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 acc.u.mulated 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 acc.u.mulated 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 alt.i.tude, 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 b.u.mpkin . 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 .