Her eyes lit up immediately: "Where to?" After being trapped in Hidden Stream for so long, she could finally go out for some fresh air!

He curled his lips and let her go: "To meet this secret supplier, yes, it’s a matter of reciprocity."

"Great!" Her eyes sparkled, "Which direction are we heading?"

He gave a mysterious laugh: "You will naturally know once we’re on the road."

Damn, his lips sealed so tightly, he wouldn’t even divulge a bit of information. With a light hum, she let go of his hand without any reluctance and walked out briskly.

Time was tight, only two days left; if she didn’t want to lose, she must quickly find some useful clues.

The last thing she saw of Changtian was him folding his arms behind his head. His soft sigh circled past the window ledge, captured by her keen hearing: "Little heartless one."

#####

In the following two days, while her body quickly recovered, she was also busy to the point her feet didn’t touch the ground.

Earlier she had just woken up from a long sleep, but now that her body was better, how could she let someone else handle her work? Moreover, she was about to take a long trip, and the Foreign Affairs Hall’s work was so complex, she simply didn’t know where to start. Luckily, Qingluan had managed the Foreign Affairs Hall for her very well in these past three years. However, the commercial dealings of Hidden Stream relied heavily on external supplies through the Foreign Affairs Hall, making it an incredibly demanding department. If not for the current cease-fire, she wouldn’t have been able to go out with Changtian at all.

One and a half days passed, and despite her powerful Divine Thought, she merely browsed through the past three years’ accounts, supply and demand records, and business profitability. To set up new tasks would require at least another two days.

She was indeed tricked by Changtian. Ning Xiaoxian gritted her silver teeth angrily with her notebook, realizing he had long known she would have to handle the Foreign Affairs Hall’s affairs in these two days, thus leaving her with no energy to think about clues for the bet, and had intentionally set a trap for her.

Yet, this covert business partner was indeed not listed in Hidden Stream’s accounts. Leveraging her work, she glanced through numerous materials, but they were all somewhat blurry. Now she could only lament to the air about why she had educated the Foreign Affairs Hall folks so well, to the point where the discrepancies in the accounting entries were indeed difficult to trace! Comparatively, the accounts she examined during the turmoil three years ago were like crude works of children.

The bet with Changtian was already quite challenging, too broad in scope indeed. After all, she had traveled millions of miles on the continent, seeing countless Immortal Sects and Demon Sects. But if it could be guessed easily, how would Changtian, a person of such integrity, so readily make a bet with her?

Hmm, this name appeared several times already. She picked up a notebook, carefully flipping to the entries marked with "Bountiful Gains Pawnshop," examining them closely. If she noted correctly, the other ledgers she checked earlier recorded seven or eight transactions between "Bountiful Gains Pawnshop" and Hidden Stream, involving sales of minerals, magic artifacts, certain herbs, and rare artifact refining materials, while purchases from Hidden Stream included various spirit pills and many specialties from the Southwest Region.

If only these records are present, it’s not unusual; many Immortal Sects did secretly do business with Hidden Stream. But which one could be the one Changtian mentioned? Bountiful Gains Pawnshop possessed a very important characteristic: its trading locations with Hidden Stream were never fixed, and despite checking numerous materials, she couldn’t find the sect’s headquarters at all.

If in Huaxia, she would say this was a shell company, with an empty name, no fixed assets, no fixed business location, and not even fixed personnel.

She summoned the Foreign Affairs Hall’s handler for these transactions, and upon detailed inquiry, realized this was indeed one of Changtian’s specified deals. But for deals like these, Changtian specified many simultaneously.

That means Bountiful Gains Pawnshop was merely a facade, and the Immortal Sect dealing with Hidden Stream set up many facades, with Bountiful Gains Pawnshop being one of them.

This Immortal Sect’s strength was indeed considerable; its reputation must be significant, no wonder it had to conduct these dealings stealthily. This undoubtedly increased the difficulty. She set down the notebook, rubbing her slightly sore eyelids.

"Rest if you’re tired." Changtian entered the Foreign Affairs Hall, just in time to see her leaning back in her chair with closed eyes, feeling sympathetic. This girl was indeed hardworking; did she really detest that matter so much?

Like a fox paying respects to a chicken. She pouted and said: "No rest, I’m holding up." With a "snap," she closed the booklet in her hand and asked, "Lord Divine Monarch, what brings you to the Foreign Affairs Hall?"