Delicacy in the Brain

Er Liang could hardly believe it. A beauty as celestial as this was actually speaking to him!

Her voice was so lovely. It drifted into his ears like a pair of soft little hands gently stroking his heart.

"Y-yes."

"Was he here last night?"

"He was. We slept together until dawn."

Saint Aunt's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. She asked again, "Where is he now?"

"Uncle Rong Kui sent him off to haul water as punishment."

Saint Aunt said no more. As if by accident, she leaned forward slightly, and a deep glimpse of smooth, pale skin appeared at the front of her robe, facing Er Liang.

Er Liang's mouth fell open of its own accord. His gaze burned with feverish desire, and something beneath his waist sprang to life!

The maid stood off to the side. She wanted to urge Saint Aunt to stop, but didn't dare speak. No one could change Saint Aunt's mind once she had made up her own.

Besides, Saint Aunt had gone hungry for several days. If she wasn't allowed to eat soon, she would grow more and more frantic.

Saint Aunt paused her breakfast. Turning her palm over, she drew a gleaming little knife from between her slender fingers.

She came to Er Liang and inspected him. He didn't react in the slightest, staring straight ahead as though his eyes were fixed on the thing he most wanted to see.

Saint Aunt circled his forehead with the knife. Then she flicked the tip upward, and the whole top of Er Liang's skull came away, revealing the white brain inside.

Several plump, dusky-yellow worms clung to the ridges and folds of his brain!

The instant his skull was opened, the worms scattered in every direction like woodlice startled from beneath a child's overturned broken tile.

But Saint Aunt's fingers were nimble, and she moved with incredible speed. A few light taps of her knife, and she had skewered every fat worm on its tip.

Er Liang crumpled to the ground with a thud. His brains splattered seven feet away, and blood sprayed across the floor!

Saint Aunt plucked the "Lustful Brain Worms" from the knife with her pearly white teeth. She chewed them slowly, still eating with refined elegance.

After eating one worm, she gave the maid an order. "Take care of the body."

"Have Zhao Yong capture Xu Yuan himself."

"Meet me in half an hour in front of Beauty Dam, outside the town."

As the maid dealt with the body, she couldn't hold back any longer. "Saint Aunt, this means cutting ties with Qiao Zi'ang for good..."

"What is Qiao Zi'ang, anyway!"

Saint Aunt's sedan chair waited in front of Beauty Dam for half an hour before Zhao Yong arrived with his men, panting.

He knelt outside the sedan chair to beg forgiveness. "Saint Aunt, we searched the whole town, but we still couldn't find that brat. He must have run off."

"Bunch of useless trash!" Saint Aunt snapped angrily.

Zhao Yong bowed his head and didn't dare argue.

The maid had been nervous the whole time. She still hadn't found a chance to check whether Xu Yuan had left any filth in Saint Aunt's sedan chair.

"Chang Xunbei!" Saint Aunt called.

A middle-aged man beside the sedan chair answered at once. "At your service."

"Can you do it?"

"I'll need his birth date and a personal belonging."

Saint Aunt immediately ordered, "Back to the inn!"

The large contingent charged back to the "Posthouse Fragrance" Inn. Saint Aunt gave her orders. "Chang Xunbei, take some men and search for that brat's belongings. He fled in a hurry, so he must have left something behind."

"The rest of you, come with me to find Steward Liu!"

Uncle Rong Kui was in the side courtyard, loudly complaining to Steward Liu. "Those two brats have both vanished first thing in the morning! How are we supposed to get the work in the back courtyard done..."

Crash!

The courtyard gate was kicked open with a bang, and the sedan chair was carried straight inside.

Steward Liu's eyes narrowed. Saint Aunt's voice rang out from inside the sedan chair. "I'm looking for Steward Liu. Anyone who has nothing to do with this, get out!"

Uncle Rong Kui tucked in his fat neck and didn't dare make a peep. He slunk away along the wall.

Steward Liu's expression darkened. "What does Saint Aunt mean by this?"

Saint Aunt demanded, "What's Xu Yuan's background?"

"Xu Yuan? Did that brat offend Saint Aunt? I'll report this to the boss and make sure he's properly disciplined..."

Saint Aunt cut him off. "Qiao Zi'ang is always cautious in his dealings. You must have Xu Yuan's birth date. Tell me!"

"How would we know that? We hire workers; we're not playing matchmaker..."

Saint Aunt's patience ran out. She cursed, "You won't take a toast, so you'll have to drink a forfeit! You're asking for a beating!"

Steward Liu reacted just as quickly. He twisted aside as his body rapidly swelled. With a sharp rip, his clothes burst apart, and in the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a giant, fifteen feet tall!

The fellow who had made his living as a clerk was actually a Martial Cultivator!

His muscles and sinews bulged and stretched taut, like the ancient roots of a thousand-year-old tree exposed above the ground!

He roared, shaking the roof tiles to pieces. Then he spread his arms, his hands like cast iron, and charged ferociously toward the sedan chair. "The Pingtian Society may be a fierce dragon crossing the river, but we're no pushovers either..."

The roof of the luxurious, elegant sedan chair suddenly flipped open, revealing a short, thick, bronze Crafted Cannon. Its dark muzzle aimed straight at Steward Liu!

The barrel was only seven feet long and carved with archaic patterns. Its body was broad and its muzzle narrow, yet even the muzzle was thicker than Steward Liu's head now!

A faint red glow flickered inside the barrel, ready to fire at any moment.

Cold sweat ran down Steward Liu's face.

Saint Aunt said coldly, "Last year, the Divine Machine Camp in the Northern Capital fought the Snow Fiend Ghosts in the north and killed seven thousand of them. The five hundred Crafted Cannons in that battle were all products of our society. Steward Liu, would you like to find out whether your Martial Cultivator's body is tougher, or our cannons are deadlier?"

Steward Liu obediently withdrew his technique and returned to his original form.

Zhao Yong stepped forward and locked him in chains.

These chains had also been specially made by an Artisan Cultivator. Anyone below the Fifth Stream couldn't break free.

This time, Steward Liu obediently confessed. "That brat's from River Worker Alley in Shanhe County. His father was a shadow puppeteer.

"His father died not long ago, and his stepmother—his father's second wife—probably wanted to seize the family property, so she kicked him out.

"She probably worried the neighbors would gossip and say she'd left her stepson with no way to make a living. So she asked someone to contact our boss, and he ended up here at the inn to work."

When Saint Aunt heard the name "River Worker Alley," it struck her as familiar, but she couldn't remember where she'd heard it.

"What kind of family property could a shadow puppeteer have?"

Steward Liu said, "I only heard they had an old theater stage that had been passed down for several generations. I suppose the land was worth a little."

Footsteps sounded outside the courtyard gate. Chang Xunbei returned with his men. "Reporting to Saint Aunt: we found an old garment that belonged to the brat."

Saint Aunt nodded. "Steward Liu, give us that brat's birth date."

Steward Liu bowed his head and recited it.

Chang Xunbei wrote Xu Yuan's birth date on yellow spirit paper, then began the ritual.

His ritual was complicated. He had not only set up an altar, but had also laid out nine Method Items in a precise order. They couldn't be misplaced.

Then he tied the yellow spirit paper and the old garment together with a red prayer ribbon and set them on the altar.

Chang Xunbei held one end of the prayer ribbon in his left hand while his right hand formed one hand seal after another. His feet stepped through strange patterns, and he swayed as if walking on a boat.

He chanted ritual verses, his voice rising and falling in long and short cadences like an ancient song.

The Method Items on the altar seemed to come alive, playing music together in accompaniment.

About fifteen minutes later, a sudden BANG! rang out from the altar, like a bolt of thunder exploding from thin air. Chang Xunbei vanished.

In his place stood someone else. Who could it be but Xu Yuan?

Chang Xunbei practiced an unusual Dao Method. His way of finding someone wasn't to search for them—it was to switch places with them!