"There's no need to rush your decision. We won't be returning to the Tai Gu Alliance for a while in any case, so you may as well wait until my next visit to give me your answer. I trust Miss Song is a sensible woman and won't disappoint me." Xue Jianfeng's anger vanished as suddenly as it had come, replaced by a faint, deliberate smile.

He knew better than to press too hard—too much was as bad as too little. Her refusal to his face, he reasoned, was most likely because the proposal had come too abruptly and she had not had time to prepare herself, or perhaps because she still harbored doubts about what he had said earlier. Once she had looked into these matters thoroughly, she would naturally know which choice to make.

"..." Qiu Lingshan could only remain silent. But since he had put it that way, she could hardly keep up a hard line and throw it back at him on the spot. For matters like this, delay was the best she could manage; at worst, she could refuse outright when the time came. The pressing task now was to find someone to discuss countermeasures with, so that they would not be caught flat-footed should conflict break out with these Tai Gu Alliance people.

"Then I shall take my leave. I hope Miss Song will give this matter careful consideration. Oh, and yes—don't forget the business of the primordial-spirit cultivator." With that, Xue Jianfeng rose and departed, Fei Yangsheng at his side.

He seemed unexpectedly reasonable, but Xue Jianfeng was in fact retreating in order to advance. Truth be told, he did not believe the Mystery Bureau could track down that primordial-spirit cultivator. Once a few days had passed and he returned, he would have every justification to seize on the matter and make an issue of it.

By then he need only raise some petty obstacle, and Qiu Lingshan would have no choice but to comply obediently. At the same time, he could pick out a few mortal-world cultivators of decent aptitude and take them along as well. These people, he expected, would not dare cross the Tai Gu Alliance—indeed, they might well be overjoyed, for those who refused his invitation to his face, like Qiu Lingshan, were only a rare handful of oddities.

Only after Xue Jianfeng and his companion had left the Mystery Bureau did Qiu Lingshan finally breathe a sigh of relief. The others had lost all heart for their work; seeing this, they crowded around at once to ask what had happened.

"Get on with your work. Once I've reported to Director Feng, you'll learn what you need to know." Qiu Lingshan waved them off and immediately telephoned Feng Tianlong, recounting the whole scene in detail. Feng Tianlong was away on business and could not possibly return for some time, so a phone call was their only means of communication.

"Mm, I heard about the primordial-spirit cultivator business just now. But the fact that they actually want to recruit disciples from the mortal world—that is a little unexpected." Feng Tianlong mused after hearing her out.

"What are we to do?" Qiu Lingshan asked.

"Here's what we'll do. First, get the word out and have everyone concentrate on tracking down the primordial-spirit cultivator. They may well have invented the whole thing as a pretext, but we still have to investigate it properly. We can't leave them any opening to seize on and make trouble." Feng Tianlong instructed.

"Understood!" Qiu Lingshan answered gravely.

"As for the second matter, we certainly cannot give them the records on mortal-world cultivators. If their intentions are ill, the consequences would be unthinkable. Still, we can't simply do nothing in response. Let's find the time to go through the roster and conduct an internal screening—draw up a list of those with the highest aptitude, and we'll act according to circumstances when the time comes." Feng Tianlong thought it over as he spoke.

"All right, I'll get on it right away!" Qiu Lingshan hung up and immediately assembled the entire Mystery Bureau to begin a targeted search for the primordial-spirit cultivator. Everyone knew the odds were vanishingly small, but in their present straits, treating a dead horse as a live one was all they could do.

Once the arrangements were made, Qiu Lingshan did not stay on at the Mystery Bureau to hold the fort. Instead she went straight to the villa in the Xue Shang residential compound—she had to report these matters to Wu Chengtian and the others in person.

At her message, Wu Chengtian and the rest were badly startled; one and all dropped what they were doing without hesitation. By the time Qiu Lingshan pushed open the villa's front door, travel-worn and dusty, every last one of them had assembled.

What Qiu Lingshan did not know was that after she stepped through the villa's gate, two figures emerged from the greenery not far behind her—none other than Xue Jianfeng and Fei Yangsheng.

With their strength, shadowing someone in the mortal world was child's play. Even a master like Qiu Lingshan, at the great perfection of the Heaven Grade, was no exception; it was simply impossible for her to notice.

"Interesting. This place actually holds so many masters at the great perfection of the Heaven Grade. It seems there is more to this Qiu Lingshan than meets the eye—no wonder she hesitated to refuse my invitation." Xue Jianfeng stroked his chin with keen interest.

The great perfection of the Heaven Grade was the very peak of a mortal-world cultivator's power, and here a whole crowd of them had gathered in one house—in the mortal world, they were all but invincible.

"Senior Brother Xue, shall we go in?" Fei Yangsheng asked.

"Go in? And do what—seize them on the spot? We're here to recruit disciples, not to kidnap people. Use your head!" Xue Jianfeng shot him a glance and said mildly, "A few of those inside look to have quite decent aptitude. Make a note of them for now; next time we'll simply name them and demand they come with us."

"Quite right, quite right. Senior Brother Xue is brilliant as ever. With you personally taking charge, the disciples recruited this time will surely be far superior to those of other sects—the sect master is certain to record a great merit for you, Senior Brother Xue." Fei Yangsheng hastened to flatter him.

A trace of smugness crept onto Xue Jianfeng's face. What he was doing was not merely for the sake of merit; more importantly, once these disciples were brought back, they would naturally belong to his own faction. For an ambitious man like him, the benefits went without saying.

"Enough. Time we got down to business. The Mystery Bureau alone won't be able to find that primordial-spirit cultivator—we'll need to put the Tai Gu Alliance's people to work as well." Xue Jianfeng promptly led Fei Yangsheng away, silent and unseen.

Inside the villa, Qiu Lingshan and the others remained wholly unaware of any of this. After hearing her account in full, the whole group fell into silence, their hearts uneasy.

"So all these people are Way cultivators. That could prove somewhat tricky," Wu Chengtian said with a frown.

"Indeed. A Tai Gu Alliance appearing out of nowhere, and a different breed entirely from Yunjie Island—these people are simply not on our level. With the strength we have, I'm afraid we can't contend with them," Yu Bing said gravely.

Everyone nodded in agreement. They were all masters at the great perfection of the Heaven Grade, and many of them had until now felt rather like invincible loners at the top. But the situation was now utterly different: to say nothing of the Tai Gu Alliance as a whole, Xue Jianfeng alone was more than they could handle.