Chapter 270 - 112: From the Kunlun Immortal Ruins, Is This a Plan to Scam Someone? A Direct Threat

Having grown accustomed to a life of wealth, Chou’Er’s mother couldn’t do anything after being left without support.

Chou’Er was precocious, intelligent, and understanding. Despite her young age, she went into the mountains every day to chop firewood, which she exchanged for silver taels to support their home and care for her mother.

However, these days did not last long. Chou’Er’s mother soon met a scholar from the same village.

The scholar was remarkably handsome, gentle, and refined. He didn’t mind that Chou’Er’s mother already had a daughter and even intended to marry her, promising to care for her for the rest of her life.

Having finally found someone to depend on again, Chou’Er’s mother gradually began to resent her daughter, even though Chou’Er was intelligent, understanding, and obedient.

Her features, especially her eyes and brows, were very similar to those of the father who had loved and left her. One day, after the scholar deliberately brought this up, Chou’Er’s mother flung a pot of boiling water on Chou’Er’s face, disfiguring her. Afterward, she sold her to the local Business Alliance...

Although Chou’Er’s mother had no cultivation base, Chou’Er herself was a promising candidate for cultivation. For this, her mother received a large fortune and lived out the rest of her days in carefree comfort with the scholar.

After being sold to the Business Alliance, Chou’Er began a life of hardship and turmoil in the gladiatorial arenas.

’Although Chou’Er has fought and killed in the gladiatorial arenas for many years, in terms of her disposition, she’s really no different than a blank slate...’

’Whatever is drawn on this blank slate will determine the kind of person she becomes in the future.’

Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Jiang Lan had already formed a plan in his mind.

The auction had already begun, and the entire venue was packed with people. From his position, he could see down into the private boxes on all nine floors, each one filled. The scale of the event was unprecedented, and the atmosphere was electric.

At the front of the auction hall, the one presiding over the event was already auctioning a very rare Spirit Medicine. It could be used as the primary ingredient for refining a Realm-Breaking Pill, making it highly sought-after by Loose Cultivators.

A constant stream of bids echoed from the various private boxes.

Jiang Lan had little interest in these auction items.

He then called Jiang Xun over and whispered some instructions in his ear.

"When that Exotic Stone comes up for auction, say this..." he instructed faintly.

"Yes, Young Master." Jiang Xun paused, taken aback. He didn’t fully understand, but he had a vague inkling of Jiang Lan’s intentions.

’Is he planning to set a trap for someone?’

However, the Business Alliance was excellent at maintaining confidentiality. Even now, very few people knew the true origin of that Exotic Stone.

After Jiang Xun left, a faint smile touched the corners of Jiang Lan’s lips.

His gaze swept across the private boxes on the top floor. Using his Destiny Dao Fruit to sense the life auras within, he soon locked his sights on one particular box on the ninth floor.

That box was directly opposite his own. Its occupants either possessed an incredibly noble status or astonishing wealth, marking them as distinguished guests of the Business Alliance.

Several guards stood watch at the entrance to the box, long sabers hanging from their waists. They wore Soft Armor that radiated a faint divine light, and their auras were anything but ordinary.

’Guards at the Fifth Realm, and their master is a woman with an unfathomable cultivation level. This has to be Shang Mingyu’s private box...’

Jiang Lan hadn’t asked the Business Alliance to provide him with the identities of the occupants in the private boxes. He didn’t want to alert his target and let Shang Mingyu know she was already on his radar.

Not only was her cultivation level formidable, but her Spiritual Sense was also naturally sensitive.

The slightest, most inadvertent disturbance could make her sense that something was amiss, to say nothing of the Supreme Treasure she also possessed.

In the original plot, one of the protagonist Lin Fan’s most troublesome early-game enemies was this very Shang Mingyu.

If Jiang Lan’s adoptive sister, Jiang Ruxian, was a peerless talent of unrivaled, indomitable strength, then Shang Mingyu was a woman of inscrutable methods, endlessly cunning, and impossible to guard against.

Jiang Lan retracted his gaze. He had originally planned to make Shang Mingyu bleed financially, siphoning off some of her providence in the process.

But with Ye Ming’s appearance here, his plans had changed. He would need to temporarily alter his strategy for dealing with Shang Mingyu as well.

’Shang Mingyu hurried to the Imperial Capital from Yangchun City specifically for that Exotic Stone. This means that right now, aside from that Chief Eunuch, Qi Qingxuan should have no other protection.’

’When I go to Yangchun City to approach him, I’ll have to figure out a way to avoid that Chief Eunuch...’

After the late Emperor passed away, the once-powerful Rituals Department was abolished.

Duke Wei, the Chief Eunuch who had served the late Emperor, was officially guarding the Imperial Mausoleum. In reality, however, he possessed the late Emperor’s final edict and had been secretly following Qi Qingxuan to ensure his safety.

Other than that, Qi Qingxuan himself was not someone to be particularly concerned about.

Besides, once Emperor Xia discovered Qi Qingxuan’s whereabouts, she would find a way to deal with him herself.

She would not permit any threat to her throne, especially not after learning that the late Emperor had left a final edict and orchestrated an elaborate deception to have the Sixth Prince secretly spirited away.

Jiang Lan understood the late Emperor’s intentions.

On one hand, he had allowed Emperor Xia to ascend the throne disguised as a man, drawing the court’s full attention and forcing her to withstand all the pressure.

On the other hand, he drafted a secret edict, allowing the Sixth Prince to live outside the court and develop in secret, waiting for the day he was grown.

At the same time, he instructed a Half-Immortal Zhenren to leave behind a brocade pouch, a message deliberately intended for Emperor Xia to retrieve in the future. This was so she would learn that she still had an older brother alive in the world.

If Emperor Xia didn’t manage to survive until that day, the brocade pouch would naturally be useless.

Once the Sixth Prince was grown, someone would inevitably appear with the pouch and the edict, raising the banner of rebellion in the name of the legitimate Royal Family line.

No matter the outcome, he would ensure the throne was inherited by a successor of his own blood.

And the current situation—an inevitable conflict between Emperor Xia and the Sixth Prince—was precisely what the late Emperor had wished to see.