Chapter 91: Arrival of the Envoy Delegation (3k)

November fifth. Clear skies.

At half past six in the morning, Shanghai City lay beneath a dull, leaden sky.

The dim dawn light draped the blooming cherry trees in a veil of melancholy, and even the air seemed steeped in damp cold.

With a deep, resounding toll, bells rang out from the far end of the steps. Their sound washed over the heart like clear spring water, sweeping away every trace of gloom.

Candle Jade stepped onto the stairway. Scripture flickered beneath her feet, and in the next instant she appeared at the top.

Plum blossoms of every shade bloomed on both sides, strikingly vivid against the gray heavens.

Towering gate towers stood on the left and right, while directly ahead the three-story main hall rose with the solemn grandeur of a palace. On the western cliff face, a carved human visage looked so lifelike it seemed ready to break free from the stone at any moment.

She entered through a side door of the main building, first changing into the Azure Cloud Sect uniform, then taking out another set of clothes from the washing machine and hanging them on a rack outside the window with a hanger.

After that, the three of them went together to the kitchen at the back of the dining hall.

Dia was responsible for supplying the ingredients, so there was nothing else she needed to do.

She leaned against the wall, her fire-red bra just visible beneath her white T-shirt, like a blaze sealed inside cloth.

Willow Frostwing set to work cleaning the kitchen tools.

Candle Jade turned on the tap. Cold water rushed over the bright red slabs of meat, and the color of blood spread in the basin.

Then she said, "Senior Sister, I caught the one behind the scenes last night and got him to confess that Heavenly Emperor was the one ordering the demons to attack me.

"Not only now, but ever since the moment I was born, he has been secretly watching me, waiting for the day I would awaken the Rakshasa Eyes.

"So tell me, how am I supposed to find him?"

Willow Frostwing paused in the middle of wiping down a blade. Her faintly furrowed brows were reflected in the polished steel.

Dia laughed and cut in, "Junior Sister, why take the trouble of looking for him yourself?"

She twirled a lock of golden hair around her finger, a sly glint flashing in her eyes. "He went to all that effort to make you awaken the Rakshasa Eyes. Of course he will come looking for you."

"Exactly."

Willow Frostwing nodded in agreement. "After Heavenly Emperor was defeated by the Heavenly Monarch a thousand years ago, he vanished without a trace.

"Trying to hunt down a demon that good at hiding is harder than waiting by the river for a fish to bite."

"Oh."

The anxiety in Candle Jade's heart vanished at once, and she felt the two of them made a great deal of sense.

The one who should be anxious was not her.

That old thing, clinging to life by his last breath, was probably frantic as a cat on a hot stove right now.

If he did not make one desperate gamble soon, his days would be numbered.

...

As the first light of dawn crept in, the three women were, as usual, cleaning the grounds of the Azure Cloud Sect.

White Jade Capital stood at an angle against the vermilion, carved railing of the gate tower, his long legs crossed lazily.

The morning wind brushed past his sky-blue crane cloak, setting his sleeves and hem to fluttering. Through the movement, the mountain mist flowed like pale gauze.

In the distance, the silhouette of Shanghai City shimmered in the rising sun, the glass curtain walls reflecting sparks of gold.

A spiritual pressure was approaching from afar. It felt very familiar.

With a thought, White Jade Capital made the black-gold ring on his index finger flash faintly, and the barrier surrounding the Azure Cloud Sect rippled outward like water.

It let the visitor pass through the archway with ease.

The moment he stepped onto the blue-stone stairway, the scripture markings began flashing of their own accord, and in the next second he was sent directly to the top.

A man stood there in a close-fitting flying-fish uniform, his young face showing a trace of confusion.

White Jade Capital waved. "Fortune Flight, over here."

Hearing the voice, Fortune Flight tapped the ground with the tip of his foot and vaulted up to the gate tower like a hawk.

When he landed, he deliberately lightened his steps. The bronze ancient bell hanging beneath the beam looked as though it had been there for many years.

He glanced around once, then focused on White Jade Capital and smiled. "Sect Master White, this time I am here on behalf of the Brocade Guard to deliver your assigned protection order."

White Jade Capital braced both hands on the railing and tilted his head. "Protect whom?"

Knowing full well that no one was nearby, Fortune Flight still leaned in with exaggerated secrecy and spoke in a low voice, "At eight this morning, an ocean liner will arrive at Outer Ring Road Pier Seven in Shanghai.

"On board is a delegation sent by the Scarlet Queen, three people in all.

"Their purpose is to investigate the annihilation of the Zhang family and determine whether it was a show staged by our Brocade Guard."

White Jade Capital rubbed his chin, somewhat puzzled. "For something like this, don’t you have anyone in the Brocade Guard to handle it?"

Fortune Flight gave a wry smile. "We can’t just show our faces ourselves. Publicly, we have always said that demons must never be allowed to survive in the Kingdom of Xia.

"If the Brocade Guard sends people to make contact with the Scarlet Queen and word gets out, it will cause a public uproar.

"But issuing an order is different. With you as a buffer, it becomes much easier.

"Even if someone leaks the information, we can always say it was all a self-produced performance."

White Jade Capital nodded in understanding. "Then issue a rank-two order."

Fortune Flight rubbed his hands together and lowered his voice. "Just to be safe, could your three disciples all take it?"

"They have their own orders to complete."

"We’ll issue four rank-two orders."

"No problem."

White Jade Capital agreed at once.

He took out his phone, changed his status to online, and used the Sect Master's authority to forcibly bring Willow Frostwing and the others online to accept the job.

Fortune Flight also took out his phone and, on the Demon-Exorcism App, sent four rank-two designated orders to the Azure Cloud Sect, each one assigned to a specific person.

Ding. Four rank-two orders arrived. On paper, they were simple bodyguard assignments for a young lady, bounty jobs with no upper limit.

White Jade Capital tapped accept.

Fortune Flight took out three photographs from his chest and said, "These are the three. When you meet, say the code phrase first. The answer should be, 'The pagoda watches over the Three Rivers.' If they reply correctly, there’s no problem."

"Oh."

White Jade Capital glanced at the three photographs.

Two women and one man.

"The rest is in your hands, Sect Master. We will arrange the car to pick them up later. The hotel is the Grand Regent Hotel in Shanghai, room 8012."

Fortune Flight cupped his fists and smiled, then lightly vaulted over the vermilion railing.

The flying-fish uniform snapped in the morning wind. In the blink of an eye, he vanished beneath the mist-shrouded mountain steps.

White Jade Capital stayed seated on the railing, continuing to enjoy the view.

It was still early. He would wait until the three women had finished cleaning the Azure Cloud Sect, then tell them about the order.

...

Outer Ring Road, Pier Seven.

Autumn sunlight shattered into countless gold leafs upon the sea, and the ocean liner Azure Princess cut through the ripples as it slowly approached Pier Seven.

Seraphina stood at the railing on the liner’s second deck.

Sea wind stirred her golden curls, lifting the hem of her Gothic dress.

She narrowed her sapphire eyes and gazed at the city that rose before her like a forest of steel.

The cold gleam reflected from the glass curtain walls stood in sharp contrast to the busy cranes at the pier, while shipping containers were stacked neatly like building blocks.

It was hard to imagine that only a few decades ago, this had been a dilapidated place.

Back then, the Kingdom of Xia was by no means weak in spiritual strength, but in terms of technology it lagged far behind the West.

Yet when they turned toward modernization, they burst forth with tremendous force and, in a very short time, caught up with the West.

It was a terrifying nation.

For the demon race, the existence of the Kingdom of Xia was like a thorn driven into the neck, ready at any moment to tear open an artery.

Seraphina could never have imagined that the first time she would set foot on the soil of Xia, it would be as an envoy of the Scarlet Queen, cooperating with the government itself.

Of course, in public there could be no government officials here to receive them, but all the relevant files and security arrangements had already been quietly made.

"This is politics," Seraphina sighed softly, her fluffy skirt swaying in the sea breeze.

The old-soul remark, spoken from such a doll-like figure, drew amused smiles from the tourists nearby.

So cute.

"Little one, whose child are you?"

A woman wearing sunglasses bent down and reached out as if to pat her head.

Seraphina sprang back with feline agility, her blue eyes flashing with anger. "You rude fool, do you know who stands before you—"

Before she could finish, a lace-gloved hand covered her mouth. The tall maid smiled and said, "I’m sorry. My child has been reading too many of those novels lately."

"Oh, I understand. My own child reads nonsense like that all the time."

The woman nodded in deep sympathy.

The maid had no wish to keep talking. She gracefully stepped back and pulled Seraphina aside as well, then whispered, "Lady Seraphina, don’t forget: the Queen’s order is that we draw no attention and reveal no identities."

"Vera, I know."

Seraphina answered gloomily, her eyes still burning with irritation. "Damn it. If this were America, I’d have torn that woman’s head off and used it as a ball. Calling me a child? What part of me looks like a child?"

She clenched both fists, and her puffed-up cheeks made Vera want to pinch them.

Of course, she knew perfectly well that if she actually did that, this one would absolutely flare up.

Vera coughed lightly and said, "Joseph has brought the luggage over. We should get ready to disembark."

Not far away, the tall Joseph was approaching with a large suitcase in hand.

He wore a well-cut suit, his blond hair neatly combed, and his brisk, powerful stride drew covert glances from several women.

But as a gay man, he had no interest at all in those flirtatious looks. He much preferred the massive muscle hunks in the swimming pool.

Bronzed skin gleamed under the sun with a honeyed sheen.

Oh, very nice indeed.

Joseph narrowed his eyes slightly and unconsciously slowed to a stop.

He just loved this kind of hard, training-built man.

Seraphina stamped her feet in place in irritation. "Joseph, what are you staring at so slowly for? Come here, now!"

"All right."

Joseph reluctantly tore his gaze away and quickened his pace.

...

After the liner drew close to Pier Seven, the three of them disembarked in order.

Seraphina was blocked from view by the crowd.

The tall maid, however, spotted a dazzling sight below at a glance.

It was a red-haired half-demon, with a pair of fleshy horns rising from his forehead and black sunglasses over his eyes.

Sky-blue feathered robes snapped in the salty sea wind, a pure white T-shirt outlining a shocking curve beneath them, while wide-legged trousers wrapped around long, elegant legs.

Very beautiful. Was this the person sent to receive them?

Vera was not sure, and followed the crowd down to the ground.

Candle Jade stepped forward and said coolly, "The king towers over the mountain tiger."

"The pagoda watches over the Three Rivers."

Vera answered at once.

Seraphina folded her arms beneath her chest, looking every inch the haughty noble.

Candle Jade said flatly, "Come along. The Sect Master is waiting for you in the private-car pickup area."