Chapter 2340: Chapter 2340 Opportunity
Scythe told Ye Liuyun, "For missions like these, we don’t provide specific intel such as what you asked about."
"This is because the conditions within the City Lord Manor and the local garrison are constantly changing."
"If we provide outdated or incorrect information, it could mislead the assassins. That has happened before and resulted in significant losses on our side."
"But don’t worry. I can give you up to six months to complete this task. You can take your time to scout things out and even infiltrate the City Lord Manor if necessary."
"However, I need to warn you. Officials appointed by the royal court, such as the City Lord, Records Officer, and Commander of the Guard, are all bound by Divine Soul contracts and monitored by Divine Sense tokens that track their life and death. So do not attempt to control them recklessly using soul power."
Ye Liuyun thought aloud, "Six months for three hundred points? I wonder if it’s even worth it."
He had no clear idea of how powerful the City Lord Manor really was, but he still agreed to the task for now.
After that, he asked Scythe for a few basic tasks. He planned to investigate the City Lord Manor while taking on some simpler jobs on the side—just to avoid being too idle.
Before leaving, Ye Liuyun also asked, "Has the Sanctuary Dynasty never tried to wipe out Stygian before?"
"Of course they have. They often send spies to infiltrate us too. But even if they do slip someone in, it’s usually just a handful. It’s not enough to pose a real threat."
"And if ever a large group without proper identification sneaks in, our security teams will detect it immediately. When that happens, this entire secret realm will be relocated and linked back to our main base."
"Then our top experts from the headquarters will rush over to eliminate the threat. Afterward, we’ll change our contact points and move the secret realm entrance."
"So once martial practitioners discover that our location has changed and can’t find us anymore, they just need to head back to the designated contact points," Scythe explained to Ye Liuyun.
"But wouldn’t the Sanctuary Dynasty eventually discover those contact points?" Ye Liuyun pressed on. "The markings are so obvious. They can’t possibly miss them, right?"
Scythe chuckled. "You’re not wrong. But we’ve also planted our own people inside the Sanctuary Dynasty. When they try to eliminate us, we retaliate in kind."
"Even if they fail to locate us, we can still emerge at any time to take their lives. At most, they’ll catch a few hired killers, which means nothing to us."
"As for our core assassins, even if the entrance to the secret realm changes, they’ll be instantly notified. They don’t need to return to any contact points."
"Oh, I see. That makes sense."
Ye Liuyun found the explanation acceptable for now. He decided to trust it, at least temporarily.
However, from Scythe’s words, he could already tell that Stygian had infiltrated the cities with quite a number of spies. That was likely how they stayed informed about the latest developments so efficiently.
In fact, it was probable that many major forces already knew of Stygian’s existence. Otherwise, how would they know where to go for a contract? Only ordinary people remained unaware.
If an opportunity arose in the future to cooperate with an organization like Stygian, Ye Liuyun believed it might even open the door to negotiating with the Sanctuary Dynasty on more equal terms.
Afterward, Ye Liuyun returned to his private residence. His first move was to contact the God Realm and check on its current situation.
He also sent Luo Yuanfeng, along with several Formation masters, weapon-refining masters, and alchemists, back to the God Realm. He tasked them with enhancing its refinement and forging capabilities.
At the same time, he brought the Blade Legion and Yuan Hao’s elite Dark Legion with him, just in case something unexpected happened during his assault on the City Lord Manor.
If the massive armies of Beastmen, Devil Beasts, and the Devil Clan were to appear here, it would undoubtedly cause a massive uproar. Ye Liuyun dared not deploy them lightly, as their presence would instantly draw the attention of the Sanctuary Dynasty.
Meanwhile, Ton Xin had developed an eagle-shaped cosmos battleship. However, it was only a prototype. It was small in size, with space for just four passengers.
"It needs to balance speed, offensive power, and flight range... This is just a first draft. There’s still much to improve," Ton Xin remarked.
This creation was something she had fashioned through countless trials. It was essentially a puppet beast modeled into a battleship.
Ye Liuyun tested the eagle-shaped vessel inside his Spatial World and quickly discovered that it was indeed faster than typical small-scale warships. However, it still couldn’t rival the speed of the starry flying vessel.
In terms of firepower, the eagle bore three energy cannons: one operated by the pilot, while the other three could be manned individually for coordinated attacks.
Its destructive power was roughly on par with a small battleship. Yet, its energy system had a unique edge. It could link directly to an Interspatial Ring, allowing for virtually unlimited travel distance without concerns about fuel.
Seeing potential, Ye Liuyun recommended Liu Jing to Ton Xin, hoping Ton Xin would continue refining the battleship while learning from Liu Jing.
Back in the Spatial World, the strength of many of Ye Liuyun’s women and Demon was steadily rising.
Ye Ling continued refining her elixirs. After Lin Luoyi confirmed the dosage, she gave the pills to the Dragon Lady and Vermilion Bird—both of whom subsequently broke through to the Omnipotent Level.
However, due to the limited amount of Power of Origin, Ye Ling had to halt her refinements temporarily.
Among the others, only Liang Xue and a few Demon were nearing their own breakthroughs.
Yuan Hao had advanced to the Immortal Realm purely through personal cultivation. Meanwhile, Mo Shaowen, Liu Yang, and Liang Bin were still some distance away from that stage.
Thus, Ye Liuyun’s forces currently lacked a sufficient number of experts at the Immortal Realm to directly confront the City Lord Manor.
Recognizing this shortfall, Ye Liuyun decided to shift his focus. He planned to start by gaining control over the City Lord Manor’s alchemists, Weapon-refining, and Formation masters.
However, the individuals Ye Liuyun aimed to approach all held significant status. At his current level of influence, he was still unqualified to interact with them directly.
While Ye Liuyun was actively seeking opportunities to get close to the City Lord Manor, a wave of excitement swept across the citizens of Lunaris City. They were abuzz with news of a major upcoming event.
It was the once-every-four-years Talent Selection Tournament.
This prestigious competition, held every four years, was organized primarily to recruit exceptional talents into the Yonglie Mansion. The tournament mainly targeted the younger generation.
It started at the grassroots level in small cities like Lunaris City. From there, the most outstanding participants would advance to compete in larger cities. Ultimately, the elite would earn a place in the Yonglie Mansion through a rigorous, multi-level selection process.
For individuals hailing from humble cities such as Lunaris City, simply qualifying to enter Yonglie Mansion was already considered an extraordinary achievement.
Ye Liuyun recognized this as a rare opportunity. Unfortunately, he was already over the age limit for participation. More importantly, he no longer had the patience or interest to engage in martial practitioner tournaments that followed the typical patterns of trials and contests. Nor did he have the time to waste mingling with large groups of martial practitioners.
Therefore, he made a calculated decision: once the tournament began, he would seize the opportunity to exert control over some of the participating candidates and use them as pawns to strike at the City Lord Manor when the time was right.
At the same time, Ye Liuyun frequently visited the Merchant Guild to exchange resources and gather information. In his downtime, he dispatched his men to local taverns to keep tabs on the latest city gossip and developments.
Naturally, all other assassination missions were being carried out in a steady, systematic manner.
One day, Liu Tianfeng, one of his operatives tasked with gathering intelligence at a local tavern, rushed back with unexpected news.
"Oh? What kind of conflict?" Ye Liuyun asked, intrigued.
“It started with a fight between the City Lord’s son and the garrison commander’s son. Things quickly escalated when both fathers showed up with their own men to back their sons. It nearly turned into a full-blown brawl. Fortunately, they pulled back at the last moment, and the matter was left unresolved for now.”
