Nighttime Action

The woman nodded at Shen Bai's greeting but didn't speak.

Zhang Chaofeng abruptly stopped, realizing the woman knew the shop owner. He looked at Shen Bai with an "ah, I see" expression.

Shen Bai said expressionlessly, "Keep staring, and I'll dock your pay."

Zhang Chaofeng quickly raised his hands, signaling his mistake.

Only then did Shen Bai lead Cheng Shuang towards the backyard.

Along the way, Cheng Shuang was incredibly curious.

She had initially thought that this master was only temporarily staying in Ascending Cloud County for a brief period, and she had just been lucky to encounter him.

But to her surprise, Shen Bai was actually a local resident.

This Pawnshop had been around for some years, and the pawnshop assistant had a good relationship with Shen Bai, which proved that Shen Bai was definitely settled here.

This situation made Cheng Shuang even more curious.

Cheng Shuang believed that if she had such abilities, she would have long since gone to Maple Forest Province to make a name for herself, but Shen Bai was in Ascending Cloud County, which confused her.

However, she didn't ask. After all, it was Shen Bai's private matter, so Cheng Shuang followed behind with her head down.

After entering the courtyard, Shen Bai led Cheng Shuang to a seat.

Just as Cheng Shuang was about to speak, Shen Bai stopped her.

Shen Bai took out the jade pendant and asked, "How do you activate a Bizarre Item's ability?"

Cheng Shuang's expression stiffened, then she remembered that this person seemed to be ignorant about many things. She explained, "You can use a Bizarre Item's ability by communicating with it using Qi."

Shen Bai nodded, then tried to infuse a wisp of Qi.

His plan was that if he could still use the Bizarre Item's ability, it would truly be a bargain.

Although there were limited uses, being able to both use and extract the ability would be a double harvest.

But then, Shen Bai found the jade pendant empty.

It seems that after extraction, the ability inside disappears.

Shen Bai thought to himself.

Once he understood, Shen Bai stopped dwelling on the matter and asked, "Do you have any news or plans regarding the Five Hearts Sect?"

Seeing that Shen Bai had finally gotten to the point, Cheng Shuang quickly replied, "The Five Hearts Dharma Assembly begins in three days. The location is reportedly Sunset Cloud Mountain, on the east side of Ascending Cloud County."

"I'll come find you then, and we'll sneak in together."

Shen Bai stroked his chin and said, "It's that easy to get the location of the sect members?"

Cheng Shuang shook her head, "No, but this time the Five Hearts Sect explicitly stated that the Five Hearts Dharma Assembly welcomes everyone to participate. We just need to pretend we want to join."

Shen Bai fell into thought.

"According to that, the yamen officials will probably also be dispatched. Would the Five Hearts Sect be that foolish?"

With a large number of common people heading to Sunset Cloud Mountain, and the yamen already suspicious of the Five Hearts Sect, their leader couldn't possibly cause such a huge commotion in front of everyone.

Cheng Shuang shook her head, "I don't know, but we only have this one chance to find a weakness in the Five Hearts Sect."

Cheng Shuang was well aware of such an obvious flaw.

"Moreover, as far as I know, the yamen is also preparing for the Five Hearts Dharma Assembly in three days. All their attention is now focused on that time."

Shen Bai tapped the table with his finger, "In that case, we'll go in three days."

Currently, there were only these few clues, and Cheng Shuang's approach was quite reasonable.

"Then I'll take my leave first," Cheng Shuang stood up.

She found that she didn't dare to stay too long in front of Shen Bai. After all, she couldn't figure out Shen Bai's personality.

Cheng Shuang's elders had once said that when encountering someone with profound strength and an unfathomable personality, it was best not to interact too much.

Shen Bai didn't stop Cheng Shuang. After letting her leave, he continued to practice his Blood Sword Dance.

The day passed with Shen Bai's intense grinding.

The proficiency of Blood Sword Dance continuously increased, gaining over a hundred points in a short time, reaching 1400 points of progress.

During this time, Shen Bai ate dinner. After Zhang Chaofeng left, he continued to grind.

The process of grinding was naturally incredibly enjoyable.

Perhaps for others, it was torture, but Shen Bai felt that this kind of productive grinding was the ultimate joy.

Perhaps my character is meant to be a grinding emperor.

Shen Bai thought as he continued to grind.

As Blood Sword Dance's proficiency rose, the night gradually passed.

In the blink of an eye, the first half of the night passed.

Time gradually moved into the latter half of the night.

Shen Bai drank another bowl of Qi-Blood Medicine and continued to grind away tirelessly.

Just then, he suddenly stopped.

"There's movement."

Shen Bai could hear subtle movements coming from the street outside.

In the dead of night, such faint movements would be completely inaudible to ordinary people.

Only Shen Bai, with Qi flowing within him, could hear them clearly.

After a brief moment of thought, Shen Bai grabbed his Rusty Longsword and went to the front door of the courtyard.

Peeking through the crack in the door, Shen Bai saw the scene outside.

On the street outside, over a dozen commoners were walking forward, their faces blank, dressed in their sleeping clothes which they hadn't changed out of.

At the very front of this group of commoners, a person dressed in a black robe, completely covered from head to toe, was holding a long banner and leading the way.

At the top of the banner hung a head with vacant eyes.

The head's mouth opened and closed mechanically.

From time to time, a mosquito-like whisper emanated from the head on the banner.

"Five Hearts Facing Heaven, free and unfettered..."

This scene was extremely bizarre, causing Shen Bai to grip his longsword tightly.

This group of commoners seems to have been bewitched by the head and are being led elsewhere.

Five Hearts Facing Heaven... is it the Five Hearts Sect again?

As he thought this, Shen Bai heard the sounds of doors opening.

One by one, commoners emerged from the rooms on both sides of the street, each with a vacant expression on their face, following behind the crowd.

Seeing this, a thought suddenly struck Shen Bai.

So that's it, what a brilliant strategy.

Everyone was tricked by this feint!

Not three days, but tonight!

Earlier in the morning, Shen Bai had heard Cheng Shuang say that the Five Hearts Dharma Assembly would begin in three days.

He had wondered why the Five Hearts Sect would do something so ostentatiously, but now it seemed like a feint.

While everyone's attention was focused on the three days, they had suddenly used this method to abduct commoners tonight.

No one had expected it.

Shen Bai pondered for a moment, then an idea formed.

He suddenly opened the door of the house, walked out with a blank expression, and followed behind the group.

Since he was here, he might as well follow and see what the Five Hearts Sect was up to.

As he thought this, Shen Bai had already walked a considerable distance.

The black-robed person was still leading the way and hadn't noticed an anomaly had infiltrated the crowd.

The crowd continued to move forward.

Suddenly, Shen Bai saw a familiar face.

Cheng Shuang, with a vacant expression, was in a position not far ahead. Before the black-robed person noticed, she quietly turned her head and winked at Shen Bai.

The corner of Shen Bai's mouth twitched slightly.

Well, I'll be.

Shen Bai felt that this scene was particularly similar to the one they had encountered at the Qian Family.