You Don't Want the Fake, So Here's the Real

"My lord, we have not failed you!"

The group from Three Fiends Ridge reappeared behind Li Yan after finishing their task.

"You've worked hard."

"My lord, we found quite a bit of gold, silver, and banknotes in the mountain," one of them said, presenting a stack of banknotes to Li Yan.

Glancing at the banknotes, which were three fingers thick, Li Yan waved his hand. "No need, you can keep them for yourselves... Is there anything else besides this?"

The group shook their heads, indicating there was not.

"Fine, according to the plan I told you earlier, go and prepare."

"Yes."

After they left, a fierce glint flashed in Li Yan's eyes.

As expected, bandits are just bandits, a pack of ungrateful wretches!

That stack of banknotes was worth at least tens of thousands of taels. If they were in Three Fiends Ridge, they might not have earned that much even after robbing for several years.

But now, he had given that stack of banknotes directly to them, and yet there wasn't even a hint of joy on their faces. This was enough to explain the problem.

Those banknotes had likely been tampered with by them.

However, he still needed the help of the Three Fiends Ridge group for now; it wasn't time to discard them.

In Dongjiang City, within a small courtyard, the remaining members of the Three Fiends Ridge were gathered.

"Big Brother, do you think little brother and sister's plan will work?"

At the head of the table, Zhao Xincheng sighed, his expression grim. He looked towards the second eldest, Zhao Chijiu, beside him.

Zhao Chijiu also looked troubled, primarily because he didn't have much faith in their younger siblings' plan.

As bandits of Three Fiends Ridge, the eighteen of them had roamed the mountains, living freely and unrestrained.

But through a careless mistake, they had all been captured by Li Yan and were now controlled by that damned Three Corpses Brain God Pill.

Undoubtedly, this was a profound humiliation for all of them!

Zhao Xincheng and the elder ones were somewhat better, still thinking of long-term strategies. But the younger siblings, full of pride, couldn't bear such indignity.

They had devised a plan to find an opportunity to poison Li Yan as well, forcing him to exchange antidotes with them.

This plan, to be blunt, was utter nonsense!

Wan Sanhuo was ruthless and cruel, far beyond ordinary people. Coupled with their inferior strength and numbers compared to him, if they were to exchange antidotes, Wan Sanhuo's fate was obvious.

In such a situation, even if Wan Sanhuo were poisoned, he would never agree to an exchange of antidotes, leading to a mutually destructive outcome.

Yet, these few individuals refused to listen and insisted on trying.

Just then, a commotion was heard from outside the courtyard. As they looked up, they saw Li Yan striding in. Everyone quickly stood up.

"Lord Wan!"

Everyone present cupped their fists in greeting. Li Yan ignored them, directly sat in Zhao Xincheng's seat, and then took out a porcelain bottle, placing it on the nearby tea table.

Upon seeing the porcelain bottle, everyone's hearts tightened.

What the hell was this poison now?

"Lord Wan, may I ask why you have come at this time?" Zhao Xincheng, sensing the tense atmosphere, quickly inquired.

"I won't waste words with you. If you want those younger siblings of yours to be safe, each of you will take this medicine."

"This!"

Everyone was shocked by his words.

"Heh, although I, Wan Sanhuo, am ruthless and cruel, I consider myself decent to my brothers."

"The tens of thousands of taels from the Fierce Wind Bandits on Feng Hui Mountain, I gave it to you. I never expected that some of your younger siblings would plot to poison me!"

Boom!

Utterly shocked, everyone had only one thought in their minds.

They had been exposed!

"My... My lord, is there perhaps a misunderstanding..."

Zhao Chijiu tried to say something more, but Wan Sanhuo directly threw the porcelain bottle at them.

"The Three Corpses Brain God Pills you have on you, I suppressed their toxicity when I administered my own poison."

"It seems I've been too kind to you, making you think I'm some kind of good person..."

"Each of you take one of these. Eat it, and you'll get a taste of what the Three Corpses Brain God Pill is truly like."

"This... Lord Wan..."

"You can choose not to eat it, but whether those younger siblings of yours return alive will depend on their own fate."

Hearing that it concerned their younger siblings, Zhao Chijiu and Zhao Xincheng exchanged glances. They said no more, opened the porcelain bottle, poured out a pill each, and swallowed it.

The rest of the group, seeing this, also poured out a pill and swallowed it.

Initially, the few people showed no change, but soon the medicinal effects took hold. Suddenly, their veins bulged, turning an eerie black, with these black patterns racing towards their foreheads along their meridians.

Each person felt as if thousands of ants were crawling all over their bodies, gnawing at their flesh and cutting their meridians, causing unbearable pain!

As the medicinal effects took hold, everyone collapsed on the ground, wailing incessantly, begging Wan Sanhuo for an antidote.

Seeing the tragic scene before him, Li Yan felt a sense of relief.

This stuff was given to him by Li Fucai the last time they met, said to be for self-defense. He hadn't expected to use it on these fellows.

These eighteen people were not poisoned originally. Because of their brotherhood, Li Yan had planned to cut ties with them after resolving the matters here.

Now, it seemed he had misjudged them. Bandits were bandits; he had actually felt a moment of pity for these guys.

Since they were not giving up, he would truly poison them.

"Wan... Lord Wan, spare me..."

Zhao Xincheng, the one with the deepest cultivation, tried his best to sit cross-legged and circulate his energy to suppress the poison's outbreak. However, hearing the wails of his younger brothers and sisters, he could only try to beg for mercy.

"Hmph, it's just a small punishment. If there's a next time, I'll be waiting to see your corpse worms enter your brains."

With that, he ignored the wails on the ground and got up to leave the courtyard on his own.

The wailing in the courtyard continued for a full hour.

Dodging and weaving through the city, avoiding the many eyes and ears of Huang Lingyan, Li Yan arrived at the inn where Mo Cheng resided.

Mo Cheng was not at the inn. Li Yan found a message he left on the eaves.

Upon learning that Mo Cheng was preparing to mobilize troops into the city, Li Yan sneered repeatedly.

Although Mo Cheng was the son of a great general, he did not have the authority to mobilize troops. Yet, he spoke with such certainty about bringing troops, clearly indicating he had done such things before.

If anyone could easily mobilize the army, this damned Great Wu was not far from its end.

He erased the traces of the message and waited in the inn until the moonlight grew thick before heading to the Shangguan manor.

When Shangguan Liuyun saw Li Yan, his eyes nearly popped out.

How had this kid broken through again?!

The last time he saw him, it had been at most two days ago. In just two days, he had broken through the Flower Cultivation and Leaf Nurturing Art?

Was this still the notoriously time-consuming cultivation method known for its gradual progress and solid foundation?

"You... How did you do it?"

After stuttering for a long time, Shangguan Liuyun could only manage this one question.

Li Yan scratched his head and gave a wry smile, saying he had once consumed heavenly treasures and the residual medicinal power in his body was unexpectedly high.

Hearing this, Shangguan Liuyun's eyes lit up, looking at him as if he were a human-shaped great medicine, wanting to devour Li Yan whole.

After a long while, Shangguan Liuyun calmed down and then said, "Tomorrow is when they are supposed to hand over Xiyun. Your side..."

"Don't worry, there are no more Fierce Wind Bandits. I will bring Xiyun back intact."

"Good... After you bring Xiyun back, don't return to Dongjiang."

Suddenly, Shangguan Liuyun said, "I received news that Huang Lingyan is very likely about to break through. If he reaches the Energy Gathering Realm, I won't be his match. At that time..."

Hearing this, Li Yan's expression also changed.

Qi Condensation gathered true qi, and opening meridians connected the channels. The purpose of these two realms was merely preparation for the Energy Gathering Realm.

Once one entered the Energy Gathering Realm, the increase in strength would be earth-shattering. At that time, let alone Shangguan Liuyun, even ten Shangguan Liuyuns wouldn't be able to leave Dongjiang City alive.

No, he couldn't just wait to die!

"Brother Liuyun, it's useless. Huang Lingyan is also coveting Third Miss. Even if we escape, he will relentlessly pursue us."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"Make the first move!"