In the days before Luling County's market fair, Duan Silie had already led his men on a thorough search of the town, arresting several remaining spies based on the six prisoners' confessions, which varied in detail.
Including those original six, they had arrested only eleven people in total. Two were locals from Luling County, but they seemed to know nothing, having merely taken money to run errands and the like.
As for the expert who had escaped, there was still no word of him. Even the prisoners seemed unaware that such a man existed, which made Duan Silie and Chu Hang lean toward believing he might be a martial artist from Great Yong's own Rivers and Lakes.
He was very likely the man who had delivered the secret letter to Chu Hang that day.
On the fifteenth, before dawn had fully broken, the market fair outside Luling County's southern gate was already as lively as ever.
Even compared with most places in the Northwest, the scene outside the southern gate was bustling. With so many people gathered, the County Office's staff and Duan Silie's personal guards found themselves stretched thin.
But by today, neither Chu Hang nor Duan Silie was seeking to impose any cordon.
The most conspicuous stall in the market was still the same one. Unlike last time, however, Chu Hang had arrived a little earlier today-so early that they were still setting it up. The crowds had yet to reach their shoulder-to-shoulder peak, and Duan Silie was now beside him.
Pei Changtian sat in his usual place. He spotted Chu Hang and Duan Silie from afar, and his heart began to beat a little faster.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
He could not quite suppress his coughing. Naturally, the internal injuries he had sustained while fighting Duan Silie that