"How's it going? Any news yet?"
The woman was visibly wounded, her face pale, lips drained of color.
Shopkeeper Wu let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head slightly. "I've had men scouring the usual spots every day, but there's no sign of the Incense Master's markers."
The woman clenched her jaw. "Could he…?"
"No way!" Wu cut her off, his voice firm. "With the Incense Master's skills and sorcery, unless he's cornered by the Taixuan Orthodox Sect's top fighters, there's nowhere in the world he can't go."
"Besides, he's got the Cockscomb Snake God Protector by his side. A whole mountain of bandits? He'd wipe them out in a single night."
"Something must've held him up."
"You're probably right," she said, nodding, though her eyes betrayed deep worry. "Ever since the Sect Leader's advancement failed, the sect's been falling apart. The other Incense Masters are getting ideas of their own. If this keeps up, the imperial court will pick us off one by one."
Wu's gaze hardened, and he shook his head. "Hmph. Let those traitors enjoy their little rebellion for now. Once the Incense Master breaks through, he'll reunite the Divine Sect and crush the rebels."
"Xianyang's about to get messy, and that traitor Chu Shan's got his beggar lackeys running wild. He must've sniffed out something. Stay put and don't go outside, no matter what."
She nodded, then hesitated. "What about Chang'an? Things went south there, and Yuan Qu's circling like a vulture. Can we even hold this Incense Hall?"
"Don't worry," Wu said, a glint of menace in his eyes. "I was stumped before, but with the martial world in Xianyang about to erupt, it's the perfect chance to stir the pot and come out on top."
…
Night deepened, and in a side room of the Inquiry Hall, candlelight glowed warmly.
"To victory!" Sha Lifei raised his wine bowl, downing it in a few hearty gulps. Wiping his mouth, he grinned. "That Wu's got deep pockets, splashing out on vintage Xifeng liquor like this."
Wang Daoxuan took a sip, savoring it with half-closed eyes. "Not bad at all. Sour but smooth, sweet without being cloying, bitter but not heavy, spicy without burning the throat, fragrant but not overwhelming. The 'Five Perfections' indeed."
Fresh off an arena win, Li Yan was in high spirits. He tore into a chicken leg, clinked bowls with the others, and laughed. "Relax, boys. Once we wrap up this Xianyang business, we'll take on jobs left and right. Good food, strong drinks—it'll all be ours for the taking!"
"That's what I like to hear!" Sha Lifei roared with laughter, grabbing the jug to refill his bowl. "I'm finishing this one. You two, drink as you like."
All excuses aside, he just wanted another round.
"Look at you, no shame at all," Li Yan said, chuckling, then turned to Wang Daoxuan. "Daoist, you've been storing your spirit for a while. Shouldn't you be ready to build the second floor? How much will it cost?"
Wang Daoxuan blinked, caught off guard, and shook his head. "No, no. The priority is getting you through the ritual to build your floor. If your stored spirit fades, all that effort's wasted."
Li Yan couldn't exactly admit he had the Great Luo Dharma Body, which made him immune to such worries. Instead, he said earnestly, "I'm young. There's time. Right now, with things as they are, you advancing further is our best shot."
"I'm still green when it comes to a lot of this. Even if I build my floor, mastering techniques will take time. You should go first, Daoist."
A flicker of gratitude passed through Wang Daoxuan's eyes. He didn't argue further and said solemnly, "The first two floors' rituals can be managed with silver—buying the right tools and materials."
"But from the third floor on, you'll need rare treasures of heaven and earth. The kind of treasure used in the ritual affects the kind of divine ability you gain."
"I'm skilled in geomancy, so finding earth marrow would boost my ability to read terrain. Cloud moss, on the other hand, would amplify my incantations."
"Those aren't too hard to come by. Some folks in Chang'an's Mysterious Sect sell them, but they don't come cheap. If we could hire a treasure hoarder, we'd cut the cost in half, though it'd take time to track one down."
"Why overthink it?" Sha Lifei cut in, waving a hand. "We pull off a few big jobs, and we'll have enough for both of you to build your floors. Problem solved!"
"Oh, right—how much does a floor cost? Five hundred taels do it?"
Wang Daoxuan couldn't help but laugh. "For the first floor, you need ritual tools and a lease on Taibai Mountain's spiritual aperture. At the low end, that's a thousand taels."
"A thousand taels?" Sha Lifei froze, jaw dropping.
"Yup," Wang Daoxuan sighed. "For the big orthodox sects or established lineages, that's pocket change. But for small folk traditions like ours, you've got to plan ahead, or you'll find a worthy disciple and have no way to pass on the teachings."
"Plenty of traditions have died out because of that…"
Just then, Li Yan's brow furrowed, and he gestured for silence.
Since storing his spirit, he'd gained control over his divine ability. He usually kept it sealed with the Yin Technique to avoid picking up strange smells, but his sense of smell was still razor-sharp.
He caught a whiff of something foul outside the courtyard wall.
He knew that stench—sweat mixed with rancid food scraps and the sharp tang of poisonous insects.
It was the beggars from the chaotic burial ground.
The Zhou family's revenge hadn't even arrived, and these lowlifes were already making a move.
Li Yan whispered a few instructions to the others, then eased the door open and stepped into the courtyard with Sha Lifei.
He grabbed a handful of broken bricks from the flowerbed while Sha Lifei planted his hands on his hips, took a deep breath, and bellowed, "Who's the sneaking rat out there? Come get some!"
The moment he shouted, Li Yan hurled the bricks over the wall.
Grunts of pain echoed from the other side.
It was a handful of roughnecks from Xianyang's burial ground.
They'd heard Li Yan was badly injured and saw a chance to strike under cover of night.
Acting on their own, without word to their leader, Shan Ye, they were driven by vengeance—Li Yan had killed their sworn brother that day at the burial ground.
Still, they were careful.
Two of them were adept at handling venomous creatures, lugging cloth sacks stuffed with black snakes and scorpions from the burial ground.
But they hadn't counted on Li Yan sniffing them out the moment they got close.
The bricks smashed into them, splitting heads and drawing blood. Pain fueled their rage, and they ripped open the sacks, ready to fling the venomous contents over the wall.
Even through the wall, Li Yan's nose told him their plan. He smirked coldly and gripped his sword hilt.
With a flicker of his stored spirit, the Three Talents Demon-Suppressing Coin Sword Tassel quivered.
He'd learned their weakness back at the burial ground. Tainted by yin-sha energy, those creatures feared anything designed to ward off evil.
Sure enough, the snakes and scorpions in the bags went berserk.
One beggar barely opened his sack before a snake shot out, sinking its fangs into his nose.
Another got stung by a massive scorpion that leaped from the bag, which then fell, spilling scorpions that skittered everywhere.
"Argh!"
"Run!"
Screaming, the beggars fled, pain driving them off.
At Li Yan's signal, Sha Lifei didn't give chase. Instead, he stood in the courtyard, laughing. "Bunch of small-time punks, thinking they can mess with Grandpa Sha? They had it coming!"
With that, the three turned to head back inside.
They knew this was just a blip.
The Beggar Gang was a sprawling mess of good and bad apples, but only the core members were real threats.
And there was a bigger problem—the beggar nest itself.
Among the rank-and-file beggars were plenty of poor souls, including kids who'd been kidnapped, maimed, and forced to beg, beaten if they didn't comply, living a life worse than death.
If too many core members got taken out, those downtrodden beggars might turn on their masters in a heartbeat.
For now, the trio's only job was to stay safe until the storm passed.
But before they reached the door, Li Yan paused, a thoughtful look crossing his face as he glanced back.
"What's up? More trouble?" Sha Lifei asked.
"Nah," Li Yan said. "Just someone out there's moving faster than I expected…"
…
In a shadowy alley, footsteps stumbled in disarray.
The fleeing beggars, battered and bruised, fumbled for black antidote pills, shoving them into their mouths.
They bickered as they ran.
"You said Sha Lifei was just a loudmouth with no skills!"
"That's what everyone says! I never fought the guy…"
"Quit it! Find somewhere to hole up before the poison hits our hearts…"
But as they staggered out of the alley, four or five men sprang from the shadows, wielding long sticks. They crouched low and swept the beggars' legs out from under them.
Crack, crack, crack!
The sharp sounds of breaking bones mixed with cries of pain as the beggars collapsed, clutching their legs and wailing. "Mercy, sirs, we won't do it again!"
"Please, great sirs, we're Beggar Gang!"
"Beggar Gang, huh?" A middle-aged man stepped from the darkness, his skin dark, a thick beard framing his face, dressed in a sheepskin jacket with a whip tucked into his belt.
He looked them over, smacking his lips. "Since when did the Beggar Gang start running errands for the Zhou family?"
"Speak!"
Before the beggars could weasel out, the black-clad men charged, delivering a storm of slaps to their faces.
Beaten black and blue, the beggars knew they'd met their match. They spilled everything about the burial ground.
"Well, well," the man in the sheepskin jacket sneered. "That kid played sick to look weak, but he's got some fight in him."
"Drag them back. Tomorrow, send word to the Beggar Gang: if they want to live, they'd better steer clear of Xianyang for a while."
"Yes, boss!" The black-clad men hauled the beggars off like sacks of garbage.
In the dark, the man's voice echoed: "Go tell Old Senior Zhang—the fish didn't bite."
…
In this world, some feast while others fret.
As Li Yan and his crew drank and ate heartily, the Zhou family's mansion was cloaked in gloom.
In a brightly lit side room, the air was thick with the sharp smell of medicine.
Zhou Bai lay on a bed, swathed in bandages and splints, his face flushed, eyes shut tight.
The Zhou family's eight top fighters stood around him.
Wang Yao, the group's medic, checked his pulse with a frown before shaking his head. "He'll live for now, but his organs are damaged, and his bones and tendons are wrecked. I'm afraid his martial arts days are over…"
Zhou Peide's face darkened at the news.
His fists cracked as he clenched them. In a flash, he lunged, grabbing Yuan Qu by the throat and slamming him against the wall. "Yuan, what the hell did you do to Zhou Bai before the match?"
Yuan Qu, red-faced and choking, tried to speak, but a raspy old voice cut through from outside: "Leave him be. It was my call."
The others froze, then turned and bowed in unison.
"Greetings, Master!"
*(End of Chapter)*