Su Wan’er heard the name “Qian Fu” and was stunned for a moment.
Then she quickly turned her head to look again at the richly dressed young man slumped in the corner.
She examined him several times, but still couldn’t reconcile the handsome, jade-like face before her with the old, wrinkled man she remembered.
But since her Master said he was Qian Fu, then he must be Qian Fu.
Qian Fu lay on the ground, and naturally heard Lai Li’an’s words clearly.
The pitiful expression on his handsome face froze for an instant, and a trace of panic flashed in his eyes.
But it was quickly smothered by an even more high-pitched wail.
“No justice in this world!”
he shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Senior, I have no grievance with you. Even if you want your disciple to attack people in the street, that’s one thing. But to slander me as a swindler? Just because you have high cultivation, you can casually frame people with empty words? Fellow Daoists, judge for yourselves! Is there no fairness left in Yunze Market?”
Su Wan’er let out a light laugh.
“When did my Master ever call you a swindler?”
Qian Fu didn’t panic; he pretended not to hear and kept shouting while darting glances around, trying to stir up the surrounding cultivators’ emotions again.
But this time, no one came to his defense.
The female cultivator in red looked down at her own toes.
The old man leaning on a cane silently took half a step back.
Even the female cultivator in blue, who had cursed the loudest before, kept her mouth tightly shut and avoided his gaze.
The Enforcement Hall disciple’s cry of “Senior Lai” still echoed in their ears.
Anyone who could make the Enforcement Hall bow its head in Yunze Market was not someone they could afford to provoke.
Watching his exaggerated performance, Su Wan’er couldn’t help but chuckle.
Although she couldn’t see through Qian Fu’s disguise technique, looking at that handsome face now, every expression was written with the word “guilty.”
She pressed her hand on her sword hilt and stepped forward.
Her voice was cold.
“Fellow Daoist Qian, since my Master has recognized you, there’s no need to keep acting. Surrender now.”
Qian Fu’s smile finally began to falter.
He leaned against the wall, looking at Su Wan’er’s hand on her sword hilt, then finally fixed his gaze on Lai Li’an’s face.
A Mid Golden Core cultivator and a Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator; running was definitely out of the question.
He gritted his teeth and stopped crying out in protest.
Instead, he just sat against the wall, his eyes darting around as he schemed something.
Not long after, hurried footsteps sounded from outside the door.
Li Xiuyuan strode into the room, followed by four Enforcement Hall disciples.
His eyes swept across the shop, and he first cupped his hands to Lai Li’an in greeting.
Then he looked at the richly dressed young man in the corner and furrowed his brow.
“Senior Lai, is this Qian Fu?”
As soon as Qian Fu saw Li Xiuyuan, he perked up again.
He struggled to get up from the ground, clutched his chest, and pointed at Lai Li’an.
“Esteemed sir, my surname is Zhang, given name Xuan. I’m a spiritual plant merchant from the West Market of Yunze Market. I’ve been doing legitimate business here for several years. My shop is on the third lane of the West Market; you can easily verify it with a simple inquiry! These two burst in without any reason, attacked me, and then accused me of being some Qian Fu—I don’t even know who Qian Fu is! I beg you to seek justice for me!”
Li Xiuyuan didn’t respond immediately.
Instead, he turned to look at Lai Li’an, his eyes questioning.
Lai Li’an stood with his hands behind his back, his face expressionless, but his mind was racing.
For that old swindler Qian Fu to shout like this meant that the identity of “Zhang Xuan” was likely not made up on the spot.
There probably was a real shop serving as his cover.
If he let Li Xiuyuan go investigate, it would take time to go back and forth.
And what he wanted most was to stop wasting time on this mess.
He needed to find a way to make Qian Fu slip up himself.
Lai Li’an pondered for a moment, then suddenly spoke.
“Speaking of which, yesterday someone was selling a large batch of fresh spiritual herbs at the black market west of the market. Green Water Vine, Red Sun Flower—excellent quality, large quantity, low price. Almost a fire sale. I happened to have a friend passing by who asked about the price.”
He paused, his gaze casually sweeping over Qian Fu’s face.
“That seller was in a hurry, clearly trying to unload the goods quickly. My friend wondered why so many spiritual herbs were being sold at a full thirty percent below market price. Later, when he heard that the Hundred Herbs Hall at Sunset Slope had lost its spiritual herbs, he grew suspicious and informed me.”
“So what?”
Qian Fu forced calmness and sneered.
“What does some spiritual herb seller in Yunze Market have to do with me? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“I’m just telling a story. Fellow Daoist, why are you in such a hurry?”
Lai Li’an’s tone remained flat.
“But coincidentally, my friend was cautious. When he asked the price, he specifically inspected the goods. He added something special into them—something colorless and odorless.”
Qian Fu’s face suddenly flushed bright red.
The words burst out of him.
“Impossible! When I sold them, I never let anyone inspect the goods! Whoever came to buy just paid with spirit stones and took them. There was no friend inspecting anything…”
His voice cut off abruptly.
Everyone in the shop’s eyes landed on him.
Qian Fu’s lips trembled a few times as he tried to say something to salvage the situation.
Su Wan’er let out a cold laugh, her fingers tightening slightly on her sword hilt.
Just now she had worried that her Master had no evidence, but with just a few light words, he had tricked the old swindler into jumping into the pit himself.
That friend who inspected the goods was probably all made up by Master on the spot.
Qian Fu, guilty as he was, hadn’t even thought to refute it; he only cared about panicking.
Li Xiuyuan’s face was as dark as water.
He waved his hand, and two Enforcement Hall disciples immediately stepped forward, pressed Qian Fu to the ground, and pulled a storage bag from his waist.
As soon as the bag was opened, it was clearly the very spiritual herbs Su Wan’er had handed over earlier.
Qian Fu was pinned to the ground.
His disguise technique, due to loss of spiritual power control, began peeling off in patches, revealing the wrinkled, withered face underneath.
Among the surrounding cultivators, someone gasped.
The female cultivators who had spoken up for him earlier now all had ugly expressions.
“Senior Lai,”
Li Xiuyuan put away the storage bag and turned to Lai Li’an, his tone even more respectful than before.
“This time, thanks to your intervention, otherwise this old swindler would have been running wild in Yunze Market for who knows how long. By the way, Senior mentioned earlier that Qian Fu had accomplices. Do you have any leads on their whereabouts? If needed, the Enforcement Hall is ready to cooperate with you at any time.”
Lai Li’an was silent for a moment.
Accomplices? He had just said that offhand.
He didn’t even know if Qian Fu had any.
He looked at Li Xiuyuan, said nothing, but the corner of his mouth curled into a meaningful arc.
Then he shook his head slightly, an expression that seemed to say, “This matter is not convenient to discuss further.”
Li Xiuyuan caught that look and immediately understood.
The Senior didn’t want to involve others.
Perhaps he had already set up undercover agents, perhaps those accomplices were already under control—just not convenient to disclose.
The ways of a great master were not his to question.
He quickly cupped his hands.
“This junior understands. I will not inquire further about this matter. If Senior has any tasks for me, please just say the word. I will do my utmost to cooperate.”
Lai Li’an’s smile froze for a moment.
‘You understand what? I don’t even understand myself.’
But since the other party had offered, he did have one thing to take care of.
He cleared his throat, regained his calm and composed expression, and said slowly, “Since Chief Li puts it that way, there is indeed one matter I’d like to entrust to you. Yesterday, Hong Wu reported the theft of spiritual herbs, and my friend compensated Hundred Herbs Hall with five thousand low-grade spirit stones. Now that Qian Fu has been caught red-handed and the herbs recovered, that compensation…”
Before he could finish, Li Xiuyuan immediately picked up the thread.
“Senior, rest assured! Since the case has been resolved and it’s clear that Senior was deceived by Qian Fu, that compensation should naturally be returned. I will report to Elder Sun as soon as I return and order Hundred Herbs Hall to refund the five thousand spirit stones in full. Within three days, they will be delivered personally to Fellow Daoist Meng.”
Lai Li’an nodded slightly, his face showing little emotion, but inside he was already frantically calculating.
Five thousand spirit stones! That was five thousand! No way he was giving them back.
He suddenly straightened his expression and added in a solemn tone, “Give these spirit stones to me. I will return them whole and complete to Junior Meng Qiuran, not a single coin missing.”
Hearing this, Li Xiuyuan’s eyes filled with even more respect.
“Senior’s righteousness is admirable. This junior is in awe.”
Standing to the side, Su Wan’er secretly glanced at her Master.
When he said that, his expression was even more serious than usual—so serious that it felt a little off, though she couldn’t put her finger on why.
***
When they walked out of the Enforcement Hall’s gate, the day was already near noon.
The streets were bustling with people.
Su Wan’er followed behind Lai Li’an and finally let out a long sigh of relief.
“Master, since everything is settled, should we leave the city?”
Su Wan’er quickened her steps to walk beside her Master.
Leave the city? No way.
He didn’t need to run anymore.
Lai Li’an patted the storage bag at his waist.
Five thousand low-grade spirit stones! He had never seen so much money in his life.
If he ran now, how would he spend those five thousand spirit stones?
“No need to leave the city.”
Lai Li’an stopped walking.
“Let’s stay in the market for now.”
“Master,”
Su Wan’er whipped her head around, her voice barely containing her excitement, “are you going to start teaching Wan’er alchemy?”
Lai Li’an’s expression stiffened slightly.
“Al… alchemy?”
He coughed twice, adjusted his collar, and said, “That’s right. The Alchemy Grand Assembly is approaching; it’s time to formally initiate you into the path.”
With that, he lifted his foot and walked toward the city.
Su Wan’er followed closely behind him, her eyes full of anticipation for the month ahead.
She clenched her fist secretly.
‘Master is finally going to formally teach me the Alchemy Path. I must give it my all and never let him down.’
As for Lai Li’an walking in front, he let out a silent wail.
‘Damn it. I don’t know how to do alchemy.’
He cursed fiercely in his heart, but on his face, he still wore that carefree, light smile.