Phoenix's Requiem

Li Mo nodded solemnly at Yun Ruoyan, who gave him a small smile in return.

“Zhuo Yifeng’s our friend, and we naturally have to save him,” Yun Moxiao asserted. “We have a week left. Let’s investigate where he’s being locked up tomorrow and confirm whether it’s indeed Zhuo Yifeng who was caught. Then, we’ll come up with a plan to save him.” Having been a soldier for many years, Yun Moxiao was highly adept at such search-and-rescue operations.

The next morning, Yun Ruoyan disguised the two of them with some medicinal dye. Gray hair signified too low a status, and would easily lead to their being bullied or ostracized. On the other hand, silver hair signified too high a status, and would be too eye-catching. Instead, Yun Ruoyan gave both Yun Moxiao and herself silvery-gray hair.

As they headed downstairs for lunch, Yun Moxiao learned from the innkeeper that there was a prison within the silver dragon castle specially for harboring criminals slated for death. It was very likely that that lower-realm cultivator was being kept there.

Their discussion quickly aroused considerable attention, because everyone seemed to be very interested in the lower-realm cultivator who had somehow made his way to the Jiyuan continent.

“I heard that nothing grows on the lower realms, that there’s barely any spiritual energy in the air, that the inhabitants of the lower realms are savages who devour raw meat and blood,” a gray-haired middle-aged man murmured.

“What would you know? If that were the case, how could this cultivator have killed a number of experts from the castle?” a lad with silvery-gray hair rebuked him.

“Brother!” Just then, a man with silvery-gray hair walked into the inn.

“Ah, my brother’s back!” The innkeeper hurriedly rushed to welcome him. “Why are you back now?”

“I discussed things with the castle’s chefs and worked out a deal. In the future, we’ll source all their ingredients for them. Come, let’s talk more about this in the back.” The two brothers headed to the back of the inn. While they passed by Yun Ruoyan, she heard the innkeeper whisper, “In that case, shall we provide food for the prisoners as well?”

“Brother, surely that can hardly be profitable.”

“Ah, but we can just send them our leftover food, can’t we?”

“Well, I’ll ask.”

Yun Ruoyan made eye contact with Yun Moxiao and Li Mo. They had clearly heard the conversation between the innkeeper and his brother, and they all thought of the same plan at once.

Over the next two days, the three of them would wander the streets of the city to familiarize themselves with their surroundings. They headed to the front of the silver dragon castle to find it heavily guarded, with the portraits of about a dozen people pasted on the city gates. When the three of them stepped forward to investigate the portraits, they found portraits of themselves staring back at them. However, they were now disguised and Li Mo was in his silver dragon form, so they didn’t have to worry about being caught.

“Excuse me, why are those people’s portraits on the wall?” Yun Moxiao asked a gray-haired passerby wearing a hat. Most of those who wore hats were gray-haired members of the silver dragon clan, low in status and relatively easy to talk to.

“Except for the three black-haired lower-realm cultivators, the rest of the portraits are of the demonic bandits,” the passerby replied.

“Ah, those demonic bandits? Thanks!” Yun Moxiao actually wanted to ask who these demonic bandits were, but he didn’t dare to expose his ignorance.

Afterwards, the three of them found out that there were originally three clans on the Jiyuan continent: the silver dragons, the demonic dragons, and those who practiced the demonic arts. Over a millennium, the demonic dragons and the demonic practitioners both fell into decline, and jurisdiction of the continent then fell to the silver dragon clan. The demonic dragon clan had been exterminated entirely, but the surviving demonic practitioners had gathered together as a group of demonic bandits.

These demonic bandits pillaged and plundered the outskirts of the silver dragons’ territory, and even after a thousand years of effort to get rid of them, they were somehow still active in the vicinity. The portraits on the walls were of some of the leaders of the bandit camp.

Since their common enemy was the silver dragons, these bandit leaders could, in some sense, be thought of as friends and possible allies, and it was worth meeting and getting to know them if there were an opportunity to do so.

From their inspection of the silver dragon palace, the three cultivators found that it was heavily guarded, with walls that were unusually tall and seemingly made of blocks of ice. They were slippery and impossible to scale, even with Li Mo’s suction technique.

So far, they had only found two ways of entering the castle: by walking through the front doors, or by flying over the walls. There were frequently visitors entering the silver dragon castle by flight, but if Yun Ruoyan and the others were to do so, they would likely be shot dead before they even got close to the castle.

The three of them secretly inspected the cultivation of those around them. The least skilled person they found was a beggar by the streets, with the cultivation of an early ninth-rank blademaster. Even the innkeeper was a peak ninth-rank blademaster, and this left Yun Moxiao feeling somewhat dismayed.

After three days of reconnaissance, the three of them finally gained an understanding of the silver dragon city and the silver dragon castle. On the night of the third day, Yun Moxiao ordered a table of delicacies, then invited the innkeeper into their rooms. 𝑓re𝘦𝔀𝗲𝘣𝘯𝘰νℯ𝒍.c𝗼ｍ

“Thank you for the excellent service,” Yun Moxiao began, toasting the innkeeper.

“It was an honor to serve you,” the innkeeper replied, downing the proffered alcohol in its entirety. “I can tell that the three of you are all extraordinary guests.”

They had been very lavish with their spending and tips; for example, the table of delicacies in front of them was worth hundreds of high-grade spirit crystals, and had been specially obtained from one of the premier restaurants of the area. Those working in the service industry all liked such affluent guests, and this innkeeper was no exception.

“The night the three of you entered the inn, I found all of you very familiar,” the innkeeper continued. “You look like those people whose portraits are on the wall of the silver dragon castle.”

Yun Ruoyan, Yun Moxiao, and Li Mo’s hearts all leapt at once. Their hands went for their weapons, ready to kill the innkeeper at a moment’s notice. However, given how relaxed the innkeeper seemed, they didn’t quite know what to make of the situation.

The innkeeper burped and pointed at the three of them. “You’re members of the demonic bandits, aren’t you?”

The three of them immediately relaxed. Only after a prolonged silence did Li Mo ask, “Innkeeper, you don’t seem all too frightened of the demonic bandits.”

“Others might be, but I’m not,” he laughed. “I’ve had some dealings with the demonic bandits, you see.” He lowered his voice. “They’re not as cruel and vicious as everyone claims, and they’re only interested in killing those who live within the castle. As for regular folk like us, they wouldn’t hurt us at all. I don’t care who stays in my inn, as long as they pay up.”

“You’re absolutely right, Innkeeper. The ones who destroyed our enclave were the silver dragon elders and their informants, and it has nothing to do with the likes of you. In fact—” Yun Moxiao leaned in closer. “We have a proposition for you. Would you be interested?”

Li Mo removed a storage ring from his finger and said, “There are ten thousand high-grade spirit crystals in this ring. If you agree, Innkeeper, this ring is yours.”

The innkeeper’s eyes gleamed as he stared at the ring. He wiped at his mouth with a hand. “What proposition? As long as it won’t harm my life, I’ll do it.”

Clearly, money was the key to this man’s heart.

“The reason we chose to stay in your inn was because we knew that you had a brother working as a guard in the silver dragon castle. One of our good brothers has been caught and imprisoned, and we’d like to meet him. Innkeeper, do you have a means of transporting us within the castle?”

“Ah, well...” The innkeeper made an apologetic expression. “My brother’s a careful fellow, and this is a risky endeavor.”

Yun Ruoyan also removed one of her storage rings, then placed it by the side of Li Mo’s ring. “I have another five thousand high-grade spirit crystals here. Innkeeper, if you’re willing to take the risk, all this will be yours.”

The innkeeper was so agitated that he was wringing his hands. After a moment’s contemplation, he finally said, “I’ll ask my brother and see what he thinks. I’ll let you know by tomorrow night.”

The next night, the innkeeper told them that, not only was his brother unwilling to help, he even sternly lectured the innkeeper for his greed. However, the innkeeper then continued, “I have another idea, if the three of you are interested?”

“What idea?”

“I’ll be providing food for the prisoners in the castle from now on, so if the three of you want to disguise yourselves as the laborers bringing the food into the castle...”

“That’ll work.” Their eyes lit up at once.

“Good, good!” The innkeeper clapped his hands. “The first delivery will be in two days, so you can head into the castle then. But if you’re exposed, you can’t implicate me, understand?”

“We won’t. We’re just entering the castle to have some last words with him. Furthermore, given how closely guarded the silver dragon castle is, we wouldn’t be able to rescue him even if we tried,” Yun Ruoyan said, then handed her storage ring to the innkeeper. “Here, take this as our deposit. Once we return from the trip, we’ll hand you the other ten thousand.”

The innkeeper happily left, five thousand high-grade spirit crystals richer.

Two days later, Yun Ruoyan, Li Mo, and Yun Moxiao disguised themselves as waiters of the inn and dragged a cart of leftovers toward the silver dragon castle...