Chapter 20: Thunder Strike

"The Demon Sect's Holy Maiden Bai Xiaoyao and the Head of the Taoist Sect Artifact Pavilion Lin Qingfeng went to the Demon Artifact Pavilion together?"

Looking at the intelligence report in his hand, the Six Gate Bureau agent codenamed Night Crow rubbed his chin.

Beside him, Miss Kirin also seemed lost in thought.

Ever since the day she suffered a loss for not reading the intelligence report, Miss Kirin had been coming to Night Crow more frequently to read the spy reports.

"What do you think?" Miss Kirin's voice was icy.

"How else can we see it? Although Lin Qingfeng has some talent in the Taoist Sect, his mind is quite simple. That's why the Taoist Sect asked him to take charge of the Taoist Artifact Pavilion for a while."

Night Crow's tone was a bit mocking. "This foolish guy doesn't even realize he's being deceived by the Demon Sect's Holy Maiden. It's no wonder he can't compare to the previous Head of the Taoist Sect."

Miss Kirin nodded, sharing the same opinion.

"But Kirin, what do you think the Demon Sect is really sending this pair of geniuses to the Royal City for? They wouldn't really want to rebuild the Demon Artifact Pavilion, would they? Let's be honest, with the current state of the Demon Artifact Pavilion, unless they suddenly start selling High-Grade Artifacts, there's no chance of turning things around."

Night Crow's tone was decisive.

But Miss Kirin shook her head.

"I don't care about these things. I came here today because there hasn't been any movement from the Blood Mist Netherkin these past few days, and I wanted to see if there were any important intelligence reports related to it."

"Don't worry, if there's any relevant information, I'll let you know first," Night Crow said in a relaxed tone. "But you've been busy for so many days, why don't we go to the Demon Artifact Pavilion together and have some fun, and relax?"

He was just making a casual invitation, and he knew that Kirin wouldn't usually go along with him for fun and games because of her cold personality.

But this time, he guessed wrong.

Miss Kirin slowly nodded her head.

"Well then... Let's go."

After a moment of silence, the two Nascent Soul cultivators disappeared from the Six Gates Bureau.

......

In the Demon Artifact Pavilion, the four last officers all looked a bit unhappy.

In recent days, their lives had become less urgent, and they finally had some spare time to care about the major events in the city.

Today, the entire city was abuzz with rumors that their own Holy Maiden was coming to the Demon Artifact Pavilion. Although they were a bit skeptical, they still waited eagerly at the entrance.

After all, the Holy Saint was in seclusion refining Artifacts, and they had nothing to do.

However, they never expected that their own Holy Maiden would actually show up.

Seeing the Holy Maiden, who looked like a fairy descending to earth, the four officers were all dazzled.

But before they could even feel happy, they saw Lin Qingfeng standing beside the Holy Maiden.

As members of the Demon Artifact Pavilion, how could they not recognize the Head of the Taoist Artifact Pavilion, who was soaring in popularity in the Royal City?

And when Lin Qingfeng suggested that Luo Wusheng and Bai Xiaoyao become Guest Elders of the Taoist Artifact Pavilion, their faces became extremely unpleasant.

"This— let's not talk about the Holy Maiden for now, but the Holy Saint is at least the Head of our Demon Artifact Pavilion. Isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to say that?" Hu Dingtian said with a stiff expression.

But Lin Qingfeng waved his hand, looking a bit arrogant.

"What's wrong with that? A good bird chooses the tree it perches on. Do you think being the head of the Demon Artifact Pavilion is better than being a Guest Elder in my Taoist Artifact Pavilion?"

Lin Qingfeng's tone was somewhat disdainful.

He knew very well that although the Demon Artifact Pavilion still looked like a decent place, just a few days ago it was on the verge of collapsing. He had even heard that the staff members in front of him had to go to [Firework] to serve customers just to maintain their daily livelihood.

How could a place like this be compared to his Taoist Artifact Pavilion, which was the top one in the city?

The four officers could hear the sarcasm in Lin Qingfeng's words, and their expressions became even uglier.

But they did not retort because what the other party said was completely true.

It was precisely because the Demon Artifact Pavilion had fallen to such a state that they had to cling to the thighs of the Holy Saint, and not let the Holy Saints Be poached away by the Taoist Artifact Pavilion.

"It's not necessarily true."

The gaze of everyone present turned to the sudden voice of Bai Xiaoyao.

The four staff members looked a bit excited.

Could it be that the Holy Lady was going to speak up for the Demon Artifact Pavilion?

Lin Qingfeng frowned, "What do you mean, Miss Bai?"

Bai Xiaoyao did not respond, but looked at the four staff members, "Where is my Senior Brother now?"

The four staff members looked at each other in confusion, and in the end, Hu Dingtian stood up.

"Replying to the Holy Maiden, the Holy Saint is currently refining Artifacts on the fourth floor of the pavilion."

"Refining Artifacts?"

Bai Xiaoyao's eyes flickered.

"I have never heard that the Holy Saint of the Demon Sect is an Artifact Refiner."

Lin Qingfeng snorted, thinking that these people were trying to deceive him, "If you don't want to let me in, I will have to force my way in and personally invite the Holy Saint out. I believe that as long as we can reach an agreement on the Guest Elder matter, the Holy Saint will not mind my impoliteness."

His spiritual power surged out, revealing the aura of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.

Bai Xiaoyao was lost in thought at the moment.

'Should I take action myself? Originally, I wanted to see how Senior Brother would deal with it, but now he's in seclusion, and I can't let this guy disturb him…'

Just then, a thunderclap made everyone's thoughts freeze.

Everyone looked up at the sky.

They saw black clouds surging from all directions, centered around the Demon Artifact Pavilion.

The clouds gathered thicker and thicker, with five-colored lightning flashing inside.

At this moment, everyone near the Demon Artifact Pavilion raised their heads, staring in shock at the terrifying thunderclouds.

Including the two Golden ranked members of the Six Gate Bureau who were secretly observing.

"What— What's happening? What's happening?"

"That's—! That's the Five-Colored Tribulation Lightning that only appears when someone is advancing to the Nascent Soul realm!"

"Is someone crossing their Nascent Soul tribulation at the Demon Artifact Pavilion? Is someone about to become a Nascent Soul?"

Cultivators near the Demon Artifact Pavilion exclaimed from time to time.

'Is the Demon Sect's Holy Saint advancing to the Nascent Soul realm?'

This was the first thought that flashed through Lin Qingfeng's mind.

An 18-year-old Nascent Soul cultivator?

The four staff members went from being shocked at first to ecstatic.

"I see! So the Holy Saint isn't just studying refining techniques on the fourth floor, but secretly breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm!" Hu Dingtian was full of excitement, as if he had broken through himself.

"I told you, even the Holy Saint wouldn't be researching refining techniques with little hope all day on the fourth floor." Li Xing, who always acted like a jerk, also had a sudden realization.

Xu Yuchun, who usually would argue with Li Xing, couldn't say a word at this moment. She looked up at the fourth floor of the pavilion with a look of longing.

"Not good!" Old Wang was the fastest to react and quickly said, "We need to leave this area quickly to avoid being affected by the tribulation lightning!"

But someone reacted even faster.

Two masked figures suddenly appeared above the Demon Artifact Pavilion.

It's Kirin and Night Crow.

"You all, retreat a hundred feet," said Kirin, as her spirit power surged to the level of the Nascent Soul stage, picking up everyone within a hundred feet of the Demon Artifact Pavilion and throwing them outside the range.

After completing this, Night Crow and Miss Kirin looked at each other, and the latter's figure disappeared in an instant.

......

Using the teleportation power of the Nascent Soul stage, Miss Kirin appeared directly on the fourth floor of the Demon Artifact Pavilion.

Luo Wusheng, who had just released the restriction on the fourth floor, twitched his mouth at the sudden appearance of a familiar face.

"Demon Sect's Holy Saint, Luo Wusheng, don't you know that cultivators in the Royal City can't summon their Tribulation Lightning at will?" As she said so, Miss Kirin's voice was somewhat cold.

"Ahem, of course I know," Luo Wusheng answered with an unpleasant expression.

"Then why do you still intentionally break the rules?" Miss Kirin was feeling very disappointed.

She used to have a good impression of Luo Wusheng, but she didn't expect him to be the kind of disciple of the Demon sect who didn't follow the rules of the Royal City.

"Um— it's not me who's summoned the Tribulation Lightning..." Luo Wusheng raised his hand innocently, showing a small square that emitted terrifying fluctuations.

"It's this thing that's causing the Tribulation Lightning to appear..."

Miss Kirin fell silent upon hearing that.