Posthouse horses were unique spirit monsters exclusive to Dali.

The exceptional Fiery Flame Dragon Horses of Dali received the same treatment as soldiers after death and even had specific burial sites designated for them.

Dali specifically allocated an area to serve as the graveyard for those service-worthy battle horses. Initially, this was one of the measures to appease the alien species within the territory.

Unexpectedly, as time passed, spirit monsters began to gestate within the bones of these Fiery Flame Dragon Horses. Although these spirit monsters possessed no significant combat strength and were frail, once they reached maturity, they had the capability to travel three thousand li during the day and six thousand li at night.

Laws were later enacted to naturalize them as subjects of Dali, and some were even appointed official positions, specifically as Posthouse Envoys. They were used to deliver urgent messages.

The status of these spirit monsters was high, killing a Posthouse horse was tantamount to killing an official. If someone killed a Posthouse horse tasked with delivering urgent messages and was investigated, it would be a major crime punishable by the extermination of three generations.

Moreover, besides their fondness for eating, these spirit monsters were not cunning, and everyone was quite tolerant toward them.

Uncle Fu was no exception; he was accustomed to the mannerisms of a Posthouse Official.

The more calculative and experienced one was, the more tired they lived, the more they liked those who were straightforward and caused no offense.

Otherwise, he would not have been so generous.

After Uncle Fu sorted out the letters, the Posthouse horse reached out to grasp the letters with one foot, and the thick bundle of letters promptly shrank and was tucked into his sleeve.

His figure flickered, vanishing instantly from the spot.

After leaving Uncle Fu's room, the Posthouse horse suddenly sniffed the air and followed a faint familiar scent to Yu Ziqing's room, peering through the door crack, his eyes immediately widened.

He saw Yu Ziqing holding a large wooden bowl, pouring sweet rain for Cece, a whole jade bottle of sweet rain!

Having followed the Eastern Palace of Dali, he had seen this treasure before and knew that for the Eastern Palace and the big shots of the Lihuo Institute, it was a formidable treasure, so precious that it would typically be secured with three layers of locks and a Silence Spell placed on anyone who knew of it.

He did not understand what it was, but he remembered the scent of the item, which must be extremely delicious. Even if he resisted eating it, this item could definitely be exchanged for many things he liked.

He had never imagined that such a treasure, usually accounted for drop by drop, would now appear in a full bowl.

After a glance, the Posthouse Official suppressed the desire to ingratiate himself, keeping his mission as a priority.

Estimating the time, with his status as a foremost Posthouse horse, he should be able to make a round trip in three to four days—no, three days and two two-hour periods to be precise.

With that calculation, the Posthouse Official disappeared immediately, turning into a shadow, and dashed swiftly towards Dali.

Yu Ziqing sensed something and looked outside the door but sensed nothing.

"Cece, did you sense anything?"

"No, Young Master, do you need me to…"

"It's unnecessary. We are on someone else's turf, and it would be impolite to expand your sensing field."

Yu Ziqing glanced outside the door; he was not about to dismiss his feeling as an illusion, as someone had certainly peeped through the crack in the door a moment ago.

He was focused on both refining God and Body Refinement, his physical senses were extremely sharp, his inspiration was sufficient, and his Divine Soul was about to manifest. It was unlikely for him to have such an illusion, aside from the fact that he felt no threat.

After pondering momentarily, Yu Ziqing set up a few simple handmade traps, using not a bit of external force, to prevent being sensed.

The next day, Uncle Fu had disappeared, and the Shopkeeper here entertained Yu Ziqing and his companions.

After finishing their meal, Su Li and Yu Ziqing were drinking tea in the backyard when Yu Ziqing spoke.

"Now you understand why I brought you here, don't you?"

"I understand now," Su Li set down his teacup and said in a deep voice.

"This Zhenxing Trading Company is not famous in Dali and primarily conducts business with foreigners. The Gu Family is not a renowned clan in Dali either.

I once glanced at the records of the Gu Family, and this clan's strength ranks them in the second tier in Dali. They are modest in behavior and naturally lack reputation. I was able to see those records because of Uncle Fu, a Seventh Tier Great Cultivator.

High-level masters from the Cave Void Realm, even if they encounter problems in their cultivation and have no hope of advancing, are rarely willing to lower themselves to work as housekeepers in a second-class family, even if the Family Head of the Gu Family had once been kind to him.

It seems now, the Gu Family might not be so simple after all."

"I'm glad you don't blame me for making decisions on your behalf," Yu Ziqing smiled and poured a cup of tea for Su Li. "I can see you are restless, unsure of how to choose, so I pushed you a bit. You must also know that pretending nothing happened is absolutely impossible. Since you do not want to leave the Shadow Department where you grew up, there was no other way."

"I understand, I actually wanted to thank Brother Qing in person today," Su Li clasped his hands together.

Yesterday, he had realized that Uncle Fu must have someone very high-ranking behind him.

From their conversation, he also guessed that Yu Ziqing and his companions had come from Jinlan Mountain's Forbidden Land, not just any remote little mountain village.

Having been in the Shadow Department for many years, and putting more thought into it now, where else could he not understand that Uncle Fu's backer held a higher status than he had thought?

Coupled with the recent news from the court that they began to spare no expense in disaster relief.

Putting together all these clues, he understood that Jinlan Mountain's Forbidden Lands had already begun to make contact with the court.

And the fact that this contact bypassed the Shadow Department confirmed it would not be Emperor Li, but rather, someone from the Eastern Palace.

Yu Ziqing had secured him a way out.

At first glance, being associated with the Eastern Palace seemed to violate the Shadow Department's internal taboos, but that also depended on the situation. The status of the person at the Eastern Palace was almost as stable as if he were about to ascend the throne on the spot.

As long as there was no direct contact, and it was passable on the face of it, no one would say anything.

Even if the people from the Shadow Department who had wanted him dead knew about it, they wouldn't dare make another move against him.

Otherwise, it would be like creating discomfort for themselves, ensuring their name would end up on the future emperor's blacklist.

Su Li's life was certainly not worth that cost.

In such a situation, without hiding or concealing anything, he simply said he had been held up by people from Seventh Floor. After getting back, his life was not in danger, and he was very likely to be promoted.

He knew the favors he owed were getting more and more significant.

However, it didn't affect him; he kept it in mind. The vendetta over being ambushed, just like his and Yu Ziqing's, was all the same issue. He would have investigated the traitors in the Shadow Department and executed them himself regardless of owing any favors.

He also wanted to help out as much as possible, so these days, without returning to the Shadow Department, he was busy with Yu Ziqing's private tasks, helping Yu Ziqing trace a vast amount of extremely intricate intelligence, all related to mortals.

Truthfully, it was quite a hassle. There were many places to visit, and although the dangers were lower, it was more troublesome than investigating the White Sun Evil Cult.

He didn't understand why and had never asked; if Yu Ziqing needed it, he just did it.

...

The morale of the White Sun Evil Cult was somewhat low recently.

Having witnessed the Holy Mother of White Sun suffer a backlash, the enchanting charm that naturally bewildered people dissipated, turning her into a creature covered in pustules, it was strange that the believers had no reaction.

The injuries of the Holy Mother of White Sun were healing very slowly. The damage caused by the ominous incense, even though she dissolved her cultivation right there, was not so easily healed.

The new power of incense continuously collected now was used to erase the ominous aura entrenched in the wound. Although it severely hindered her progression in cultivation, at least she was still alive and could recover.

This descent into the world was not considered a failure, and it wasn't the worst one either.

About ten thousand years ago, when he descended on the other side of the sea, he had provoked a formidable figure at that time.

The descent body chosen by his believers for him was a descendant of that formidable figure, and it was a descendant who had inherited the talents through alternate generations. When this formidable figure returned from his travels and heard that after giving up a long time ago, a descendant with the same talents had finally appeared, his beloved descendant had already become the Holy Mother of White Sun.

That generation's Holy Mother of White Sun was tortured for eighty years while alive before her physical body died.

Her divine soul was also pulled out and used to light the heavenly lanterns.

After researching for over a hundred years and torturing him for more than a century, confirming that he was not an ordinary possessor, the real torment then began.

This formidable figure personally oversaw the operation of the White Sun Evil Cult at that time, ensuring that the Holy Mother of White Sun was descended upon and incarnated as quickly as possible each time.

Then he repeated the initial torment, various kinds of torture, trying to extract what exactly he was. Unable to force the information out, he conducted his research.

This cycle of torture continued for five lifetimes, and his True Spirit, his consciousness, was almost overburdened. When the memories of his previous descents began to fade in massive amounts, this torment finally ended.

It ended because the formidable figure had wasted too much time on him, couldn't withstand the calamities during advancement, and had fallen.

Since then, the Holy Mother of White Sun had hurriedly extinguished everything on that side, cutting off all contacts, spending a lifetime to destroy all the records left by the formidable figure, and then crossed the ocean to this continent after barely surviving.

Since then, he began to stir troubles on this side.

Over here, no outsiders had found his secret because, nowadays, every one of his incarnations used the most ordinary mortal bodies, and the people here had never cared about those mortals.

But there were downsides here too; there were somewhat too many powerful beings, three Great Divine Dynasties, and even hungry ghosts had appeared. The waters seemed deeper on the side of the hungry ghosts...

He was considering whether to change his strategy. Multiple failures had made him realise that here, he might proceed smoothly initially, but the closer he got to success, the stronger his strength, the closer he actually got to failure, to death.

...

Several days later, Yu Ziqing was cultivating when he suddenly opened his eyes and looked towards the window.

One of his small traps had been triggered.

A three-inch-tall figurine stood stiffly on the table by the window.

Outside the window, Wu Shuangge held an open toilet bucket. The black, yellowish smoke lurking inside the toilet bucket looked extremely dangerous.

Above the figurine's head hung a sack, on which was written:

"This is a poison that could intoxicate an entire city. There aren't materials for an antidote just yet."

It seemed that if he moved slightly, the sack might just fall.

The Posthouse Official sniffed and knew instantly that this stuff was inedible, definitely poison.

And with his speed, it seemed he couldn't make it out of the city before the sack fell; he didn't dare gamble on whether the poison would spread instantaneously throughout the city. After some thought, he decided against running, and there was no need for him to run anyway.

Yu Ziqing looked at the figurine, full of curiosity.

"Was it you who peeked through the door gap that day?"