Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Xu Yuan had been in a very good mood these past two days. First, because his first investment had finally paid off. Su Jinxuan had been working very hard in her recent cultivation sessions, and the growth of his soul had been quite gratifying. Second, because Xu Changge had arrived in Ninesource this morning.

Yes, Ninesource, the same little satellite city beside Stillwater that his elder brother had mentioned when threatening him before. It was only twenty kilometers away.

Apparently, that casual threat had not been pulled out of thin air. Something really did seem to need handling over there in Ninesource. According to Lou Ji, a large demonic beast breeding farm deep in the mountains had run into trouble, and it would affect the supply of a certain soul-type pill across the southwest region.

Of course, aside from these surface-level matters, what pleased Xu Yuan even more was the improvement in his own strength. Ever since he had used Blood Mirror in actual combat that day, it was as if he had broken through some kind of bottleneck. His practical fighting ability was improving at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Now, when facing those eighth rank Meridian Tempering martial apprentices, he still had to drag the fight out for quite a while, but they could almost no longer touch him.

Of course, the price of fighting this way was that his source qi consumption rose sharply. Before, in close-quarters brawling, Xu Yuan could fight these eighth rank martial apprentices for an entire morning. Now, after five or six matches, his source qi would be completely drained.

He walked out of the pavilion at the center of the lake. While he was thinking things over, Xu Yuan suddenly noticed a group of people dressed like hired hands standing at the edge of the wetland lake.

He was a little surprised. This was the first time he had seen so many servants gathered by the lakeside. In the past, at most one or two servants would be here trimming plants or cleaning.

His gaze swept over them. The moment their eyes met his, the servants all lowered their heads in panic.

Just as Xu Yuan was about to forget about it and move on, he suddenly met a pair of eyes.

The instant their gazes touched, that pair of eyes immediately dropped as well.

Xu Yuan glanced at the owner of those eyes with a faint sense of puzzlement. It was a young, sturdy man dressed in coarse gray hemp clothes. His face was ordinary. His bearing was ordinary too. Thrown into a crowd, he would be the kind of person no one noticed. Yet for some reason, when Xu Yuan looked at him, he felt an inexplicable sense that something was off.

After a brief hesitation, Xu Yuan stopped walking.

The foreman beside the workers had been watching the Third Young Master from the corner of his eye the whole time. For a small fry like him, knowing how to read the room was a survival skill.

Seeing Xu Yuan stop, the foreman immediately hurried over with a fawning smile, rubbing his hands together somewhat nervously. “Hehe, Third Young Master, what can I do for you?”

Xu Yuan glanced at the servants and hired hands, then asked, “Why are these people here?”

Seeing this, the foreman cursed inwardly and immediately waved discreetly at the newly hired workers, signaling for them to get lost. At the same time, he replied in an extremely humble tone, “These people are new servants and hired hands in the manor. This lowly one is currently showing them around so they can familiarize themselves with the place.”

Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow. New servants? At a time like this? How many days did it take to get from Everbow Valley to Stillwater again...?

His thoughts began to drift, and Xu Yuan subconsciously called out to the servants who were about to scatter. “Wait.”

The moment the young master in embroidered robes spoke, Qin Mo suddenly caught sight from the corner of his eye of the Grandmaster coachman he had seen before. The man was slowly making his way over from the distance.

His heart tightened slightly.

Old Man...!

“Don’t panic. I’m here. That kid only glanced at you once. What are you getting so worked up for?”

Mhm... Qin Mo’s mind settled a little.

But in the next moment, he heard Xu Yuan continue, his tone rather impatient. “In the future, stop bringing people to gather by this lake. It’s an eyesore.”

The foreman’s heart filled with panic. He hurriedly nodded and bowed. “Yes, yes. These useless louts will never appear here again and offend Third Young Master’s eyes.”

Xu Yuan glanced at the foreman. “You too.”

The foreman fell silent. After that brief exchange, he led the group of servants away at a brisk pace, his face covered in an awkward, ingratiating smile.

Mixed in with the crowd, Qin Mo felt his heart loosen. He let out a long breath and followed the others away.

Watching the group disappear into the distance, Xu Yuan, still standing where he was, also exhaled slowly. He should not have called out to them just now.

If there was nothing wrong, then there had been no need to stop them. If there was something wrong, then that subconscious action of his just now had been no different from delivering his own head to the chopping block.

He had nearly made a mistake. Fortunately, he reacted quickly. After thinking for a moment, he decided not to go to the martial training ground either.

Xu Yuan had realized where that feeling of wrongness had come from. It was the eyes. When his gaze swept over them earlier, quite a few of the servants had met his eyes, but without exception, their gazes had been filled with panic and timidity.

That ordinary-looking young man had been different. Although it had lasted only an instant, Xu Yuan had clearly seen that there was no fear in his eyes, only calm. There had even been a faint trace of lofty confidence. He stood out like a crane among chickens.

If Xu Yuan had seen that kind of look in the eyes of some penniless scholar, he would not have been surprised at all. After all, scholars were famous for being proud no matter how poor they were. But for that look to appear in the eyes of a hired hand inside this manor...

This was not his previous life. This was a supernatural world with a hierarchy so strict it could suffocate a person. Even the residence’s chief steward acted timid and deferential when he saw him, let alone these lowest-ranking servants and hired hands. It was very abnormal.

As his thoughts flashed, Xu Yuan instinctively thought of Qin Mo. A faint sense of absurdity rose in his heart. Was that man just now Qin Mo?

Xu Yuan had considered that the other party might try to rescue Su Jinxuan, but he had never imagined the man would actually dare to come into the estate to do it.

He had not even gone looking for Qin Mo yet, and Qin Mo had delivered himself to the door. Three Grandmasters, plus the great formation inside Stillwater, and he still dared to come? Were plot protagonists these days all this reckless?

Xu Yuan raised a hand and rubbed his brow.

Then again, perhaps that was not entirely fair. Qin Mo might not know that Xu Yuan had Grandmasters protecting him. Not to mention, Qin Mo still had that Soul Nurturing Ring on him, and inside that soul ring lived a Sage. From his perspective, sneaking into the estate to rescue someone was not necessarily impossible.

“Third Young Master, are you going to the martial training ground?” Zhou Chen approached from behind and asked.

Xu Yuan glanced sideways at him. “I’m resting today. I’m going to see Su Jinxuan.”

With that, he turned and walked toward the northwestern courtyard where the communication array was located. Recently, Ying’er had been over there training Su Jinxuan.

The way to verify whether that man had been Qin Mo was also very simple. He’d just have Su Jinxuan test him.

The Blackscale Guards had once proposed a plan to let Qin Mo rescue Su Jinxuan, then have her go undercover by his side. But as soon as that plan had been put forward, Xu Yuan had rejected it.

In Xu Yuan’s mind, killing Qin Mo was more important than dealing with that hidden force lurking in the shadows. He knew very well how fast Qin Mo grew, and even more clearly what heights he could reach in the future.

Xu Yuan and Zhou Chen walked in silence.

After entering that heavily guarded courtyard, Xu Yuan suddenly asked, “Do you know how our manor recruits hired hands and servants?”

“Hmm?” A trace of surprise flashed through Zhou Chen’s eyes. He subconsciously glanced at the servants gradually walking away in the distance, then smiled and said, “I’m not too clear on the specifics, but generally they recruit relatives of old servants in the manor. Most of them inherit the job from their fathers, that sort of thing.”

“No exceptions?” Xu Yuan asked.

Zhou Chen was somewhat puzzled as to why he was asking this. After a brief hesitation, he still answered honestly, “Of course there are. And they’re quite common. For those third-class hired-hand positions like the ones just now, there are plenty of crooked ways to get in. Generally speaking, someone in the manor is selling those slots.”

Zhou Chen had climbed up from the very bottom himself, so he was quite familiar with the little ways people at the bottom made money.

Xu Yuan frowned when he heard this and asked, “Selling?”

Zhou Chen lowered his voice. “The world outside has been somewhat chaotic lately. Plenty of people are desperate to squeeze their way into great clans and noble houses as hired hands. Some are even willing to sell themselves into servitude. If there are people who want to buy, naturally there will be people who want to sell.”

Xu Yuan frowned. “If hired hands and servants are recruited like this, won’t spies be able to sneak in?”

“Third Young Master is very meticulous.” Zhou Chen cupped his fist, then continued, “The people below still have some sense when it comes to this sort of thing. Even if they sell a slot, they won’t sell it to someone they don’t know. Besides, very few people would plant spies this way. Servants are servants for life. They can’t come into contact with any truly important information.”

“What if someone uses this method for assassination?” Xu Yuan asked next.

“Assassination...” Zhou Chen was just about to answer when Xu Yuan waved his hand first, cutting him off and signaling that there was no need to explain.

That last question of his had been a little childish. Whether one cultivated source qi or martial arts, an increase in cultivation would continuously improve the body.

Unless someone cultivated to fourth rank Body Integration and made their flesh return to the ordinary, or practiced some precious secret art, this sort of bodily improvement was very difficult to hide. If someone had cultivation, all one had to do was inspect their body.

As for someone above fourth rank, or someone who had cultivated a precious secret art, sneaking in to assassinate him... it was easier to be a thief for a thousand days than to guard against one for a thousand days.

Even firearm assassinations in his previous life were hard to defend against, let alone assassinations in a supernatural world. If the other party was willing to pay a heavy enough price to kill him, then whether or not they had a channel to enter the manor made little difference.

Seeing this, Zhou Chen changed the topic and asked softly, “Third Young Master, are you asking because there was someone suspicious among those people just now?”

“Mhm.” Xu Yuan did not deny it. Although he could not confirm whether it was Qin Mo, that did not stop him from making preparations in advance.

Zhou Chen frowned when he heard this and looked toward the courtyard where the servants lived.

Seeing his gaze, Xu Yuan immediately reminded him, “Don’t act rashly.”

Zhou Chen stopped. After thinking for two seconds, he asked in a low voice, “Third Young Master suspects them because you noticed something just now?”

Xu Yuan answered honestly, “There was someone among that batch of hired hands whose eyes felt wrong.”

His eyes felt wrong...? Zhou Chen was visibly stunned when he heard this, but he quickly recovered and gave a light cough. “Ahem. Third Young Master is cautious, but isn’t this perhaps worrying a little too much?”

Xu Yuan did not know whether it was really worth mobilizing people over a single look in someone’s eyes. But the timing was far too coincidental. Everbow Valley was only 60 kilometers from Stillwater. A few days would be enough to arrive. And Qin Mo absolutely had both the motive and the ability to sneak into the manor. When it involved his own life, he had to be careful. Then more careful after that.

Xu Yuan did not explain further. He looked at Zhou Chen and said, “In all this time, have you ever seen me worry about anyone else? I suspect that Qin Mo has snuck in here to rescue Su Jinxuan.”

Zhou Chen thought for a moment. “That boy from before? The one who, at eighth rank Meridian Tempering, killed a seventh rank Bone Tempering cultivator above his level?”

“Mhm.” Xu Yuan nodded.

Zhou Chen tested the waters. “In that case, does Third Young Master need me to go take a look?”

Xu Yuan glanced at him and asked in return, “You should have already probed that group of servants just now, right?”

“Naturally.”

“Could you sense any qi on him?”

Zhou Chen frowned. Compared to Xu Yuan’s judgment based on a single look, he was naturally more inclined to trust the results of his own probing. But if Xu Yuan’s judgment was correct, then the other party was someone strong enough to shield himself from a third rank Grandmaster’s senses.

Although the probability was very small, this concerned the Third Young Master’s safety. Even if the chance was one in ten thousand, he could not let it slide. Zhou Chen’s gaze gradually turned solemn. He cupped his fist slightly.

“Third Young Master, could you return to my room with me for a moment? I need to fetch my sword.”

He could summon the sword through the air, but that would cause source qi fluctuations. Since they were already suspicious, everything had to be handled as safely as possible.

Xu Yuan pondered for a moment, then shook his head and refused. “For now, keep everything as normal. Qin Mo chose to disguise himself as a hired hand instead of sneaking in directly to rescue her. That clearly means he has some reservations. He’s unlikely to act immediately. Besides, I can’t be certain that person is Qin Mo yet. We need to have Su Jinxuan test him first.”

After saying that, Xu Yuan paused, then added, “As for you... Mhmm, could I trouble you to go to the secret communication array and report exactly what I just said to Xu Changge?”

When fighting a boss, if there was a big shot who could carry him, then of course he was not going to solo it himself. He had to call in the big guns.