Where Had He Hidden?

"Cock-a-doodle-doo—"

Granny Ying's rooster shook out its feathers and woke the whole town of Qihetan with a loud, ringing crow.

The Yin Soldier in the earthen jar was jolted until the blood-red light in its eyes scattered. It struggled to curl itself into the shadows at the bottom of the jar, hiding from the ever-thickening Yang Energy between heaven and earth.

Of course, the maid had paid a price for leaving the Yin Soldier outside.

That rooster's crow had already damaged some of its cultivation.

There was a stir in the courtyard. The maid forced the Yin Soldier to cautiously poke half its head out, and at a glance, it spotted Xu Yuan. The fury in the maid's heart flared up in an instant!

That wretch Xu Yuan was crawling out of Saint Aunt's sedan!

The bastard had slept in the sedan last night!

What kind of filthy creature are you, daring to defile Saint Aunt's sedan!

The maid had searched all over last night, but never thought to check the sedan. People of their lowly station were supposed to treat honored guests' belongings with awe and fear, keeping as far away as possible. They were afraid of accidentally touching or breaking anything and being unable to pay for it.

How could this brat be so outrageously bold?

But after her fury, another question rose in the maid's mind: Had the brat slept in Saint Aunt's sedan just to desecrate it, or... had he noticed something?

After hesitating for a long while, the maid still didn't dare tell Saint Aunt, Last night, because of my negligence, that brat slept in your sedan.

I'll go check inside the sedan in a bit. If that brat did anything filthy in there and left something dirty behind... I'll clean it up first, so it doesn't disgust my Saint Aunt.

Xu Yuan hurried back to his room before Er Liang got up, pretending he'd only just woken too. He washed his face and got ready to work.

This night had been crucial.

Because a Law Cultivator and a Pill Cultivator had appeared out of nowhere yesterday, Xu Yuan suspected he was already being watched.

But who exactly was watching him, and how much did they know?

Xu Yuan didn't care in the slightest.

He had already made his plans. He was leaving Qihetan Town today and going home!

My stepmother said that as soon as I ate June Bug, she'd let me go back. Why am I still playing this game of wits with you people in this godforsaken place?

But one Nine Streams Fate Cultivator wouldn't do much to help his family, so Xu Yuan hadn't left yesterday.

Now that he had the Pill Cultivator's ability, Xu Yuan could go home.

But yesterday, he'd eaten his last gold ingot and gotten "stuffed." It had weighed heavily in his stomach, and Xu Yuan had spent the whole night refining it completely and incorporating it into the pill he'd made before.

After washing his face, Xu Yuan casually dumped the water.

It splashed onto the ground with a rush, and Uncle Rong Kui immediately hollered from the other side, "What a waste! Fine, you're on water duty today. Go now! There won't even be enough water to cook breakfast!"

There was clearly more than half a vat of water left in the kitchen.

But Uncle Rong Kui had this quirk: he couldn't stand seeing anyone waste things.

Xu Yuan reluctantly hefted the two buckets and grumbled. Uncle Rong Kui roared behind him, "What did you say? Speak up!"

"Nothing, nothing!" Xu Yuan hurriedly carried the buckets out the door.

Once he left, Xu Yuan had no intention of coming back.

Should he bid Master Qiao farewell? Master Qiao and Accountant Liu already suspected him. If he left now, wouldn't that be like hanging a sign around his neck that said, "I'm guilty"?

Master Qiao would never let him go.

As for whether Master Qiao might go to the county seat one day and find his family to ask about June Bug—he'd deal with that later.

First, he had to get through the trouble right in front of him.

Some of the water he'd dumped had splashed into a broken earthen jar in the corner of the wall.

The maid's Yin Soldier was hidden at the bottom of the jar.

The maid was using the Yin Soldier to watch the back courtyard. Their senses were linked, and she felt as if the water had drenched her from head to toe.

She cursed under her breath, thinking her luck had been terrible lately.

It never even occurred to her to wonder whether Xu Yuan had done it accidentally or on purpose.

In the first half of the night, Xu Yuan had been too stuffed to sleep. He'd curled up in the sedan, watching outside.

Two strange beings flew overhead. They had human heads and eagle bodies, but only one face still had flesh on it! From the backs of their heads to the rest of their bodies, nothing remained but white bones!

The flesh on their faces kept wriggling backward, trying to grow over their bodies again. But as soon as a little grew, the bones absorbed it.

The strange beings looked like... the bone frames of monstrous birds, with faces peeled from who knew whose bodies and stuck onto their own!

Five more evil spirits crouched on the wall, peering into the courtyard. Their true form was a giant turtle shell more than a zhang long. They'd killed who knew how many people, sucking their souls inside. Their limbs, heads, and necks were all formed from the piled-up souls of those people.

Then an enormous figure walked along the road through town. From the courtyard, Xu Yuan could see its upper body: a ruined statue of a deity, weathered by wind and rain for countless years.

Most of the paint had flaked off its body. Even its frame was broken, revealing the straw and wooden core beneath.

These strange beings all had "fates."

The more vicious the "fate," the more blood-red it was.

And their "fates" came in all sorts of bizarre shapes. There seemed to be some kind of pattern hidden among them, but Xu Yuan hadn't figured it out yet.

Then he saw a Yin Soldier sneak into the back courtyard.

The Yin Soldier had long since lost its life, but it still had a "fate."

A thin, gray-black line, with another nearly invisible thread stretching away from it and connecting to a room in the front courtyard—the Yin Soldier's master was in the front courtyard.

From this, it seemed the people watching him were most likely the honored guests who'd just arrived in the front courtyard.

By morning, Xu Yuan had finished digesting the gold ingot and was hungry again!

He craved the Yin Soldier and secretly swallowed several times.

The Pill Cultivator's Inner Fire countered Yin Soldiers.

But Xu Yuan quietly suppressed his appetite.

There was an old well at the southern corner of town. After drawing water, Xu Yuan carried it back, observing everything along the way.

He turned into a narrow alley. Seeing no one in either direction, Xu Yuan set the buckets and shoulder pole down outside Granny Ying's door, then hurried off toward the southwest.

A little while later, Granny Ying slowly opened the door. She saw the buckets and shoulder pole outside, and said to herself regretfully, "That boy isn't coming back. Who'll draw water for this old woman now?"

Granny Ying's legs weren't good, and Xu Yuan drew water for her every day.

She called into the courtyard, "Huahua, come here."

The proud-looking rooster strutted out and deftly picked up one of the buckets in its beak, carrying it to the kitchen.

Shanhe County lay forty li to the southwest of town. It would take four or five shichen to reach it by following the main road.

Xu Yuan was eager to get home.

Uncle Rong Kui, of course, wasn't going to wait for Xu Yuan to bring the water back before making breakfast.

As soon as he'd finished cooking, Er Liang came in with a tray and volunteered, "Uncle, I'll take it over."

When Er Liang brought over the food for the third time, Saint Aunt glanced at him and gently removed her veil.

Er Liang's breath caught!

He'd never seen such a beautiful woman in his life. Before, he'd only been able to see her figure, and he'd already imagined in his mind that her face must be as beautiful as a celestial maiden's.

But seeing her for real made him realize how terribly inadequate his imagination had been.

Saint Aunt ate breakfast with quiet elegance, while Er Liang stared at her without blinking. He should have left as soon as he delivered the food, but his feet seemed rooted to the spot. Saint Aunt didn't send him away, either.

"You share a room with that Xu Yuan?" Saint Aunt suddenly asked.