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"Tell me." The young girl’s ethereal voice came from all directions in the bamboo forest.

The chubby Daoist secretly swallowed, turning around but finding nothing, despite the footsteps that had just sounded behind him. He looked around, and as the girl spoke again, the fat Daoist suddenly realized something, raising his head to meet the eyes of the red-haired fox girl sitting in the treetop, dangling her white stockinged feet in small leather shoes—

"Yanran went to great lengths to invite you from the Celestial Medicine Temple. What benefits did she promise you?"

"I can’t possibly..." Li Lishan stepped back hesitantly, seemingly still weighing the ethics of his business arrangement.

But the red-haired fox girl in the treetop clearly had no patience for conventional social niceties. As the blood-colored marks in her enchanting eyes began to spin, though no actual illusion technique was activated, the fat Daoist below the tree immediately put on a smiling face and confessed honestly:

"Oh my goodness, young mistress! Did you really need to use illusion techniques for such a small matter? We’re colleagues helping each other, so it wasn’t anything valuable. miss Yanran just promised me a few Celestial Core Pills."

The fat Daoist grinned apologetically, clasping his hands before his chest and looking somewhat uneasy.

This uneasiness wasn’t because he truly feared Jinyue. In terms of cultivation, he was a complete Nascent Soul stage cultivator, half a step into the Divine Transformation realm—an old Daoist who could easily overpower this redfox who appeared to be merely at the Foundation Establishment stage.

But setting cultivation aside, they weren’t so different—just pawns making a living under different Celestial Masters. And when it came to the Vengeance Pavilion, Jinyue’s advantage became apparent.

Li Lishan had heard that ever since the Celestial Master had picked up this fox demon from the Western Region, she had brought Jinyue along to almost every high-level meeting where new prophecies were revealed to the Celestial Master.

Being able to attend high-level meetings meant Jinyue had access to more accurate prophecies. And in this world, what was more valuable than material things, what couldn’t even be measured in gold, were the upper echelon’s prophecies and future policies.

Whoever could foresee the future would inevitably be the winner in the next round of chaos!

So, although Li Lishan wasn’t particularly familiar with Jinyue, just based on the intelligence she possessed, he had been easily bought off by her few words on Ranmo Peak. Li Lishan had never heard of Yanran attending high-level meetings with the Celestial Master, so it was obvious who could offer a higher price between Jinyue and Yanran!

"A few Celestial Core Pills, huh? Yanran’s quite generous. You old fox, taking advantage by eating from both sides, aren’t you?"

The red-haired fox girl sat in the treetop, her lips curling as she stared at the fat Daoist with enchanting eyes full of disgust yet playfulness, seemingly still weighing the benefits and drawbacks.

But Li Lishan was the one seeking a favor after all, so even when faced with her sarcasm, he still rubbed his hands together obsequiously and smiled ingratiatingly: "Hehe... regardless, this humble Daoist has diagnosed according to the young mistress’s requirements. I wonder... what benefits might the young mistress offer this humble Daoist?"

"What benefits I can offer as hush money depends on you clearly explaining exactly what secrets you diagnosed from Yino~"

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Jinyue smiled coldly, naturally not one to be easily fooled. But as her words fell, the fat Daoist below the tree fell into a troubled silence.

After pondering for a moment, he still recounted truthfully: "To be honest, this humble Daoist could see something wrong with these demonic abyss burn marks. Though they neatly eroded his meridians, they didn’t damage a single muscle or bone in the young man’s body... And this technique, based on this humble Daoist’s years of experience treating Western Region soldiers, resembles the work of Liuli, the Holy Maiden of the Full Moon Sect!"

"Besides this, this humble Daoist also discovered that the young man called Yino contained many strange energies in his body besides the evil energy from the demonic abyss... But shamefully, even with this humble Daoist’s level, it’s truly difficult to distinguish them..."

By the end, Li Lishan had consciously lowered his voice considerably. Yanran inviting him had been quite insightful, because the Celestial Medicine Temple was also on the border of the Western Region, and every year hundreds or thousands of retired wounded soldiers from the front lines were assigned by the Immortal Alliance to the Celestial Medicine Temple for treatment.

Therefore, as an experienced doctor, Li Lishan was naturally very familiar with the characteristics of the Western Region’s demonic abyss and the mainstream evil techniques of various evil sects.

However, precisely because Li Lishan had seen much and was experienced, he had also become smooth-talking and concerned with social graces. For instance, regarding Yino’s true identity...

Just hearing the three words "Grand Tutor’s Mansion," Li Lishan had already become somewhat afraid to check his pulse deeply. Some things were better left unknown for outsiders like him.

"Strange energies? Go on, tell me." Jinyue impatiently pressed, as she hated being kept in suspense.

But Li Lishan sighed, somewhat helplessly: "Going further would involve matters of the Grand Tutor’s Mansion... this humble Daoist truly dares not make rash judgments."

"If you don’t tell me, how will I know how much hush money to give you?" Jinyue raised her eyebrows slightly, and as Li Lishan reacted this way, she also gradually began to suspect Yino’s true identity.

But this time, Li Lishan firmly shook his head: "Miss Jinyue, this humble Daoist diagnoses demonic abyss aftereffects, and only charges for this diagnosis... As for the rest, it’s better to pretend this humble Daoist doesn’t know. This humble Daoist needs no extra hush money and knows to keep his mouth shut."

"What earth-shattering, ghost-crying secret did you discover to be so serious about it?" Jinyue tilted her head; the more Li Lishan resisted, the more curious she became.

Jinyue attempted to use an illusion technique to peek, but as soon as she began casting, a golden light barrier surrounded Li Lishan.

Hello my amazing readers,

I sincerely apologize for the delayed update the past few weeks. Unfortunately, my story published without my permission on PandaNovel, which understandably upset me and caused me to pause publishing for a few days.

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