Unexpected Windfall

Fear and servility surfaced on Sun Qian's face.

"Sir Hundred Household... I'm just a lowly beggar. How could I possibly be waiting for someone?"

"Sir... could there... be some misunderstanding?"

Sun Qian's disguise was excellent; even his voice and expression carried fawning humility.

Yet from the moment he entered this street, Shen Qing's Innate Six Senses had caught the killing intent and disgust in Sun Qian's eyes.

Though that killing intent had been exceedingly faint and vanished in a flash, under the enhancement of the Innate Six Senses, it had been magnified without limit.

Shen Qing smiled. "Oh? That's quite a novel explanation. You can explain it in the Imperial Guards' prison."

A beggar dared reveal killing intent toward the Imperial Guards? What beggar had such nerve?

Besides, he dared show killing intent toward Shen Qing? Even if he were a dog, Shen Qing would still have to kick him twice.

"Sir, sir, it truly is a misunderstanding."

As Sun Qian spoke, he shrank back. It looked exactly like fear, but in the next instant, his expression turned exceptionally savage. The two fingers of his right hand became a sharp edge, stabbing toward Shen Qing's throat like a sword.

Sun Qian knew there would be no peaceful end today, so he chose to strike first. Besides, Shen Qing had dared stand so close to him—clearly, Shen Qing had underestimated him far too much.

But in the very next second, Sun Qian's expression froze. At some point, his two fingers had already been tightly gripped in Shen Qing's palm.

With a slight squeeze, Sun Qian's two fingers twisted into a bizarre shape.

Crack, crack, crack...

A string of bone-crushing sounds that set teeth on edge rang out. Sun Qian's two fingers were directly crushed into pulp.

Throughout the entire process, Shen Qing maintained his gentle smile.

Only then did Sun Qian understand. Shen Qing had not underestimated him—Shen Qing simply did not think anything of him at all.

Shen Qing exerted a little force with his hand. With a tremendous bang, Sun Qian's entire body was slammed to the ground, leaving him dazed and disoriented.

Blood spilled from the corner of Sun Qian's mouth as his mind raced, desperately trying to find a way out.

But how could Shen Qing grant his wish? In the next instant, Shen Qing's right foot came down heavily on his knee, crushing it outright.

"Stop hitting me, stop... I surrender."

Blood continuously flowed from Sun Qian's mouth, yet he still surrendered through slurred words. The venom and ruthlessness in his eyes had been replaced by deep terror as he used his one intact hand to prop himself up and retreat with all his might.

Shen Qing sneered. He did not care about that. Every move the other man had made had been intended to kill; now that he could not win, he wanted to stop fighting?

Shen Qing stepped forward and repeated the process, crushing Sun Qian's other leg. Then he seized one of Sun Qian's arms and flung him hard, smashing his entire body into the wall.

The force was just right—not enough to collapse the wall, but enough to embed Sun Qian in it, like a mural.

Just as Shen Qing was about to interrogate him, he noticed something strange. A crease had somehow appeared along Sun Qian's jawline.

A human-skin mask?

Shen Qing reached out and effortlessly tore a mask from Sun Qian's face, revealing his original aged features.

"Quite a few dirty tricks, aren't there?"

At that moment, Fang Ming hurried over from the street corner.

"Sir, sir, I finally found you! There's new information. Sun Qian has already fled Changshui Street. One of the Banner Officers seems to have seen the direction he ran—it was toward our side."

"Hey, who's this old bastard?"

Shen Qing had harbored some doubts before, but now he could be certain. This old stick was the Rogue Cultivator who had stolen the treasure.

"An unexpected delight. This is Sun Qian."

Fang Ming stepped forward two paces and examined him carefully, a trace of confusion appearing on his face.

"That can't be right. He does look a little familiar, but he doesn't match the portrait either."

Then he spotted the human-skin mask in Shen Qing's hand and suddenly understood.

"Oh, a human-skin mask. But that still isn't right. Why does this face look familiar to me?"

Shen Qing raised an eyebrow. For a General to find him familiar, he had probably appeared on some wanted poster.

It seemed his good fortune had not run out today.

"Old bastard, tell us yourself."

"Of course, you have a choice."

"First, obediently tell me where the treasure is, then give us your full background. I'll grant you a quick death. Second, go to prison, suffer every torment, and then tell me where the treasure is."

Thinking of the various tortures in the Imperial Guards' prison, Sun Qian no longer intended to struggle. He sighed and coughed up several mouthfuls of blood.

"Cough, cough... Who would have thought that after going around in circles, I would still fall into the hands of you Imperial Guards?"

"Time... fate... Thinking back to eight years ago..."

Before he could finish, Shen Qing greeted him with a resounding slap that knocked his mouth crooked.

"Do you think I'm here to chat with you?"

"Eight years ago? Why not start from the day you were born?"

"Speak! What's your name?"

Sun Qian's face quickly swelled, and even his voice shrank several degrees.

"My name isn't Sun Qian. My name is Sun Yun..."

Fang Ming suddenly cried out, "I remember now! Sun Yun—you're Sun Yun, the Cloud-Piercing Hand!"

"I saw your wanted notice two days ago while sorting through the case archives. No wonder you looked familiar."

Then Fang Ming turned toward Shen Qing, clasped his fists, and dropped to one knee.

"Congratulations, sir! Congratulations! Capturing Sun Yun will surely add another stroke to your record of merit!"

"Eight years ago, Sun Yun committed a string of thefts in Ning Province. Sects, Hundred Households Offices, General's Offices, government offices, and generals' residences—all had been visited by this old bastard."

"Altogether, the amount stolen came to tens of thousands of taels of silver."

"The Pacification Bureau even offered a bounty of three thousand taels for Sun Yun!"

Shen Qing smiled. He had not expected double happiness to arrive at once.

Fang Ming's gaze at Sun Yun grew increasingly heated, as though he were looking at a tremendous merit already stamped onto the wall.

Unable to care about anything else, Fang Ming rose and strode over, slapping Sun Yun across the face.

"Speak! Where did all that silver go? Those tens of thousands of taels!"

Sun Yun was somewhat stunned by the slap. Then his eyes flew wide with rage. It was one thing for Shen Qing to hit him, but how did a mere Houtian Realm cultivator like Fang Ming dare slap him?

But immediately afterward, a chill washed over him, and clarity returned to his eyes. He lowered his head.

Shen Qing snorted. "Enough. We'll ask about those matters later."

"Tell me where the treasure is first."

Explaining the tens of thousands of taels' worth of wealth would also be troublesome, and it could not be finished in a short while. If they interrogated him here, the daylilies would be cold by then.

"The treasure isn't on me anymore. I already sold it to Peng Chun of the Black Water Gang for four thousand taels of silver. Peng Chun also promised to help me escape Luoshui City."

"So you mean the treasure is in Peng Chun's hands now?"

"I don't know. Rather, I'm not sure..."

Fang Ming grabbed Sun Yun by the collar, and just as another slap was about to descend, Sun Yun immediately shouted.

"Listen to me, listen to me! The treasure is a page of golden paper. I hid it on a Black Water Gang disciple using a special method."

"What's that disciple's name? Speak, quickly!"

"His name is Wang Xiu! Wang Xiu, the Madman Swordsman!"

The moment those words fell, the atmosphere fell silent. Sun Qian looked at the two men and discovered that the expressions on Shen Qing's and Fang Ming's faces were exceptionally strange.

At last, Fang Ming could not hold back and burst out laughing. "Congratulations, sir! As expected, this treasure is destined to belong to you!"

Shen Qing could not hold it in either and laughed. Fate truly was a wondrous thing beyond words.

As the saying went, happy events refreshed the spirit. Shen Qing asked a few more questions.

"Tell me, why did you choose the Black Water Gang for this transaction? Their reputation in Ning Province's martial world is terrible. Weren't you afraid they'd obtain the treasure and silence you forever?"

Sun Yun puffed out his chest slightly. "I escaped the Imperial Guards' pursuit for eight years. How could I possibly be so careless?"

"They didn't know I had hidden the treasure on Wang Xiu. As agreed, while fleeing, I would use a special method to record the transaction details on paper and throw it out. Then Peng Chun would deliberately leave an opening and let me escape. He would also send a disciple here to receive me. Once they confirmed the treasure's information, they would send a carrier pigeon to the receiving disciple, who would help me escape through a secret passage."

"Of course, I was also afraid that the Black Water Gang would silence me. Moreover, according to my estimation, at least two elders would be waiting for me at the secret passage's exit. The night before last, I took the risk of infiltrating the Black Water Gang's headquarters and overheard that Wang Xiu was the receiving disciple. So this morning, I secretly found an opportunity to hide the treasure on Wang Xiu."

"By the time Peng Chun deciphered the information on the paper, Wang Xiu would already be in my hands. Peng Chun could only grit his teeth and send me out through the secret passage. Even outside the passage, they would not dare make a move."

After listening for a while, Shen Qing found a loophole. "Why go in a circle and hide the treasure on Wang Xiu? Wouldn't keeping it on yourself be the same as keeping it on Wang Xiu?"

Sun Yun explained.

"That Peng Chun cultivates a strange technique. His nose is extraordinarily sensitive. When we fought over the treasure in the ancient tomb, Peng Chun took the opportunity to sprinkle a kind of medicinal powder onto it. As long as he gets close enough, he can smell it."

"If I carried the treasure on me while escaping, Peng Chun definitely wouldn't let me go."

Shen Qing nodded. That was right, then. The explanation held together.

Fang Ming also nodded thoughtfully, wearing the expression of a seasoned strategist who could not quite calculate it all.

Only one thought remained in his heart.

This martial world.

It was far too treacherous.