Outside the dungeon, Chu Feng asked, "Can I go meet the rest of the Intelligence Agency now?" Ye Lanshan shielded her eyes from the glaring sunlight with her hand and said, "No rush." Chu Feng's expression darkened instantly, and he replied with little enthusiasm, "Oh."
"What were you two up to?" Liu Jing, having failed to find Ye Lanshan, was about to head out when she spotted her just as she stepped through the gate. Ye Lanshan said casually, "Interrogated a prisoner." "Prisoner?" Liu Jing hesitated for only a second before remembering her main purpose. "Oh, right, I came to say goodbye today. I'm out here to capture an important person. Someone just sent word that they've appeared in the Night Kingdom, so I need to head over right away." "I understand. Catching them is the priority. If you have free time later, you're welcome to visit again." Though Ye Lanshan wished she could stay a few more days, since she had urgent business, there was no reason to hold her back.
"Oh, by the way, I noticed Lan Youli seemed troubled. I wonder what happened." Liu Jing suddenly recalled seeing Lan Youli with a furrowed brow that morning. "Got it. And if you can't handle that person, remember to send me a message." Ye Lanshan pulled a communication talisman from her spatial storage and handed it to Liu Jing. "What's this?" Liu Jing examined the talisman with curiosity. Ye Lanshan explained, "It's a communication talisman. If you run into an emergency, channel your mystic energy into it, and it'll send me a message." "Alright, I understand. I'll take my leave then." Liu Jing tucked the talisman into her robe, gave Ye Lanshan a fist-and-palm salute, and immediately set off for the Night Kingdom.
Ye Lanshan kept Liu Jing's words in mind. As soon as Liu Jing left, she went straight to Lan Youli's residence. "Ye Lanshan, what brings you here?" Lan Youli was staring blankly at a medicinal herb. "You have something on your mind." Ye Lanshan cut straight to the point as she entered. "Why not tell me about it? Maybe I can help." "You're overthinking it. What could I have on my mind? I'm just worried about Ye Yu's medicine." Lan Youli smiled, hiding all his worries deep inside. "Leave Ye Yu's matter to me." Ye Lanshan wasn't about to let an outsider trouble themselves over her affairs. "What kind of talk is that? You're my friend, so your business is my business. How could I ignore it when your subordinate is injured?" Lan Youli grew anxious at this—it was the perfect chance to strengthen their bond, and he wouldn't let it slip away. "I can handle my own problems. You don't need to get involved. Just focus on your own matters. From the look on your face earlier, it seems something's happened in the Lan family." Ye Lanshan wasn't unmoved, but when it came to the herbs, without seizing the Twin Fruit, no amount of preparation would matter. "Yeah, Lan Yu teamed up with the Grand Elder to harm my brother. Your warning helped me stay on guard against Lan Yu. Honestly, I never thought he'd go that far." "How's your brother?" Ye Lanshan thought of the gentle and refined Lan Yexin, whose help had been crucial to her swift revenge. "Luckily, my brother caught it in time. He gathered evidence before they could frame him, so he's fine now. But it turns out Lan Yu had been slowly poisoning him for years." Lan Youli's voice turned bitter. "Aren't you from a family of alchemists? How could you not detect the poison?" Ye Lanshan found this puzzling. Unless it was something like the Sun family's unique, odorless, colorless poison, how could the Lan family miss it? "Sigh. Back then, Lan Yu saved my brother's life, so my brother trusted him completely and never suspected him. He accepted whatever Lan Yu gave him without a second thought. Who would've thought Lan Yu harbored ulterior motives?" "Are you going back now?" Ye Lanshan didn't expect Lan Youli to stay here with such a major crisis in the Lan family. "I—" Lan Youli hesitated. He didn't want to leave, but with his brother in trouble, he had to return. "Alright, I understand. But I'm tied up with things here. Take this." Ye Lanshan pulled out a few more communication talismans from her spatial storage and handed them to Lan Youli. "If something happens that you can't handle, use these to send me a message." After explaining how to use them, she saw him off at the Ye family's gate.
"What now?" Chu Feng asked after she sent her two friends away. "Head back to the house and wait. We'll go to the dungeon tomorrow." Ye Lanshan's demeanor turned cold once her friends were gone. "Oh, got it." Chu Feng pouted and replied absentmindedly.
After Chu Feng left, Ye Lanshan went to the brothel. The madam there greeted her warmly and led her to a private room. Sitting in a chair, Ye Lanshan asked, "Qing Dai, how's the task I gave you going?" Qing Dai pursed her lips and said, "Don't worry. Everyone left now is here willingly to join the Intelligence Bureau." Ye Lanshan nodded. "Good. Call them all over." "Ladies, come here, all of you." Qing Dai clapped her hands, summoning eight stunningly beautiful women. Ye Lanshan looked at them—some gentle, some seductive, some playful, some cute, some icy—and thought to herself, *Truly, brothels breed beauties. No wonder so many tales of scholars and courtesans exist.* But she didn't forget her purpose. She took out nine pills from her spatial storage and handed them to Qing Dai. "What's this supposed to mean?" Qing Dai refused the pills, questioning her instead. "If you don't want to take them, that's fine. You have two choices: swallow them, or swear a heavenly oath never to betray me." "What if we choose neither?" one of them asked weakly. "Don't worry—my dagger will make the choice for you." Ye Lanshan looked like a full-fledged demon, a wicked grin on her face as she brandished a fearsome dagger. In the end, they all chose to swear the heavenly oath. "That's more like it. From today on, you're mine. As long as you do your job well, I won't treat you poorly." Ye Lanshan finally relaxed. "What are your names?" Qing Dai quickly introduced them. "They're called Spring Flower, Summer Sun, Autumn Moon, Winter Snow, Red Lotus, Green Bamboo, Yellow Chrysanthemum, and Quiet Orchid."