Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 846 - 531: Return to Black Prison

Chapter 846: Chapter 531: Return to Black Prison

Although Xu Yuan was joking, he was actually quite serious.

Although he never left the house now, the silver he needed was not one bit less; the showdown with his father on New Year’s Eve had put the matter of arranging the Sword Sect high on the agenda.

This matter was going to be very expensive.

And not only that, his plan to use Li Junqing to set up in Japan also needed money and provisions.

When Xu Yuan had been a personal guard to Li Qingyan in the Northern Frontier, he had seen the logistic accounts of the Northern Border Army with his own eyes.

During peacetime, an elite battalion of five thousand men needed three to four hundred thousand taels of silver a month for military salaries and spiritual food alone, and during wartime, with military achievement subsidies plus the wear and tear of spiritual blades and war equipment, the various petty items added up would start at no less than seven hundred thousand taels.

The subterranean survivors of Xiao Bai’s group, due to the unique environment of the silent Underground Palace, were more like a religious army built by fanatical believers; as long as they were fed, a token military salary would suffice. However, the problem now was that this army only had personnel and no equipment – new armored spirit blades and various types of military equipment still required silver for forging.

Xu Yuan had thought about asking his father to resolve this; at this time of brewing chaos, there was no reason to refuse the sudden addition of such a force fit for battle. The issue was that after the military equipment was listed by the Prime Minister’s Mansion, he wouldn’t be able to deploy this army at will.

So, he still had to figure out how to procure the silver himself.

Of course, Xu Yuan could also throw this mess at Li Junqing since it was him who wanted to borrow the troops; it made perfect sense to let him figure out the military equipment issue.

Only by doing so, this borrowed army could easily become controlled and corrupted by Li Junqing; the loyalty of a religious army of fanatics wasn’t in doubt, but they couldn’t withstand someone continuously "feeding" them, could they?

It would be best to maintain a certain level of provision for the borrowed army; it didn’t have to be much, but at least enough to sustain the basic operation of the troops.

Either of these two issues was a bottomless pit that needed a massive amount of money and provisions to fill, and Xu Yuan currently lacked a stable source of income, so naturally, he started to think about his fourth sister.

He sold her a cultivation technique and raised eight million taels of silver for her; it seemed perfectly reasonable for him to shuffle a few million for other uses, right?

Unfortunately for him, Xu Xinyao didn’t give him this opportunity.

Upon hearing that her research funds were to be touched, she quickly slid to her knees in front of Xu Yuan and left him with a "Third Brother, I’ll wait for you below" before fleeing like a wisp of smoke.

Using a formation pattern magic artifact, her speed was not at all inferior to that of a Great Grandmaster.

Gazing at the figure that vanished in an instant, Xu Yuan furrowed his brows and realized something;

It seemed like this girl had always been accommodating him.

If it really came to a fight, he didn’t think he could even defeat his fourth sister.

Hiss...

...

...

...

After Xu Xinyao left, Ran Qingmo still agreed to Xu Yuan’s invitation, walked through the snow-covered inner courtyard, and followed him through a secret passage in one of the inner chambers toward the Black Prison.

Looking at the seemingly endless dark corridor in front of them, their gentle footsteps echoed softly.

Walking side by side for a distance, Xu Yuan felt the breath of the young girl beside him. Glancing around at the pitch-black, ink-like environment, he suddenly murmured softly,

"Ran Qingmo, don’t you think it’s a bit dark here...?"

"Hmm?"

Ran Qingmo hummed softly, "What’s wrong?"

"It’s so dark; do you want to hold on to me?"

"Xu Yuan, my cultivation is higher than yours."

"..."

After a moment of silence, with an unchanged expression, Xu Yuan reached out his hand directly to pull Ran Qingmo:

"I meant that I can’t see the road clearly."

Ran Qingmo retracted her hand, her eyes doubtful:

"But you’ve achieved Integration Body."

Seeing this, Xu Yuan reached directly for Ran Qingmo’s slender waist, his voice sincere:

"My cultivation technique limits me; you’re a Great Grandmaster and also can’t create fire, can you?"

"But you can create fire."

Ran Qingmo took a step back to dodge Xu Yuan’s grabby hand, paused for a moment, then said softly,

"If you can’t see clearly, why don’t you just create fire for lighting now?"

"....." Xu Yuan.

He was in trouble; suddenly, he could relate to how Elder Ran Jianli must have felt just now, and even more despairing was the fact that, even if he wanted to force the issue, the disparity in cultivation meant he couldn’t lay a finger on the Big Ice Lump.

While he was feeling gloomy, Xu Yuan suddenly felt his withdrawing hand being caught by a cool, delicate little hand.

Xu Yuan instinctively looked up but met the girl’s serene and tranquil gaze:

"You...if you want to hold my hand, you could’ve just said so, Xu Yuan."

"...." Xu Yuan.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"The Black Prison is deep underground, a distance away from the surface. We might need to walk a while longer." Xu Yuan held onto the Big Ice Lump’s boneless icy hand, and as they walked down, he softly said, "Remember to activate the temporary soul key Xu Changge gave you when we arrive down there."

"Mm, alright." Ran Qingmo closely followed behind him, responding softly.

The staircase twisted downwards, and the stone walls on both sides lacked illumination. Before long, the two had entered into a rather spacious stone chamber.

The stone chamber’s six inner walls were all neatly aligned, with only a spherical line etched on the floor resembling a round platform.

Pulling Ran Qingmo to the center of the sphere, Xu Yuan whispered,

"We’ve reached the entrance; now activate the soul key. Once the formation recognizes your identity, we can go down."

"Okay..."

Upon hearing this, Ran Qingmo immediately activated the soul key with her will-spirit.

The next moment,

A rumbling vibration without any warning sounded, and as it did, the round platform under their feet began to slowly descend.

Eyeing the vibrations surrounding them, Ran Qingmo glanced around with mild curiosity and asked in a low voice,

"Xu Yuan, this round platform doesn’t seem to be driven by a formation?"

Accompanied by the thick sound of gears turning, Xu Yuan explained with a smile,

"Right, all the building materials inside the Black Prison have the property of nullifying spirits, naturally making it impossible to etch ordinary formations. This formation is just an activation mechanism; the ascent and descent of the platform are operated by gear mechanisms."

Saying this, Xu Yuan paused for a moment, then instructed,

"By the way, remember not to take out the Source Crystal while we are down there. The monsters imprisoned in the Black Prison may stir up trouble with even the slightest amount of Origin Qi."

"Oh... okay." Ran Qingmo.

The Black Prison was a vast underground complex. Although it didn’t compare to the silent Underground Palace, to avoid detection by the experts of Di’an, it was still located very far from the surface. The round platform descended slowly at first, but then increased in speed until, after half a ke, it finally began to slow down and came to a stop. Once it had completely steadied, a deep and narrow corridor appeared before the eyes of Xu Yuan and Ran Qingmo.

Stepping in, the walls of the corridor were lined with torches that provided some illumination, casting elongated and overlapping shadows of the two. After walking out for more than ten meters, they saw an ancient wooden door quietly appear at a junction.

This was the entrance to the inner courtyard of the Prime Minister’s Mansion and also the terminus of the Black Prison, where the residence of the warden of the Black Prison was located.

It was the same old room Xu Yuan had visited before.

Just as he was hesitating whether to go in and greet Qing, the wooden door was pushed open from the inside, and a tall figure in a black robe walked out slowly. Just about to speak, he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye that Big Ice Lump next to him had an Ink Sword in hand...

The atmosphere in the cramped corridor instantly solidified.

The moment Ran Qingmo saw the person in the black robe, she felt a bone-chilling, intense killing intent, a profound animosity directed at her.

The atmosphere of swords drawn lasted but a moment before Xu Yuan belatedly became aware of the pervasive killing intent in the air. His Spiritual Vision swept across the area and he soon understood.

Qing was staring at the hand he and Ran Qingmo were holding.

Single people are like this, unable to stand the sight of public displays of affection, not to mention Qing’s psyche was somewhat unstable to begin with.

Thinking this, Xu Yuan inwardly sighed.

Moreover,

Qing must have mistaken him for someone else.

Waving his hand in front of Qing, Xu Yuan reminded quietly,

"Hey, hey, look closely. Although I might look familiar, don’t mistake me for my father when he was young."

"....."

As his words fell, the killing intent quickly dissipated.

Underneath the black robe, Qing shifted her gaze, her sweet and lovely voice echoing disdainfully as if she were looking at a plague,

"Xu Changtian, why have you come again?"

Xu Yuan didn’t mind her tone and replied softly,

"It’s good timing; I need to visit someone in the Heaven Rank prison."

"If you have the soul key, why not go directly?" Qing said and took a step backward, ready to retreat into her own room.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan quickly said,

"I’m going to Yin Liulan’s cell, and that place requires either your or Lou Ji’s soul key."

"Yin Liulan?"

Qing’s footsteps halted, and the gaze beneath the black robe carried a measure of scrutiny,

"What do you want there?"

"My father asked me to do something there today," Xu Yuan pondered for a moment before fabricating the story. Qing would never go and check with his father.

Upon hearing this, Qing’s hidden eyes flickered for a moment before she murmured softly,

"That makes sense since today seems to be the first day of the new year. Come with me."

With that, she prepared to lead the way.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan was momentarily startled,

"Ah? What first day?"

Qing’s sharp gaze swept over instantly, her expression carrying a hint of amusement,

"Xu Changtian, what are you pretending for? Others might not know, but as the warden of the Black Prison, I’m well aware of the identity of the prisoner in Yin Liulan’s cell."