Cao Yun also visited Governor Jiahe in order to introduce himself. As an alchemist, it was a formal visit to announce that he would stay in this city for some time. In fact, Cao Yun's presence had been known as soon as he had entered the city. But for now, he had officially stayed confined in the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Indeed, he had not visited anyone of importance and no one had tried to get in contact with him. Most likely, they were all waiting for him to make a move. Although he was an alchemist, he was only a 1-star Human alchemist. Thus, no influential person wanted to make the first move and they were waiting for him to come to them.

Furthermore, they were all aware that he was probably here regarding the Alchemy Conference. This was no secret that the Governor would soon organize a small competition to determine the best alchemist in the Subei Province. The Yun family had no one to represent them, but the Xue family had chosen Xue Rui who was on his way back from the Wubei Sect. His older brother was staying in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute where he also hoped to gain a spot. Unlike the Subei Province who only had one slot, the greatest alchemy institute in the Hongchen Kingdom had three of them. Cao Yun was certain that Feng Yingyue would get one, not because of his attachment to her, but because Xiao Xuefeng was positive about it.

Still, alchemists were highly regarded. Thus, Cao Yun was received by the Governor in person. Since he was busy with other matters, he couldn't afford to give too much time to Cao Yun but he would probably still try to rope him in. In the room, there was no one else but Cao Yun, a servant and Jiahe Lan. Of course, there were probably bodyguards hidden around. Even though Cao Yun couldn't sense them completely, he was able to feel fluctuations around him. His sensitivity toward souls made him aware that spiritual senses were directed against him, but there was no killing intent in them.

If he had wanted to, he could have traced them back to the Spirit Warriors responsible. He didn't want to risk exposing all his cards though. Within his sea of consciousness however, Dian Mo was most attentive to them. Jiahe Lan was probably a 5th-grade Spirit Warrior as he could sense that his Soul Embryo was within his Upper Dantian. On the other hand, the bodyguards were probably 2nd-grade or 3rd-grade Spirit Warriors. However, they were trained to fight and kill. Most likely, Jiahe Lan's cultivation had been promoted by many means such as pills. As such, he would be weaker than most 5th-grade Spirit Warriors and couldn't fight too well. In a fight, he would probably rely on raw strength to try and win.

Jiahe Lan was a very charming man, with dark red hair, reddish brown eyes and a skin almost as red as Yun Ping's. Such a skin was just slightly darker than other humans in the center of the Hongchen Kingdom. Those were clearly traces of demon blood in him. In the Subei Province, this was a given. After all, they were very close to the demons. Thankfully though, there was no stigma attached to that. Indeed, all humans had demon blood in them in some capacity since their kind had been dominated for so long.

"Governor, this humble one presents his greetings."

"Welcome in our Qingyun City, Alchemist Guai Mo. I heard a lot about your talents. Apparently, this 1-star Human emblem is outdated. If you wish, I could have one of our Heaven alchemists give you a test. But I'm not sure which star he should try to test you on."

With this first statement, Cao Yun immediately saw through Jiahe Lan's agreeable attitude. He was flaunting that he had several Heaven alchemists with him and was fishing for information on Guai Mo's talent.

"Thank you, Governor. If I have some time, I'll think about it. To be honest, I don't care much about the stars of the Human grade. My true goal is the Heaven grade. I know that I still lack the talent and the experience. However, I would like the opportunity to prove myself indeed."

"This is good for young people to have lofty aspirations. With the dark times we're going through, we do need all the fire we can get from people's hearts. Please, if I can help you in any way, this would be my pleasure to try and do so."

"This humble one seeks to prove himself by entering the Alchemy Conference. Thus, this humble one would like to earn the Subei Province's spot by entering the upcoming competition."

As he spoke, Cao Yun made sure to affect some kind of embarrassment. Guai Mo was supposed to be arrogant. Right now, he was looking as though he was struggling to lower himself in front of the Governor. His acting was subtle but loud enough so that Jiahe Lan could see it as plain as day. This boy was indeed arrogant but he was ready to humble himself to get this spot.

"It is truly a pleasure to have a promising young alchemist enter our competition. However, we are trying to find a representative for our Subei Province. Unfortunately, you don't have any attachment to this province. Why wouldn't you try and become a representative of your own Shuangli Province? Maybe I can try and give a letter of recommendation to your Governor..."

"Unfortunately I am on bad terms with the Governor of the Shuangli Province. As such, I was looking for a province which I could move to. After the stampede, I earned a lot of money going from town to town. As the dust is settling down, so are the payments. Thus I will need a more stable place. And I hoped to become an alchemist of your Subei Province. With the demons so close, I guess my talents could be of use. Besides, I learned that the Yun family had no alchemist at all. If you can't find any use for my skills, I might try and sell my talents to them."

In that instant, Cao Yun saw something in the Governor's eyes, he truly didn't want him to join the Yun family. Strengthening any family wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for the Governor. Of course, he was forced to try and balance out the different influences, but he had no reason to try and keep the families down. In fact, strengthening the Yun family could push the Xue family to do the same and this would keep their rivalry alive, thus the Governor would profit. So it struck Cao Yun as somewhat strange.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"We would welcome you of course. Sadly, the Yun family might be a bit too poor to hire your services. Recently, they were forced to go into debt. Although they had great military strength, they are lacking when it comes to economics. But we would be happy to hire you to serve the Imperial City through us. However, it might take some time to make everything official. And the competition will have gone by by that time."

"Governor, I know that Xue Rui is the favorite of this competition. But I suspect that he won't go too far during the Alchemy Conference. Let me prove to you that I will do better. Even if Xue Rui earns some honors, most of them will go to the Xue family. But if you send me and make me an official alchemist of the Subei Province, all the honors will go to you who had such a good insight. Besides, the Xue family should be able to send their other son, Xue Gulin to the Alchemy Conference. It wouldn't be a huge loss for them. As Xue Gulin studied in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, he will surely go higher than both me and his younger brother. Please, Governor, I only ask that you give me a chance to prove myself and I swear that I won't disappoint you."

Beneath Jiahe Lan's traits, Cao Yun could see that he was now full of doubts. On the outside, he was trying to keep a stoic face. On the inside however, he had absolutely no idea what he should do. Cao Yun's arguments were very good. Although he didn't want to penalize the Xue family, this wouldn't affect them much thanks to Xue Gulin's existence. From what Jiahe Lan had heard, he would indeed become one of the three representatives from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. But now, the Governor was faced with some dilemma.

Officially, Guai Mo could not enter his competition because he wasn't a citizen of the Subei Province. But Jiahe Lan could appoint him as an alchemist of his province. Of course, this would be viewed as an endorsement of his candidacy. Thus, it would cause some problem with the Xue family as Xue Rui was the favorite in the upcoming competition. On the other hand, if he didn't, Guai Mo could freely join the Yun family. They were not the only ones without an alchemist in the competition, but they were the most influential family without one. Besides, their rivalry with the Xue family was well known so they would help Guai Mo just to spite Xue Rui and Patriarch Xue.

"Dear guest, we will need some time to come to a decision. You must understand that a lot will be influenced by whoever is chosen as our representative in the Alchemy Conference. Unfortunately, this isn't a decision we can make in an instant. However, our residence will welcome you with open arms and we hope that your sojourn will be most pleasant."

"Thank you, Governor. I fully understand that it is a heavy decision. But I can assure you that I wouldn't make you regret it, ever. I will gladly accept your generosity but I won't take advantage of you either."

Indeed, Cao Yun was quite pleased to be able to stay here for a few days. But he had other things to do. And subtly, he clearly showed Governor Jiahe that he was ready to go to the Yun family. Of course, he had already done so but he had not asked them to endorse him. In fact, he had let Yun Ping prepare his father to what he had to tell him and ask of him. But to this day, he had not directly spoken with him yet.

As he was within the Governor's residence, Cao Yun tried to remember as much as he could. He also used his senses to the extent where no one could detect him doing so. There were obviously several Spirit Warriors who were guarding the residence so Cao Yun couldn't do too much. However, he was able to sense something odd about this place. Unfortunately he couldn't put his finger on what it was. Once again, he was feeling traces of Evil Qi but they were very faint. In the end, he concluded that Gu Song had come by this place recently. If he had been staying here, then there would be a greater presence.

With that in mind, Gu Song was probably staying with the Xue family. But the Xue residence was also vast and Cao Yun needed a better precision for his plan. Indeed, he had to prepare array formations. The more accurate he was, the stronger his array formations would be. Against a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, he would need all the strength he could get, that was for sure.

Whether Jiahe Lan accepted his offer or not was of little consequence to Cao Yun. Yes he wanted to take part in the Alchemy Conference, but as Chen Guo, things would be easier for him. In fact, he could easily become the representative of several provinces around him. Of course, if he could become the Subei Province's representative, things would be even easier. But at the end of the day, it wasn't the most important thing. What was important was to get to Gu Song and to find his secrets.

For a few days, Cao Yun would stay in the Governor's residence. Instead of focusing on his Qi cultivation like he had been doing in the Major Hall, Cao Yun put most of his efforts in his alchemy. Since he was being watched all the time, he was obviously trying to act as Guai Mo. And Guai Mo wanted to impress Jiahe Lan in order to be chosen for the Alchemy Conference, or at least to have the chance to fight for a slot.

During that time, Cao Yun stayed mostly confined in his chambers. He had the right to move around and he did so a few times in order to get a full look at everything he could. With his memory, a simple glance was enough to remember anything. Right now, in his mind, he had Bamboo Maps of the Governor's residence as well as of Qingyun City and even the Subei Province. Thanks to Dian Mo, he had also understood that creating star charts was also essential. Thus, he had created connections between the stars and his Bamboo Maps. Although he wasn't a Heaven array formation master, Cao Yun, with Dian Mo's help, was certain he could create incredibly powerful array formations if he had enough time and resources.

For the resources, he had his agreement with both the Major Hall and the Huang family. Until now he had no need for Huang Si's help, but he could probably ask her for an advance on what he was going to earn thanks to the mines.

For the time, Cao Yun was a bit more pressed since the competition would take place in a few months and then the Alchemy Conference would happen. Furthermore, he couldn't let Gu Song find out about the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. However, he still had a lot of time and he wouldn't be too hasty as his very life depended on it.

While he was occupied in the Governor's residence, Yong Ke was still moving around Qingyun City and also sending letters through the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. On the other hand, Yun Ping was training as much as he could. When he wasn't, he was talking to his father about various things. His main goal was to give him a good idea of who Chen Guo, his friend, was. He knew his father and he wanted to prepare him for the time when Cao Yun would ask for his help.

At the same moment, Governor Jiahe Lan was full of doubts and required the help of his entire Cabinet.