Qingyun Province, Provincial Capital.
The city was nearly bursting at the seams with people.
The moment Feng Qingran stepped into the city, she felt a wave of oppressive pressure, along with numerous scrutinizing gazes landing on her.
In less than a moment, over a hundred people had already probed her cultivation level.
Discovering she was merely at the Qi Refining stage and posed no threat, the probing gazes quickly vanished.
Thud!—
Someone bumped into Feng Qingran.
The person immediately apologized, “My apologies, young lady, the street is just so crowded…”
“Thief… thief… stealing storage pouch…” Zhuoyan, imitating a parrot, interrupted the man.
The man’s face flashed with panic, and he turned to flee.
“Thief… running… chase him…” Zhuoyan’s voice came out in staccato bursts.
A smile tugged at the corner of Feng Qingran’s lips. With a light flick of her jade-like hand, a dagger flew past the man’s head and came to a halt horizontally against his throat.
The man froze on the spot, not daring to move a muscle.
People on the street stopped to watch the scene unfold.
This guy actually dared to pull a stunt like this under everyone’s noses? He must have a death wish.
With the recent influx of powerful cultivators into the provincial capital, the usual petty thieves and scoundrels had largely disappeared, all afraid of accidentally offending someone important.
Feng Qingran walked up to the man. “Who sent you?”
The man’s eyes darted around guiltily, but he chose to keep his mouth shut.
After all, she was just a young girl; what could she possibly do to him? If he could just bluff his way through this, he’d get a hundred low-grade spirit stones.
“That storage pouch of mine is worth a hundred mid-grade spirit stones, and there are another three hundred low-grade spirit stones inside,” Feng Qingran said. “Altogether, that’s worth thirteen hundred low-grade spirit stones. I’ll give it all to you.”
Hearing this, a greedy glint flashed in the man’s eyes. “Really?”
Feng Qingran nodded. “Yes, it’s all yours. But you have to answer a few questions for me.”
A fawning smile spread across the man’s face. “Ask away!”
Someone in the crowd couldn’t stand it anymore. “Young lady, you can’t trust this man’s words. I suggest you turn him over to the City Lord’s mansion!”
“Exactly, young lady, don’t be fooled again. How could a few questions be worth over a thousand spirit stones?”
“Young lady, this man has a shifty, rat-like face. He’s obviously no good. If you let him go, he might come back for revenge!”
…
Everyone voiced their opinions righteously.
Even a core disciple of a major sect only received a few hundred spirit stones per month. A few questions couldn’t possibly be worth over a thousand spirit stones, plus a storage pouch. From any angle, Feng Qingran was getting the short end of the stick.
Feng Qingran thanked those who had warned her but insisted on spending the spirit stones to ask her questions.
“My first question: The person who hired you to steal from me, is she about my height? Was she wearing a treasure-blue fúyáo hairpin in her hair?”
The man thought for a moment, then nodded. This didn’t count as betraying his employer; Feng Qingran had figured it out herself.
Feng Qingran retrieved her dagger and waved her sleeve, signaling the man to leave.
She continued walking towards the auction house.
“Sucker… patsy… fool…” Zhuoyan on her shoulder continued its parrot-like recitation.
Feng Qingran raised her hand and plucked a feather from Zhuoyan’s back.
The white feather turned golden as it landed in her palm.
Seeing his feather plucked, Zhuoyan roared angrily, “You wretched girl! Give me back my feather!”
Each feather represented a portion of his power!
“Zhuoyan, aren’t you a white dove? Why is your feather golden?” Feng Qingran examined the golden feather in her hand with amazement.
Nothing Seventh Senior Brother gave her was ever simple.
“Hmph! None of your business, you wretched woman. Give it back.”
“Even if I give it back, you can’t reattach it,” Feng Qingran said, seemingly playing with the feather but actually surveying her surroundings.
Su Yanran was definitely hiding somewhere, watching her.
That blue fúyáo was an item from the Heavenly Sword Sect. In the book, Su Yanran had acquired it. As a defensive artifact and a beautiful one at that, she adored it and carried it with her everywhere.
“But… you plucked my courting feather!” Zhuoyan stammered out.
Feng Qingran was stunned. Courting feathers were typically used by birds for mating displays. She immediately returned the feather to Zhuoyan and even kindly tried to stick it back on with something.
“I’m sorry. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely find you a beautiful dove in the future,” Feng Qingran promised earnestly.
Zhuoyan grew even angrier. He possessed the bloodline of the Primordial Phoenix! How could he be paired with a mere dove?
Slap!—
A talisman was stuck onto Zhuoyan’s head.
Zhuoyan fell silent: ???
“You probably need to cool off for a bit,” Feng Qingran said. She didn’t want to attract more attention because of Zhuoyan’s human speech.
Before the auction began, she still needed to meet someone.
——————
An elegant private room.
Li Niang pushed a jade slip towards Feng Qingran. “This is the information you requested.”
Feng Qingran’s pale hand picked up the jade slip. After reading the information on it, her eyes turned cold. “Why didn’t you kill him as agreed? Why let him kill so many people?”
“My apologies, it was an oversight on my part,” Li Niang said, her charming eyes flickering faintly, her tone unhurried.
“Where is he now?” Feng Qingran’s apricot-blossom eyes turned sharp, her peerless beauty radiating an intense pressure.
Even Li Niang, at the Nascent Soul stage, was surprised to feel such pressure from a mere Foundation Building young girl!
A look of shock crossed Li Niang’s pretty face, diminishing some of her allure and adding gravity. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t defeat him at the time. He escaped.”
