"Yes, Aunt Zhu!" The green-clothed girl's face flickered with a hint of surprise upon learning that Han Li had been concealing his cultivation, but after hearing the woman's words, the unease in her heart vanished. She bowed her head respectfully in acknowledgment and silently withdrew from the second floor of the pavilion.
"Please come with me, Fellow Daoist. Since you are a guest of the Demon Venerable level, the one who receives you will no longer be the Young Miss's substitute — the Young Miss herself will greet you in person."
The woman addressed Han Li in a calm, indifferent tone, then gave a slight flick of her sleeve toward the stairway leading to the third floor.
Immediately, a yellow glow flickered in the void over there, and a ripple of energy dispersed outward — it seemed some sort of restriction had been undone in an instant.
Yet at the very moment the restriction broke, a gray runic symbol shot out from the woman's sleeve, vanishing into the void in a flash.
Han Li didn't say much of anything. He nodded, then followed the woman up the stairs.
The third floor of the pavilion was a vast and magnificently decorated hall.
In the center stood a gleaming white jade altar table, upon which sat several implements resembling Eight Trigrams and divination sticks. Beside them was an exquisitely crafted small censer, from which a thin wisp of white smoke curled upward, filling the entire room with the fragrance of sandalwood.
Behind the altar table sat a yellow-robed girl of startling beauty, seated upright in a large chair, idly playing with a palm-sized jade fan, her expression one of perfect composure.
On either side of the hall stood four men and four women — eight young demon race members dressed as servants. The men were tall and handsome, the women petite and delicate, all wearing expressions of deep respect.
Every last one of them possessed cultivation at the Deity Transformation stage.
But the woman showed no intention of stopping. She led Han Li straight toward the staircase to the fourth floor.
The moment the yellow-robed girl and the others saw the woman and Han Li appear, they rose simultaneously and offered a bow from a distance.
The woman waved her hand without turning her head, and the yellow-robed girl and the others returned to their original positions.
Han Li paused his steps ever so slightly, his gaze sweeping over the group, and a peculiar expression flickered across his face.
Judging by appearance and bearing alone, anyone would have assumed this yellow-robed girl was the "Young Miss" of the Guangyuan Trading House. Who would have guessed she was merely a substitute?
With these thoughts in mind, combined with the inquiries he had made about the Guangyuan Trading House before coming, he couldn't help but feel even more curious about the "Young Miss" herself.
After a short while, Han Li finally followed the woman onto the fourth floor of the pavilion.
The moment he set foot on this floor, Han Li swept his gaze around, and an expression of surprise involuntarily appeared on his face.
It wasn't that the layout of this floor was particularly strange — rather, everything he laid eyes upon was remarkably identical to the furnishings of an ordinary peasant cottage.
Not far ahead stood a rather modest thatched hut, inside which one could faintly make out a few simple tables and chairs, along with a well-worn wooden bed upon which lay a coarse cloth blanket.
In front of the hut sat several piles of straw and a spinning wheel upon the bare ground.
Behind the spinning wheel, a frail young woman in a coarse hemp robe perched on a low wooden stool, wholly absorbed in working the device before her.
Bolts of hemp cloth were slowly emerging from the wheel, piling up in neat stacks arranged tidily on the ground to one side.
Han Li sent his spiritual sense sweeping over the young woman in an instant, and a flash of surprise crossed his face.
The girl's cultivation was not particularly high — she had only just entered the Deity Transformation stage. But just as he tried to probe further with his spiritual sense, an invisible force from within her body abruptly pushed it back, preventing him from drawing any closer.
After a moment of surprise, Han Li realized that the girl most likely possessed some extraordinary treasure on her person, one capable of autonomously repelling the intrusion of spiritual sense.
The woman had already walked quietly to the hemp-clothed girl's side and stood there silently, making no sound and offering no disturbance.
Han Li stopped in his tracks, standing still at the stairway, and watched the rough-robed girl's every movement with a calm, impassive gaze.
By now he had gotten a clear look at the girl's partially lowered face. Her features were strikingly ordinary — utterly unremarkable.