Outside the window, moonlight spilled like water over the old locust tree.
He knew full well that laying this trap to kill Xu Tian was a throw of the dice with everything at stake.
If it failed, the entire Li Household would be buried with him;
if it succeeded, no one around Green Ram Mountain would be able to hold the Li Household in check again.
"I must prepare for every eventuality."
Li Conglong murmured to himself, a resolute gleam flashing through his eyes.
Early the next morning, he took out the wealth the Li Household had accumulated over three generations: five hundred Spirit Stones in all, and two bottles of Qi-replenishing pills.
Then he left and headed to the Market Ward once more.
This time, Li Conglong wore a gray robe and a bamboo hat, looking unremarkable amid the crowd.
He visited three shops in succession, spending Spirit Stones on an "Armor-Piercing Awl" and two "Mother-and-Child Thunder Pills," then trading the Qi-replenishing pills for a "Dao-Earth Talisman." These purchases exhausted his entire fortune-almost all the resources the clan could draw upon.
Afterward, he went to meet Zhao Xiong as agreed.
The other man had arrived quite early and was sitting in a tea stall.
At the sight of Li Conglong, he narrowed his eyes, looked him up and down, and lowered his voice.
"I heard your younger brother beat a collateral descendant of the Luo Household half to death the other day. The Luo Household has declared that the Li Household must repay this blood debt in blood.
"Conglong, the waters of Falling Moon Lake are very muddy. You must be careful."
Li Conglong gave a bitter laugh.
"That is precisely what has been troubling me."
They chatted desultorily, finished a pot of tea, then left the Market Ward