Lu Tianzi did not rush into things. First, he made sure to set up a simple concealing formation.

The Scarlet Moon Palace might have had enough spare residences to accommodate all the soldiers for free, but in exchange, the quality of the residence suffered slightly.

None of these residences contained a concealing formation within, and thus the reason for Lu Tianzi to set up one for himself.

After that was done, Lu Tianzi spared no time in peering into the spatial ring that the Scarlet Moon Overlord had given to him earlier.

The moment he did, Lu Tianzi's eyes immediately lit up in surprise.

Beast cores!

Lots of beast cores!

The independent space within the spatial ring was not too big, but it was completely filled with a pile of beast cores!

With just a single glance, Lu Tianzi could tell that there should be thousands of them at least, far more than what he currently had.

But then his eyes narrowed, and his excitement dimmed. Upon closer examination, all of them were simply low ranked beast cores.

It was still a significant amount of wealth, perhaps even enough for him to live in luxury for the rest of his life. However, what Lu Tianzi was most concerned about was using them for cultivation purposes.

Now that he was already at the Peak Essence Condensation realm, low ranked beast cores would only be good for a short while more.

After all, he was already preparing to attack the next boundary – the Origin Core realm.

To an Origin Core realm martial artist, the energy level within low ranked beast cores was simply too low to help advance their cultivation level, or at least not in a significant way.

Lu Tianzi's perception swept through these beast cores in a disinterested manner, searching, hoping for a surprise.

Surely the Scarlet Moon Overlord would not be this stingy?

And then he found it.

There, buried under the pile of low ranked beast cores, was an unspectacular looking orb. In fact, apart from the huge size, it would have looked just like any other beast core.

Lu Tianzi's interested was piqued once again.

Without hesitation, he pulled it out of the spatial ring to scrutinise it more carefully in his lap. That was when Lu Tianzi realised that it was not a sphere at all.

The cold sphere, if he could still call it that, was around the size of his torso, and had rough edges all over. Its entire body was coloured a dull grey, without any form of gradient to it. On top of that, there were no energy undulations coming from it either.

So just what the hell is this thing?

Lu Tianzi let out a bitter smile.

He had absolutely no idea what this was. No matter how he looked at it, it was just a piece of rock?

Should he ask Marshal Xianming about it?

No, that would be inappropriate.

Earlier after the banquet ended, Marshal Xianming had already spent a bit of time explaining to Beimu Fei and himself on the process of refining the impurities in their inner worlds. Even though it was just a few tips, it was still enlightening to listen to.

To bother Marshal Xianming again immediately would be far too imposing on him.

Furthermore, Marshal Xianming was not someone whom others could meet whenever they wished, and he might not even be willing to meet any guests.

All right, that would be his last resort.

Before coming to that, he should at least try to figure out what it was by himself.

As for asking the elders in the Nine Suns Sect, Lu Tianzi was reluctant to do so.

Who knew how valuable this thing was?

Greed is the root of all evil. If this thing was actually extremely valuable, then he would effectively be inviting trouble upon himself.

Even if they were elders in the sect, they were not impervious to the thoughts of greed.

In fact, this might be the reason why the Scarlet Moon Overlord chose not to reveal the item in public!

Looking at the unimpressive dull grey piece of rock in his lap, Lu Tianzi immediately had second thoughts.

No matter how he looked at it, it did not seem like something that could be that valuable?

Perhaps the Scarlet Moon Overlord was just a stingy person after all..

***

A week passed.

Far away from Scarlet Moon City, a young lady paced up and down in a spacious garden. The garden contained a small stone table, overlooking a small pond adorned by dozens of pansy flowers.

Even without her realising it, she had started to bite her nails nervously, her mind wandering into deep contemplation. It was only when footsteps sounded out from outside did her thoughts finally return.

She quickly tidied her clothes before putting on a look of confidence, turning her gaze towards the door that was slowly being pushed open.

"Father," Nanlan Qianbing welcomed the man with a smile.

"Mm," City Lord Nanlan nodded in acknowledgement as he stepped into the garden. "What is it that you wished to talk about?"

"Here, take a seat first!" Nanlan Qianbing hurried over to hook her arms around her father's, leading him over to sit at the stone table. "Have some tea made by your beloved daughter!"

Nanlan Qianbing picked up the pot of tea that was on the table, meticulously pouring a cup for her father.

City Lord Nanlan did not decline either, proceeding to sip on the tea as he savoured its fragrance.

"How is it?" Nanlan Qianbing asked with the cutest expression she could muster.

"Not too bad," City Lord Nanlan remarked. "To even push my beloved daughter to the point of making tea for me, there must be a really great matter on your mind. Did you get into some trouble?"

"Hehe, my admirable father is really too resourceful. Nothing can be hidden from your eyes!" Nanlan Qianbing laughed in embarrassment. "The thing is.. erm.. how should I put it?"

"Just speak your mind," City Lord Nanlan urged her on. "What is there to hide from your father?"

"Then I will just speak my mind!" Nanlan Qianbing settled herself down at the stone table opposite her father, staring at him with resolution in her eyes.

"There is a guy whom I want to be with. I hope you will give us your blessings."

City Lord Nanlan froze.

His gaze lifted from the teacup in his hands and onto his beautiful daughter's face, as though trying to confirm if it was truly his daughter seated opposite him.

"Who is the guy?" City Lord Nanlan went straight to the point.

It was not the fact that she had a guy in mind that shocked him, but the fact that he had absolutely no idea who she had in mind!

Since when had there been a guy in her life?

How could he not have noticed?

In his mind, the faces of the many male disciples of his Bluenight Palace flashed past quickly. But he simply could not think of anyone of them who had been exceptionally close to his daughter as of late.

"You know him as well!" a slight flush rose up from beneath Nanlan Qianbing's face as she hesitated for a moment. "He is none other than the top ranker of the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet!"

Hearing her words, City Lord Nanlan's shock turned into incredulity in an instant. "You mean.. Nanlu Tianzi?"

Was he hearing things?

He was not too sure either. That was the reason why he had asked despite knowing full well that there could only be one top ranker of the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet.

"Yes, that's right! He's none other than Nanlu Tianzi!" Nanlan Qianbing nodded with a grin on her face. "What do you think? Isn't your daughter just too charming? After what happened during the war, Tianzi can be considered as the most talented person in the kingdom right now! From now on, there will certainly be many love rivals coming forth from all over the kingdom. To prevent any accidents, I'd better reserve him first now that I am still ahead!"

City Lord Nanlan was speechless.

Yes, there was no doubt about Nanlu Tianzi's talent. Even the Scarlet Moon Overlord had personally praised him in front of everyone.

However, why was his daughter speaking as though Nanlu Tianzi had already been charmed by her?

Since when had the relationship between the two of them been this close?

Well, it's definitely not a bad thing.

Nanlu Tianzi had always been an outstanding individual. Since the time at the Nine Suns Trial, he had already seen the potential in the youngster, and even gifted him a mid ranked beast core.

As for the incident with the Lightning Crow Sect? What was that about?

He had clean forgotten about that incident.

Anyway, the current Nanlu Tianzi was no longer just a mere talented youngster from the Nine Suns Sect. Considering Nanlu Tianzi's meteoric rise, the youngster would certainly become a great pillar of the Scarlet Moon Kingdom before long. If such a youngster could become his future son-in-law, then it would certainly be the best case scenario!

But why did it all sound too good to be true?

"Are you sure your feelings are reciprocated?" City Lord Nanlan found himself asking after all. "From what I see, the relationship between the two of you doesn't seem to be too good?"

Nanlan Qianbing rolled her eyes and leaned back into her seat impatiently, showing obvious displeasure at being doubted.

"Have you not seen how ruthlessly Tianzi acted against that Beihua Wanlei when he thought that he would be losing me to that useless fool?" Nanlan Qianbing asked in exasperation.

It was so obvious, and yet her father could not tell?

How dense!

City Lord Nanlan frowned as he was reminded of the incident. "But that is because Beihua Wanlei forced his hand, is it not?"

"Tch!" Nanlan Qianbing clicked her tongue in irritation. "Fine, if you insist on that, so be it. But what about how Tianzi has continued wearing the mask I gave him? I was clearly mocking him with the mask, but he cherished it so much that he even wore it during the subjugation of the human city in the north, showing it off to everyone with pride. This should be enough proof, shouldn't it?"

City Lord Nanlan rubbed his chin in contemplation. "That.. is kind of a long shot, isn't it?"

He might be excited at the thought of gaining Nanlu Tianzi as his future son-in-law, but he was not about to get ahead of himself.

The examples that his daughter gave were simply not conclusive enough. As long as Nanlu Tianzi did not express his interest, it would be wiser to take his silence as a continuation of his previous attitude.

As for what his previous attitude was, it would be obvious as long as one just thought about it rationally.

"Long shot? Do you even know what you are talking about? I am one hundred percent certain about this! Anyone with the least bit of sense would think so too!" Nanlan Qianbing finally lost her temper. "Whatever. I will prove you wrong in the coming banquet. Since you are so dense, just sit there and watch. It will all be fine as long as you do not hinder me by pulling my back leg!"

There might have been a banquet at Scarlet Moon Palace, but Bluenight Palace still needed to hold its own in order to celebrate the contributions and accomplishments of the soldiers from Bluenight City especially.

Since Bluenight Palace was the one organising it, Nanlan Qianbing was naturally in the know.

This time, Nanlan Qianbing did not wait for her father's reply, immediately standing up and stomping off from the garden.

Left alone at the stone table, City Lord Nanlan let out a helpless sigh.

Even though Nanlan Qianbing was his daughter, he seriously doubted her chances of success this time.

Nevertheless, he might as well just let Nanlan Qianbing handle this matter for now.

If his daughter was right, then it would be the perfect outcome.

Otherwise, he could just step in and intervene, resolving the situation from behind.

Just what could go wrong here?