Riding the Black Dragon, Yi Tianyun quickly returned to Celestial Heart City and headed straight for the Star Pavilion. Before that, he had of course put on the Hundred-Change Mask again, concealing himself so that no one would know his true appearance.

Upon returning to the Star Pavilion, he had just stepped inside when he gestured for an attendant to take him to Steward Huang. When Steward Huang saw him, a surprised look crossed his face, but he quickly smiled. "What is it? Is there something else you need to prepare?"

He thought Yi Tianyun hadn’t even left yet. Only a few days had passed; it hadn’t even been a week.

"No, I’m more or less done. I’ve hunted a good number of Demon Beasts and I’m here to sell them to you," Yi Tianyun said with a faint smile. "In exchange, I just need materials. As for the pricing, I’ll leave that up to you."

"What? You’ve already hunted them and returned? So quickly?" Steward Huang was stunned. A round trip by boat would take more than half a month. Unless one traveled by something like a Giant Eagle, it was impossible to be back so soon.

"That’s right. You can take stock." Yi Tianyun took off his Storage Ring, placed it on the table, and said with a faint smile, "It’s all in here. You can take a look."

Steward Huang picked it up, his face full of suspicion. Setting aside the time issue for a moment, he looked Yi Tianyun up and down. The young man didn’t seem to be in any trouble. ’He probably only killed a few Demon Beasts,’ he thought. ’That wouldn’t be very significant for us.’

But when he inspected the corpses inside the Storage Ring, he was utterly dumbfounded, shocked by what he found. Inside the Storage Ring, the Demon Beast carcasses were piled up like a mountain. The quantity far exceeded his imagination. He had assumed Yi Tianyun had hunted a dozen or so at most, but now there were several hundred. It was simply unbelievable!

"This... this quantity..." Steward Huang’s eyes were filled with shock. He looked up at Yi Tianyun, his gaze shifting significantly. "Did you hunt all of these by yourself?"

"You can assume we hunted them together. I hunted them with a friend. Is there a problem?" Yi Tianyun didn’t tell the whole truth. The impact of one person hunting so many Demon Beasts would be too great.

"You hunted them with a friend? That’s a relief..." Steward Huang breathed a sigh of relief. If one person could hunt that many Demon Beasts, it would be unbelievable. That would be far too formidable. What level of cultivation would be required to kill so many?

"So, can you tally it up now?" Yi Tianyun asked.

"Ye-yes..." Steward Huang nodded, unable to resist giving Yi Tianyun a few more glances. This was far beyond his expectations.

He quickly finished his inventory and gave a rough estimate. "I’ve tallied it all up, more or less. What are your requirements for the materials?"

"No special requirements. As long as they’re materials that can be used for forging at the Soul Artifact Level, that’s fine," Yi Tianyun said after a moment of thought.

"What? Forge a Soul Artifact?" Steward Huang was shaken once again. In Celestial Heart City, Blacksmiths capable of forging Soul Artifacts were few and far between. For this young man to request such materials, he was undoubtedly planning to forge one—either by himself or by commissioning someone else.

One thing was certain: he knew an expert capable of forging Soul Artifacts!

"That’s right. Is there a problem?" Yi Tianyun asked.

"No problem at all. It’s just that, as far as I know, the number of Blacksmiths who can forge Soul Artifacts is extremely small... Forgive my forwardness, but are you the one who can do the Artifact Refining, my friend, or is it your friend who can?" Steward Huang inquired.

"Is that important?" Yi Tianyun didn’t answer directly.

"Well... if possible, we would also hope that a Master capable of forging Soul Artifacts could forge some for us. Everything is negotiable," Steward Huang said, rubbing his palms together, looking a bit sheepish.

’Leveling up through Artifact Refining is a viable option, but it’s still a bit too slow,’ Yi Tianyun thought. ’I would only choose that path if I had no other choice.’

"My friend is unavailable at the moment, so we can talk about this later," Yi Tianyun declined.

Steward Huang didn’t look awkward, simply nodding as he said, "If it’s possible, please do come and help us. We will absolutely offer a generous reward!"

Blacksmiths were extremely welcome anywhere. Everyone needed a few weapons, so they were always in high demand.

"The Demon Beasts you hunted can be exchanged for roughly fifteen sets of standard Soul Artifact materials. Are you satisfied with that?" Steward Huang offered his price.

"No problem." Yi Tianyun didn’t really have a concept of the price. Since he’d acquired them easily anyway, he didn’t care much.

"Ding! Successfully completed the Demon Beast hunting mission. Reward: 500,000 Experience Points, ten thousand gold taels, 10,000 Madness Value, 10 Lottery Times, and Star Pavilion Favorability increased by 100!"

The mission was completed just like that. He’d even received a lot of Madness Value and ten Lottery Times!

"Then please wait a moment." Steward Huang turned his head and called out, "Zhu, come over here for a second."

"What is it, Steward Huang?" A figure then emerged from a room in the back.

Yi Tianyun looked up and froze.

"Purple Pavilion Master?" Yi Tianyun called out after a stunned moment.

"Purple Pavilion Master? I’m no Pavilion Master. I don’t have the qualifications to be one," the woman said, shaking her head with a self-deprecating smile.

Yi Tianyun took a closer look and realized she wasn’t Zi Yuwei. But she looked incredibly similar—not a perfect copy, but at least ninety percent alike. There was a ten percent difference, but if one didn’t look closely, it would be impossible to spot the distinction. It made him wonder if they were twins.

Moreover, the Eye of Investigation had already presented her information to him.

Zhu Yuxuan: Cultivation at the ninth layer of the Spirit Refining Stage. Wears the high-grade Spiritual Artifact, Purple Jade Soft Armor. Known Martial Arts include Cloud-Flipping Palm, Cloud-Stepping Step, etc. Comprehensive Combat Power: 16,000. Weakness...

He ignored the rest; it wasn’t very meaningful to him.

"Do you have an older or younger sister?" Yi Tianyun asked.

"My friend, please tell us the details!" Steward Huang stepped forward at that moment, his expression extremely solemn. "Are you saying you’ve seen a woman who looks very similar to her?"

"That’s right. I’ve seen her, and the resemblance is uncanny," Yi Tianyun said without much thought.

"Excellent, excellent!" Steward Huang laughed heartily. "Then tell me, where is she? I will absolutely give you an even greater reward!"

A look of delighted surprise—bordering on ecstasy—flashed in Steward Huang’s eyes.

Just as Yi Tianyun was about to say something, Zhu Yuxuan rushed forward.

"You’ve seen my sister?" Zhu Yuxuan’s expression lit up with joy, and she hurriedly grabbed him. "Where is she?"

She was so agitated that, disregarding the impropriety of physical contact between men and women, she seized Yi Tianyun’s shoulders. The scene left Steward Huang dumbstruck.

However, she quickly came to her senses and said sheepishly, "I’m sorry, I was just too excited. If she looks that much like me, then she must be my sister! I haven’t seen her in so long. Ever since she ran away from home, there’s been no news of her. I don’t know where she went..."

"Ran away from home?" Yi Tianyun asked, puzzled.

"Yes, she ran away several years ago. Sir, could you please tell me where my sister is?" Zhu Yuxuan said excitedly.

Yi Tianyun narrowed his eyes, then turned to Steward Huang. "You mean to tell me your side can’t find any news of her sister?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Steward Huang gave a dry laugh. "The world is a vast place. There are areas that even our Star Pavilion cannot investigate. We generally don’t probe beyond the Celestial Realm Continent; it’s too much of a waste of manpower and resources."

Yi Tianyun could tell Steward Huang wasn’t lying. The Star Pavilion was indeed vast, spanning the entire Celestial Realm Continent, but it didn’t have a particularly strong grasp on the situation outside. This was especially true for the Earth Realm Continent, where they were even more reluctant to expend significant effort to investigate.

’Besides, it seems she had hidden her name. Her true surname must be Zhu, not Zi.’