The Divine General Is Trapped

Xu Mu came before Tong Guoguo and handed her the divine-grade technique.

Tong Guoguo looked at the scroll in her hands and infused it with qi. Her body immediately jolted, and the golden gears in the whites of her eyes began spinning faster.

“A divine-grade technique!”

Tong Guoguo spoke in a low voice. She had never expected Xu Mu to actually bring one back for her.

[Affection +30]

For people at their level, the higher their cultivation, the more they understood how terrifying divine-grade techniques were.

Divine-grade techniques usually defied the laws of nature and disregarded the will of Heaven.

They might appear to be just one level above heaven-grade techniques, but in reality, the two were worlds apart.

The others standing nearby were also incredulous. It was actually a divine-grade technique.

“Guoguo, I’ll leave this technique in your hands. When you have nothing else to do, study it together with Wanyue and Xingluo,” Xu Mu said with a smile. “It’s a body-cultivation technique, so it suits you better.”

“All right…”

Tong Guoguo had originally wanted to say something in gratitude, but the words stuck in her throat and refused to come out.

Xu Mu had actually entrusted even a divine-grade technique to her. He truly regarded her as family.

Meng Wanyue and Dai Xingluo, standing beside her, also excitedly clenched their fists.

“Old Chen, once they’ve learned the technique to a certain level, I’ll give it to you. With your talent, you should be able to master it quickly,” Xu Mu said with a smile as he turned to Chen Xuan.

“What talent do I have? I’m nowhere near as talented as Brother Mu,” Chen Xuan said, waving his hand with a smile.

“Sister Empress, you’ll have to go last. Divine-grade techniques consume too much mental energy. Your top priority right now is to completely master the one you already have,” Xu Mu said to Fu Jinyu.

“I know.”

Fu Jinyu nodded. She naturally understood that even someone with excellent talent would need several decades to fully comprehend and master a technique.

If she tried to learn too many divine-grade techniques, she would only exhaust herself and end up mastering none of them.

“By the way, Guoguo, I’ll give you ten more pills. Take one every three days. They should help you reach the second rank sooner.”

Xu Mu gave Tong Guoguo ten more pills. “But you understand this yourself: at your current level, pills will have a smaller effect. Unless they’re all ninth-grade pills or divine medicines, they won’t provide a substantial boost.”

[Affection +20]

“I know.”

As Tong Guoguo spoke, she took out three ninth-grade heavenly treasures from her clothes.

“We discussed this beforehand. From now on, any spirit stones we earn will only be exchanged for ninth-grade treasures.”

Meng Wanyue immediately touched her spatial ring and took out a ninth-grade heavenly treasure as well.

“Brother Mu, ninth-grade treasures are really expensive here. I’ve fought in so many matches, yet I could only exchange for one.”

“So could I.”

Dai Xingluo also took out a ninth-grade treasure.

“Hahaha! That’s already quite good. I’ll keep all these heavenly treasures for you. From now on, I’ll use complete ninth-grade treasures to refine the pills I give you.”

Xu Mu collected all the ninth-grade heavenly treasures.

“Sister Empress, don’t go on this operation. Why don’t you stay here and earn spirit stones instead?” Xu Mu said after some thought.

“You think I’ll hold you back?”

“No. I’m doing this for the sake of your race. Your strength isn’t enough yet to intimidate the other races. If they find out that a member of the Celestial Demon race is taking part in this operation, do you think they might go after your people in the outside world?”

Xu Mu voiced his concerns.

Fu Jinyu pondered for a moment before nodding.

“You’re right. The descendants of Yan and Huang have many powerful experts who can intimidate them, but among the Celestial Demon race in the outside world, I’m the strongest.”

The Celestial Demon race in the inner world had even stronger experts, but they were likewise hiding in the shadows and did not dare show themselves.

In the outside world, their race had lived there for generations, and quite a few other races knew their location.

Even though Xu Mu had built a ninth-level formation for them, it could still be broken if they encountered certain powerful experts.

“Then it’s settled.” Xu Mu smiled and nodded. “It’s just that as a second-rank cultivator, you may have to compete with Guoguo for a place on the rankings.”

“There’s no need. After entering the World-Breaking realm, competitors aren’t restricted by rank. For example, I’m currently at World-Breaking Rank One, but I can still participate in the World-Breaking Rank Three competition.”

Tong Guoguo explained from the side.

“If that’s the case, things will be easier. I’ll simply enter the Rank Three or Rank Four competition.”

Fu Jinyu folded her arms. “It’ll be a good chance to see how strong the people here really are.”

Xu Mu nodded.

“Brother Mu, where are the Great Desolate people who were trapped?” Chen Xuan asked.

“Why don’t I go ask Mo Xue right now?” Meng Wanyue rose from the sofa.

“No need. We’ll find a way ourselves. If you ask her, it might make her suspicious of us,” Xu Mu said with a smile. “Something this important is certainly known by more than just her.”

“All right.”

Meng Wanyue nodded lightly. “There’s an intelligence shop in the Sacred Battlefield. You can go there and ask.”

Xu Mu agreed.

After dealing with everything there, Xu Mu left with Chen Xuan. Both of them put on black robes and went looking for the intelligence shop.

After returning to the main hall, Xu Mu used his senses to search the area. In the end, he discovered a small shop called the Intelligence House in a corner of the second floor.

The shop’s entrance was barely two meters wide. Inside was only a single room, where an old man wearing sunglasses lay in a rocking chair.

Xu Mu brought Chen Xuan up to the second floor and eventually arrived at the Intelligence House.

The old man in the rocking chair pushed up his sunglasses and looked at Xu Mu and the others.

“Here for information?”

“Your shop doesn’t look very legitimate. There’s nothing here besides you,” Xu Mu said with a smile as he walked inside.

“When it comes to information, it’s either in my head or in my phone. Why would I need a bigger shop?”

The old man rose from his chair with a smile.

“What would you like to know?”

“There are quite a few things we want to ask about. We just don’t know how much you charge.”

Xu Mu stepped farther inside.

“Ask first. I’ll decide the price based on the information you need.”

The old man spoke indifferently.

“The inner-world allied forces have trapped a group of Great Desolate people in an ancient ruin. You should know about this, right?” Xu Mu asked.

“Of course. It happened not long ago.”

“Good. We heard that some core members of the Great Desolate race are among them. I want to know who exactly was trapped. I’d like to see whether any of them are enemies of mine.”

Xu Mu stated his question.

Chen Xuan secretly nodded from the side. As expected of Brother Mu—he was clever enough to deliberately avoid asking about the matter he cared about most, for fear that the old man would name an outrageous price.

“Your question is a little tricky. I can only offer an educated guess. My people haven’t managed to investigate it yet.”

The old man smiled.

“I’ll charge you two hundred jin of spirit stones, and I’ll tell you who’s inside.”

“Two hundred jin of spirit stones for a guess? Why don’t you just rob us?” Xu Mu said indifferently. “Besides, we only want to know whether any of them are our enemies. If there are, we’ll go there and settle the score. And even if you name someone at random, we have no way of knowing whether it’s true. Unless you can provide evidence.”

“Young man, are you looking down on my intelligence network?”

As he spoke, the old man took out his phone and searched through it. At last, he opened a video and handed it to Xu Mu.

“Look at the date. I obtained this information a week ago.”

Xu Mu took the phone and examined it together with Chen Xuan. They discovered that it contained a recording of a certain location.

There were a great many people gathered on an island.

Then a voice came through the video: “In the waters west of the Beiming Continent, on an island to the south, there are said to be many traces of the Great Wilderness clansmen. The ruins there are very likely one of their settlements.”

The video ended there.

Xu Mu and Chen Xuan looked at each other. Now they knew where the place was.

“The location is definitely correct—the island in the southern waters off the western coast of the Beiming Continent. But where exactly is it?”

Xu Mu handed the phone back to the old man.

“That question counts as information too.” The old man smiled.

“You’re quite the businessman, aren’t you? Once we get there, can’t we just ask around and find out?”

As he spoke, Xu Mu took a large piece of spirit stone from his body. “This weighs over a hundred jin. Tell me the island’s name, and give me its exact location as well.”

“Now that’s more like it. I’ll take a little loss this time.”

The old man happily put away the spirit stone, then pulled out a map. “The location is right where I’ve marked the circle. As for those who were trapped this time, there may very well be a Divine General among them.”