Chasing after her husband? Is it even possible to win him back?

Waiting for a better price?

Although the Oni race are full of madmen with extreme emotions, madness does not mean stupidity. The Oni Council would not do something so inconsiderate, would it?

After all, the essence of waiting for the best price is direct control... However, after exchanging glances with Li Anshan for a few moments, Prince Zou rejected the idea that had just popped into his mind.

Li Anshan looked very serious, his eyes filled with determination.

“Make an offer…make an offer…” Prince Zou’s original plan was to wait for the foreign council to make an offer and then negotiate the price himself. Now that he was suddenly asked to make an offer directly, Xu Zou was silent for a long time. “Then, let’s go through the points one by one?”

"Please." Li Anshan nodded slightly.

"First, our Xu Kingdom demands that the Foreign Parliament directly close all relations with Yan Kingdom. Of course, leaving the Black Forest open to Yan Kingdom is also included in this."

Li Anshan nodded slightly, "It's not excessive. If it's a sincere transaction, the Foreigners' Council can agree to this condition."

"Secondly, the Ghost Market will be fully open to my Xu Kingdom, and a large-scale market will be held regularly every year. Of course, it will be aimed at cultivators. As for the various sects and factions within my Xu Kingdom, I will be responsible for lobbying them."

After a long silence, Li Anshan nodded. "This is a troublesome matter, but if it can be accomplished, it would be a win-win situation. However, this matter needs to be discussed in the Foreigners' Council."

“Alright, then we can put this one aside for now…” After thinking for a few seconds, Prince Zou spoke up, “Then, the last one.”

Li Anshan was on high alert, but Prince Zou looked up at Xie San and said, "Xie San, you shall tell us the last thing."

Xie San nodded slightly. The sudden situation drew everyone's attention to Xie San, but Xie San's lips trembled slightly, and no one could tell what he said. A faint aura shot towards Li Anshan, who steadily received it. After using the resonance method to transform it into information he could understand, Li Anshan stared wide-eyed at Prince Zou in astonishment.

"Your Highness, are you... sure?"

"This requires not only your agreement, but the entire Foreign Council and the entire Foreign race to agree. This is not an easy thing to do."

“I understand.” Li Anshan took a deep breath. “If this is your final request, I would be more than happy to accept it.”

"That's good." Prince Zou picked up his teacup, took a sip of tea, and smiled at Li Anshan, whose expression was complicated. "Then, I will await good news."

“Of course.” Li Anshan stood up. “If there is any news, I will inform Your Highness immediately.”

"No need to see me off." Prince Zou nodded slightly.

Li Anshan stood up, called to his two attendants, and walked toward the gate opened by the bronze beast. But when he reached the gate, he suddenly stopped, turned to look at Xie San, raised his hand and released a burst of energy, then stepped over the threshold and left without looking back.

"Xie San, what did Li Anshan say?" Prince Zou squinted at Xie San.

He said that the Yan people who came to the Blackwood were in his residence, and he would "properly" settle them and wait for His Highness to deal with them.

"Hmm." Prince Zou nodded in satisfaction. "It seems that although those Yan people had the upper hand, they have instead turned the patience of the foreign council into anger."

"Now it seems that's indeed the case." Xie San nodded slightly.

"By the way, has there been any news about the person Chu Xunfeng is looking for, and those other matters?"

"No news has come back yet, but if there were any clues left back then, they will definitely be able to find them."

"That's good, but don't keep Chu Xunfeng waiting too long."

"My subordinate understands."

Prince Zou paused, his hand holding the teacup still. He turned to Xie San, his expression solemn. "I am not your superior yet."

"Xie San understands."

Not yet.

Chapter 59, Suspicious Points in the Intelligence

Gui Lao Jiu's mansion is a garden. From the outside, it looks like a huge expanse. Following Ming Huai's group into the garden, they quickly glanced at the dry mountains and artificial rocks, black locust trees and ink willows, and clear water without fish. Compared to ordinary gardens, it certainly has a 'ghostly' style.

Minghuai led the group to a side courtyard, opened a huge library, and led them into the library filled with wooden shelves and grids.

"Young Master Chu, this is the information that Elder Jiu has collected over the years about the mother and child he is looking for."

The whereabouts of the family members carried by the traitorous bronze beast more than fifty years ago.

This world is not like the previous one. Ordinary people get married at fourteen or fifteen and die at forty or fifty, which is the norm. Ordinary people are considered to have lived a long life after sixty years of age. More than fifty years is the time it takes for five or six generations to pass through.

In this context, searching for a pregnant woman in a single location, like looking for a needle in a haystack... truly is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

However, there are at least a hundred books and documents in this library right now. Putting aside the content, the sheer number of them is enough to show how concerned Gui Lao Jiu is about the woman's whereabouts.

"Let's begin then. Look closely. We don't expect you to remember everything you see, but at least you should have a general impression." Chu Xunfeng turned around and glanced at the two people and two ghosts behind him.

Mo Xun smiled and nodded. Hong Zhu and Lao Wang also dispersed, but Xue Changyun did not move and remained rooted to the spot.

Chu Xunfeng didn't insist, and glanced back at Minghuai, "Thank you."

"Young Master Chu, you're too kind. I'll have to trouble you with the matter of Ninth Elder." Although Ming Huai himself had said that Ninth Elder didn't really care if Chu Xunfeng could find a result, perhaps Ninth Elder himself was already disheartened and was just taking a chance.

But Chu Xunfeng took this seriously, so he naturally wouldn't discourage it. In fact, he had to accept the favor properly.

No matter who owes whom, it's still a debt. Once there are favors exchanged, there will naturally be more follow-ups.

"I won't bother you any longer. I'll have someone bring some tea and snacks later." Minghuai nodded to Chu Xunfeng.

"Thank you." Chu Xunfeng didn't stand on ceremony. After nodding in agreement, he went directly to a corner of the library and began to look through the bamboo slips and books.

Minghuai stood by the library door for a while, then turned and left, relieved.

Chu Xunfeng and his companions actually stayed in the library, quietly reading through the books one by one.

During this time, the demons brought tea and snacks, including things that humans and demons could eat.

But no one touched the tea snacks.

The main reason was that Chu Xunfeng was quietly flipping through the books one by one, and the others were also influenced by him and immersed in the information.

Late at night, Minghuai came to the library in person and saw that Chu Xunfeng and Mo Xun were still flipping through books, while Hongzhu and Lao Wang, the two ghosts, couldn't stand it anymore and were discussing something in hushed tones. So he coughed in a pretentious manner, knocked on the door, and made Chu Xunfeng and Mo Xun put down their books.

"Young Master Chu, Young Master Mo, there's no need to be too anxious. Cultivators are different from ordinary people, but their minds can also get tired."

"I am indeed a little tired." Chu Xunfeng, holding the half-read scroll in his hand, walked towards Minghuai. "Does Lord Minghuai have something to instruct me on?"

"No, it's just that you haven't moved an inch all day, so His Highness the Prince sent someone to look for you." Minghuai smiled. "The person is waiting in the reception room."

Chu Xunfeng raised his hand and squeezed the corner of his eye. "I'll trouble Lord Minghuai to bring the person over. I don't plan to go back today. I intend to take a look at all of these things before I go back."

"You've read it once?" Minghuai was somewhat surprised, but he still turned around and gave the servant outside the door a look, signaling the servant to bring the bronze beast that had come looking for someone to the library. After the servant nodded and left, Minghuai turned back to look at Chu Xunfeng, "Young Master, have you found any clues?"

"Clues... I wouldn't call them clues." Chu Xunfeng hesitated for a moment, put down the book in his hand, picked up the tea that had long since gone cold, took a sip, and then sighed softly, "But I did notice something that bothers me a lot."

"Could you tell me a thing or two?" Minghuai noticed that Mo Xun, dressed in a black robe, had also come over, and asked with some curiosity.

“I have read some records in local chronicles. Lingzhou is sparsely populated and Changfeng Mountain is not as continuous as the mountains in the southern wilderness. According to the investigations in these documents... there are too many villages around Changfeng Mountain, aren’t there?”

Chu Xunfeng gently tapped his forehead. "Based on the investigation results I've seen today, I've seen no fewer than dozens of unique place names, but the strangest thing is... I've hardly seen any duplicate names?"

Mo Xun put down the empty teacup that had been gulped down and continued, "I've also noticed this. I'll compare it with my junior brother later."

"That's the first thing I find strange. The second thing is... in every survey that can be considered to have some results, I've seen conclusions that can be summed up in one sentence."

“A lonely, outsider woman with a clever child whose father is unknown.” As Chu Xunfeng spoke, a subtle smile appeared on his face, as if he were mocking her, or as if he had found something amusing. “Once or twice is fine, but I’ve seen at least seven or eight similar conclusions, all in different place names.”

"Have you never noticed this problem before?" Chu Xunfeng looked at Minghuai.

The surprise on Minghuai's face seemed genuine. He even frowned and pondered when Chu Xunfeng raised a question. "Over the past few decades, investigation results have not been readily available... Each investigation of this matter has been spaced out for some time, sometimes even by one or two years."

"That makes it even stranger. There's a certain time gap, and the same conclusion could be drawn that they saw the same woman and child, but the place names are different, and over a long period of time, it's always the woman and child, rather than gradually becoming an old woman and an adult..."

Chu Xunfeng was silent for a moment, but then suddenly seemed to remember something, "Lord Minghuai, I have a question."

"Young Master Chu, please speak." Minghuai looked at Chu Xunfeng solemnly. He was truly impressed by the cold-hearted gentleman who had discovered a clue in just one day.

"The Ninth Seat, also known as Ghost Nine, is he the husband or father of this mother and child?" Chu Xunfeng looked at Ming Huai. "Don't just talk about feelings, because from my perspective, Ghost Nine is watching so closely that even I feel he is."

"Has he ever admitted to being him?"

Minghuai remained silent for a long time, then shook his head with a wry smile. "Everyone thinks so, and if it really is, then this is a sad thing for Elder Jiu. Who would be so brazen as to ask the question directly?"

"Alright, then I'll ask again: was he a bronze beast in his lifetime?"

“This…” Minghuai was silent for a while, then finally shook his head, “If Young Master Chu still has the same question as before, then the answer is that he has never admitted it himself.”

Chu Xunfeng remained silent for a long time before finally nodding slightly. "Then, I think I understand."

Chapter Sixty, House Arrest

"Junior brother, what have you realized?"

Inside the library, Mo Xun, holding a book in his hand, raised his eyebrows slightly.

"It's hard to say. I have a guess, but if my guess is true, then I probably can't just say it out loud." Chu Xunfeng shook his head slightly, then turned to look at Minghuai. "Lord Minghuai, I remember you told me before that Guilao Jiu seems to be heading back to the Black Forest, right?"

"Yes, judging by the time, they should be back in about three to five days," Minghuai nodded.

"In that case, I won't bother you any longer today."

Chu Xunfeng, who had previously said he planned to stay overnight, put down the documents in his hand. "When Gui Lao Jiu returns to the Black Forest, I will need to trouble Lord Minghuai to inform me. I have some speculations to report to Gui Lao Jiu."

Minghuai nodded obediently.

Coincidentally, Minghuai's servants also brought the bronze beast sent by Prince Zou to the outside of the library. Chu Xunfeng called out to the two men and two ghosts who accompanied him, and after organizing and putting away all the scrolls in the library that had been read by everyone several times, he followed Minghuai and left Ghost Nine's territory.

"May I ask your name?" On the way back, Chu Xunfeng, who had been deep in thought, suddenly asked the bronze beast leading the way.

"Wu Shisan." A hoarse voice, clearly deliberately disguised, came from beneath the bronze mask.

"May I ask, sir, do the bronze beasts have the habit of turning certain information into plays and storing them in a certain place for others to review?" Chu Xunfeng's sudden question startled the other two people and two ghosts.