Chapter 370: Flawlessness is Suspicious

Chapter 370: Chapter 370: Flawlessness is Suspicious

Within the entire wedding procession, the only women were the few dozen surrounding Li Haiqin’s carriage.

So, when the two women stayed behind, they naturally joined the others.

As Li Haiqin’s Personal Guard Captain, Chu Fan was also positioned closest to her carriage.

The Third Young Master hadn’t originally planned on introducing Li Haiqin to the two women. After all, when you’re away from home, you can never be too careful with strangers.

Li Haiqin’s cultivation was only at the Heartbeat Realm.

Although these two women also appeared to be at the Heartbeat Realm, if they intended to harm Li Haiqin...

But to everyone’s surprise, Li Haiqin took the initiative to meet them herself.

Of course, Chu Fan remained by Li Haiqin’s side.

Even Chu Fan was surprised by the sisters’ appearance.

Their looks were a notch below Leng Yingxue’s and Yun Xi’s, but they were definitely on par with Wen Chan. Furthermore, their expressions held a heroic and scholarly air that Wen Chan lacked.

The two were about eighty percent identical. The older sister had a more scholarly air, while the younger sister’s was more spirited.

Their figures were similar, they were no more than two years apart in age, and both were at the Heartbeat Realm.

Li Haiqin sized them up, just as they were sizing her up.

An old governess standing beside Li Haiqin chided them, "This is our Lindi Clan’s Little Princess. Why aren’t you paying your respects?"

"Governess, they don’t know who I am. Why fuss over such formalities? Please, don’t feel constrained. I’ve already heard about what happened. My condolences for your loss."

"Thank you, Little Princess!" the elder sister said, as they both gave a slight curtsy to Li Haiqin.

"You’re both so beautiful. May I know your names?" Li Haiqin asked, a hint of envy in her voice, as if she’d truly met women more beautiful than herself.

"I am Ran Lin, the elder sister, and this is my younger sister, Ran Fei. We are from Dingzhou in the Central Domain."

"Are all women from the Hua Xu Kingdom as beautiful as you two?" Li Haiqin asked, batting her eyelashes.

The elder sister, Ran Lin, replied, "You’re too kind, Little Princess. With our humble looks, we can’t hold a candle to even half your beauty. How could we be called beautiful? You are the truly stunning one, Little Princess."

Li Haiqin was delighted to hear this.

"We’re headed to the Vast Sea. You two can travel beside my carriage!" Li Haiqin said. She then turned her gaze to Chu Fan and added, "Huo Er, arrange a Wind Chasing Beast for these two ladies. From now until the day they leave us, their daily needs and safety are your responsibility."

Chu Fan immediately agreed.

"Little Princess, are you on your way to be married?" Ran Lin couldn’t help but ask, looking at the red and gold-trimmed carriage.

Li Haiqin nodded, but her voice lacked any real joy. "Yes, to a prince of the Hanmo Clan."

"My sister and I have just suffered a tragedy; we might be bad luck. Is it truly alright for us to travel with you?"

Li Haiqin shook her head. "We people of the Grassland don’t believe in such things. Please, feel at ease and travel with us."

Without further words, the Ran sisters, Lin and Fei, were led aside. Chu Fan had one of his men bring them a Wind Chasing Beast.

He then intentionally spoke to them in a somewhat clumsy Central Domain dialect. "This Wind Chasing Beast is for you to ride for the time being. We’re making camp here for the night. If you need anything, just call for me. I’ll be over there."

As he spoke, Chu Fan pointed to where the dozens of Personal Guards were gathered.

"Thank you for your trouble, General Huo Er," Ran Lin said.

Chu Fan quickly waved his hand. "Please, Miss Ran, don’t call me General. I’m just the Princess’s Personal Guard Captain, an attendant. Just call me by my name. If the soldiers from the Cyan Wolf Army hear you calling me General, I’ll never hear the end of it."

Chu Fan left the carriage and walked over to Kemoqi’s group. He exchanged a few pleasantries and cracked a couple of jokes with them before sitting off to the side by himself. Holding a waterskin, he took a drink, his mind lost in thought.

’Was it really just a coincidence?’

But Chu Fan felt there was more to these two sisters than met the eye.

The sequence of events wasn’t illogical, but their beauty was the one thing that made Chu Fan feel they were more than they seemed.

Logically speaking, for their father to have led a caravan this deep into the Grassland, he must have been a merchant who’d made the trip many times before.

In that case, he should have had some understanding of the Grassland.

Even if he had established good relations with some of the Grassland tribes, given the conflict between the Northern and Central Domains, how could he have felt safe bringing his two daughters into the Northern Domain?

Let alone stunning beauties like Ran Lin and Ran Fei; even an ordinary woman from the Central Domain would risk being targeted by the men of the Northern Domain upon arrival.

Still, the two sisters were only at the Heartbeat Realm. Blending into the wedding procession, they couldn’t pose much of a threat.

Chu Fan simply buried his doubts in the back of his mind.

After nightfall, Chu Fan said a quick word to Kemoqi and his men, then walked off alone toward the site of the battle between the caravan and the bandits.

A squad of the Cyan Wolf Army was still there guarding the goods.

"Who goes there?" a soldier on duty barked.

"I’m Huo Er, the Princess’s Personal Guard Captain. I’m just here to look at the aftermath of this afternoon’s battle."

"The Third Young Master already sent men to investigate. They didn’t find anything out of the ordinary," the soldier told Chu Fan.

Chu Fan nodded. Seeing that the soldier didn’t stop him, he walked to the perimeter of the cargo carts, crouched down, and examined the bloodstains.

Fifteen minutes later, he still hadn’t found anything amiss.

’If the goal was just to get those two women into the procession, losing so many experts wouldn’t be worth the cost.’

Yet, Chu Fan’s doubts persisted.

He walked back over to the carts and asked, "May I see the cargo?"

"Look all you want. It’s just common, everyday items," the soldier said.

Chu Fan did a cursory inspection and found it was just as the soldier had said. The carts were mostly loaded with bolts of cloth, tea bricks, some kitchenware like pots and bowls, and a few other trinkets.

The Hua Xu People had a reason for calling people from other regions Barbarians.

For instance, goods like these were common in the Central Domain but scarce in the Northern Domain. Caravans could purchase them cheaply in the Central Domain and sell them in the Northern Domain for several times the profit.

The difference between the Northern and Central Domains in terms of artisanship was night and day.

Finding nothing here either, Chu Fan returned directly to the main party.

Unable to make sense of it, he decided not to dwell on it any longer. He sat down cross-legged and began to meditate on the Yin Yang Diagram.

After dealing with Yi Qing in Moon City and learning the whereabouts of the Profound Iron Order, Chu Fan had dedicated himself to his Cultivation. In that time, his Spiritual Power had grown to the point where it was just shy of breaking through to Level 39.

Reaching Level 39 in Spiritual Power would make one a true Half-Saint of Spiritual Power.

All this time, despite specializing in Spiritual Power, he had yet to find a single Cultivation Technique for Magic Techniques, let alone a Magical Artifact.

After all, there were very few people in this world who specialized in cultivating Spiritual Power.

The Hua Xu Empire did have the Four Saints of Music, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting, all of whom specialized in Spiritual Power, but he’d never had the chance to meet them.

’If I could obtain a High-Tier Magical Artifact or cultivate a powerful Magic Technique, it would become another one of my trump cards.’

At that point, even if his own Cultivation was still only at the Void Realm, he would be strong enough to contend with a Half-Saint.

If his Spiritual Power reached Level 40, he could even fight against someone in the Saint Realm.

In everyone else’s eyes, he was a Body Cultivator. To suddenly unleash a Magic Technique would surely catch everyone by surprise.

’Actually,’ Chu Fan mused, ’the condition for unsealing the Fourth Floor of the Juntian Mirror is reaching Level 40 Spiritual Power. So, I wonder if the reward for unsealing it will include a Cultivation Technique for Magic Techniques, or a Magical Artifact?’

Regardless, the closer he got to unsealing the Fourth Floor, the more excited Chu Fan became...