"Wasn't She a Courtesan?"

"Mhm."

Chen Qiu nodded, taking the time while Fat Dragon stood dazed in place to change his clothes, using a cloth strip to tightly bind his waist so the garments fit closer, before casually saying, "My share of the spirit stones is basically all spent, I only have three left."

"If you'd spent your share of the spirit stones, you might have even broken through to the Eighth Level of the Qi Refining Realm."

"What's there to be surprised about."

"That's more than thirty spirit stones!" Fat Dragon couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache as he said, "Brother Chen Qiu, didn't you have any inner struggle before spending them? You spent them so decisively? You should have hesitated for a bit!"

"Hesitate?"

After finishing tidying his clothes, Chen Qiu walked over to the red table, poured himself a cup of cold tea and drank it down in one gulp, then, still unsatisfied, stuck the teapot spout directly into his mouth, drinking an entire pot of cold tea before contentedly wiping his mouth and setting the teapot aside.

"The Huang Family already sent people to block the city gates, if you hesitate at a time like this, are you planning to let the spirit stones be buried with you?"

"Putting this aside for a moment, you just said a major event happened, what event?"

"Hoo!"

Bringing up this matter, Fat Dragon took a deep breath, also sat down at the red table, dipped his finger into some tea in the teapot, and began writing on the table: "The Huang Family is a quite famous faction in Windward City."

"The lineage business is the surrounding mining industry."

"The head of the family is a cultivator at the Sixth Level of the Foundation Establishment Realm, and the one sent this time to seek revenge is led by the Seventh Elder of the Huang Family, with a cultivation base at the Eighth Level of the Qi Refining Realm, bringing six or seven thugs around the fifth and sixth levels of the Qi Refining Realm."

"With great momentum, they loudly proclaimed to the outside world that they are going to kill us to avenge the young master of the Huang Family."

"But according to the insider intelligence I obtained, this Seventh Elder at the Eighth Level of the Qi Refining Realm won't be the first to make a move to suppress and kill us; the Huang Family's primary goal this time is to use our hands to eliminate these six or seven Huang Family thugs."

"These thugs joined the Huang Family quite a few years ago, but their monthly stipends were all used to support their families, and they stubbornly refused to spend a single cent on cultivation. So many years have passed and their strength hasn't grown at all, and people have gradually grown old. Their physical fitness is much worse than before, and their combat effectiveness has dropped significantly compared to their youth."

"This resulted in the Huang Family paying this group the monthly stipends belonging to the Sixth Level of the Qi Refining Realm, yet this group cannot provide the Huang Family with the strength that the Sixth Level of the Qi Refining Realm should have."

"However, it wouldn't look good to directly expel them—after all, these people have given almost half their lives to the Huang Family. If they were all expelled, it would chill the hearts of quite a few people beneath them, so the Huang Family plans to take this opportunity to let all these people die at our hands, and finally the Seventh Elder will take our heads back."

"The Huang Family does not have severance compensation."

After taking another deep breath, Fat Dragon continued: "At the same time, I also learned a heaven-shaking secret: the Huang Family actually really doesn't want to come seek revenge, because right now the Huang Family is at a crucial moment!"

"In one of the Huang Family's mines, a great fortuitous encounter is about to manifest!"

"Rumor has it that it is a random Heavenly Dao Trait."

"And the main reason the Huang Family insisted on coming to seek revenge is that if the Huang Family sat still and did nothing, it would easily arouse suspicion, so they had no choice but to take a trip to the Heaven-Question Market. The people they brought are also the batch of thugs with the lowest strength in the Huang Family, serving the purpose of killing two birds with one stone!"

"In addition to this, the Huang Family sending people here serves another purpose. The Heaven-Question Market is the largest market within a hundred miles around, and also the strongest faction near Windward City. By using the method of seeking revenge, they hired quite a few people to monitor the city gates to discern whether the Heaven-Question Market knows about this intelligence."

"After all, the head of the Heaven-Question Market is at the Golden Core Realm. If this person wants this Heaven-Section Trait, then the Huang Family would certainly have no choice but to hand it over."

"However—"

Fat Dragon paused, his expression solemn as he said: "Actually, quite a few factions have already secretly obtained the intelligence and have already dispatched people toward Windward City. Remember the opera troupe that came from the Capital City and entered the city last night?"

"It's that courtesan who wouldn't sell herself even for three spirit stones offered by a big figure from the Capital City."

"This courtesan is a person from the Flower-Offering Sect."

"That day, a massive crowd gathered at the East Gate of Windward City, and the scene was extremely chaotic. Even the Huang Family didn't realize that quite a few people had already snuck into Windward City, and the reason why last night's Heavenly Dao Secret Realm suddenly opened near Windward City was not a coincidence, but rather because it was sensed by the Heavenly Dao Trait!"

"Brother Chen Qiu!"

"Did you understand?"

"Soon, perhaps even today, there will be a great battle in Windward City, and it seems we've somewhat been dragged into it!"

Chen Qiu, sitting before the red table, went from initial bewilderment to, in the end, expressionless silence right where he stood. After Fat Dragon finished speaking, he paused for a moment before softly asking: "Brother Fat Dragon, tell me honestly, is this intelligence something you can find out by going to a tavern or teahouse?"

He knew Fat Dragon had a knack for gathering intelligence.

Yet he didn't expect this ability to gather intelligence to already rival the embroidered uniform guards.

"Of course not."

Fat Dragon shook his head. "I employed multiple methods, including going to the Under-Heaven Pavilion shop which specializes in selling intelligence to buy intel, and then observing which factions' people came to the Under-Heaven Pavilion to buy intel, and where these people went in the end."

"As well as rumors in the streets about Windward City, how these days differed from the past, and other such methods to synthesize the intelligence."

"The accuracy rate reaches eighty percent."

"Did you spend spirit stones?" Chen Qiu nodded in realization.

"Spent them."

"How much did you spend?"

"Spent it all."

Chen Qiu fell silent in place once more, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly: "Didn't you have fifteen spirit stones in your pocket? Didn't you just say why I spent mine so decisively, and that at least I should have hesitated for a bit? It looks like you didn't hesitate much either—"

"Nonsense!"

Fat Dragon said with an ugly expression: "The Huang Family already blocked the city gates, if you hesitate at a time like this, are you supposed to let the spirit stones be buried with you?"

"Pretty good."

Chen Qiu nodded, pondering for a moment before softly saying: "This is good news for us, at least it can give us a period of breathing room."

What he needed most right now was breathing room; as long as he was given time to cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Realm and master a few spell arts, wiping out a Huang Family was a matter of the blink of an eye.

However.

Old heaven didn't seem to plan on going along with his wishes.

"Bang, bang, thud!"

Following two consecutive crisp knocks, accompanied by a massive collision sound, the door was directly kicked open.

A tall woman wearing an rouge-colored long dress, holding a round fan, and wearing a red veil walked gracefully into the room accompanied by two brawny men. Fat Dragon, who had just prepared to stand up and open the door, froze in place as well.

"You must be the Outer Sect Elder of the Sky-Blasting Gang, right?"

Only to see this woman casually toying with the round fan in her hand, looking toward the frozen Fat Dragon with a trace of playfulness in her eyes, emitting a string of silver-bell-like laughter: "Meeting again, you've become an elder now. I wonder if your esteemed sect is still recruiting people?"

"Can I come?"

Fat Dragon was silent for a long while before turning his head to look at Chen Qiu: "This is the courtesan from the Capital City's opera troupe that I just told you about."

"You two know each other?"

"Mhm, I patronized her last time."

"Wasn't she a courtesan?"

"It was a lie, just to sell herself for a high price."

"Spreading the rumor that some big figure from the Capital City offered three spirit stones and she still wouldn't sell herself was also an idea I helped her come up with previously."