Outside the Octagonal Fort, people came and went. Most rogue cultivators hurried along, while only a handful wandered leisurely, seemingly with nothing to do.
Li Chen sat in a tavern on Kun Character Street, drinking wine with roasted beans as he quietly observed them.
These few should all be lackeys of the Earthly Sha Sect, not the sort of rogue cultivators who work for pay.
The Earthly Sha Sect harbored crouching tigers and hidden dragons, but not everyone belonged to the organization. On the contrary, the vast majority had no affiliation; they took people's money to rid them of their troubles.
Strictly speaking, these seemingly idle lackeys were not true members either, but most had close ties to hall overseers or branch leaders, who kept them on their payroll.
Most were bottom-rung cultivators with poor cultivation talent or no fortunate opportunities, reduced to serving as hired muscle and informants.
Li Chen had not spotted those two among them. He also understood that he was an outsider, while they were the local snakes. It would not do to recklessly ask around or try to buy an informant's help.
People like these generally knew the local shopkeepers and their assistants. Any inquiries would put them on guard, so he simply waited patiently.
Persistence rewarded the determined. At dusk two days later, he finally discovered something.
That's one of the two!
When two lackeys dressed in blue-gray cloth appeared, Li Chen's gaze instantly sharpened.
He recognized a sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked young man among them. He was one of the Earthly Sha Sect lackeys who had ambushed him and You An, causing them both to fall into the demon den.
Apparently, with the danger long past, they assumed Li Chen and You An were dead-or that even if they had somehow survived and returned, they