A few days later, Tang Xiu had returned to Jingmen Island and arranged for Spectre to join the Everlasting Feast Hall. After accompanying Gu Yan'er for a few days, he took Mo Awu's team to Qingcheng Mountain in a hurry. Before leaving, he had contacted Long Zhenglin, but the result was disappointing. Long Zhenglin had rushed to Qingcheng Mountain and found traces of w.a.n.g Hao, but the man kept avoiding him.

Red Silk Flower was the best ingredient to concoct Blood Seizing Pill as it had strong compatibility and was an unusually powerful agent to divide the energy—the two properties that brought an excellent effect of improving the physical strength of immortal cultivators.

It was rather urgent for Tang Xiu to break through the Blood and Qi Circulation stage of Stars Tyrannical Body because he knew that once he reached this stage, he would be on par with ordinary cultivators at the stage of Nascent Soul.

After rus.h.i.+ng all the way, Tang Xiu and Moa Wu's group of six finally arrived at Qingcheng Mountain. More precisely, they arrived at a small town decked out in a cla.s.sical style called Qinglin County.

Though county was located in a very remote part of Sichuan, its economic development and prosperity were comparable to some small prosperous counties in the Southern Region. The number of permanent residents here was not many, but it was a famous scenic and tourist spot in China that attracted a lot of tourists every season from all over the world.

On the wide avenue here, two taxis were heading to downtown Qinglin County. Tang Xiu was riding on the second taxi while watching the scenery outside, especially the looming mountain in the distance. He fell in love with this place the moment he arrived.

"Umm?"

Suddenly, Tang Xiu was surprised to find a star's poster hanging on the billboards, buses, and even the high-rise buildings around.

"From the looks of it, Zhang Xinya is quite famous in your county, isn't she, Uncle?"

The taxi driver was a rather ineloquent man, but he seemed to have the mood to converse when he heard Tang Xiu's inquiry. A smile appeared on his dark face as he answered, "Well, we've kinda been stuffed with the news and coverage of that big star, Zhang Xinya, on TV and the web in the last half month, ever since the preparation of the opening sale for the Golden Goblet Emperor Gauze villa complex. All the media ma.s.sively covered the news of Zhang Xinya's arrival to our place half a month ago. Even the Big Boss of this villa complex spent quite a fortune in publicity."

"It's just an opening sale for the villa complex, there's no need to invite such a big star, no?" Tang Xiu was astonished. "After all, your county town is kinda small…"

"Little Brother, you thought that our place is just a small county, so it's not worth it to ask a big star for publicity?" said the taxi driver with a smile.

"I just feel that's a bit too exaggerated, honestly." Tang Xiu shook his head.

"Not really that exaggerated, to be honest," said the taxi driver. "The Golden Goblet Emperor Gauze villa complex is the most luxurious villa complex in Qinglin County; those who buy in the complex are rich and powerful people from the outside. Well, you don't know where the villa complex is located it seems, else you'll definitely be interested if you have money."

"Tell me then," requested Tang Xiu.

"The Golden Goble Emperor Gauze is built halfway up the highest hill peak on the outskirts of Qingcheng Mountain. It's not in our Qinglin County town, but about five-plus kilometers northward from us, which is at the foot of that said mountain. And today, that highest hill has been transformed into an upscale neighborhood which boasts luxurious dining, entertainment, culture and other facets of establishment for the luxurious complex. It's equal to a status symbol for those who live there. Of course, above all else, the Golden Goblet Emperor Gauze villa complex is within a scenic spot of Qingcheng Mountain, and ordinary tourists are not allowed to enter it."

"It seems like the one who established this villa complex is quite a great figure, right?" asked Tang Xiu with a smile after quickly understanding the story.

"That's only natural. He's from the richest family in Qinglin County: w.a.n.g Xuegang, the younger brother of the vice-abbot of the Daoist monastery in Qingcheng Mountain," said the taxi driver with a smile.

Qingcheng Daoist Monastery?

Tang Xiu's expression moved and he asked more, "Where is this Qingcheng Daoist Monastery exactly? Is it also within the scenic tourist area?"

"No, it's quite far—on a higher peak of Qingcheng Mountain, to be precise." The taxi driver shook his head and said, "Ordinary tourists won't go there. Only a few who are devoted will go there to consecrate and burn incenses."

Tang Xiu nodded and no longer inquired about the Qingcheng Daoist Monastery, and returned to their previous topic. "So, did Zhang Xinya really come to Qinglin County?"

"I don't know whether she has come yet." said the taxi driver. "The opening sale event of the Golden Goblet Emperor Gauze villa complex is to be held on June 28th, the day after tomorrow"

Tang Xiu nodded and turned his gaze to outside the window. He didn't expect that he would visit this small county town at the same time as Zhang Xinya's visit. He didn't prepare to see her, nor did the villa complex interest him as he thought that it was best to avoid her if possible.

It was an emotional entanglement that he was afraid of. He knew that Zhang Xinya obviously had feelings for him. He even received tens of calls from her in recent months, each of which he perfunctorily dismissed her in using a few words.

Qinglin County, a famous and bustling Qimao City.

After getting off the taxi, Tang Xiu searched for a teahouse near the entrance of Qimao City while Mo Awu and Jin s.h.i.+ entered the city. They would need cars to get to their destination, so Tang Xiu decided to buy two cars for convenience sake.

After half an hour, Long Zhenglin came running and panting from outside the teahouse. When he saw Tang Xiu by the window, he ran over and took a seat at the opposite side of him, then picked up the teacup Tang Xiu had poured previously. He lifted it before gulping it down fully and said with satisfaction, "You're here, Big Bro. I've been in this d.a.m.n boring place for more than a month and thought of every means but wasn't able to see that w.a.n.g Tao b.a.s.t.a.r.d at all."

"Alright, tell me, where's w.a.n.g Tao now?" asked Tang Xiu with a smile.

"I've been asking around. I heard that he directly shut himself in at his family residence in Qinglin County after he came back from the outside," narrated Long Zhenglin. "He's been like an old man from ancient times, just completely become a shut-in and hasn't even set a foot outside for more than a month, not leaving a shadow that I can see either. I visited his place a couple of times to look for him, but got driven out by his bodyguards."

"Are you sure he's at home?" Asked Tang Xiu.

Long Zhenglin looked around. After he saw that no one was paying attention to them, he lowered his voice and answered, "I don't dare to be 100% certain, but the news that he's at home is quite reliable. I've been hiding surveillance around his family residence in the last few days. There were two doctors from Qinglin County Hospital who went in and out about seven times. You know, I tried to bribe those two doctors, but they refused to tell me anything about what they were doing in the w.a.n.g Family, though."

"Is this w.a.n.g Tao quite a powerful figure in Qinglin County?" asked Tang Xiu, surprised.

"He's more than powerful. He's simply the Crown Prince here," answered Long Zhenglin. "His father, w.a.n.g Xuegang, is the richest man in Qinglin County. Be it wealth or personal connections, the Qinglin County's locals call him an Emperor."

w.a.n.g Xuegang?

A surprised look gleamed in Tang Xiu's eyes. The reason he came to Qinglin County was to buy the Red Silk Flower from w.a.n.g Tao, who bought it for 12 million yuan. Tang Xiu planned on buying it for 10 to 100 times the initial price. But if w.a.n.g Tao was the son of the richest man in Qinglin County, this meant that he wasn't short on money, so it would be quite difficult to buy what he wanted with just money.

"Does this w.a.n.g Hao have any special hobbies or something?"

"Yup. He likes a woman, a lot," smirked Long Zhenglin strangely.

Women?

Tang Xiu stared dumbfoundedly and eventually shook his head, with a headache. There were a lot of women he could use when he was in the Immortal World since brothels were practically everywhere. But he was on Earth now. Though there were also many prost.i.tutes with good looks on Earth, it wouldn't be easy to find them in this small county town. Of course, judging from how rich w.a.n.g Tao was, this guy wouldn't spare a glance at ordinary women.

"He has no hobbies other than being a womanizer?"

"Dunno anything else but that," Long Zhenglin shook his head.

Tang Xiu took a deep breath and slowly said, "Let's take a break today and learn about the situation of this place first. I'll visit w.a.n.g Tao's place tomorrow morning in hopes that I can buy that Red Silk Flower."

"You can still resort to harsh means if the soft ones fail, Big Bro," said Long Zhenglin. "w.a.n.g Tao might be quite an expert martial artist and has a lot of bodyguards, but I believe you're far above him."

"Robbing won't do. We are not bandits." Tang Xiu shook his head. "Unless w.a.n.g Tao is an evil person, we can only think of ways to trade with him. But if he's really adamant in not selling it no matter what methods we use and still is unwilling to compromise, I'm afraid we can only leave empty handed."

Tang Xiu and Long Zhenglin then left together after a long while and checked in to the most luxurious Senbao 5-star hotel in Qinglin County. The room Long Zhenglin had booked was a presidential suite since it was not tourist season at this time.

On the 12th floor, in the corridor covered by beige carpet, Zhang Xiaoyu brought some shopping bags with a bit of a sad face. When she was about to walk to the elevator, its door suddenly opened.

"Huh?"

She saw a group of men coming out from the inside. The youngest man in front was vaguely familiar to her. But she didn't want to get into trouble as this place was unfamiliar to her, so she turned away and went straight to the stairs.

Half a minute later, Zhang Xiaoyu quietly poked her head from the corner for the stairs. She saw that a group of people had already walked deeper into the corridor and she secretly felt relieved. Nevertheless, the puzzlement on her pretty face didn't diminish and grew more intense instead. She felt that she had seen that young man somewhere but she couldn't remember where she had seen him.

"Forget about it. I still need to send Xinya's clothes to the dry cleaner first. This grand lady is kind of in a bad mood recently. She'll keep nagging me if her clothes are not dry-cleaned when we leave Qinglin County the day after tomorrow."

Zhang Xiaoyu shook her head and came to the front of the elevator towards the rear of the floor. She opened its door and entered it before she pressed the 1st-floor b.u.t.ton and suddenly recalled something.

"I remember him!"