Eating bizarre things in public upgrades my status; the Special Affairs Bureau wants me to join them

The airships behind gradually drew closer.

There were nearly a hundred Qi cultivators on that flying boat.

The leader was a young man in red who held a folding fan and looked very polite. He was bowing to He Li and said, "I am Ye Wuyun, and I have brought my fellow disciples from Phoenix Valley to greet you, fellow Daoist."

"May I ask which school or sect you belong to?"

Returning Phoenix Valley? Never heard of it. It's probably just an ordinary sect that's not well-known in other regions.

While pondering in his heart, He Li raised his hand, clasped his hands, and casually replied to Ye Wuyun: "Ye Fan, disciple of the East Sea Zhenhai Sect!" Hearing this, Mu Lan's beautiful eyes flickered slightly.

Ye Wuyun was somewhat pleased.

"Fellow Daoist, your surname is also Ye? It seems we are destined to meet."

"Who knows, perhaps a thousand years ago we were one family."

He said with a smile.

Finally, while scrutinizing He Li, whose appearance was strange and whom he couldn't quite figure out...

He then spoke, "Judging from your situation, fellow Daoist, you must also be heading to the capital of Shu to participate in matters concerning the lower realm, right? I wonder if you have any information about the affairs of Shu?"

"Perhaps we can exchange some information, after all, things are a bit strange about what happened in Shu this time."

"The more intelligence we have, the more secure we can be."

"That makes sense!" He Li nodded slightly.

Ye Wuyun smiled and said, "In that case, let me first explain what we know about Phoenix Valley... As far as I know, apart from the well-known fact that the Shu Kingdom wants to use the Divine Tree to open the passage..."

"There's also a hidden message."

"That is it. It seems that the Shu Kingdom is secretly recruiting many talented young people."

"Something's not right here!"

He Li frowned upon hearing this: "What do you mean?"

"It's very simple!" Ye Wuyun said with a slightly serious tone, "The Shu Kingdom is a top-tier power in the Middle Realm. Backed by the Demon Court of the Upper Realm, they have never lacked powerful cultivation geniuses."

"Compared to the geniuses of Shu, the geniuses of other forces can only be considered ordinary."

"In the past, the Shu Kingdom looked down on those so-called geniuses who appeared in various places."

"But now they..."

"But unusually, they started recruiting these people."

"Although, as far as we know, their public pronouncements are that they are preparing for a conquest of the lower realms, how much real strength do those young people they've secretly gathered actually possess?"

"This is clearly not normal!"

This is definitely abnormal. Putting aside everything else, just consider the size of the Shu Kingdom as a mid-level cultivation power...

The number of Qi cultivators there is unimaginable.

In addition, there were other forces they had gathered...

How could they possibly lack soldiers?

This is clearly nonsense, but it's hard to say what the Shu Kingdom intends to do with those young geniuses. He Li knows too little to be certain.

So he simply nodded: "Something does seem off, but unfortunately we don't know much about it."

"There's no clue to it."

"However, we have also learned that there are ancient wizards who have come and gone from the Shu Kingdom, as well as the Golden Crow of the Demon Court in the Upper Realm... In particular, it seems that the Golden Crow has even projected its power to the Lower Realm."

"But we have no idea what exactly they did, or what happened afterward."

What He Li said was half true and half false.

In his view, this information was enough to fool the Qi cultivators of an obscure sect like Phoenix Valley. However, upon hearing his words, Ye Wuyun and the others...

If he frowns, he won't respond for a long time.

Just as He Xiang asked them what was going on...

But then Ye Wuyun said, "A wizard?"

"There's been a lot of news about wizards lately, and we've heard about it in our area too."

"Rumor has it that those wizards seem to be using Qi cultivators from various places to conduct some kind of demonic experiment. Could it be... that the Shu Kingdom's collection of young geniuses is also related to this?"

"Possibly!" He Li agreed.

Finally, he squinted and said, "The Shu Kingdom has suddenly begun recruiting fellow Daoists from all over the land in preparation for taking action against the lower realms..."

"I think it's not that simple."

"Fellow Daoists, it's best to be cautious."

"Of course!" Ye Wuyun nodded. Seeing that the two sides seemed unable to exchange any other useful information, he looked He Li up and down and finally couldn't help but speak again...

"May I ask, fellow Daoist, is your appearance... a result of receiving the power of those gods and immortals from the upper realm?"

The reason Ye Wuyun asked this question was...

It was also because, in his mind, or in the mind of ninety percent of the Qi cultivators in the Middle Realm, the only people whose appearances became strange were those who had received the power of demons, immortals, and gods from the Upper Realm.

As for monsters, demons, and ghosts?

Although there are humanoid species among those beings.

But not mentioning features that are too obvious...

Most importantly, these beings differ fundamentally from real people in many ways. This difference is not physical, but internal, and it's an indescribable feeling...

In short, that's why...

If demons and monsters are in front of you, even if a Qi cultivator cannot immediately discern their nature...

But you can basically make a judgment after exchanging just a couple of sentences.

Ye Wuyun didn't find He Li strange.

That can only mean that he received a blessing from the power of the upper realm, which led to his current appearance. Of course, He Li couldn't argue with that; he just nodded slightly as an admission.

Finally, He Li glanced at the Phoenix Valley disciples behind Ye Wuyun before asking a question in return...

"From what I observe, there doesn't seem to be any individual in your sect who has received blessings from the upper realm?"

"Do you not need blessings?"

Hearing this, Ye Wuyun shook his head.

"Of course not!" he replied. "Now that the calamities are becoming more and more severe, everyone wants to become stronger and find a way to survive. If possible, we would naturally also like to receive blessings."

"Our sect also has its own gods to worship, but unfortunately, we haven't received a response for a long time..."

"The sect also stipulates that we cannot worship other gods!"

"That's what led to the current situation."

If there's no response, then he's probably dead.

However, He Li didn't say that directly. He didn't care whether these people could receive the blessing or not. What he cared more about was the wizard that Ye Wuyun had mentioned before.

Based on his previous analysis...

The Ten Witches of Mount Ling would conduct those strange experiments in places with passages connecting to other worlds.

Since there is news of wizards near Phoenix Valley.

Does that mean there's a passage to the lower realm similar to the Blazing Sun Sect's island near Phoenix Valley? If so, perhaps he could go and take a look later?

If we could really find it...

That would give the warriors from the lower realms more channels to come to the middle realm to seize resources or launch a counterattack.

Thinking of this, He Li said, "Speaking of which, we used to stay in our sects and cultivate in seclusion, so we had limited understanding of other sects, such as yours."

"This is a good opportunity to make friends with fellow Daoists from all walks of life and learn about other sects."

"I wonder if you could tell me about it..."

"Where is Phoenix Valley located this time?"

"Or is there something special about it?"

"If I have time in the future, I will definitely visit you all at your Phoenix Valley."

Upon hearing this, Ye Wuyun smiled and said, "Our Phoenix Valley is just an insignificant second-rate sect. It's perfectly normal that you didn't know about it before."

"Actually, it's not just fellow Daoists."

"Many people have never heard of Huifeng Valley."

"But since you asked, I'll tell you!"

Ye Wuyun paused slightly.

He then continued, "I returned to Phoenix Valley and set up my base in the Tianzhu Forest, heading northwest. There's nothing special about it... but my sect's worship of the gods has quite a background."

"Oh?" He Li became interested.

Ye Wuyun then said smugly, "The goddess worshipped by our sect is the once-famous Mysterious Maiden!"

Mysterious Woman? He Li's eyelids twitched slightly.

That's really something.

After all, he is a god in charge of killing soldiers.

"It seems you know this too, fellow Daoist!" Ye Wuyun smiled even more brightly upon seeing He Li's reaction: "The Mysterious Maiden is one of the top deities. If one receives her blessing, one's combat power will surely soar."

"It's a pity that the Mystic Maiden has been silent for many years..."

Towards the end, he became somewhat helpless.

He Li remained silent. If he had previously assumed that the person he worshipped at Phoenix Valley was an unknown minor deity and therefore felt that the deity had not responded, then it was most likely already dead...

Now that he knows it's the Mystic Maiden, He Li is certain that the god he worshipped in Phoenix Valley is definitely not dead.

Even if the other person is really dead...

The specific situation is probably similar to that of Nuwa, whom the Ten Witches of Mount Ling wanted to revive!

"The Mysterious Maiden... the Ten Witches of Mount Ling..."

"There's definitely something wrong with Phoenix Valley this time."

"I have no choice but to go!"

He Li squinted and pondered silently.