Just say it.

On the street.

As Qinghe left after her reckless antics,

Xie Lingyu and Chu Xingchen didn’t linger in the room either. After a brief conversation, they decided to go out together to gather some information.

Truth be told, Chu Xingchen still had no idea about the progress of the thief’s plot to steal the water veins.

Based on the system’s hints, he only knew the outcome. All he could do was set up an ambush along the inevitable path.

But ideally, he needed to figure out the situation with the fortune thief—or at least which factions were involved in this scheme—and whether he could apprehend that baffling bastard before the thief took action.

Chu Xingchen had initially wanted to ask Xie Lingyu how much the Tianyan Sect knew about this matter.

After all, Xie Lingyu had come straight to Cangzhou for intel, skipping Chizhou entirely, which suggested she had substantial leads.

Moreover, the intelligence network Bai Xuanling had demonstrated last time seemed quite impressive.

Xie Lingyu’s answer, however, was blunt—only a few rather unreliable divinations from the Tianyan Sect’s sect master.

The term "unreliable" was actually Xie Lingyu’s way of sparing the sect master’s dignity.

At least, that’s how Chu Xingchen interpreted it after hearing her explanation.

According to Xie Lingyu, the Tianyan Sect’s lineage of sect masters possessed a method to deduce heavenly secrets or calculate fortunes.

In the early years, their predictions were said to be uncannily accurate—almost prophetic—and the Tianyan Sect had built its foundation on this very ability.

But as time passed, the accuracy of these divinations gradually declined.

Or rather, they only yielded the faintest useful hints, with the rest being pure guesswork.

Xie Lingyu gave a vivid example to illustrate this.

Generations ago, the Tianyan Sect’s sect masters could precisely predict which rabbit, at what exact time and location, would foolishly dash into a tree.

Of course, the larger the event, the less detailed the prediction, but they could still outline the general course of things.

Back then, calling their abilities "divination" was an understatement—it was more like piercing through the veil of fate itself.

Nowadays, the current sect master’s divinations went something like this:

Somewhere in the southeast or southwest, there’s a rabbit… or maybe a boar, or even a brainless flying bird.

Within the next two hundred days, it will randomly collide with a tree, a rock, or some other hard object in the forests of the Xuanwu Kingdom.

It might die from the impact, or it might just knock itself out.

Technically, the event would happen, but if you tried using this prediction to actually find the rabbit,

you’d realize how absurd it was—especially since you might mistake some other boar crashing into a tree for the rabbit in question.

Most of the content was the sect master piecing together vague divinations with his own conjectures.

Calling it "mostly guesswork" wasn’t far from the truth.

Naturally, such a stark decline in divination prowess drew criticism from other Tianyan Sect elders who didn’t specialize in heavenly calculations—

"Did you all study the sect’s celestial arts with your asses?"

"Look at our ancestors, then look at you. ‘Useless’ doesn’t even begin to cover it."

The sect master, of course, had his own explanation—

In the beginning, celestial fate was clear, and heavenly secrets were easy to decipher. But over time, fate became muddled, and heavenly secrets grew chaotic.

By the standards of their predecessors, the sect master’s divination skills had already reached the pinnacle. Even if the Tianyan Sect’s founder were resurrected, he’d only be this accurate.

Given the current state of heavenly secrets, the founder himself wouldn’t be able to deduce anything more.

Moreover, the sect master claimed that the current turmoil in celestial fate suggested an impending catastrophe, and the Tianyan Sect should prepare accordingly.

In short, his argument boiled down to: "The environment’s the problem, not me."

Bai Xuanling had his own assessment of the sect master’s excuses—"Useless trash, get out of my sight."

This trip to Cangzhou in the Xuanwu Kingdom was also based on the sect master’s divination, which suggested there might be an opportunity here—and a potentially significant one at that.

"Near the sea, involving snakes or flood dragons—maybe not accurate, but dragon-kin might have an advantage."

"Also, out of all the flood dragons in the Tianyan Sect, I’m only telling you this because we’re tight."

Additionally, the sect master speculated it might be related to water veins.

"If you’ve got nothing better to do, go check it out. Even if it doesn’t pan out, nothing bad should happen. If it does, there’s a big payoff."

Though Bai Xuanling called the sect master a waste of space, he still acknowledged that despite the man’s lack of combat prowess, he was undeniably one of the sect’s top cultivators.

In the early days, Bai Xuanling had witnessed the terrifyingly accurate divination skills of the previous sect master.

So he still sent Qinghe to try her luck.

But this was also why Bai Xuanling knew about the opportunity yet wasn’t keen on going himself.

Imagine wielding a massive cleaver, ready to capture a dragon, only to return with a half-dead sparrow.

That would be downright humiliating.

Bai Xuanling couldn’t afford that kind of embarrassment. If a real dragon showed up, he could always intervene later.

For Chu Xingchen, none of this was particularly good news.

Xie Lingyu knew even less than he did.

He’d assumed she had the full picture, but it turned out she was just a scout sent to gather intel.

Still, there was a silver lining—it was highly unlikely any other major factions from the Central Continent would interfere in this matter.

Ever since Xie Lingyu arrived in Yuzhou City a few years ago, the entire region of the Xuanwu Kingdom had been under the Tianyan Sect’s provisional jurisdiction.

That’s why, despite the incident involving minor rogue cultivators from the Central Continent, the Tianyan Sect—one of the Eighteen Immortal Sects—had stepped in.

It was like sending an elite task force to investigate the theft of a five-cent lollipop.

Xie Lingyu had returned to the Tianyan Sect some time ago, but the jurisdiction over the region hadn’t been revoked yet.

By sheer coincidence, the oversight was still in place when she returned, effectively clearing the field for Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu.

Of course, this wasn’t an absolute guarantee—there were always self-important fools everywhere.

But it was enough to make most Central Continent sects keep their meddling hands to themselves.

It was raining in Cangzhou too, though not as heavily as in Chizhou.

Pedestrians on the street walked under umbrellas.

Chu Xingchen used his spiritual energy to shield Xie Lingyu from the rain—a cultivator’s version of holding an umbrella for someone.

Gazing at the overcast sky, Chu Xingchen remarked:

"In Chizhou, I picked up some rumors. It seems someone is deliberately inciting rebellion in the Xuanwu Kingdom."

"As the unrest spreads, the rain grows heavier."

"Chances are, this opportunity is deeply tied to the Xuanwu Kingdom itself."

"The water veins are just part of the process—or perhaps some kind of ritual. Based on my deductions, the Tianyan Sect’s so-called ‘opportunity’ is likely connected to the Xuanwu Kingdom’s royal family, or even the legendary Xuanwu that’s been sighted here."

"If my guess is right, those trying to destabilize the Xuanwu Kingdom to seize this opportunity will do everything to suppress information or mislead intelligence channels. Infiltration and subversion of the country are inevitable."

"Even if the intelligence network of the Xuanwu Kingdom is reliable, we still can't trust it. So if the Tianyan Sect has no leads either, I do have a rather extreme method."

Xie Lingyu turned her gaze toward Chu Xingchen upon hearing this.

Her voice was calm, her tone as cool as ever, though her words seemed quieter than usual:

"You have more experience in handling matters than I do. Right now, I’m at a loss myself."

"Go ahead and say it."