Chapter 388: Chapter 354: The Whereabouts of the Celestial Essence Fruit
"Actually, the whereabouts of the Celestial Essence Fruit were personally delivered to me by you," said the person with the purple veil.
"Oh?"
Lin Miao furrowed his brow, starting to recall the people and events he encountered along the way, and finally, he remembered the mother and daughter.
"Remember now?"
"It was that woman named Mu Yun!"
"That’s right, it’s her. She has another identity as well, the wife of Liang Huan, the son of the grain merchant in West Gate Town."
"I already knew that. Tell me something I don’t know."
"Mu Yun also has another identity; she is a descendant of the Wuhen Mansion lineage, the only one. The secret of the Celestial Essence Fruit is the greatest secret of the Wuhen Mansion. Unfortunately, she trusted the wrong person, and not only was the secret taken away, but even her husband became someone else’s. Additionally, her husband wants to put her to death."
No wonder the Heaven-Dominating Tower people were chasing that mother and son. If the secret of the Celestial Essence Fruit became known to outsiders, then it wouldn’t be exclusive to the Heaven-Dominating Tower.
Mu Yun and her daughter were brought into Li Hen City by themselves, yet they were hidden away by Baili Bingyun.
"Wasn’t the Wuhen Mansion supposed to have no descendants left?"
"They changed their names and hid. Back then, Mr. Wuhen offended too many people, and his descendants couldn’t uphold the great reputation of the Wuhen Mansion. They could only hide the descendants in this way and disappear among people to survive. Mu Yun’s branch settled in West Gate Town and passed down by changing names. The other descendants have become untraceable."
"I see. How did the descendants of the Wuhen Mansion know the location of the Celestial Essence Fruit?"
"Because back then, Mr. Wuhen broke through to a new realm after finding the Celestial Essence Fruit. This place was only known to the people of the Wuhen Mansion. Therefore, when the Wuhen Mansion existed, they would auction the Celestial Essence Fruit from time to time. Since the fall of the Wuhen Mansion, the Celestial Essence Fruit hasn’t appeared again," Baili Bingyun explained.
"Such celestial treasures like the Celestial Essence Fruit, once mature, if not harvested, will likely fall and decompose, turning into nutrients for it to regenerate. Moreover, these things should be limited in number. If the Heaven-Dominating Tower people have already been there, I fear there might be none left for us," said Lin Miao.
"Mu Yun said that her ancestor had also considered the decline of the Wuhen Mansion and transplanted one of the Celestial Essence Fruits, so even if the descendants couldn’t enter Mi Valley and collaborated with others, they could use this Celestial Essence Fruit to deceive others. In fact, there are two more growing in another place."
"How do you know whether what Mu Yun says is true or false?"
A single Celestial Essence Fruit can yield two fruits, and with three trees, there would be six fruits. If the Heaven-Dominating Tower found the one transplanted by the Mu Family ancestors,
then obtaining two Celestial Essence Fruits wouldn’t be a problem.
"It might be difficult to take the other two trees, right?"
"Yes, those two Celestial Essence Fruits are guarded by exotic beasts, and ordinary people cannot approach. Only the bloodline of the Mu Family’s ancestors can approach because the exotic beasts were once favored by the Mu Family’s ancestors."
"So, you want me to escort Mu Yun to Mi Valley to retrieve the Celestial Essence Fruits from those two trees?"
"Only two can be harvested; this was the agreement between the Mu Family’s ancestor and the exotic beasts," Baili Bingyun said.
"Two, you plan to give one to Jing Wushuang, what about the other one?" Lin Miao frowned and asked.
"Don’t you want it?"
"What do I need it for? I’m not yet at the breakthrough stage to the Celestial Essence Realm. Besides, I don’t need external power to break through," Lin Miao said.
"If you don’t want it, then the extra one can become a bargaining chip," Baili Bingyun said.
"When should we retrieve it?"
"Mi Valley is only a day’s journey from Li Hen City. If you go and find the Celestial Essence Fruit and bring it back, you can still attend the Heaven-Dominating Tower’s year-end auction."
"Tomorrow night at Nie Tian’s Celestial Essence Banquet..."
"You’re not interested in such a banquet, are you?"
"But if they send an invitation and I don’t go, wouldn’t that be disrespectful to Nie Tian, the newly risen Celestial Essence master?"
"If that’s the case, you might miss the auction."
"I must attend the auction because that’s the main reason I came to Li Hen City. That cannot be changed," Lin Miao said.
"What do you want then?"
"Can we go after the auction ends? If I leave suddenly before the auction, it will undoubtedly arouse suspicion."
"The Celestial Essence Fruit is maturing these days, and I’m also afraid of unforeseen circumstances."
"You can first take Mu Yun and her daughter to Yingfeng Valley. They probably won’t be found by the Heaven-Dominating Tower there," Lin Miao said.
"Alright."
...
The Wuhen Mansion, the Celestial Essence Fruit, it seems there are many secrets in Li Hen City that have long been buried in time, but now they are being unearthed.
This also explains why there are rumors of the Celestial Essence Fruit appearing at the auction; many people have come because it once appeared here.
The Heaven-Dominating Tower obtained the Celestial Essence Fruit.
A mature one was used by Nie Tian to break through and upgrade, and another one is half-mature, with its effects possibly significantly diminished. The Heaven-Dominating Tower threw it out to gain maximum profit.
Even the Celestial Essence Fruit isn’t guaranteed to allow a breakthrough.
So if you do break through, it’s thanks to the Celestial Essence Fruit’s effects. If you don’t, it’s because your aptitude isn’t good enough or the opportunity hasn’t arrived.
Quite a shrewd plan indeed.
Baili Bingyun broke through to the Celestial Essence Realm, but still can’t fully control the embroidery house and has to win over this Jing Wushuang.
It seems Zhuang Rong poses quite the threat to her.
...
After a night’s rest, the sky brightened.
After several days of overcast weather, finally, good weather arrived.
"That gentleman is Mr. Lin from Dongshan Prefecture!" Early in the morning, someone arrived at Snow Mountain Residence, saying they wanted to see Lin Miao.
Yu Dazui dared not delay and quickly reported it.
Lin Miao came out to see, only to find he did not know the person, but saw him take out a letter from his bundle, respectfully presenting it, saying: "Elder Fahai from Shanglin Temple specifically asked him to deliver this letter."
Fahai and the bald one actually know he’s staying in Snow Mountain Residence in Li Hen City and send someone with a letter?
Opening the letter, it is indeed Fahai’s own writing, not about anything particularly important, just asking him to represent Shanglin Temple at Nie Tian’s Celestial Essence Banquet.
Nie Tian has been promoted to Celestial Essence Realm, and Shanglin Temple is considered part of the martial world lineage, so Nie Tian naturally arranged to give an invitation to Shanglin Temple.
Inviting Fahai to come.
Fahai definitely won’t come, as he has been enfeoffed by the court, how could he mingle with Nie Tian, but him not coming, Shanglin Temple couldn’t not send a representative.
However, it’s not appropriate to send any monk from Shanglin Temple, so Fahai thought of Lin Miao in Li Hen City and simply wrote a letter and sent over Nie Tian’s invitation to Shanglin Temple.
Let Lin Miao attend in his place.
As for a congratulatory gift or anything, what gift could a poor monk afford, it’s already good enough not to beg from Heaven-Dominating Tower.
This bald one indeed knows how to use people, but thinking that he also entrusted him with tasks, attending the Celestial Essence Banquet for Shanglin Temple is fine.
After all, he was going to see what’s happening.
Taking the invitation, it counts as accepting the task, Lin Miao also wrote a letter to Fahai, naturally reminding him not to forget his instructions.
...
In the morning, Lin Miao accompanied Sun Youwei to the Gold Tower to customize a batch of jewelry, especially the Phoenix Crown, which was quite costly.
This item can be passed down for generations.
Of course, a pair of jade bracelets couldn’t be missed, Lin Miao bought Sun Youwei a pair of top-quality red jade bracelets, Lianxin and Liansuo, the two sisters shared just as much.
Certainly, not forgetting Si Miaoxue and Yue Mei’Er, Liuli and Shi Yin, none could be left out.
As for Baili Yuyao, he deliberated for a long time, and ultimately bought a pair, whether to gift them or not will be decided based on the situation then.
...
In the Northern City, Feng Street, at the residence of Heaven-Dominating Tower’s elder Liang Mo.
"What’s going on, a woman with a child, so many days have passed yet still not found, what are you people doing, Heaven-Dominating Tower spends so much money, so many resources, nourishing a group of useless people?"
"Mr. Yua, we’ve searched the entire West Gate Town, not sparing even a mouse, yet haven’t found the whereabouts of Mu Yun and her daughter!"
"Where did Mu Yun last appear?"
"Youyang Inn, someone saw her and that little girl sneak through the back door of Youyang Inn..."
"Did you search Youyang Inn?"
"We did, we’ve searched Youyang Inn inside and out thoroughly and haven’t found any trace of the mother and daughter."
"That day, were there any guests leaving Youyang Inn?"
"There were, a pair of young men and women, with two maids, and two half-grown boys, totaling six people, they stayed one night in Youyang Inn and headed for Li Hen City the next morning."
"Were there marks of the Snow Mountain Sect on the two carriages?" Mr. Yua asked gloomily, recalling he caught up halfway only to suffer a big setback, a memory fresh in his mind.
"Yes, there were..."
"Mr. Yua, that mother and daughter have never left West Gate Town, they shouldn’t know anyone from the Snow Mountain Sect, if they were really hidden in the carriage, back then, just relying on us, it’s likely we couldn’t have handled it." Liang Song said.
It’s indeed true, the woman driving was clearly not to be messed with, the faint aura she exhibited exceeded his own.
This was just the driver, one couldn’t imagine the level of cultivation of the people inside the carriage, if truly provoked, their whole group could be doomed.
"We must have overlooked something, must be, it must be like this..." Mr. Yua was nearly demented.
If the mother and daughter couldn’t be found before the auction, not only would he, even his father, Elder Liang Mo could be in trouble.
Letting a woman whose cultivation hasn’t reached the Bone Forging Realm escape with a four or five-year-old girl right under his nose, it’s an utter insult and disgrace.
"Mr. Yua, I found where that pair of men and women stayed, and arranged for people to keep watch, but still haven’t found any sign of the mother and daughter." Liang Song wasn’t foolish, knowing they couldn’t fight head-on and let them go, but didn’t abandon his suspicion.
Upon arriving in Li Hen City, he arranged people to search and pinpoint Lin Miao’s group’s stay, the Snow Mountain Sect’s carriage, easy to locate, Snow Mountain Residence.
Yet, still no trace of Mu Yun and her daughter.
These past days, he had his people search the entirety of Li Hen City in secret, yet not a single piece of information has surfaced.
Had there been no connections to famous martial artists, he would’ve charged in and dragged them back for interrogation, yet the issue is, the Snow Mountain Sect is a top-notch sect, and now with the arrival of an elder-level martial expert, knocking their door means courting death, what’s the difference?
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