At midnight, Black Stone City's outline lay beneath the moonlight like a heavy, shadowy mass.
The city walls stood roughly five zhang high, built from the local specialty, black basalt.
The gates had long since been shut tight. Only several watchtowers atop the walls glimmered with dim yellow light, swaying faintly in the night wind.
Wang Lang stood beneath an old tree a hundred paces away.
"Langzi, look there."
Little White Fox Su Yao raised a forepaw and pointed at an ancient bronze mirror hanging in the middle of the city wall.
"With my First Order Initial Stage cultivation, if that mirror shines on me, I won't be able to hide my tail. It'll only bring needless trouble."
Wang Lang followed where she pointed and nodded. "Then wait outside the city."
"Got it." Su Yao lightly leaped onto a branch, found a comfortable fork, and curled up there.
Wang Lang said no more. His figure flickered, and like a fallen leaf caught by the wind, he drifted silently toward the city wall.
Avoiding the city gate, he found a blind spot beyond the watchtower's line of sight and lightly tapped the ground with his feet.
He then flipped onto the wall like a ghost, not stirring even the faintest whisper of wind.
The night wind atop the city wall was biting. Wang Lang swept his gaze over the city.
Black Stone City's layout was quite orderly. Its main roads formed a cross, dividing the city into four sections.
It was already deep into the night, and few pedestrians remained on the streets. Only the sound of the night watchman striking his clapper echoed through the alleys.
It was utterly unlike the demonic lair he had expected. There was neither gloomy ghostly aura nor the stench of blood in the city.
Instead, faint bustling voices drifted from the western part of the city.
Wang Lang followed the sound, moving stealthily across the rooftops like a cat. Before long, he arrived at an open area in the western district.
The sight before him made his brow furrow slightly.
Several hundred ragged villagers labored beneath torchlight, carrying stones, tamping foundations, and erecting wooden frames.
Several yamen runners dressed in City Lord's Mansion uniforms served as overseers, patrolling back and forth with whips in hand, occasionally shouting at the workers to hurry them along.
Crude sheds had been erected at the edge of the construction site, presumably serving as temporary quarters for the workers.
Wang Lang lay hidden in the shadows beneath an eave and observed for a while.
Though these villagers looked weary, they showed none of the terror of those being coerced. They seemed more like ordinary laborers.
He pricked up his ears and pieced together the information from their scattered conversations.
They had all been recruited from nearby villages to expand the West Market. Their wages were settled daily, and they were even provided two meals!
Wang Lang's brow drew even tighter.
"Could I really have guessed wrong?"
When he had come before, he had been certain that demons were behind it, luring people into the city.
Yet this bustling construction site, with daily wages and meals provided...
Could this city lord actually be a decent man?
But the thought only flashed through his mind.
When something was too unusual, there was bound to be a demon behind it. He decided to investigate further.
Wang Lang continued sneaking through the city, investigating it from end to end.
The granaries, wells, markets, and residences all showed no abnormalities.
He even slipped into the wealthy district in the east of the city, but heard nothing suspicious from the nighttime conversations within several grand households.
At last, he made his way to the City Lord's Mansion.
The estate covered a vast area, with vermilion gates and high walls, imposing and magnificent.
Wang Lang entered from a secluded spot in the rear courtyard. Like a wisp of light smoke, he easily bypassed two groups of patrolling guards and silently approached the study in the main residence.
Through a gap in the window lattice, he could see the room brightly lit. A middle-aged man in brocade robes was bent over a desk, reviewing documents. He was presumably the city lord of Black Stone City.
What made Wang Lang's gaze narrow was the city lord's defensive force.
Five Body Tempering Realm martial artists stood around the room like iron towers.
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Two more old men in blue robes sat quietly in a corner, strange auras circulating around them. They were actually mid-stage Qi Induction Realm Qi Refiners.
Wang Lang was already in the Spirit Condensation Realm, his strength far surpassing everyone present. With his aura deliberately concealed, none could detect his spying.
And yet the City Lord's Mansion possessed such a lineup to guard the city lord of a remote frontier town. It was rather excessive.
"Does this city lord simply cherish his life more than most, or is there... something else hidden in this mansion?"
Wang Lang searched the manor a while longer, but still found no traces of demonic aura or evil arts. He could only withdraw quietly.
When he returned beneath the old tree outside the city, Su Yao poked her head out from the leaves. "Langzi, how was it inside?"
"Nothing." Wang Lang shook his head. "They really are recruiting workers to expand the West Market. The City Lord's Mansion is heavily guarded, but I saw no trace of demons."
Su Yao jumped onto his shoulder and tilted her head. "Then shall we return to the manor?"
"Let's go."
As the eastern sky began to brighten, the man and fox had already traveled more than fifty li from Black Stone City, reaching a stretch of rolling hills.
The mountain road wound onward, the woods on either side growing denser. Morning mist flowed through the valleys like milky-white silk ribbons.
Though Wang Lang had gone without sleep all night, he showed no trace of fatigue.
Not to mention that his Qi cultivation had reached the Spirit Condensation Realm, even his Body Refinement alone—
Had forged his flesh to rival refined iron. His blood and vitality surged robustly; going three to five days without sleep was nothing out of the ordinary.
Su Yao, meanwhile, was curled within the folds of his robe against his chest, only half her snowy-white head exposed, seeming half asleep and half awake.
At that moment, a shrill cry for help suddenly tore through the morning mist in the mountains!
"Help!"
"There's a tiger! It's going to eat someone!!"
It was a woman's voice, filled with desperate sobs, coming from deep within the dense forest ahead.
Wang Lang halted.
A tiger? No tiger tracks had been seen around the outskirts of these mountains for over ten years.
Moreover, dawn was already breaking. This was when nocturnal beasts returned to their dens. Why would a tiger be roaming about?
He recalled how, several months ago, he had also been traveling through the mountains late at night before dawn, only to be lured into Golden Mountain Temple by a Golden Cicada.
Once bitten by a snake, one feared every well rope for ten years. Wang Lang immediately spread his powerful spiritual senses through the surroundings.
The scent of grass and trees, the earthy smell of soil, the coolness of morning dew... there was no sinister Killing Intent, nor any fluctuation of illusion arts.
After thinking for a moment, Wang Lang stepped toward the source of the voice.
If someone truly was in danger, standing by and watching them die was not something he wished to do.
Following the sound through a patch of shrubs, he came upon a small clearing in the woods.
Wang Lang did not reveal himself directly. Instead, he leaped onto a massive beech tree that would take two people to encircle, using its branches and leaves for cover as he looked down.
In the middle of the clearing, a simply dressed young woman carrying a bamboo basket on her back was curled up in the branches of a cypress tree, trembling violently.
The cypress was about as thick as one person could encircle, and stood over two zhang above the ground. The woman clutched the trunk with both hands, her face deathly pale and streaked with tears.
Beneath the tree, a gigantic tiger prowled slowly.
The tiger was enormous, nearly four meters long and a full five chi at the shoulder. Its yellow-and-black striped hide gleamed with an oily luster.
It did not rush to pounce. Instead, it occasionally raised its head to look at the woman in the tree, its tiger eyes carrying the amused playfulness of a cat toying with a mouse.
Tigers were naturally skilled tree climbers. This beast was clearly savoring its prey's fear.
"What a huge tiger," Wang Lang murmured. "An ordinary mountain tiger is at most two meters long. This one has likely already become a demon."
Su Yao poked her nose out from his collar, looked at it, then gently sniffed and said:
"This big tiger's demonic aura is faint. It should be at the First Order Initial Stage, and it has only recently gained spiritual intelligence."
By then, the woman in the tree had already fallen into despair.
Her name was Xu Dongyue, a herb-gathering woman from Xu Family Village ten li away.
Before dawn today, she had gone up the mountain to gather some herbs, only to run into this vicious tiger.
She had hurriedly climbed a tree to evade it, but the tiger refused to leave, guarding beneath the tree for half an hour.
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