Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Yu Ruan Ruan Is the One He Was Looking For

Several days later.

Scarlet Sun City.

On a certain street.

Tao Yu Shuang, who had been holding herself back for days, finally let her feelings surge a little higher as she stretched and sighed with relief: we finally finished the mission; now we can return to the sect.

Wan Li Xuan shrugged: no rush; since we made the trip to Scarlet Sun City, why not stay a while longer before we go?

Lin Dao said nothing from the side, but his expression showed no objection to lingering in Scarlet Sun City.

Dai Zhou looked at the three and explained: a few days ago Senior Brother Qin left me a message saying he and two junior sisters want to remain in the city for a time; if we are in a hurry to return to the sect, we can leave on our own.

Hearing this, Tao Yu Shuang hesitated: it is safer if we go back together.

Dai Zhou began arranging the next step: then let us stroll around Scarlet Sun City for now; no need to do missions together, everyone can amuse themselves as they like, and when it is time to regroup, I will notify you.

The others agreed: okay.

After they came to an understanding, the four split up.

With City Lord Yan Cheng Qian of the Divine Transformation Stage seated in authority within Scarlet Sun City, almost no one dared cause trouble in the city. Because of that, Dai Zhou and the others were not worried that dispersing would invite trouble.

But after a single night, a certain rumor suddenly spread through Scarlet Sun City.

Supposedly, a thief had slipped into the City Lord’s estate under cover of darkness the previous night, stolen a treasure, and escaped unscathed. The guards of the City Lord’s estate had not even glimpsed the thief’s shadow.

Once this rumor began to circulate, it provoked heated discussion throughout the city.

Many people’s first reaction was disbelief; the rumor had to be false.

For so many years, in each of the Twelve Main Cities, the City Lord’s mansion occupied an unshakable position of rule.

The people of the city simply could not imagine that anyone would dare tug City Lord Yan Cheng Qian’s tiger whiskers and then walk out of the City Lord’s estate in one piece.

…

In a guest room of a certain inn.

Lin Dao studied a Strange Stone Fragment in his hand. There seemed to be some kind of pattern carved on it, and the material did not resemble ordinary stone.

This tiny shard was precisely what Lin Dao had taken from the City Lord’s mansion the previous night.

In truth, Lin Dao could have paid an open and aboveboard visit. But after thinking over things he had learned in recent days, he ultimately chose what he felt was the most secure method and retrieved the item first.

From his Storage Pouch, Lin Dao took out a palm-sized circular stone plate covered in strange markings. Its face resembled a simplified bagua diagram.

The plate’s material seemed to be of the same origin as the fragment.

Lin Dao placed the fragment onto the missing corner of the circular plate. Strangely, the fragment fused back without the slightest sense of mismatch, seamlessly repairing the plate.

Seeing the Destiny Plate successfully restored, Lin Dao exhaled in relief.

Next comes the search, he thought, then he circulated spiritual energy and injected it into the Destiny Plate.

He had only meant to test whether the Destiny Plate could operate normally. Who could have guessed that the instant spiritual energy entered it, the plate would behave as if something had seized it, suddenly springing from Lin Dao’s palm and shooting out through the window?

Startled, Lin Dao had no time to mull it over. He flicked a concealment technique onto the Destiny Plate, then hurried after it.

[It actually reacted? Could it really be this coincidental…] Lin Dao followed the Destiny Plate while silently speculating to himself.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Lin Dao also added a concealment technique to himself. Even if he passed directly behind someone, he did not startle them.

Slowly, the Destiny Plate’s speed began to fall.

Lin Dao’s eyes tightened. [Found them?]

In the next instant, the Destiny Plate hovering in the air suddenly shot toward a direction below.

Lin Dao immediately followed.

In the bustling market below, a syrupy-voiced girl asked: Third Senior Brother, does this look good?

Qin Yuan answered warmly from a few paces away: if Ruan Ruan chose it, of course it looks good.

She chirped: then I will buy it?

Just as the Destiny Plate was about to smack into the girl, Lin Dao guided it aside with a thread of spiritual energy and pulled it back.

Qin Yuan, standing a few steps from the girl, swept his gaze around as if he had sensed something, yet found nothing unusual.

Qin Yuan frowned slightly: [Was it his imagination?]

Up in midair, Lin Dao, who had retrieved the Destiny Plate, looked down at the person who had drawn the plate to her—Yu Ruan Ruan—and for a split second his expression froze in shock.

[Did the Destiny Plate get it wrong?]

A man who had always believed without question in every decision and pronouncement of his Master felt a treasonous thought surface at this moment: [Could the Destiny Plate Master gave me be broken?]

Yu Ruan Ruan was the one he was looking for?

Her?

For a moment, Lin Dao wavered.

By rights, once he found the person, he was to bring them back. But that person…

[This concerns too much. Better to wait and see a little longer.]

Perhaps the Destiny Plate had simply malfunctioned today.

According to his Master’s prophecy, in the Extreme Yang lands of the Southern Desolation, a heaven-chosen bearer of a special fate would be born.

If such a person walked the righteous path, it would be a blessing for the common people under heaven. But if they strayed into the demonic path, they would ignite a blood-soaked, storm-lashed calamity not seen in ten thousand years.

The world teems with extraordinary figures; Lin Dao could not be sure his Master was the only one who had foreseen this. If someone with ill intent found that person first, the consequences would be unthinkable.

If, in the end, that person truly was Yu Ruan Ruan, Lin Dao recalled the Master’s second instruction before he set out: [If this person’s nature is vicious, already astray on the demonic path and beyond saving, eliminate them immediately, leaving no future trouble.]

…

Meanwhile, at the Alchemists’ Guild branch.

In front of the apprentice assessment results board.

Rong Shu waited for the people ahead of her to read their results. Most left with heads lowered in disappointment, while she lingered unhurriedly at the back.

It was not that Rong Shu was brimming with confidence; she had simply gone numb.

At worst she would keep gnawing through books. It was nothing worth making a fuss over.

Having failed the apprentice assessment five times in a row, Rong Shu silently comforted herself: [See? Hardly anyone passed either.]

No sooner had the thought risen than an elderly, white-haired man ahead suddenly began to twitch all over. He capered like a madman, waving his arms and legs as he shouted at the top of his lungs: I finally passed, I passed, hahaha! I am going to be a trainee alchemist! I am a trainee alchemist, hahaha…

Rong Shu: […]

But when Rong Shu noticed the old man’s full head of white hair and the bald patch gleaming at his crown, her sourness vanished.

At last the people in front finished reading, and it was Rong Shu’s turn. She instinctively swept her gaze to the very bottom of the list.