Wen Daoren

Li Mo was no longer the green newcomer who had first ventured into the jianghu two or three years ago.

His identity had changed, and naturally, so had his mindset.

He looked Wang Ying up and down, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.

"So their real target is you?"

Wang Ying smiled faintly and did not deny it.

Li Mo knew this woman was deep-minded and skilled at maneuvering among various factions. She was a meticulous person with extraordinary resolve. Though he admired her from the bottom of his heart, if he grew too close to her, he might one day be sold out without even realizing it. So he immediately drew his sword and said coldly,

"I remember your wanted notice. Your crimes are unforgivable, and there's a bounty of two hundred taels on your head, isn't there?"

Killing intent filled the air, and everyone was startled!

Li Mo did not want to remain on the defensive and be toyed with by the other party. Jade Fox Wang Ying had appeared of her own accord, and he instinctively sensed that something was amiss behind this.

Wang Ying's smile stiffened slightly, but she quickly regained her composure.

"My bounty is only two hundred taels. If Doctor Li is willing to help me through this crisis, I'm willing to share an immense opportunity with you, Brother Li. What do you say?"

"An immense opportunity?"

Li Mo furrowed his brow and stared at Wang Ying.

"Back then, I persuaded Brother Li to go to Anle City to test his spiritual roots. Now Brother Li is a lofty cultivator, while I'm merely a mortal. But did I ever deceive you or treat you unfairly back in the Eighteen Mountains?"

"That's true."

Li Mo sheathed his sword and replied calmly.

Seeing this, Wang Ying smiled slightly.

"Does Brother Li know why Nine Rivers Thunder Dragon Tai Shou, after fleeing to the Xia Kingdom, risked returning to the Gan Kingdom and spent so much time and effort amassing wealth in the Eighteen Mountains and refining Silver Essence?"

"Hm?"

Li Mo asked in surprise, "Wasn't it to refine magical artifacts?"

"Brother Li still doesn't know, it seems. Forget Postnatal Realm martial artists—even Innate Realm martial artists can't wield magical artifacts unless they've comprehended the Dao and formed a Golden Core. At most, they can use their Inner Strength to unleash Sword Qi or punch with force."

Li Mo listened, a thoughtful look on his face.

That made sense.

Martial artists were still mortals, after all. He did not understand things like comprehending the Dao, but by now he understood the difference between having spiritual roots and not having them quite well.

Inner Strength and magical power differed by only one word, but their actual effects were worlds apart. If martial artists could wield magical artifacts, what difference would there be between them and cultivators?

"So you're saying Tai Shou came back for something else?"

"Exactly!"

Wang Ying smiled sweetly.

"When Nine Rivers Thunder Dragon ruled the Eighteen Mountains as their chief, he was known not only for his astonishing martial arts but also for his mysterious geomancy skills. He could locate ancient tombs. On that return, he came because he'd discovered a mysterious sacrificial altar in one such tomb. He wasn't refining Silver Essence to make magical artifacts, but to restore the incomplete silver runes on the altar."

Li Mo was astonished.

On one hand, he was amazed by Jade Fox Wang Ying's methods. He had no idea how she had served Tai Shou, but she had somehow coaxed even this secret out of him.

On the other, he was amazed by Tai Shou's discovery. Perhaps the Spirit Reflection Sword Manual had been found in that ancient tomb!

If that were true,

then this so-called ancient tomb might be connected to Spirit Reflection Mountain, whispered about in the Mystic Dream.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Wang Ying could naturally tell that Li Mo was already tempted, and only then did she finally relax.

He wasn't one to lust after beauty and had strong principles. One had to reason with people like him and make their interests clear. If persuaded, he could become a good friend, but he would be difficult to turn into a subordinate who obeyed every command.

Unless...

She held the so-called moral high ground.

"Hehe, whether it's true or not, Doctor Li can judge for himself. I have a five-hundred-tael bank draft from Daohua Trading House here. Consider it an advance payment for my life. No matter what, you won't lose out. What do you say?"

Li Mo couldn't help admiring the other party's generosity.

Five hundred taels of silver was equivalent to fifty Spirit Stones. When the Pingshan Society had gathered supplies back then, they had only managed to come up with five hundred taels.

It seemed that Jade Fox Wang Ying had walked away from that battle with a fortune.

Li Mo naturally had no reason to refuse. He was short on silver at the moment, so he took the bank draft from her hand.

He had never seen a bank draft before, and couldn't help looking it over curiously.

"Who exactly have you offended, and how do you want me to help you escape this crisis?"

Wang Ying's expression grew serious.

"That person is also a cultivator. He calls himself Wen Daoren. Not long after you left, I followed Tai Shou's instructions and found the tomb. That's when I ran into Wen Daoren."

Wen Daoren?

Li Mo's heart gave a slight jolt!

"After discovering me, he asked where Tai Shou had gone. I couldn't fool him, so I fled in a panic back to the Eighteen Mountains. But who knew he'd follow me there too? I had no choice but to flee the Eighteen Mountains again and hide in Tongchao Town. Then he tracked me there as well and sent the Black Wind Mountain bandits he'd recruited to hunt me down and block my escape routes."

Li Mo's expression turned very grim.

"You want me to deal with a cultivator?"

Wang Ying hurriedly said, "Brother Li doesn't know the whole story. That Wen Daoren is weak; he must be a Rogue Cultivator. How could he compare to you? Otherwise, I wouldn't have escaped from him several times. He was probably a Rogue Cultivator skilled in runes, brought all the way from the Xia Kingdom by Tai Shou to repair the altar's damaged runes. If this helper were powerful, Tai Shou surely wouldn't have trusted him."

Even so, how could Li Mo risk his life on that assumption?

Jade Fox Wang Ying continued,

"Besides, I'm not asking Brother Li to kill him. I only need you to escort me near the Prefecture City while you're on your way. This is, after all, within the Gan Kingdom, under a clear sky and bright daylight. Brother Li is also a disciple of the Lingmu Sect. Would he dare cause trouble?"

"Well..."

What Wang Ying said made sense. They were within the borders of the Gan Kingdom.

But the other party was still a cultivator, while Li Mo was only at the fourth level of Qi Refining and had no magical artifact to protect himself. It was far too dangerous.

Even if Tai Shou had brought along a weak Rogue Cultivator out of caution back then, he couldn't be that weak, could he?

There would still be considerable risk.

But Li Mo found it hard to refuse the terms Wang Ying had offered.

He sat in silence, hesitating for a long while. In the end, he clenched his teeth and decided to take the risk.

No matter what, he was a disciple of the Lingmu Sect in the Gan Kingdom. Would a mere Rogue Cultivator at the Qi Refining Stage, one who couldn't even deal with Wang Ying, dare fight him to the death on the Lingmu Sect's turf? At worst, he could back down when the time came.

Besides, the escort agency's men would be a considerable help.

He could also observe from the shadows first. If nothing happened, all the better.

With that in mind, Li Mo glanced at the carriage. Seeing that no one else was inside Wang Ying's carriage, he immediately signaled for Xiong Shao'an to dismount and follow him inside.

"Hehe, thank you, Brother Li."

The escort agency's men couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief. After quickly clearing away the bandits' corpses, they headed toward the county seat.

Once they were on their way again, Li Mo sat in the carriage and looked at Wang Ying.

"Where is that ancient tomb? I want you to tell me now."

"No problem."

Wang Ying leaned close to Li Mo's ear and gave him a detailed account of the ancient tomb's location.

Li Mo nodded repeatedly, his eyes bright with interest as he pondered.

Elsewhere.

Wen Daoren was a short, hunched man in his forties with a deformed build.

When the Black Wind Mountain bandits who had escaped arrived to report that a cultivator had passed nearby and slaughtered their companions, his expression changed dramatically.

The Black Wind Mountain bandits around him begged him to come out and help, but Wen Daoren remained unmoved, his face as dark as water.

"No. We can't stay here any longer."

With that thought, he wasted no time. He quickly shook off the Black Wind Mountain bandits and fled into the distance.

Wang Ying had guessed correctly.

Wen Daoren really was the helper Tai Shou had hired to repair the altar's runes. He was quite accomplished in the way of Runes and Restrictions, but his personal strength was negligible.

"It's a pity that Jade Fox got away. Otherwise, I'd be the only one in the world who knew that secret. Damn it! But it doesn't matter. With her talent, it'll take at least ten years for her Inner Strength to reach Tai Shou's level. By then, I'll be long gone. Heh heh."

As for the possibility that Jade Fox Wang Ying might share the news of the tomb with someone else, Wen Daoren never even considered it.

After all, in his eyes, who would willingly share such an immense opportunity with someone else unless they had no choice?

What he didn't know was that Jade Fox Wang Ying had no idea of the tomb's true value. The so-called immense opportunity she'd mentioned was nothing but sweet talk to deceive Li Mo and escape her present predicament.

In her eyes,

since Tai Shou had already removed everything from the tomb, leaving behind only an altar of unknown purpose, the most valuable things must be in Tai Shou's secret cave abode. By sheer chance, she had discovered its location after winning the final victory in the Pingshan Society's internal strife, and had even unintentionally memorized it in a passage of insight from the Turtle Breath Technique!

Once she reached the Xia Kingdom and found his secret cave abode, she could claim the true treasures from that tomb!

And so,

while each side harbored its own schemes, Li Mo took Xiong Shao'an with him. They first collected the bounty at the county seat, then traveled without incident all the way to the vicinity of Anbei Prefecture's city.

Li Mo, who had been on edge throughout the journey, finally let out a breath of relief. He felt that this mission had truly been worth the trouble.

Xiong Shao'an could no longer hold back his curiosity.

"Big Brother Li, I couldn't understand what you and the others were saying on the road earlier."

"That was jianghu slang. It's best if you never understand it for the rest of your life."

With that said,

Li Mo looked at Wang Ying.

"We're nearly at the Prefecture City. How are you planning to leave?"

Wang Ying beamed.

"Thank you, Doctor Li. I know a fair bit about disguise. If we meet again someday, I'll repay you handsomely for saving my life. Until next time."

With that, using a patch of woods for cover, she jumped off the carriage without the slightest hesitation, her movements as smooth as flowing water.

The people from the Lei Shun Escort Agency didn't notice a thing.

It wasn't until they entered the Prefecture City that the escort agency's men realized their employer was gone. Li Mo said she had slipped away quietly along the way, but the escort agency's men, led by Shopkeeper Lei, clearly didn't believe him. Still, they said nothing, nodded, and left.

"Chief Lei, do you think that employer might have already been..."

"Shut up!"

Shopkeeper Lei glared at the man, then led the others onward.

Li Mo collected three hundred and eighty taels for the heads of the nine Black Wind Mountain bandits. Aside from the scar-faced man, the others were nobodies, and three of them didn't even have bounties on their heads.

Still, Li Mo was very satisfied. It was equivalent to thirty-eight Spirit Stones.

Next, Li Mo asked around about the Daohua Money House's branch in the Prefecture City and successfully exchanged the bank draft for five hundred taels of silver. Adding the loose silver he'd found on the Black Wind Mountain bandits' corpses and the government bounty, he now had more than nine hundred taels in his Storage Pouch—nearly a thousand.

If he also counted the Spirit Stone reward for this commissioned mission, he'd earned a hundred Spirit Stones on this trip!

As for exchanging Spirit Stones and silver, he could go to the market beneath Qingming Mountain or exchange them directly at the Refining Hall of his sect. It was very convenient.

"I should be able to start refining pills soon."

After estimating the cost of the auxiliary spiritual herbs needed to buy a Qi Gathering Pill, Li Mo couldn't help feeling excited. He had thought it would take three or four months to gather enough Spirit Stones.

He hadn't expected to strike it so lucky this time.

The next day.

Li Mo took Xiong Shao'an aboard a Flying Ship. Amid Xiong Shao'an's excited exclamations, they returned to the Lingmu Sect, where he handed him over to Uncle Xiong, who had issued the mission. The mission had lasted exactly fifteen days.

"Not bad!"

Uncle Xiong was very pleased and paid Li Mo the mission reward on the spot.

Li Mo happily put it away and turned to leave.