Ou Yangming and his companions arrived at the Governor's Residence. As compared to Feng Yiyuan and the others, who were relaxed and did not seem to be concerned about the disaster caused by the Aquatics, the residence had an undercurrent and was filled with an extremely suppressive aura.

After stating their purpose of visitation, Ou Yangming and his fellows were denied entry as the person-in-charge used the excuse that Peng Huachi was unconscious. Ou Yangming could sense that the people here were on guard against him.

He was not insistent, hence he went to the general's residence but faced the same outcome. At this point, as self-restrained as he was, he could not help but become a little enraged.

They were not in Changlong City so instead of letting the goshawk stay inside the city, Ou Yangming ordered it to gather with Multi-armed King Kong. In any case, the 5-kilometers distance was a piece of cake for the gigantic beasts, thus they could get to the young fellow right away if he summoned them.

Feng Yiyuan arranged incredibly luxurious rooms for Ou Yangming and his companions. In fact, even the Ni family's compound in Changlong City was inferior.

Even so, Ou Yangming's smile disappeared after he entered the courtyard and asked the servants to leave.

"Elder Brother, they went overboard!" Jiang Jiumei was the first to speak her mind. "Are they trying to hide the truth from the public?"

Ni Yinghong wanted to say something but was hesitant. She did not know in detail her great ancestors' plan, but she more or less knew something. Different clans in Changlong County had come together and were somewhat going to turn their governor and commanding general into figureheads. The same situation was even more obvious in Canghai County, by which the governor and the commanding general appointed by the imperial family were unconscious. Moreover, the fact that they were disallowed from receiving foreign visitors showed that they were likely fraught with grim possibilities.

Ou Yangming waved his hand and said, "Jiumei, don't simply say things if you don't know that truth."

"Yes." Jiang Jiumei pouted her lips. She was unhappy, but she did not want to make him angry.

"Elder Brother, what should we do next?"

"We came to slaughter the Aquatics' spirit beast. As long as we complete our task, we'll leave the city," Ou Yangming answered in a deep voice.

"Huh? We'll leave?" Jiang Jiumei widened her eyes as she was shocked. The answer seemed different from what she had imagined.

Ou Yangming explained snappily, "No matter what happened here, it has nothing to do with me, so I won't cause any trouble as long as nobody provokes me. The same goes for you too…"

Jiang Jiumei gritted her teeth when she noticed the young fellow's piercing eyes. "Yes."

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming did not realize that as he spoke, Big Yellow kept blinking while it stared in a certain direction. It disguised its movements very well and had been clever all along, so the young fellow did not notice it.

After advising the ladies and asking them to rest in their rooms, Ou Yangming entered another room with the birdcage.

Seeing as nobody else was present, the little red bed released its origin's spiritual world and let Ou Yangming practice the Phoenixes' secret techniques inside. Perhaps the young fellow was already at the peak of this world and rarely encountered a competitor. However, after witnessing the appearance of the dragon and the phoenix, even the proud little red bird underwent an enormous change, let alone him. As such, they began yearning for more in martial arts.

Nevertheless, they did not notice that Big Yellow had secretly left the courtyard while nobody was paying attention.

It was a dog, but it was unexpectedly huge. In that case, it would definitely cause panic if it appeared overtly among the crowd.

Who knew, the fellow shook its body after it left the courtyard and somehow shrunk by half in size. Even if Ou Yangming was present at the moment, he could not have thought that it was the big yellow dog that he was familiar with.

Big Yellow tucked its tail and flashed to jump into another courtyard.

The big yellow dog's furs were stuck closely to its body as it curbed its aura. As a result, nobody would notice it as it seemed to have become a spirit in the dark.

If a fearsome spirit beast decided to stroll in the city while concealing its aura, ordinary people would not be able to spot it at all. On the contrary, as hard as a normal person tried to hide, one could not avoid a spirit beast's eyes, ears, and vision.

Before long, Big Yellow arrived at a large residence at the west end of the city. It did not startle anyone when it went over the wall and entered.

Following that, it tiptoed and sneaked its way to a room.

The big yellow dog was a spirit beast, but it knew humans very well because it grew up in a world of humans. Therefore, there were no hiccups throughout its journey.

All of a sudden, it stopped and twitched its nose while looking elated. It shook its body again to shrink its body, then it quietly entered a room through the corner of a window.

A peculiar plant was seen in the room. It looked like a shaky inverted pyramid but still stood firm, which was quite astounding.

Big Yellow's eyes lit up right away. It blinked and opened its mouth to an extreme such that it became the size of a sacrificial bowl. Subsequently, it swallowed the entire plant.

The big yellow wagged its tail, and its body quivered because it was overjoyed. Despite that, it suppressed its excitement after a brief moment, then it left the room carefully. Throughout the process, Big Yellow was wary and did not leave any clues behind.

It quickly returned by the way it came, and it shook its body again once it was back in the courtyard. Consequently, the big yellow dog's body grew and went back to its initial state.

Big Yellow opened its mouth and yawned, then it fell sound asleep in the most comfortable position ever.

That said, it did not know that a servant entered the strange room half an hour after it left the place. The servant carried a big kettle, which was filled with a faint gold liquid.

Just as he was about to pour the liquid on the plant, he realized that his master's treasured plant was gone.

The servant screamed and caught everyone's attention in the residence, hence the news was spread in no time.

Soon enough, Feng Yiyuan, Xiao Hualing, and the others arrived. Their faces took on grave expressions when they saw the empty room.

"Brother Feng, what do we do now?" Xiao Hualing's voice trembled a little. "Sir assigned this task to us, but we didn't complete it and even… Lost the thing. How can we take it if sir blames us?"

Feng Yiyuan stomped his foot as he was furious. "How did you guard this place? How could it disappear without leaving a trace? Hmph, is there a spy here?"

The people around him fell to their knees almost at the same time. The head protector noted, "Sir, we dare not relax at all after receiving your order, so I arranged enough men for a three-layered protection. Besides, everyone on duty is an elder from the clan so there can't be a traitor here."

Feng Yiyuan looked fierce, which was the exact opposite of how he would usually act. Although he knew there was calmness in every serious matter, the problem was too severe this time, so he could not calm down at all.

Just as everyone was under pressure, and Feng Yiyuan looked more menacing than before, a gentle voice was heard coming from behind.

"Did you lose the Tree of Splendour?"

Feng Yiyuan and Xiao Hualing shivered. They immediately lowered their heads and turned around with respect. "Greetings, sir."

A scholar in his thirties had unknowingly appeared behind them. He wore white clothes and carried a unique aura as deep as the sea, causing one to be so afraid of him that one would not have the guts to defy him at all.

Even though Feng Yiyuan and Xiao Hualing were Supreme Great Ancestors, they were frightened when they witnessed the scholar fight the Aquatics' spirit beast. Thus, they dared not disobey the man at all.

The scholar walked straight to where the plant was planted before and scanned the area for some time. Afterward, he lifted his head as though he was deducing something.

He scoffed coldly after a moment and stated, "A kin was here, so no wonder it went missing just like that."

Feng Yiyuan and Xiao Hualing looked at each other. They were surprised yet overjoyed.

'Since he found a clue, he might not punish us. That being said, given that he called the thief a kin, how could that being be easy to deal with?'

The scholar turned around and asked coldly, "Did that young fella enter the city today?"

"Yes, sir. Master Ou has entered the city, but he didn't bring the two spirit beasts inside," Feng Yiyuan answered with respect.

"People like you can't tell if he actually brought them inside with him." The scholar grinned and said after some thought, "Bring me to him."

"Sir, are you going to meet him just like that?" Feng Yiyuan was stunned.

Their initial plan was to let Feng Yiyuan test Ou Yangming's attitude so that things would be easier for them. However, the sudden incident completely messed up the scholar's plan.

Feng Yiyuan did not object to the scholar's idea, but he was quite worried.

If the scholar took down Ou Yangming and denounced him, how would the spirit beasts outside the city react? The scholar might have a notable combat power, but he was by himself, after all.

A convoy left the courtyard after 15 minutes, and it was slowly heading to where Ou Yangming was at.

At this moment, Big Yellow, which was lying by the door, sneezed and opened its eyes to look in a certain direction in bewilderment. It knew what was in that direction, but it could not understand why there was an intense hostile aura over there.

The big yellow dog blinked and seemed to have understood something, but it made up its mind after it looked around.

'I'm not going to reveal the truth no matter what.'

At last, the convoy stopped. Feng Yiyuan personally went forward to knock on the door.