The man who came over to offer a toast reeked heavily of liquor, clearly having had quite a few drinks himself. Yet despite swaying on his feet once or twice, he still recognized the identity badge.
A strained smile instantly forced its way onto his face. "Pardon the intrusion!"
With that, he spun around and left, muttering softly under his breath, "Good grief, an instructor from Red Pine?"
Red Pine Martial Academy did not hold extraordinary sway in Tianjing, but its local waypoint was not far from here.
Once the man returned to his seat, he failed to keep his mouth shut and blabbed Daiqisi's identity.
The patrons at the surrounding tables did not find it particularly surprising. Knights were a dime a dozen in Tianjing, though no one else came over to bother them.
Wu Youren had always eaten quickly, but today he intentionally took his time, savoring this rare moment of leisure.
Even so, after half an hour, he was roughly ninety percent full.
Most martial artists possessed elastic stomachs; in extreme circumstances, stuffing themselves to a hundred and twenty or thirty percent capacity was child's play.
Seeing that Daiqisi had only put away just over a jin of liquor, he slowed down even further, chatting with her in fits and starts.
His primary aim was to inquire about what "legacy weapons" actually were, and unless she had a few too many, how could he possibly get the chance?
Just then, three more people walked into the restaurant—one woman and two men, all appearing exceptionally sharp and capable.
The server timidly explained that they were about to close, but the patrons simply replied, "Just make it quick. We can take it to go!"
On Wu Youren's shoulder, Aviator—who had remained half-dead the entire time—suddenly tightened its claws.
The youth tilted his head to look at it, gave it some thought, and furtively released his perception.
The next instant, his expression shifted slightly. He looked toward Daiqisi and quietly made a hand gesture.
The female instructor's gaze had grown slightly glassy, but the moment she saw the gesture, she sobered up entirely.
The corner of her mouth twitched, and she asked with a thick tongue, "Are you serious?"
Wu Youren nodded. "Of course. I never lie."
"You lie plenty," Daiqisi said with a faint, knowing smile, though her hand subconsciously stroked her communication wristwatch.
"No need to put it like that," Wu Youren said, shaking his head. "How about we leave right now?"
"Wait a moment," the female instructor said, somewhat reluctant to let it go. For Guizu to appear in a bustling downtown district of Tianjing was by no means a trivial matter.
The youth did not want her alerting anyone else and even wished to actively steer clear of the vortex. How could she allow that?
It had little to do with a sense of justice; it was mainly because... the rewards were generous!
"Look at how much you've had to drink," Wu Youren said, rubbing his forehead in exasperation.
He was willing to kill Guizu in the wilderness, but those in the city of Tianjing... whether he killed them or not made little difference to him.
"Then I'll call Manna to come help me," Daiqisi said, her eyes flashing playfully. "You won't get any chances tonight, you know."
"Fine by me." Wu Youren raised the cup beside him. Please, I'm drinking milk here. What kind of chance could I possibly have?
Daiqisi sent a message via her communication wristwatch. Two minutes later, Manna walked in.
"You two really know how to live, don't you?" she grumbled furiously. "No room for me when you're eating, but the moment you get drunk, you remember me?"
"We packed some, we packed some," Wu Youren said, pointing toward the server. "Bring over the food box."
The three of them stepped out of the restaurant and turned the corner of the street, immediately spotting Hong Da standing with a cold expression, her short boot planted firmly on a one-eyed, middle-aged man.
Her low, raspy voice sounded lazy, yet it could not conceal her simmering rage.
"Let you off? Tell me, how many horses have I spared you already... Is your fucking family planning to open a horse ranch?"
The middle-aged man, previously insolent and unyielding, could only offer a bitter smile and answer in a low voice, "Hong Da, my hands were tied too."
"You said the exact same thing when you dragged my Red Pine instructor into the casino," Instructor Hong sneered. "I'm just asking you, do you have the ability to cooperate?"
"Yes, absolutely!" The one-eyed man lay on the ground, nodding profusely. "My life is cheap, but I don't want to die."
Instructor Hong jerked her chin toward Namuzha nearby. "Take him first and kill those brats!"
"Hong Da," the one-eyed man struggled, shifting twice. "Winter isn't even here yet! Those are my winter rations!"
Hearing that, even Wu Youren's eyelids could not help but twitch.
Yet Instructor Hong's face showed not the slightest ripple. "If they don't die, you die!"
Namuzha took the man away. Only then did Hong Yan turn her head. "Guizu transformation or corruption?"
Daiqisi could not answer the question, so she could only look toward the youth.
To avoid alerting the targets, she had not dared to extend her perception.
Wu Youren pondered for a moment before replying, "It feels like... they picked up a trace of contamination from somewhere."
"So that's what it is!" Instructor Hong gave a slight nod, then narrowed her eyes and stood motionless.
Wu Youren could sense faint, almost imperceptible ripples appearing in the surrounding space, which gave him a subtle start.
He had felt Hong Da's perception before. It carried a certain pressure as well as penetrating force—that very sensation of being seen through from head to toe.
Beyond that, there was a faint feeling of suffocation or... palpitation.
Not just Instructor Hong Da; the perception of other grand knights produced a similar impression.
Whoever was being perceived usually felt as though they were being watched by something.
The only variation lay in its strength.
This time, however, Hong Da was clearly scanning the targets as well, yet her technique had become far more covert.
Wu Youren quietly reminded himself that he wasn't the only one growing stronger; others were also making steady progress.
The path of cultivation truly was like rowing upstream: not to advance was to drop back. Even with his cheat, he could not afford to slack off!
Instructor Hong scanned for only three or four seconds before disengaging and looking over at Daiqisi.
At this moment, where was any trace of intoxication left on the female instructor? Her eyes were as bright as morning stars.
"You..." Instructor Hong furrowed her brow, then shook her head helplessly. "You lose your head the moment you see liquor. Can you still manage?"
"I was cooped up in the Guizu domain for too long," Daiqisi replied nonchalantly. "If we need to fight right now, it definitely won't be a problem."
"It's nothing major," Hong Da remarked casually. "Just a few sewer bugs, though they're probably fairly alert."
Hearing that, the middle-aged knight nodded thoughtfully. "Those fallen crazies?"
Fallen crazies? Wu Youren was aware of them. To put it vividly, they were evil cultivators within the knight system.
The blood food used in orthodox systems was primarily for nourishment. While beasts were occasionally eaten raw, that was only because cooking certain foods severely degraded their efficacy.
Evil cultivators, on the other hand, consumed food raw as a rule. More crucially, they preyed on humans, sometimes even making them their primary diet.
Aside from that, there were other distinctions that did not need elaborating.
In short, they were evil cultivators, commonly referred to as fallen knights, and were universally despised throughout Liang.
"No," Instructor Hong replied, shaking her head after a moment's consideration. "Worshippers of the Guizu."
"Holy shit," the middle-aged knight's mouth twitched, letting slip a curse. "Weren't they wiped out? Didn't their lineage get severed?"
Manna blinked. "Fallen... ability masters?"
"Yeah." Hong Da nodded. "As long as humanity harbors ambition, they can never be wiped out. Lineages can be pieced back together through trial and error."
Then she glanced at the youth. "You've met Er Shan from the Intelligence Bureau. The path he walked was very likely a middle ground."
I killed that guy, and the Intelligence Bureau didn't raise hell over it! Wu Youren nodded slightly without saying a word.
"It's not appropriate for us to step forward for this matter." It was rare for Instructor Hong to say so much, and naturally, she had her reasons.
Red Pine was merely a martial academy; when it came to matters involving public order, the government had designated authorities to handle them.
Mainly, the scope involved could be extensive—not just the arrest itself, but the massive organization that might lurk behind them.
Daiqisi indicated her acceptance, and the youth did not speak up either.
Wu Youren had some slight interest in taking part—mostly hoping to test how experience points would be awarded.
However, since Hong Da had already made the decision, he had no desire to stick his neck out and object.
"There's a senior from Red Pine in the City Guard Bureau," Instructor Hong said, walking off to the side to make contact with her communication wristwatch.
Anyone worthy of being addressed as senior by her was unquestionably a grand knight.
Above all, this was no small merit. She naturally had to consider it carefully and could not let outsiders pocket the credit.
Once the call ended, she turned around to instruct, "Everyone coordinate to keep watch. Daiqisi, head back. Your reward won't be lacking."
The female instructor seemed slightly reluctant, so Hong Da snorted coldly. "The credit was originally Little Wu's anyway. Counting it toward you, are you still getting the short end of the stick?"
Daiqisi came around. "I'll just take second-class merit."
"You're at a critical juncture," Instructor Hong remarked casually. "Little Wu, I'll award you a perfect mission completion for next year. Any problem with that?"
Her final sentence was directed at the youth.
"No problem," Wu Youren answered crisply, a hint of a smile touching his clear gaze.
What fucking use was a reward from the Liang authorities to him? Did he want to deliberately draw hatred onto the hostage cohort?
Hong Da's promise to help him fulfill next year's mission in advance offered him far greater freedom with his time, making it a very thoughtful reward.
After Daiqisi left, Instructor Hong turned back to the youth. "How did you notice something was off?"
Deep down, Wu Youren believed he shouldn't display any more extraordinary traits—he was already maintaining quite a high profile as it was, wasn't he?
So he stated plainly that it was the chick on his shoulder that had sensed the anomaly.
The fellow hadn't eaten for over a day, and despite trying everything, he hadn't managed to feed it. It could drop dead at any moment.
"Is that so?" Hong Da looked at him with skeptical eyes.
She knew the youth didn't want to draw attention to himself and could understand that, but wasn't this excuse a bit too absurd?
"Master," Manna chimed in, "this chick came from the Guizu domain. Maybe it really can sense them."
"It seems..." Instructor Hong pondered for a moment before speaking uncertainly, "it seems it might be raised into a spirit!"
"It won't eat anything," the youth said, spreading his hands helplessly. "Whether it can survive past today is up in the air."
"I'll ask around for you in a bit," Instructor Hong remarked casually. "If it can be raised properly, it'll make a fine helper."
Just as her voice fell, a figure suddenly materialized, accompanied by a thick stench of liquor.
The newcomer was a middle-aged man sporting a full beard, who asked breathlessly, "Little Hong, where are they?"
Hearing that, Instructor Hong raised an eyebrow. "What did you just call me?"
"Instructor Hong, Hong Da... Sister Yan!" The bearded man cupped his hands, offering a placating smile. "I bolted over right in the middle of drinking! You truly are my great benefactor!"
Chapter 152