It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"To be honest, if you had followed my instructions and performed obediently, you could have won the title of Oiran. If you look at it from a professional perspective, you will understand that women who win the title of Oiran either have to rely on their real strength and look so outstanding that people will be amazed at first glance, or they have to take a different route. For example, I taught you to go the idol route, and this year Irene is going the cute route, both of which are meant to give people a refreshing feeling."

Bai Huang crossed her arms and hummed softly, but it was obvious that she was still very happy.

On the way back, Lid saw a familiar-looking girl in the crowd. He didn't recognize her at first, but because the girl took the initiative to move closer to him, Lid instinctively looked at her a few more times. The girl was dressed in silk and satin, with a little less fabric on her chest, revealing her swan-like neck and curvy collarbone, and the smile on her face was elegant and charming.

The girl seemed worried that he didn't recognize her, so she shook the bottle of wine in her hand towards him.

As they passed by each other, Lid turned his head and said to Bai Huang:

"By the way, have you paid the rent for Jiangcheng Inn East? Don't let them kick us out in the middle of the night."

Bai Huang asked curiously:

"Of course I paid it. How much money do you need?"

Reed smiled and said nothing more.

The girl who had approached this side just now also left without saying a word, as if the two people did not know each other.

After returning to the hotel, Bai Huang wrote the relationship diagram of brothers and sisters to Lid, and then went to sleep with Irene in his arms. The five people rented three rooms in total. Bai Huang slept in the middle room with Irene in his arms, Lid slept in the room on the left with Alayya in his arms, and Heji slept alone in the room on the right.

That night, someone knocked on Reed's door.

Standing at the door was the charming girl. She lowered her voice and asked Lid:

"Do you need any help, sir? I'm very lonely right now..."

Before she finished speaking, she saw Alayya standing behind Lid, and her exaggerated performance suddenly stopped. She walked in and closed the door in one go, then took off her wig, revealing her original appearance -

Miss Pingzi, a senior intelligence agent of the Yunyang Anbu organization, still has an unpredictable smile as always.

The scene was a little awkward for a moment, but Lid still calmed down and asked:

"Why did you come to the city that never sleeps?"

Pingzi flicked his hair and said with a smile:

"Shuang asked me to come. She said that the Lord has liked to travel a lot in the past two years. He used to go to very far places, such as the capital, the demon clan, Lingwu, Nanchu, etc. Our Yunyang Anbu organization has not had time to infiltrate those places, so we can only watch the Lord go on adventures alone. But Yunhai is next door to us, and our people can still get in. Sister Shuang asked us to collect intelligence here to see if we can help the Lord."

Lid walked over to help her smooth out her messed up hair, then asked:

"How many people came?"

The bottle replied:

"There are about 40 people in the City That Never Sleeps, and more than 300 in the entire Cloud Sea, mostly concentrated in the transportation hubs and near the South Sea. At the same time, we brought a few succubi with us this time, and we can use their dreams to quickly exchange information."

After Lid finished combing Pingzi's hair, he moved a chair for Pingzi. He pulled Alaiya to sit on the bed, and Pingzi sat opposite him.

Pingzi took a deep breath and said to Lid with a serious face:

"First, the Prime Minister asked me to tell you that everything is normal at home and the plan is going smoothly. Secondly, our Anbu has collected some intelligence... To be honest, the situation in Yunhai is very complicated now. If possible, we hope that the Lord can return to Yunyang."

Lid frowned and asked softly:

"What clues have you found about the dispute over the crown prince?"

Pingzi shook his head and said in a low voice:

"We found some information, but it's not the most important. The important thing is that the movements of the Ocean Tribe are very strange. Our people deliberately made friends with some fishermen in the South China Sea. They said that the Ocean Tribe's behavior this year is very abnormal. In the past, the Ocean Tribe was mostly active in spring and summer, and returned to calm in winter after entering the breeding season in autumn. This is because the shallow waters and the ground are too cold in winter, and not as warm as the deep sea. But this year, it's already December, and they are still sending more people to the shallow waters, so many fishermen dare not go out to sea to fish."

Lid touched his chin and said to the bottle:

"They are not planning to take advantage of the chaos in Yunhai to make a big move, are they?"

The bottle replied:

"We can't rule out this possibility. If the Ocean Clan really attacks us, Yunhai will definitely send troops to defend us, and they don't know where we are going, so they will most likely choose to hold you hostage. On the contrary, if you return to Yunyang now, we can just watch the fire from the other side of the river and remain invincible."

32. Between the Maids

Pingzi said this, waiting for Lid's answer without blinking.

Lid rubbed his brows, thought for a while, and said to her:

"The Ocean Clan and humans are both members of the Lower Nine Clans. Unless the ancient creatures in the deep sea attack together with them, with the national defense formation supporting them, some small fish and shrimps can't make any waves. Yunhai is one of the top-ranked territories anyway, and it should be able to withstand a head-on collision with the Ocean Clan. I have no plans to withdraw to Yunyang. I have to find out what happened in Yunhai."

Pingzi stopped trying to persuade her, as she was a member of the Anbu organization, not an internal affairs minister like He Yue.

Pingzi pounded his chest decisively and said to Lid:

"Understood. The Yunyang Anbu are at your disposal and will be loyal to you."

Her eyes were serious, which was also the usual style of the Yunyang Anbu when they were outside.

Prioritize protecting people of important status, people who have key intelligence, and people who are a threat to the enemy, even at the cost of one's own life. When any intelligence officer decides to join the Anbu organization, the first lesson he needs to learn is to ignore his own life and put Yunyang's interests before everything else.

Lid took out two blueprints from his pocket and handed them to Pingzi:

"These two pieces of paper, one is the deployment of the army near the Never-Sleeping City, including the number, military formation, training time, etc. Send someone smart enough to deliver it back to Yunyang; the other is a relationship chart of the descendants of the Lord of Yunhai, find a few people to check it out. I hope to have news within a week."

Pingzi separated the two pieces of paper and put them away, then nodded.

Reed looked at her and said:

"Have you found any information about the dispute over the crown prince?"

Pingzi leaned back in his chair, looked at his hands, and said slowly:

"It's difficult... Those who can influence the fight for the crown prince are basically the top leaders of Yunhai. It's difficult for our people to infiltrate them. Even if we infiltrate them, it's difficult to get information out of them. But even so, we still tried our best to find out some information."

The smile on Reed's face slowly faded, and he could hear the meaning behind Pingzi's words.

Many members of Yunyang's Anbu organization died here in exchange for the little intelligence they obtained.

Pingzi took a deep breath and said to Lid:

"Bai Ye, the eldest son of Yunhai, was originally a person who didn't care about worldly affairs. In everyone's eyes, he was a martial arts fanatic. He didn't cultivate his own power, but just kept pursuing martial arts. Later, when martial arts encountered a bottleneck, he didn't put his mind on fighting for power and profit, and still let Bai Feng continue to develop. But since a person appeared, his attitude began to slowly change."

Pingzi leaned forward and said in a low voice:

“…Lily of the Valley.”

Lid narrowed his eyes and glanced at Alaiya unconsciously.

His greatest impression of Linglan was when they were traveling north. When this maid of Bai Ye first saw Alaiya, she showed the same look as the maid of Fang Yuan, Xi Que. That expression of surprise and pretending to be calm made Lid feel that they seemed to know Alaiya's life experience, but intended to bury all the secrets deep in their hearts.

The bottle continued:

"We can't find out when Ling Lan came to Bai Ye's side. We even inferred that Bai Ye changed because of Ling Lan based on a lot of information. Ling Lan is a terrifying person. We can't find any background about her. We don't know her exact age or where she came from. We only know that it was the Seventh Master of Yunhai who sent her to Bai Ye, and that the Seventh Master of Yunhai died of a rare disease a few years ago."

Lid crossed his arms and asked:

"There are so many people in Lord Yunhai's mansion. The new maids should have their backgrounds carefully investigated and recorded. Have you seen the book about personnel transfers? Is the butler who was in charge of this matter still here?"

The bottle shook his head and replied:

"We checked everything... and found nothing. The records in the book are false, and the butler who was responsible for the investigation and record keeping has long since disappeared. The main reason is that Bai Ye has been very distant from the Lord's Mansion over the years, and his position in Yunhai is very high, so no one wants to or dares to intervene in his affairs. It's not that no one suspects Linglan's affairs, but no one can investigate."

Lid was silent for a while, then smiled again and said to her:

"You have done a great job. This information is very useful to me. The Seventh Master of Yunhai obviously had an impure motive in sending someone to Bai Ye. He might know some secrets about Ling Lan and planned to let Ling Lan pull Bai Ye back into the game with Bai Feng so that he could reap the benefits. Unfortunately, he didn't know how deep the water was. It was so deep that his little cleverness couldn't handle it at all."

The bottle nodded and said:

"Yes. It's a pity that I have never seen Lily of the Valley... From the information I have received, Bai Ye was like a stone without emotions. I am quite curious about what kind of girl can make the iron tree bloom."

Pingzi licked his lips, apparently treating the lily of the valley as a fellow creature.

Lid tapped his hand lightly on his leg, and in just a few seconds he quickly reviewed his memories of Lingwu. Although he had not spent much time with Bai Ye and Ling Lan, Lid always felt that the relationship between them was not a simple relationship between a man and a woman, nor was it a relationship of deceiving and being deceived.

Everyone in this world lacks something different. Some lack money, some lack love, some lack a sense of identity, and some lack soul resonance. The reason why the people of the Anbu organization can infiltrate other territories is because they are well-trained and can make up for the emptiness deep in the hearts of others, making the other party gradually develop a sense of dependence. For example, when Yunyang was in civil strife, Pingzi was able to lurk beside Liyi because Liyi at that time longed to be recognized from the bottom of his heart, and Pingzi grasped this point.

But what would Bai Ye be missing?

He is the eldest son of the territory, and his non-competition for power shows that he really doesn't care about these things. And in the martial arts that he loves, Linglan can't help him much, after all, Linglan's own realm is not as high as his. In addition, Bai Ye has a good relationship with his family, especially taking good care of Bai Huang. Such a person is difficult to be changed by anything, because he just seems to want to live a peaceful life.

Lid said to the bottle:

"Continue to spread out your spies and gather intelligence. There's no need to rush for success. Alayya and I both have ways to protect ourselves, and it's relatively safe to be with Bai Huang. You should be more careful and prioritize preserving your strength. Don't lose too much combat power in the battle for the crown prince. We will go to war with Yunhai in the future, and that will be the stage for you to be active."

The bottle nodded and replied:

"Don't worry. The Yunhai Anbu organization's attention has gradually been diverted to the movements of Nanyang and the Lord, and our pressure has been reduced a lot. We will be careful this time, and I don't want to see the girl next to me buried in a wild grave without a name."

33. Zhiluo Mountain

That night, Reed had a somewhat strange dream.

He rarely had nightmares, and even if he did, it was usually about him and He Yue fencing. But this time, even though he was holding Alayya in his arms, Lid still had a bad dream. In the dream, there was a vast ocean, full of wind and waves, and Lid was standing on an isolated island, with a very strange celestial phenomenon above his head.

There were dark clouds and lightning flashing across the sky, but right above Lid, the clouds rolled up like a vortex, and a huge golden sword appeared in the middle. The tip of the sword pointed at Lid, and it seemed that it could fall at any time, but Lid could not escape: purple-black mist floated around him, enveloping him, helping him to fight against the power of the sky above his head, but not letting Lid free.

The might of heaven was overwhelming, the waves were roaring, and Reed was upset. He knew it was a dream, and he knew he would wake up if he opened his eyes, but a force from nowhere was suppressing him, forcing him to look at the scene before him. Finally, when Reed thought that the shaky sword above his head was finally going to fall and split him and the island in half, a strange song sounded, and the wind and waves instantly became calm.

Reed opened his eyes.

Irene was sitting by the window playing her shamisen. The bright sunshine shone on her, and her pink face seemed transparent in the sunlight. Lid held his forehead and sat up from the bed. Irene also stopped playing, and jumped to Lid's side and said:

"Is big brother feeling better?"

Reed wiped his forehead and found that his hair was completely wet with sweat.

Alayya pushed the door open and came in with a bucket of cold water in her hand. Bai Huang beside her was still trying to persuade her:

"Trust me, how can I lie to you? My brother was in a state of sleep paralysis and couldn't get up, so I woke him up like this. I poured a bucket of water on him, and I guarantee he would feel refreshed... Ah, are you awake?"

Alayya looked at Lid nervously, and Lid smiled back at her.

Then he said to Irene:

"Did you wake me up?"

Irene nodded and replied:

"Big brother, what happened just now is very strange, and I don't know what to do. But when I was a child, whenever I had a nightmare, my mother would sing me a lullaby, and I would stop crying after hearing it. So I sang to big brother too, although it's not as good as my mother's."

Lid got up from the bed, stretched his body, and recalled the dream he had just had. He first thought that someone might be cursing him, and then thought that someone might be reminding or warning him, but Lid had no clue at all, so he simply stopped thinking about it.

Bai Huang placed a box of still hot seafood casserole porridge beside the bed, and then said to Lid:

"I received another letter at the door this morning. You can take a look at it later."

Lid nodded, took a hot shower to relieve his fatigue, and then returned to the room while drying his hair. Bai Huang put the letter on the table, Lid picked it up and took a look, and it was indeed the same person's handwriting.

This time the content of the letter was still brief and sloppy:

"North of Zhiluo Mountain, five people."

Lide checked the letter and found no trap, so he put it aside. As Lide expected, the other party obviously needed Irene to help him suppress something, but because he couldn't show up, he used the letter to guide Lide and Baihuang to the east of Jiangcheng Inn. In order to let Lide and Baihuang successfully gain Irene's trust, the other party even deliberately revealed to Suyu that Irene was the courtesan, creating an opportunity for Lide and Baihuang to get to know Irene.

Reed did not tell Irene or Bai Huang about these things.

Telling Irene would easily undermine the trust between the two parties, and telling Bai Huang would dampen her enthusiasm for chivalry. Most importantly, there would be no benefit in being honest, so Lid had no intention of telling what he had found.

Li De finished the porridge that Bai Huang bought outside and wiped his mouth. Bai Huang poked his head out from behind him and asked:

"How about it? Are we going?"

Reed asked back:

"What do you think?"

Bai Huang followed Lid's example, crossed his arms, touched his chin, and replied:

"I think there must be something fishy about this. Let's not talk about how the other party knew there were five of us. Let's talk about Zhiluo Mountain. It is one of the most desolate mountains on our side. There are endless peaks, and who knows which one he is talking about. In addition, this person has already deceived us once, so I won't be fooled this time."

Lid crumpled up the letter, threw it into the trash can, and said:

"That's generally true, but I want to go over and take a look this time. If it's a friend, we can meet up sooner. If it's a problem, we can solve it sooner."

Lidd paused and added:

"There are at least five forces in the Cloud Sea at present. I named them the Cloud Sea Lord, Bai Ye, Bai Feng, the Troublemakers, and the Melon Eaters. There is no need to say much about the first three. The Troublemakers' goal is to use the fight between your eldest brother and the second brother to achieve their own position, and the Melon Eaters intend to kill us to provoke disputes. In addition to these five, there are some objective external pressures, such as the Ocean Clan and so on. In this case, since there is a chance to find out the other party's identity, it doesn't hurt to meet them. If there is danger, just run away."

Bai Huang's expression seemed to understand:

"But the letter only mentions five people, right? Then we don't take Irene with us, can we just find someone on the street to go there? Irene has nothing to do with Yunhai's dispute, and I always feel guilty about taking her with me. What if we get stopped and beaten up over there? Irene and you both have guards following us, so what will happen to Irene?"

Lid smiled and said:

"It's just as dangerous if you leave her here alone. The fact that Irene is the oiran won't be hidden for long, and she should know it herself. But go ask her if she's willing to go with us. If she's not willing, hire someone to take care of her."

Bai Huang nodded and left like the wind.