Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 155 - 150: Give it to me, I really want it (Two more requests for monthly subscription)_1

Chapter 155: Chapter 150: Give it to me, I really want it (Two more requests for monthly subscription)_1

"Qianzhi, what do you think? Should we go and take a look?" asked Zhang Yue with a serious tone, "It’s noon now. If we don’t make a decision, it might be too late."

"Go! Of course, we should go! How can we catch the cub without entering the tiger’s den?"

Li Xuan first raised his eyebrows, then his gaze became solemn, "But let me make one thing clear, no one knows the situation there, we must proceed cautiously. After we go there, everyone must follow my instructions. Qianqian, send a report to the Great Xiaowei about the situation here in the hall, preferably ask her to come here as soon as possible. Old Peng, you should also inform your family."

He knew that the situation at Huanglin Temple was different from Chuancheng Black Market.

They knew Chuancheng Black Market very well, and except for Luo Yan, all the four of them had powerful backgrounds.

Therefore, their act of infiltrating Chuancheng seemed reckless, but even if they failed, it wouldn’t be a big deal, they would just get a severe beating and be thrown out of Chuancheng.

But Huanglin Temple, although the name did not sound like a dangerous place, Li Xuan knew nothing about it.

The most frightening thing in this world is often the unknown.

Watching Yue Qianqian send a message out, Li Xuan turned to Zhang Yue and instructed, "Take Shopkeeper Han and those two martial masters with us. Be polite to the shopkeeper, we might need him later."

Zhang Yue didn’t say a word, just directly carried Shopkeeper Han over his shoulder. As for the two immobilized martial masters, he dragged them by their ankles.

Then, they jumped out of the window and into the water.

Perhaps because of the angle or luck, no one noticed even when Luo Yan dived into the water.

It was only after they had swum underwater for about a hundred yards that there was a commotion on the boat.

To be on the safe side, they stayed underwater for a full quarter of an hour, until they were far out of sight of Chuancheng and then they emerged on the nearby northern shore of Yangtze River.

From here, they were extremely close to Huanglin Temple, less than twenty miles away.

Huanglin Temple was the ruins of a temple in the dense forest. It had been in decline for over a hundred years and, during the Hongxi Era of the Jin Dynasty, a big demon had wreaked havoc in the area and razed Huanglin Temple to the ground. Since then, the temple had been abandoned and locals considered the area ill-fated, and were reluctant to approach.

Li Xuan did not rush over. He stopped with his men at the top of a hill five miles away and let Yue Qianqian try to probe the area with her magic.

The latter very carefully, folded a talisman paper into a paper crane, then with a touch of mana made it tremble and fly toward Huanglin Temple.

Li Xuan guessed that her background might not be inferior to Peng Fulai’s. The paper for the origami crane was the very best quality Yangsang Paper, and the runes pre-drawn on it were obviously the work of masters.

About four minutes later, Yue Qianqian’s eyebrows rose slightly, "The leader is a cultivator at the seventh house level with a very sharp aura. He should be a Sword Cultivator. There are also four other Wu cultivators, all around the fifth house level. Two are in the dark, two are in the light. In addition, there are several martial masters who haven’t opened their second gate. The shopkeeper wasn’t wrong, they’re preparing to evacuate. I saw them loading wooden boxes from the temple into several flying cars."

"Flying cars?" Li Xuan frowned, knowing that this meant they couldn’t delay any longer.

The so-called ’flying cars’ were also a type of magical instrument, they had no wheels and hovered in the air. These cars were pulled by Earth Dragons and were much faster than regular horse-drawn carriages.

"Can you confirm they only have one cultivator at the seventh house level?"

He thought that if there was only one cultivator at the seventh house level, even if they discovered them, they should be able to escape.

Among the people present, there were many powerful talismans. This was enough to block that cultivator at the seventh house level for a moment, allowing them to retreat into the not too distant city of Yangzhou or by the river.

"My paper crane was half-made by Vice Master Zhang himself and embedded with the technique of ’Heavenly Eyes’."

Yue Qianqian spoke softly, "Furthermore, Xiaowei just replied with a flying talisman, saying she will set off right away."

"Uncle Wang wrote back to me, he’s on his way back from Taizhou. It will take him a maximum of two moments to get there to meet us."

Peng Fulai clearly saw Li Xuan’s intention, "I don’t think it’s a big deal, we can’t let them just leave."

Li Xuan was not a dawdler, he slapped a trunk next to him, "Let’s do it! Taishan, untie Shopkeeper Han’s ropes. Then find a place to hide those two."

But when the old man was untied, he gave a cold smirk and stood still like a piece of wood.

"I advise you, Shopkeeper Han, to cooperate a bit!" Before Li Xuan could threaten, Luo Yan poked the old man’s shoulder, "This is good for both you and us, don’t you think, Shopkeeper Han?"

Shopkeeper Han suddenly felt a burning pain on the back of his hand. He raised his arm and took a look, then incredulously looked back at Luo Yan.

※※※※

Although they knew that the situation was urgent, Li Xuan and his team still delayed for half a pot of tea before they started moving towards the ruined temple.

The time was mainly spent on disguising — they could simply cover their faces in Chuancheng, but when they went to meet the suspects at Huanglin Temple, they couldn’t be so casual.

Fortunately, Peng Fulai’s Qiankun bag had everything, this guy not only took out a few sets of special clothing called ’Badhi’ from the region of Nanyang, but also an entire set of makeup.

Li Xuan had initially planned to apply the disguise casually on their faces, but Luo Yan didn’t allow it. With just a few strokes and rubs, he transformed their identities so fundamentally that their original looks were almost indistinguishable.

After his makeover, Li Xuan couldn’t help but gaze at Luo Yan, thinking that if he were in the modern world, he would undoubtedly be a top-tier makeup artist. The so-called four evil arts of Asia would definitely not allow Japan to claim one of the spots.

When they approached within three miles of Huanglin Temple, someone in the forest shouted out, "Who goes there?"

"It’s me! Han Jiu of Xuanyi House." Shopkeeper Han was very cooperative, leading Li Xuan and the others deeper in and adding, "Is your young lady here? I have a few guests who want to buy the batch of goods from your palace."

By this time, an extremely sharp qi had locked onto Li Xuan and his group. However, after sensing Shopkeeper Han, the hostile qi receded back. Then a woman’s voice sounded, sweet as an oriole but imbued with a chilling intent, "Han Jiu? Come in."

As they stepped through the broken gates of Huanglin Temple, they saw a female cultivator, her face veiled and carrying three long swords on her back, standing in front of the half-collapsed Daxiong Temple.

She gave Han Jiu a displeased look and said, "You shouldn’t have come here!"

"I had no choice." Shopkeeper Han forced a smile and said, "These gentlemen are big spenders, but they need to set sail for Nanyang in a couple of days. It’d be a pity to miss this deal."

The sword-carrying woman did not drop her guard. She examined Li Xuan and the others carefully while Shopkeeper Han walked straight into Daxiong Temple: "Where is the batch of goods? They have not been collected, have they? Bring them out for these gentlemen to see."

"It hasn’t been collected. It’s in that corner."

Perhaps seeing no cause for suspicion, the woman withdrew her gaze and addressed Han Jiu, "When will the money be delivered?"

Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Han frowned, "Tell your master that in three days at most, the money should be in place. Also, if today’s deal goes through, there will be an additional income."

The sword-carrying woman nodded, "What about the goods from Dasheng Pass? My master said they must be shipped to Zhenjiang in the next few days. You have already delayed it for almost a month."

Shopkeeper Han’s frown deepened, and he reluctantly replied, "I understand. It will be done."

It was obvious that he was unwilling to elaborate, but behind him, Peng Fulai and the others exchanged glances, communicating silently with their eyes.

They had all discerned that Shopkeeper Han had a deep relationship with the people of Huanglin Temple, which went far beyond that of a customer and a proxy seller. The so-called amulet of the Zidie was completely a ruse.

Li Xuan’s eyes narrowed in instinctive alertness.

Dasheng Pass? What was being transported from Dasheng Pass to Zhenjiang?

Zhenjiang, known historically as Jingkou, is the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

His elder brother, Li Yan, had been the naval commander in Zhenjiang before his dismissal, commanding the naval forces of Zhenjiang, which amounted to two hundred warships and three thousand soldiers.

His attention, however, was drawn towards an object in a corner.

Li Xuan couldn’t help but notice – numerous threads and ribbons of blood were flying out from behind him, coiling around it.

It was a two-layered metal disk that looked like a pot lid, similarly grandly decorated. A round ruby that looked like the sun was at the top. Four phoenix sculptures surrounded the edge of the metal disk, and in between was a complete picture of the Zhoutian Star Chart.

At this moment, Li Xuan’s mind was filled with thoughts conveyed by the Blood Eye Maiden.

In a nutshell, there were only a few words—want it! Want it! Give it to me, I really want it! Must have it!

Li Xuan forced himself to look away, thinking that the matter at hand was paramount. He couldn’t take that thing for now, for if he did, he feared he wouldn’t be able to put it down.

The next person to speak was still Yue Qianqian. After receiving Li Xuan’s signal, she asked Shopkeeper Han, "How do you plan to sell these goods?"

She surprisingly spoke in fluent Southern Chinese, but her demeanor and tone were not as confident and composed as Luo Yan’s, carrying a hint of restraint and reluctance.

"These items are slightly inferior to the ones we sold you previously. With a total of 220,000 teals of patterned silver, you can take them all."

Shopkeeper Han’s expression was indifferent, knowing that Li Xuan and the others aimed to buy time for the reinforcements from Liudao Division. Therefore, his answers weren’t straightforward.

However, the next moment, he received a gaze full of warning from Luo Yan. Luo Yan looked a bit helpless, "Over there, is a complete set of ceremonial props used by the prince. If you’re interested, you can also buy them. These items only need a little modification, then you can sell them to your lords."

"220,000 teals is too much. 150,000 teals, and we’ll take these ceremonial props as well." Yue Qianqian shook her head slightly, "We’ll pay in silver bars."

The interest of the woman-carrying sword on the side was clearly piqued as she glanced back and forth at the bargaining duo with a look of intrigue.

Just then, a thunderous sound of galloping horses approached from outside the temple. A bat fluttered in, landing on the sheathed sword woman’s head. She listened intently to its message, then turned to look at Li Xuan.

Seeing this, Li Xuan’s heart sank, knowing that something was awry.