My low-key cultivation of immortality was discovered by the emperor in my diary.

Chapter 396 Unexpected Gain, The Transaction Chain

Crisis resolved.

Once the Lan family came to their senses, they immediately began to fight the fire, inspect the damage, treat the injured members of their clan, and collect spoils from the dead Jie Xiu.

The two senior students stood in a corner of the banquet hall, looking troubled, and exchanged a complicated look.

They seemed to have something to say, but didn't know how to start, their expressions revealing obvious hesitation and unease.

Chu Lengyu observed everything, then slowly walked towards her two senior brothers and asked calmly, "Senior brothers, it seems you have something to say?"

Upon hearing this, the two of them trembled slightly.

Finally, one of the senior brothers mustered up his courage and was about to speak when he was interrupted by Chu Lengyu's next words.

"Are you trying to plead for Zheng Buyi?" Chu Lengyu's tone was playful, her gaze shifting between the two men.

Their faces turned pale instantly, and they waved their hands nervously, their movements exaggerated, denying, "Of course not, of course not!"

They denied it repeatedly, their voices filled with tension, fearing they would be misunderstood as having colluded with Zheng Buyi and thus implicate themselves.

Chu Lengyu wasn't surprised by their anxious expressions. She knew that although her two senior brothers sometimes seemed a bit naive, they were not without principles.

She said softly, "I understand, you don't need to be nervous. I was just saying it casually."

The tension in the senior brothers' hearts eased slightly after hearing what Chu Lengyu said.

One of the senior brothers coughed lightly, trying to change the subject: "Junior Sister Chu, we are just... just still a little scared of what happened just now. We didn't expect Zheng Buyi to be so cunning."

Chu Lengyu nodded: "However, the crisis has now been resolved, so you don't need to worry too much."

Hearing her say that she didn't intend to pursue the matter, the two of them finally felt relieved.

Chu Lengyu advised the two to rest well and wait for the effects of the strange poison to wear off.

So this time, they obediently listened to the advice, found a quiet corner to sit down, closed their eyes to rest, and waited for the spiritual power in their bodies, which had been suppressed by the strange poison, to gradually recover.

Although they still had some doubts in their hearts about why Junior Sister Chu was so confident that the effects of this strange poison would dissipate on their own without the need for an antidote, they were too embarrassed to ask any more questions when they saw her confident appearance.

After all, compared to Junior Sister Chu, who remained calm and composed in the face of danger, their performance today was truly shameful and made them feel utterly embarrassed.

After seeing them off, Chu Lengyu found a clean place to rest for the time being.

In reality, her consciousness went to the Immortal Capital Cave.

From the moment Chu Lengyu guessed that the Sand Vortex Beast was causing trouble in the jade mine, she felt that there was something strange about the matter.

The Sand Vortex Beast lives in the desert and loves hot, dry environments; it is not a species that should exist in the Dark Sea Realm.

She learned about this beast not from the Hundred Swords Pavilion's library, but from a jade slip containing a demon beast that Huang Laomo had left in his storage bag.

However, it doesn't matter; she can simply make a copy and send it to the library afterward.

Neither the Lan family nor Zheng Buyi's group seemed to have the means to obtain the Sand Vortex Beast.

This kind of monster is nothing special when it is at a low level, but once it is promoted to a high level, it can continuously give birth to earth-type natural treasures. Its talent is that it can purify various ores, making them priceless.

That's why she felt there might be more to the story.

Chu Lengyu had no sympathy for the cultivators who had been robbed. Without hesitation, she used the Soul Searching Technique to try to find answers from them, especially Zheng Buyi, who seemed to know quite a lot.

As the soul search continued...

Chu Lengyu's expression gradually became serious.

Behind Zheng Buyi was a massive organization, which involved not only multiple sects and families but also had connections to other worlds outside the Minghai Realm, making it even more complex than she had guessed.

A moment later, the Aurora Fox came to her side.

It blinked its big, bright eyes, its bushy tail swaying back and forth, and asked, "Master, were you looking for me?"

"Hmm." Chu Lengyu didn't say much, but shared a memory scene with it.

It was a spacious but very dark warehouse, filled with iron cages of all sizes, imprisoning all sorts of creatures.

Birds and beasts, flowers and fish—all kinds of creatures were present, struggling and crying out, yet none could escape this cold cage.

In the corner of the warehouse, there was an iron cage half-covered by a black cloth.

A snow-white fox lay listlessly among the crowd, its eyes filled with helplessness, silently licking the wounds on its paws.

The aurora fox had been watching the scene with some curiosity, but when its gaze fell on the injured fox, its whole body trembled and its eyes widened instantly.

That fox, with the same bloodline flowing through its veins, was its kin!

For more than a decade, the Aurora Fox has been keeping Chu Lengyu company in solitude, and has never seen any other Aurora Foxes.

The loneliness and solitude in my heart are unknown to anyone.

At that moment, when it suddenly saw this fellow creature, the excitement and shock in its heart were beyond words.

It felt both surprise and anger at the fate of its kind.

Aurora Fox's gaze swept across Chu Lengyu's face, its intelligent eyes flashing with complex emotions.

It opened its mouth as if it wanted to say something, but hesitated for a moment and finally swallowed the words that were about to come out.

The situation of that fellow clansman was obvious and easy to guess.

It knew that its master was currently recovering from his injuries and should not exert himself. Moreover, rescuing that fellow animal was by no means an easy task; it might mean venturing into the lion's den and facing a life-or-death situation.

It was merely her spirit pet, and had no right to make its master risk her life for its people.

Seeing this, Chu Lengyu gently patted the Aurora Fox's head: "This is a cross-border organization that specializes in smuggling rare monsters. Its name and structure are currently unknown."

This group of robbers only managed to make some contact with that organization by chance, but they didn't get any valuable information at all.

When Zheng Buyi happened to see the injured Aurora Fox, it and other demonic beasts were being imprisoned in a magical artifact, whose owner was known as Venerable Tianyan.

When Chu Lengyu commissioned Jubaolou to collect intelligence from various parties, she had indeed seen information about this person.

Knowing that he was the ancestor of a cultivation family, with a cultivation level of mid-stage Nascent Soul, and skilled in refining exotic flames, he was most proficient in using fire-based spells, which was quite rare in the Minghai Realm.

Although this smuggling organization cannot be compared with a behemoth like the Myriad Star Alliance, since it is able to engage in cross-border trade, the strength behind it is probably at least at the level of the Sea King Palace.

She could see the Aurora Fox's emotions and understood its concerns.

Then she smiled gently, a smile that was both tender and confident: "I know what you're thinking, but I've only been recovering from my injuries these past few years, I'm not crippled."

After years of silence, it's time for her cultivation level to break through.