What Did Wu Song Have to Do with Finding Xu Fan?

"Qi and Blood Pills?"

"Only a thousand taels in banknotes?"

Xu Fan searched the most lavishly dressed man and woman from head to toe, but found only fifteen hundred taels in banknotes and two bottles of Qi and Blood Pills between them.

"Paupers. Dressed so well, I thought you were Wealth-Gifting Children, here to bring me resources and cultivation methods."

In his anger, he dragged the others onto the black-canopied boat as well, chopped them all to pieces, and tossed them into the water where the shallows met the depths.

They had come out to kill without bringing cultivation methods or treasures?

"That man and woman probably had important backgrounds. Otherwise, the fish market's martial master wouldn't have turned against me."

After disposing of the bodies, Xu Fan returned to the bow of the boat and thought it over carefully.

The Canal Gang's upper ranks had been wiped out, and there was no way they had martial experts that young.

"The Han Household in the prefectural city?"

He had once heard Old Man Kong mention that the Canal Gang controlled the fish market, and the gang were the Han Household's lackeys.

In other words, the young man and woman, both fairly strong, were probably from the Han Household?

"That's trouble."

The Han Household was said to be one of only two great Aristocratic Clans in Yin Mountain Prefecture, with two innate grandmasters.

A grandmaster might not be able to defeat him, but they would still be troublesome.

If he didn't pull the weeds out by the roots, trouble might come pouring in without end.

"I'll check the fish market first and see if they brought any attendants or guards. I'll deal with them all at once."

With a slight turn of his thoughts, Xu Fan leaped up and ran across the waves.

Before long, he reached the fish market docks.

"It's Master Xu!"

"Master Xu's martial arts are truly amazing!"

These days, people at the fish market could fail to recognize anyone else, but they couldn't fail to recognize Master Xu.

But the moment Xu Fan stepped onto the dock, a burly figure suddenly charged out at him!

A broadsaber howled down in a vertical chop, trailing a fierce wind!

Clang!

A flash of golden light passed, sending sparks flying in an instant.

The burly man wielding the broadsaber missed with his strike and had already retreated more than ten zhang away. Fixing his eyes on Xu Fan, he asked in a low voice:

"Where's the third young master?"

He watched his still-trembling broadsaber out of the corner of his eye, a bad feeling rising in his heart.

How had this man dared?

That was the Han Household's third young master, whose father and grandfather were both innate grandmasters.

The third young master's own elder brother was even a disciple of Saber-Nurturing Valley, a super sect spanning seven states that even the Great Qin imperial family treated with caution.

Yet this fisherman before him had killed the third young master just because he was stronger?

Didn't he know that after doing something like that, he would have no place to hide, not just in Yin Mountain Prefecture, but in all of Qingzhou?

"Isn't it obvious?"

Xu Fan smiled without a care.

"That third young master of yours tried to kill me, so I killed him instead."

"It's that simple."

"You!"

The burly man glared, his eyes wide with anger. Now that the third young master was dead, he wouldn't live either.

If he'd known, he should have stayed by his side every step of the way.

He had wanted to follow him to Peach Blossom Spring Lake, but the third young master had said that dealing with a fisherman who had undergone three blood exchanges didn't require a martial master like him, who had undergone nine.

Who could have known that Xu Fan was so strong, with such bizarre methods? He wasn't confident he could defeat him either.

"Hey, getting distracted will get you killed."

Just as he was thinking about how to escape and report back, a sudden pain struck his chest, and a voice came from behind him like an Impermanence spirit claiming a soul.

Blood gushed out, clouding his consciousness, and his burly body crashed to the ground.

Looking at the figure surrounded by golden light in the distance, he raised a hand with difficulty and murmured a few words:

"Sor... sorcery..."

"Someone's been killed!"

At the sight of blood gushing out, many women turned deathly pale with fright and collapsed to the ground, their legs weak.

Only after giving him another blow to the head did Xu Fan feel safe enough to search the corpse. He found a saber martial art and three hundred-tael banknotes.

He stuffed the items into his robes and leaped away from the fish market under everyone's watchful eyes.

Only when he reached a deserted fork in the road did Xu Fan stop and turn toward the Yin Mountain prefectural city.

With every step, his figure changed. After seven steps, Xu Fan had transformed into a robust, ordinary-looking man in his prime, eight chi tall.

"What did Wu Song have to do with someone Xu Fan killed?"

It was the bone-shrinking and disguise method he had obtained from Jiang Yunhe!

After the Taiji Dao Evolution Diagram recorded it, he had thought it useful and learned it.

After all, he had inexplicably been killed by an Incantation last time, so he could no longer use Xu Xian's identity or appearance.

This martial art achieved a disguise by changing the bones and muscles, making it difficult even for techniques to see through.

With the Taiji Dao Evolution Diagram on him as well, no one could divine his true details.

"These clothes are a little tight, though."

Over the past eight months or so, he had enjoyed an almost constant supply of precious fish, and his body had long since recovered. Even so, his build had been well-proportioned rather than muscular.

He was still eight chi tall, but his build and appearance were completely different. Even if he stood there and let people take a good look, they wouldn't spot a flaw.

"Jiang Yunhe relied on this bone-shrinking and disguise method to secretly devour numerous martial masters and escape the Brocade-Clad Guard several times."

"As long as a great grandmaster doesn't make a move and there's no way to track an enemy over a thousand li, no one will recognize me."

Xu Fan stroked his chin, quite satisfied.

"I'll go to the prefectural city and change clothes first. While I'm there, I'll ask around about the Han Household."

"I'll see how strong an innate grandmaster is and whether I can kill one."

He now had the huge sum of two thousand taels on him, along with banknotes, loose silver, pills, and proof of identity. He was no longer unable to take a single step.

Great Qin was divided into ten circuits and sixty-four prefectures.

Yin Mountain Prefecture was one of Qingzhou's seven prefectures under Lingnan Circuit. It governed twenty-one counties and encompassed the three-thousand-li Yin Mountains.

Trade flourished there because the Jade Water River ran through the prefectures of Lingnan Circuit.

Peach Blossom Spring Lake had been formed by a tributary of the Jade Water River running through Wuling County.

With the Divine Movement Technique bolstering him, Xu Fan reached the enormous city built beside the great river in only half a day.

"It truly is magnificent."

Looking at the queue stretching out like a long dragon and the colossal beast swallowing and disgorging streams of people, he couldn't help marveling.

"But are there immortals in Great Qin?"

Xu Fan looked at the city gate on the far left, where few people were passing through, somewhat puzzled.

There were four city gates, and a long queue had already formed at the entrance used by people of the middle three households like him, advancing only slowly.

Great Qin had three registers and six households.

The three lower ranks were the base households, slave households, and labor households.

The three middle ranks were the artisan households, farming households, and merchant households.

Then there were the three upper registers: the immortal register, noble register, and official register.

"The noble and official registers are easy enough to understand, but the immortal register... could one become an immortal through martial arts?"

There had to be a reason and basis for a state to divide its people this way, and it made him wonder.

"In the end, my strength and status are too low, and I've seen too little of the world."

He shook his head slightly and made a note of it. Once inside the prefectural city, he could ask around.

Whether it was the immortal cultivation world in the Land of Wu or Qin State, he still knew far too little about either.

This was the first time he had even left the fish market.

After waiting in line for a while, he finally entered the Yin Mountain prefectural city without trouble.

"Customer, the clothes here aren't..."

He immediately found a clothing shop and slapped down a banknote, stopping the shop assistant mid-sentence.

"Customer, you've certainly come to the right place."

"The styles at our Colorful Clothing Shop are sure to satisfy you!"

He had been arrogant at first and respectful afterward. The thought was laughable.

But Master Xu was magnanimous and didn't mind a little snobbery. He picked out two sets of robes that fit him well and showed off his bearing.

"Take care on your way out, customer!"