Chapter Seventy-One: Courting Disaster!

“Understood. Thank you, Lord Wen.”
Zhou Tian and Zhou Zui both expressed their gratitude and stepped aside. They didn’t know this man well, but however important he might be, his status couldn’t be that much higher than theirs. A normal courtesy would suffice; no need to curry favor.

“So, what do you think? That lady from Tianguan, not bad, eh?”
Zhang Yi muttered quietly.

“Not bad? Let me tell you…”
Zhou Zui leaned in, lowering his voice as they began a hushed, somewhat lewd discussion, punctuated by bursts of snickering.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yan and Zhou Xunchuan were conversing with Lord Wen, discussing the current state of affairs in Tianguan.

Of the eight regional powers, only four had arrived so far: the monks of Luotian Temple, the people from Treasure Pavilion, the organization known as the Fools, and representatives from the Mechanized Nation.

In recent years, the void storms surrounding the Forsaken Land had grown fiercer, their reach expanding by tens of thousands of kilometers.

As night fell, Lord Wen hosted a welcoming banquet for them. Every dish was made from rare ingredients unique to the Forsaken Land—delicacies they had never tasted before, a true feast for the senses.

One dish in particular, called “Eight-Treasure Exquisite God Essence Porridge,” lingered long in Zhou Tian’s memory.

By the time they returned to the mansion, the sky was completely dark. Outside, the divine barrier shrouding Tianguan glimmered as the raging void storms crashed against it, sending waves of divine light rippling across its surface.

Zhou Tian told the others to head in first. He himself began pacing around the perimeter of the mansion, measuring each step with careful deliberation. Noticing this, Zhou Zui couldn’t help but ask,

“Zhou Tian, what are you doing?”

“Just walking off a full stomach.”

Zhou Tian replied absentmindedly.

Hearing his perfunctory answer, the others sighed in resignation and entered the mansion, leaving him to his own devices.

After making a few more rounds, Zhou Tian seemed satisfied with his measurements. He entered the mansion, and just before entering his own room, he deliberately coughed loudly.

With the coming of night, Tianguan fell utterly silent. A strict curfew was enforced—no one was allowed to linger on the streets once the void storms descended.

Squads of patrol soldiers marched through the city, their armor clanking as they moved.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A squad stopped in front of a building. Their leader, a man with the bearing of a captain, stepped forward and knocked on the door.

The door opened, and a face shrouded in a black hood peered out. After a moment’s pause, seeing the soldiers outside, he spoke:

“What brings you gentlemen here?”

“Maintenance fee.”

The captain was of average build, clad in black iron armor, gripping a bronze spear. A chilling gleam flashed in his eyes—he opened his mouth and demanded money.

“Captain Li, didn’t we just pay you the other day…”

A voice came from beneath the robe, tinged with dissatisfaction.

“Maintenance fee!”
The captain barked, his spear shimmering coldly, as if he might stab at any moment.

“Yes, yes!”
The hooded figure hurriedly produced a crystalline, golden shard and handed it over.

The captain accepted the god crystal, pocketed it with a flick of his wrist, and moved on to the next house.

“Take care, sirs… Take care…”

Once the soldiers had gone, the hooded man slammed the door, spat on the floor, and muttered,

“Continue. The Tianguan patrol’s here for protection money again. Damn it, it’s getting more and more expensive.”

A single god crystal was worth a million spirit stones—not a trivial sum.

Inside, the room was many times larger than it appeared from the outside, expanded by a formation. Under the suppression of a Sovereign’s formation, operating spatial arrays was no easy or cheap matter.

The interior was lavishly decorated, a stark contrast to its humble exterior. At the center stood a platform, upon which stood a winged, nude female humanoid, her features exquisitely beautiful but expressionless. Silver chains bound her body, runes engraved along their length flickering with golden light.

Nearby, another figure, concealed in a black robe, announced,

“Gentlemen, this is the descendant of an ancient god-king from the Forsaken Land. The experience will be unlike anything else. Starting bid: ten god crystals!”

A number of individuals sat below, all shrouded in black robes. Soon, a raspy, genderless voice called out,

“Eleven!”

It was impossible to tell man from woman; their voice had been deliberately disguised.

It was an underground auction—trading in humanoid beings. The eight regions had a pact forbidding such transactions, yet here, it continued in secret.

As time slipped by, two hours passed. Zhou Tian listened intently from afar. When all fell silent, he calculated the distance in his mind, his form blurred, then vanished from his room.

He reappeared outside the mansion, in a blind spot away from the guards. Recalling his measurements from earlier that day, Zhou Tian teleported repeatedly, eventually leaving the Tianqin compound.

The night streets were a far cry from their daytime bustle—now, all was silent.

The clatter of patrolling soldiers echoed nearby. Zhou Tian teleported away, and moments later, the soldiers arrived, knocked on a door, collected a god crystal, and moved on.

From a distance, Zhou Tian watched, his eyes glinting with intrigue. Since spiritual sense could not penetrate bodies within Tianguan, the patrols could not detect him.

When the soldiers had gone, Zhou Tian approached the building. From the outside, it seemed utterly ordinary. He walked up to one wall, calculated silently, and muttered,

“This should be the right distance.”

His form shimmered, and he vanished inside.

Within, Zhou Tian found himself in a dim space, almost completely dark. He had landed in a corner, and the poor lighting kept him hidden from view.

He grabbed a piece of cloth at random and wrapped it around his face as a makeshift disguise before heading deeper inside.

Everyone here wore black robes, giving the place the air of a secret cult gathering. Only Zhou Tian, with a strip of cloth covering his face, drew curious glances as he moved through the crowd.

After a circuit, Zhou Tian realized this was a hub for exchanging information—no wonder it was so well concealed, rivaling the business of the Fools.

In the center stood a large jade tablet, scrolling with intelligence reports. If you found something you needed, you could select it, and someone would approach to negotiate a deal.

After observing for a while, Zhou Tian picked a corner, calculated the distance, and confirmed he could teleport out in one go.

“Ahem, everyone!”

Unskilled at disguising his voice, Zhou Tian simply lowered it as much as he could.

In the hushed atmosphere, his words rang out like thunder, instantly drawing all eyes.

“I have a major piece of news—about an ancient divine beast. This beast was unimaginably powerful, dominating an era. Wherever it went, only shattered darkness remained in its wake!”

He spoke with great mystery.

“What kind of divine beast?”

After a moment’s silence, someone among the black-robed crowd asked. Seasoned as they were, none would believe so easily; they demanded details.