Chapter 63

Over these past few days, Liu Xiaolou had taken time every day to walk the streets and observe the situation, but the Zhanglong Sect's control over Wuchao Town was very strict, and he could not find a safe route to escape.

He also went to the entrance of Headline Alley, but Zhang Ma and Qingjie had already been driven back into the alley. The Zhanglong Sect had people guarding the entrance, not allowing them to continue their business, not even allowing them to leave the house, and not allowing outsiders to enter, claiming it was to prevent the wavering of military morale. Thus, Liu Liu Xiaolou lost this line of intelligence.

However, he had roughly figured out the situation: the Zhanglong Sect had made Wuchao Town their garrison. The Sect Master had come in person, four of the five Elders had arrived, and twelve inner-sect disciples were present. Including the remaining stewards, outer-sect disciples, managers, attached families, loose practitioner sects, and so on, there were over two hundred cultivators in total, plus several hundred strong young servants and laborers. The momentum was truly not small.

The Zang family of Eyang Mountain, an important branch of the Zhanglong Sect, also came out in full force, led by the family head Zang Baili, with twelve cultivators and retainers from the clan and over twenty servants and laborers. They had requisitioned the two residences surrounding Liu Xiaolou's house.

Besides the familiar Golden Retainer, even the accountant who collected the spiritual rice had followed along to handle supplies for the Zang family. Every day at mealtime, the fragrance of spiritual rice, spiritual wine, and spiritual meat wafted from the opposite courtyard, making Liu Liu Xiaolou incredibly hungry. Once, unable to resist, he took the initiative to visit during mealtime to ask if there was anything he could do to help, but he was easily dismissed by the retainer with a light, "Wait for military orders."

On this day, after finishing his cultivation, he intended to go out to observe the situation again, but the courtyard gate was knocked on loudly.

Upon opening it, he saw it was the Golden Retainer, who pulled someone out from behind him, pushed him in, and said to Liu Liu Xiaolou, "This fellow Daoist is also from Wulong Mountain. See if you recognize him... He will be arranged to stay here with you."

The Golden Retainer left as soon as he finished speaking, as it was mealtime and he needed to rush back to the opposite courtyard to eat, leaving only Liu Liu Xiaolou and the man staring at each other.

"I say, Brother Tan, how did you get here?" Liu Liu Xiaolou was very surprised.

The person who had been conscripted was naturally his good friend Tan Ba. He clutched his head and curled up on a chair, saying painfully, "I was hiding in the mountains, but I got bored and had the idea to come to town to stroll around and meet Green Pearl in Headline Alley. Who knew I'd be blocked as soon as I reached the town entrance and be directly handed a badge..."

Liu Liu Xiaolou was speechless: "What time is it now? A great battle is imminent, three sects are fighting one, and I'm stuck in town with no way to escape, yet Brother Tan threw himself into the net. Truly... you can't control your crotch... I've seen Green Pearl too; she's not that seductive, is she?"

Tan Ba disagreed: "Green Pearl is certainly good, quite seductive..."

Liu Liu Xiaolou said: "Green Pearl, to be honest, is a bit too plump. Her looks aren't as good as Liu He's, and her figure isn't as good as Ye Zi's."

Tan Ba retorted: "But she has a big chest! Think about it, Brother Liu, those two things pressed against your face..." As he spoke, he closed his eyes, tilted his head back toward the sky, looking completely satisfied, and sighed deeply: "Ah..."

Liu Liu Xiaolou shook his head: "Personal preferences differ; suit yourself."

Tan Ba asked: "Who does Brother Liu like?"

Liu Liu Xiaolou thought for a moment and said: "Qingjie..."

Tan Ba sneered: "Don't even think about it. Who doesn't like Qingjie? But that's impossible. Qingjie hasn't taken outside guests for years. I heard she had a sweetheart before, and who knows who had such great luck... Unless you use force, but that would be meaningless and break the rules; the whole Wuchao Town wouldn't agree. Take Qingjie, for example; although she's a bit older, almost thirty? But that mature charm, hehe... If I could get a taste, tsk tsk... Brother, if we're really talking about figure and looks, that chest, that waist, that butt, oh my god, how can you think of a way to get into her bed? I am willing to pay a hundred taels of silver, no, one spirit stone!"

Liu Liu Xiaolou blinked, his mood inexplicably quite relaxed. He laughed inwardly but didn't take the bait, only saying: "Get lost!"

Tan Ba, who had been longing for Qingjie for a long time, suddenly twitched his nose and asked: "Whose house is cooking spiritual rice? So fragrant! Hey? What kind of meat is this... and wine? Spiritual wine! It's definitely Bamboo Leaf Green!"

Liu Liu Xiaolou gestured toward the door: "Who else could it be?"

Tan Ba realized: "Ah, the Zang family!" He scrambled up, leaped onto the courtyard wall, peered at the opposite courtyard for a moment, and asked: "Is there any for us?"

Liu Liu Xiaolou rolled his eyes at him: "You're thinking too much."

Tan Ba clung to the wall and watched for a while longer, then dropped down dejectedly, shook his head, and returned to his chair, feeling so depressed he didn't want to say another word.

Liu Liu Xiaolou kicked the leg of the chair: "There's rice in the jar, meat on the beam, and firewood in the stove. I heard your Tan family's braised pork is very delicious; make some for us to taste."

Tan Ba rose lazily and walked toward the kitchen, muttering: "That's the Lingnan Tan family, okay? My Xiangxi Tan family is generations apart from them. But if we're talking about braised pork, my Xiangxi Tan family's braised pork is the best, the spicy kind..."

Liu Liu Xiaolou ignored him and went into the room to continue cultivating.

After fighting for many consecutive days, the Daling acupoint was already tottering. The acupoint barrier was like paper, becoming increasingly soft under the repeated impacts of his true qi, and it was clearly on the verge of being pierced.

Achieving such progress in less than a month could be considered quite fast. After all, there were only nine acupoints in the entire Hand Hand Jueyin Meridian, and each one could be called a major acupoint. Once broken through, the acupoint pool's ability to store true qi was incomparable to acupoints on other meridians.

The braised pork Tan Ba made was indeed very delicious, especially the spiciness, which was quite punchy. He had put in a ton of Sichuan pepper and peppercorns, covering the meat completely, making Liu Liu Xiaolou praise it endlessly.

On the third day after Tan Ba arrived, while he was practicing hard with his iron staff in the dripping courtyard, the courtyard gate was kicked open with a bang. Golden Steward stood outside and shouted: "Liu Liu Xiaolou, Tan Ba, bring your weapons and magic tools, let's go!"

Both of them sighed in their hearts. Tan Ba carried his wrought-gold iron staff on his shoulder, Liu Liu Xiaolou tucked his Three Mystical Sword into his waist, and clutching the Lin Yuan Xuan Stone array plate, they stepped out of the courtyard gate and merged into the Eyang Mountain team.

Led by Zang Zang Baili, they brought everyone to the west of the town and, together with various families and loose practitioner sects, merged into the Zhanglong Sect's main force, left Wuchao Town, and traveled upstream along the Wuchao River bank, heading toward Wulong Mountain.

A large ship came from downstream, sailing against the current with its sails hoisted. At this moment, the wind direction was clearly wrong, but the sails were filled with wind, blowing taut; it was undoubtedly the work of Daoist arts. On the bow, a dozen or so people surrounded a handsome and elegant elder, who pointed at the main force on the riverbank, nodding and commenting from time to time.

Zang Zang Baili said to the people behind him: "This is Sect Master Qu!" After saying this, he took the lead in clapping and cheering.

Driven by him, the families and sects attached to the Zhanglong Sect all cheered, and hundreds of cultivators shouted in unison, the momentum shaking the heavens!

Just as Liu Liu Xiaolou was curiously gazing at this number one cultivator of Xiangxi, Tan Ba tugged at his sleeve, signaling him to look back. Turning around, he was shocked to see the Long Mountain Loose Practitioner, the Seven Heroes of Guzhang Mountain, Old Hu Du, and other fellow Daoists from Wulong Mountain. They were also waving their arms and shouting toward the Wuchao River, only they looked quite listless.

Have they all been conscripted?

One has to say "I'm impressed." After all, the Zhanglong Sect is the local landlord here; if they really want to find someone, who can hide?