“This... this pressure, which realm is this? The Fifth Realm? No, could it be a Sixth Realm martial artist?!”
The caravan manager stared at Su Yueli, his voice trembling slightly as he spoke.
The burly martial artists around them, who had been jeering just moments ago, looked as if they had all been choked simultaneously. Their faces turned pale as they stared at the young woman before them like she was a monster, no longer daring to show even a shred of contempt.
Su Yueli withdrew her blood qi, patted her sleeves, and said calmly, “I am merely at the peak of the Sixth Realm. It is just that I built a solid foundation since childhood, so my blood qi appears a bit more robust than others of the same realm.”
Hearing this, the manager's shock instantly turned to joy. He even bowed slightly, his attitude becoming extremely polite. “Ah! To think you are a top expert at the peak of the Sixth Realm! We'll take you! Our merchant house will definitely hire you! With someone of your strength overseeing things, this trip will almost certainly be safe!”
The manager then quickly offered his terms. “For this escort mission to Blackwater City and back, which takes half a month, our merchant house is willing to pay one hundred taels of silver. What do you think, young lady?”
Su Yueli nodded slightly and agreed.
These hundred taels of secular silver were indeed of no use to her now, unable to even exchange for a single low-grade spirit stone. However, all she wanted was the identity of a companion in this caravan; as for the pay, she did not care in the slightest.
After completing the registration, the manager hurriedly and respectfully led Su Yueli into the camp behind the square.
Stepping inside, she saw over a dozen carriages tightly covered with thick black cloth. It was impossible to tell what kind of bulk goods they were carrying.
Aside from Su Yueli, there were nine other escort martial artists standing around the carriages. Su Yueli took a brief glance; their strengths were mostly around the Fourth and Fifth Realms. Their temples bulged prominently, and their gazes were sharp.
Right then, the curtain of a rather luxurious carriage in the very center was tossed aside, and a young man of seventeen or eighteen peeked out.
The youth wore fine silks and satins and had a fair complexion. He asked with some confusion, “Manager Lin, how are the recruitments outside coming along? When can we set off?”
Manager Lin jogged over, his face covered in smiles. “Young Master, everything is ready. This is Miss Su, whom we just recruited. Do not let her young age fool you; she is a top expert at the peak of the Sixth Realm. With her escorting us this trip, you can rest easy, Young Master.”
The silk-clad youth looked toward Su Yueli as the manager pointed, a flash of amazement crossing the depths of his eyes.
The woman before him wore a blue-and-white dress, her hair held up by a simple green jade hairpin. Her face was breathtakingly beautiful, and her aura was cool and detached.
The youth stared in a daze for a moment. When he snapped out of it, his face flushed slightly. He was highly astonished that such a beautiful girl was actually a peak Sixth Realm expert.
The youth nodded repeatedly. “Good, since everyone is here, let us depart immediately.”
At the manager's command, the long convoy slowly set in motion, heading toward the city gates of Tianyuan City to the rumbling sound of carriage wheels.
Su Yueli and the other nine martial artists scattered on both sides of the convoy, walking alongside it.
Having nothing to do along the way, several of the burly Fifth Realm martial artists couldn't resist leaning in closer.
Scratching their heads, they began to chat out of curiosity. “Miss Su, you've reached the peak of the Sixth Realm at such a young age. Which hidden martial family's genius are you?”
“Indeed. I, Old Zhang, have practiced fist techniques for most of my life, yet I am still stuck at the Fifth Realm, unable to advance. Your talent is truly enviable, young lady.”
Facing the inquiries of these rough men, Su Yueli's expression remained indifferent as she casually deflected, “You praise me too highly. It was just good luck; I merely practiced casually in the mountains with my master.”
Seeing that Su Yueli was a woman of few words and possessed the demeanor of an expert, the men were tactful enough not to pester her further, continuing to watch their surroundings with vigilance.
The convoy moved quickly. In less than an hour, the silhouette of the majestic city gates loomed ahead.
At this moment, Su Yueli, who had long put away her black robe and hood, slightly clenched her fingers hidden inside her sleeves, entering a state of high alert.
She hoped her plan would work and that she wouldn't be intercepted by the cultivators of the Cangyun Sect at the city gates.
If she truly had to face that group of Third and Fourth Realm cultivators, along with a Seventh Realm old monster whose depths she couldn't fathom at all, she would definitely be put on the defensive once a fight broke out, given her current strength. It would practically be a near-death situation.
But on second thought, Su Yueli felt that it shouldn't be too big of an issue.
After all, inside the VIP room of the Wanbao Merchant House, protective spiritual formations isolated the area from all sides. People outside could not sense her strength at all, let alone tell if she was male or female.
As for when she made her bids, she had intentionally used a formation to disguise her voice.
From beginning to end, only the elders of the great sects who liked to show off went to the balconies to watch, while she had remained seated deep within the private box throughout, not even showing a single finger to the outside.
Aside from the merchant house's chief appraiser, absolutely no one in Tianyuan City knew that the VIP of Room Eight, who had purchased the True Spirit Dharma-Image Jade Fragment, was actually a young woman in a blue-and-white dress.
She did not believe that a grand merchant house holding an auction would sell out its customers' information.
“As long as nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to slip through,” Su Yueli calculated inwardly.
The convoy soon arrived at the city gates. Walking beside a carriage, Su Yueli casually looked up and swept her gaze over the massive city walls and the surrounding teahouses.
To her surprise, everything in her line of sight consisted of ordinary secular mortals and city guards. She did not spot even a single Cangyun Sect cultivator wearing their black robes with blue cloud patterns.
“Strange, have they already left?”
Su Yueli's brows twitched slightly, a trace of doubt rising in her heart.
But on second thought, she had, after all, been in closed-door cultivation inside the Wanbao Merchant House for three full days and nights. Those people from the Cangyun Sect, who were anxious to deliver the life-extending medicine to their Grand Supreme Elder, might have assumed that the guest of Room Eight had long slipped away through the merchant house's secret channels, which was why they had withdrawn their men.
However... the moment the convoy of the Wantong Merchant House completely crossed the gates of Tianyuan City and stepped onto the plains outside.
Su Yueli's intuition, which had become exceptionally sharp after being tempered by her Delusion Breaker Rank blood qi, suddenly felt a sharp prickle.
Turning her head abruptly, her gaze landed on an inconspicuous pavilion on a barren hill several hundred meters outside the city.
There, the spiritual energy fluctuations of a cultivator were quietly spreading through the air like a spiderweb.
Su Yueli's brows knitted slightly, and her right hand rested on her fist blade.
They had come after all...
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