Zhao Xiaowan ordered them to pick up their chopsticks.
Smiling Thousand Hands knew the fight was about to begin.
He swept his gaze over everyone in the room, then said to Li Banfeng, "Li Qi, are you really the lord of Iron Gate Fort?"
Li Banfeng did not answer.
Smiling Thousand Hands had already guessed the answer. "The day you entered Li Zhijuan's room, I didn't reveal any flaws, did I?"
Li Banfeng nodded. "No obvious flaws."
"Then how did you still recognize me?"
The glove stood beside Li Banfeng, wagging its index finger. "Ancestor, I smelled that scent on you."
"I remember hiding all the scent on my body."
"You hid ninety-nine percent of it," the glove answered. "There was only the tiniest trace left. At first, I couldn't identify it either. I went home and thought about it all night before finally realizing—it was you!"
Smiling Thousand Hands sighed. "No matter how tightly one guards against everything, it is the thief in one's own house who is hardest to guard against. Lu Wujiu, I'll give you one more chance. Are you willing to return to my side?"
The glove wagged its finger. "What fun would there be in returning to your side? Wouldn't it be better for you to go straight into my stomach?"
"Those are some wild words." Smiling Thousand Hands looked at Li Qi again. "If I'd left a day earlier, would there have been none of this trouble?"
"Yes." Li Banfeng nodded. "But why didn't you leave?"
Smiling Thousand Hands laughed. "I'm a thief. What thief isn't greedy? I finally got my hands on some fat pickings. You told me to leave, but I truly couldn't bear to."
Li Banfeng recalled Jade Emerald Pavilion's words: "Those who become thieves will sooner or later be beaten