She had very little expectations from the group of people living in the outer sect, so she was surprised when a golden core elder of the Purple Flower sect sneaked out of the inner sect and away from where Arthur was to do something in secret.

Lady Evergreen could only call the behavior of this golden core elder sneaking around because they didn't fly in the air and instead glided just over the ground and hid their figure between the trees.

They even hid their aura and cultivation. All of these indicated that they didn't want to be seen or noticed by anyone.

The golden core elder went to the edge of the outer sect, took out a communication talisman, and began speaking into it in a low voice.

All of these actions reeked of a secret, so Lady Evergreen followed and paid close attention to this golden core elder.

As she did, she thought to herself with a smile, "It seems someone had the same idea as I did to avoid the inner sect for their shady business. But how do I get close enough to know what is going on?"

She had a dilemma now. If she wanted to know what the golden core elder was saying, she could either get very close to them or stay afar and use her spiritual sense to spy on them.

If she gets close to them, there is a risk of being noticed by anyone paying attention to the surrounding area. Her spiritual sense will circumvent the need to move to eavesdrop on the conversation, but using it might get her noticed by the patriarch of the Purple Flower sect.

As she was thinking about what to do, she realized something, which made her ask herself, "Is this perhaps a bait to draw me out?"

She still remembered how the avatar of the patriarch of the Purple Flower sect had seemed to notice something and even checked her area many times. So she found it odd that an opportunity to gain some valuable information suddenly appeared as soon as she gained entry into the sect.

This suspicion of the golden core elder made her feel as if she was in a precarious situation of having her cover blown. While this made her afraid of making a mistake, it also made her excited.

She cheered inwardly, saying, "Now this is the life. A back-and-forth between me and that woman. Truly a clash of intelligence and power."

She didn't want to fail her mission, but she was also an avatar, so her life was not in danger. This meant that she could afford to be excited about the situation.

This didn't mean that she wasn't going to take the mission seriously, though. She is taking her too seriously, which is why she extended her root down into the earth and in the direction of the golden core elder.

She decided not to move her body or use her spiritual sense just in case someone was watching and this was bait. Instead, she extended a part of her body through the earth and used it to spy on the golden core elder.

When the makeshift ear that she sent over got close to the golden core elder, she heard them say, "The representatives from the Blood Skull sect have come for the exchange program. They only sent one golden core elder. How pompous of them."

A voice came out of the talisman, saying, "They have the right to be pompous. After all, they are the overlord of your Five Veins region."

Then the voice said, "But they won't be the overlord for much longer if we can establish ourselves there. We are not lacking in history and background compared to them. In fact, we have the potential to achieve more. After all, we used to be much stronger than them."

The two of them were chatting with their divine sense so it was silent, but what they were saying was clear and loud to lady Evergreen thanks to her spiritual sense.

Lady Evergreen listened attentively as the golden elder asked tentatively, "Do I take care of this elder from the Blood Skull sect? He is alone, so it should be easy to make him disappear."

The voice replied quickly, "No. Don't do that."

"I know I said that you should do whatever you can do to sabotage the exchange program, but killing the representative of the Blood Skull sect will only backfire."

"It won't make the Blood Skull sect decide not to help your sect. If they discover that you did it, the death of the golden core elder will only make the Blood Skull sect more invested in this conflict as they try to seek revenge."

"So don't kill the representative. Just do little things to piss off the representative and make them angry until they willingly give up on the cooperation."

The golden core elder stopped to look around and make sure that there was no one around. When they confirmed that no one was spying on them, they resumed the conversation.

They whispered to the communication talisman in their hand and said, "What about what you promised me?"

The voice replied, "Don't worry. We have the cultivation technique that you asked for. It will help you advance beyond what your sect's crippled technique is capable of."

"With this body-forging cultivation technique, your body will surely be able to safely advance to the fifth mortal coil, and you might even be able to fuse it with your sect's energy-refining cultivation technique because it is very compatible with it."

The golden core elder said, "Yes, yes. I've heard this boast many times, but I've only seen a small portion of the so-called highly compatible technique. I'm not asking for you to boast right now. I'm asking for when I will receive the cultivation technique in full."

The voice said, "As long as you help us defeat your sect, once the war is over, you will be given the cultivation technique."