Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road

Green Forest City—more precisely, West City—had not been this lively in a very long time...

Early in the morning, the guard squad under Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce had charged from the most prosperous North City all the way into West City, where the poor bastards clustered...

Steward Qiu stood in the central avenue of West City with a face as dark as thunder, his hawk-like eyes constantly sweeping back and forth. Everyone he saw looked like a thief to him.

They had gathered all the Human Skin Map fragments yesterday, but when they pieced them together again, they discovered that the edges of quite a few fragments did not quite match up. The missing portions were tiny, but who knew whether those crack-like gaps were crucial parts...

Unfortunately, all the Corpse Collectors had died yesterday, and the Three Mountains Gang members' corpses had turned to drifting ash in a great fire. There was no use talking about it now. Naturally, this anger had to be vented on yesterday's little thief. Who knew if that thief had secretly held something back, tearing off a dozen or so thin strips no thicker than noodles...

When something went wrong, someone had to carry the black pot. Otherwise, that black pot would surely leave him, the steward, unable to bear the consequences...

Thus, Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce had not only sent its own guard squad, but also scattered money through West City by the handful, hiring the local snakes to specifically hunt down anyone suspicious.

To outsiders, they simply claimed that a thief had stolen Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce's new goods.

For a time, the entire city was thrown into a storm of rumors...

However, it had little to do with Qin Yang. Early that morning, one of the local snakes had knocked on his door and casually asked a few questions. After recognizing "Wang" as an honest child who had grown up here, he paid no further attention...

Qin Yang cheerfully saw the thug off, then came out himself to watch the excitement. Wandering around, he drifted all the way to South City.

His disguise as the West City general-store owner probably could not be used again anytime soon. Thinking of the map in his mind, Qin Yang felt as though cats were scratching at his heart, leaving it unbearably itchy...

Of course, more importantly, he had nearly been killed. If he did not find some way to take revenge, his mentality would absolutely explode.

Facing Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce head-on was impossible...

The best method, naturally, was to sneak into the place marked on the map and empty out the treasure there, leaving those people to scheme desperately and brave every hardship only to get jack shit in the end—so furious they would suffer qi deviation...

Fine, that was just wishful thinking. He was only at the sixth layer of Qi Nourishing right now. Previously, he had been so poor that he could not even bear to take basic Qi Nurturing Pills. Weak as he was, going there would only mean delivering his head on a platter...

Qin Yang shook his head and sighed repeatedly. After feeling the purse at his waist, however, he gained a little confidence. He now needed to go to South City, first buy pills to raise his cultivation, then buy Magical Artifacts to arm himself. That was the proper course of action...

He should not join in the mess in West City for the time being. It was just a pity that all those Three Mountains Gang bastards had died. He could no longer continue his business of relieving worries, and his steady route for Corpse Touching had also been cut off...

He had once looked down rather disdainfully on those lowly little skills and scraps of knowledge. Now he had suddenly awakened to the truth: little skills could save lives too, but the route was gone.

Whenever Qin Yang thought of this, he felt somewhat regretful.

He hurried all the way to South City and found the Fence Shop from his memories. The shop was tucked away in a remote place, and not a living soul wandered the entire little street. The moment he stepped inside, he saw a young man with a half-dead appearance raise his eyes and glance at him.

"Buying goods?"

"What are you selling?" The young man let his eyelids droop, listless as he continued sitting behind the counter, fighting off sleep.

Qin Yang chuckled and slapped all the Storage Bags he had not dealt with before onto the table in one go.

"Can you swallow them all?"

"Hm?" The young buyer instantly straightened up, staring wide-eyed at Qin Yang. "Fellow Daoist, this... this..."

"Can you swallow them all?" Qin Yang asked again.

"Yes." The young man stood up, his gaze toward Qin Yang filled with strangeness. More than a hundred Storage Bags—when had Green Forest City gained such a deranged Divine Thief? With such ability, why steal low-grade Storage Bags? "Let's settle the price."

"Low-grade Storage Bags go for five hundred First Grade Spirit Stones on the market. These are in decent condition, so I'll give you four hundred each. One hundred and twenty-eight in total, discounted to fifty-one thousand two hundred. Let's call it fifty-two thousand. Any problem?"

"No problem."

"Here are five hundred and twelve Third Grade Spirit Stones. Count them." The young man moved quickly. In just a few breaths, he put away all the Storage Bags and handed over a small cloth bundle.

Qin Yang opened it and found a pile of Spirit Stones cut into pieces the size of fingernails. They were white as well, only their color was much richer than First Grade Spirit Stones. Without even touching them, he could sense the dense spiritual qi contained within.

Putting away the small cloth bundle, Qin Yang turned and headed outside.

Just as he came out, he saw a rather amiable-looking Little Fatty step inside.

Qin Yang subconsciously glanced over and saw Little Fatty make a strange hand sign at the shop owner.

He had seen that hand sign only last night. It was a gesture used to announce one's identity; outsiders could not understand it at all. Qin Yang narrowed his eyes slightly and examined Little Fatty. This fellow was completely different from that thin, scrawny little thief from last night...

Then how did he know that gesture? In Green Forest City, anyone qualified to be a thief and not die had genuine skills. Naturally, few people had seen their real faces, so they used hand signs to identify themselves when meeting.

Others might not know, but Qin Yang knew it inside out. The owner of that hand sign had fucking died long ago—and Qin Yang himself had buried him.

The lockpicking skill had been obtained from the owner of that hand sign.

Others did not know that Divine Thief had died, but would Qin Yang not know? Running into two people impersonating Divine Thief in a row could not possibly be a coincidence, could it? If they did not know the owner of the hand sign was dead, would they dare flaunt it so openly? Qin Yang silently marked Little Fatty down in his mind and strode away.

After Qin Yang had gone far away, Little Fatty also watched his departing back, his eyes flickering.

This guy had changed his appearance!

And that walking posture and back looked awfully familiar...

"Who's that guy?" Little Fatty swept a glance over him before withdrawing his gaze and casually asking the shop owner.

"Don't know. Probably a newcomer from outside. He had quite a lot of goods." The shop owner did not elaborate, but anyone could tell from his smiling face that he had definitely made a killing just now.

"What did he sell just now?" Little Fatty was in no hurry to trade, instead handing over five Third Grade Spirit Stones.

"You know the rules. This can't be spoken of carelessly." The shop owner accepted the Spirit Stones without a trace, his expression unchanged.

"I know. I was presumptuous." Little Fatty wore a solemn expression as he handed over another five Third Grade Spirit Stones from his palm...

"One hundred and twenty-eight low-grade Storage Bags." The shop owner accepted the Spirit Stones and murmured softly.

Little Fatty's eyelids twitched. He, too, was startled...

How many people had this bastard looted? A moment later, Little Fatty completed his transaction. After coming outside, he followed the route Qin Yang had taken. When he reached the street corner, his peripheral vision swept over a small cloth bundle amid the trash by the wall.

He picked up the small cloth bundle and found a little slip of paper inside.

The moment he opened it, Little Fatty's expression changed drastically.