Chapter 31: The Value of an Ally

“Hey, do you think that Situ Yan is trustworthy?” Wang Yu asked languidly, lying weakly on the bed in the cabin’s guest room, her head resting on Yue Cai’s soft lap.

“Whether he’s trustworthy or not isn’t important,” Yue Feng calmly replied, meditating nearby. “What matters is his identity—a young master of the Situ family. Regardless of whether he’s favored, he holds significant value for us to utilize.”

“But he clearly has trouble within the Situ family,” Wang Yu asked curiously. “Won’t we get dragged into it? Won’t this affect our participation in the Myriad Flame Banquet?”

Seeing Wang Yu’s inquisitive nature, Yue Feng patiently explained, “The more trouble he has, the more vital we become to him, and the more we can gain from him.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. If we want convenience, we must be prepared to handle the associated troubles. Even if we don’t take the opportunity, plenty of others will. We are new to Furnace City, so Situ Yan’s invitation is even more precious to us.

If we shy away from challenges, what right do we have to ascend to the peak? We’d be no different from a salted—” Yue Feng glanced at Wang Yu, then stopped speaking.

‘Fine, I’m a salted fish, and I’m so sorry for that,’ Wang Yu thought, glaring at Yue Feng. ‘You’ll never understand the greatness of a salted fish. You can just spend your life evolving into a freak like Haotian.’

Yue Feng shrugged, abandoning his cultivation. He sat beside Yue Cai, wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and leaned his head against her, completely ignoring the young girl’s flushed face and Wang Yu’s threatening gaze.

“Besides,” he continued, “our real helper isn’t Situ Yan.”

The young girl was utterly bewildered by the adults’ world, quietly allowing both of them to take liberties with her.

Wang Yu paused, then looked thoughtfully at Xiaoke.

At that moment, Xiaoke was regaling A-Bao with tales of a glorious future of courting death, trying to persuade A-Bao to join the Xiaoke cult and embark on a grand adventure of recklessness.

Unfortunately, A-Bao remained stubborn, declaring they would continue on the path of a ‘lickspittle,’ better to just coast through life.

Xiaoke expressed deep regret and prepared for further indoctrination. However, a sudden gust of wind spun Xiaoke around and delivered them into Wang Yu’s hands.

During her rest, Wang Yu had already transformed the wind energy within the Wind Spirit Orb into a Wind Spirit, making it the second spirit after Xiaoke.

As for its appearance, Wang Yu believed there was no need to rack her brains when she could simply borrow (copy) an existing design.

Thus, she completely emulated a certain brand. Regrettably, Wang Yu couldn’t find a suitable magic card to serve as a spirit vessel, nor did she possess a magic staff that would explode with power upon uttering a spell.

All she had was a secret manual titled ‘All Things Possess Spirits.’ After a friendly discussion with Wang Yu, Xiaoke had already begun to modify it.

‘Ugh, this is so irritating. If I don’t collect them all, my OCD will kill me,’ Wang Yu thought. This trip was incredibly important to her, and if all went well, the most powerful of the four main cards, Fire, would be collected here.

Xiaoke was in a predicament. Wang Yu held its body, staring intently into its eyes for some time. Internally, it was panicking. ‘Did my selling out my master to Yue Feng get exposed?’

After a long silence, Wang Yu finally spoke, “Xiaoke, you said Haotian has a house in the Myriad Flame Zone, right?”

Xiaoke paused, then nodded.

“And there are a lot of good things inside, aren’t there?” Wang Yu gently stroked Xiaoke’s head.

Xiaoke trembled, nodding vigorously. Whenever Wang Yu was this gentle, it inevitably meant she wanted something, and if it couldn’t provide a satisfactory answer, it knew its fate would be dire.

“I imagine there are also many items for gathering fire spirits, correct?” A smile began to bloom on Wang Yu’s face, but her hands started to move towards Xiaoke’s neck.

She knew how unreliable Xiaoke could be; if the ‘good things’ it mentioned turned out to be useless to her, wouldn’t that just be playing with her?

Xiaoke, sensing the threat to its neck, nodded frantically.

“Then you must have a way to get us there safely, right?” Wang Yu’s other hand caressed Xiaoke’s soft belly.

“Yes, Master, trust me! Look into my sincere eyes, I wouldn’t lie!” Xiaoke felt it could still be salvaged. After all, while it loved to court death, it disliked being beaten; it wasn’t a masochist.

Wang Yu nodded in satisfaction, then casually tossed Xiaoke to Yue Feng. “I’m done asking. It’s your turn.” Necessary precautions were still needed.

Wang Yu’s intelligence only stretched so far; she left it to Yue Feng to ask further questions and check for any omissions, lest Xiaoke unexpectedly lead them into a trap.

‘This should be stable now, right? Bah, bah, bah, what a jinx.’

After Yue Feng asked Xiaoke a few more questions, Xiaoke honestly revealed everything it knew. “This should be fine. If it’s truly as Xiaoke says, then our gains this time could be extraordinary.”

“Indeed, indeed! (*^_^*) I’ve become a wealthy person with a beachfront property,” Wang Yu paused. “Though it’s a sea of fire.”

***

While Yue Feng and his companions were envisioning a bright future, someone else wore a worried frown. “Young Master, must we allow ourselves to be taken advantage of like this?”

In a guest cabin of the Flying Cloud Ship, Situ Yan sat quietly, as his attendant complained,

“We’re guiding them, yet we have to give them five layers of the harvest. It’s too much of a loss! You know, Young Master, you earn no small amount each year.”

“Yes, five layers of the harvest is indeed painful,” Situ Yan said, unmoved. “But do we currently have the right to claim all the harvest for ourselves? You’re not unaware of my current standing within the family.”

The attendant opened his mouth, but said nothing further. He was self-aware; anything he could think of, his young master could also conceive.

And anything he couldn’t, his young master likely could. Their current situation was already precarious, otherwise, they wouldn’t have been hiding out until the Myriad Flame Banquet to return.

“Those two have very strange innate auras, and their strength is far from ordinary; at the very least, they are no weaker than me,” Situ Yan remarked, looking out at the sky.

“What?!” The attendant was greatly astonished. Before his troubles, his young master had been a true disciple of that Sacred Land.

“If used well, they will be powerful allies for me.”

Situ Yan stood up with his hands behind his back. He knew both of them were intelligent individuals. His previous abrupt visit had been a test.

If the man had shown displeasure or his tone had been dismissive, Situ Yan would have immediately turned around and left. He needed clever people who could get things done, not fools who would mess things up.

Afterward, the man, despite knowing Situ Yan had a request, did not press his advantage or give in to greed. This made Situ Yan realize he had found the right people.

In the past, encountering such individuals, his first instinct would have been to form a genuine connection without ulterior motives, rather than merely utilizing them. But now, he had no choice.

Situ Yan was gambling. A single test couldn’t reveal a person’s true character. He and Yue Feng were, in essence, the same kind of person.

Neither was content to remain subordinate; for their future, for a higher goal, they dared to gamble. This wasn’t aimless or unplanned gambling, but the kind that truly shapes the world.

Of course, the prerequisite was that they had to survive first. That was the most important thing. If they couldn’t survive, everything else would be meaningless.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

How Could a Reincarnated Skeleton Be the Young Lady’s Familiar?

FarmingFemale ProtagonistGender Transformation

Read Now →
Not interested