Capsizing in the Gutter

The black-clothed man looked up, nearly grinding his silver teeth to dust...

The one coming wasn't just any ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator—it was Steward Qiu...

That Foundation Establishment Late Stage expert, armed to the teeth with several Magical Artifacts, would make him die an ugly death in a direct confrontation...

And Steward Qiu was arriving by Sword Flight, moving at incredible speed; he wanted to flee, but it was already too late.

At the same time, as the explosion rang out and flames roared to life, those sleeping Corpse Collectors rushed out one by one from inside.

"The map is gone!"

A scream came from among the Corpse Collectors. Still midair, not yet arrived, Steward Qiu heard this and his face turned green with rage on the spot.

"Little thief, you're asking for death!"

The man hadn't arrived yet, but the furious roar reached first. In the entire Three Mountains Gang, this black-clothed, masked figure was an obvious target.

In an instant...

A flash of sword light streaked across the sky, drawing a long line of cyan radiance. The sword light reached the backyard in the blink of an eye, heading straight for the black-clothed man's face.

The black-clothed man's eyes trembled with fear. He rolled like a donkey to the side, and the cyan sword light pierced through. With a crack, he glanced back and was scared out of his wits.

Behind him, stretching for dozens of zhang, everything—houses and walls alike—was split in two, as if by a giant, immense blade.

"You bastard little thief, I'm not done with you!" The black-clothed man cursed, turned around, and fled.

At that moment, the Corpse Collectors roared and charged forward.

These Corpse Collectors, though none of them were strong—not a single one at Qi Nurturing Seventh Layer—still, doing this job and coming back alive from outside the city every time meant they had their own skills.

Now that the black-clothed man had stolen the map, he was cutting off their livelihood.

Cutting off someone's livelihood was like killing their parents, let alone these Corpse Collectors, whose lives were still in someone else's hands. When things were good, it was fine, but now—the map had only been discovered during the day, and someone came to steal it at night. Steward Qiu might think they leaked the secret and kill them to vent his anger.

A dozen people swarmed in, grabbing at the black-clothed man. But when they caught his arm, he shook it like a greased snake, slipping out of their grip. His body swayed, boneless, as he dropped to the ground, twisted his waist, and burst out from the crowd.

All dozen of them couldn't hold onto this slippery fellow.

After breaking free, the black-clothed man pulled out the half-map, his eyes full of heartache, silently swearing an oath.

When I find the bastard who dared to set me up, I'll cripple his cultivation, castrate him, feed him two doses of Union Powder, and sell him to some heretical cultivator who steals yin and yang as a Rabbit Lord—I'll make sure he lives a life worse than death.

Seeing that Steward Qiu had already arrived, he gritted his teeth, spat out his True Essence, and shattered the map into a dozen pieces, scattering them in all directions.

Several fragments flew straight toward the sea of flames.

This was learning on the spot, copying Qin Yang's method...

Sure enough, the flying Steward Qiu was horrified. He couldn't bother with the black-clothed man anymore. He reached out, grasping with his True Essence gushing forth, trying to catch the map fragments before they disappeared into the flames.

Over here, after the black-clothed man rushed out, a glance from the corner of his eye made his heart skip a beat. Steward Qiu was too strong, too fast, and his collection speed was too quick—he didn't have enough time to escape.

Gritting his teeth again, enduring the pain as if his heart was bleeding, he took out the remaining map fragments, put force into his hands, and threw them in all directions. The crumpled fragments shot out like arrows from a bow, scattering in the darkness...

After doing all this, the black-clothed man dove into the complex city buildings without looking back and vanished.

Steward Qiu flew midair on his sword, his face ashen. Seeing lights starting to flicker on in the nearby residences one after another, he had no choice but to give up chasing the black-clothed man and hurriedly gather the map fragments.

A moment later.

The map fragments were collected. After hastily piecing them together roughly and confirming none were missing, Steward Qiu breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"Steward Qiu." A Servant approached, lowering his head meekly.

"What's the situation? Have you found out?"

"Found out. That little thief should have sneaked in during the fourth watch. He got the news from somewhere, slipped into the Corpse Collectors' rooms, and stole the map. But he had bad luck—he ran into that newcomer. I saw Mind-Calming Incense there, so that newcomer must have been scared and couldn't sleep. Who knew he'd spot the thief? Pity the newcomer was blown up by the Tricky Ring, or we could have asked him something..."

"Alright, stop talking. Go deal with all these Corpse Collectors, then burn down the whole residence with the fire." Steward Qiu's face darkened as he waved his hand dismissively. He no longer cared whether someone among the Corpse Collectors had leaked the secret...

The Servant acknowledged and withdrew. Before long, a dozen explosions rang out from the residence, followed by the flames spreading and quickly swallowing the entire building.

On the other side, in a Small Residence in the south of the city, the black-clothed man crawled out of a dry well in the yard, pulled down the black cloth covering his face, and shook his body. His form suddenly swelled a circle, turning into a fair, chubby little fellow who looked very kind.

But right now, this Little Fatty was frowning, panting heavily, trembling with rage.

"A shipwreck in a ditch, a shipwreck in a ditch! I've hunted geese all day, and now the goose pecked my eye. Kid, your Fatty remembers you. You wait right there—the Purple Firmament Dao Lord's Seated Transcendence Land, a heaven-defying opportunity, gone just like that. Fatty's not done with you!"

Little Fatty shook with fury, his fat quivering all over...

After a while, once he changed his clothes, no one would connect him with that agile, skinny little thief from before...

Meanwhile, at the border between West City and South City, Qin Yang had also arrived at another two-entry Small Residence of his.

He changed his clothes, gently pinched his cheeks and nose, and then his bones rattled all over. His height shifted a bit, his appearance changed, and with a little light makeup, he became a young man with a three-part resemblance to before, looking honest and simple.

After changing clothes and lighting the lamp, seeing that the neighbor's light also seemed to be on, Qin Yang pushed open the door and stepped out.

Outside, quite a few people had already come out. The distant sea of flames was clearly visible from here. With many wooden buildings in the city, quite a few were worried the fire might spread...

"Brother Wang, you got woken up too?"

Seeing Qin Yang come out, a neighbor with a simple, honest face raised a hand in greeting.

"Uncle Li, where's the fire?"

"Looks like it's over at the Three Mountains Gang. Those wretched bastards, can't even rest in peace..." The uncle shook his head and sighed.

"Uncle Li, you go on back to sleep. I think the fire's dying down a bit—it's fine. This must be someone who got pushed too hard by the Three Mountains Gang before, getting their revenge now..."

"Who's to say otherwise? Brother Wang, you get some rest too. Isn't it an early start for work tomorrow?"

"Sure thing..."

Qin Yang turned around with a smile, closed the door, lay down on the bed, and shut his eyes to sleep.

The original owner of this small courtyard, surnamed Wang, was the person Qin Yang was now disguised as. The guy had died during last year's plague, and Qin Yang had buried him properly. Later, after acquiring the skills of disguise and bone-shrinking, he conveniently gave himself a new alias.

When he had nothing else to do, he'd occasionally wander around in this guise.

He'd only thought of it as a cunning rabbit having three burrows—who knew when this alias might come in handy...

He never expected that in less than a year, it actually would.