Meanwhile, in the rear courtyard of the Lookout Inn at the other end of Blackstone Town, the wind whipped sand and gravel against the battered wooden fence, producing a sharp crackling sound.
Da Yajin leaned against a smooth, worn wooden pillar, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the row of gleaming gold teeth at the corner of his mouth—this trademark had accompanied him through twenty years of scraping by in Sin City, yet several were now missing, making him look somewhat ridiculous.
Behind him, Liu Shan, Ge Yanbing, Ma Da, and Ma Er, his four trusted men, sat or stood with the exhaustion of a long journey written across their faces. They had not even had time to remove the weapons at their waists, and the bloodstains on the blades had long dried into a dark brown.
Shen Gonglan had reacted far faster than they had imagined. They had barely finished dealing with their holdings in Sin City before the pursuers came killing after them.
If not for the Divine Envoy still being in Sin City and keeping Shen Gonglan tied down, they would never have made it this far.
"Master Tai, are we really giving away that Blood Jade Marrow? You fought for your life to snatch that from a nest of desert bandits back then!" Ma Da could not help speaking up. His voice was rough, and whenever he spoke, it carried an earnest, impatient urgency.
Ma Er tugged at his sleeve from the side, yet he too could not help glancing at the bulging bundle in Da Yajin's arms, his eyes filled with reluctance.
Da Yajin spat viciously, his gold teeth glinting in the gloom. "You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child! Shen Gonglan's men are barely a hundred li from Blackstone Town. If we don't buy