Chapter 671: Because No Money

"This way."

With Xiao Wanfeng's help, Xin Gugu, who had pried himself off the wall, clicked his tongue in wonder, sighing that Xu Xiaoshou was increasingly taking after Jiao Tangtang.

He didn't dare complain. Under the stern gaze of that person, he shivered, stopped rambling, and went to arrange a room for Mei Yiren.

Afterward, following Xu Xiaoshou's instructions, he headed to the Duojin Merchant Guild to prepare and acquire some new tables, chairs, and furnishings.

Only two people remained in the main hall.

"Xiao Wanfeng, come over."

Xu Xiaoshou chose a cultivation room and led Xiao Wanfeng inside.

Once the Ling Yuan Array isolated the space, it was uncertain if this array would be effective against someone like the Seven Sword Immortals, but having it was better than nothing.

Besides, Xu Xiaoshou didn't think someone like Mei Yiren would be bored enough to eavesdrop on their conversation, so he got straight to the point.

"Tell me everything you know about Void Island."

Sky City, Sacred Secret Land!

It was because of these two phrases that Xiao Wanfeng had the chance to enter the tower.

Although Xu Xiaoshou's earlier remarks had earned him newfound respect in Xiao Wanfeng's eyes,

it seemed probable that this was just another sword dao genius who would likely face an untimely end on his future path. After all, the continent had its share of geniuses, and there was no reason for Xiao Wanfeng to be the sole favorite of fate.

The only thing Xu Xiaoshou could do, since they had met, was to offer help if the opportunity arose.

The rest depended on the boy's own destiny.

For now, he would treat him as an ordinary person who possessed some inside information and utilize it.

"Void Island..."

Xiao Wanfeng was used to Xu Xiaoshou's way of addressing it. After a moment of reflection, he realized Xu Xiaoshou probably knew quite a bit already.

"What does Xu Xiaoshou want to know?" he asked.

"Everything you know, tell me."

Since Xu Xiaoshou had already allowed this person into the tower, he didn't mind being straightforward and extracting all the information he had.

"Uh..." Xiao Wanfeng thought for a moment and asked, "Has Xu Xiaoshou heard anything about Pi Xiu Mountain?"

"Don't worry about what I know or don't know. Just start from the beginning."

"Alright."

Xiao Wanfeng nodded, not daring to ask further, and carefully chose his words. "Then I'll start with Pi Xiu Mountain. Xu Xiaoshou should know that the Wangcheng Trial is approaching."

"Although the Sheng Shen Hall hasn't officially announced it, based on their recent major activities, it's likely that the trial location will be the Yunlun Mountains."

"The Yunlun Mountains stretch for tens of thousands of li, and among them are several famous peaks in the East Heaven Realm, with Pi Xiu Mountain being one of them."

"Outsiders may not know, but I accidentally learned that the final destination of this trial will likely be Pi Xiu Mountain."

"Accidentally?" Xu Xiaoshou tilted his head.

"Yes, truly accidentally..."

Xiao Wanfeng didn't conceal anything and continued, "After I followed the trail of the Eighth Sword Immortal from Bai Ku, I used a teleportation spirit array to arrive at East Heaven Wangcheng, but I didn't enter the city right away."

"For someone like me who wanders everywhere, climbing the famous peaks of each realm and city is almost a requirement."

"Coincidentally, when I arrived at East Heaven Wangcheng, the first famous peak I chose to visit was Pi Xiu Mountain."

"But at that time, I didn't know that Pi Xiu Mountain was going to be the final site for the Wangcheng Trial!"

Xiao Wanfeng paused, finding it somewhat amusing as he said,

"At the time, I was climbing Pi Xiu Mountain and was surprised that such a famous peak, known as the highest spirit mountain gathering the East Heaven Realm's greatest destiny, had so few climbers."

"Little did I know that the Sheng Shen Hall had already begun evacuating people and sealing the mountain with barriers around that time."

"I got there ahead of them, entered the area at the foot of Pi Xiu Mountain, and because I'm not a spirit refiner, they mistook me for a local resident and didn't drive me away."

As expected... Xu Xiaoshou thought to himself that his guess was correct—this guy had accidentally entered the Sheng Shen Hall's barrier because he lacked spiritual yuan.

It was both a coincidence and a destined encounter.

Xiao Wanfeng's eyes showed a hint of reminiscence as he continued, "There were actually many others who entered Pi Xiu Mountain before it was sealed, but those guys were smuggling in, sent by various factions who weren't afraid to take risks for intelligence."

"The Sheng Shen Hall had dispersed some of their forces to root out these people."

"Perhaps because of that, even though I was discovered twice by the white-clothed ones, they still treated me as a local resident who had gone into the mountains for hunting and hadn't returned, so they just sent me back to the foot."

"At that time, I didn't plan to go back into the mountains, but I vaguely felt a 'call' in my heart."

Xu Xiaoshou's eyebrows rose upon hearing this.

A call?

He suddenly thought of Bai Ku, where the light bead left by Jin Zhao Ancestor—or the Wolfbei Saint—had given him a similar guiding feeling, urging him to go somewhere.

Was the "call" that Xiao Wanfeng received something similar?

Xu Xiaoshou shifted his position on the wooden chair, no longer slouching, and sat up straight. He didn't interrupt and instead listened even more intently.

"Continue."

Xiao Wanfeng nodded: "That call was very strange. It was like a guide. I was originally planning to leave the mountains and avoid the trouble, but as soon as I stepped in the opposite direction, the call became stronger."

"It even turned into a pounding headache by the time I was about to exit the barrier, echoing in my mind... It was terrifying!"

Xiao Wanfeng looked back with lingering fear, spreading his hands.

"I had no choice but to climb back up, following the 'call,' or rather, the 'guide,' toward the mountain peak."

"This time was incredible. I even deliberately made myself more conspicuous, hoping the white-clothed ones sealing the mountain would send me out, but the more reckless I was, the fewer people I encountered."

"Just like that, I easily reached the peak and stopped at the spot where the call was strongest. I bent down and, for some reason, dug up a token..."

"A black token!"

Xiao Wanfeng's face was full of disbelief.

It was like a terrifying experience of sleepwalking and achieving something real, which was frightening and made him shudder.

"Token..."

Xu Xiaoshou didn't care about his feelings and focused on the key words in his speech, probing, "Void Order?"

"Uh, yes."

Xiao Wanfeng was slightly surprised.

He hadn't expected Xu Xiaoshou to react so quickly and name it accurately. He nodded and continued, "Yes, the Void Order! The moment I dug up the Void Order, the force that had been protecting me and keeping me hidden on the mountain disappeared. Then, the next second..."

The young man said, with a look of terror on his face, as if he truly didn't want to recall that scene.

He clenched his fists, gathering some courage, and said, "The next second, when I looked up, there were suddenly more than ten black-clothed figures around me, just staring down at me!"

"...I swear, before I dug up the token, there was absolutely no one nearby!"

"Those guys appeared out of nowhere, like ghosts—and more than ten of them... I was stunned at the time!"

"These ghosts were incredibly strong, starting from Wangzuo level, with leaders at Zhandao. They weren't from the Sheng Shen Hall and didn't belong to the same faction."

"From the subsequent battle, it seemed they were from three different groups. I was just an ordinary person back then, and I was so scared I almost drew my sword..."

"Then you drew your sword?" Xu Xiaoshou was curious, wondering what it would be like for this young man, who had hidden his sword for so long, to finally draw it.

"No."

Xiao Wanfeng looked embarrassed: "I didn't even have time to draw my sword before I was kicked unconscious. If I hadn't been gripping it tightly, I probably would have lost the sword too."

Xu Xiaoshou: "..."

"Then how did you escape?"

"The white-clothed ones."

Xiao Wanfeng sighed: "I was like a pawn that completed its mission, ended up seriously injured, and gained nothing from it. Then I was discovered by the white-clothed ones again and sent out."

"It's a good thing they found me in time, or else you might not have seen me..."

"What about the token?" Xu Xiaoshou had no time for his complaints or irrelevant details.

The moment he asked, he immediately realized and said firmly, "I get it. So, among the three groups that attacked you, one was from Ye Mao. Ye Mao snatched the Void Order and successfully escaped from the Sheng Shen Hall's barrier, then planned to hold the 'Ling Que Trade Fair'?"

"Uh..."

Xiao Wanfeng had a "how did you know that" expression and hesitated: "Xu Xiaoshou... did you also send people there?"

Xu Xiaoshou shook his head.

He had simply connected the dots logically with everything he knew.

"Does the Sheng Shen Hall know about this?" he asked. "About the Void Order being taken from you?"

"They probably don't know... right?"

Xiao Wanfeng was unsure: "The Sheng Shen Hall people arrived too late. They had already set up everything at Pi Xiu Mountain, and their forces were scattered elsewhere... I strongly suspect that the ones who got there first were also following some mysterious 'call'."

"How so?" Xu Xiaoshou asked.

"Because before I passed out, I saw three ordinary people at the peak. They were genuine locals from the foot of Pi Xiu Mountain, and they had no reason to be up there." Xiao Wanfeng replied.

I see... Xu Xiaoshou suddenly understood.

He guessed that those guides might not have been directed at spirit refiners, perhaps because spirit refiners would instinctively resist such a summons.

Or perhaps the call itself didn't want to cause a big stir or major conflicts between factions.

It was simply meant to get the Void Order out, and it didn't matter who ended up with it afterward.

But why didn't the white-clothed ones receive the guide—they only arrived late?

Other factions could find people, but the white-clothed ones, as the hosts of Pi Xiu Mountain, couldn't locate those who received the call?

"What was the call, or the guide, like?" Xu Xiaoshou asked.

"This..."

Xiao Wanfeng frowned, unsure how to describe it.

"Om."

Xu Xiaoshou opened his mouth and uttered a strange tone.

"Yes, yes!"

Xiao Wanfeng jumped up from his chair in excitement, looking astonished. He pointed at Xu Xiaoshou repeatedly, momentarily forgetting etiquette. "That's the sound! Xu Xiaoshou, you've also received the summons?"

Xu Xiaoshou: "..."

His face darkened, and his mood soured.

Indeed, Void Island!

No wonder Xiao Wanfeng couldn't describe it—it was because this sound, like the chant of the great dao, wasn't something a human could produce.

Xu Xiaoshou knew it only because of his "Bianhua" ability and because, in Bai Ku, that light bead had sounded like this every quarter of an hour, making it impossible to forget.

And Xiao Wanfeng's confirmation meant that the call he received was the same as the one Xu Xiaoshou had gotten in Bai Ku, both coming from Void Island.

Perhaps it was Jin Zhao Ancestor's doing, or perhaps not.

But it was absolutely, definitely, 100 percent... a signal released by Void Island!

"What are these guys up to?"

"In Bai Ku, they tried to lure me to that extradimensional rift, but I didn't go, and it turned into the Eight Honored Ones' mess."

"Now, they've gone to such lengths to cross realms, just to summon a few ordinary people to dig up the Void Order..."

Xu Xiaoshou narrowed his eyes in deep thought.

His intuition told him this was related to the deal between the Eight Honored Ones and Jin Zhao Ancestor, as well as the special critical period of the Wangcheng Trial, and even more so to his own task of stirring things up.

—But he still couldn't quite grasp the hidden connections!

"This is disgusting..."

After the Bai Ku incident, Xu Xiaoshou knew he couldn't calmly extricate himself from the schemes of these great powers.

He had grown!

He realized that as a pawn, even if he wanted to leave, he would inevitably be inexplicably drawn from one end of the world to the deepest part of the game.

So, instead of that, he might as well think about how to break free, how to avoid the major whirlpools as much as possible, and maneuver among the various factions to escape unscathed.

"The Sheng Shen Hall..."

Xu Xiaoshou pondered, and his eyes suddenly lit up as he asked, "The Sheng Shen Hall isn't as incompetent as you think. They couldn't possibly fail to pick up on any hints and completely miss the fact that the Void Order came from Pi Xiu Mountain."

"At the very least, they could use various methods to deduce something..."

"So, after catching wind of it, how could they still dare to set the final location of the Wangcheng Trial at Pi Xiu Mountain?"

"It's impossible!"

Xu Xiaoshou said, his expression becoming certain. "They'll change the location!"

Xiao Wanfeng was stunned.

He couldn't follow Xu Xiaoshou's train of thought and had no idea where this was going.

How did they suddenly jump to the Sheng Shen Hall changing the location...

But on this point, Xiao Wanfeng was very confident.

"They won't change it." He said firmly.

"Why?" Xu Xiaoshou's face fell.

Xiao Wanfeng didn't know the terror involved, but Xu Xiaoshou knew the Sheng Shen Hall absolutely did.

Anything related to Void Island, even the slightest leak of information or trace, was enough to touch upon their fundamental interests.

In that case, the safest move would be to directly change the trial's final location and be done with it!

Xiao Wanfeng looked helpless: "The Sheng Shen Hall can't change it. Not to mention that enclosing half of the Yunlun Mountains as the trial area took a massive amount of time."

"Even the manpower and resources they've invested in the surrounding barriers over these past few months have made it a done deal."

He paused and clenched his fist. "The Sheng Shen Hall won't change it—they can't change it... because they don't have the money!"