Chapter 769: Salt Merchant

Seeing he couldn’t catch up, Li Yan made no further hesitation.

Whoosh!

The copper coins on his Hugui Qian Nian armband clattered in unison.

Surrounding yin qi and black mist converged, and Li Yan’s speed surged abruptly.

“Zhā!”

At the same time, the hawk Ling Dong in the sky let out a cry, indicating direction.

Li Yan immediately understood, forming a hand seal with his left hand and pointing his right hand in sword gesture toward the front: “Qing Jia! Ascend to heaven and guide souls, sternly suppress Bei Feng. The divine lords receive the mandate, universally sweep away misfortune, eight terrors exhale poison, fierce steeds spread wide…”

This was the Bei Di Chu Yang Technique, specialized in breaking all forms of demonic possession.

The cat demon had abducted the pregnant woman using a similar method; with his current cultivation, he could cast the spell remotely—even if he couldn’t break it, he could disrupt it.

“Jí!”

As the incantation completed, an invisible spell force shot from his fingertip, following the hawk’s direction and merging into the dark night.

“Miaowu—!”

A piercing cry, like a night owl, rang out.

In the distant darkness, the two eerie “cat demon flames” exploded and scattered.

Perfect opportunity!

Li Yan pushed off with his feet, channeling dan energy, and his speed surged again.

Soon, he saw his target.

In the backyard of a dilapidated mansion, overgrown with weeds, lay a dark shape beside a dry well.

Upon closer inspection, it was a pregnant woman crawling on all fours like a beast.

She wore coarse cloth of a servant, already unconscious.

The truly eerie sight was the old yellow-spotted cat clinging to her back.

This cat was no cute giant orange of his past life—it was elongated, with grotesque joints, matted fur streaked with white, blood-red eyes, and protruding fangs.

At this moment, black smoke rose from the cat demon’s body.

It seemed the Bei Di Chu Yang Technique had triggered a backlash; it shook its head, dazed and weak, rolling off the pregnant woman’s back.

Shh!

Li Yan leapt high from the rooftop, his silhouette illuminated by the bright moon behind him.

Before landing, he gauged the distance and flicked his left hand.

“Go!”

With crackling lightning, two Duan Hun flying knives shot forth with a whistle.

These Duan Hun flying knives had been reforged at Qiankun Academy; some leftover scraps of the Prince’s gift, “Lei Yun Xuan Jin,” had been incorporated.

The greatest advantage: they could be empowered by thunder magic.

From afar, they looked like two streaks of lightning.

But at this critical moment, the “Jinhua Cat Demon” suddenly snapped awake, shook its body, and darted into the nearby dry well.

Li Yan had just landed; he thought once, and the two flying knives in midair whirled rapidly, plunging into the dry well.

Boom! Boom!

Two muffled thuds, dust and smoke erupted.

Li Yan pushed off with his feet, used “Shu Di Cheng Cun,” and appeared beside the well, gesturing with his hand—the Duan Hun flying knives spiraled up and slid into his waist pouch.

But below, the demon was already gone.

“Earth Dun ?”

Li Yan frowned—he hadn’t expected the demon to know this trick.

He was about to leave, but sniffed the air and immediately turned to the pregnant woman.

She had been frightened—her amniotic sac had ruptured.

To let her die was not his nature.

Li Yan sighed, bent down, checked her breath, then pulled a pill from his robe and slipped it into her mouth.

It was a top-grade pill crafted by the Baicao Garden of Qiankun Academy.

Not only could it stabilize her if her amniotic sac ruptured—even massive hemorrhage wouldn’t kill her.

Then he looked up and called out: “Return and tell San’er—send people to rescue her!”

A hawk’s cry echoed in the air, flying toward Yu Fu.

After this, Li Yan scanned the surroundings, formed a hand seal, and inhaled deeply.

Saving the woman was incidental; killing the cat demon was the mission.

His sense of smell had become extremely refined; pushed to its limit, he could detect scents within several li—even if the demon used earth Dun , it would leave a trace.

Yet after activating his ability, Li Yan frowned.

Countless faint, ordinary, or slightly ominous “lifesigns” of cats erupted like a boiling cauldron across alleys, houses, walls, and rooftops.

It was as if he’d entered a dead end of scent—no way to pinpoint the cat demon’s location.

At the same time, he heard hundreds of cat cries rising and falling in the alleys: lazy yawns, wary growls, kitten mews—but mostly an inexplicable, collective agitation and confusion.

In the night wind, the air itself seemed thick with cat fur.

Li Yan narrowed his eyes and suddenly stopped.

The last clear trace of the cat demon’s scent vanished like a drop of water into the ocean, drowned beneath the ocean of thousands of cat lifesigns.

He tried to distinguish it, but the scents merged, interfered, and obscured one another, forming a dizzying vortex of chaos—precise tracking was impossible.

“So that’s how it is…”

Li Yan leapt onto the wall, watching the ubiquitous cat shadows around him, recalling the boatman’s mention of the “Immortal Lady’s Spirit Cats eliminating rat plague” and the city’s growing cat population.

“Hmph! Clever little demon!”

Li Yan snorted coldly but didn’t rush.

He remembered the boatman saying this “Immortal Lady” had been invited by the city’s top salt merchant, Wang Squire, to be a patron.

Now all Yangzhou salt merchants had gathered to discuss how to resist the Japanese pirates.

The demon must be hiding among them.

Without hesitation, Li Yan leapt onto the rafters and vanished into the night…

………………

The wealth of Yangzhou salt merchants surpassed all others under heaven.

Pavilions and terraces along both banks of the canal were built by salt merchants, diverting canal water into gardens, piling strange rocks into towering peaks, carving white jade into winding pools—exceedingly luxurious.

Among them, Jiyu Garden was the most extravagant.

Originally built by a previous dynasty salt merchant, its rock-piling artistry was peerless; living water flowed from the canal, winding corridors concealed mist and rain, painted boats glided over waves reflecting rainbows.

Salt merchants hosted banquets costing a thousand taels per meal: tables displayed Huaiyang Eight Treasures and rare delicacies from the four seas, served in official kiln blue-and-white porcelain cups, poured with Jiangnan’s famed Yunye wine, music and song lasting all night.

In the past, a famous scholar had inscribed “When water palace winds blow, faint fragrance fills the air” on the garden’s painted walls—famous far and wide.

Now, Jiyu Garden was lit as brightly as day.

The main hall, facing the water and open on all sides, was called Zhuo Jin Hall; all lattice panels were fully opened.

The ripples of the canal reflected the eaves’ glazed palace lanterns, turning the entire structure into a crystal palace.

Before the hall, a Hanbaiyu staircase descended into a lotus pond, where brocade carp swam amid shimmering shadows; Taihu stones piled into immortal peaks, concealing flowing water, stones dripping like jade pendants.

The current owner of the garden was Yangzhou’s greatest salt merchant, Wang Maode.

Tonight’s banquet gathered all the city’s wealthy merchants to discuss a strategy against the Japanese pirates.

A hundred purple sandalwood eight-immortal tables were laid with Shu embroidery; each bore a Jingtailan hotpot simmering river delicacies, official kiln fencai plates holding crab-paste lion’s head, triple duck, Wenshi tofu, and other Huaiyang delicacies; servants wore Hangzhou silk blue robes, silently pouring wine from silver flasks.

Yet this grand feast held no elegance or leisure.

Those seated in high places were either rich or noble.

Liu Tonghai, Yangzhou’s Canal Guild captain, tapped his gold-inlaid jade pipe, silent.

Several opulently dressed salt merchants exchanged glances.

Gou Rong, elder of the City God Temple’s Enforcement Hall and a Mao Shan Daoist known as “Thunder Hand” Xu Zhenshan, twirled a jade scepter, eyes half-closed, long white eyebrows hanging.

“Hahaha~”

Wang Maode raised his cup and laughed loudly: “The Japanese pirates invading our borders—this is a calamity Yangzhou has never seen in a hundred years! Tonight, I’ve gathered you all to establish a plan.”

One merchant spoke up: “What plan, Master Wang, are you referring to?”