Li Guanqi gave the woman's retreating back a deep look, then led Ye Feng out of the Treasure Pavilion.
On the way back, Li Guanqi asked Ye Feng to hand him the jade bottle from earlier.
Taking the jade bottle, Li Guanqi opened it and found several pale-red pills inside.
Each was only the size of a fingernail, glossy and perfectly rounded.
They radiated a surging power of blood and vitality, with exceptionally intense fluctuations of spiritual energy, but there were only three pills in the entire bottle.
Looking at the label on the bottle, four characters were written: "Blood Augmentation Spirit Pill."
Suddenly!
In a dark alley to the side, the youth who had been leaning against the wall as he shuffled along twitched his nose slightly and abruptly whipped his head around!
When he saw the blind youth holding that bottle of pills in his hand, he stumbled out!
Li Guanqi looked at him with some surprise, frowning slightly.
The youth grabbed his hand, murky eyes filled with urgency.
Finally, he spoke: "Can't eat!"
His voice was childish yet slightly hoarse, sounding awkward, as if he had not spoken in a very long time.
He snatched the jade bottle away. Ye Feng knitted his brows, about to strike.
Li Guanqi held him back; he wanted to see what the boy was trying to do.
Crash!
The jade bottle shattered, and the three pale-red pills rolled across the ground.
The youth's gaze suddenly turned vicious. With intense loathing, he crushed the three pills into dust beneath his foot!
Then the youth looked up at the two of them and said,
"You... good people!"
"This! Can't eat!!"
With that, the youth turned around without looking back and darted back into the pitch-black alley.
Li Guanqi watched the youth's retreating figure thoughtfully. Glancing down at the powder and broken jade shards on the ground, he casually collected them.
"Let's go. We'll head back to the inn first."
A flicker of confusion crossed Ye Feng's eyes, but he obediently followed him back to the inn.
Yet the moment they stepped back into the inn, Li Guanqi's expression shifted slightly.
He sent a quiet voice transmission: "Someone was inside our room."
Hearing this, Ye Feng's face turned solemn as well. With a swish, he drew his sword and said in a low voice,
"Who was here?"
Li Guanqi murmured as he looked at the intact melon seed husk in his hand,
"No idea. But someone has targeted us."
"It's likely related to those two guards at the city gate."
Although Ye Feng didn't understand why he would guess that, he didn't doubt it either.
To him, the meticulous Li Guanqi must have had his reasons for saying so.
"Boss, should we leave right now?"
Li Guanqi glanced at the sky outside and sneered.
"It's fine. Since they only dare to sneak around, they must fear our strength."
"We'll take it one step at a time. As long as they don't provoke us, anything goes."
***
In an unremarkable courtyard in the south of Lingchang City.
The woman who had received Li Guanqi and Ye Feng earlier that day was now sprawled listlessly on a bed.
Her voluptuous figure was particularly striking under the candlelight.
The man getting dressed beside the bed had a sinister expression, his muscular body covered in scars.
A long knife scar ran down his face, and sparse stubble dotted his chin.
The man said in a deep voice, "Luan Ying, did those two take the Blood Augmentation Pills?"
The woman wiped away the damp sweat on her body and said weakly,
"They took them, but some fellow with a massive head smashed them."
"Yu Kai, I don't want to work at the Treasure Pavilion anymore."
"Greeting and seeing people off with smiles every day... and that old bastard appraiser stares at me lecherously all day long."
Hearing this, Yu Kai quickly sat back on the bed, caressing the woman's face as he smiled gently.
"Be good, stay there a little longer."
"With your help lately, our Dark Blood Alliance has recruited many people."
"Before long, all of Lingchang City will belong to me, Yu Kai!!"
Though the woman looked displeased, she still nodded and agreed.
Sitting up, she wrapped her arms around the man's waist, and suddenly remembering something, she asked puzzledly,
"By the way, what about Brother Heng and Wen Mei? Why haven't they come back after so long? There hasn't been any word from them either."
Yu Kai laughed heartily. "You know my brother and his crew."
"They spend every day ambushing and slaughtering rogue cultivators. It's good enough if they run into one every ten days or half a month."
"Maybe their luck was bad this time, or they're just fishing for a mark."
At this point, Yu Kai slipped his arms under the woman's armpits and murmured,
"In your view, how strong are those two youths?"
The woman knitted her brows, cheeks flushed crimson. After a moment of thought, she said softly,
"That little golden-haired fellow must have entered Core Formation not long ago. Though his origin power fluctuations are subdued, they're still quite distinct."
"Mhm... on the contrary, I couldn't see through the youth carrying the strange sword casket."
"When those pure-white eyes stared at me, I even felt as if he could see right through me."
"He won't be easy to mess with!"
Hearing this, the man frowned slightly and muttered,
"He's probably a young master from some great clan out traveling for experience."
"Hiss... that kind is the most troublesome. Who knows if he has a Dao Protector by his side, or if his own strength is monstrous."
"By the way, that fellow with the big head you mentioned—is his head about this large?"
Seeing the gesture he made with his hands, the woman immediately nodded.
"Yes, his head really is that big. It looks thoroughly terrifying."
Yu Kai snorted coldly and muttered under his breath,
"Since my darling says he's terrifying, I'll put an end to him in a bit!!"
"Hmph! Refusing to be a proper blood slave and insisting on causing me trouble."
With that, Yu Kai pulled out a jade slip and barked into it,
"Go seize that big-headed blood slave and drain every drop of his blood!"
***
When night fell, Ye Feng had long since entered his cultivation state.
Beside him, Li Guanqi remained somewhat restless; he constantly felt a prying gaze watching him.
Li Guanqi's lips moved slightly, and Ye Feng silently opened his eyes.
Boom!
The two exchanged a look and burst into motion simultaneously!
Bang! Bang!
Two blurred figures shattered the inn's walls in an instant and burst out into the open air!
A hundred zhang ahead of them, a figure that had been hidden in the dark instantly turned into a streak of light, fleeing toward the south of the city!
Li Guanqi was blisteringly fast, closing in to within several dozen zhang of the man's back in the blink of an eye.
Without a second thought, the man whipped out a pill, swallowed it down, and his speed exploded!
At the same time, he violently crushed a jade slip in his hand and yelled,
"Eldest Brother, come quickly!!"
All at once, from the direction of the city's south, two streaking figures soared into the air!
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes and sent a grave voice transmission:
"Take your cues from me!"
His golden hair fluttering in the wind, Ye Feng gave a grim, slight nod!
Immediately after, those two streaks of light shot toward the pair at extreme speed.
Chapter 196