The two walked back toward the market along the same path they had come. Night had fully enveloped Yunze Market.
Seeing the two approaching, Qian Fu’s eyes, sunken in their sockets, suddenly lit up.
He hurried to meet them.
“Fellow Daoist! You’re finally back!”
Qian Fu asked, unable to suppress his eagerness.
“How did it go? Did you drive those people away?”
Lai Li’an glanced at him. The old man’s mental state was much better than before.
“They’re gone.”
Lai Li’an’s tone was flat.
“But the ringleader escaped. He said he was going to get reinforcements, so it’s not a good idea to stay there long.”
Qian Fu’s smile froze.
“Ran… ran away?”
His lips trembled.
“The spirit field…”
“The spirit field is still there.”
Su Wan’er quickly took a storage bag from her bosom and handed it to Qian Fu.
When she opened the bag, it was stuffed full of various spirit herbs.
Qian Fu’s gaze fell on the storage bag, and his pupils dilated sharply. He carefully parted the opening and examined the spirit herbs bundle by bundle.
When he got to about a dozen bundles, his brow furrowed slightly.
“This herb…”
He picked up a spirit herb and brought it close to his eyes.
“Why was it cut off like this? Cutting it this way is wasteful.”
Su Wan’er stood to the side, her head sinking lower and lower. Those spirit herbs had been cut by her sword—after all, she really didn’t know how to harvest them properly. She was a sword cultivator, not a spirit herb farmer.
But in Qian Fu’s eyes, she was just a spendthrift who had ruined perfectly good spirit herbs.
Lai Li’an glanced at Su Wan’er. The tips of the girl’s ears were bright red, and her fingers were twisting the hem of her skirt. She looked like she wished she could crawl into a hole.
He wanted to say something for her, but before the words left his mouth, Qian Fu waved his hand first.
“Forget it, forget it.”
The old man stuffed the herbs back into the storage bag and sighed.
“This old man doesn’t want the spirit field anymore. With these spirit herbs, this old bones of mine haven’t toiled in vain.”
He took out a storage bag from his bosom and handed it to Lai Li’an.
“Senior, this is the agreed payment. Sixty low-grade spirit stones. Please count them.”
Lai Li’an opened the storage bag and took a look. The fluorescent light of spirit stones filtered through the opening, warm and gentle. He stirred them with his hand—exactly sixty, no more, no less.
His face still wore that expression of calm detachment, but inside he was overjoyed. These sixty spirit stones had come too easily. From beginning to end, he had just said a few polite words, and sixty spirit stones were in his hand. ‘I actually wanted to skim some spirit herbs.’
Lai Li’an sighed inwardly. ‘Forget it. One shouldn’t be too greedy. Sixty spirit stones is already an unexpected windfall.’
Qian Fu carefully put away the storage bag, put his bamboo hat back on, and cupped his hands toward the two.
“Senior, Fellow Daoist, I will remember this kindness. I’ll be off now. Until we meet again.”
He turned around and walked hurriedly into the depths of the market. His stooped figure was soon swallowed by the stream of cultivators coming and going in the streets.
“Senior!”
Su Wan’er suddenly called out and hurried after him. Qian Fu’s steps faltered for a moment, but he didn’t turn back. Instead, he walked even faster.
“Senior, what about your Bone-Erosion Curse!”
Su Wan’er caught up to him and grabbed his sleeve.
“That curse is still on your arm. Without the antidote, you’ll die! My master and I can help you…”
Qian Fu yanked his arm away from her. The motion was so forceful that even he was startled.
He stopped and turned around. Under the bamboo hat, a flicker of irritation crossed his face, but it was quickly covered by a weary smile.
“Fellow Daoist, you worry too much.”
He regained that gentle tone.
“As for the antidote, this old man will find a way on his own. Since those people have run off, I’ll track them down. I’m sure I can find clues to the antidote. Fellow Daoist, there’s no need to worry about me.”
He finished speaking, gave another smile, then turned and quickly walked into the crowd.
Su Wan’er stood still, slowly withdrawing the hand she had extended. She walked back to Lai Li’an, head lowered, and was silent for a long time.
“Master.”
She spoke gloomily.
“Did this disciple do something wrong?”
Lai Li’an didn’t answer her question. He just patted the storage bag at his waist, the sixty spirit stones inside clinking crisply.
“Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
“Of course, to have a big feast.”
Yunze Market was even more bustling at night than during the day. There were more than twice as many cultivators on the streets.
Lai Li’an led Su Wan’er along the main street for a stretch and stopped in front of a building with a sign that read “Hundred Flavors Pavilion.”
A Qi Refining stage attendant stood at the door. Seeing the two pause in front, he immediately put on a smiling face and came over.
“Please come in, esteemed guests! Today we have fresh Blazing Flame Venison and recently arrived Azure Scale Fish from the Eastern Border. They’re kept in live water, so you can order them and have them freshly killed.”
Lai Li’an nodded and stepped inside.
The ground floor hall of Hundred Flavors Pavilion was set with a dozen square tables, most of them occupied. The attendant led them to an empty table in the corner.
Lai Li’an sat down and took the menu from the attendant. His eyes quickly scanned the prices, and he did some rapid mental arithmetic.
Sixty spirit stones. How many dishes to order?
He gritted his teeth and rattled off a few names. The attendant beamed, acknowledged, and hurried off toward the kitchen.
Su Wan’er sat across from him, watching her master pretend to be calm while his eyes sparkled. The corner of her mouth curved up involuntarily, but she quickly suppressed the smile and resumed her proper posture.
The dishes were brought out one after another. Lai Li’an stared at the table full of food, his eyes going wide.
He quickly calculated the cost of this table in his head. Sixteen low-grade spirit stones.
Sixty spirit stones were suddenly down by nearly a third. ‘It hurts so much!’
But the moment the aroma reached his nose, the pain was thrown to the winds.
He picked up his chopsticks and was about to tell her to start eating when the sound of dense footsteps suddenly came from the street outside.
A group of people surged into the entrance of Hundred Flavors Pavilion. They were all in black martial attire, with a mountain pattern embroidered on their chests.
There were eight of them in total. After entering, they silently dispersed and sealed off all exits of the hall.
The leader was a man in his thirties, tall and stern-faced. His cultivation level—Lai Li’an could sense it even without the System—was Late Core Formation.
The other cultivators in the hall lowered their heads. A few of the quicker ones had already stood up and were sneaking toward the door along the walls.
The eight black-clad cultivators didn’t stop them. Their gazes were locked on one direction from start to finish.
That table in the corner, where a man and a woman sat. The man still held chopsticks, the tips hovering above the dishes. Steam rose and blurred his features.
The leading black-clad man crossed the hall, walked to that table, and stopped.
“Law Enforcement Hall business!”
His voice was not loud, but carried an unquestionable oppressive aura.
“I am Li Xiuyuan, Patrol Overseer of the Law Enforcement Hall. I am here on orders to arrest someone.”
He paused, his gaze growing even colder.
“Someone has filed a report with their real name, accusing you two of forcibly occupying the spirit field of rogue cultivator Qian Fu at West Suburb Sunset Slope, plundering mature spirit herbs, and even assaulting others, in violation of Yunze Market’s laws. Now, the two of you will follow this seat back to the Law Enforcement Hall for questioning. Do not resist!”
Su Wan’er’s face instantly turned pale. She stood up abruptly.
“We did not forcibly occupy the spirit field! That spirit field belongs to a senior named Qian. He was the one whose field was taken over, so he asked us…”
The black-clad leader raised a hand to cut her off.
“No need for more words. The two of you, please come with us.”
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