Chapter 216: Buying and Selling

"Temporarily not found" does not guarantee that there truly is none.

Previously, keeping Lu Xiang, Xu Yuan intended to find an opportunity to pass certain false messages to Shanhe through this mole.

But now there is no need to take this risk.

Xu Yuan asked, "Among the brothers, is there a Spirit Cultivator capable of soul interrogation?"

"Yes," Di Youzhi said. "Several among the brothers do this as their daily trade. Although they are merely of the Ninth Rank, dealing with Lu Xiang is no problem."

Xu Yuan nodded: "You return first, act together with Zhou Leizi, capture that traitor who eats from the bowl but breaks the pot, and interrogate his soul immediately!"

"As you command!" Di Youzhi's eyes flashed with sharp light; he had long wanted to kill this mole.

Having such a person under his command made Di Youzhi's old face burn with shame.

Xu Yuan then said to Qin Ze, "You go to help."

Only then did Qin Ze learn there was a mole; his eyebrows shot up, and he rubbed his fists: "My lord, rest assured, that scoundrel will not escape!"

Xu Yuan waved his hand, and they departed.

Xu Yuan, gazing down the cliff, put on the mud mask.

Thus, his whole body was shrouded in Yin Qi, greatly increasing the likelihood that evil spirits would identify him as one of their own.

Xu Yuan released the Fire Wheel and rode it down the cliff.

This mud mask, crafted by the stepmother, was extremely exquisite; the belly fire on the Fire Wheel was also dyed a layer of emerald green, resembling ghost fire.

Xu Yuan carefully descended into the valley; the beast-tendon rope whistled, stringing together those short halberds and long halberds.

At the same time, he waved his hand and scattered the Sword Pills.

They flew a hundred zhang, piercing the head of that Text Cultivator.

Seeing evil spirits arrive again, the villagers screamed and scattered in all directions; not even a single person noticed that one of their companions had fallen.

Xu Yuan turned and soared into the air once more, rushing to the cliff top.

Fortunately, the small river was in the center of the valley; if it had been right beneath the cliff, the weapons Fu Shuanghui shot at the cliff face falling into the river would have taken considerable time to retrieve.

Xu Yuan prepared to sell these weapons to Fu Shuanghui at an appropriate time!

Commerce is buying and selling; where there is buying, naturally there is selling.

On the cliff face, one eye of the High Priest moved, but it seemed too exhausted.

Xu Yuan had already run back to the cliff top; it made no further reaction.

After Xu Yuan returned, Di Youzhi had already dealt with Lu Xiang.

Qin Ze, having missed the chance to fight, was somewhat dissatisfied.

He really wanted to punch and shatter that traitorous dog's skull!

Di Youzhi reported to Xu Yuan, "My lord, the soul interrogation is complete."

"This dog is truly useless; he only knew to sell our information to the Shanhe side. Regarding their situation, except for Wei Huchen, he knew very little else."

Xu Yuan nodded; he had no expectations either.

A common Captain from the Filth-Removal Bureau; he was merely an informant bought with money; he could not possibly tell him any secrets.

Mao Dabin suggested, "My lord, let us say he... died in the line of duty."

Zhou Leizi shouted, "We still have to count him as dying in the line of duty?"

Di Youzhi waved his hand and slapped the back of his head: "Fool! If not dying in the line of duty, then what do we say? Say that a traitor emerged from our Filth-Removal Bureau? Would that bring you honor?"

Zhou Leizi shrank his neck and dared not make a sound.

Di Youzhi was very irritable and cursed, "What sin did I commit in my past life! Leading a bunch of you lot, either spies or fools!"

The others in his squad also dared not speak, blaming Zhou Leizi: You made us all into "fools."

Mao Dabin said to Zhou Leizi, "Although granting him 'died in the line of duty' means the bureau must pay a pension of silver, it is actually only fifty taels.

The greatest blessing left by our Filth-Removal Bureau brothers who died in the line of duty is actually the care the living brothers provide for their families; do you think anyone will care for his family?

Actually, he didn't gain much advantage."

A hint of ferocity suddenly appeared in Zhou Leizi's eyes.

Care for his family? What Zhou Leizi thought of was making this dog "implicate his family"!

A Rank Dan Xiu went to burn Lu Xiang's corpse.

But Xu Yuan was also not pleased in his heart.

Fifty taels of silver, given to an ordinary family of five, would be enough for them to eat and drink well for four or five years!

It is not a small amount.

Why give it to this traitor!

Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "Do not say he died; just say that on the way here, he went missing."

"Missing?" Mao Dabin's face was full of helplessness: "My lord, if life and death are unknown, his family will come to the yamen to cause a disturbance."

Xu Yuan suddenly smiled, pointing at Zhou Leizi: "Zhou Leizi, if his family comes to make trouble, can you handle it?"

Zhou Leizi's eyes lit up, he puffed out his chest, and said loudly, "Yes, definitely yes!"

"Good, then I leave it to you."

"Hahaha!" Zhou Leizi laughed happily; not just him, but the common Captains all felt relieved.

They actually hated spies more than the Investigators.

Their hearts thought the same as Zhou Leizi: My lord handles affairs truly with satisfaction, sharing our very temperament!

With this matter resolved, Xu Yuan said, "Very well, let us go down."

After descending along one side of the cliff to the foot of the mountain, Xu Yuan looked at the traces on the ground and instructed Fu Jingyu: "You lead everyone out of the mountain; I will follow Fu Shuanghui."

Fu Jingyu immediately objected: "How can this be?"

The other Investigators also shook their heads one after another: "How can we allow my lord to face danger alone?"

Xu Yuan shook his head: "Too many people actually make it inconvenient to act."

To secretly kill Lady Fu Shuanghui, having too many people indeed made it hard to act.

Fu Jingyu firmly disagreed, so Xu Yuan had to put on the airs of a superior and forcibly ordered them to leave.

Fu Jingyu had no choice, but before leaving he said to everyone: "Take out all the silver you have; I will write you an IOU. It is I, Fu Jingyu, who borrowed it."

Everyone took out their silver, and after pooling it together, they had over a thousand taels.

Fu Jingyu stuffed it all into Xu Yuan's hands: "Take it and put the Merchant Art into practice."

Song Lu worried: In the future, our family must never let Brother Jingyu manage the accounts...

Xu Yuan didn't stand on ceremony, took it, and said: "I will definitely repay you later."

The debt pressure was a bit heavy...

Once you cultivate the Merchant Art, you can earn money and even spend it.

Fortunately, Third Lady still had tens of thousands of taels over there; this time, it must not be given to the stepmother.

Xu Yuan pursued Lady Fu Shuanghui alone, guessing in his heart: I just wonder... now that her precious scale has been used, does she still dare to plot against that dragon?

Lady Fu Shuanghui stopped five li outside the valley to reorganize her troops.

The casualties were severe, but Lady Fu Shuanghui did not care.

Even if everyone in the Shanhe Office's Cheng Prefecture branch were wiped out, as long as she killed that dragon, she, Fu Shuanghui, would still rise in rank due to her merit!

The One in that Canal detests all of its kind in this world, and detests even more anything attempting to become its kind.

Those who cultivate the Dragon-Transformation Art are considered the "offspring" of that One, and thus fall outside this rule.

Not to mention that this dragon is also stirring up wind and rain in the Canal, which is even more touching the One's reverse scale.

What Lady Fu Shuanghui was considering was whether, now that the scale was consumed, she should still continue to eliminate the dragon.

She certainly had more than just that one item.

She was greatly favored at home, especially by her elder brother, who had cared for her since childhood.

Her brother was the "Dragon Head" of this generation already designated by the family, controlling vast resources.

Others coming out to do business could only bring out one reverse scale.

She, however, had two other items.

Thinking of her brother, Lady Fu Shuanghui recalled her brother's teachings.

In the Huangming world, those who cultivate the Dragon-Transformation Art number not a thousand but eight hundred.

One must seize every opportunity.

Because missing one opportunity means you might fall behind others.

One step slow, and every step is slow!

Lady Fu Shuanghui gritted her teeth and gripped the Dragon-Slaying Sword.

As long as this item was present, she had better than seventy percent certainty.

This item counters that dragon.

Lady Fu Shuanghui issued the order in a cold voice: "Rest a while, then bypass this valley."

A subordinate Jianjiao could not help but say: "My lord, should we continue?"

Lady Fu Shuanghui flew into a rage, her gray-blue vertical pupils staring fiercely at him, and said: "You will lead the way ahead!"

"Ah?" The Jianjiao was terrified.

"Do you intend to disobey orders?" Lady Fu Shuanghui's voice suddenly became calm.

The subordinates fell silent as if frozen by cold cicadas.

Anyone could see that the Law-Enforcement Lord very much expected the Jianjiao to disobey, so he could directly strike and kill him!

"Your subordinate dares not!" The Jianjiao hurriedly knelt.

"Hmph!"

(End of Chapter)