“The Star Stone must’ve been taken away by that woman. This woman knew that there was a Star Stone in this batch of goods. Moreover, she was also able to find this particular box in a pile of so many things. I believe that this matter is unlikely to be a sheer coincidence,” Shi Mu said to Zhong Xiu.

　　“It seems that the problem should be inside the Chamber of Commerce.” Zhong Xiu agreed with a nod.

　　“Can it possibly be that Xiao Wei?” Shi Mu asked.

　　Zhong Xiu’s beautiful eyebrows slightly creased as if she wasn’t sure about this.

　　“Heavenly Wu Chamber of Commerce… you are the people of the Heavenly Wu Chamber of Commerce! Our Dark Moon Cult and your Chamber of Commerce never get involved in each other’s matter. In addition, we are also tied up in many business dealings. But, you still dare to…” the middle-aged man’s face exposed a gobsmacked look when he heard their conversation. He then struggled and got to his feet. Then, he moved a couple of steps forward.

　　“It’s your people who have intercepted the Chamber of Commerce’s goods. We’ve come here to seek justice. Do you have any problem with this?” Shi Mu turned his head and replied.

　　“What? These goods are… damn it! The woman said that it was just a common caravan. So, I agreed…” The middle-aged man was left dumbfounded for a moment. Then, he said in anger.

　　Shi Mu sneered. He then turned his head and no longer looked at him.

　　But, an ominous glint flashed through the middle-aged man’s eyes at this time. Then, a waning moon’s virtual shadow brightened behind his head. And then, his body exuded a large amount of grey light. His magic power had depleted some time ago, but it had suddenly revived in his body now.

　　He then said a word “bind” as he saw the sudden stimulation of magic power in his hand.

　　Two grey chains burst out of the ground near Shi Mu and tied up his feet.

　　After that, the grey radiance on the middle-aged man’s body flickered, and a virtual shadow of a long grey spear came into appearance. He then raised his hand and dashed straight towards Shi Mu in such a manner as if he had turned into a grey torrent.

　　A burst of “Chi Chi” sound permeated the entire hall!

　　“Senior Mu, watch out!” Hou Sai Lei stood to one side. He exclaimed as he saw this scene.

　　Zhong Xiu also looked panic-stricken. She wanted to do something to help Shi Mu, but it was already too late to think so.

　　The large grey spear approached Shi Mu with a whistling sound, and pierced through his body in one fell swoop.

　　The middle-aged man’s face had barely exposed a delighted look when his facial expression underwent an abrupt change once again.

　　The fact was that Shi Mu’s silhouette had obviously collapsed and dissipated after being stabbed by the grey spear. However, it was merely his virtual shadow.

　　“This is not good!”

　　The middle-aged man shouted inwardly. He had barely thought of doing something when he felt a cold sensation in his chest.

　　It couldn’t be said when Shi Mu had appeared behind the middle-aged man… A layer of green light was flowing all over his body at the moment. He also held a black blade. And, the sharp tip of that blade had been thrust into the middle-aged man’s chest from behind. The radiating tip of the black blade had stuck out of his front chest, and blood was dripping from it.

　　The middle-aged man turned his neck slowly, and his eyes bulged out. He stared at Shi Mu fixedly, and his whole face got smeared with a hint of inconceivable look.

　　Shi Mu raised another arm, and pounded his fist towards him without any scruple.

　　A “Puff” sound was heard!

　　The middle-aged man was sent flying in the air like a worn-out sack. He then crashed to the ground and made a few futile twitches. A large amount of blood had also gurgled out of his mouth. His breathing eventually stopped in a matter of seconds.

　　“Big Brother Shi, are you okay?” Zhong Xiu walked over as she saw this scene. She then asked in a worried tone.

　　“I’m fine. Hou Sai Lei, I’m handing this person over to you now. He’s a Moon-ranked magician. Your magic power will certainly move a step further if you offer him as your sacrifice,” Shi Mu waved his hand and cast a spell to take the storage ring off the middle-aged man’s finger. He then turned his head towards Hou Sai Lei and said.

　　“Thank… Thank you so much, Senior Mu!” A hint of exultation bloomed across Hou Sai Lei’s face in response. He then walked up to the dead body with quick steps, and got immersed in his work.

　　“I agree that we lost the Star Stone, but we’ve succeeded in retrieving other stuff. We’ve also retrieved the carriages. So, let’s think of a way to transport these things back before any further discussion,” Shi Mu flicked his arm to shake the blood off his black blade. Then, he inserted it back into its scabbard and said to Zhong Xiu.

　　“Big Brother Shi, this place is under the Dark Moon Cult’ control. So, I’m afraid that we can’t carry so many things out of this place in complete secrecy,” Zhong Xiu said.

　　“It’s not a big deal.”

　　Shi Mu said. At the same time, he turned his hand and six or seven assorted storage rings appeared in his hand. He then continued, “These are the only storage magic tools I have right now. I will try to store the valuables and small-sized goods as much as possible. As for the remaining stuff… I’ll make some arrangements for them.”

　　Zhong Xiu nodded and took out her three storage magic tools.

　　Then, they went into action. They started to choose valuable items from the Floating Cloud Carriages, and received them into the storage ring one by one.

　　Nearly half-an-hour passed in this process. Shi Mu gazed at the green ring in his hand in a helpless manner at this time.

　　He had just obtained this ring from that feathered-fan middle-aged man. And, even it was almost full now. However, only 30% of the total goods of the eight Floating Cloud Carriages had been received in the storage rings so far.

　　Zhong Xiu had only three storage magic tools. So, the things she had collected in those rings were only one-third of Shi Mu’s total collected goods. Zhong Xiu gazed at the Floating Cloud Carriages which were still bulging with piles of goods, and her refined eyebrows slightly wrinkled. She then shifted her gaze to Shi Mu.

　　“Miss Xiu, have you brought a list of the goods which were in transit?” Shi Mu asked.

　　“Yes.” Zhong Xiu nodded.

　　“Good. We will dump these things here for the time being. And, you collect all these carriages first.” Shi Mu said. Then, he started to pick up all the goods from the eight carriages, and piled them aside.

　　Shi Mu had learnt something about these carriages from Zhong Xiu when they were on the way to this place. According to her… these carriages could be easily received like a spirit tool when they weren’t used for loading goods.

　　Zhong Xiu nodded. She then turned her hand and took out a bluish-green formula plate. She then mumbled something and flicked her hand to cast a few magic spells.

　　The next moment, a miraculous light flashed on the surface of the formula plate, and countless tiny magic characters started to leap and move on it. Then, a bluish-green ray of light departed from it and fell on the first Floating Cloud Carriage.

　　The carriage started to shrink at lightning speed as it got wrapped up in that bluish-green light. It turned into a palm of the hand-sized small carriage in no time, and was then collected by Zhong Xiu.

　　After that, Zhong Xiu repeated the same process and continued receiving other Floating Cloud Carriages one by one. In this meantime, Shi Mu walked up to the shelf that was placed on the other side of the hall.

　　The shelf had altogether five layers from top to bottom. The whole shelf was enveloped in a layer of white light. A dozen or more fist-sized spirit stones were kept on the topmost layer of the shelf. They were emanating varied-colored rays of light. The second layer of the shelf was stacked up with small piles of spirit stones.

　　Shi Mu pounded his fist, and his fist got curled up in a layer of glaring black light. Then, a layer of black scales also sprouted on his fist.

　　His fist then turned into a black shadow, and bombarded the white light-screen with full force.

　　The white light screen shone in response, but succeeded in resisting Shi Mu’s blow. However, the radiance of the light-screen had dimmed a little.

　　Shi Mu’s eyebrows puckered up. His arms again turned fuzzy as he bombarded several punches on the light-screen one after another.

　　Ka-cha!

　　A large crack finally appeared in the white light-screen with a snapping sound. And then, the light-screen blew up with a loud sound.

　　Shi Mu retracted the black light that was on his hand. He then extended his hand and picked up a fiery-red spirit stone.

　　That spirit stone was exuding a strong red light. Also, it rendered a scalding hot feeling when he held it in his hand.

　　This was a top-ranked fire-attribute spirit stone. It was equivalent to 10,000 low-ranked spirit stones.

　　The other four spirit stones on this layer were also top-ranked spirit stones. Therefore, the worth of all these spirit stones should be thousands of spirit stones. In addition, the total value of other spirit stones in the following layers of this shelf also seemed to be above 200,000-300,000 spirit stones.

　　Shi Mu collected all top-ranked spirit stones without showing any trace of gratitude or politeness. His storage ring was already at its limit, but it still had a little place to accommodate a few spirit stones.

　　These spirit stones should be the total savings of this Sub-altar. It could be said that these spirit stones were the capital of the Rising Sun city. However, they were being used to compensate for the good the Chamber of Commerce had lost.

　　Shi Mu then moved to another shelf, and picked up a few things that looked considerably high in value and easy to carry.

　　Buzz!

　　A spurt of blood-red rays of light proliferated in all directions with a droning sound.

　　Shi Mu turned his head… only to see that Hou Sai Lei was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed. A blood-red magic array was drawn on the ground in front of him. And, the corpse of the middle-aged man was shrouded in that array.

　　The blood-red radiance of the magic array was rising and shrinking slowly; it seemed as if it had life-force. Simultaneously, the dead body of the middle-aged man was slowly disappearing in this undulating light since it was being offered as a sacrifice to the different world.

　　Then, a grey light burst out of Hou Sai Lei’s body and submerged in the top of his head — like a long whale was absorbing water. After that, a grey-colored star-like light emerged behind his head. Simultaneously, two stars that were originally dim also lit up and dazzled magnificently.

　　Hou Sai Lei closed his eyes, sucked in a deep breath as a powerful wave burst out his body.

　　He then opened his eyes, and the grey radiance on his body slowly dissipated.

　　“Senior Mu, you never blamed me for my previous sins. On the contrary, you always helped me in my strength promotion. Senior, I won’t be able to repay the kindness and favor you have always showered on me even if I tear my body and crush my bones for you…” Hou Sai Lei suddenly threw himself in front of Shi Mu with his hands on the ground and said.

　　“Alright, now get up,” Shi Mu said.

　　Hou Sai Lei’s voice came to an abrupt stop, and a ridiculing smile spread across his face. He then slowly stood up.

　　“Miss Xiu, it seems that the trail has gone cold here. I think we need to first find out the whereabouts about that woman surnamed Zhen if we intend to retrieve the Star Stone. But the point is… we have no idea where she would be now.” Shi Mu said while looking at Zhong Xiu.

　　“Big Brother Shi, it doesn’t matter now. I think the punishment for this mistake shouldn’t be too big since we’ve succeeded in retrieving almost all goods,” Zhong Xiu said.

　　Shi Mu turned his head and swept his gaze across the hall once as he heard these words. And then, a thoughtful look surfaced on his face.

　　“Let’s go, it’s pointless to stay here any longer. We should rather leave as soon as possible.” Zhong Xiu said.

　　Shi Mu nodded. He then turned to look at Hou Sai Lei. It must be said that Hou Sai Lei was already bubbling with excitement to try his new powers. Shi Mu said, “You don’t have to follow me now. We still have some important matter to take care of. It isn’t very convenient to take you along with us. So, you continue to stay here. As for how to act afterwards… you are free to make your own decision.”

　　“Yes, I know what should be down now.” Hou Sai Lei was struck dumb for a moment. Then, he nodded and said.

　　Shi Mu smiled in response. Then, he walked out of the warehouse with Zhong Xiu.

　　Hou Sai Lei swept a glance around and then followed them.

　　The three people walked out of the side hall and came to a side door.

　　“You leave here first. No one except for the two guards saw that we’re here. I’ll deal with the aftermath. Also, I’ll take care of the foul odour of those Dark Moon Cult’s people whom I have killed before,” Shi Mu said to Hou Sai Lei. Then, he said the last sentence to Zhong Xiu.

　　Zhong Xiu stood there blankly for a moment. Then, she gave him a nod.

　　“Senior Mu, you take care of yourself. I hope to see you again someday!” Hou Sai Lei clasped his hands towards Shi Mu and Zhong Xiu, and said in a reverent manner. He then walked away with quick steps.

　　“Miss Xiu, don’t make any move for a while. Take advantage of this chaos to depart from here. We will meet at the entrance to the valley,” Shi Mu said.

　　“Okay, you also need to be more careful now,” Zhong Xiu said.

　　Shi Mu swept his gaze in all directions. Then, he took a deep breath, and a layer of black radiance burst forth on his body. Then, a wisp of blue light emerged and lifted him. He seemingly turned into a black meteor as he dashed in the air with full speed. Simultaneously, an ear-piercing whistling sound rang out in the valley; countless people were awakened by it.

　　The next moment, an expansive blazing meteor, meteorite, and hailstorm darted out of the black meteor which was in the air. This flurry then plummeted down straight towards the main palace.

　　Bang!

　　The entire palace got shrouded in the assorted lights of the various magic techniques. In addition, the howling fiery meteor and the meteorites also started to bombard the main palace.

　　The palace had been reinforced by the prohibition barrier. But, it couldn’t withstand the torrent of these violent attacks, and collapsed.

　　The assorted rays of light of various magic techniques seemed to have blotted out the whole sky at this moment. The golden sword-light forced its way through these rays of light. It then dashed towards the ground in the midst of this chaos. Then, it swept past the two guards who stood at the doorway of the main place with a blank expression on their faces.

　　The two guards hadn’t even responded to the situation yet when their heads suddenly soared into the sky. Their headless bodies staggered for a little while before they tumbled to the ground. And then, they immediately got buried by tiles and brick of the collapsing palace.

　　Meanwhile, the blazing flame spread quickly and engulfed the entire hall. Some of the surrounding buildings also got caught in the scope of fire, and burst into flames.