s arms.

Yu Zhao firmly and gently stuffed everything into Little Red’s embrace and told her: “Take it. You earned it.”

Then she reminded her: “Remember, do not take these things out. Only you and the tea master should know about them.”

Little Red was not like Yu Zhao. Little Red had no power to protect herself. If news leaked out, she might lose both the spirit stones and her life.

Yu Zhao added one more warning: “Also, during this time, it is best if you stay with the tea master and do not go out alone.”

She was worried that after losing track of her, the Nascent Soul old fiend from Merfolk Pavilion would turn and target Little Red, so she could not help repeating the warning.

But Little Red’s mind was completely filled with the spirit stones in her arms, and she did not really hear what Yu Zhao was saying.

The tea master’s expression grew serious. He had clearly sensed the danger.

He said in a deep voice: “I will keep an eye on Little Red.”

Yu Zhao nodded to him, then left the tearoom like a gust of wind and soon disappeared without a trace.

The tea master took a look at the still silly and happy Little Red and let out a long sigh.

He did not know whether this sudden fortune would be a blessing or a curse.

The place where Water Cloud Palace had been was neither very far nor very near to Nanming City. Yu Zhao traveled for two full days before finally reaching the mountain the tea master had described.

The tall peak pierced into the clouds, wrapped in mist. A huge waterfall hung halfway up the mountain like a falling galaxy, kicking up a curtain of fine spray.

In Yu Zhao’s eyes, this was indeed a spiritual place suitable for founding a sect.

Her figure flashed as she followed the mountain path upward.

The higher she climbed, the more she felt that something was wrong. The spiritual power here seemed more active than in any place she had passed along the way.

She also seemed to see traces of footprints.

[Could someone still be living here?]

…

On the fifth floor of Merfolk Pavilion.

The merfolk soaked in the pool, his thoughts in complete chaos.

To him, the human race had always been a symbol of greed, meanness, and shamelessness.

After being betrayed, he had sworn never to believe humans again.

But that human female cultivator had really kept her promise and removed the Heart Devil Seed.

This made the merfolk, who was used to being lied to by human cultivators, feel completely lost.

Suddenly, scenes of his clansmen being cruelly slaughtered by cultivators surfaced in his mind.

Shocked and furious, he slammed his heart hard against the wall of the pool.

He wanted the pain to remind him not to forget the evil the human race had done to them, and not to forget their hatred.

“Little Merman, you are acting a bit strange today.”

A wave of extreme terror instantly drowned out his anger. He began to tremble uncontrollably, and the water in the pool rippled with his shaking.

At some point, a figure had appeared at the edge of the pool and was looking down at the merfolk with a half-smile.

Seeing the merfolk shivering because of him, a pleased light flashed in the man’s eyes.

In the next moment, the light in his eyes vanished, replaced by a raging storm of anger.

He demanded coldly: “Who? Who left their aura on you?”

Splash!

Before the merfolk even knew what was happening, he was caught in the man’s palm.

Pain far stronger than hitting the wall rushed through him.

The merfolk let out a sharp, miserable scream, and the blue blood flowing inside his heart seemed to darken even more.

The man said in an icy voice: “Little Merman, do not test my patience. Tell me everything that happened to you.”