Translator: Sissy That Walk
What Ye Lingyue did not know was that Xia City was in chaos when she and Lan Cai’er were heading for Yunshang City. The root cause was the missing Concentrating Crystal Ball.
On that day, Xue Pianran was taught a good lesson by Yunsheng. This was a heavy blow and Xue Pianran did not recover until a number of days later.
When she finally recovered, Xue Pianran found that her most important Concentrating Crystal Ball was gone.
The ball was given by Chen Hongru when Xue Pianran felt the existence of the Star Energy for the first time.
For a dozen of years, Xue Pianran took the crystal ball with her wherever she went. The ball also stored the Star Energy she had accumulated all these years, thus meaning a great deal toher.
“Brother Cong, are you sure that you have already searched the whole street but still cannot find it?” Xue Pianran asked anxiously.
“Not only that street, but also all the other streets in Xia City. I have got the permission from the Xia Emperor to search all the streets but there is no clue. Can you feel the whereabouts of the Concentrating Crystal?” Cong Lv also knew how important the crystal ball was for Xue Pianran.
Due to the search, local officials in Xia City already complained a lot. Some even reported to the Xia Emperor what happened on that day.
The Xia Emperor called in Cong Lv, hinting that it was time for them to leave Da Xia.
This time, Cong Lv and Xue Pianran came to Da Xia for the purpose of escorting Princess Qingbi. After what happened to the princess, however, Cong Lv had no reason for staying longer in Da Xia.
But Xue Pianran was unwilling to leave so soon for she wanted to stay in the same place as Feng Shen. Especially after she got hurt, Xue Pianran strongly expected Feng Shen to visit her.
Pitifully, her expectations were never met.
Cong Lv found out that Feng Shen left several days ago to deal with the business of the Feng Manor.
Feng Shen’s departure and the missing of the Concentrating Crystal Ball dealt a serious blow to Xue Pianran.
Since there were no other methods available, Xue Pianran had to use her spiritual energy to search for the ball.
But Xue Pianran was not like Chen Hongru after all. Searching for the ball cost a great deal of her spiritual energy.
After a thorough search, Xue Pianran was so disappointed that she nearly spewed blood.
Gone. The ball with some of her spiritual seal could not be felt at all.
This would not happen in normal cases. If she could not feel the existence of the ball, then there was only one possibility: the ball broke. Then the Star Energy inside which she had accumulated for years...
If she had not lost the Concentrating Crystal Ball, Xue Pianran could strive to become a master alchemist after half a year. In this case, however, she had to wait at least another 3 years.
Since she could not find the ball, Xue Pianran could only go back to the North Qing with disappointment together with Cong Lv.
At this time, Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er had already reached Yunshang City.
Yunshang City got its name since it was situated on a hill that was over 500 meters high. The city was on the boundary of the North Qing and Da Xia.
Because of the altitude, the city was enveloped in clouds for nearly half of the time in a year.
Yunshang City had a unique geographical position and was near Xixia Plain and the Ancient Forest. Thus, the city was the busiest one on the boundary between the two states.
This was also where the mercenaries appeared most often between the two states.
Every year, a large number of mercenaries entered and exited Yunshang City, hence the name of “the City of Mercenaries”.
Different from ordinary cities of Da Xia and the North Qing, Yunshang had no garrison troops or governor. The one who had a real say here was the local alliance of mercenaries.
The alliance had been in existence for 500 or 600 years. It was said that the two princes of the North Qing and Da Xia went to Yunshang City by coincidence for training before ascending the throne.
They formed a team of mercenaries with an independent mercenary soldier. In a fight with the beasts, the soldier risked his life in saving the two princes.
The two princes were so grateful that they gave Yunshang City to the soldier as a permanent gift after ascending the throne.
Later, the independent mercenary soldier established the Alliance of Mercenaries. After hundreds of years, more and more mercenary groups and independent mercenaries relied on the alliance for a living.
In the alliance, you could undertake various tasks in exchange for compensation.
Before Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er arrived in the City of Mercenaries, they met several old mercenary soldiers halfway and bought from them some equipment and clothes for mercenaries.
Then they looked quite the same as common green-handed mercenaries when they reached Yunshang City.
Ye Lingyue blackened her face and was dressed in a set of old-style heavy armor, with puttee and two knives on her legs, a cloth-made bag on her elbows and a waist-high bow on her back.
The bow was exactly the Spatial Piercing Bow which Ye Lingyue had made drastic changes to. After some special treatment, the Spatial Piercing Bow looked shabby, almost the same as a poor bow used by ordinary mercenaries.
Lan Cai’er faked a scar on her face and was dressed in almost the same way as Ye Lingyue. She wore a heavy armor made of bronze and a leather whip on her waist.
The two looked ugly and countrified. When they stood on the street, they seemed like two green-handed mercenary soldiers who came from the countryside and got a rare chance to see the bustle of a city. Considering she would play the role of a mercenary soldier this time, Ye Lingyue did not take Little Crow this time.
“Little Squeak, we have reached the City of Mercenaries. Are you still angry?” Ye Lingyue patted on her cloth-made bag but there was no reaction from within.
“Wow! The little creature has poor ability but a bad temper. We have just dyed its hair. I have never seen such a spiritual beast that pays so much attention to appearance.” Lan Cai’er giggled.
Hearing the giggle, Little Squeak inside the bag got angry. It climbed out, targeted its bottom at Lan Cai’er, shook its body and showed full contempt.
The originally snow-white fur had become as black as ink. In this case, the color was similar to that of Ye Lingyue’s blackened face.
In fact, Ye Lingyue really used specially made herbal medicine water to dye black the white fur of Little Squeak.
Ye Lingyue had no other option. This time, she could not make sure that they would not meet someone familiar when the features of Little Squeak were so obvious to be recognized.
All along the way, the cuteness of Little Squeak had won the favor of a great many female mercenary soldiers. Some of them even offered to purchase it.
In contrast, Ye Lingyue looked like a real country bumpkin. It was quite noticeable for a female mercenary soldier from the country to carry such a beautiful spiritual beast.
For the sake of avoiding trouble, Ye Lingyue changed the appearance of Little Squeak. Unexpectedly, this dealt a serious blow to the little creature. It could never eat well or rest at ease, and even threw a tantrum.
Not until Ye Lingyue promised to give 10 roast chicken legs as compensation did Little Squeak forgive her reluctantly.
Added stories: 28 and 29. The next chapter will be focused on Wu Chong. The sister of this book is called A Magical Female Doctor: Genius Summoner, a book about Ye Lingyue’s biological parents.