2852 Treasure City! Red Thorn consumed the mice according to Lin Yuan’s instructions. It protected the species that were struggling stubbornly but failing to escape from the swarm. It did not kill the members of these species. Red Thorn carefully selected the mice, choosing only those with fatter and chubbier bodies. Suddenly, Red Thorn frowned. “Yuan, when I attacked these mice previously, they did not resist and silently endured the assault. But now, they are starting to fight back and are attacking my sea of flowers. “I have already caught four to five mouse kings. From what I’ve learned about the mouse kings, they are incapable of harnessing and commanding such a large wave. Each mouse king’s ability to transmit information is very limited. “I suspect that the mouse emperor and empress aren’t far from the sea of flowers. If we can catch them and nurture them into fairies, they will definitely be more useful than if we just turn them into potions!” Red Thorn’s understanding of the mice came from its interaction with the rodents. Red Thorn did not see the rodent infestation as serious—it viewed the mice as food. Kani hurriedly said, “Master, the mouse emperor and empress are spatial-type and can teleport within the swarm of mice. They can teleport instantly. Moreover, they are always surrounded by guards who are even stronger than mouse kings. “Unless the entire wave is stamped out, the emperor and empress will never show up. We are now in the vicinity of the 19 islands that are under Honor Absent Palace’s control. This is the Cleansing Station Island’s edge. The rodent calamity must have reached here a few days ago. It’s likely that the officer in charge of Cleansing Station Island has received the news and will soon send people to handle the rodent infestation. “Honor Absent Palace is the ruling faction in the East Universe, and there are many highly skilled experts under them. If we encounter these people, trouble will surely follow! “Every year, Honor Absent Palace invests a large sum into deterring rodent infestations. The investments reach all 19 islands, but there continue to be rodent infestations in all 19 islands. The officer in charge of Cleansing Station Island probably doesn’t want to take responsibility for the losses. So each time a special or powerful expert appears at the same time as a rodent infestation, they will use these factions and experts as scapegoats.” Kani had been leading the King Blood Jackals in developing in North of the Lonely River. Although the area where she was developing was part of Honor Absent Palace’s jurisdiction, they had yet to assign a staff member to manage North of the Lonely River. North of the Lonely River was also not part of any of the 19 islands. Kani hated having to interact with the officials from Honor Absent Palace because it always brought trouble. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎 Kani knew that Lin Yuan was traveling incognito this time. Otherwise, he would have more than just three followers accompanying him. This was why Kani made such a suggestion to Lin Yuan. When she joined Lin Yuan, she noticed that he was not a native of the East Universe. It seemed as though he had only just arrived at the East Universe. Otherwise, there was no need for him to develop in a place as remote as the Lonely River. If Lin Yuan had any intentions toward the East Universe, he would become Honor Absent Palace’s biggest enemy! Those figures had established Honor Absent Palace to provide better lives to the lifeforms living in the East Universe. Honor Absent Palace existed to protect the entire East Universe. However, from the current circumstances, Honor Absent Palace was enjoying the authority of lording over the entire East Universe but was not properly protecting them. Only the powerful species who were part of the Species Ranking had their voices heard by Honor Absent Palace. The less powerful species would recommend one of their stronger members to join Honor Absent Palace as a member of parliament. If Kani eventually led her species out of North of the Lonely River and began developing within Honor Absent Palace’s 19 islands, it was likely she would eventually join Honor Absent Palace as a parliament member to fight for the rights of her species. Lin Yuan did not want to create too much commotion on this journey because his plans for this trip included not just participating in the Bloodians’ plan. He would also move a batch of mermaids into the Spirit Lock spatial zone where Dark Blue was living so they could supply faith power to Dark Blue. If he caused too much of a stir, he would definitely catch the attention of factions, and this would lead to unwanted and unnecessary issues. “Red Thorn, go ahead and pick the mice. Once you’re done, we’re leaving. You have to point the species you’ve saved in the right direction so they know how to hide from the rodent infestation after we’re gone.” Red Thorn did not insist on capturing the mouse emperor and empress. It would never do something that caused issues for Lin Yuan. This was just a suggestion that Red Thorn had. If its suggestion was unfeasible, it would never insist on it. Red Thorn’s bloodline had always been stronger than that of Silver Corona, but the latter’s grade was higher. Now that it had evolved to Creation Breed, the gap between itself and Silver Corona had shrunk. “Yuan, wait another half a day for me. I am about to be able to evolve my grade. Let’s leave after that!” Lin Yuan was willing to allow Red Thorn to evolve its grade there. It so happened that once it evolved, Red Thorn would gain a new ability. Lin Yuan hoped that Red Thorn’s new ability would be related to controlling fairies. The Cleansing Station Island was enormous, and the first thing the manager would have to do after learning about the rodent infestation was to conduct an investigation. He would only send people to address the rodent infestation after gaining a comprehensive understanding of the situation. He could not send people immediately after the rodent infestation began. If he made a decision before properly understanding the situation, he might be able to put out the urgent fires but would be criticized for being reckless. The officials managing the 19 islands were under the supervision of Honor Absent Palace. Being criticized in such a manner would surely affect them in the future. Hence, these officials were always very cautious before they made their decisions. There was no way that the people from the Cleansing Station Island would be arriving there anytime soon. Red Thorn had sufficient time to evolve, and it took three days to reach Sovereign. The new ability it gained was called Fairy Bloodline Blessing. [Fairy Bloodline Boost]: Each time it takes control of a fairy with a similar bloodline, its overall power will increase by 3% to 5%. It would be difficult for Red Thorn to use Tongue Pouch Births Demons and Demon Transformed Bound Fairy to produce a fairy with the same bloodline as its own. This not only required many resources and energy but also time. However, while Red Thorn was developing, the number of fairies it nurtured would only increase. It would definitely have many fairies by its side in the future. This meant that Fairy Bloodline Boost would be able to increase its power significantly! After Red Thorn evolved its grade, it stopped using the sea of flowers to attack the mice. Instead, it extracted the energy it had injected into the sea of flowers and absorbed it back into its body. Red Thorn had already opened a path using the sea of flowers that the species it had rescued could pass through. At Red Thorn’s current grade, it was unable to utilize faith power. However, its act of saving the species would definitely leave a deep impression on the species’ members. There was a high chance that, unbeknownst to Red Thorn, the saved parties had already dedicated their faith power to the sea of flowers. They had suffered a huge loss at the hands of the rodent infestation, but Red Thorn had led them to a safe location far from the calamity, where they could reside in peace once again. There was no way that Honor Absent Palace would offer any compensation to the species that were affected by such a crisis. Hence, it was almost impossible that any of these species would cross paths with people from Honor Absent Palace. There were plenty of powerful and strange lifeforms in the Sky Beyond the Clouds. The sea of flowers would inevitably leave behind signs of having grown here. These signs could not be removed. It was likely that rumors surrounding Red Thorn would be passed around this area for a long time to come! … Lin Yuan continued heading east. The map that Fan Lou had given him was very useful. After traveling east for another few days, he would be able to reach the largest trading city in the Cleansing Station Island, Treasure City. Treasure City relied on trade, and there were hundreds of chambers of commerce in the city. Each of them was helmed by a species. The goods being sold in Treasure City’s markets were not extremely precious. The truly precious resources were traded privately or at gated auctions held by the upper echelon. Lin Yuan was a newcomer, and he had not come to Treasure City to trade for precious resources. This trip to Treasure City did allow him to broaden his horizons and increase his understanding of the Sky Beyond the Clouds. Lin Yuan had heard from Fan Lou that many chambers of commerce would compile and sell books. The books contained information on resources that could be harvested in the wild, as well as the chambers of commerce’s descriptions of various resources. However, the books’ descriptions of the effects of spiritual ingredients were not comprehensive. Many chambers of commerce mistook the effects of the resources they had harvested and sold them as other kinds of goods. As a result, there were often disputes between the chambers of commerce. Due to the overwhelming number of resources in the Sky Beyond the Clouds, the sellers could not ascertain the effects of every kind of resource. Hence, the trades were simple, and many who traded in Treasure City received benefits. There were some who even managed to trade for miracle goods. As a result, Treasure City, which was an amalgamation of chambers of commerce, only grew increasingly larger. Kani had not been to such a bustling area in such a long time. She did not care for places like Treasure City. She believed that the most precious resources in this world were pure spirit qi and faith power. There was no way that such resources were available for sale in Treasure City! Kani assumed that, being a young lifeform, Lin Yuan had come to Treasure City to immerse himself in the excitement but would soon leave in disappointment. Despite not having reached Treasure City yet, Lin Yuan had already encountered thousands of merchant groups. The merchant groups were either traveling out of Treasure City or were carrying resources towards Treasure City. Lin Yuan felt as though he had returned to the main world. This was the same sight that could be seen in the Radiance Federation’s cities. Lin Yuan thought, A trading city like Treasure City must have many rules. I don’t know any of Treasure City’s rules, so I need to find myself a reliable guide. At that moment, Lin Yuan saw two merchant groups in the middle of a brawl. They were both rushing toward Treasure City. The brawl was not only one of words, as martial force had been unsheathed as well. At first, it looked as though the two merchant groups were equally matched. However, two elderly men walked out from the carriage of one of the merchant groups, and the scales of the fight began to tip. “Huang Zhen, we run into the Bloodwood Lion Bees everywhere and have always given way. What more do you want? We are no longer in possession of that mineral vein. You know which faction is harvesting it now. “Do you want us to take on that faction with you because you lack the capabilities to do it on your own? We have already admitted that we aren’t as strong as the Bloodwood Lion Bees and have provided you with many resources. How dare you continue to strike so treacherously against us?” This voice sounded like bloody shrieks and roars. The tone was one of pure rage. Lin Yuan gleaned useful information from this voice. The first piece of information was that stronger species could take resources from weaker ones. Honor Absent Palace could not interfere with this. The second piece of information was that if misunderstandings took place between weak and strong factions, the weaker faction could supply resources to the stronger one as a means of mediation. However, the Bloodwood Lion Bees refused to leave this species, who had fought with them over a mineral vein alone, even after receiving benefits. This weaker faction might be in a sticky spot. Should he rescue the merchant group of this species and escort them into Treasure City, teeming with various chambers of commerce, the species would view him as their savior and implore him for protection. When that happened, this species would definitely be willing to act as his guide if he wanted to browse Treasure City and shop for resources!