Su Hong and the gray-shirted middle-aged man looked at the black-robed Elder Liu, who still seemed to be organizing his thoughts.
"Oh? You made a discovery as well? Hmm, go on, tell me," Su Hong said, glancing around. She noted that it was now noon and many cultivators had gone to the inns. The shop's entrance was practically empty, so there was no need to rush back inside to find a private place.
Seeing the expressions on the young miss and the middle-aged man, Elder Liu lowered his voice and said, "At first, this old servant paid no mind to this young Qi Condensation cultivator. But when he took out the items he wished to sell, it gave this old servant quite a shock. After a simple categorization, the boy took out more than eighty items! Most of them were from the Ten-Pace Courtyard, the Supreme Mystery Teachings, and the Pure Land Sect. And seventy percent of them were actually high-grade or mid-grade Magical Artifacts! The seventy percent I speak of includes fifty high-grade Magical Artifacts—the flying swords of the Ten-Pace Courtyard—and some other high-grade Magical Artifacts. There was even one low-grade Magical Treasure and one second-tier Mi Beast horn, which should be a treasure used by a high-level demonic cultivator."
The black-robed elder paused and glanced at Su Hong. Although her face remained expressionless, she was inwardly startled. It wasn't the value of the items that shocked her; in her eyes, they were just common goods. The most valuable things were likely the low-grade Magical Treasure and the second-tier Mi Beast horn. However, the information they implied couldn't help but jolt her, reminding her of an intelligence report she had received some time ago.
"It seems the young miss has also remembered the news from the Ten-Pace Courtyard, the Supreme Mystery Teachings, and the Pure Land Sect regarding the contest over the Four Great Sects' Secret Realm. However, the Four Great Sects, as always, issued a gag order on many of the hidden details, so the information we received was just scattered fragments. When this young cultivator took out these items today, this old servant was also taken aback. Could it be that this young cultivator was a participant in the so-called Wheel of Life and Death? But with his cultivation, how could he have obtained items from a Foundation Establishment cultivator and a second-tier demonic cultivator? Could he have been fishing in troubled waters?"
"Fishing in troubled waters? It's not that simple. With a Foundation Establishment cultivator leading the team, it wouldn't be a Qi Condensation cultivator's turn to collect the belongings of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Let's go back. Bring me the items this young cultivator sold." Su Hong narrowed her beautiful eyes, then glanced again in the direction where Li Yan and the others had disappeared. Though the figures were long gone, Su Hong's gaze flickered a few times before she turned and walked back into the shop.
Inside a room in the Gui Qu Lai Xi shop, Su Hong, the black-robed elder, and the gray-shirted middle-aged man stared at the pile of items on the table. Despite knowing beforehand, they couldn't help but look at each other in dismay. The room fell silent for a while. Seeing Su Hong lost in thought, the gray-shirted man spoke softly.
"There are quite a few items here belonging to Foundation Establishment cultivators. These fifty flying swords alone belonged to an Outer Sword master from the Ten-Pace Courtyard. Among the Outer Sword Foundation Establishment cultivators who entered the Secret Realm this time were Miao Zhengyi, Chang Feng, Zuo Huang, and twenty-five others. Our intelligence suggests that only eleven of them might have survived. Miao Zhengyi from the Outer Sword division might have participated in the Wheel of Life and Death, but in the end, only Wang Lang came out alive. Yet there are only fifty flying swords here, a far cry from the three hundred-plus rumored to be in Miao Zhengyi's Sword Case. Could these swords not belong to Miao Zhengyi, but to other Foundation Establishment cultivators? But that doesn't make sense. Qi Condensation cultivators are not allowed to participate in the Secret Realm's harvest, so it should be impossible for them to obtain items from Foundation Establishment cultivators. But in that Wheel of Life and Death, how did a mere Qi Condensation cultivator manage to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator?"
Su Hong sat at the table, her beautiful eyes fixed on the items spread across it—from the Spirit Artifacts and Storage Pouches of Qi Condensation cultivators to the Magical Artifacts and Magical Treasures of Foundation Establishment cultivators, and even the treasures of demonic cultivators. Hearing the gray-shirted man's words, she spoke slowly.
"Either he was selling them on behalf of another Foundation Establishment cultivator, or his strength is extraordinary and he has concealed it, allowing him to kill across realms. It's just that this latter speculation is too absurd. A Qi Condensation killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator is not unheard of since ancient times, but who among those people wasn't a towering figure from a young age? This young cultivator has never appeared in our intelligence reports. If he had such an ability, it would have been impossible to hide from us. As for why there are only fifty flying swords, they might have been damaged in battle, or perhaps he simply didn't take them all out. All things considered, I believe the first possibility is the most likely. He was selling them on behalf of another Foundation Establishment cultivator."
After hearing her analysis, the black-robed elder and the gray-shirted man standing behind her thought for a moment and both nodded in agreement. They also didn't believe that these items were obtained by Li Yan himself.
"From these items alone, we can deduce that there's a seventy to eighty percent chance Miao Zhengyi of the Ten-Pace Courtyard died at the hands of the Malevolent Spirit Sect. At least one second-tier demonic cultivator from the Secret Realm should have also perished by their hands. As for the seven or eight Storage Pouches of the Qi Condensation disciples, it would be ideal if we could compare them in detail with the participating teams from the three sects and nine branches of the Ten-Pace Courtyard. Then we would know which team these pouches came from, and it would be clearer which teams the Malevolent Spirit Sect encountered. However, this batch of Qi Condensation disciples from the three sects of the Ten-Pace Courtyard was secretly cultivated and their names are unknown, making them difficult to investigate. Also, if we speculate that this young cultivator named Li Yan was selling these items on someone's behalf, who was he selling them for? And if he has no special abilities, how did he become one of the few disciples of Little Bamboo Peak?..." Su Hong stared at the items on the table, her jade-like wrist propping up her beautiful chin as she fell deep into thought.
Her words made the black-robed elder and the gray-shirted man freeze for a moment, and then they too fell silent. For a time, the small room was plunged into quiet contemplation...
Not one of them proposed the idea of tailing the three.