The sky was just beginning to lighten.
Between two tall blue-stone walls, the dilapidated Broken Firewood Courtyard stood out.
The old gatekeeper next door crept outside, carrying a wooden bucket. He made his way to the gate of the Firewood Courtyard.
Grimacing, he rubbed his lower belly. It was clearly still hurting badly. Muttering curses, he reached out, intending to splash all the filth in the bucket onto the gate.
"I'll teach you to fool around with other men! And you dare hit me!"
Retaliation between neighbors usually didn't end in death, but it was sure to make life miserable.
Especially for an orphan and a widow with no man in the household to stand up for them. If someone came by to cause trouble day after day, it wouldn't be long before they couldn't stay on this street.
Whoosh!
The old man had only just raised his hand when someone grabbed him by the scruff of the neck like a chick.
The bucket of piss and shit didn't splash onto the gate. Instead, it drenched him.
"Let go of me!"
The old bastard's whiskers, speckled with yellow, trembled violently. He whipped his head around.
A handsome, fair-skinned face greeted him, smiling.
But his pupils contracted. He looked as if he'd seen a fiend, his hands trembling so badly he nearly dropped the bucket.
Just looking at that familiar face made the gatekeeper's lower belly ache again.
"L-Lord Fox... I was out of my mind! Spare me!"
This time, though, he didn't dare curse aloud. His legs went limp, and when Lin Shu let go, he dropped to his knees with a thump.
Word had spread through the neighborhood: the man who'd been fooling around with the little widow was in the Blackwater Gang, and he'd killed three people without getting caught.
The courtyard gate creaked open.
Hearing the commotion outside, Yun Niang came to see what was happening.
She saw at once what the old gatekeeper had been up to, but she wasn't angry. Instead, she looked at the young man in surprise, clearly not expecting him to return so soon.
"Thank you, Lord Lin. Please, come in."
"..."
After a whole day's work, Lin Shu had no inclination to frighten the old bastard any further.
He dusted off his sleeves and strode into the courtyard.
Compared with Lord Fox, Lin Shu preferred the little widow calling him "Lord."
It made him sound as if he'd gone straight.
"I've cleaned this cloak. I was just waiting for you to come back and get it." Yun Niang brought out the neatly folded white-fur cloak.
"I need this one I'm wearing washed, too. And get me a clean set of clothes."
Lin Shu stretched and walked straight into the Side Room.
He gave his orders as he went, as if this were his own courtyard.
Yun Niang followed behind him in small steps and nodded obediently. "All right."
She never seemed to care about the gossip outside.
And so the atmosphere between them settled into a strange harmony.
One made himself at home, and the other didn't object. They didn't seem like people who'd only just met.
"Oh, and get me some good meat. I'll eat when I wake up."
Lin Shu took off his shirt and tossed a silver fragment onto the table.
Money in his pocket made his words carry more weight.
"..."
Yun Niang held the clothes in her arms. She looked at the dried bloodstains, then at the silver fragment.
A thread of sorrow welled in her eyes.
The city beneath her feet was like the Blackwater in its name, surging and swift as it sullied everyone.
Sigh.
Yun Niang sighed to herself. She'd expected this, but she still hadn't thought... her benefactor would adapt to his status in the Blackwater Gang so quickly.
It had taken him just one night to blend in with the foxes.
"Get some rest. I'll go prepare everything."
"Go ahead."
Once the little widow had left the room, Lin Shu stretched out lazily on the bed.
Perhaps the deeper people were sunk in the mire, the more they yearned to be clean.
He'd always kept work and life separate.
The Firewood Courtyard was a little run-down, and the bed boards dug into him, but lying here gave Lin Shu a sense of security.
He closed his eyes, intending to go over the Immortal Method in his mind a few more times before sleeping.
After all, it was his only means of protecting himself against cultivators and martial artists.
Lin Shu's breathing gradually evened out.
In his mind, the back of a lone wolf slowly took shape.
It was powerfully built, with smooth, silvery-white fur, standing atop a solitary peak.
The next moment, a moon so vast it blotted out the sky rose from beneath the mountain. It was dark all over and rumbled like thunder, until the White Wolf appeared at its center.
"What's going on?"
Lin Shu could already sense the Moon Wheel's sharpness, but something was missing—the smooth, effortless feeling of a process naturally reaching its conclusion.
A discordant aura was constantly interfering with the Immortal Method's circulation.
Just then, the White Wolf abruptly turned its head, its nose twitching gently.
Lin Shu found himself doing the same.
With the mist swirling around him, he finally caught the aura that was throwing everything into disarray!
"What is this?!"
The dark moon and the White Wolf both collapsed.
Lin Shu shot upright and grabbed at it, unwilling to let the aura slip away.
Two wisps of Azure Qi fell into his palm.
[Half-Life Immortal. Immortal body unformed]
Lin Shu stared blankly at the notification, then quickly realized what had happened.
A look of delight flashed through his eyes.
Hadn't he just discussed an Immortal Family Treasure with Old Yang? And now he'd stumbled onto one out of nowhere?
But the spiritual light he'd captured wasn't enough to make the Immortal take form.
"Not this... not this either."
Lin Shu grabbed the things beside him at random, from his pillow to his blanket, then leaned down to look beneath the bed.
The little widow's place was practically bare. There weren't many belongings to begin with, and he could see them all at a glance. None of them had the aura he'd sensed earlier.
He sat back down on the bed and closed his eyes, trying to seek it out again.
Who knew how much time had passed?
Sweat beaded on Lin Shu's forehead. He opened his palm, and another wisp of Azure Qi had appeared there.
He silently looked out the window.
Those auras drifted all around the courtyard in a chaotic jumble. There was no center to search for.
Simply put—
If there really was an Immortal Family Treasure, it could only be this dilapidated Broken Firewood Courtyard.
Lin Shu withdrew his gaze, thought for a moment, then slowly took out two jade coins.
Who said you couldn't feed it just because it didn't have a mouth?
Without hesitation, he pressed the jade coins in his hand into the three wisps of Azure Qi.
[Consumed two Virtue Coins. Immortal body incomplete]
The Azure Qi intertwined. Two of the wisps gradually unfurled, turning into a pair of indistinct wings before the changes stopped.
A chicken wing becoming an Immortal?
Lin Shu suddenly felt a little hungry.
Though he hadn't managed to fully manifest the Immortal, at least the Virtue Coins on him had come in handy.
He no longer had to pin all his hopes on that little dog.
Feeding two Immortals at once would surely give him better odds of getting an Inner Method.
Besides, the Broken Firewood Courtyard wasn't going anywhere. There was no need to rush.
"Did you buy the food?"
Lin Shu walked out of the room and glanced up at the sky. It was already afternoon.
"I've put it all on the table for you."
Yun Niang was crouched on the ground, vigorously scrubbing clothes in a basin.
The pose accentuated the full curves of her already voluptuous figure.
When Lin Shu emerged, the little widow smoothed her hair at the temples and said respectfully, "There are clean clothes, too. They're on the stool beside you."
"Not bad."
Lin Shu went over and sat at the little table in the courtyard. There was hot braised meat on it, along with a small pot of yellow wine.
A pile of copper coins lay beside them, with a note tucked underneath. The note listed the prices of the food and wine in detail.
He glanced at the neat handwriting, picked up his chopsticks, and dug in.
Lin Shu chewed the braised meat and took a swig of wine. As if asking casually, he said, "Are you selling this courtyard?"
"Hm?"
Yun Niang seemed not to understand the test in his question. She looked up, then gave him a shy smile. "I'm not allowed to sell this courtyard, but you saved us, Lord Lin. You can stay here as long as you like."
"..."
Lin Shu's expression remained calm, though something flickered in his eyes.
On the night Liu San died, he'd already thought the little widow's behavior was strange. With the Immortal aura in the courtyard as well, it was hard not to wonder.
Forget it. As long as it didn't interfere with getting that Azure Qi, the rest was none of his business.
"All right, then the rest of this money can go toward rent."
Lin Shu polished off the food and wine in a few bites, set down his chopsticks, and stood.
He put on the clean clothes and hurried out of the courtyard gate.
Tracking the Immortal aura had taken too much time. It was already getting late.
One night had passed.
The Good Fortune Martial Hall should be making a move by now.
Before you continue