Mortal: Starting by joining the Falling Cloud Sect

That is indeed the case. The leaders of the Nine Nations Alliance are not rigid and inflexible. They were aware of the situation on the border long ago, and a considerable number of Mulan people were lurking in the southern border of the Nine Nations Alliance.

These people lie low for years and never act easily; they are extremely well hidden, making it difficult for large-scale patrols to uncover them.

There's no such thing as a thief who can be a thief for a thousand days, but there's no one who can guard against thieves for a thousand days. That's the point.

But the situation is very different now. In order to destroy the border mines of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance, the Mulan people have fully activated their long-dormant spies, allowing them to take secret actions when the opportunity arises.

However, any action would leave clues, so the Nine Kingdoms Alliance decided to turn the tables and use those border mines, which were of little use, as bait to lure the lurking Mulan spies out and take action.

This move will not only eliminate these elite Mulan spies in a targeted manner, but if some of them can be captured alive, a lot of valuable information can be extracted from them.

Everything was already part of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance's plan, so Fairy Hongfu remained calm and unperturbed.

In fact, Zhou Qing is still confused because after they discovered the traces of Mu Lan's spy, they did not immediately report to Fairy Hong Fu, and thus were unaware that the higher-ups had already made a meticulous plan to deal with Mu Lan's spy.

Zhou Qing's plan to set up an ambush and wait for Mu Lan's spies to come to him was a lucky accident.

Zhou Qing is still puzzled by Hong Fu Fairy's attitude towards Mu Lan's spy.

He thought to himself that everyone knew that once the Mulan spies infiltrated the borders of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance, there would be endless trouble. Faced with this situation, the Nine Kingdoms Alliance should at least come up with a way to deal with it.

Completely baffled, Zhou Qing bowed respectfully and softly inquired of Fairy Hong Fu, finally receiving the answer.

"That's why I didn't punish you for not reporting the suspected appearance of Mulan spies in time. Now you understand, right?" Fairy Hongfu said solemnly.

Zhou Qing nodded, finally understanding the general situation. He thought to himself that since the Nine Kingdoms Alliance valued Mu Lan's spy quite a bit, perhaps he could hand over his two items to Fairy Hong Fu.

"Elder Hongfu, please accept this. This disciple has two more items to present." After saying this, Zhou Qing took out the identity token of Mu Lan's spy and the animal skin map from his storage bag and handed them over.

"These are what I found in the storage bag of the last Mulan spy I killed: a token and a map," Zhou Qing continued.

The Fairy Hongfu took the token and the animal hide, but after only a brief examination, her expression suddenly changed, and she became surprised and suspicious.

"You probably don't know, but this token has an extraordinary origin. It should be from Master Mu of the Tianfeng Tribe of the Mulan Clan. Moreover, I can sense that there is an untriggered restriction on this token. This restriction is extremely powerful. Once triggered, even an ordinary Core Formation cultivator would probably not be able to escape death! It seems that the Mulan spy you killed was no ordinary person." After examining the token, Fairy Hongfu said these words.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qing was immediately taken aback. He hadn't expected such a powerful restriction to be inside the token. He had simply put it into his storage bag as an ordinary token. Thinking about it now, he felt a little scared.

However, this also puzzled Zhou Qing. Since this token was a powerful backup plan, why didn't that Mu Lan spy use it?

Zhou Qing was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. If the cultivator Mu Lan used the token, he would definitely die.

But soon, Fairy Hongfu answered his question.

It turns out that the restrictions within this token are not activated at will; a spell must be recited before use to activate the restrictions and unleash their true power.

At that time, Zhou Qing unexpectedly used the talisman "Qiankun Tower" to suppress Mu Lan, who was a spy. He had great difficulty speaking and could only stumble over the incantation. However, before he could finish, he was beheaded by Zhou Qing's Qingfeng sword.

However, more than the token itself, Fairy Hongfu valued the information behind it. Since the ceasefire decades ago, the Mulan tribe's Huangsha tribe had been the one confronting them on the border.

Now that Master Mu's token from the Tianfeng Tribe has appeared, it is very likely that the Tianfeng Tribe will also be making moves in the border area.

After accepting the token, Fairy Hongfu turned to look at the map.

The map clearly marks the various key locations set up by the Nine Nations Alliance on the southern border, as well as the locations of some resources along the border, in great detail.

After reading it, Fairy Hongfu did not show any unusual expression. It seems that the Nine Kingdoms Alliance did not care much about the exposure of this information.

Zhou Qing could understand that the key to victory in the struggle between the Nine Kingdoms Alliance and the Mulan people lay with the cultivators.

To be precise, it's on a high-level cultivator.

No matter how many key locations are established, they still need cultivators to guard them. If the Mulan people really attack, those key locations guarded only by Core Formation cultivators are as fragile as a piece of paper, easily torn apart.

After reporting everything, Fairy Hongfu dismissed Zhou Qing. She also needed to pass on some important information to the other Core Formation elders, and finally, she might need to compile and report it to the Nine Kingdoms Alliance headquarters.

After all, the emergence of the Tianfeng tribe has had a significant impact on the border. If countermeasures are not taken, the flames of war may reignite.

Zhou Qing bowed to Fairy Hong Fu and took his leave, then turned and went downstairs.

As soon as Zhou Qing came down to the first floor, he saw Chen Qiaoqian standing quietly in the lobby. She looked like she had been waiting for him on the first floor.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, is there something you need from me?" Zhou Qing didn't know how to make small talk, so he went straight to the point.

Upon hearing this, Chen Qiaoqian smiled and said softly, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, although we are not from the same sect, we now serve under Elder Hongfu together. May I address you as Junior Brother Zhou?"

"Of course." It wasn't a special request, and Zhou Qing readily agreed.

After receiving Zhou Qing's affirmative reply, Chen Qiaoqian slowly revealed her purpose: "Junior Brother Zhou, your senior sister does indeed have a favor to ask!"

"What is it?" Zhou Qing had a vague idea of ​​what was going on, but he still asked.

"Senior sister would like to buy a bottle of pills from junior brother. I wonder if junior brother would be willing?" Chen Qiaoqian asked softly.

"Pills?" Zhou Qing wasn't surprised at all. He had revealed those bottles of incredibly effective Qi-Nourishing Pills to Chen Qiaoqian and the others. He would never believe that they didn't think about them afterward.

Seeing that Zhou Qi hesitated, Chen Qiaoqian quickly continued, "Junior brother, don't worry. I know that the quality of your pills is extraordinary, so I am willing to buy them for four thousand spirit stones. I will definitely not let you suffer a loss."

Four thousand spirit stones, that's quite a high price.

Unfortunately, Zhou Qing remained unmoved and had no intention of selling at all. He didn't lack spirit stones, so why would he sell them?

Moreover, even if he lacks spirit stones, wouldn't it be better for him to sell Youth Preservation Pills? They're easy to make, and no one would covet them after he sells them.

"I'm sorry, Senior Sister Chen. I didn't have the time or energy to acquire these few bottles of pills, and I had no intention of giving them away. Last time, it was only because Senior Brother Song happened to have some iron essence that I desperately needed that I was willing to exchange them. I plan to keep these remaining bottles for my own cultivation, so I really can't give them up," Zhou Qing said with a serious expression.

The meaning behind his words was very clear: he wanted to put an end to Chen Qiaoqian's idea.