Chapter 396: Little Kirin?
In the eastern part of the royal capital, at the newly established Foundation Establishment dueling arena of the Immortal Nation.
"Xuan Ming, are you sure you didn't see it wrong? It was really the Demon Sect's Holy Saint and Kirin who entered that light-shrouded formation?"
High up on a platform, Night Crow, wearing a feathered mask, appeared to be seriously watching the Foundation Establishment cultivators duel below. Yet his mouth was busy speaking with his spiky-haired companion who looked like a reject from a punk rock concert.
"Of course I didn't get it wrong… They lingered here for a short while just now. Even though they used some concealment techniques, they still couldn't escape my spiritual sense."
Xuan Ming, who wore a tortoise-patterned mask, responded with perfect composure.
But in his mind, he recalled how the Demon Sect's Holy Saint, upon seeing him, had deliberately loosened his concealment slightly—just enough to mouth something in his direction.
Judging from the lip movements, he probably said: "Fellow Daoist Da Zhuang, long time no see."
Judging from his expression, it probably meant: "Still doing grunt work again?"
On the other side, Night Crow—who had only just arrived—fell into a moment of contemplation after hearing Xuan Ming's confirmation. After a long pause, he finally shook his head.
"That inn has extremely profound anti-surveillance wards. Most likely, they have something secret to discuss… After all, Kirin and Wutong were the ones who brought that Demon Sect kid into the imperial palace earlier. It's possible Her Majesty entrusted Kirin with some confidential mission."
Though this Six Gate Bureau intelligence division head spoke in terms of speculation, his eyes beneath the mask kept drifting toward the light-shrouded formation not too far away.
Taking a deep breath, he continued, "Currently, most of our intel regarding the upcoming Netherkin chaos comes from that brat. Her Majesty must have her reasons for handling things this way…"
Xuan Ming glanced at his now-self-persuaded colleague, then quietly changed the subject.
"That being the case, why is it you who came back? Where's Tian Zhu? What happened to her?"
Night Crow returned to his senses at the question. His tone became a little strange.
"You really thought she'd come back after delivering the Heavenly Net Formation to the northern part of the city? She's the most knowledgeable among us in formations—how could we let her slack off here?"
"Er… calling it slacking off is a bit…"
"If she's here, she would leave all the work to you. If that's not slacking off, what is?"
Night Crow's words left his companion speechless and a bit chastised.
"In short, after she arrived over there, Wutong swapped me back in… After all, I'm about the same as you. Without a specialized artifact, my entire skillset has absolutely nothing to do with formations."
Hearing this, Da Zhuang instinctively wanted to scratch his head in embarrassment—only to stop short after realizing his towering hairstyle wouldn't let him.
"I see…"
The two turned their gaze back to the battles below, which seemed a bit dull to their experienced eyes, and fell into silence.
Night Crow's eyes weren't really watching the Foundation Establishment cultivators, but rather the arena itself, which flawlessly absorbed every trace of battle aftermath.
Truthfully, when he first learned about this attention-grabbing plan, he'd been a little nervous.
Given how he'd recently been assigned all sorts of dirty and exhausting jobs—as if Her Majesty were targeting him—Night Crow had fully expected that this torturous task of crafting an arena from Heavenly Plate Stone would end up dumped on him again…
But to his utter surprise, it had actually been assigned to Kirin?
'Looks like I really was overthinking things before. Her Majesty isn't actually out to get me…'
He'd almost thought his secret alliance-building activities had been discovered by the Empress…
Good thing that wasn't the case.
As he thought this to himself, Night Crow once again glanced at the glowing barrier in the distance from the corner of his eye.
"Tsk. Speaking of that Demon Sect Holy Saint, his ability to stir up trouble is as quick as ever. He's only been back a few days and already slew a chicken Netherkin over in neighboring Qifeng City… I still have no idea what his true strength is now…"
Thinking about how that boy, who once needed help from the Six Gate Bureau, was now the stuff of ever-wilder rumors, Night Crow couldn't help but sigh.
Xuan Ming, beside him, nodded in wholehearted agreement.
"His strength is indeed extraordinary. Last time, even though I went all out against him and exchanged hundreds of moves, I still ended up losing due to a moment's carelessness…"
"Come to think of it, Her Majesty once mentioned to just a few of us about the new, not-yet-officially-appointed Golden-Ranked member—although I've yet to meet him, I can't shake the feeling he's connected."
"Can't be him, can it? After all, his cultivation isn't truly at the Nascent Soul realm yet—and he's still the Demon Sect Holy Saint…"
"Maybe. But with my eyes, even if he disguises his figure a little, I'd still recognize him!"
. . . . . . . . . .
"...If I hadn't seen you transform with my own eyes, I never would've recognized you."
Inside a room at the Wandering Immortal Inn, Kirin spoke with a rather complicated tone as she looked at the youth slowly putting his robes back on.
Listening to her, Luo Wusheng—now fully dressed—held a blank mask in one hand while rubbing his face with the other, pulling a wry smile.
"Well, of course. This is a body-altering technique I adapted from Fellow Daoist Guan Tu's Word Sword Technique—it's derived from the [Character of Body] formula. Unfortunately, the outer robe was custom-made by my junior sister here in the capital, and it wasn't designed with transformation in mind. So I had to take it off first to avoid damaging it…"
"I didn't expect Miss Kirin to get so agitated though… Did something come to mind just now?"
The Demon Sect Holy Saint asked, clearly a little exasperated.
In truth, the slap Miss Kirin had given him earlier hadn't actually hurt.
With his modified Buddhist Golden Body protecting him, even the skin on his face could withstand a Nascent Soul realm spell. Not to mention, she hadn't used much strength anyway.
But still, getting his transformation interrupted halfway through was kind of a mood killer.
Thankfully, he managed to explain in time and finished the transformation successfully afterward.
'That's why people need to trust each other more—I'm not the kind of guy who strips down without warning...'
Besides, he definitely didn't want to get hit with the Human Emperor Sword or something.
He wasn't suicidal.
Across from him, Kirin looked slightly awkward, though fortunately her face was hidden behind a mask.
She was a little embarrassed.
He had only taken off his outer robe, and yet she had instinctively slapped him.
'It's his fault. If he had explained properly beforehand—and not used such misleading phrasing...'
'Still, that transformation… It really was something else. With that change, plus the mask, probably no one but me could recognize him.'
Recalling the scene from earlier, Kirin's eyes flickered oddly.
Then, looking away, she spoke in a deliberately calm tone.
"It's nothing."
Her answer to his question was weak and perfunctory, clearly not wanting to stay on the topic. She quickly changed the subject.
"Mm… Now that you're also a Golden-Ranked member of the Six Gate Bureau, calling me so formally like before seems inappropriate."
"Oh? Then what should I call you?"
"I don't care about such trivial things. Call me whatever you like."
Wanting nothing more than to move past the earlier embarrassment, Kirin answered casually.
Luo Wusheng looked her up and down, considering her carefully before replying with utmost seriousness—
"Little Kirin— Wait! Put that sword down! I was just joking!"
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Note: Link to the character Illustration:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD[1]
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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 532: What On Earth Is Master Talking About?[2]
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[1] https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/chapter-532-what-156146549
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/chapter-532-what-156146549