Ten minutes later, Qin Yuanhao and the lanky man left the brothel expressionlessly, without a trace of the excitement they'd shown before going in.
Lu Yang scratched his temple. They were out already?
At the entrance, the madam handed Qin Yuanhao and the lanky man a slip of paper each. They opened them, glanced at the contents, then promptly destroyed them.
"Brother Qin, the helmsman needs me to take care of something. He told me to go to the branch helmsman's office, so I'll be off."
"Mm. The helmsman asked me to handle something too. Let's part ways here. Don't forget to help spread the word that I went to the brothel."
"No problem."
The two parted outside the brothel. Lu Yang's heart stirred, and he chose to follow the lanky man.
The lanky man's cultivation was on par with Qin Yuanhao's, and he didn't notice Lu Yang underground.
The pedestrians and houses around them gradually grew sparse. Before long, they were in the middle of a barren wilderness, with not a soul in sight.
The lanky man seemed quite familiar with the area. He walked along the mountain path as casually as if he were strolling through a courtyard. The winding path went on and on, and after about an hour and a half, he stopped in front of a cliff face.
This place lay on the border between Yanjiang Commandery and another commandery. In theory, it belonged to Yanjiang Commandery, but historical factors gave both sides a claim to jurisdiction.
Since both sides had a claim, neither bothered to govern it.
After all, there was nothing valuable here, and no need to fight over the right to claim it.
He knocked on the wall—three long, one short—and murmured something under his breath. The wall turned as fluid as