Watching the innkeeper descend the stairs, Lin Chen fell silent for a moment before pulling Mu Qingxuan into the room.
Lin Chen actually couldn’t discern the realm of cultivation of the other party, which suggests she was no ordinary person.
Being able to run such an inn in this kind of place, and the way she effortlessly flung out a ninth-layer Spirit Gathering martial artist like wringing a chicken, also indicated the innkeeper’s extraordinariness.
In any case, there was definitely more to the innkeeper than met the eye, and it was a wise move for Lin Chen to spend some spirit stones to be on good terms with her.
Once inside the room, Lin Chen was still holding Mu Qingxuan’s hand, her face turning a deep shade of red as she bashfully looked at Lin Chen.
She was already fantasizing about what would come next when Lin Chen, realizing he had been holding her hand the whole time, hurriedly and awkwardly let go.
Thinking of the plots those people at the temple had hatched earlier, Lin Chen felt this matter was far from trivial and must be reported to his sect, so that his master and the sect leader could handle it.
He planned to continue monitoring those people’s every move, but considering Mu Qingxuan might be in danger if she followed him, and could potentially drag him down, Lin Chen was uneasy about the idea of letting Mu Qingxuan return to the Jade Cauldron Sect alone. Thus, he decided to have Mu Qingxuan stay at this inn, waiting for his message.
Based on the current situation, it seemed relatively safe inside the inn, and Lin Chen felt more at ease leaving Mu Qingxuan here.
After explaining everything to Mu Qingxuan, and amidst her reluctant gaze, he resolutely left the room. Follow current novels on novel_fіre.net
When Lin Chen came downstairs, he saw the innkeeper leaning against the doorway, cradling a cup of wine and gazing at the moonlight outside the window.
Sensing Lin Chen walking down the stairs, the innkeeper turned towards him, momentarily taken aback.
She had observed Mu Qingxuan earlier and could tell with just one glance that the girl had feelings for Lin Chen.
On such a night, the two of them alone in a room, it seemed only natural that something would happen. How could he have descended the stairs so soon?
The innkeeper did not continue with her thoughts, as Lin Chen had already approached her.
"Sister Wang, I need to step out for a while, and I would like to ask you to take care of my junior sister," Lin Chen said, as he handed her a pouch.
The innkeeper accepted it, looked inside, and her eyes immediately brightened—it contained twenty middle-grade spirit stones.
She hadn’t expected Lin Chen to be so generous.
"Whatever the matter, you can go without worries. With me here, in this inn, no one will be able to harm a hair on your little lover’s head," declared the innkeeper as she tucked away the spirit stones.
Hearing this, Lin Chen felt reassured.
Leaving the inn, Lin Chen first took out a jade slip and sent a message to his master, Yang Yuemin, about the assassins from Moon Shadow Pavilion and their next moves within the ruined temple, and then headed toward Cloud Sky City.
It wasn’t long before Lin Chen was back outside the broken temple.
Having sent the message to Yang Yuemin, Lin Chen was sure it wouldn’t be long before there was a response. Given Yang Yuemin’s speed, it wouldn’t take much time for her to arrive here.
What he needed to do now was to monitor every move of those assassins.
An hour later, Lin Chen returned to the vicinity of the dilapidated temple.
The man with the crutch had strong perception and his cultivation was not weak; thus, Lin Chen did not follow too closely, to avoid startling the snake.
But if the distance was too great, Lin Chen found it very difficult to sense the movements inside the temple and could not hear clearly what plans those people were discussing.
With this in mind, Lin Chen took out some tiny Spirit Bees from the space within the Primordial Transformation Art. These Spirit Bees were not actual living beings, but rather surveillance Magic Artifacts refined by Lin Chen through his artifact refining method.
These Spirit Bees were considered Profound Low-Grade Magical Instruments. Although they lacked offensive power, they possessed strong exploratory abilities. Once infused with Divine Sense, they acted as an extension of the user’s Divine Sense and eyes.
Moreover, they could block the detection of Divine Sense, meaning that even the man with the crutch might not be able to detect them.
The Spirit Bees were a minor feature from within the legacy of the Primordial Transformation Art, an extremely ancient item that Lin Chen had never heard of elsewhere to date.
Lin Chen injected a sliver of Divine Sense into the bees, directing them towards the broken temple and the Cloud Sky City a few miles away.
Although not particularly fast, the Spirit Bees were not slow either. Soon, seven or eight bees took up positions on the eaves and tiles of the temple, monitoring every movement inside, while about a dozen others swiftly flew toward Cloud Sky City to observe the situation within.
After the Spirit Bees were in position, they indeed did not attract the attention of the assassins inside the temple. However, as the bees entered, the man with the crutch raised his hand to signal the other assassins to halt their conversation.
With a slight frown, the old man looked around and used his Divine Sense to scan the vicinity, but he found nothing at all.
"Boss, what’s wrong?"
The other assassins in black, seeing the man with the crutch’s actions, asked in confusion.
Although they knew that their boss was always cautious, today’s behavior seemed a bit too tense.
"I just have this feeling that someone is spying on us," the old man muttered, furrowing his brow.
Hearing this, everyone was inwardly speechless, but none dared to voice any objections.
All of them were cultivators of the Melding Earth Realm, with their boss being at the Peak of Melding Earth Realm, almost stepping into the Heaven-reaching Realm. Who could probe them with Divine Sense?
"Boss, if someone really is spying on us, even if we can’t detect them, you’re skilled in perception. How could it be that you can’t find them? You must be overly nervous and having an illusion," said one of the assassins in black to the man with the crutch.
Although the old man thought the assassin made sense, he was still not reassured and ordered everyone to leave the temple and search the surroundings.
Upon hearing this instruction, they had no choice but to comply, flying out and after searching around, finding no anomalies, they returned to the temple.
"It seems I was indeed overly tense. After all, this matter is no trivial issue—a cautious approach ensures a ship sails on for millennia," the man with the crutch said gravely to his companions as he sat down slowly after seeing they found nothing.
Meanwhile, from a distance, Lin Chen, who had witnessed all the moves of these assassins, let out a sigh of relief and thought to himself that these Spirit Bees were indeed exceptional.