Chapter 364

So that's how it is…

Hua Wuye turned to Lin Ling beside him, as if waiting for his response.

"…Why are you looking at me? If Xiao Ye told you to keep it, just keep it."

After a pause, Lin Ling's eyes darted sideways and added, "If Xiao Ye still feels embarrassed, why not share the pills you just got with us too?"

Fang Yue:???

You're really fixated on my good stuff, aren't you!

After learning Fang Yue hadn't bought him any pills to boost cultivation at the auction, Lin Ling had been furious—but Fang Yue had shut him down with a single "Do you even have money?"

Lin Ling was genuinely poor; he couldn't even scrape together a few Black Embers, let alone black stones, and every scrap of Black Ember he had went straight into his own cultivation.

As they spoke of this, Lin Ling had already gathered a squad of elite Guard Team members.

"Let's go to Ma Tiejiang's forge!"

Fang Yue waved his hand and led the group out.

Everything else could wait—but Ma Tiejiang's matter couldn't be delayed!

"Why arrest Ma Tiejiang?"

Lin Ling and Hua Wuye, walking beside him, remained deeply confused.

"Because he's a Weird."

"What?!"

"Impossible!"

Both spoke at once.

Their reaction wasn't surprising.

Ma Tiejiang had lived in Gu Yue Cun for a very long time—even longer than the time they'd become Captain.

In their minds, Ma Tiejiang was one of Gu Yue Cun's own—how could he suddenly turn out to be a Weird?

Neither believed Fang Yue's claim, yet Fang Yue didn't seem to be joking.

"It's complicated to explain. I'll tell you in detail after we catch Ma Tiejiang."

By the time he said this, Fang Yue had already brought them to the entrance of Ma Tiejiang's forge.

It was still daytime; the forge's door stood wide open, with customers and apprentices seated inside.

"Surround the forge! Don't let anyone out!"

At Fang Yue's order, the Guard Team members behind him, though baffled, obeyed immediately, spreading out to encircle the forge.

Fang Yue and the other two stepped inside.

"Deputy Captain Xiao Ye… no, Captain Xiao Ye?"

"Captain Hua, Captain Lin… why are all three of you suddenly storming in?"

The apprentices inside, visibly panicked, asked nervously.

Fang Yue ignored them, moving room by room to search.

But soon, Fang Yue froze.

Because Ma Tiejiang was nowhere to be found in the forge.

"Where's Ma Tiejiang?"

He grabbed one of the apprentices he'd seen just before leaving the village.

"M-Ma Tiejiang went to welcome Captain Xiao Ye back to the village!"

"He? Welcome me?"

Fang Yue frowned, glancing at Hua Wuye and Lin Ling; both gave slight shakes of their heads.

"He never showed up—or maybe he just watched us from some distant corner."

Lin Ling analyzed, and seeing Fang Yue's massive mobilization, he had a growing suspicion.

Since Gu Yue Cun had already produced Mu Zi as a Weird traitor, another mole wouldn't be surprising.

But he'd never imagined someone who'd lived in Gu Yue Cun for ten years could be a mole!

"When did Ma Tiejiang leave? What did he take with him?"

The apprentice, sensing the tense atmosphere, stammered as he recalled: "H-He took a bag, saying he was going to welcome Captain Xiao Ye back, pick up Ma Ling'er'er at the forge, and buy your black ore."

A bag?

Fang Yue's face darkened—this was clearly premeditated escape preparation.

Ma Tiejiang had certainly headed first for the village gate, observing the return of the escort team before deciding his next move.

In other words, even if he planned to flee the village, he'd started from the gate!

"Let's go back to the village gate!"

Fang Yue's expression hardened as he led Hua Wuye and Lin Ling back to the gate, leaving only a small group to guard the forge's occupants.

Ma Ling'er'er had hidden so deeply that Fang Yue suspected no one in the forge knew the true identities of either of them.

Back at the gate, Blood Hunter was in charge of the scene.

"Blood Hunter, have you seen Ma Tiejiang?"

Blood Hunter blinked in surprise: "Aren't you the ones supposed to be arresting him? Did he run?"

"Yeah… before we moved in, he'd been lying low nearby, scouting us. Probably saw Ma Ling'er'er wasn't in the group and started fleeing."

Blood Hunter frowned.

He knew Ma Tiejiang was suspicious—if he'd seen him, he'd have stopped him from leaving the village immediately.

But… he hadn't seen him at all… wait!

Blood Hunter's expression suddenly changed: "That group just now! A squad of Guard Team members just went out on patrol! They were the only ones who left on horseback. If Ma Tiejiang wanted to escape Gu Yue Cun, he couldn't rely on foot speed—he had to steal a horse. He's definitely in that group!"

Fang Yue frowned.

"Bring the horses!"

"Wait, take me with you! I'm a Hunter—I can read the horses' hoofprints and tell which direction they left!"

"Good! The Blood Hunters come too!"

A nearby squad member led over a dozen fast horses, and Fang Yue was about to mount up and ride out of the village to pursue Ma Tiejiang.

"Going out into the wilds?" Lin Ling furrowed her brow, clearly a little hesitant.

"Captain Ye must have his reasons for doing this—let's follow along!" Hua Wuye, on the other hand, had no objections.

The two Captains, the Blood Hunters, and a batch of elite Guard Team members quickly charged out into the wilds.

With the Blood Hunters' help, they soon followed the fresh hoofprints and found the direction the Guard Team members on patrol had taken when they left the village.

As they rode to catch up, Fang Yue couldn't help but ask, "By the way, why has our village's road become like this? Did something happen?"

The moment those words came out, Lin Ling, Hua Wuye, and the others couldn't help but pause in slight surprise.

"You don't know?" Lin Ling said, puzzled.

"A couple of days ago, a huge horde of Guai ran toward our village—all kinds of Guai crowding together like a market day. The village sounded the alarm right away. I even went to request an audience with Lord Han, but got no response. Later we found out the Guai army was only passing through, not actually heading for Gu Yue Cun.

Even so, we were still worried another wave of Guai might come, so we tore up the village roads in every direction."

"Why? What does that have to do with the village roads?"

"... Because someone analyzed that the village roads give off an aura that drives Guai away—it itself became a kind of landmark. It still works on weak Guai, but against a Guai army like that it's useless, even becomes an attraction."

Fang Yue frowned. "Isn't that just wild speculation? There's no logic to it at all."

(End of chapter)