Chapter Fourteen: The Innate Bricklaying Sacred Physique

“Don’t worry, this place is completely sealed off. Even if you shout, no one outside will hear you, so there’s no need to be overly restrained.”

Susan picked up the water cup beside her and poured a glass of hot water for Jiang Si. “But I must say, I’m a bit surprised that Lord Ice Sugar would recruit a man. I thought the Azure Cloud Sect only had magical girls.”

In truth, that wasn’t entirely wrong.

But he wasn’t about to explain anything, so Jiang Si simply took a sip of water.

The Azure Cloud Sect wasn’t directly managed by him anyway; most of the time, it was Ice Sugar who ran things.

Although most sect members knew that Ziyuan was the true sect master, and many had even met her, very few knew that Jiang Si was Ziyuan’s transformed identity.

Similarly, Jiang Si didn’t know most of the lower-ranked members of the organization.

For example, this insider from the Disaster Control Bureau held no high status in the sect; it was unlikely they had met before.

Jiang Si glanced at Susan again. “Miss Yinluo said you can no longer transform into a magical girl.”

“That’s true within the Disaster Control Bureau,” Susan’s normally cold expression softened somewhat. “But Ziyuan and Lord Ice Sugar have helped me resolve this issue. They are the true sanctuary for magical girls.”

As the sect master of the Azure Cloud Sect, Jiang Si—or rather, Ziyuan—rarely made public appearances. Yet many knew Ziyuan was the sect master, and Ice Sugar actively promoted her as such.

They also taught the disciples to maintain loyalty and reverence toward their sect master.

For Jiang Si, the sect was established primarily to better harness the great power of “Monarch of All Epochs.”

A cultivation sect was essentially created to serve him alone, monopolizing most resources in the cultivation world. Low-level sect disciples existed merely to gather resources and send them up to higher levels, occasionally receiving a small surplus as rewards for promotion.

This is the notion of “promoting the front to drive the back.”

“Did you steal the Miracle Seed?” Jiang Si didn’t intend to discuss internal sect matters nor was he interested in how Ice Sugar helped her regain magical girl powers. “Ziyuan and Ice Sugar’s task for you was to steal the seed, right? Did you succeed?”

“Watch your tone,” Susan frowned. “Lord Ice Sugar doesn’t care about such trivial matters, but show some respect for Lord Ziyuan. She’s not someone you can casually address by name.”

“…Have you met Ziyuan?”

“The sect master is extremely busy; such a status is beyond someone like me. I shouldn’t trouble her with petty matters. Ziyuan is concerned with issues that affect all magical girls and the safety of the world. Her affairs are far beyond what us outer disciples can imagine. Since you’re not a magical girl, you don’t understand her greatness. I’ll forgive you this once, but there won’t be a next time.”

Seeing the cold, sharp look in Susan’s eyes, Jiang Si shrugged. “Have you already obtained the Miracle Seed? Ziyuan and Ice Sugar told me to come here and collect it.”

Titles and forms of address were trivial matters; Jiang Si didn’t want to waste time on such nonsense.

Susan’s expression softened upon hearing Jiang Si use a more respectful form of address. “I did receive orders to retrieve the Miracle Seed and made full preparations. According to plan, the seed should have been sent out by this morning.”

“Sounds like something went wrong,” Jiang Si observed.

Susan hesitated before taking a breath. “I knew the Disaster Control Bureau was leaking information on all sides, but I didn’t expect it to be this severe! I found traces of the Witch Association—they infiltrated the bureau and stole the Miracle Seed before I could.”

“Is the Disaster Control Bureau a public restroom?” Jiang Si couldn’t help but pinch the bridge of his nose. “Were all the Miracle Seeds taken?”

“There are three Miracle Seeds in the bureau, distributed by headquarters as a safeguard to prevent insufficient magical girl births and subsequent disaster beast rampages. Each seed holds blossoming power. Normally, they aren’t used because they cause irreversible bodily harm to the girls.”

“The Witch Association left none behind—they took them all!” Susan’s cold face was filled with murderous intent. “They won’t get away with this!”

“In that case, you’ll be writing the failure report for this mission.”

The Azure Cloud Sect operated on a point-based system; any mission failure required a detailed post-mortem report and deduction of points. Points were linked to salary—yes, the sect paid salaries, all issued by Ice Sugar. Jiang Si wanted to call it a sect allowance and rename points to contribution value, but Ice Sugar refused.

She claimed the system was copied from her company’s regulations and was an ancestral law that couldn’t be changed. Since she paid, Jiang Si had to concede.

As sect master, Jiang Si was different from other disciples; he did not receive a salary.

According to Ice Sugar, the entire enterprise belonged to him. He could take whatever he wanted from the sect. If necessary, he could even ask Ice Sugar for money—she had no shortage of funds.

But Jiang Si wasn’t that reckless. Sect funds were meant to better facilitate his search for the Celestial Path; embezzling was out of the question.

Asking Ice Sugar for money for personal expenses was even less likely. Except last year, when Coco’s tuition urgently needed funds, he generally avoided borrowing money and owing favors.

The Azure Cloud Sect was established to seek the path of magical girls. It benefited Ice Sugar by increasing strength and guiding promotion directions. Her financial input into the sect was mutually beneficial.

Personal expenses, however, were another matter.

Relatives had nagged endlessly at the funeral, seemingly concerned for the siblings, grieving their parents, but in truth, they were scheming over dividing the inheritance.

Jiang Si had barely managed to keep half of his parents’ estate. Three years on, he avoided relying on relatives, as favors came at a high price.

This left the family funds increasingly strained. Both Coco and he took odd jobs during holidays to help with the household.

Jiang Si had asked Ice Sugar if she needed workers, but she deemed it inappropriate for the sect master to do menial labor.

Sometimes, communication with Ice Sugar was challenging.

Upon hearing he would write the failure report, Susan immediately held her head. “Lord Ziyuan and Lord Ice Sugar will be so disappointed… but there’s still room to salvage this mission; I don’t want to write a failure report so soon.”

Ziyuan doesn’t even know you well enough to be disappointed.

Jiang Si took a sip of water. “What do you mean?”

The girl presented a photo. “This is the black magical girl, Hyacinth, the third magical girl of the Disaster Control Bureau and former captain before Yinlian. She’s seventeen, a high school senior. She once had contact with the Witch Association and let some members escape. Many suspect her of collusion. Later, she resigned from her captaincy, replaced by Yinlian. She hadn’t been to the bureau in a long time, but she reported in this morning.”

“Oh, that’s quite suspicious.”

“But she hasn’t approached the security room. The bureau has many eyes on her, making it difficult for her to act inside. Though the timing is suspicious—she came in just when the Miracle Seed was stolen.”

Jiang Si suddenly remembered. “The black magical girl? Didn’t the bureau hold a retirement ceremony for her?”

“Yes,” Susan nodded. “Because of her contacts with the Witch Association, the bureau prematurely held a retirement ceremony for her. Though for appearances, Hyacinth attended obediently, she insisted she hadn’t retired and refused to hand over the Miracle Seed.”

“Another person is Aqin, who manages the security room. She didn’t come this morning, citing family matters, which is suspicious. And the last one is you. Before Ice Sugar notified me, I actually suspected you were from the Witch Association…”

“When did Ice Sugar notify you?”

“Just as you and Yinluo were going downstairs.”

Susan flicked her blonde hair confidently. “As long as you watch Hyacinth and I watch Aqin, even if the Witch Association has celestial powers, they won’t escape! We must catch them and make them pay!”

“I never said I’d help.” Jiang Si shook his head. “My task is only to retrieve the Miracle Seed. Other matters don’t concern me.”

Susan was momentarily stunned by his refusal. “You’re a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect. How can you lack even this much dedication? This concerns the sect’s future development! As disciples, we should proactively ease Lord Ice Sugar’s burdens…”

“Stop kidding. I joined the Azure Cloud Sect for the salary, not to work overtime for free.” This was a catchphrase from one of Ice Sugar’s close associates, which Jiang Si borrowed casually. “Our sect doesn’t have a cutthroat corporate culture. Ice Sugar said no to encouraging internal competition.”

“This isn’t internal competition; it’s damage control.”

“It’s not my mistake. Why should I fix it?”

Susan fell silent, realizing it wasn’t his problem.

Because they were both sect disciples, she had instinctively thought this failure was shared.

In truth, stealing the Miracle Seed was her sole responsibility.

Jiang Si waved his hand. “No matter what you say, I won’t work overtime. My task is done. I’ll report back to Ice Sugar. You figure out the rest.”

“Wait.”

Susan gritted her teeth. “I’ll give you the mission bonus and both this month’s salaries—from the Disaster Control Bureau and the sect. I’ll share half with you. Please.”

But on the other hand, the mission to take the Miracle Seed from the Disaster Control Bureau was Jiang Si’s own assignment to Ice Sugar.

It was meant to aid his promotion, so there was no reason not to help.

Jiang Si sat back down. “As fellow disciples, I’m not heartless. Since you’re sincere, refusing again would be unreasonable.”

Susan snorted coldly but dared not mock him further lest he refuse the pay entirely. “Hyacinth is a senior this year, mostly at school, so she’s not hard to find. Follow her and investigate any signs of contact with the Witch Association. If you find any clues, contact me. I’ll handle the rest.”

Too troublesome.

Besides, Jiang Si was never good at tailing and investigation.

He’d outsource it to Ice Sugar and split the half salary she offered with her.

Ice Sugar knew the high school scene best, as many magical girls came from junior and senior high, keeping track of all schoolgirls in BH City, occasionally watching promising boys.

After all, with Jiang Si as a precedent, who could guarantee the next male magical girl wouldn’t appear?

Susan evidently didn’t know that the serious-looking, nodding young man before her was already planning to delegate her task to her most respected Lord Ice Sugar…

“Well, that’s all I have to say. The entire Disaster Control Bureau is now in emergency investigation mode. You might not even need to tail Hyacinth to find the Witch Association’s people and recover the stolen Miracle Seeds. But then, my salary won’t be split anymore. After all, pay is for work done. Don’t you agree?”

Seeing Susan’s obvious displeasure at losing half the pay, Jiang Si merely pretended not to notice and nodded.

Who cared about money? The Phantom Moon Cave’s renovations still needed funding, and he planned to buy supplements to improve his fitness.

After exchanging information, they rose to leave.

“Oh, about the clouds outside—they’re just an illusion. Underneath is a magic-constructed bridge. However, this magic reacts specially with the disaster beasts’ magic, causing neutralization and disappearance. So when you step on it, just use magic to seal the gaps.”

“Do you have magic power?” Susan asked.

Jiang Si’s face remained unchanged. “Not at the moment.”

“Earn more performance points later. The sect has magic bracelets for ordinary people. Exchange one to make missions easier. Didn’t Lord Ice Sugar tell you? Oh, someone of your low status probably rarely meets her, let alone Lord Ziyuan. You probably won’t get to meet her in this lifetime. Ha, forgive my rudeness.”

Unable to hold back a taunt, she then produced a bracelet.

There was a pure white seed embedded in it.

She shook the seed, and a magic wand appeared in her hand.

Magical girls usually needed to transform to use magic power and spells, but once promoted to the Sprout stage and with practice, they could use some magic power and spells even without transforming.

And it was very discreet.

Susan tapped Jiang Si’s shoe with the wand, and he felt a cold sensation on the sole, as if stepping on ice.

“I helped condense some magic power under your feet. You won’t have problems walking on the clouds, which will clear your suspicion. But since I interrogated you, no one will doubt you afterward. Just a precaution.”

Susan clapped her hands, put away the seed, and the wand disappeared.

“The effect lasts about forty minutes. After that, it will expire.”

She had intended to give him a little shock by lowering the temperature, but Jiang Si was unfazed, merely tapping the ground lightly with his toes before saying, “Thanks.”

This left Susan somewhat frustrated.

She hadn’t gotten her revenge and instead felt a bit guilty.

Secretly taking back the seed, hiding the wand behind her back, she lowered the temperature slightly before reaching the door.

Her face returned to its previous icy coldness, with a look of disdain. “Let’s go. What are you still lingering for?”

Her acting was a bit too realistic—she would make a fine actress.

Jiang Si considered suggesting to Ice Sugar that she pursue acting for the sect’s benefit as he left the interrogation room.

The second floor was sealed off by soldiers under Susan’s command; Yinlian and the others could only peek from the stairs downstairs.

When Jiang Si emerged, their faces lit up with joy.

Yinlian immediately asked, “Did that old witch Susan touch you inappropriately?”

“Who did you call an old witch?” Susan followed close behind Jiang Si, and hearing Yinlian’s words, retorted softly but authoritatively. Yinlian immediately shrank back behind Yinluo.

Yinluo patted her sister’s head and smiled. “Kids don’t know better; it’s just talk. Miss Susan, please bear with them. Mr. Jiang, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Miss Susan didn’t do anything inappropriate—just following regulations and cleared my suspicion…”

Before Jiang Si finished, Susan interrupted, “You’re not cleared yet. There’s no evidence now, but the fact you fell through the cloud layer still stands. Next time you come, you still won’t be able to step on the clouds. I’ll catch you again.”

Susan’s tone was chilling.

Hiding behind Yinluo, Yinlian said, “See? Who else but the old witch…”

Susan snorted coldly but didn’t argue. She looked at Yinluo. “Get him out within thirty minutes. Don’t let me see him again.”

“Don’t worry, not thirty minutes—three minutes and I’ll have him out,” Yinluo replied politely.

Yinlian, like a loyal younger sister, added, “He won’t be coming back!”

“Good.”

Only after Susan left did the fully armed special forces guarding the second floor also leave.

Everyone sighed in relief, as if a great weight had been lifted.

Yinluo looked at her sister and Coco, and the three laughed.

Yinlian said first, “Finally gone. Wherever she goes, the air pressure drops.”

Yinluo flicked her sister’s forehead and looked at Coco and Jiang Si. “Since losing her magical girl powers, Miss Susan’s been moody and irritable. No one dares provoke her in the Disaster Control Bureau. But don’t mind her. Though she’s not very likable, she’s fair and strictly follows regulations. If you haven’t broken rules, you have nothing to fear from her.”

Yinlian commented beside her, “I think she’s the type to sabotage others.”

“That’s not true,” Yinluo shook her head. “At least I haven’t seen it.”

Jiang Si looked down at his shoes, feeling Yinluo might not know Susan well either.

Maybe no sabotage, but definitely cold feet—right in front of you.

“It’s been a minute already,” Coco suddenly said softly. “Two minutes left. Enough time to get out?”

Yinluo awkwardly pulled the two girls to leave. “Right away.”

“But Coco, you’re officially a magical girl now. Want to meet the others? It’s best to get to know them…”

“Let’s get Jiang Si out first.”

Yinlian sighed, “Why do you sound like you’re about to cremate your brother?”

Coco turned her head away. “Isn’t all this wasted time at the Disaster Control Bureau because of him?”

“Well, it’s not your brother’s fault, is it?”

Jiang Si walked last, feeling the chill had lessened, perhaps due to reduced magic power.

It probably wouldn’t last the full forty minutes.

As they passed through the corridor, some magical girl portraits even bid them farewell.

When they reached the cloud layer and tested it, just as Susan said, Jiang Si could step on the clouds without falling.

Originally, this was to clear his suspicion, letting the Disaster Control Bureau see.

But after a few steps, he began to fall again.

While Jiang Si tried to jump back onto the bureau’s marble floor, puzzled why Susan had set him up, he noticed Coco and the Yin sisters also starting to fall!

A huge pair of wings fluttered lightly in the sky, almost scattering the clouds.

Its crimson body radiated terrifying heat like the sun, and a long, piercing shriek nearly caused fainting.

A disaster beast—an S-class disaster beast. Without magical girls to oppose it, it could destroy a city within three days.

For it to appear here meant the Disaster Control Bureau was truly riddled with infiltrators...

The next moment, the disaster beast charged straight at the four of them!