In the inner room of the top-floor office at Ling Family Film Company hung a Western oil painting depicting Ling Miaoying lost in thought by the lakeshore.
Beneath the painting stood a bed where He Jiaqing was asleep.
At dawn, He Jiaqing opened his eyes to see a man sitting by the bedside, rolling a pair of walnuts in his hand.
In the past, He Jiaqing would have thought this was a nightmare, but now he knew it wasn't. This was far more terrifying than any nightmare.
Zhang Gunli gave his fingers a slight twitch, sending the walnuts around twice in his palm. "I've delivered the lifespan. Isn't it time we discussed settling your debt?"
He Jiaqing smiled. "Brother Zhang, aren't you pressing a bit too fast?"
Zhang Gunli produced a promissory note. "Those are the rules of borrowing life. The moment the lifespan is delivered in full, the debt must be settled immediately. Otherwise, if you drop dead, who am I supposed to collect from?"
Borrowing life truly worked this way. Knowing he couldn't hold out on his own, He Jiaqing had gone to Zhang Gunli to borrow a month of life. Zhang Gunli gave him twenty-seven days.
Why only twenty-seven days?
That too was the rule of their trade. Borrowing one month meant thirty days, but Zhang Gunli disbursed only ninety percent. This was called "nine out." When repaying, one had to return the full month of principal plus thirty percent interest—this was called "thirteen back."
Now that the twenty-seven days of life had been provided, He Jiaqing had to settle the debt at once. Zhang Gunli had no way of knowing how much longer He Jiaqing would live; if the debtor died, the debt died with him, and Zhang Gunli would suffer a massive loss.
He Jiaqing sat up. "Brother Zhang, look at my condition now. My illness cleared up long ago, so I will definitely be able to pay what I owe."
Zhang Gunli looked him up and down. "I'm no doctor, but you took quite a beating."
He Jiaqing was indeed badly hurt. His skull had been cracked by Lühuazi, leaving his head slightly misshapen.
"These are just external injuries, nothing serious."
Zhang Gunli chuckled. "Whether it's serious or not isn't my concern. As long as you've got a breath left in you, you pay when the time comes."
He Jiaqing said, "Brother Zhang, just give me until tonight. At eleven o'clock tonight, principal and interest will be presented to you in full."
Once Zhang Gunli left, He Jiaqing wiped the sweat from his forehead and quickly contacted He Haisheng.
"Third Uncle, any trouble on the road?"
"Smooth sailing all the way. I'll definitely reach Lüshui City tonight."
He Jiaqing got out of bed, tidied his clothes, and left the film company.
On the oil painting, Ling Miaoying wore a melancholic expression, seeming to watch He Jiaqing walk out the door.
He Jiaqing arrived at Longmen Road, across from the Peace Building, and paced around the curb twice.
On his left index finger was a ring. With its sharp lines and exquisite craftsmanship, it was no mere ornament—it was a lock-picking ring specialized for his trade.
The ring rotated on its own around his index finger, helping him search for the entrance to an unnameable place—searching for Lü Shuigong's home.
How did He Jiaqing know Lü Shuigong's home was here?
Back when He Jiaqing had disguised himself as Zhou Changhong and returned to Lüshui City, he had been cornered right on Longmen Road by Lühuazi. After being dragged into Lühuazi's home, he had nearly lost his life.
Naturally, he remembered this doorway.
He bought a newspaper and pretended to read as he walked, constantly shifting his probe locations.
After moving back and forth across more than a dozen spots, the ring still showed no reaction.
Just as He Jiaqing planned to take a few steps farther out, a woman holding a paper umbrella approached from ahead. Seeing him staring only at the newspaper and not watching his step, she rolled her eyes at him and walked around him.
At the Jixiang Theater, Zhang Gunli was rolling his walnuts as he watched an opera. Onstage, *Tears of the Barren Mountain* was being performed, with the famous master Cheng Juqing playing Zhang Huizhu.
The performance on stage was passionate, and the audience below was deeply moved. Zhang Gunli's tears fell one by one, continuously dropping down his cheeks.
The Painting Cultivator Mu Yuejuan folded her paper umbrella, sat down beside Zhang Gunli, and offered him a handkerchief.
Zhang Gunli didn't take it, wiping his tears with his sleeve instead.
Mu Yuejuan frowned. "What's this supposed to mean? Think my handkerchief isn't good enough?"
Zhang Gunli shook his head. "It's not that your handkerchief isn't good enough. I'm just afraid I can't afford the price."
"Scoundrel!" Mu Yuejuan sneered. "You think I'm like you? If a single hair falls from you, you demand three back!"
"Miss Mu, if you have business, out with it quickly. I paid for this opera ticket, and the singing has just reached the heartbreaking part." Zhang Gunli seemed genuinely fond of the show.
"Heartbreaking? Do you even have a heart?" Mu Yuejuan asked. "Does He Jiaqing owe you money?"
Zhang Gunli didn't answer directly. "Does that have anything to do with you?"
Mu Yuejuan smiled. "Of course. I'm going to kill him in a little while. Once he's dead, you won't have anywhere to collect that money."
Zhang Gunli nodded. "Go ahead and kill him. Losing that pittance of mine won't hurt."
The two spoke right inside the theater, yet not a single person around them could hear a word.
Mu Yuejuan produced a picture scroll and shoved it into Zhang Gunli's hands. "I just painted this. Take a look at its quality."
Zhang Gunli unrolled the painting and glanced over it. "You want to pawn this? What's your price?"
"I don't want money. Consider the painting a gift. I just want some information from you: why did He Jiaqing buy lifespan from you?"
Zhang Gunli said, "Because he was afflicted with Lühuazi's disease focus."
"And is he cured now?"
"Hard to say at the moment. As long as he survives until tomorrow without dying, then he really is cured."
Mu Yuejuan asked again, "Lühuazi's disease focus is exceedingly difficult to dispel. Do you think Lühuazi spared him, or was there some other reason?"
Zhang Gunli said, "I'm not Lühuazi, so I can't say for sure. But I haven't seen Lühuazi for days, and I don't know where he went."
"Do you think Lühuazi is still alive?"
"Hard to say that, too. Though I reckon that if Lühuazi were still alive, He Jiaqing wouldn't dare loiter outside his front door."
Mu Yuejuan fell silent for a moment, then gave a sweet smile. "I'd like to take this entire business for myself. You won't compete with me, will you?"
Zhang Gunli unrolled the painting again to inspect it. "Judging solely by this painting, the quality is still a bit lacking."
Mu Yuejuan lit a cigarette and took a drag. With a twirl of her hand, the cigarette turned into a paintbrush. "Name your price. Once we strike a deal here, you cannot make any moves in Lüshui City's business, nor can you sell information about He Jiaqing to anyone else."
The gramophone made some modifications to Lü Shuigong's alms bowl and handed it to Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng stared at the bowl for a long time.
The bowl remained filthy and speckled, stained with unidentifiable grime and grease. Inside lay a spoon resting flat against the bottom.
Li Banfeng looked at the direction of the handle and asked his lady, "Is this supposed to be a compass?"
The gramophone praised him, "Husband has good eyes. It indeed resembles a sinan, but it doesn't point south. It points to the entrance of the unnameable place."
Li Banfeng turned the bowl, and the spoon turned along with it. "My lady, how do I use it to find the way?"
"It naturally can't guide you from here. It only reacts within a hundred feet of the entrance. Once you reach it, the spoon will spin around on its own once. At that point, Husband should push the handle and keep it spinning—slowly at first, then quickly. Once it reaches the proper speed, you will be able to enter the unnameable place."
With his lady having explained everything clearly, Li Banfeng took the bowl and prepared to head to Longmen Road. On second thought, an ordinary person wandering the streets carrying a beggar's alms bowl would easily arouse suspicion.
The pendulum was perceptive and brought over a paintbrush. "Master, let me disguise you."
With a few strokes, Li Banfeng's face was covered in grime, already capturing some of the essence of a beggar.
The lady exhaled a cloud of steam that lingered around Li Banfeng's head for a moment, making his hair sticky and tangled. After sprinkling some dust on top, a head of matted, felt-like hair was complete.
"Husband, bring out a set of tattered clothes and let this servant tidy them up. Going out in this attire will definitely arouse no suspicion."
Li Banfeng looked in the mirror, then reached back and brought out the projector. "If we're putting on a show, let's go all the way! Since I'm playing a beggar anyway, I might as well play Lühuazi himself!"
The projector cast Lü Shuigong's likeness onto the wall. After studying it for a moment, the lady said, "This actually poses a bit of a challenge. Lühuazi's face is too long; we'll need to add a section to Husband's face, and those pustules all over his face must be crafted meticulously."
The gramophone and pendulum worked for over an hour before deeming it satisfactory and letting Li Banfeng leave.
Holding the bowl, Li Banfeng walked all the way to Longmen Road, where the spoon in the bowl began to move.
The handle pointed east. Li Banfeng stayed along the side of the road and headed east. The handle trembled back and forth, its direction somewhat unstable.
Just as Li Banfeng was carefully observing the spoon handle's tendency, a wave of malice suddenly washed over him.
Looking up, Li Banfeng spotted an acquaintance.
He Jiaqing stood under a streetlight, rubbing the lamppost with his right hand.
He had searched all day and finally found the entrance to the unnameable place, but opening it wasn't easy; he had tried for an hour without the slightest progress.
Now, the two had run straight into each other. He Jiaqing was shocked, and Li Banfeng felt a twinge of tension.
What was going on?
Why did he run into him?
Was he planning on paying a visit to Lühuazi's home too?
Should he greet him, or fight him?
Li Banfeng squeezed out a faint smile, shook the bowl in his hand, and silently stared at He Jiaqing.
He Jiaqing saw Lühuazi, his face covered in pustules, shaking the bowl at him.
For about a second, their eyes locked.
The very next second, He Jiaqing took off running for all he was worth, vanishing into the distance.
He Jiaqing ran all the way to the Peace Building in a single breath, ducked into his private suite, stripped off all his clothes, and began checking his body, terrified that a rash or pustule might break out.
Li Banfeng stood dazed for a moment. He hadn't expected He Jiaqing to run so fast.
Was he doing something shameful just now?
Li Banfeng walked over to the streetlight and examined it closely for a while, finding nothing unusual. There seemed to be movement in the bowl. Li Banfeng looked down, and the spoon in the bowl slowly made a full circle.
Has it found the entrance to the unnameable place?
That easily?
Li Banfeng spun the spoon—slowly at first, then faster, accelerating until it reached a speed of over five hundred rotations a minute. Li Banfeng still didn't perceive any change.
However, the earring sensed something. "Lord, the noise around us has died down."
Li Banfeng looked around. There were plenty of pedestrians on Longmen Road: walking, riding rickshaws, standing and chatting, talking as they moved along.
They had been on this very street a moment ago, but now they suddenly felt much farther away.
Li Banfeng tapped the projector. "Cast a beam of light."
The projector asked, "Where should I aim it?"
Li Banfeng pointed at a man by the roadside hailing a rickshaw.
The projector shone a beam of light onto the man, but not even a speck of light remained on his body.
Li Banfeng walked up to the man and waved a hand in front of his eyes.
The man didn't react at all.
Li Banfeng reached forward and touched the man; his hand passed right through the man's body.
This was a different space.
Li Banfeng had walked through Lüshui City countless times and knew Longmen Road intimately: the Peace Building across the way, Muyuan Teahouse behind him, Tongde Pharmacy to the left, and Rongfa Fabric Store to the right. Not to mention these buildings—he even knew how many lampposts stood along the road.
Yet while these things could be seen, they could not be touched, because they weren't in the same space.
Why did this happen?
When fighting Lü Shuigong on Suichen Road in the Outer States, Li Banfeng had also been dragged into a dark-dimension space. There, he could see only pitch darkness. Why was the scenery here identical to the outside?
Because these were different dark-dimension spaces.
The dark-dimension space on Longmen Road was Lühuazi's home, whereas the dark-dimension space on Suichen Road had been a temporary battlefield chosen by Lühuazi.
Li Banfeng groped around beneath the streetlight. He couldn't feel the lamppost, but seemed to touch a table instead.
He walked over to the teahouse entrance and felt around. He couldn't touch the door panels, but seemed to feel a clay jar.
Lühuazi's home was far too bizarre; Li Banfeng didn't know how to explore it.
From a visual standpoint, Li Banfeng felt as if he were standing in the middle of the road. From an olfactory standpoint, he felt as if he had just stepped into Lühuazi's chamber pot.
Fumbling around blindly like this was no solution. Lühuazi was insidious and cunning; there was no telling if he had left behind any nasty surprises.
Li Banfeng took out the projector and had it record the surroundings, hoping to discover something after returning to the companion dwelling.
While the projector was recording, the glove called out, "Boss, there's treasure!"
"Where is it?"
"I can't say for sure. This place disorients me. Let me go look again."
He Jiaqing stood on the suite's balcony, looking down at the lamppost below.
The Lü Shuigong he had bumped into by the roadside had vanished in this brief span of time. Without question, he had returned to his residence.
Why would Li Banfeng let Lühuazi go? That kick using Parting by Ten Thousand Li had clearly landed—why hadn't it sent Lü Shuigong to the deadliest of places?
On second thought, He Jiaqing felt something was amiss.
When Lü Shuigong fought Li Banfeng, he had kept demanding his bowl back.
At the time, Li Banfeng had been preparing to use the technique of Parting by Ten Thousand Li, and Lü Shuigong's bowl seemed to have already been lost.
Yet when they met just now, Lü Shuigong was holding a bowl in his hand. When had he retrieved it?
Was that person really Lü Shuigong?
Lü Shuigong was the person He Jiaqing least wanted to see. Thinking it over, He Jiaqing didn't dare take any risks and resolved not to show his face on Longmen Road for the next few days.
By nightfall, the button on his chest vibrated. He Haisheng sent word that he had arrived in Lüshui City.
He Jiaqing prepared wine and food at Yideju to welcome his third uncle.
Looking at the table full of dishes, He Haisheng shook his head slightly. "Jiaqing, let's just have a simple bite. I want to return to Yuezhou tonight."
He Jiaqing asked, "What's the rush?"
He Haisheng sighed. "Han Mingqi was captured by the Dark Star Bureau, and Big Head was locked up too. Although Zhu Junlong and the others relocated in time, Han Mingqi knows quite a lot. If he spills everything, we'll need a different plan."
He Jiaqing shook his head. "That's precisely what worries me, which is why I don't think you should return to Yuezhou. I'm afraid the Dark Star Bureau will come looking for you."
He Haisheng chuckled. "Don't worry. I've lived in the Outer States for so many years; finding me won't be that easy. But there's one thing you must tell me honestly: is Lühuazi dead or not?"
He Jiaqing sighed. "Right now, I really can't say."
He Haisheng's face darkened. "You little rascal, can you really not say, or are you not telling me the truth?"
He Jiaqing smiled bitterly. "Uncle, you don't even believe me? This involves my very life—would I lie to you about it?"
He Haisheng felt somewhat uneasy. "If you can't be sure, stay as far away from Lühuazi as possible. Anyone who has dealt with him knows Lü Shuigong never forgives a grudge. Unless he's dead, what happened before is far from over."
The uncle and nephew shared a few cups. He Haisheng insisted on returning to Yuezhou, and He Jiaqing couldn't dissuade him, so the two bid each other farewell.
Back at the film company, He Jiaqing waited in his office. Shortly past eleven o'clock at night, Zhang Gunli slipped silently into the room.
"Are your goods ready?" Without wasting words, Zhang Gunli sat down in a chair and pulled an abacus from his robes.
When borrowing life, what did one repay with?
The simplest method was to repay with life.
Zhang Gunli had lent He Jiaqing one month of life, disbursing twenty-seven days; counting interest, He Jiaqing had to repay him thirty-nine days of life.
The interest was absurd, but that had always been Zhang Gunli's rule. The two had signed a promissory note, and everything had been agreed upon in advance, leaving no room for petty complaints.
"If you're ready, I'm collecting the debt!" Zhang Gunli rolled the walnuts twice in his hand, preparing to extract the lifespan from He Jiaqing.
He Jiaqing waved his hand. "Brother Zhang, don't rush. I can't give you my life."
Zhang Gunli frowned. "What do you mean by that? Trying to renege on your debt?"
He Jiaqing smiled. "Thirty-nine days of lifespan is something this little brother can afford, so there's no need to renege. It's just that I'm injured; paying with my life would damage my vitality, and I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to withstand it. Can we substitute something else for the life?"
Zhang Gunli rolled his walnuts. "What do you want to substitute it with?"
"Pills. Pills can be traded for cultivation, cultivation can be traded for time, and saving time is equivalent to saving lifespan. The values on both sides match."
Zhang Gunli chuckled. "You've thought this through well. Indeed, pills can substitute for lifespan. But our exchange rate isn't one day for one day. Lifespan is worth more than cultivation, and pills of different grades have different conversion rates. If you use Golden Origin Pills, the exchange rate is one to twenty."
An exchange rate of one to twenty meant that for thirty-nine days of lifespan owed, it had to be repaid with pills worth seven hundred and eighty days—which, converted into Golden Origin Pills, was nearly eight pills.
Even killing a seventh-tier cultivator and giving the corpse to the Red Lotus to refine might not yield eight Golden Origin Pills. Zhang Gunli was truly ruthless.
He Jiaqing drew eight Golden Origin Pills from his robes and placed them before Zhang Gunli. Zhang Gunli inspected their quality and nodded repeatedly. "Good stuff. Top-notch quality. I'll even need to give you some change."
He Jiaqing shook his head. "Brother Zhang, bringing up change makes us sound like strangers. When I come to do business with you in the future, please just look out for me a bit more."
Zhang Gunli smiled. "Generous! Brother He, if you run into difficulties in the future, just come find me. Keep the promissory note; I'll take my leave."
He Jiaqing examined the promissory note, verified that it was authentic, and saw Zhang Gunli to the office door.
After exchanging pleasantries, Zhang Gunli departed. He Jiaqing crossed his fingers, burned the promissory note, mixed the ashes with the dust in the room, opened the window, and let the night wind scatter them into the distance.
Rubbing his forehead at the desk, He Jiaqing felt slightly drowsy. Just as he was about to sleep, he caught the faint fragrance of rouge and powder.
Who was this, coming to flirt in the middle of the night?
Shen Rongqing also lived in this building, but that wasn't her personality, nor did she possess such methods.
He Jiaqing stood up, scanned the room, his ears twitching as he faintly heard the sound of flowing water.
Looking up, in the Western oil painting hanging on the wall, Ling Miaoying—who had been sitting by the river in contemplation—had turned into a woman holding a paper umbrella.
The woman folded her umbrella and stepped out of the painting, coming before He Jiaqing. "Young Master He, it has been a while."
Taken aback, He Jiaqing asked, "Senior, have we met before?"
The woman curled her lips slightly, feigning mild reproof. "Back on Sage Peak, we became acquainted, didn't we? How can you turn around and pretend not to recognize me?"
He Jiaqing looked at the woman, then glanced back at the Western oil painting, and bowed to her. "If this junior is not mistaken, you must be the Grandmaster Painting Cultivator, Senior Mu Yuejuan."
Mu Yuejuan grew even more displeased. "The word 'senior' sounds grating enough, yet you insist on adding 'old' to it. Couldn't you just call me Sister?"
Looking at Mu Yuejuan's face, then her figure, seeing her shifting between joy and anger, and hearing her laugh and scold, an ordinary person would have had their soul snatched away.
Yet He Jiaqing remained very composed. He first clarified a fact to Mu Yuejuan: "The person you met back on Sage Peak wasn't me. Someone was impersonating me, and I suffered a great deal of wrongful blame for it."
Mu Yuejuan giggled. "Young Master He, there's no point in saying such things. Sister hasn't come to demand the Sage from you, nor to demand the jade seal. What's the use of bringing up past history with me?"
Indeed, it was useless.
He Jiaqing had been framed, and having participated in that event, Mu Yuejuan naturally understood the truth.
Mu Yuejuan continued, "Sister has also heard that you had a falling out with Lü Shuigong over the matter on Sage Peak. That old beggar is vicious and even wanted your life. Sister came this time to help smooth things over for you. That Lühuazi still has some friendship with me; if I give him a few words of advice, he should listen. How about we go sit in his residence right now?"
He Jiaqing waved his hands repeatedly. "Senior, please don't frighten me. Lü Shuigong tried to kill me. If I went to his residence, how could I come back alive?"
Mu Yuejuan put on an astonished expression. "Oh, Young Master He, you actually know fear? I saw you lingering outside Lühuazi's door for most of the day today, and by the looks of it, you weren't trying to hide from him."
So the person he had run into on Longmen Road really was Mu Yuejuan.
He Jiaqing kept his smile, remaining silent.
Mu Yuejuan walked up close, gently lifted He Jiaqing's chin, and spoke in a soft, gentle voice: "Young Master He, Sister knows what you did. Lühuazi must have had plenty of good things in his home, didn't he? Your harvest this time must not have been small."
He Jiaqing shook his head slightly. "Sister thinks too highly of me. I couldn't even enter Lü Shuigong's door; I simply lack the means."
Mu Yuejuan smiled. "A young man should have a bit of swagger; there's no need to sound so worldly and cautious. If you didn't enter Lühuazi's home, what did you use to pay Zhang Gunli back? Golden Origin Pills of that grade couldn't have been easy to come by, could they? If I'm not mistaken, those Golden Origin Pills were collected by Lühuazi to reward his disciples. Wouldn't you say that makes sense?"
He Jiaqing's heart tightened violently. From the moment he paid Zhang Gunli back, Mu Yuejuan had been in this room, yet he hadn't noticed at all.
Wait—if he hadn't noticed, could Zhang Gunli have failed to notice as well?
He knew Mu Yuejuan was here, and he must have known why she came. In fact, Mu Yuejuan might have been brought here by him!
That bastard Zhang Gunli!
Suppressing his emotions, He Jiaqing explained to Mu Yuejuan, "Senior, the eight Golden Origin Pills I gave Zhang Gunli were refined by me using the Red Lotus. The Xuansheng Red Lotus was once in my hands—you should have heard about that. I truly haven't been to Lü Shuigong's residence, nor did I take Lü Shuigong's covenant deed. Senior, I am truly not lying to you."
Mu Yuejuan's fingers continued to glide across He Jiaqing's cheek. "Young Master He, that lie might fool others, but trying to fool me is rather boring. The Xuansheng Red Lotus was previously in the hands of the local spirit of Yesong Bridge; I knew about that long ago. Those lies you fabricated—some Lu Xiaolan, some Li Banfeng—they're all fake!"
He Jiaqing was speechless. The situation was truly absurd: he admitted to having possessed the Xuansheng Red Lotus, yet Mu Yuejuan actually refused to believe him!
Mu Yuejuan brushed a strand of He Jiaqing's hair. "According to the rules of Puluo Province, I cannot casually seize a local spirit's possessions. But now that Lühuazi is dead, stepping in to take over doesn't break the rules. Good boy, Lüshui City is too big for you to hold, and you shouldn't hold it. His pills, his magic treasures, his good things—I can give them all to you. But there is one thing you cannot take away: you must leave his covenant deed to me."
With that, Mu Yuejuan burst into laughter.
Before her laughter faded, Mu Yuejuan's fingertips twitched, and her fair, slender finger abruptly turned into a paintbrush.
If that paintbrush drew a stroke across He Jiaqing's face, it would slice his face right open.
He Jiaqing raised his hand a step ahead, leaving an ink mark on Mu Yuejuan's face first.
Mu Yuejuan froze. Where the ink mark passed, her skin split open, and blood flowed.
"Empty-Handed Steal!" Mu Yuejuan was immensely astonished. She hadn't expected He Jiaqing to steal her technique without her realizing it.
In the blink of an eye, He Jiaqing had already leapt out the window.
Mu Yuejuan gave chase immediately. "Young Master He, I truly mean well for you! You really cannot hold Lü Shuigong's territory!"
"Let's collect them slowly, don't rush!" Li Banfeng and the glove were picking up Lü Shuigong's treasures.
Lü Shuigong's residence was very large and filled with many good things, but because the residence itself was invisible, what Li Banfeng saw was the scenery outside. He had yet to figure out the actual layout inside the residence.
"Boss, be careful. There are plenty of traps in this place too."
*Riiip!*
A paper figure stepped on a trap and was torn to shreds. Another paper figure arrived from the side, taking over for the previous one to continue the investigation.
Inside Lü Shuigong's residence, Li Banfeng had deployed a total of 372 paper figures. Through the positioning of these paper figures, Li Banfeng roughly mapped out the contours of the residence.
He spent a full sixteen hours inside Lü Shuigong's residence, finding six Profound Accumulation Pills and 193 Golden Origin Pills. As for the remaining Zihuan Pills and Xuanchi Pills, there were too many for Li Banfeng to count yet.
"Strange, why are there only pills and not a single magic treasure?" The glove searched around and caught a scent between two paper figures. "Boss, there's a good treasure down here—likely a high-tier spiritual item."
Li Banfeng and the glove searched thoroughly, touching the cold floor. In his fumbling, Li Banfeng found a secret compartment.
The compartment was locked. Though invisible, Li Banfeng could feel that there was more than one lock on it.
The glove was very confident: "Boss, don't worry. In less than half an hour, I'll have this lock picked."
At Daogui Ridge, Critic was still observing the battle in secret.
Lü Shuigong's tenacity astonished Critic. He had fought bitterly on Daogui Ridge for several days without once being injured by the daolao ghosts' venom.
The number of daolao ghosts killed was also astounding. If this continued and Lühuazi held out a bit longer, he might actually break out of Daogui Ridge—breaking out without ever contracting the daolao ghosts' venom.
In the blink of an eye, Lü Shuigong repelled yet another wave of daolao ghosts. Wan Jinxian had fewer and fewer daolao ghosts left at his disposal, and many daolao ghosts began questioning his competence.
"Hu-ya-ya, hu-ya, ya-ya-hu!" One daolao ghost declared that Wan Jinxian wasn't smart; following him was just marching to their deaths, so everyone should choose another leader.
"Ya-ya-ya-hu-ya!" Another daolao ghost declared that Wan Jinxian wasn't brave; many daolao ghosts had died in battle, yet he returned alive every single time.
A female daolao ghost was the most agitated of all, saying Wan Jinxian was too short and completely useless!
Lühuazi stood up; he appeared ready to break through the encirclement.
After such prolonged, bitter fighting, the daolao ghosts had little fighting spirit left. Once Lü Shuigong broke through the first ring of encirclement, he would likely sweep through everything before him and charge right out of Daogui Ridge.
To prove his strength, Wan Jinxian prepared to intercept Lü Shuigong alone.
There was almost no suspense in this fight: under no circumstances could Wan Jinxian ever be a match for Lü Shuigong. Yet he charged forward anyway.
*Bang!*
Wan Jinxian slammed into Lü Shuigong.
*Thud!*
Lü Shuigong collapsed to the ground.
He collapsed?
How is that possible?
Critic was utterly shocked. The weakened Lü Shuigong lay on the ground, unable to get up.
Chapter 522