Chapter 391: Far Up the White Cloud Mountain

Wu Jinsong was startled. "You..." But He Lingchuan was sitting there, seemingly fine. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"The officers were alerted, and they ran off."

"I need to go back and report," Wu Jinsong said, standing up. "The authorities are drafting a wanted poster, which will be put up soon. Would you mind coming with me to describe the appearance of the envoy's killers to the artist?"

"How much is the reward?"

"For an urgent diplomatic incident like this, if the culprits are apprehended, the reward will be at least a hundred taels of silver." Wu Jinsong could only give an estimate. "If you're just reporting information, it's probably around twenty taels."

Twenty taels of gold was two hundred taels of silver. As expected of Fufeng City, they were indeed generous, even offering such a large reward for an informant.

He Lingchuan extended his chopsticks towards him. "Twenty gold, please."

"You..." Wu Jinsong was delighted. "You know where they are?"

"They don't know I witnessed it firsthand; at most, they're just guessing."

To kill based solely on a guess, preferring to kill an innocent rather than let a guilty person go. That young man in black was truly fierce.

"Since they're so concerned about me, how could I disappoint their good intentions?" He Lingchuan chuckled. "So, I quietly followed them all the way to the Xiliao Inn where they're staying, behind the temple in the south of the city."

Of course, his "following" referred to the Eyeball Spider.

Wu Jinsong clapped his hands. "Well done!"

He rummaged through his pockets. "Put those twenty taels of gold on account for now; I'll get the money for you later! Come on, let's go, quickly!"

He Lingchuan smiled, finished the wine in his cup, and left with him.

Why seek revenge oneself when one can use another's hand to kill? This was Fufeng City, under the King of Baoshu, where the official power was supreme.

He once again accessed the Eyeball Spider's vision and found that the man the small spider had clung to had returned to Fushan's side, and the group was discussing behind closed doors.

Unfortunately, this man was likely of too low a rank and was only assigned to guard the door outside. The Eyeball Spider tried to slip inside to eavesdrop, but the doors and windows had barriers, and it was repelled as soon as it got close.

Fortunately, it was small and light; otherwise, the barriers would have triggered an alarm.

He Lingchuan shook his head. He wasn't Zhu Erniang herself, so not being able to control the Eyeball Spider remotely was a significant drawback.

In the night, Fufeng City seemed to have a subtle undercurrent.

The young man in black and his subordinates were nearing the end of their discussion.

There was nothing else for it; their target was still alive and well, and they were pressed for time, so they had to quickly formulate a new plan.

Two men patrolling the corridor were bored. One yawned, and the other, infected, unconsciously opened his mouth wide.

Immediately, an arrow shot into his mouth and through his skull!

The other man, startled, cried out loudly. But before the sound could fully escape, a creature, resembling both a bat and a bird, swooped out from under the eaves, spreading its wings and enveloping his head and face.

His cry turned into two muffled grunts, almost inaudible.

This creature seemed to have an anesthetic effect. The man, in his panic, failed to hold his breath and immediately felt dizzy and disoriented, collapsing before he could pull the thing off his face.

The creature hopped away, revealing its true form:

A flying squirrel.

It could stretch the skin under its ribs to glide, was four times larger than its ordinary counterparts, and looked far less harmless.

Dozens of soldiers immediately rushed forward, surrounding the guest rooms. They ruthlessly attacked the doors and windows with their swords and spears, smashing them open. The innkeeper had already confirmed that this was the only group of over ten people checking in at the same time, occupying a row of three rooms.

Everyone prepared for a fight, but the rooms were silent; no one shouted curses, and no one jumped out.

The rooms were empty.

"There's a formation on the wall!"

A soldier looked up and saw a formation drawn on the gray wall, with complex lines and a peculiar symbol in the center.

"What is this...?"

A deputy general arrived from behind, entered the room, saw the formation on the wall, and without bothering to analyze it, immediately gave an order: "Search! Search the surroundings thoroughly!"

Before he finished speaking, he felt his foot give way, as if he had stepped on something.

With a tremendous "boom," the room exploded into pieces. Rafters flew five zhang away, slamming into the gate of the neighboring shop with a loud crash.

Black smoke billowed upwards.

Such an sudden incident in a bustling market caused widespread screams.

The young man in black and his companions were in a residential house a dozen zhang away, looking up at the black smoke rising into the sky.

Behind him, a burly man who had previously been full of vigor was now pale and unsteady, with several strands of white hair.

This man had just sacrificed five years of his life to barely activate the Great Mountain Shifting Formation, teleporting everyone here.

Engaging the soldiers head-on in Fufeng City was not a wise move. Their numbers were vast, and reinforcements were endless; they could wear people down to death.

Seeing the young man staring intently at the black smoke as if lost in thought, a subordinate couldn't help but remind him, "Young Master, we should leave. This is no place to linger."

The Fufeng soldiers would soon search this area.

A fierce glint flashed in the young man in black's eyes.

Fortunately, he had been cautious and prepared a fallback, and fortunately, his spiritual sense was keen enough to detect the anomaly; otherwise, breaking through the military encirclement would have taken a great deal of effort.

From this, it was clear their lodging had been surrounded three layers deep.

The authorities had deployed at least three to four hundred people, showing how seriously they regarded them.

"Young Master?"

"Fufeng City must have received news of the Yin Mountain Python's death. But if it weren't for that person's tip-off, the authorities wouldn't have found us." He narrowed his eyes. "Good, excellent!"

That kid truly had one face in public and another in private.

He turned and stared at his subordinates, who felt a chill all over, as if being scrutinized, but the feeling was fleeting and soon returned to normal.

In reality, the young man in black had expanded his divine sense, scanning everyone present.

"Take off your clothes and change into new ones immediately."

Here?

Fortunately, the subordinates were well-trained; they simply executed the order without questioning, quickly changing out of their old clothes into new ones.

"We must have had tracking spells or powders placed on us earlier; otherwise, the soldiers couldn't have pinpointed our location so precisely." The young man in black's divine sense found no anomalies, which left him marveling inwardly.

He Lingchuan had shown his ability to react after the fact: the first time when they killed the Yin Mountain Python, the second during the inn raid, and now this was the third time.

Three strikes and you're out. This person had tampered with them.

What he didn't know was that the Eyeball Spider had originally been attached to a minion outside the guest room and hadn't come with them.

"Advance the retreat plan and split into groups," the young man in black quickly ordered. "We're too many people; we're too conspicuous."

"Are we retreating?"

The young man in black seemed to have heard a great joke, and he dug at his ear. "Say that again?"

The subordinate stammered silently.

He grinned, though there was no humor in his eyes. "The objective remains unchanged: we will seize the item, and the person... will be killed!"

The next morning, the sun still rose from the east.

He Lingchuan stretched, then rose feeling refreshed.

After opening his second Dantian, his true energy flowed faster, and his spirit was more abundant. He could be energetic after just an hour of sleep.

Previously, he'd worried about dark circles if he didn't get at least two hours of sleep.

The black cat also jumped in from the windowsill, stretched in a downward dog pose, then scratched at the wooden window, leaving white marks.

"Hey, don't scratch randomly, I'll have to pay for damaged windows and doors." He paid the black cat per job, and there was no work for it today, yet the cat came by itself again.

The kitten had probably gone off to play. The larger cat rubbed against He Lingchuan before asking him, "If you're going to Baiyun Mountain, could you give me a ride? I also want to attend the ceremony, but it's too far to walk by myself."

Its legs were short.

He Lingchuan saw no objection.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Second Boss Shi arrived.

He had changed into new clothes and cheerfully said, "It's time for us to go up the mountain for the ceremony!"

"Aren't you busy with business today?" The King of Baoshu's birthday celebration was also a carnival for merchants. Traders from within and outside Beijia took the opportunity to bring rare treasures, exotic flowers, and strange herbs to Fufeng City, and auctions, big and small, never stopped. Official statistics showed nearly a hundred auctions daily, and treasure merchants were certainly attracting a lot of attention this time.

"Everything that needed to be sold has been sold," he said, indicating their main business was wholesale. "I heard the official road to Lingxu City has been cleared, and the authorities have increased security patrols. So, we'll hit the road right after the ceremony today! There's safety in numbers."

The sudden outbreak of Imperial Flow interrupted their travel plans, causing a significant delay in Fufeng City. After today's celebration, they needed to hurry on their way.

"Oh, right, this is the book you wanted." Second Boss Shi handed He Lingchuan a booklet. "Fufeng City indeed had it. My assistant found it at the second bookstore he checked, and apparently, it was even displayed in a very prominent spot."

"A hardcover copy?" He Lingchuan took it and flipped through the pages, sending dust flying. "Cough, cough, cough! So much dust!"

Second Boss Shi looked a bit confused. "Brother He, what do you need this for? I've seen that normally no one buys it. That bookstore only stocked two copies, both gathering dust on a high shelf. They say it's copied every twenty or thirty years to prevent it from being lost, but as for anyone actually reading it, I doubt it."

"It's a secret, a secret," He Lingchuan said, patting the book cover and shaking off another cloud of book dust. "This book isn't meant for reading anyway, and it's so thin? Perfect!"

"Tch," Second Boss Shi rolled his eyes, urging him to hurry up and get going.

He Lingchuan had nothing much to pack. The two led their mounts out, and the black cat jumped onto He Lingchuan's mount, a rock goat, ready for a free ride.

This rock goat had carried him back from Three Hearts Lake, running steadily and swiftly, and surprisingly, it had excellent patience. No wonder someone took it as a mount.

Compared to horses and 'bo' beasts, the rock goat's jumping ability was exceptional; it could easily leap over a *zhang* high. It was agile and fast, particularly suited for mountain travel, so He Lingchuan simply kept it for transportation.

Of course, its carrying capacity was average; it would get weak-legged if it carried over five hundred *jin*.

As dawn broke, the streets were already bustling, with pedestrians shoulder to shoulder, mostly heading north.

In such conditions, there was no point in riding horses; they could only lead them and follow the crowd.

As for carriages or donkey carts, they couldn't move an inch.

Passing two temples, He Lingchuan saw that the makeshift stages in front of them were already active. On stage, string and wind instruments played, while below, the crowd smiled broadly, and children chased vendors selling candied skewers. It was even livelier than the New Year.