Lijiang City, Yongtong District.
Deep into the night, when all was silent.
Twelve figures, dressed in black, glided into an alley like specters, without making a sound.
Without speaking a word, ten of them dispersed, silently encircling a courtyard.
The next moment, the remaining two swiftly scaled the wall and landed soundlessly within.
Immediately, like cheetahs, they explosively pushed off the ground, charging towards the room.
Bang!
The doors and windows shattered in an instant.
A cacophony of crashing and smashing echoed around.
Not long after, Jin Wuduan and Sikou Yang emerged from the room with ugly expressions on their faces.
“We’ve been fooled!” Sikou Yang lamented.
“Seems like he ran away,” mused Jin Wuduan thoughtfully. “The window is open, but the air in the room is slightly stale.”
“It shows he hasn’t been gone long.”
Sikou Yang immediately frowned. “Could it be that someone leaked the information?”
Zuo Sheng’s scalp tingled, and without losing his composure, he said, “Cheng Yi is cunning and ruthless. Once sold out, it is unlikely he’d be betrayed by the same person a second time.”
“Perhaps he’s come up with some countermeasures.”
Sikou Yang nodded in sudden realization. “To harm Yu’er and Qing’er, he must indeed be treacherous and vicious. It’s only logical that he’d be on guard.”
“What a pity to lose a Thousand Mechanism Token.”
“Leave two people to watch this place, the rest of you go back. We can’t delay tomorrow’s investigation.”
Zuo Sheng sighed in relief and acknowledged with a bow.
The group arrived quickly and left just as fast, disappearing into the night.
…
On the rooftop, Chen Mu crouched in a puff of black smoke, holding a small piece of paper, watching the line of men depart.
“What kind of undeserved disaster is this?!”
“How did the search for Cheng Yi end up at my place?”
And this little piece of paper.
Just now, someone had thrown it into his room, warning him to escape.
“Zuo Sheng?”
He remembered that back in Qingshan County, Zuo Sheng had allied with Cheng Yi.
“I can’t stay here any longer.”
…
Two hours later, a figure in black crushed the neck of a surveillant with a mere grasp, and vaulted into Chen Mu’s courtyard.
“Ran away earlier? What a shame,” Wu Yin shook his head dispassionately.
After some thought, he shook his head and chuckled to himself: “Then let’s play this game slowly!”
Wu Yin produced a thumb-sized, water droplet-shaped bronze object from his sleeve and held it in his palm, sensing it carefully.
“The Heartless Bell is still here?” Wu Yin raised an eyebrow.
“Realizing it was me, did you decide to leave the Heartless Bell behind, my dear nephew? You are indeed decisive!” Wu Yin sneered.
He then held the Water Droplet Copper Piece with one hand, searching incessantly throughout the room and courtyard.
“The sensing is still so weak, is it buried underground?” Wu Yin’s brow creased slightly.
“I’ll have to hire someone to dig it up in a few days,” Wu Yin shook his head.
With those two outside dead, the Startling Swan Gang won’t overlook this place for a while. It’s better to wait until things have calmed down.
“After all the twists and turns, the Heartless Bell ends up in my hands again,” Wu Yin sighed. “Brother, how did you end up dying?”
“Without the Heartless Bell, it will be impossible to find this little thing in the future.”
Wu Yin shook his head, suddenly feeling somewhat dejected.
Soon after, he turned and vaulted over the courtyard wall, disappearing after a few leaps.
…
On the rooftop, still crouched in the black smoke, Chen Mu watched Wu Yin’s retreating figure.
“It’s that old man with the chubby grandson,” Chen Mu recognized the man’s identity.
“I escaped the Thousand Mechanism Token search, only to be caught by the Heartless Bell,” Chen Mu looked at the bronze bell in the Five Ghosts Bag, thinking helplessly.
“Is this man also connected to Qingfeng Observatory?” Chen Mu narrowed his eyes. “It seems he is a rival of Cheng Yi.”
“Cheng Yi has hurt many,” Chen Mu shook his head in regret, wondering why he hadn’t put in more effort to kill him before.
“With that old man paying attention, I can’t stay in the city,” Chen Mu sighed.
“Fortunately, I’ve already prepared all the supplies,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s not like I haven’t lived in the wilderness before.” Continue your adventure at empire
With the Five Ghosts Bag for convenience and the Soul-Calming Stake for repelling insects and beasts, the wilderness might even be more comfortable without anyone to disturb me.
“To be targeted by this old man after just one meeting, talk about bad luck,” Chen Mu thought helplessly.
Using others to do his dirty work so skillfully, he must be an old coin.
“If I can’t provoke him, can’t I still hide from him?”
…
In Lijiang City, Anshun District to the east of the city.
Wu Yin got up early, dressed, and washed with his little grandson.
“Chubby, play by yourself for a while, I’ll go make breakfast,” Wu Yin said with a doting face.
This was the Daoist Bone child that he’d searched all over Da Liang to find. The child had been dry-admitted as his god-grandson from birth and raised like his own, treasured beyond measure.
After settling his grandson, he turned and went straight into the kitchen to make breakfast.
Soon, he came back into the room with a plate of food.
But he found his grandson happily eating a steamed bun with savory meat filling in each hand.
Wu Yin’s pupils suddenly constricted, a storm of alarm rising in his heart.
“Where did the buns come from?!”
“Someone’s been here!”
“Have we been exposed?!”
To enter the room silently and leave behind steamed buns without him noticing… this level of ability…
“Could it be Cheng Yi?” A surge of absurdity rose in Wu Yin’s heart.
How could he have such ability?!
“Is he coming to take revenge on me?” Wu Yin laughed bitterly.
“Grandpa, a man came just a while ago and invited us to go eat at the Lijiang House, are we going?” the chubby boy asked, his mouth full of bun, speaking indistinctly.
Wu Yin’s heart gave a sharp lurch.
He felt an impulse to grab his grandson and run.
But he forced himself to remain calm and said with a bitter smile, “Let’s go.”
He probably had already been targeted by Cheng Yi, and had no choice but to go.
“Senior brother, you really taught a good disciple,” Wu Yin thought resentfully.
…
Around noon, at Lijiang House.
At a square table next to the kitchen corridor, a full spread of dishes was laid out.
A little chubby boy was holding a shiny red pork hock, gnawing at it and dripping oil all over his mouth.
Chen Mu looked on at the little chubby boy with a smile.
The boy’s way of eating reminded him involuntarily of Cheng Ming, the little Daoist acolyte he hadn’t seen for a long time.
Ignoring the gaunt, dark-faced old man staring intently at him from across the table, Chen Mu kept picking out dishes for the little chubby boy.
“Cheng Yi my nephew, your face-changing technique is really interesting,” Wu Yin sneered coldly. “But using my grandson to threaten me, that’s not very funny, is it?”
Chen Mu was taken aback. Was he being mistaken for Cheng Yi?
His nephew? So this old man was Cheng Yi’s senior uncle?
He didn’t argue, but said cheerily, “I think it’s funny.”
Wu Yin’s face darkened. “Out with it, what do you really want?”
“I almost got caught last night. A consolation of five thousand taels of silver isn’t too much to ask, right?”
“Fine!” Wu Yin replied calmly.
Chen Mu’s heart jumped. That was too little!
“I misspoke. It’s fifty thousand taels,” Chen Mu said indifferently.
Wu Yin’s face turned dark immediately. After a deep breath, he nodded grudgingly.
“Give me that Bronze Water Droplet then, no problem, right?” Chen Mu continued.
That thing could sense the Heartless Bell; he had to get a hold of it.
Wu Yin’s expression changed, but after glancing at his grandson, he clenched his teeth and said, “Fine!”
“And another thing…” Chen Mu looked thoughtfully at the little chubby boy.
“Don’t be too excessive!” Wu Yin’s neck immediately flushed red.
Oh ho!
Chen Mu glanced at Wu Yin, then at the little chubby boy.
“This… isn’t he also a Daoist Bone?”
The Qingfeng Observatory really had something going. It was so hard to find a Daoist Bone, and this pair of brothers had found two!
Chen Mu’s lips curled up slightly. “Senior uncle, I almost lost my life. A few pieces of White Jade Spirit Money shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Wu Yin immediately felt a lump in his chest.
Do you think those are cabbages?