On the bustling street, Luo Chen and his two bodyguards came to a halt.
Before them stood a slightly nervous cultivator.
"I know you. You're Duan Sanfu, right?"
Looking at the somewhat familiar face, Luo Chen recalled the man's name. He was one of the two cultivators who had once cornered his stall at the Rogue Cultivator Market.
If memory served, the other one was still locked up in Chizhu Prison.
Who knew whether he was dead by now or had his flower thoroughly bloomed behind bars.
Duan Sanfu pointed to the nearby restaurant. "Fellow Daoist, my Second Brother requests your presence!"
"Gao Tingyuan?"
Without waiting for a reply, Luo Chen chuckled. "Lead the way, then!"
Completely unfazed, he held his head high and headed up the stairs.
Qingjiang Restaurant was an establishment built by the Great River Gang near Lancang Pier. Cultivators often ate, drank, and even lodged here after finishing their day's work.
The ground floor was clamorous, filled with cultivators gulping wine and tearing into meat. They earned spirit stones through the Great River Gang, then spent those very stones right back in the gang's restaurants and gambling dens.
The second floor, however, was dead silent—
Until Luo Chen stepped up!
Five late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators sat there, with the leading two at the ninth layer of Qi Refinement!
Luo Chen's pupils contracted slightly, but his footsteps never faltered as he walked over to sit across from the short, stocky man.
"Luo Chen, Master of the Mountain Breaker Gang's Pill Hall. Am I correct?"
"Second Brother Gao is certainly well-informed. Our Pill Hall hasn't even produced a single pill yet."
"Sit!"
"After you!"
The two sat facing each other. The other ninth-layer cultivator, clad in blue, leaned against the railing, gazing lazily at the crowds on the street below.
Bodyguards Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang looked tense, on high alert as if facing a mortal foe.
Gao Tingyuan, nicknamed the River-Roiling Dragon.
He was the Great River Gang's foremost combatant beneath Gang Leader Wang Haichao.
He also possessed the glorious record of personally slaying Broken Blade Xu Renke on the Dao Discussion Platform.
If the men across from them suddenly lashed out, even with their combined-attack technique, the two brothers might not be able to guarantee Luo Chen's safety.
Suddenly, the blue-robed cultivator by the railing chuckled. "Wang Yuan is watching from a distance."
"Of course he is. After all, this is his boy."
Gao Tingyuan sneered, then fixed his burning gaze onto Luo Chen.
He simply stared, unrelenting.
Not a single word was spoken!
Luo Chen's brow furrowed, and he slowly shook his head. "If you have business, speak up. Staring like this is hardly how one treats a guest."
Gao Tingyuan raised an eyebrow, seeming somewhat surprised.
Then, weighing every syllable, he said, "You should know full well you weren't brought here as a guest."
"Then should I leave?"
Luo Chen stood up abruptly.
Gao Tingyuan froze, anger flaring within him.
Taking a deep breath, he suppressed his rage. "Did you kill my younger brother?"
"Your brother? You mean Gao Ting'e, the one Duan Sanfu mentioned?" Luo Chen sneered. "You think I killed him?"
"Didn't you? Why else were you too afraid to see me back then?" Gao Tingyuan glared at Luo Chen, refusing to miss even the subtlest twitch of his expression.
Unfortunately, he found neither guilt nor flaw.
Luo Chen shrugged. "Even an idiot knew that the Great River Gang and the Mountain Breaker Gang were out for blood back then. Do I look like an idiot? I don't think so! So why would I come see you?"
"That's no excuse!"
"Then what excuse do you want? I'll give it to you right now."
"I checked. After buying your alchemy ingredients that day, you went back around dusk."
"Did I ever tell you that I made a detour to my good friend Chen Xiuping's home to celebrate his granddaughter's birthday?"
Gao Tingyuan paused. Chen Xiuping?
That seemed to be the talisman master who had shared a stall with Luo Chen.
Luo Chen curled his lip. "If your investigation had been thorough enough, you'd know the old man and I are on great terms. We shared a stall, and I usually helped him sell talismans. Just a moment ago, I even brought his granddaughter a bag of snacks."
Gao Tingyuan grew uncertain. The intelligence his subordinates had gathered did mention those details.
Furthermore, cultivators did have a tradition of looking after one another's juniors.
No one could say for certain when they might perish in the mountains, drown in a river, or fall in some mystic realm. Those who left behind descendants naturally hoped their friends would look out for them. Such traditions were even more prevalent in the great sects.
Claiming he had gone to celebrate Chen Xiuping's granddaughter's birthday was entirely reasonable.
Seeing his hesitation, Luo Chen sighed.
He simply sat back down, poured himself a cup of wine, and took a small sip.
"If you ask me, you ought to investigate those rogue cultivators who like taking paths through the Howling Moon Mountain Range. Most people stick to the Guyuan Mountain Range. Any rogue cultivator bold enough to enter the Howling Moon Mountain Range is a ruthless sort; they're your prime suspects.
"Besides, I asked around about your brother. He was at the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, wasn't he?
"What cultivation realm was I at back then?"
Gao Tingyuan blurted out subconsciously, "The third layer of Qi Refinement."
Inwardly, Luo Chen gave him a thumbs-up—the Great River Gang's intelligence-gathering was truly laughable.
On the outside, Luo Chen also gave a thumbs-up. "Well, there you have it! What third-layer Qi Refinement cultivator could ever take down a mid-stage fifth-layer cultivator?
"Besides, I'm just a frail alchemist who couldn't even truss a chicken. How could I ever compare to people like you who lick blood from blade edges?
"Come to think of it, your brother trashed my thatched courtyard, and I haven't even settled that debt with you yet.
"That courtyard wasn't worth much, but it was my precious home! The furniture inside was worth at least a few spirit stones!"
*What kind of furniture is worth a few spirit stones?!*
*I called you here to settle a score, so how did this turn into you collecting a debt?!*
Gao Tingyuan drew a deep breath. "Then let me ask you: why did you pack up and move to the inner city in such a hurry right after that? Were you afraid we'd find you, or did you take my brother's wealth and only then have the money to move?"
Admittedly, his guess was spot-on this time.
Yet Luo Chen had an answer ready.
"Go ask around! Do I look like someone who craves other people's spirit stones?"
Acting as if mortally insulted, Luo Chen slammed the table and shouted, "I am an alchemist! An alchemist who never lacks spirit stones! Get that through your head! I'm not one of those dirt-poor rogue cultivators!
"Back then, I could pull in hundreds of spirit stones in a single day! Who in the South City Rogue Cultivator Market doesn't know that?
"And what do you mean, 'in such a hurry'? Once you have spirit stones, wouldn't you move to the inner city's spirit vein?
"Of course, my spirit stones didn't just fall from the sky. Your brother destroyed my home, so even if he's dead, you as his elder brother ought to pay his debt, right?
"Five spirit stones. Hand them over!"
*How does he dare?!*
Liu Qiang, the bodyguard, was utterly awestruck.
For the first time, he saw a fifth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator demand spirit stones from the ninth-layer River-Roiling Dragon with absolute righteousness.
Not just him—the late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators Gao Tingyuan had brought along were equally dumbfounded.
The indolent blue-robed cultivator frowned deeply.
"Kid, watch your tone. You're sitting across from the Great River Gang's second-in-command."
"And I'm the Master of the Mountain Breaker Gang's Pill Hall!" Luo Chen glared right back.
"Enough!"
Gao Tingyuan's face darkened as he barked the command.
His thoughts were in a muddle.
Deep down, he had never truly believed his brother could have died at the hands of a third-layer Qi Refinement cultivator.
Yet despite investigating again and again, no other leads had ever surfaced. Luo Chen was the only thread.
He had assumed that suppressing the kid with a Spirit-Captivation Technique today would force the truth out of him. Even if Luo Chen hadn't done it, he might have yielded other clues.
Yet the young man acted as though he truly had nothing to do with it, even shamelessly demanding compensation.
Could it really have nothing to do with him?
"Tsk, tsk, such grandeur!" Luo Chen scoffed derisively. "Even Old Man Mi never spoke to me like that, yet you act more formidable than him. Fine, then—guess you can't even cough up a measly five spirit stones.
"This young master won't keep you company any longer. Farewell!"
With that, he turned and strode away.
At the stairs, three late-stage cultivators blocked the path.
Liu Qiang and Zhou Yuanli stepped forward, ready to brawl at the slightest provocation.
Without looking back, Luo Chen said coldly, "You invited me up here. I'd hate for Mi Shuhua to have to come fetch me back himself!"
"Let him go!"
Hearing Gao Tingyuan's command, the three cultivators stepped aside with dark scowls.
Flicking his wide sleeves, Luo Chen trotted down the stairs, tossing back one last remark.
"Second Brother Gao, don't you forget that five-spirit-stone debt!"
Once he was gone, the second floor fell silent once more.
After a long while, the blue-robed cultivator let out a sigh. "Second Brother, I'm afraid this really might be the work of those rogue cultivators who frequent the Howling Moon Mountain Range."
"You think it has nothing to do with the kid, too?"
"If it did, he wouldn't be this brazen."
"Wouldn't a fifth-layer cultivator acting this brazen toward me be even more suspicious?"
"He was even ruder to Sikong Shoujia. Word has it that during an internal gang meeting, he even swindled two dharma artifacts out of Mi Shuhua."
Gao Tingyuan rubbed his brow and walked over to the railing.
Never had he felt so utterly exhausted.
His brother was dead, his dantian was damaged, his path to Foundation Establishment was severed, and now he couldn't even identify the culprit to seek revenge.
The blue-robed cultivator shook his head. "In my view, let's put Ting'e's matter aside for now! More and more strangers have been appearing in the gang lately. They've seized control of several large ships, and sooner or later, they will encroach on our interests."
Gao Tingyuan remained silent.
He knew all of this had Wang Haichao's tacit consent.
During that duel on the Dao Discussion Platform, he had certainly been sabotaged by the man, losing even his stand-in puppet.
"We can't drop it. We still have to investigate!"
He slammed his hand against the railing, his expression turning vicious.
The blue-robed cultivator sighed, looking somewhat dejected.
......
"Hall Master, you were truly formidable back there!"
Liu Qiang's eyes gleamed, and calling him 'Hall Master' rolled off his tongue much more naturally now.
The corner of Luo Chen's mouth twitched, and he spat onto the street corner.
Zhou Yuanli's nose twitched. Was that wine?
It was the sip of wine Luo Chen had taken upstairs.
Wiping his mouth, Luo Chen looked at the two of them with bright eyes.
"Formidable, wasn't it?
"Follow me from now on, and you can be just as formidable!"
Chapter 85