Jade Water City, Wangxi Tower.
This was the most luxurious restaurant in Jade Water City, originally opened by a wealthy local gentleman.
But after the White Lotus Sect came to Jade Water City, they forced the gentleman to give them half the profits.
Moreover, Bai Wuji had arranged for people to enter this restaurant as information gatherers.
Tonight, Bai Wuji was hosting a banquet here for Magistrate Zhan Qing Tian.
There were now only four days left until the one-month deadline Bai Wuji had agreed upon with Zhan Qing Tian.
Bai Wuji had invited Zhan Qing Tian for two reasons. First, he wanted to know whether the yamen had obtained any new intelligence lately.
Second, he wanted to remind Zhan Qing Tian that only four days remained. If he failed to hand the man over after four days, he and his entire household would all die.
Bai Wuji sat at the banquet table with two people standing beside him.
The one on his left was around thirty, of average build and utterly ordinary appearance. He was Bai Wuji's trusted confidant, Zeng Shiyong, who was proficient in Dog Fist.
The person on his right had a pale face, narrow eyes, and delicate, feminine features.
She was Bai Wuji's other envoy, Gu Rou. She was also a Fourth Blood Bone Forging martial artist, proficient in Spirit Snake Swordplay and wielding a flexible sword.
Zhan Qing Tian sat at the table, with his adviser Lin Gu on his left and the yamen's captain on his right.
Suddenly, he rose from his seat and dropped heavily to his knees before Bai Wuji.
"True Man Wuji, I beg you to spare Zhan and my family."
"From now on, Zhan will obey all your commands!"
Only four days remained until the one-month deadline. So far, there had been no word from either the constables of the prefectural city yamen or the assassins of the Tang Sect.
He hoped to win a path to survival by showing his loyalty.
Bai Wuji gave a soft chuckle.
"Magistrate Zhan, there is no need for such ceremony. If you cannot hand over that Mysterious Martial Artist in four days, I will still kill you and your entire household."
At once, Zhan Qing Tian's face turned ashen as death as he knelt on the ground, his entire body trembling.
Suddenly, a White Lotus Disciple ran upstairs with a series of hurried thuds. He leaned close to Zeng Shiyong's ear and whispered a few words.
What he reported was the news that Su Que had slain the White Lotus Monk in the street.
After all, the White Lotus Sect controlled some of Jade Water City's businesses.
Many restaurants, brothels, and gambling houses concealed Bai Wuji's informants.
These informants were all Bai Wuji's direct subordinates, and they relayed information only to Bai Wuji and his two envoys.
Ever since Su Que had openly provoked the White Lotus Monk and the others, he had already been spotted by the White Lotus Sect's informants.
At the time, they had not believed that the White Lotus Monk could be killed by Su Que.
Only after Su Que effortlessly killed the White Lotus Monk did these informants realize something was wrong and hurry to report it.
Upon hearing the news, Zeng Shiyong's eyes suddenly flashed with sharp light. He waved the White Lotus Disciple away, then bowed slightly and used his inner force to compress his voice into a thread, sending it into Bai Wuji's ear.
Bai Wuji's eyes widened slightly as well, a flicker of surprise passing through them. Joy and fury mingled in his heart.
He was delighted because the Mysterious Martial Artist they had searched for so long had actually revealed himself openly!
He was enraged because this Mysterious Martial Artist had slaughtered White Lotus Sect members in full public view, damaging the White Lotus Sect's prestige!
"Come, follow me and take a look!"
Having finally obtained news of the Mysterious Martial Artist, Bai Wuji thought that he absolutely could not let him escape. He abruptly rose to his feet, ignored the stairs, and leaped directly over the second-floor railing.
Dressed in a plain Daoist robe, his hair tied in a Daoist topknot and three long locks of beard hanging from his chin, he drifted down from above the restaurant. The pedestrians on the street thought he looked seven or eight parts like an enlightened master.
His two envoys and five attendants followed him, jumping down from the second floor as well.
Unlike Bai Wuji's effortless grace, their landings were far more violent.
Their feet struck the ground with booming bangs.
Then they swiftly caught up with Bai Wuji and darted with him toward West City.
Inside the restaurant.
From the moment Bai Wuji heard the news to when he leaped from the restaurant, everything had happened too quickly and too suddenly.
Jade Water City's magistrate, Zhan Qing Tian, was still kneeling on the ground, unable to make sense of what had happened.
As he rose to his feet, a fair-faced young constable suddenly rushed upstairs, taking three steps as one, and said to Zhan Qing Tian and the others:
"Magistrate! Adviser Lin! Captain Guan!"
"That Mysterious Martial Artist has appeared!"
"He slaughtered the people from the White Lotus Sect who usually preached in the streets!"
Zhan Qing Tian, the adviser, and Captain Guan all showed shock in their eyes as they exchanged glances.
They immediately understood why Bai Wuji had suddenly left. He had gone to find the Mysterious Martial Artist.
"Come, let's go take a look too!"
Upon hearing that the Mysterious Martial Artist had appeared, a rare trace of color returned to Zhan Qing Tian's deathly pale face.
"If Bai Wuji clashes with the Mysterious Martial Artist later, and the Mysterious Martial Artist gains the upper hand, we will join forces with him and kill Bai Wuji!"
Zhan Qing Tian said to Captain Guan and the others.
With that, they went downstairs and headed toward West City.
Because Zhan Qing Tian and the adviser did not know martial arts, they traveled slowly.
Captain Guan carried Zhan Qing Tian on his back, while another constable carried the adviser, and they raced toward West City.
West City.
When the commoners heard no further commotion behind them, they stopped and turned back, watching Su Que from afar.
At that moment, Su Que was moving among the corpses, searching them.
Seeing someone as fierce and formidable as Su Que rifling through corpses, the commoners found it somewhat dreamlike and began whispering among themselves.
"This hero is so powerful, yet he seems rather short of money?"
"And look at how skilled he is at searching corpses. It seems like this isn't his first time!"
"Tch! What do you know? No matter how powerful a hero is, he still has to eat, drink, visit brothels, and gamble. Money must flow like water! Isn't searching corpses perfectly reasonable?"
A while later, Su Que had searched every corpse.
All he found was loose silver and Silver Ingots, more than three hundred taels in total, gathered into a small pile.
Su Que tore open the clothing of a White Lotus Disciple and spread it into a large piece of cloth. He placed the loose silver and Silver Ingots in the center, then skillfully tied them into a bundle the size of a head.
Just as Su Que lifted the bundle in his hand and stood up, several figures swept toward him.
Bai Wuji and the others had arrived.
Though Bai Wuji had already been furious when he heard the news at the restaurant—
—now that he saw his own subordinates lying dead in the street, his rage burned even fiercer, his eyes splitting wide with fury.
He did not care about the deaths of his subordinates.
What he cared about was that Jade Water City was his territory, yet this Mysterious Martial Artist had beaten the White Lotus Sect so badly in full public view.
This was undoubtedly a slap across his face.
"Who are you, sir? Why have you provoked the White Lotus Sect?"
Bai Wuji stared at Su Que and asked.
The White Lotus Sect?
Only then did Su Que realize that Bai Wuji and his group belonged to the White Lotus Sect.
Although he had long known of Bai Wuji, he did not know what Bai Wuji looked like.
Seeing the faint air of authority in Bai Wuji's speech and bearing, he asked:
"Are you Bai Wuji?"
"Yes."
The instant Bai Wuji answered, a thunderous blast rang out.
Su Que had driven his feet down with force, shattering the bluestone paving beneath him. His figure suddenly blurred as he shot toward Bai Wuji.
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