Chapter 69: Searching for Objects

County Government Office.

Pei Ye looked at the black cat, and the black cat looked back at him quietly.

"You know, I have little experience," Pei Ye asked hesitantly, "is this thing really that important?"

"The targeting of the Immortal Lord is the highest recognition."

"Then, what should we do?"

"Find this thing before He arrives, then let Ming Qitian take it away." The black cat said calmly.

Pei Ye put down the basin, placed it on his shoulder, and strode to his room to get his sword: "How to find it? Should we have Official Chang mobilize manpower?"

"No need, just a few capable ones will do." The black cat said, "Because the clues are not here, and I don't know where to start looking. Too many people will just be headless flies."

"Then how to find it?"

"Follow the sensing of the Taiyi True Dragon Immortal Lord."

"Didn't you say He might not be able to find it either?"

"He doesn't know what this thing is, nor does He know its specific location, but He can follow the sensing to find things connected to it. When there are enough such things, He can lock onto the location of that thing."

This ability was unheard of, but Pei Ye could roughly understand the logic.

But if this were the case, the Black Dragon's talk of "snatching it first" was too much of a fantasy. Pei Ye frowned: "Are you saying we follow behind His butt, and wait for Him to find it before snatching it from the tiger's mouth?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" The black cat looked at him and said, "We are trying our best to find a way to delay time, and He is also trying His best to win time. From the moment of awakening, He has probably been laying out plans for this."

"Are you saying... Zhu Gaoyang?" Pei Ye now understood why the Immortal Lord didn't devour him.

"He should also be one, but there is no fragment of my consciousness in Zhu Gaoyang's body, and we have no strength to follow him. I am talking about some other 'little guys' who came to search. I can roughly lock onto their locations."

Pei Ye nodded. He understood the Black Dragon's meaning: to use the hand extended by the Immortal Lord to find this item, and then use the time difference before He arrives to take it away.

Pei Ye dressed neatly and returned to the old man's room.

The old man was leaning on the wheelchair, the comfort on his face not yet completely gone.

"Going home?" Hearing him come in, the old man said hoarsely.

"Isn't the food good and the living good? Why are you in such a hurry to go back." Pei Ye said in a low voice, "The matter isn't over yet, I have to go find something."

Then he told him the current situation.

"You mean, that thing could be on par with that third-ranked Crane List person last night?"

Clearly, no one had told the old man about the situation Fenghuai was facing now. His voice was pressed into a coarse, iron sound, and a cold hardness permeated from his crippled body.

The danger of the matter the youth was involved in exceeded the old man's expectations. He said hoarsely: "Is this the kind of thing you've been facing these past two days?"

"Right, He might come soon, you just stay in the county office." Pei Ye urged, "It's somewhat safer here."

"What does this matter have to do with you?"

"..." Pei Ye was stunned for a moment, unable to answer for a while.

This matter indeed had nothing to do with him anymore.

He had no official position, his strength was low, and he had just been dragged into the situation before. Now that Ming Qitian had untied him from this spider web, he was just an ordinary commoner.

"It's fine, there's no danger in doing this now, I won't cross paths with that thing." Pei Ye comforted the old man, "Anyway, I can't sit still waiting for the result."

"Idiot." The old man said hoarsely.

"Haha." Pei Ye smiled.

He knew the old man was worried. After these few days, the two who had depended on each other for so many years had rarely seen each other, and the old man's anxiety was understandable.

Now that he had finally returned safe and sound, he hadn't said two words before he was going out to toss about again.

The youth understood the old man's anxiety and powerlessness, as he could only wait second by second in the wheelchair, unable to move and with his vision completely dark. He comforted him again: "Don't worry, it's really fine this time. I'll just stroll around the city, and if there's no result, I'll come back."

Pei Ye gently squeezed the old man's frail hand and turned to go out.

Listening to Pei Ye walk out the door, the old man leaned back against the chair, his two black eye sockets staring fixedly into mid-air.

After a long while, he muttered: "The times are always against me, counting the times I've started over."

When Pei Ye arrived at the main hall, the black cat was pointing things out on the table, and Sister Xing Zhi, Shang Lang, and several experts from the prefecture were gathered around.

The black cat stood on a map of Fenghuai County that covered the entire table, with several bright red plum blossom seals left on the map.

Sister Xing Zhi was conveying its meaning to the people just summoned: "The hosts in these two places outside the city are smaller, perhaps rats or rabbits, but they will definitely try to find a way to enter the city. Be especially careful about this place; have someone with good eyes. The hosts in these four places—Qingfeng Alley, the Old River Channel, the North Bridgehead, and the Big Willow Tree—are larger and should all be people. First, you must record where they go and what they look for; second, you must try your best to block their spread—the first goal is more important."

Everyone nodded.

Shang Lang and the others were all at the Sixth or Seventh Life, and dealing with ordinary people who were parasitized was easy. It was just that this task was not to eliminate the danger, but to secretly use them as hunting dogs.

"Two or three people in a group, communicate at any time. If there are not enough people, go call a few more. It doesn't matter if the cultivation is low, just be sharp." After Sister Xing Zhi finished ordering, she saw Pei Ye walk in and asked, "Do you want to be with Shang Lang?"

"No need, let Brother Shang lead a group alone, I'll take the cat."

"Good, you are familiar with Fenghuai, you pick the location first."

Pei Ye scanned it at a glance, his gaze lingering on the bright red plum blossom seal of the "North Bridgehead." Memories of running there in the past flooded into his mind, and Pei Ye smiled unconsciously: "I'll go there. It's a bit remote, and it won't be easy for you to find."

Several people quickly decided on their destinations, each took a map, and disappeared into the field of vision between leaps.

Pei Ye led a horse, wrapped the black cat in his arms, and turned to ride away.

North Bridgehead. The reason this place was intimate was that it was the path Pei Ye had to take when he went to the martial arts hall in the past. If he finished class early every day, he would take advantage of the daylight to fish for shrimp with his partners in the river ditch.

There were few residents here, and most were abandoned old houses, with some twists and turns, so Pei Ye recognized it himself.

Arriving here at this time, tying the horse to a tree, Pei Ye looked around. The doors of several houses were closed; they should have all gone out of the city to tend to the fields.

"Is it here?" Pei Ye turned his head to ask the black cat.

The black cat didn't answer, signaling him to a man wearing a straw hat ahead.

That figure was somewhat familiar. Pei Ye remembered that when he crossed the bridge in the past, he often saw him sitting happily in the courtyard at the bridgehead, planing new furniture, but he didn't know why he hadn't moved into a new house later.

Seeing this figure now, he happened to ask about any abnormalities in the surroundings.

He raised his hand and opened his mouth, but the words "Uncle Guang" reached his throat and got stuck.

It was the busy farming season, so why did he come back just after going to the fields?

And he was walking toward the martial arts hall. ===== CHAPTER 70 =====