A chance encounter on the street

"Sigh, if it weren't for the terrible situation, traveling the world would be a pretty good journey."

Xu Qi'an pinched the bridge of his nose and put the letter in his pocket.

The Great Feng Dynasty was in a precarious state; if it were to collapse, he would most likely lose his life.

The supervisor once said that he possessed half of the Great Feng's national destiny, and his fate had long been intertwined with that of the Great Feng.

The people live as long as the country exists; the people die when the country perishes.

"The best course of action now is to restore my cultivation. Even if I can't remove all the Demon-Sealing Nails, removing just a few will restore some of my cultivation. That way, I can better deal with this dire situation."

"Furthermore, although I spent a fortune yesterday, the benefits of dual cultivation are truly obvious; I feel like my Dantian is about to explode. This powerful energy..."

Last night, he and Luo Yuheng practiced all the High Antiquity Daoist School arts.

Now, whenever he closes his eyes, the image of the Imperial Preceptor's fair, curvaceous figure involuntarily appears in his mind.

The kidneys were groaning, but the Dantian instantly transformed into a nouveau riche.

If it were any other woman, except perhaps the Flower Goddess with an insane charm, it would be impossible to achieve such an effect.

The second-rank leader of the Human Sect, when practicing dual cultivation, indeed made rapid progress.

"If I continue dual cultivation, I can reach the level of the former Zhenbei King in at most six months, which is the peak of the third rank."

Xu Qi'an felt relieved.

However, after these seven days, given Luo Yuheng's reserved and proud nature, she would most likely be unwilling to cultivate with him anymore.

"It's all because those fish in Lin'an are so useless. If only they were second-rank officials!"

Li Lingsu was very eager to see the contents of the letter, but Xu Qian was wary of him and gave him no chance.

"Oh, right, there's something I forgot to tell you," Xu Qi'an suddenly said.

Seeing his serious expression, Li Lingsu also became serious. "Please speak, senior."

"Recently, if you encounter any coded messages from the Heavenly Sect, do not respond, even if the contact is your master," he said.

The Heavenly Sect's secret communication code? My master? This sentence revealed a great deal of information, leaving Li Lingsu both bewildered and shocked:

What do you mean by that, senior?

"It's a long story," Xu Qi'an said slowly, taking a sip of his sweet goji berry tea.

"The Ice-Yi Yuanjun and Xuancheng Daoist of the Heavenly Sect are coming down the mountain to capture you and Li Miaozhen, intending to take you back to the mountain for confinement. Li Miaozhen has already fallen into their hands."

???

Li Lingsu was filled with a lot of questions.

He composed himself and asked the questions one by one, "Why did Uncle-Master Bingyi and my master capture Miaozhen and me? How did you know about this, senior? From what you're saying, they're almost at Yongzhou?"

Xu Qi'an answered them one by one:

"I am not aware of your Heavenly Sect's affairs; my intelligence network covers the entire Great Feng, and your Heavenly Sect has not been deliberately keeping a low profile; they will arrive in Yongzhou soon."

Xu Qi'an believed that such a reminder was sufficient.

Having known each other for so long, he had come to understand Li Lingsu's personality. This scumbag's greatest strength was that he listened to what people said.

No matter how unbelievable it may seem, Li Lingsu will take to heart and pay attention to and observe anything said by someone he trusts.

This is an advantage that many top players of the younger generation lack.

"Senior, don't joke around. Why would the Heavenly Sect capture me and Junior Sister Miaozhen?"

Li Lingsu's smile was forced.

Yongzhou City, South Gate.

Passersby turned their heads to look at the three people: a beautiful and aloof female Daoist priest, a middle-aged Daoist priest with a long beard reaching his chest, and a spirited young woman.

It is worth mentioning that the cold and beautiful female Daoist priest was leading the heroic young woman with a rope.

The young woman, her hands bound, followed closely behind the aloof and beautiful female Daoist priest.

How embarrassing! If I were to run into someone who knows me, my image as the Flying Swallow Heroine would be completely ruined. Li Miaozhen followed behind her master, complaining:

"I won't run away, and I can't escape anyway. Master, please give me this Soul-Binding Rope."

Bingyi Yuanjun remained indifferent and ignored her.

"If my friends see this, I'll lose all face," Li Miaozhen muttered.

Only then did Bingyi Yuanjun speak, her tone cold. "If you could transcend emotions, you wouldn't care about such a trivial matter as losing face."

Li Miaozhen Qi Ingestion, unconvinced, "Then if you're so capable, lie down on the ground and bark like a dog."

Bingyi Yuanjun stopped in her tracks, staring at her coldly, her dark, lustrous eyes gradually becoming clear.

The next moment, Li Miaozhen was shocked to find that her mouth had betrayed her and was barking.

She quickly shut her mouth.

Woof woof.

But it didn't work.

"Master, Master, I was wrong, I was wrong! You can't treat me like this!"

Bingyi Yuanjun turned around and took her hand as they continued walking.

"Woof, woof!"

As Li Miaozhen walked, she barked like a dog, and amidst the pointing and whispering glances from the street, tears of shame streamed down her face.

I must have spent too much time with that bastard Xu Qi'an and caught his most despicable habit. Li Miaozhen opened her mouth and barked like a dog a few more times:

Woof woof!

Dajiaochang, barracks.

Ji Xuan sat in the hall, flanked by Liu Hongmian, the old Daoist priest Jiaoye, and several other members of his core team.

"That's roughly what happened. What are your thoughts on this?" Ji Xuan looked around at everyone.

Xu Yuanshuang pondered for a moment, then said in a pleasant voice:

"Logically speaking, since this person came for the martial arts tournament, he should have come to Dajiaochang sooner or later. But several days have passed, and I have not observed his presence."

"There are two possibilities: one, he came, but just happened to be outside my break time. This is good luck for the dragon energy host."

"Secondly, if something delayed him, it's also because the good fortune of the dragon's aura host was the Unseen influencing him."

In terms of fortune, Xu Yuanshuang, as Warlock, is a professional.

Liu Hongmian frowned. "Didn't you say before that as long as we have a host of dragon energy in our hands, given the mutual attraction of dragon energy, he would eventually encounter us?"

Xu Yuanshuang curled her lips into a sneer, "You have a good memory. I said sooner or later. But who knows when? Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe much later."

"But if he had been captured before this, all our hard work chasing him from Qingzhou to here would have been for nothing," Qi Huan Danxiang said, wrapping her colorful robe tighter around herself.

"Don't forget, Xu Qian is also collecting dragon energy. And he has two wisps of dragon energy on him. According to the law that dragon energy attracts each other, the probability that he will encounter that kid first is higher than that of us."

The old Daoist priest stroked his beard and said, "I do have a few ideas."

Ji Xuan laughed upon hearing this, "Daoist Master, we've been waiting for you to speak."

In terms of experience and knowledge in the martial arts world, no one present could match the old Daoist priest with banana leaves, and experience and knowledge can often be transformed into ways to deal with events.

"If we let him run wild, the first person that kid will likely encounter is Xu Qian. Therefore, what we need to do is hinder Xu Qian and speed up the search. How do we hinder Xu Qian? It's simple, just have Buddhist School monks patrol the city. If the monks can discover his Secret Method through close contact, that would be even better."

"As for how we search for that kid, on one hand, we'll monitor the Gongsun Lineage. On the other hand, we'll gather information from the waiters at the various inns in the city—it's just a matter of spending some money."

"Monitoring the Gongsun family can be done by Qi Huan Danxiang. He is a Heart Gu Master, so he has enough manpower and can do it secretly. Gathering intelligence can be done by the secret agents of Tianji Palace."

"Furthermore, we would appreciate it if Miss Yuan Shuang would go out more often to search using her Qi-Watching Technique. It would be best if she took the dragon Qi host we possess with her with her."

After listening to Master Jiaoye's words, everyone nodded slightly.

At this moment, Xu Yuanshuang suddenly said, "The Azure Dragon Seven Constellations have arrived."

Silence fell over everyone in the Azure Dragon Constellation Hall.

The Grand Preceptor of Qianlong City has three directly subordinate forces: the city's Warlock organization, the Twenty-Eight Constellations, and the Heavenly Mystery Palace.

Among them, the Tianji Palace, as an intelligence network, is the most mysterious, and outsiders can hardly know much about it.

However, the Warlock organization and the Twenty-Eight Constellations are well-known among the upper echelons of Qianlong City.

Among the Twenty-Eight Mansions, the Vermilion Bird's seven mansions serve in the military, commanding an 8,000-strong flying beast army. In addition, they are also the most outstanding scouts.

The White Tiger Guard, led by the Seven Constellations of the White Tiger, was assigned as bodyguards to the Imperial Advisor's confidants and some important ministers.

The Seven Constellations of Xuanwu was a heavy cavalry force of five thousand men.

The Azure Dragon Seven Mansions, including the Azure Dragon itself, consist of only one person; they are a fearsome hunting team.

They are also top-tier combatants personally crafted by the Imperial Advisor. The eight of them, relying on their combined attack formation and Law Artifact, can unleash destructive power equivalent to a third-grade weapon.

A third-grade extraordinary being is at the pinnacle of existence, regardless of the time or the faction.

The burly, strong man, White Tiger, laughed and said, "With Azure Dragon's arrival, there won't be any surprises in Yongzhou City. What we need to consider is whether the Buddhist School will go back on its word."

Ji Xuan shook his head. "The Heavenly Mystery Palace has already made an agreement with the Buddhist School. This is none of our business, so there's no need to worry."

Xu Yuanhuai sneered, "Once we catch Xu Qian, I'm going to kill him myself."

He still believes that Xu Qian defiled his sister.

Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but glance at Xu Yuanshuang. Baihu chuckled and said, "When the time comes, this person will be at Young Master Yuanhuai's disposal."

Qi Huan Danxiang said calmly, "I have many torturous poisonous Gu here. However, killing is just a matter of a head falling to the ground, so there's no need for torture."

This Heart Gu Master has an extreme personality, but under normal circumstances, he does not have a fondness for killing.

Liu Hongmian played with her nails, offering no comment.

For someone as beautiful as her, most men are not worth her attention. The only men in the world who can arouse her interest are either of extraordinary status or of profound cultivation.

Of the younger generation, the only one present who could interest her was Ji Xuan.

Even someone of Xu Yuanhuai's status wouldn't catch her eye. Of course, he was just a greenhorn, and she was usually quite interested in flirting with him.

Afternoon, in the twilight.

Bathed in orange light, Xu Qi'an and Li Lingsu returned towards the inn.

After leaving the teahouse, they went to the Liubo gambling den, but it was already closed.

Considering that this matter was also being watched by the Tianji Palace and even the Buddhist School, Xu Qi'an did not inquire further, as he already knew the details of the matter from the Gongsun family's intelligence.

There were no witnesses at the crime scene, but based on the speculation of the Gongsun family head and the statements of the people guarding the gambling den.

The casino owner named Chen Er was likely killed because he had lost too much money and, because his opponent was an outsider, he had ulterior motives.

"Tell Gongsun Xiangyang to keep an eye on the inns in the city. Out-of-towners will eventually need to stay at a hotel."

Li Lingsu hummed in agreement, looked ahead, and suddenly saw a burly monk wearing a yellow and red robe walking from the end of the street.

He was eight feet tall, two or three heads taller than the average person, and his towering height was so striking.

Vajra that delivers from suffering!

Li Lingsu's heart skipped a beat, and she almost lowered her head.

"Don't panic, don't lose your composure."

Xu Qian's voice transmitted to my ear.

As expected of a senior, so calm. Li Lingsu took a deep breath, all her fear vanished, and her expression remained unchanged.

"Damn it, how did I run into Du Nan here? I absolutely can't be found out! My back is killing me!" Xu Qi'an grimaced Xu Qi'an.

P. S.: I updated twice the day before yesterday, but I was forced to go offline. It wasn't that I didn't update, so please don't criticize me for breaking my promise.

Also, I know you've already seen it on other websites, but I still hope that those who haven't subscribed to that chapter could subscribe to it. Thank you so much!