Chapter 243: Consciousness Awakening, New World Boss (5k)

The Scorching Sun Department definitely knows there’s a wandering merchant who trades and collects all sorts of things.

But that wandering merchant, even if he doesn’t have anything against the Scorching Sun Department, always avoids them, and on top of that, the guy is basically a phantom—here today, gone somewhere else tomorrow.

The Scorching Sun Department tried tracking him for a while before, wanted to have a talk, and even if they couldn’t recruit him, some cooperation would be good too.

But who would’ve thought, the wandering merchant just peaced out, went outside Divine Land to play Caspere for a good while, left behind some legends, got screwed over by some foreigners, stirred up a bunch of grudges out there, and only then came back.

After he came back, the Scorching Sun Department gave up trying to contact him.

Later on, they did buy a few things from intermediaries at his place, but the prices were just crazy high, so they eventually gave up on that too.

Cai Qidong had heard of this, and he’d also heard about Old Meng’s reputation as a sly merchant. He’d also heard people cursing out Old Meng with some pretty harsh words, but no one ever said Old Meng sold fakes.

But now this guy is even selling intel?

He still trusted the intel’s authenticity though.

It’s just...

Cai Qidong was a little wound up, just stayed up and didn’t bother sleeping.

If it’s really a dragon, and not just called a ’Dragon God’—basically the kind people worship at your average Dragon King Temple—then that’s a whole different deal.

"We need to slam the brakes on this. Can’t let it get out of hand, absolutely can’t let this thing keep spinning out. You know what I mean? The money you spent buying intel, file it with me, I’ll reimburse you next month."

After hanging up, Cai Qidong headed straight to the office.

Wen Yan hung up, secretly thinking, damn, he really did misunderstand.

But the files said Dragon God, kept going on and on about it, and only when it mentioned descendants did it say what exactly it was. How was he supposed to guess it’d be like this?

Besides, in the Scorching Sun Department, there’s barely any info about this Dragon God, still no confirmation on who the Dragon God actually is.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked Old Meng for help.

The next morning, just as everyone was getting ready for breakfast, Wen Yan glanced over next door and saw Zhang Laoxi coming back with his car at the crack of dawn—again.

"Old Xi, have you had breakfast yet?"

"Not yet."

"Then come eat with us."

After breakfast, Wen Yan followed Zhang Laoxi to his building.

To open the door, he always took out a little man folded from a talisman, used some magic to send it through the crack under the door, let it tinker around inside for a bit, only then did Zhang Laoxi use his key to unlock it.

"Where are your disciples?"

"The younger ones are in boarding school. The older ones, if they can study, then go to school. If they really can’t handle school, I send them out to intern and suffer. If they can’t take the harshness of society, they’ll go back to studying or learning something. The ones who can handle it are the ones who truly like it, so they go intern."

"You’ve been pretty busy lately, still stuff going on over there?"

"All done, but there are other things. Some are a pain, won’t be done in a day or two."

"If you need help, just say so."

"Alright, are you here to pick up that thing?"

"Yep, got some ideas I wanna try out. Just so happens Seventh Great-Uncle Master is in Nanwu County now, so with him watching over, it’s a bit safer."

"Say hi to Seventh Great-Uncle Master for me, I really can’t get away here."

"No problem, I already told Seventh Great-Uncle Master. He said since you took up the job, just get it done properly—that’s more sincere than showing up just to say hello. If you haven’t finished your business, don’t rush over to embarrass yourself."

"Hahaha..." Zhang Laoxi burst out laughing, totally buying Wen Yan’s line: "That does sound like something Seventh Great-Uncle Master would say."

Zhang Laoxi walked into a room on the first floor, hands forming a spell seal, lit an incense stick, did a little bow, stuck it in the incense burner, and only then moved the idol aside to pull out a jade pendant wrapped in talismans from underneath.

With the jade pendant sealing up He Changfeng in hand, Wen Yan set off for Yu State.

Passing through Duanzhou, he met Jiang Yanyan by the riverside and swapped out a Temporary Ability from her.

He rushed all the way to Yu State, but because of license plate restrictions, had to catch another ride on the outskirts of town and headed to another orphanage.

Seventh Great-Uncle Master never gets tired of this—out personally again today to pick new people.

Wen Yan glanced around, and today things seemed a lot more normal—no prompts for once.

At lunch, when they got to a private room, Wen Yan finally pulled aside Seventh Great-Uncle Master.

"Seventh Great-Uncle Master, I’ve got something I’d like your help with."

"Wanna beat up that bastard Cai Qidong? If I don’t set up a ritual, I might not be able to take him. That bastard’s great at hiding his true power—nobody knows how strong he is now. You’d need your Eighth Uncle-Master Ancestor to handle him."

"No, no, it’s not that..."

Out of the corner of his eye, Wen Yan noticed that both Seventh Great-Uncle Master and Eighth Uncle-Master Ancestor actually looked kind of disappointed.

These two old guys aren’t seriously hoping for an excuse to beat up Minister Cai... are they?

"So what is it?"

"Let’s find a quiet, convenient spot later and I’ll tell you, Seventh Great-Uncle Master."

"Sounds good."

After lunch, Wen Yan followed the two Great Uncle Masters for a stroll, heading into a park, climbing halfway up the mountain. In the middle of the day with no one around and no cameras, Eighth Uncle-Master Ancestor suddenly stomped his foot and the ground caved in.

He jumped into the dirt pit, waved his arms, and the soil started behaving, parting to both sides all on its own.

A few minutes later, Seventh Great-Uncle Master strolled down the earthen slope, and Wen Yan followed.

Below a small hole, a new mini cave had formed—dozens of square meters big—and the entrance behind them automatically sealed up with earth.