Silverleaf Trade Hall completely owned several market streets within the Iron Claw City, as well as a lot of property within the city walls.

But its auction house was located within the grounds of their main headquarters which were located in the Eastern Outskirts, of which they were the unofficial overlords.

Unlike most other establishments in the outskirts, who preferred to use natural terrain of the mountain ridges to their advantage, Silverleaf Trade Hall built a massive square foundation for their main headquarters to make it level and at the same time elevate it, which made it look like a massive fortress, especially from downhill where the height of the foundation was like a towering great wall.

The interesting part was that surrounding that ’fortress’ was a neatly built and maintained small market district also owned and operated by the Silverleaf Trade Hall. They built drainage channels which alleviated flooding even during heavy rain seasons, so the elevation of the main headquarters wasn’t done to avoid the downflow of rainwater from uphill.

While Western Outskirts that housed the Crow King’s Nest became much more lively at night, these Eastern Outskirts were the opposite, mainly operating during the day and late evening, and descending into quiet and tranquil slumber at night.

This made any signs of activity outside the heavy guard of the Silverleaf Trade Hall extremely noticeable.

Yet, despite the seeming peace and serenity, four people were silently and discreetly moving through the Eastern Outskirts.

[Hehe, funny that I never even thought about this...], Hong Ye chuckled without sound, looking at a ring on her finger.

[Me neither, though it makes perfect sense], Hong Yue nodded, moving beside her, [How else would people with different stealth techniques know each other’s location to coordinate and send concealed sound transmissions? Without these rings I’d have no idea where Daoist Qian is right now]

She turned her gaze toward what she saw as an empty direction, but through the spiritual treasure ring she could sense that Qian Ying was there.

[That just proves how unique Bahshi Assassination Group’s techniques are], Wu Long smiled under his mask, [You’ve always cooperated only with other Bahshi Assassins, after all, so it’s not that strange for you to never question how those without them cooperate]

He then added an explanation for Qian Ying, [Bahshi Assassins share core cultivation techniques which allow every practitioner to not only sense each other’s location unless specifically suppressed, but to see through each other’s stealth as if they didn’t use any concealment techniques at all]

[Such fantastic properties... no wonder they are hailed as one of the supreme legacies of concealed arts], Qian Ying marveled at the possibilities such a technique could provide for organized groups of spies, thieves or assassins, and then chuckled with a somewhat self-deprecating smile, [Though, what further proof of that is needed? Even though this old man is in Essence Ignition Realm, I cannot see through your stealth techniques at all, and can only vaguely trace the presence of the two young ladies]

[Don’t be so discouraged. Your movement technique is superb in its own right, and quite unique], Wu Long noted, turning a side-eye to the figure of the old man that only he saw clearly.

[Coming from someone using the legendary Bahshi Ghost Step, it is a great compliment], Qian Ying made a wry smile under his low-sitting bamboo hat, [It’s supposedly been passed down in my family for generations, but I don’t know much about it since the only one I heard about it from was my grandfather who has long since passed]

[Lightning is usually associated with speed and destructiveness, I’ve got to admit I never saw an application of it used for stealth], Wu Long added sincerely, with great interest.

While it did sound like a compliment to Qian Ying, he couldn’t appreciate how big of a deal ’I never saw’ was coming from Wu Long, not knowing who he was, but the twins widened their eyes at that statement.

Qian Ying made a slightly awkward chuckle, [Lightning can be invisible, or rather that is it’s more natural state, it exists in that state all around us. This application relies on using that invisible flow of lightning... or so it was explained in the brief introduction of the technique’s manual, I am not exactly sure how it works either...]

Hong Ye and Hong Yue exchanged wry glances, as they instinctively expected Qian Ying to have an answer - realizing they were too used to Wu Long being able to explain such things.

But the reality was that not everyone was able to understand and analyze how exactly the techniques they were using worked like Wu Long.

In fact, most people didn’t know much about the techniques they learned and were using. They just learned how they needed to manipulate Qi, the codified process, and ’ta-da’, the technique mysteriously worked.

How exactly did they function, what were the underlying principles and mechanics that allowed them to give the specific results, what natural laws allowed that to happen, and so on. All these details which weren’t required to learn to use the techniques were mostly ignored by the vast majority of cultivators.

Even many of those who mastered their techniques only bothered to learn about parts of that knowledge that might allow them better control or what opponents to be cautious about - and it takes entire lifetimes.

[It is certainly a creative use of the Lightning Attribute, though it means that your technique is almost half as efficient if you are not born with the right Elemental Attribute, one of the rarest ones at that], Wu Long, on the other hand, having spent a time too long to count in his previous life studying all techniques to the minute detail, was able to grasp the principles underlying the workings of Qian Ying’s technique just by looking with his Chaos Origin Eyes that allowed him to see the flow of Qi.

Qian Ying was slightly surprised that Wu Long was able to recognize that fact, adding with a smile, [Haha, that’s why I wasn’t able to pass the technique to my son - it would’ve been a mediocre technique in his hands at best all because he was born without Lightning Attribute. But, as you may have noticed both me, and, luckily, my grandson are Lightning Cultivators. Supposedly it is relatively more common my family, of course, not to the extent of having two born in the same hundred thousand years, but I guess this is either just a lucky coincidence or the result of the early onset of the Generational Wave]

[I thought talent for Elemental Attributes wasn’t tied to bloodlines?], Hong Yue raised her eyebrow.

[It can be in case of specific bloodlines], Wu Long replied, [That assumption about them not being related is more to highlight the fact that the link between bloodlines and talent for Elemental Attributes is not absolute. Those without specific bloodlines can be spontaneously born with talents for Elemental Attributes, and those with specific bloodlines can sometimes manifest talent for a different Elemental Attribute that differs from others of the same bloodline, and that talent can manifest strongly in someone who might have weaker bloodline, and so on]

Qian Ying who was leading the way stopped, causing Wu Long and the twins to stop as well, as they all landed on a roof of a building, the silhouette of the massive ’fortress’-like headquarters of the Silverleaf Trade Hall visible still some distance away.

[From here on out, there is an outer perimeter of detective formations], Qian Ying announced.

[Already?], Hong Ye widened her eyes, using her eye technique to indeed see that there were formations unseen by naked eyes, like layers upon layers of giant invisible spheres around the distant headquarters.

[But don’t worry, as long as we use the principles of operation that every formation follows, we should be able to go through without problem], Qian Ying added with a reassuring uplifted tone, causing the worry to intensify in Hong Ye’s eyes instead.

[Formations mimic and borrow the principles of natural order, distorting them to produce their effects, so there are certain rules they all follow. The one all those wishing to pass through formations use, is that there is what is called a ’Life Gate’ within each formation], Qian Ying added to his explanation, since he was asked by Wu Long to guide the twins through this part of the process.

[It is a bit simplistic, but you can think of it as a blindspot where the formation’s effects do not work], Wu Long added.

[Why would Symbol Arts Masters leave such an obvious flaw?], Hong Yue slightly frowned in confusion.

[Ehm~, can’t we just say they just do?], Hong Ye showed complete willingness to accept the simple answer.

[Hahah, I’ll answer that in-depth later then, Fairy Hong Yue], Wu Long chuckled, [For now, you can consider that every formation in existence, including ancient formations, has a Life Gate, without it the formation simply would not work]

[Got it], Hong Yue nodded, much to her little sister’s relief, agreeing to skip the more complex topic for now.

[But, what you do need to know, is that all Symbol Arts Masters do know that it is a glaring vulnerability, so how well they guard it from being exploited depends on the skills of the one who designed the formation], Wu Long then added, [Though most simply move it around trying to keep it hidden amid the complexity]

[Yes, but since Manor Master have provided the formation diagrams, we know how to safely go through each formation], Qian Ying chuckled, [Please follow my exact path, trajectory, pattern of movement and speed]

The twins nodded, Hong Yue slightly nervously, while Hong Ye had anticipation in her eyes and overall demeanor. Both of them were facing a fully activated hostile formation that could actually detect them even with their level of stealth techniques for the first time.

[I will go last], Wu Long added, and they formed a single line, as Qian Ying flew up.