Nighttime Move

The woman nodded at Shen Bai's greeting without saying a word.

Zhang Chaofeng forcibly halted himself. Knowing this woman was acquainted with the shopkeeper, he could not help looking at Shen Bai with an expression of sudden realization.

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

Zhang Chaofeng hurriedly raised his hands, signaling that he knew he was wrong.

Only then did Shen Bai lead Cheng Shuang toward the back courtyard.

Along the way, Cheng Shuang was extremely curious.

She had originally thought that this expert was merely passing through Ascending Cloud County and that she had only been lucky enough to encounter him.

Yet to her utter surprise, Shen Bai was actually a local resident here.

This pawnshop had been around for years, and Zhang Chaofeng was on such good terms with Shen Bai. That proved Shen Bai had definitely settled here.

This only made Cheng Shuang even more curious.

Cheng Shuang believed that if she possessed such ability, she would have long since gone to Maple Forest Province to cut a dashing figure. Yet Shen Bai remained in Ascending Cloud County, and she could not understand why.

Still, she did not ask. This was Shen Bai's private matter, after all, so Cheng Shuang lowered her head and followed behind him.

After entering the courtyard, Shen Bai led Cheng Shuang to a spot and sat down.

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 recalled that this man seemed not to understand many things, so she explained, "Use qi to communicate with it, and you can use the Bizarre Item's ability."

Shen Bai nodded and tried channeling a thread of qi into it.

His plan was that if he could still use the Bizarre Item's ability, then this would truly have been a great bargain.

Though it had a limited number of uses, if he could both use its ability and extract its ability, that would be a double harvest.

But then Shen Bai discovered that the jade pendant was completely empty.

"So, after extraction, the ability inside disappears as well."

Shen Bai thought to himself.

Having figured it out, Shen Bai stopped dwelling on the matter and asked,

"Do you have any news of the Five Hearts Sect, or perhaps their plans?"

Seeing that Shen Bai had finally raised the main subject, Cheng Shuang hurriedly answered, "Three days from now is when the Five Hearts Dharma Assembly begins. I heard the location has been set at Sunset Cloud Mountain, east of Ascending Cloud County."

"When the time comes, I'll come find you, and we'll infiltrate them together."

Shen Bai rubbed his chin. "It was that easy to find the sect members' location?"

Cheng Shuang shook her head. "No, but the Five Hearts Sect has declared that this Five Hearts Dharma Assembly welcomes everyone. We only need to disguise ourselves as people who wish to attend."

Shen Bai fell into thought.

"By that logic, the yamen will probably send people out as well. Could the Five Hearts Sect really be that stupid?"

A large number of commoners would be heading to Sunset Cloud Mountain, and the yamen already suspected the Five Hearts Sect. Their sect leader could not possibly make such a huge move in broad daylight before everyone's eyes.

Cheng Shuang shook her head. "I don't know either, but this is our only chance to find a flaw in the Five Hearts Sect."

How could Cheng Shuang fail to recognize such an obvious mistake?

"Besides, as far as I know, the yamen is also preparing for the Five Hearts Dharma Assembly three days from now. They've all shifted their attention to three days later."

Shen Bai tapped the table with his finger. "If that is the case, come back in three days."

For now, there were only this many clues. Cheng Shuang's approach was reasonable enough.

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

She found that she did not dare remain around Shen Bai for too long. After all, she could not make sense of his temperament.

Cheng Shuang's elders had once told her that when encountering someone of profound strength whose temperament could not be fathomed, it was best not to have too much contact with them.

Shen Bai did not stop Cheng Shuang. After letting her leave, he resumed practicing the Blood Sword Dance on his own.

The daytime passed amid Shen Bai's frenzied grinding.

The Blood Sword Dance's proficiency continued to rise. In a short span of time, it increased by more than a hundred points, reaching 1,400 progress.

During that time, Shen Bai ate dinner. After Zhang Chaofeng left, he continued grinding.

Naturally, the grinding process was incomparably enjoyable.

To others, it might have been torture, but Shen Bai felt that grinding with tangible gains was the ultimate joy.

"Perhaps I'm built to be a grinding emperor."

Shen Bai thought as he continued grinding.

The Blood Sword Dance kept rising, and the night gradually passed.

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

Time gradually entered the latter half of the night.

Shen Bai drank a bowl of Qi-Blood Medicine and continued grinding with undiminished relish.

Just then, he suddenly stopped.

"Something's happening."

Shen Bai could hear faint movement coming from the street outside.

In this dark night, ordinary people would not have been able to hear such subtle sounds at all.

Only Shen Bai, with qi within his body, could hear them with perfect clarity.

After thinking briefly, Shen Bai picked up the Rusty Longsword and came to the entrance of the front courtyard.

Through the crack in the door, Shen Bai saw the scene outside.

On the street outside, more than a dozen commoners were walking forward with blank expressions, still dressed in their sleeping clothes.

At the front of these commoners, a person in a black robe, covered tightly from head to toe, held up a long banner and led the way.

Atop the long banner hung a head with vacant eyes.

The head's mouth opened and closed like a machine.

From time to time, a mosquito-like voice came from the head on the long banner.

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

The scene was exceedingly bizarre, and Shen Bai tightened his grip on the longsword.

"These commoners seem to have been bewitched by that head and are being led somewhere else."

"Five Hearts Facing Heaven... Is this another person from the Five Hearts Sect?"

As he thought this, he heard door after door opening.

One commoner after another emerged from the houses lining both sides of the street. Every one of them wore a vacant expression and followed behind the crowd.

At the sight, an idea suddenly surfaced in Shen Bai's heart.

"So that's how it is. What a brilliant scheme."

"Everyone has been fooled by this tactic of making a feint to the east while attacking in the west!"

"Not three days from now. Tonight!"

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

He had been wondering why the Five Hearts Sect would make such a grand spectacle of it. Now it seemed that it was merely a feint to the east while attacking in the west.

While everyone focused their attention on three days from now, they suddenly used this method tonight to take away the commoners.

No one had expected it.

Shen Bai pondered briefly, then came up with an idea.

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

Since he had come across this, he would follow them and see what the Five Hearts Sect was planning.

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

The black-robed person continued leading the way, unaware that an anomaly had slipped into the crowd.

The crowd continued forward.

Shen Bai suddenly spotted a familiar face.

Cheng Shuang wore a vacant expression as she followed not far ahead. When the black-robed person was not looking, she quietly turned her head and gave Shen Bai a look.

Shen Bai's mouth twitched slightly.

Well, damn.

Shen Bai felt that the scene before him looked especially like when the two of them had encountered each other at the Qian residence.