Chapter 897: Shut Out

"I didn't think it would be so lively and bustling here. This feels like being in a city in the Devil Realm," Han Li remarked.

"This is the main city of Profound City, so it should be like this," Gu Qianxun replied, looking less impressed than Han Li.

After walking for a while, the two of them gradually left the more prosperous area of the city, and they stopped in their tracks in front of a crimson pagoda that was constructed beside a mountain.

The pagoda was quite large, standing at seven hundred to eight hundred feet tall. It was split up into nine levels, and there were countless crimson runes engraved upon it, giving off such intese heat that it felt like standing at the crater of an active volcano.

"Is this Mistress Liu Hua's residence?" Han Li asked.

"That's right. Mistress Liu Hua resides on the top floor of this Molten Flame Pagoda, but it's not so easy to secure an audience with him," Gu Qianxun replied.

"You seem to know quite a bit about Mistress Liu Hua, Fellow Daoist Gu. What type of person is he?" Han Li asked.

"I can't say I know a whole lot about him, he's simply an extremely renowned figure owing to his status as the number one tool refinement master of Profound City," Gu Qianxun replied.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Just how skilled a tool refinement master is he?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Let me put it this way for you: it's said that prior to being cast into the Scalptia Spatial Domain, Mistress Liu Hua once refined a third tier holy treasure," Gu Qianxun replied.

Han Li was astonished to hear this.

The devil race referred to devilish treasures as holy treasures, and these treasures were also split up into tiers, just like immortal treasures. Up to this point, aside from the Heaven Controlling Vial, which was a treasure of an indeterminate tier, the most powerful treasures that Han Li had seen were the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber and the Virata Lute, both of which were treasures of the third tier.

With his current powers, these two treasures were completely unfathomable to him.

The fact that Mistress Liu Hua was capable of refining a treasure of the same caliber as the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber and the Virata Lute was certainly a testament to his expertise in this field.

"It does sound like he's an exceptional tool refinement master, but here in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, both devilish qi and immortal spiritual power are completely inaccessible, so surely his abilities will be severely handicapped," Han Li mused.

"That's true. However, Mistress Liu Hua was able to develop a method to replace devilish qi or immortal spiritual power with starpower, and it's become his primary calling card," Gu Qianxun said.

"Could it be that all of the starpower restrictions in the city were created by him?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Not only that, but I've heard that Mistress Liu Hua has also found a way to inject starpower into weapons, thereby granting them powers similar to that of holy treasures. However, refining such a weapon is an extremely costly process, so it'll be next to impossible for us to get our hands on such weapons," Gu Qianxun replied.

Han Li nodded in response with a contemplative look on his face.

"Let's go," Gu Qianxun said, and the two of them arrived before the Molten Flame Pagoda.

Even though the doors were tightly shut, there was still a burst of scorching heat radiating out from inside.

"It's said that this Molten Flame Pagoda is constructed upon an active volcanic crater. It's impossible to use devilish qi in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so natural fire must be used for tool refinement purpose," Gu Qianxun explained.

Han Li nodded in response, then looked around to discover that there was no one else in the entire surrounding area.

"If Mistress Liu Hua really is such an exceptional tool refinement master, then why is it so peaceful here? How is there no one here to request weapons from him?" Han Li asked.

"Mistress Liu Hua is City Lord E Kuai's personal tool refinement master, so he possesses an extremely lofty status. On top of that, he doesn't like to be disturbed, so no one dares to come and bother him," Gu Qianxun replied as she strode over to the doors before knocking on them.

Only after knocking on the door for quite a while was it finally answered by a short and portly young man with a rash on his head.

"How can I help you?" the young man asked in a lazy and slightly arrogant voice.

"We have been long-time admirers of Mistress Liu Hua, and we would like to be granted an audience with him," Gu Qianxun replied as she cupped her fist in a salute, and Han Li did the same.

"That's unfortunate. Mistress Liu Hua went into seclusion a few days ago, so he won't be seeing any guests," the young man said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"When will Mistress Liu Hua be coming out of seclusion?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

"Who knows? If you're lucky, maybe seven or eight years, but you could be waiting for up to a century if you're not in luck," the young man replied as he began to close the door.

Gu Qianxun hurriedly stepped forward and called out, "Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist. We're..."

"Don't make me chase you away! Do you think Mistress Liu Hua is someone that anyone can meet on a whim? Get out of here!" the young man snapped as he shooed Han Li and Gu Qianxun away.

"Indeed, to think that a pair of slaves from Green Goat City would even dream of meeting Mistress Liu Hua. What a joke!"

A mocking voice rang out from behind Han Li and Gu Qianxun, and the two of them turned around to discover that it was none other than Feng Wuchen.

He was accompanied by a dark-skinned middle-aged man with a coarse beard and a pair of sharp and piercing eyes that harbored a ruthless, animalistic gleam.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly, but he didn't say anything, while Gu Qianxun's expression remained completely unchanged.

Feng Wuchen took a disdainful glance at the two of them, then turned to the portly young man as he pulled out a golden greeting card and said, "My name is Feng Wuchen, and I've come to see Mistress Liu Hua on behalf of my foster father, City Lord Qin Yuan of Profound End City."

The portly young man's expression changed upon hearing this, and he put on a welcoming smile as he replied, "Please wait for a moment, Fellow Daoist Feng, I'll report your visit to Mistress Liu Hua right away. However, it'll be up to Mistress Liu Hua whether he decides to see you or not."

He was just a gatekeeper, so he didn't dare to make any promises.

"Of course," Feng Wuchen replied with a confident smile.

The young man gave Feng Wuchen a nod, yet right as he was about to enter the pagoda, Gu Qianxun pulled out an antiquated white bone badge with a crack on its surface as she called out to him, "Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist, I also have a token here that I would like you to present to Mistress Liu Hua."

Several free-flowing runes that were giving off a faint white glow were engraved onto both sides of the badge, and the short young man stopped in his tracks upon hearing this.

He was just about to accept the bone badge from her when Feng Wuchen scoffed, "You call that thing a token? What a joke!"

He knew that Gu Qianxun was quite a powerful cultivator, but ultimately, she was only a lowly gladiator of Green Goat City, so he didn't think very highly of her at all.

A hesitant look appeared on the portly young man's face upon hearing this.

"You're the gatekeeper of this Molten Flame Pagoda, right? In that case, I suggest you do your job and don't try to overstep your authority. Otherwise, you could incur consequences that are too severe for you to handle," Gu Qianxun said in an indifferent manner.

"I understand. Please wait here for a moment, I'll report your visit to Mistress Liu Hua as well," the portly young man replied as he made his decision, accepting Gu Qianxun's bone badge before re-entering the Molten Flame Pagoda.

Feng Wuchen's expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, but he didn't dare to step out of line in front of Mistress Liu Hua's residence.

Close to two hours flew by in the blink of an eye, yet the portly young man still hadn't returned, and it was as if he had disappeared.

Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out from inside the Molten Flame Pagoda, following which the portly young man finally reappeared.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long. Mistress Liu Hua doesn't like to be disturbed, and he was doing his morning meditation, so I could only wait until after he was done. Please come in, fellow daoists," the portly young man said in an apologetic manner.

"It's fine. Mistress Liu Hua must be an extremely busy man, so it's only right that we wait for him," Feng Wuchen said with a smile as he began to make his way into the pagoda.

The portly young man hurriedly reached out a hand to stop him, and he didn't dare to look at Feng Wuchen's face as he said, "Mistress Liu Hua has asked you to come back tomorrow, but he would like to see Fellow Daoist Gu and her companion now."

At the same time, he was internally kicking himself. He was in such a hurry to invite Gu Qianxun and Han Li into the pagoda that he failed to properly elaborate, and it was clear that Feng Wuchen wasn't going to be very happy about this.

Sure enough, his face turned bright red, and a furious and humiliated look appeared in his eyes as he asked in an incredulous voice, "What did you just say?"

As for Gu Qianxun, her expression remained completely unchanged, as if she had already anticipated this outcome, and she thanked the portly young man before stepping into the pagoda, while Han Li followed along with an intrigued look in his eyes.

The portly young man took a hesitant glance at Feng Wuchen, then rushed after Han Li and Gu Qianxun as he said, "Please come with me, fellow daoists."

The doors of the pagoda slowly swung shut, leaving Feng Wuchen's duo outside.

"Let's go!" Feng Wuchen snapped with a furious expression as he turned to depart, and before long, he and the dark-skinned middle-aged man had vanished into the distance.

……

Han Li and Gu Qianxun were led by the portly young man down a long corridor before arriving at a spiral staircase that led upward.

"Mistress Liu Hua resides on the top floor of the pagoda, so please come with me," the portly young man said in a respectful manner.

As Han Li and Gu Qianxuan trailed along behind him, the former asked through voice transmission, "Fellow Daoist Gu, if you had this token all along, why did you tell me that it was going to be difficult to secure an audience with Mistress Liu Hua?"

"Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist Li. That token was left to me by my mother, and she told me that I'd be able to use it to meet Mistress Liu Hua. However, I didn't know if it would actually work, and I certainly wasn't expecting things to go this smoothly," Gu Qianxun replied with a smile.

"Is that so?" Han Li mused with slightly furrowed brows.