He clearly had an extremely deep impression of these two extraordinarily auraed guests, and seeing them now, his waist curved like a cooked shrimp.
"No need for unnecessary words." Jing Ke's voice was ice-cold to the extreme. "We are looking for you for an important matter; let's go outside to speak."
Ground Rat hurriedly nodded and bowed. "Since the seniors have given an order, this subordinate will gladly go through fire and water without hesitation!"
Not daring to delay in the slightest, Ground Rat hurriedly followed the two out of the gambling den and turned into the dead-end alley next to it.
"What news are the two seniors looking to investigate?"
"We are people of Misty Rain Tower. My Misty Rain Tower is now officially stepping out into the world to take on bounties, and we need to find a suitable place to set up our Misty Rain Tower's bounty monument. Do you know where would be suitable?"
Jing Ke's tone was steady, yet it carried an unquestionable coercion.
"What! Seniors, you actually belong to Misty Rain Tower." Ground Rat was suddenly startled immensely.
Although he had previously led Jing Ke and his companion to Langya Pavilion, he had been unaware of their identities.
Moreover, a few days prior, Misty Rain Tower and Qingyun Sect had engaged in a fierce battle; his strength was low, so he had been unable to go watch the battle, but he had still heard about how the battle had gone.
Bowing at the waist, Ground Rat rubbed his hands and paced back and forth twice in the alley, his rat-like whiskers trembling slightly with the movement:
"The two seniors want to find a place where a 'bounty monument' can be placed?"
"However, right here in the Black Market, there is already a task hall. If seniors place a bounty monument, I'm afraid you will offend the person behind the task hall."
"It's fine! You only need to find a suitable place for us. You don't need to worry about the rest." Jing Ke looked at Ground Rat and said.
Hearing these words, the flattering smile on Ground Rat's face paused slightly, and then it was piled high with smiles once more:
"You want to find a bustling place? There are some tricks to this--with so many people and a jumble of voices, it has to be that kind of territory where 'it looks chaotic, but actually nobody really cares'."
He led the two toward the center of the Black Market, passing through stalls with rising and falling cries of peddlers, and arrived at a plaza.
"How do you like this place?" Ground Rat pointed at an empty grocery store in the corner of the plaza. "People come and go here all day long, and news spreads faster than the wind."
Jing Ke nodded, his gaze sweeping across the bustling crowd on the plaza. Then he turned his head and said to Ground Rat:
"This is the place."
"I'll give you a chance to join my Misty Rain Tower. What do you think?"
"What? Senior, do I truly have a chance to join Misty Rain Tower?"
Ground Rat cried out in astonishment in an instant. In this world, who didn't want to have a powerful background? He never expected that he would actually be able to join this mysterious Misty Rain Tower.
"That's right! I am going to place my Misty Rain Tower's bounty monument in this grocery store, and then you will be solely responsible for matters concerning the bounty monument."
Ground Rat's eyes lit up, and he immediately replied, "This subordinate is willing to join Misty Rain Tower!"
Jing Ke glanced at him and said in a deep voice, "Good! From now on, you are a person of my Misty Rain Tower, but if you let me know that you betrayed Misty Rain Tower..."
He gently sliced his fingertips across his dagger, and a cold flash swept past. "The dark drainage channels of this Black Market are just right for sinking corpses."
Ground Rat shivered and nodded hastily. "This subordinate understands! This subordinate would never dare! Then... should this subordinate go secure the shop right now?"
"Go." Jing Ke took a storage bag from inside his robes and tossed it to Ground Rat. "The two of us will wait for you here."
The storage bag drew an arc through the air and was steadily caught by Ground Rat.
He weighed the heft of the storage bag, a trace of pleasant surprise flashing in his eyes, and hurriedly shoved it into his robes, bowing repeatedly:
"This subordinate will go handle it right away, and guarantees to give you a reply within a quarter of an hour!" Having spoken, he bolted out of the plaza like a gust of wind, vanishing at the alley entrance in the blink of an eye.
Only Jing Ke and Yao Li remained in front of the grocery store.
"Is Ground Rat trustworthy? Putting him in charge of the bounty monument, is that a bit rash?"
Jing Ke shook his head. "There is no need to worry! Could it be that you've forgotten the Blood Slaughter Art the Lord bestowed upon us previously? Cultivating this technique can make the practitioner loyal to my Misty Rain Tower."
The corners of Yao Li's mouth hooked up into a cold arc. "That's right! I actually forgot about this matter!"
A joss stick's time later,
the voice of Ground Rat came over: "My lords! It's done! This shop belongs to us from now on!"
Following the voice, Ground Rat ran in, holding a bunch of rusted keys in his hand: "These are the keys to the shop."
Jing Ke took the keys, opened the shop, and glanced at Yao Li.
Yao Li took out from his robes that palm-sized, pitch-black deputy monument--its material was identical to the main monument of the Misty Rain Tower stronghold, only scaled down several times, and the monument's face was completely smooth at the moment, without any writing yet.
He walked to the center of the shop and flicked his finger, causing the deputy monument to embed itself into the ground like a nail, standing firmly and fitting seamlessly with the floor as if it had grown there originally.
The very instant the deputy monument landed, an invisible wave diffused outward with the deputy monument as the center, echoing from afar with the protective formation of Misty Rain Tower.
Far away within the Rainwatch Pavilion of Misty Rain Tower, a water mirror beside the sand table suddenly lit up, clearly reflecting the scene inside the grocery store.
"It's done." Yao Li said in a deep voice.
Ground Rat stared fixedly at the black stone monument that had appeared out of thin air, his eyes wide open. He wanted to reach out and touch it, but was stopped by a single look from Yao Li.
He had no choice but to retract his hand crestfallenly, exclaiming in his heart:
Goodness... This monument looks extraordinary; from now on, our grocery store is going to be bustling!
Before you continue