Chu Li appeared ten meters behind Jiang Kuai again and shouted, “Where is the longevity grass?”
Jiang Kuai turned around and stared at him coldly. “Who are you?”
Chu Li smiled. “Yi Public House’s, Chu Li!”
“I don’t know you!” Jiang Kuai said coldly.
“The Celestial Monkey Jiang Kuai.” Chu Li smiled. “I really did not expect that the famous Celestial Monkey would turn out to be you!”
“Me?” Jiang Kuai pointed at himself. “The Celestial Monkey?”
Chu Li nodded.
Jiang Kuai let out a hearty laugh. “This is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!”
“The Longevity Grass is hard to dispose of. I believe that you don’t want to keep it, do you? Our Master Xiao has spoken: if you hand over the Longevity Grass, we will let bygones be bygones and from now on, we will stay away from each other and pretend that nothing happened!” said Chu Li.
“I don’t understand anything you just said!” Jiang Kuai shook his head. “You got the wrong person. I’m leaving!”
Chu Li laughed. “Brother Jiang Kuai doesn’t have to be so anxious to leave!”
He took out the white jade waist tag and threw it to Jiang Kuai. “Look at this, my waist tag.”
With a wave of his sleeve, Jiang Kuai wrapped the white jade waist tag and then transferred it to his hand. He glanced at it and shook his head. “I don’t recognize this. Is this the Yi Public House’s waist tag?”
Chu Li said with a smiling face, “Brother Jiang Kuai is an expert. Naturally, you would recognize it. There is no need to feign ignorance… It was unexpected that Brother Jiang Kuai is proficient in Bone Shrinkage Skill. Using Bone Shrinkage Skill when you are fighting and returning to normal after the deed is done, making others unable to recognize you!”
Bone Shrinkage Skill would not only shrink one’s body, it could also shrink one’s face too. It changed the bone structure of the whole body.
Oftentimes, when a person became fat, others would not be able to recognize him. Changing one’s bones would make it even more impossible to identify that person. Moreover, nobody had ever thought of it from this perspective.
Jiang Kuai’s face turned gloomy and he stared hard at Chu Li. He gripped the white jade waist tag tightly, almost crushing it.
This was his biggest secret. Other than himself, even his woman did not know. Who exactly was this guy named Chu Li? He actually knew his secret!
As expected, the Public House had hidden talents. It must be a conjecture made by an intelligent person in the Public House.
Chu Li saw that he had mixed feelings in his eyes, sometimes filled with killing intent and sometimes clouded with hesitance. He knew that Jiang Kuai was indecisive. He smiled. “Brother Jiang Kuai wants to silence me? And go against the Public House officially until there is no room to reconcile?”
“The Yi Public House is nothing!” Jiang Kuai scoffed.
Chu Li chuckled.
To the four major sects, the Yi Public House really was nothing to be feared, but to the average sects, the Yi Public House was a colossus that could not be resisted. Towards those who were not in any sects like Jiang Kuai, the Public House would only try not to provoke them.
Jiang Kuai’s Light-body Technique was superb, but after all, he was not an immortal. He had friends and family too. If he really went against the Public House, perhaps the forces of the Yi Public House could not kill him, but they could torment his family.
Moreover, Jiang Kuai had already offended the Ren Public House. If he offended another one, he would definitely be dead.
Chu Li had ascertained Jiang Kuai’s true situation. To his surprise and joy, Jiang Kuai had a fatal weakness.
Jiang Kuai was very daring in the past. Relying on his peerless Light-body Technique, he went on a rampage and offended too many people, especially the Ren Public House. He had always been chased by Ren Public House.
In the present, Jiang Kuai was totally different from how he was in the past. He had a wife and he loved her greatly. He had something holding him back now. He was worried about the safety of his wife.
After being chased down by the Ren Public House for two years, Jiang Kuai realized how powerful a Public House was and that they had spies everywhere. Even if he had peerless Light-body Technique, he still had to hide and shift constantly from place to place. There was nothing he could do to get the Ren Public House to stop chasing him.
Jiang Kuai had nothing to fear for himself, but his wife had to follow him and fear for her life every day. This brought him misery.
The spirit of a hero was brief, but love between a man and woman was long. Even a hero will fall for a beauty. Even a lonely hero like him had become tender.
Of course, Chu Li would not let go of such a rare opportunity. Remitting waves after waves of attacks to disintegrate his will to fight and to eventually make him affiliate with the Yi Public House.
Killing him was easy, but to let him affiliate with the Yi Public House to enhance the strength of the Public House was hard to come by.
A martial arts master with peerless Light-body Technique like Jiang Kuai had great use. He was more than just incomparable with the usual Innate Master, sometimes, he was even more important than a Grandmaster.
“What are you laughing at?” Jiang Kuai asked coldly.
“The world is so big but there is no place for you to settle down. In contrast, the most secure place is within the Yi Public House. Brother Jiang Kuai can place your family members within the Public Houses and you don’t have to worry anymore!” replied Chu Li.
“Are you recruiting me?” Jiang Kuai laughed despite himself.
Chu Li nodded. “I’m rank four so I have the right to recruit martial arts masters into the Public House.”
“And become a lackey of the Yi Public House?” Jiang Kuai scoffed.
“Lackey?” Chu Li laughed. “Everyone living in this world is a lackey. The disciples of famous sects have to listen to the sects, the civilians have to listen to the Imperial Court, and even freemen are slaves to their own desire. Who can really be free?”
“What a crooked reasoning!” Jiang Kuai sneered with disdain.
“Gain and loss co-exist. If there is gain, there must be an equal loss. Since you want to be protected by the Public House, how can you not pay for it? … Entering the Public House, it’s true that you will lose your freedom, but doing so can protect your family. Is it not worth it?” said Chu Li.
Jiang Kuai sneered without saying a word.
Chu Li continued, “If you are by yourself, coming and going freely, you are certainly carefree, but you have a family now, how can you be so careless? … You have enemies all over the world, how can you be sure that none of them can find you and seek revenge by harming your family?”
Jiang Kuai’s expression turned gloomy. These words hit him where he hurt most.
“A situation such as yours, those big sects will not take you in.” Chu Li shook his head. “It’s even harder to join the Public House compared to entering the sects. Without the recommendation of a rank four and above, you will definitely not be able to enter the Public House! … To tell you the truth, I had just become a chief of a courtyard and I need confidants. If it’s someone else, they would kill you straight away, why would they waste their time and energy talking to you?”
Jiang Kuai gave Chu Li a sideways glance and sneered, “Kill me? They can’t do anything to me!”
Chu Li shook his head and laughed. “You think that it was because I can’t do anything to you so I had no choice but to recruit you?”
After saying that, he disappeared in situ and appeared behind Jiang Kuai.
Jiang Kuai moved sideways instantly, he was extremely fast.
Chu Li approached from behind him again in a step. Jiang Kuai moved sideways once more but Chu Li followed with a step once again.
Jiang Kuai was alarmed. He increased his speed to the extreme and akin to smoke, he floated to the top of the wall, flying over walls after walls, houses after houses. Under the translucent moonlight, he was like a shadow that just swept past, his figure could not be seen.
Jiang Kuai ran over a hundred miles in one breath, out of the Min State Town and finally arriving at a forest. He stopped at a pine tree and smiled smugly.
Suddenly, he froze. His shoulder was patted lightly. Chu Li’s voice came from behind him, “Brother Jiang Kuai has really good Light-body Technique.”
Jiang Kuai turned around in disbelief and glared at Chu Li.
There was still someone in the world who was better than him in Light-body Technique?
Jiang Kuai’s Light-body Technique was obtained through nature. He ate a mysterious fruit before so his body was as light as feather. The Light-body Technique he practiced was not top-notch, but his speed was amazingly fast. No one was able to keep up with him.
This Chu Li’s Light-body Technique was actually faster than his. How was that possible!?
“A kind reminder to you: we can find you so the Ren Public House must be able to find you too. You’d better go somewhere far away now! … As for the Longevity Grass, I’ll take it back first.” Chu Li pointed at the waist tag on his hand. “If you have figured it out, take the waist tag to the Yi Public House and look for me. If you don’t want to come, that’s also up to you. You can use this waist tag to ask for the help of the Yi Public House once.”
“You… ” Jiang Kuai frowned.
Chu Li waved his hand and in a flash, he disappeared.
Jiang Kuai’s face was gloomy and somber. He thought hard.
Chu Li wanted to take back the Longevity Grass. Did that mean they had found out where he had hidden the Longevity Grass?
Or was Chu Li just deceiving him? Once he ran back, Chu Li would appear again and take the opportunity to snatch away the longevity grass?
Jiang Kuai hesitated. Finally, he believed that the place where he hid the Longevity Grass was very secretive and was only known to himself. No matter how powerful the Yi Public House was, they would never be able to find it. He would not fall into Chu Li’s trap!
But what if they had really found it?
Jiang Kuai handing it over by himself and Chu Li finding it by themselves were two completely different things.
Chu Li’s words just now made him feel disdain but at the same time, he was a little moved.