After treating Situ Hao and his wife, Su Yuan conversed with Yang Aoshan and Situ Bai.
First, to unify and recruit talents already skilled in the Four Arts within Qingming, as well as continue the recruitment and management tasks;
Second, to arrange various array barriers needed for Zhao Yue City and Yuantong Island, and assist in their construction;
Third, to craft Star Devices, not only within Qingming, but also offering paid services to the Sea King Gang, Shuiyun Alliance, and others below.
Once everything was arranged, since Yuantong Island was still under construction, Su Yuan temporarily placed the Qingming Realm in Zhao Yue City.
Then, Su Yuan once again entered seclusion...
Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, more than a year had gone by.
For Blue Sea Star and the East Continent, a year is but the snap of a finger.
Yet, for the Western Desert’s coast, it was a time of earth-shattering change.
Somewhere near Zhao Yue City on the Western Desert’s coast.
A black-faced man with a grim appearance rubbed the ring in his hand and looked at a middle-aged man on the ground clutching his chest and vomiting blood, then grinned.
"Who’d have thought this ring of yours contained so many Star Stones... Tsk tsk, this must be four hundred thousand Cent Star Stones at least!"
The middle-aged man, despite being at the Shining Star Level himself, seemed inept at combat and was no match for the black-faced man. Breathing laboriously, he said, "The ring... take it, spare us."
"Of course, I can spare you," the black-faced man’s gaze fell on the terrified girl in the green dress beside him, with some lewdness in his eyes, "but you’d have to let me enjoy this young and beautiful maiden first~"
With that, the black-faced man excitedly took step after step forward.
"You... don’t come over!" The girl stumbled back fearfully, suddenly tripping and falling to the ground.
The middle-aged man was also shocked and angry, struggling to stand: "Beast, don’t touch my daughter!"
"Beast?" The black-faced man sneered, "Where do you think this is? This is the Western Desert! How dare you without any skill..."
Just then, a dazzling silver light suddenly flashed, and the black-faced man’s arm flew off.
"Ah...!" The black-faced man’s scream echoed as he turned furiously, "Who?!"
The silver light stopped, transforming into a young man wearing an Abyss Black Robe, armed with a bright silver dagger.
Seeing the deep eye emblem on the young man’s black robe, the black-faced man’s expression changed.
The young man reached out to help the girl in the green dress up, smiling, "Are you alright?"
"I... I’m fine." The girl stared at the young man still confused, then suddenly cried out, "Watch out behind you!"
Behind the youth, the black-faced man, fueled by rage, pulled out a large knife and swung it down.
The young man smirked, holding the dagger underhand under his ribs, in a flash of white light, and a beam of silver Aurora shot back out from under the black clothes’ sleeve, piercing the black-faced man’s chest.
"How... could it be?!"
The black-faced man’s body froze, then his eyes wide open, fell forward with a thud.
The young man sheathed his dagger, casually asking, "Hey, who are you people?"
The girl in the green dress, still terrified, her face pale, struggled to speak.
The middle-aged man beside her, seeing the uniform on the youth, suddenly realized something and swallowed, asking, "Little brother, are you... from Qingming Palace?"
The young man turned around, grinning, "Qingming Palace, Deng Tianqi."
This youth was none other than Deng Tianqi, the younger brother of Xiong Chunyang from Black Stone City, now one of the Western Desert Twelve Evil Stars!
After knowing about the recruitment of coastal experts by Qingming, Deng Tianqi quickly guessed it was Su Yuan and the others.
Upon seeing it was indeed Ruan Ruan, Ashley, and others.
Having witnessed Su Yuan’s techniques before, Deng Tianqi had wanted to join, and at this moment, he had no hesitation, decisively joined!
"So it is!" The middle-aged man was both surprised and delighted, "We are here to join Qingming Palace."
Deng Tianqi asked in surprise, "Oh? You are..."
"I’m Xia Yu, an Alchemist from Xunyang Domain." The middle-aged man eagerly pulled out his credentials and introduced, "This is my daughter, Xia Xue, though young, she’s an excellent Alchemist."
Deng Tianqi examined the credentials, his expression instantly serious.
Not only the middle-aged man but also the girl in the green dress beside him turned out to be an Alchemy Master.
In today’s Qingming Palace, the status of an Alchemy Master is akin to the Radiant Moon Level, higher than the elite Shining Stars like himself!
Deng Tianqi immediately restrained his casualness, politely saying, "So both of you are Alchemy Masters, my apologies!"
Xia Yu hurriedly waved his hand, saying, "Brother Deng, no need to be formal, we are fortunate you saved us."
At this moment, several more people in Abyss Black Robes came rushing from afar, glanced at the dead black-faced man on the ground, and immediately asked, "What happened?"
Deng Tianqi sneered, "No less than bandit behavior, conducting robbery and beastly acts near my Zhao Yue City."
"Ha, that truly is looking for death!"
Now, Qingming has evolved from a small organization into a large force, thus adopting uniforms, issuing regulations, and adding a suffix——
Yuantong Island, Qingming Palace.
One of Qingming Palace’s regulations is to rectify the robber bandit behavior along the Western Desert coast.
Including affiliated forces like the Storm Alliance and Sea King Gang, all must jointly enforce, strengthen order, especially near Qingming Palace’s Zhao Yue City?
It’s simply courting death!
Deng Tianqi looked at Xia Yu, whose mouth still bore blood stains, immediately instructing, "Xiao Si, these two are Alchemy Masters who have joined us, quickly treat Master Xia."
The young man responsible for treatments, Xiao Si, his eyes lighting up, at once employed magic to heal Xia Yu.
Rescuing and bringing back two Alchemy Masters is no small feat indeed!
Moreover, the more talents like Alchemists there are, the better the benefits are for us!
Deng Tianqi asked, "Master Xia, your Xunyang Domain is quite far away, why did you want to join our Qingming Palace?"
Xia Yu sighed, "Xunyang Domain is not stable these days... coincidentally, I have an Alchemy friend who joined your Qingming Palace earlier.
He’s been sending messages saying how great Qingming Palace is, insisting I come over, so after considering it, here I am."
"He’s called Shang Yu."
"So it’s Master Shang!" Deng Tianqi suddenly understood.
Shang Yu is currently the first of four Alchemy Masters recruited by Qingming Palace, and the earliest one, with profound Alchemy expertise.
Currently, Yuantong Island’s Alchemy Hall doesn’t have a resident Alchemy Grandmaster, and Shang Yu is in charge.
Yet Deng Tianqi truly didn’t expect, that in just over a year, Qingming Palace’s reputation would reach beyond the Western Desert to the Xunyang Domain.
This situation must be relayed within Qingming Palace, in case there are similar talents who would cross over half the Western Desert to join Qingming Palace, to send people to greet them and avoid further incidents.
Deng Tianqi immediately instructed his men, "You continue patrolling, I’ll escort the two Masters back to Yuantong Island!"