Hearing Su Yueli's words, Han Yu could not help but shrink her neck and swallow hard, her small face filled with awe and shock.
This was an entire massive, thriving immortal dynasty! Yet, her master was actually planning to fish in troubled waters during their struggle for the throne, even aiming for the royal family's ultimate treasure.
Just how powerful was her master to have such heaven-defying courage? Looking at Su Yueli, who was walking beside her at a leisurely pace in a blue dress, she felt that her master's background was like a bottomless abyss, utterly unfathomable.
The two did not rush at top speed, instead using their travel time to consolidate Han Yu's Third Realm cultivation. After a few days of travel, the master and disciple finally crossed the border of Great Yan.
At the city gates, heavily armored Great Yan guards stopped them for questioning. Su Yueli could not be bothered to cause trouble and casually slipped them some loose silver. The guards happily let them pass.
After entering the border city, they did not stop and headed straight for the heart of the Great Yan Dynasty—the Great Yan Imperial City. A few days later, they arrived at the imperial city.
The Great Yan Imperial City was even broader and more majestic than that of Great Qian. Fully armed Imperial Guards patrolling the streets and alleys could be seen everywhere, a clear sign that the internal struggle for the throne had already reached a boiling point.
“Master, are we going straight to the palace now?” Han Yu asked in a low voice.
“No rush. Let's gather some information first.”
Su Yueli led Han Yu straight into a massive merchant association of the Tongtian Merchant Guild. After picking out a few ordinary pills to consolidate Han Yu's Third Realm blood qi, Su Yueli placed a mid-grade spirit stone on the counter.
Looking at the chubby shopkeeper, she went straight to the point. “Shopkeeper, I'd like to ask for some information.”
The chubby shopkeeper smiled and swept the spirit stone away, chuckling, “Ask away, young lady. This old man will tell you everything he knows.”
“Where is the Grade Eight Myriad Tribulations Blood-Washing Vine currently held by the Great Yan royal family?”
Hearing the name of this sensitive herb, the chubby shopkeeper's eyes flickered slightly, and his smile deepened. He then held up two fingers and wiggled them. “Hehehe, young lady, this information doesn't come cheap. It will cost two hundred mid-grade spirit stones.”
Su Yueli's lips twitched slightly. What a rip-off. It was just a single piece of information, yet he wanted two hundred mid-grade spirit stones? This shady shop was overcharging way too much!
Seeing Su Yueli raise an eyebrow, the chubby shopkeeper explained with a chuckle, “You might not know this, but over the past few days, it's not just you. Many experts and cultivator clans from other dynasties have been eyeing this Myriad Tribulations Blood-Washing Vine. If you're a step too late, this treasure might fall into someone else's hands.”
Su Yueli sighed helplessly in her heart. Since she was currently in a bind and urgently needed this crucial main herb to refine a pill to break through to the Fourteenth Realm, she had no choice but to take the loss. With a wave of her hand, two hundred mid-grade spirit stones clattered onto the counter.
“Pleasure doing business!”
The chubby shopkeeper's eyes lit up, and he quickly swept the spirit stones into his storage bag. Lowering his voice, he said, “This Grade Eight herb was indeed managed by the Great Yan royal family, and they planned to use it as the prize for the champion of the next Immortal Path Tournament. But the trouble started half a year ago when His Majesty contracted a strange illness.”
Su Yueli's eyes narrowed slightly. “A strange illness?”
“Indeed!”
The chubby shopkeeper sighed. “It is said that a bizarre and gloomy death-fiend poison grew out of nowhere within His Majesty's blood qi and meridians. Not only is spiritual energy unable to disperse it, but it actually absorbs the spiritual magic of cultivators to strengthen itself.”
“Now that His Majesty is on the verge of death, the royal family has posted an imperial bounty, offering the Myriad Tribulations Blood-Washing Vine as a reward to any talented individual who can cure this disease.”
“Death-fiend poison?”
Su Yueli raised an eyebrow imperceptibly. Absorbing spiritual energy and eroding blood qi and meridians? This sounded somewhat like a highly ancient and rare malevolent fiend energy of the world.
While such a thing was a deadly poison to a cultivator's spiritual magic, to her Martial Soul and that fellow Xiaohei, the weapon spirit, it might actually be a natural tonic.
Su Yueli pondered for a moment, then asked, “Is there no other way to get the medicine? For example... going in to take it?”
The chubby shopkeeper glanced at Su Yueli. Seeing that there was not even a ripple of spiritual energy on her, she was clearly just a mundane martial artist.
He could not help but chuckle. “Young lady, take this old man's advice. The depths of the imperial palace are extremely heavily guarded. Several peak Twelfth and Thirteenth Realm consecrated experts guard it personally, and all the arrays are fully active. It's absolutely impossible to steal it. As a martial artist, you'd better not get involved in this muddy water.”
Having obtained the information she wanted, Su Yueli said no more, turning to lead Han Yu out of the merchant guild.
On the street, Han Yu followed closely behind and asked with some worry, “Master, what should we do now? Force our way into the palace?”
Su Yueli shook her head, her lips curling upward slightly. “Forcing our way in is too conspicuous. Since they have posted a public bounty, we will enter fair and square to take a look.”
The disease sounded bizarre, but as an ancient weapon-fiend spirit, Xiaohei specialized in countering such yin-fiend poisons. Even if Xiaohei could not absorb it completely, with her Ji Dao Martial Soul blood qi, it was not impossible for her to strip and suppress it.
It should not be too difficult to obtain this medicine.
Having made up her mind, the two headed straight to the imperial bounty board near the imperial city gates. A crowd of curious commoners and cultivators had gathered around it. Many doctors and low-level cultivators stared at the lavish rewards, swallowing hard, yet not a single person dared to step forward to accept the bounty.
Su Yueli pushed through the crowd with a calm expression, raised her fair hand, and ripped down the imperial announcement.
The onlookers instantly gasped in surprise. The Imperial Guards guarding the board were also taken aback, quickly placing their hands on their hilts as they stepped forward.
The guard captain leading them sized Su Yueli up. Seeing her in a blue dress, incomparably beautiful but without any spiritual energy fluctuations, he could not help but frown deeply.
To be safe, the guard captain asked in a deep voice, “Are you a master of medicine? A world-renowned doctor?”
Su Yueli thought about it and shook her head. “No.”
The guard captain's expression darkened slightly, and he asked again, “Then are you a reclusive high cultivator who has concealed your cultivation, or an immortal sect powerhouse who possesses some secret technique to ward off evil?”
Su Yueli honestly shook her head once more. “Neither. I am just a martial artist.”
The guard captain's lips twitched violently, and veins popped on his forehead. Neither a renowned doctor nor a high cultivator, without even a shred of spiritual energy, yet she came to accept this imperial bounty concerning His Majesty's life? Was she messing with him?!
“Insolent! The imperial bounty is not something you can play around with! Guard, get—”
The guard captain flew into a rage, about to draw his blade to chase away this woman who did not know the heights of heaven and depths of the earth. Just then, a voice suddenly came from behind him:
“Hold on. What is going on here?”
Behind the guard walked a middle-aged man dressed in luxurious robes, with faint spiritual energy swirling around his body.
Su Yueli raised her eyebrows. This person's cultivation should be around the Eighth Realm. Combined with his python robes, he was likely a prince.
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