Over the past few days, Liu Xiaolou had made time to stroll the streets every day, gauging the situation, but Zhanglong Sect's control over Wu Chao Town was airtight. He could not find a safe route to escape.
He had also gone to the entrance of Toutiao Alley. Mama Zhang and Sister Qing had already been driven back inside the alley. Zhanglong Sect personnel guarded its entrance, forbidding them from continuing their business. They were not even allowed outside, nor were outsiders allowed in, supposedly to prevent the troops' morale from wavering. Liu Xiaolou had thus lost this source of intelligence.
Still, he had more or less grasped the situation. Zhanglong Sect had made Wu Chao Town its encampment. The Sect Leader had come in person; four of the five Elders had arrived; twelve inner disciples had come as well. Along with the other officers, outer disciples, stewards, subordinate clans, rogue cultivator sects, and so on, there were over two hundred cultivators in total, plus several hundred young and able-bodied servants and retainers. Their momentum was truly no small matter.
The Zang clan of Goose-Goat Mountain, an important branch of Zhanglong Sect, had also come out in full force under their clan head Zang Baili. The clan's cultivators and twelve consecrated, along with over twenty servants and retainers, had requisitioned both residences surrounding Liu Xiaolou's house.
Besides that familiar Golden Consecrated, even the accountant who collected spirit rice had come along to handle the Zang clan's supplies. At every mealtime, the fragrance of spirit rice, spirit wine, and spirit meat wafted over from the courtyard opposite, making Liu Xiaolou salivate. Unable to endure it once, he had deliberately called on them around mealtime and asked whether there was anything he could help with. Yet Golden Consecrated had dismissed him with