Zhuang Shili

"This wine of yours is pretty good—fragrant and rich. Doesn't look like something you can afford to drink."

The clerk loved his liquor. He could not claim to know much about wine culture, but experience and instinct told him this wine was worth a fortune, making him even less willing to refuse it.

As he spoke, the gesture of refusal he had started turned into him taking the waterskin. He even led the youth beneath a corner of the rice shop's eaves to escape the sun, preparing to have a good few drinks.

It was midday anyway, and there was not much work to do. The workers inside were busy eating and had no time to bother with him. With such a fine opportunity and such fine wine, would it not be a pity not to drink a few mouthfuls?

The dark-skinned, honest-looking youth was pulled into the shade beneath the eaves and seemed somewhat at a loss. Yet under the clerk's reassurances, he quickly let down his guard and unease, and the two began chatting on and off.

This honest-looking youth was, of course, Duàn Yì. He had learned the Disguise Technique, and his control over his own qi and blood, as well as the stretching and compression of his bones, flesh, tendons, and sinews, was exceptionally precise. Thus, while this disguise was not flawless as garments woven without a seam, anyone not especially familiar with him would never recognize him.

His purpose in coming here was simple: to make a personal visit, feel out the situation, probe its depths, and find out exactly how many people Zhuang Shili had brought to Hebei this time. This was very important to him.

It was not that he distrusted Golden Silver Den or Yan Yunxiao. Golden Silver Den's intelligence network was