Grandpa Shen

"All right, all right!" Xu Yuan said impatiently. "Quit acting. I'll eat it, okay?"

Then he muttered under his breath, "Sacrifices are forbidden today. Crying in front of my father's coffin could count as making an offering, too."

His stepmother heard him and caught on at once. She stopped acting and shoved the jars and bottles toward Xu Yuan. "Here."

There wasn't a trace of grief left on her face.

Xu Yuan sighed in resignation. He picked the Xian Ghost first and began refining it into an Outer Pill.

In the darkness, an old man in his fifties stood beneath the eaves of a building in the alley, leaning against the wall.

He had arrived long ago, but a layer of darkness seemed to envelop him. Old Qian had walked right past him with bottles and jars on his back, without the slightest inkling that anyone was standing nearby.

The old man had witnessed Old Qian's murder from beginning to end.

When the three gunshots rang out, the old man had looked startled, but a flicker of admiration soon passed through his eyes.

After it was over, he didn't make a move.

He waited a little longer, until all the eerie things lurking in the darkness had withdrawn. Only then did he step out. After glancing at Xu Yuan's small courtyard, he turned to leave the alley.

But as he passed the little house next door, a soft cough suddenly sounded from within the pitch-dark room. Then a lamp was lit.

Grandpa Shen's voice came from inside. "Would you care to come in and sit for a while, sir?"

Grandpa Shen sold dog-skin plasters, and the faint scent of medicine hung inside and outside his home.

The old man wore a uniform similar to Fu Jingyu and the others', but his cuffs bore no cloud patterns. Instead, a divine bird—the Vermilion Bird—was embroidered on his chest.

At Grandpa Shen's words, the old man suddenly understood. "So that boy Jingyu ran afoul of you."

Grandpa Shen didn't admit to it. "I'm only inviting you in for a chat, sir. I wonder if you'll do me the honor."

Refusing the invitation would mean taking a stand against River Worker Alley to the death. They would have to make preparations as soon as possible.

River Worker Alley was far from ordinary, but the Qu Hui Division was an even more colossal force!

After a moment's thought, the old man readily entered the house.

Grandpa Shen had wrapped himself in a threadbare padded jacket and was hunched over at the table. He grinned, revealing his missing teeth. "You've got guts, sir. May I ask your name?"

"Ma Tianshou. And your surname, brother?"

Grandpa Shen thought for a moment. "Deputy Commander of the Jiaozhi Southern Bureau of the Qu Hui Division? With a status as distinguished as yours, sir, what brings you to a little place like Shanhe County?"

Ma Tianshou asked again, "Your surname, brother?"

"I wouldn't dare have you call it distinguished, sir. This old man's surname is Shen. I can't rightly remember my given name."

Ma Tianshou thought for a moment. "Are you a descendant of Shen Yongji?"

The smile vanished from Grandpa Shen's face. "That's right. He was my father. Have you really come for us, sir?"

Ma Tianshou shook his head. "No. But I did happen to find a promising talent."

"Boy or girl?"

"A boy," Ma Tianshou said. "Xu Yuan."

Grandpa Shen furrowed his brow and patiently replied, "People like us were forgotten by the court long ago. Why dredge up that old affair? It'll do you no good. On the contrary, it might earn you the resentment of certain powerful nobles at court."

Ma Tianshou shook his head again. "I'm not digging up the past. This boy's just to my liking. He's born for the Qu Hui Division. I'd hate to let him slip away."

But Grandpa Shen misunderstood him. "Name your price, sir. What will it take for you to leave Xu Yuan alone?"

Ma Tianshou laughed in spite of himself and waved a hand. "You're too wary, brother. Still, if I were in your shoes, I'd be the same."

After thinking it over, Ma Tianshou added, "How about we leave the choice to Xu Yuan himself?"

"Well..." Grandpa Shen grew suspicious. Could this high official really mean well?

"This official has said all I have to say." Ma Tianshou rose to leave. His gaze swept across Grandpa Shen's room, and he noticed a few bottles of liquor beneath the bed's headboard. "Next time I visit, I'll bring you some liquor, old brother. We can drink and talk."

Grandpa Shen said nothing as he saw Ma Tianshou out.

If there was a next time, it would mean Xu Yuan had already joined the Qu Hui Division.

But Grandpa Shen truly didn't want to accept this arrangement.

Ma Tianshou stepped outside and was about to bid Grandpa Shen farewell. He had only just turned around when the door slammed shut in his face.

The old man was quite displeased.

Ma Tianshou laughed, shook his head, and walked away with his hands behind his back.

He strolled casually all the way to the alley's entrance. Only then did his body truly relax, and a cold sweat broke out across his back!

The old man surnamed Shen was unfathomable!

Ma Tianshou had watched Old Qian from nearby without being noticed because he was far above Old Qian in strength.

And Grandpa Shen had likewise been watching Ma Tianshou from the sidelines the entire time!

When Grandpa Shen suddenly coughed and lit the lamp, Ma Tianshou had seemed calm, but his scalp had prickled and his eyelids had twitched.

Still, Ma Tianshou thought, everyone in this alley seems to have something wrong with them. The old man surnamed Shen appears to be in poor health, too. He may not have much time left...

As Ma Tianshou stepped out, a patch of shadow at the alley's entrance suddenly rippled like water. Two Qu Hui Division officers emerged from the darkness, carrying a plain sedan chair.

Ma Tianshou got into the chair and gave a brief command. "Go back."

The two "bearers" strode off at a swift pace, and before long, they had returned to the County Office.

At night, the County Office's gates were tightly shut.

Yet the entire courtyard seemed to be shrouded in red light. The hidden evil spirits that roamed the city at night kept their distance, afraid to approach.

The rear courtyard was where the County Magistrate lived, but he was an outsider. When he took up his post, he had brought only four servants and a young page.

After arriving in the county, he had taken a local concubine, so he had no use for such a large rear courtyard.

When the Qu Hui Division arrived, he vacated more than half of the area for them to stay in.

Ma Tianshou had kept out of sight, however, so the County Magistrate had always assumed that the Qu Hui Division was headed by the third-rank officer, Fu Jingyu.

If he had known Ma Tianshou was there, he wouldn't have gone to pay his respects to that old lord. He would have been eagerly attending to Ma Tianshou instead.

That old lord had already retired, while Ma Tianshou's influence in Jiaozhi Province was at its height.

Fu Jingyu greeted him. "Teacher."

His eyes were red and his lids puffy, making him look a little comical, but he was still as stiff and proper as ever.

Ma Tianshou nodded and went straight inside. Old Yan, who specialized in refining "algorithms," was waiting in the room. He rose to greet him. "Commander."

"Sit." Ma Tianshou pressed a hand down lightly.

Song Lu brought him a cup of hot tea. Ma Tianshou took a sip, then said, "It was Chen Liangxuan after all."

"So it really was him!" Song Lu said excitedly. "That's a big fish!"

"Today, I had someone deliberately leak a few details. Sure enough, someone went to River Worker Alley tonight, planning to capture Xu Yuan and Lin Wanmo. It was Ghost Ding Qian. Back in the Southern Capital, he was the one who did the dirty work for Chen Liangxuan."

The news that Fu Jingyu and Song Lu had gone to River Worker Alley was deliberately leaked by the Qu Hui Division to Chen Liangxuan.

So Chen Liangxuan knew the two had gone there, but not that Fu Jingyu had suffered a setback.

The constable who had taken them there was a servant of one of the local magnates.

That was how the news got out.

The arrival of the Qu Hui Division had made Chen Liangxuan feel pressed for time.

Otherwise, he might first have sent people to keep an eye on Xu Yuan in secret for a while.

And even if he decided to capture Xu Yuan right away, he would have dispatched more powerful cultivators.

"Go to River Worker Alley again tomorrow. Do this, then this..." Ma Tianshou gave his instructions in detail. Fu Jingyu nodded and committed them to memory.

Ma Tianshou gave another order. "Old Yan, assist Jingyu for the next few days."

"This old man will obey."