"Fa Canglian is a rare genius, not only is he the Monarch of Shang Kingdom, but he is also a Dark Heavenly Peak Dark Practitioner, and an exceptional assassin and Artifact Craftsman. It is said that the Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape, most magical on the continent, were crafted by him. After creating the Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape, he disappeared," explained Fa Xiaoyi persuasively.
Born an assassin, Fa Canglian was quite renowned in the Assassin Alliance at the time. After he invented the Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape, he abruptly washed his hands clean of his old life and betrayed the Assassin Alliance, subsequently founding the Shang Kingdom. Shortly after establishing Shang Kingdom, Fa Canglian disappeared. Internally, the kingdom declared that Fa Canglian died abruptly due to exhaustion of mental power.
"The Sky Sun Shuttle? Isn’t that the treasure we encountered at the nightclub auction? Since it’s a treasure, why didn’t you bid for it?" Yue Jinghua knew Xie Yu, who was never a person to graciously step aside.
"The Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape are a pair of treasures, needing to be used together to function. In fact, these treasures were crafted by Fa Canglian using the materials provided by the Assassin Alliance. After obtaining the treasures, he betrayed the Alliance. For hundreds of years, the Alliance has been monitoring the Shang Kingdom’s royal family, seeking the whereabouts of these two artifacts. Each piece alone is akin to an ordinary shuttle, why should this young master spend a lot of money on a useless item? Moreover, acquiring the Sky Sun Shuttle could invite lethal trouble; this young master isn’t interested in attracting needless problems," Xie Yu, as one of the Ten Great Assassins, was exceptional both in cultivation and insight.
The true functions of the Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape are temporarily unknown to the outside world.
Before founding Shang Kingdom, Fa Canglian had sought help everywhere. Using the Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape, he managed to gain support from the Divine Court and Danlu, giving him enough leverage to negotiate with two great powers and eventually establish Shang Kingdom.
It was not until later that the Divine Court and Danlu realized they had been deceived. By then, Fa Canglian had already vanished without a trace.
Therefore, although Shang Kingdom is small and lacks a strong army and powerful Dark Practitioners as a backbone, there are as many as five forces intertwined within this tiny country.
Among these five forces, none would show weakness easily, and it is under the twisting influences of these five forces that Shang Kingdom has managed to survive to this day.
That night at the nightclub auction, Xie Yu had already noticed the man with purple eyes was not shallow in cultivation, and would not easily let Qi Zhi acquire the Sky Sun Shuttle.
After the auction, he followed Qi Zhi and, as expected, a skilled masked man appeared halfway through.
This surveillance proved to be worth the entrance price, as Qi Zhi was swiftly eliminated. It was neat and traceless, even Xie Yu, a veteran assassin, had to secretly lament how people nowadays seem more assassin-like than actual assassins.
Just as Xie Yu was marveling and considering whether to make an appearance to show the masked man who the true elder of assassins was, an unexpected event occurred.
A woman dressed as a palace maid emerged and engaged with the masked man.
Both appeared to be high-level masters of the Dark Earth Realm, and anywhere in Poluo City, they would be considered skilled fighters.
Xie Yu had been in Poluo City for so long, yet he had not known that the city truly had hidden dragons and crouching tigers.
"What’s most surprising is that the woman, originally evenly matched with the masked man, transformed at the last moment into a form, a Red Training Wolf never seen before in Shang Country," Xie Yu noted while occasionally observing Yue Jinghua’s expressions.
Seeing her unreactive, he couldn’t help but be amazed, "You really are the most unempathetic and least curious woman I’ve met. Aren’t you curious about the identity of that masked man, and where that wolf-shaped woman ended up?" Though he was harsh to Lihua Xue, and even colder to Fa Xiaoyi, Xie Yu couldn’t fathom what kind of upbringing could produce someone like Yue Jinghua.
"Not curious, of course, not curious at all, because I’ve already seen that woman and know that she’s still hiding in the Shang Country’s Palace," Yue Jinghua thought to herself.
She pretended to think for a moment before reluctantly speaking, "Alas, I really can’t guess. You say I’m a spy, but a spy’s basic principle is not to ask too much or meddle. The Dragon War Empire sent me here because they see me as honest and straightforward, and this complex situation is beyond me. You might as well just tell me."