Chapter 138: Sound Transmission Across Ten Thousand Miles

"Three distinguished guests, which commandery would you like to connect with?" Xiao Qi asked as he walked over to the circular disk.

"Danyang City," Gu Weiyu said with a faint smile on her face.

Xiao Qi retrieved three spiritual stones from his spirit pouch, pressing them into one of the circular sockets inscribed with the two characters for "Danyang." A misty glow immediately illuminated the disk of the sound-transmission array.

Before long, a voice echoed from the disk, "This is the Danyang branch of the Treasure Pavilion. How may I help you, esteemed guest?"

Gu Weiyu stepped forward, approaching the disk. "I am Lian Hongyi. I am looking for Young Master Chu Liuxing to inquire about something."

"Please wait a moment, Miss Lian. I will go find the young master right away."

The voice on the other end replied, followed by the creaking sound of a door opening and closing, clearly indicating that the person had gone off to find him.

"Xiao Qi, please help me enable image synchronization," Gu Weiyu said, turning to glance at Xiao Qi.

Xiao Qi acknowledged the request and once again took out three top-grade spiritual stones, inserting them into a groove beneath the disk.

Soon, an empty room materialized above the disk, followed by the appearance of a young man dressed in white.

He scanned the room and displayed his immense wealth by shouting, "Liuhuo, quick, synchronize the image!"

Seeing his confident demeanor—as if spirit stones were of no concern to him—Gu Weiyu could not help the corners of her curling upward. "Big Brother Chu!"

Liuhuo was remarkably fast. Looking at the figure of Gu Weiyu appearing above the disk, Chu Liuxing smiled, his eyes curving into crescents. "Junior Brother Yu, you've finally decided to remember me!"

Gu Weiyu blinked playfully, pouting at him, and said with a mysterious air, "Big Brother Chu, I have a favor to ask of you..."

As she spoke, Gu Weiyu glanced sideways at Xiao Qi in the room. "Xiao Qi, would you mind stepping outside for a moment?"

Hearing this, Xiao Qi tactfully exited the room and pulled the door shut behind him.

Chu Xingyun also waved his hand toward Liuhuo. "Liuhuo, you go outside first!"

Gu Weiyu looked over at Gu Weilan. "Fourth Sister, this is Chu Liuxing, a good friend I met in Danyang. Back then, we owed a lot to Big Brother Chu's help..."

Gu Weilan walked up to the edge of the disk, her gaze meeting Chu Liuxing's eyes with a calm expression. "Thank you, Young Master Chu, for looking after my Eleventh."

Meeting Gu Weilan's gaze across the void, Chu Liuxing felt an involuntary shiver run through his heart. *Junior Brother Yu's fourth sister looks fiercely formidable!*

"Hehe—" Chu Liuxing foolishly rubbed the back of his head. "Fourth Sister is too polite..."

At this, Gu Weilan's lips twitched slightly. *This fellow is truly thick-skinned. Who is your fourth sister?*

Gu Weiyu then pointed toward Xu Weizhou and said, "Big Brother Chu, this is my fellow sect apprentice-brother, Xu Weizhou."

Xu Weizhou radiated an icy chill, his gaze falling upon Chu Liuxing like a drawn sword.

Chu Liuxing instinctively shrank his neck, forcing an awkward smile at the corners of his mouth while muttering inwardly, *Why are the people around Junior Brother Yu all so terrifyingly formidable?*

Seeing his comical expression, Gu Weiyu couldn't help but burst into a chuckle.

Chu Liuxing sheepishly rubbed his nose and awkwardly changed the subject. "Junior Brother Yu, what is the matter that you sought me out?"

Hearing this, Gu Weiyu's expression turned serious. "Big Brother Chu, I have a request to make..."

With that, she recounted the full story of why she had found herself wandering alone in Danyang all those years ago. Now that the evildoers had been eliminated, her clansmen were still scattered with their whereabouts unknown...

By the end of her words, a worried expression inevitably clouded Gu Weiyu's face, and even Gu Weilan's demeanor grew gloomy.

Upon hearing Gu Weiyu's request, Chu Liuxing immediately patted his chest in assurance. "Don't you worry, Junior Brother Yu, Big Brother will go and investigate this for you right away!"

With that, Chu Liuxing hurried out of the room in large strides.

Feeling somewhat amused and helpless as she looked at the empty room above the disk, Gu Weiyu turned and called Xiao Qi back in to temporarily close the image synchronization.

The three of them waited quietly in the room. A quarter of an hour later, the faint sound of approaching footsteps echoed from the other side.

Gu Weiyu signaled Xiao Qi to reopen the image synchronization, and they saw Chu Xingyun leading Liuhuo back into the room.

"Junior Brother Yu, my father said this information cannot be leaked casually. Just wait a bit, and I will definitely manage to get it for you!"

Hearing this, Gu Weiyu felt a tinge of disappointment, though she had no other alternatives for the time being. In this Void Realm, Chu Liuxing's father was the only high-ranking member of the Treasure Pavilion she knew.

"Alright, I await Big Brother Chu's good news!" Gu Weiyu forced a smile and said.

Chu Liuxing's figure vanished from the room once again, and Gu Weiyu signaled Xiao Qi to shut down the sound-transmission array. "Xiao Qi, how many spiritual stones did this cost?"

Xiao Qi waved his hand and said, "The manager said that since Miss Gu and your companions are using it for the first time, there is no need to pay for the spiritual stones."

As it turned out, that clever sprite Xiao Qi had made a special trip to Manager Jin's quarters earlier to mention that Gu Weiyu was acquainted with figures high up in the Danyang branch of the Treasure Pavilion.

Manager Jin had already been inclined to build a favorable connection, so upon hearing this, he gave a grand wave of his hand and directly waived the fees for Gu Weiyu.

Hearing this, Gu Weiyu was quite surprised. Ever since she had learned alchemy, she had rarely been short of spiritual stones.

Manager Jin's gesture was well-intentioned, but Gu Weiyu's heart felt somewhat heavy today, and she was not in the mood to say too much. She said to Xiao Qi:

"Xiao Qi, we won't disturb Manager Jin further. Please convey our thanks to him on our behalf."

Xiao Qi readily agreed, and the three of them left the Treasure Pavilion once again.

Gu Qun and Gu Qingzhou had not yet returned home, so the three of them waited at Taihe Residence, hoping to share the news about the Treasure Pavilion with them.

To their surprise, they waited until the sun was high in the sky before Gu Qun and the others finally returned.

Moreover, the ones who returned were not just the two of them; accompanying them were the members of the Gu clan who had been purchased by the Yun, Lian, and Lu families.

"Sixteenth Uncle!"

Gu Weiyu's gaze landed on one of the figures in the group. The person was dressed in a long black robe, with a refined and dashing appearance. Who else could it be but Gu Hui?

Three years had passed, and his demeanor had grown increasingly steady, showing no trace of dejection whatsoever.

Upon seeing Gu Weiyu, a wide smile bloomed across his face. "Little Eleventh!"

Gu Weilan also walked over, greeting the clansmen one by one.

Over the past few years, the Yun, Lian, and Lu families had successively bought and sold a dozen or so members of the Gu clan. Most of these transactions were due to distant family ties; while nominally bought to serve as household servants, they were actually taken in to provide refuge from the storm.

Gu Hui's maternal family was the main branch of the Lian clan, and his grand-uncle was the head of the Lian family.

When trouble first befell the Gu family, the Lian family heard that Chu Liuxing was buying and selling Gu clansmen. After making discreet inquiries, they paid a substantial price to purchase Gu Hui.

After all, Gu Hui possessed an outstanding spiritual root and was already at the higher levels of Qi Condensation, carrying a high probability of breaking through to Foundation Establishment. Thus, the Lian family held him in very high regard.

Now, three years later, Gu Hui had reached the Great Circle of Qi Condensation and could break through to the Foundation Establishment stage at any moment.

Gu Weiyu's gaze swept across each of her clansmen, finally coming to rest upon a young maiden standing quietly in the corner.

The young maiden possessed delicate and lovely features and wore a pale green dress. She was biting her lower lip, looking around with a trace of bewilderment.

Three years had passed, and it was as if all the vanity had been washed away from her. The arrogance and impetuousness of a princess she once possessed were entirely gone, revealing her true inner radiance.

Proud as her Fifth Sister was, how could she bear the humiliation of being reduced to a servant?

Even with the protection of her maternal family, falling from the clouds straight into the mud, coupled with the loss of her own mother, her days in the Lu family could not have been easy, one could imagine.