Chapter 687 The Soft Currents

Chapter 687 The Soft Currents

The agent of an unknown force that was snooping around the World Stone talked at length, not bothering to conceal what he called 'superficial' information.

In his opinion, it held almost no value in the current setting, where it was - he had every reason to suspect and assume - already obtained by his counterpart. An unfortunate, but ultimately not a disastrous circumstance. Despite that, at times he discreetly probed Old Yen's companion - the main cause of that circumstance - by starting to deviate from truth, closely watching if the man would correct him.

He did so in order to probe whether Old Yen already possessed this information, and whether he was actually giving something of value when he thought he was not. Old Yen's poker face was too good, so he could not determine whether he was hearing anything he was sharing for the first time, or was just comparing notes between what he already knew from the fellow who provided him with the information.

He immediately corrected himself as soon as he detected that he was about to be confronted about deviating from the truth, which happened every time he made such an attempt without exception.

'Tsk tsk, this blithering fool really didn't conceal or at least hold back some information for later...', the man thought to himself with disdain at the observation. This prompted him to decidedly conclude that the provider of Old Yen's information sitting here with them was an idiot, who recklessly traded all his bargaining chips right away.

This exercise, or rather the feeling of being however subtly in control of how this conversation went, slightly distracted him from what was happening.

As time went his alertness grew duller and relaxed, and his perception was becoming more and more dispersed.

Eventually, he started slipping a bit of information that he was not originally intending to add, which no longer was so 'superficial'.

And yet that did not seem to alarm him, on the contrary, he seemed to become more careless as he was rambling on, with Old Yen actively engaging him in conversation. This naturally grew into the exchange of information they were negotiating before. If the man stopped to think about what was happening and to take in the situation, he might, perhaps, have had a minuscule chance to notice that there was something off. His own behavior was way too reckless and impulsive, as if he was drunk, and even the conversation he was having gradually stopped making any sense.

He revealed more and more of what he knew, while the information Old Yen provided in exchange seemed to either be negligible in importance or dubious in nature first, and then words coming out of Old Yen's mouth completely lost any coherence.

Yet somehow, it all seemed completely normal to the man, who continued on, losing any perception of how much time went by, where he was, or whatever thoughts or plans he had. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

—

Old Yen sat with a slightly bewildered look, watching the man opposite him speaking out information in a dazed state, his eyes dull and unseeing, while the figure of the man sitting beside him started to morph and turn into that of a handsome young man.

"This Celestial Fox really is something, Boss", Old Yen shook his head with a slight shiver of unease, as they just finished watching the complete transformation of the person in front of them, who was perfectly sober and alert just an hour ago, and then was gradually reduced to this state right in front of their eyes.

"Your aura shows signs of stabilizing. But for now you should still keep the talismans I gave you active", he reminded his subordinate, as the latter could not suddenly become a master of aura concealment and control, so much so that he was able to deceive experts in the same trade as him, with equal or higher cultivation realms and likely more experience.

Old Yen's, as well as Madam Liang's and Daoist Zhao's ability to mingle among the inhabitants of this world was more so owing to the special talismans Wu Long made not that long ago that were able to conceal some minor, but obvious to certain people, flaws and imperfections in the aura of the three.

Hong Yue was the only one who did not require that assistance due to the peculiarities of her cultivation method.

"Are you going separately from here?", Old Yen inquired as Wu Long's tone of instructions was of someone going separate ways.

"Mm, I would rather not keep this projection for long since it has already achieved its goal. Besides, we should not linger in here, as this man undoubtedly has subordinates around. He was just forced to act himself because of your cultivation", Wu Long confirmed with a nod, carefully retrieving the man's Spatial Ring, and then turning to Fen Baihu, "will you be able to transport him into one of the Dream Mystic Realms without risk of breaking his current state?"

"...", she first wanted to confidently show her disdain for even the need to ask such a question, but then halted, being reminded by the look in his eyes of how seriously she should take this, and how important it was for their current situation that absolutely nothing went wrong.

The Celestial Fox then turned to the dazed man, her concentrated gaze studying his condition, and then nodded with "...there should be no problem"

"Good then", Wu Long smiled with contentment, and turning to Old Yen, gave the latter the Spatial Ring that he had carefully inspected for any irregularities, retrieving only a small sum of money from it beforehand.

At this time, a mysterious and enchanting mist started very slowly creeping up from beneath the table and enveloping the dazed man sitting opposite.

"... meanwhile, we will retreat into the Mystic Realm, so for a while you will be on your own", Wu Long finished, receiving a fist and hand salute from Old Yen who already got up to leave.

"Understood, Boss. Please leave this matter to me"

Wu Long nodded once more, and seeing the mist on the other side of the table dissolve, disappearing along with any traces of the man sitting there before, handed Fen Baihu the leather pouch with the money, as he could not take them with him in his current state.

He then confirmed that she took the pouch away, and made hand seals.

His own figure gradually turned vague, eventually leaving only talismans to fall down, rapidly withering and turning to dust. Fen Baihu's silhouette followed Wu Long, melting into thin air and leaving only Old Yen behind in the room.

The latter placed a small sum on the table to pay the bill, took a deep breath and discreetly headed out.