Mistaking Him for a Robber Cultivator

"Two days ago, I was about to take my son out when four or five Bandit Cultivator suddenly rushed in. Before I could even call for help, I was knocked unconscious."

"When I woke up, I was in a dimly lit underground chamber. My son and I were the only people in the chamber."

"They locked my son and me up for two days. Apart from bringing us food and water, no one else went into the underground chamber."

"Those Bandit Cultivator were completely shrouded in black cloaks, their faces obscured, and they didn't utter a single word."

As Jing Yu sobbed and recounted her story, Heng Cheng analyzed it in his mind.

After Bandit Cultivator captured Jing Yu and her son, he did not interrogate them for any information. It is not hard to see that Bandit Cultivator had planned everything before the kidnapping.

Bandit Cultivator knew about his relationship with Jing Yu and her son, and also knew that he was an elder of the Beast Taming Sect.

This kidnapping of Jing Yu and her son was specifically aimed at him.

He was the one who caused Jing Yu and her son to suffer this undeserved calamity.

This added another layer of guilt to Heng Cheng's heart towards Jing Yu and the child.

"So how were you released?"

Jing Yu said, "I'm not entirely clear on the specifics either."

"All I remember is that a black-clad Bandit Cultivator suddenly entered the secret chamber, knocked me unconscious, and when I woke up again, I was already back in the Small Courtyard."

"The child is still in their hands, my lord! Please think of a way to rescue the child!"

Heng Cheng secretly analyzed in his heart: from the time he handed the Spirit Stone to Xu Zheng to the time he returned home, it was only a little over a quarter of an hour.

Bandit Cultivator, carrying a living person, shouldn't have gone far, no matter what method he used. In other words, the secret chamber shouldn't be too far away; it's most likely within the market area.

However, finding a secret underground room in the market is not an easy task.

Heng Cheng said, "A little over a quarter of an hour ago, I saw a Bandit Cultivator, but he was probably just a small fry, only at the Qi Refining Third Layer. He demanded 10,000 Spirit Stone from me before they released you."

Jing Yu suddenly became agitated, stopped crying, and grabbed Heng Cheng's hand.

"Did you tamper with this Bandit Cultivator, young master, leaving something like a Divine Sense imprint? We can find the Bandit Cultivator's location by following the imprint."

Heng Cheng shook his head. "I didn't do anything. They threatened to kill you and your child if you dared to leave a mark. I really couldn't take that risk."

Upon hearing this, Jing Yu felt a surge of excitement.

Her plan with Xu Zheng was already more than half successful. Next, she only needed to stall Heng Cheng and buy Xu Zheng time to get away from the market.

Then, she can find another opportunity to leave.

Jing Yu broke down in tears again.

"What about my son? He's only three years old. Will those Bandit Cultivator mistreat him? How terrified he'll be if he can't see me?"

Jing Yu cried with tears streaming down her face, perfectly portraying a mother worried about her child's safety.

While comforting Jing Yu and helping Jing Yu back to her room to rest, Heng Cheng pondered how to rescue his son.

As he helped Jing Yu to bed and left the room, intending to seek help from familiar fellow disciples in the market, he was completely unaware that...

Inside the room, Jing Yu held a Message Jade Slip in her hand, hidden under the covers.

As soon as Heng Cheng stepped out of the courtyard gate, he saw a letter on the stone steps.

The letter reads: The writer first identifies himself as not being an accomplice in the Bandit Cultivator, but knowing the whole story; if Heng Cheng wants to save the child, at midnight tonight, he should bring fifteen Silverhorn Grass and ten bottles of Beast Brocade Pill, and go alone to a Black Rock Mountain three hundred miles west of the market; he will then tell Heng Cheng everything about the kidnapping.

The letter also vaguely reveals that the whole thing was done by someone familiar to Heng Cheng.

Heng Cheng shook the letter in his hand into pieces, becoming somewhat hesitant.

He originally planned to seek help from the market enforcement team. He had some connection with one of the Foundation Establishment elders in the team, and he intended to ask that elder for help to first investigate the underground secret chambers within the market.

But seeing that the letter stated that the matter was done by someone he knew, he became somewhat unsure.

His Keeping a Beauty in a Golden House was not a glorious affair, and since he needed to keep it a secret from his dao companion, he naturally couldn't publicize it, so not many people knew about it.

However, among those who knew about this was the Foundation Establishment Elder of the Market Enforcement Team. The Foundation Establishment Elder had previously encountered Heng Cheng and Jing Yu, a mother and son, traveling together in the market.

After thinking for a while, he decided to proceed according to the original plan.

It's truly unbelievable that a Foundation Establishment Late Stage elder would kidnap a vulnerable mother and child for a mere ten thousand Spirit Stone.

However, Heng Cheng clearly overestimated his relationship with that Foundation Establishment elder surnamed Wang.

After Heng Cheng met Elder Wang and explained his purpose, Elder Wang told him that it was almost impossible to investigate the entire underground secret chamber of the market.

The entire market area covers dozens of miles and has countless courtyards and houses. Many Rogue Cultivator have dug underground secret chambers to protect their own secrets, making it extremely difficult to investigate them all.

Moreover, deploying a large number of people to search the underground chamber would easily be noticed by the Bandit Cultivator, who would then move the child.

The other party advised Heng Cheng that it would be best to start the investigation from other angles.

Elder Wang's words made some sense, but Heng Cheng, who couldn't think of any other solutions, shamelessly asked him to borrow some manpower to focus on investigating the underground secret room near the East District. Elder Wang ruthlessly refused, saying that private matters should not be handled with public resources.

Seeing that Elder Wang was making excuses, Heng Cheng had no choice but to give up.

Having failed to get help, Heng Cheng could only place his hopes on the letter he had found when he went out.

He did not believe the contents of the letter, thinking it was mostly another scheme by the Bandit Cultivator to extort spiritual objects.

After careful consideration, he decided to meet the person who wrote the letter.

That night, Heng Cheng arrived at the Black Rock Mountain mentioned in the letter, as promised.

The rocky hill is not high, only a few hundred meters high, and it is bare and easy to spot.

As soon as Heng Cheng arrived at Shishan, he saw a person completely shrouded in a black cloak emerge from the foot of the mountain. It was Song Wen, who had come in disguise.

The Black Armor Gu, which had been circling and monitoring the area, only came out to meet Heng Cheng after confirming that there were no other cultivators lying in ambush within a radius of several miles.

Upon seeing Song Wen's attire, Heng Cheng immediately shouted sternly, "Hiding your head and showing your true colors, it seems you're in cahoots with the Bandit Cultivator."

It's no wonder Heng Cheng was so arbitrary; Song Wen's attire was exactly the same as the outfit Jing Yu had fabricated for the Bandit Cultivator.

Song Wen was somewhat taken aback; how had he become Bandit Cultivator?

He hurriedly said, "Fellow Daoist, please don't misunderstand. I am not some kind of Bandit Cultivator, and besides, there is no Bandit Cultivator involved in your child's kidnapping."

"Stop making excuses. You're the Foundation Establishment Realm Bandit Cultivator leader that my contact mentioned, aren't you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Heng Cheng patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist, and a spirit beast resembling a giant toad jumped out.

The toad was over seven feet long, with all four limbs on the ground. It had dozens of fist-sized fleshy growths on its back, from which yellow smoke constantly emerged, clearly indicating that the smoke was highly poisonous.

"Fellow Daoist, you should think this through carefully. Once you take action, you will have no chance of finding out where the child is."

"You..."

Seeing Song Wen use the child as a threat, Heng Cheng abruptly stopped what he was doing.

"You said in your letter that you are not with the Bandit Cultivator, so how can you prove it?"

"Why should I prove myself? This matter has nothing to do with me. What I can tell you now is that this was not the work of any Bandit Cultivator, but the work of your concubine in collusion with her lover."

As he spoke, a mocking smile crept onto Song Wen's face.

"Nonsense!"

Perhaps it was Song Wen's mocking tone that hurt Heng Cheng's pride as a man, or perhaps it was his affection for Jing Yu that made him unable to tolerate others' slander.

Heng Cheng suddenly flew into a rage.

"If I take you down, I refuse to believe you won't reveal the child's whereabouts."

Heng Cheng's thought was that as long as he captured this person and threatened his own life, he would naturally find out the child's whereabouts.

As soon as the toad appeared, it opened its mouth and stuck out a large, fleshy red tongue covered with countless barbs, like a thick mace.

The tongue seemed to extend infinitely, like an arrow released from a bow, heading straight for Song Wen.