At the end of the alley stood a half-open, dilapidated wooden door, with a torn canvas hanging on it. On the canvas was a large character meaning “hidden.”
Li Tan pushed the door open. Inside was a small hall with scattered furniture, resembling a household. Generally speaking, breaking into someone’s home like this would require greeting the owner first. However, the first words Li Tan spoke were, “Is the boss around?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a fat man resembling a merchant came running out with a grin, saying, “Here we go, what does the guest want?”
Li Tan pointed to a corner of the wall that appeared empty and said, “I want that.”
The fat merchant nodded with a smile, then turned and walked into the house. Li Tan and Tang Leyin followed.
They followed the fat merchant into a bare room. The merchant casually knocked a few times on the wall. With a “clack,” a subtle tremor occurred in the floor, revealing a secret passage connected by stairs. Without further attention to the merchant, Li Tan and Tang Leyin went directly inside.
At the end of the tunnel stood a sturdy, large door. Upon opening it, the surroundings instantly brightened, and faint sounds of talking and footsteps could be heard.
This place had a notorious name—the Black Market.
The Black Market had been mentioned previously. It was the final place Li Tan would go if he happened to be short of materials for refining the Nine Revolutions Green Spirit Pill. It had many aspects worth mentioning.
Black Markets existed in many cities, living up to their name. In addition to normal goods, they were filled with illicit items such as contraband, slaves, and other shady goods. They were places that government authorities constantly vowed to eradicate. However, interestingly, almost none were ever discovered and eliminated. Moreover, city lords who claimed great achievements in eliminating Black Markets would soon be demoted, only to later die mysteriously in some desolate, uninhabited place.
However, these were digressions and temporarily aside. Let’s first talk about Li Tan. His sudden decision to come here was not for the purpose of a date with Tang Leyin, but because he recalled owing a significant debt to Norland Auction House.
A method of settling the debt had been agreed upon—selling medicinal pills. Therefore, he planned to purchase some materials for refining second-grade pills.
“What do you want to buy?”
“Some herbs for refining pills.”
Li Tan smiled happily beneath his mask.
“What a coincidence, me too.”
Tang Leyin slightly opened her mouth in surprise, as if recalling something, and asked with suspicion, “Master Li, you must have some expertise in pill refining. Why did you go to the Pill Pavilion for an assessment the day before yesterday?”
“This expertise isn’t much. I’m just an amateur rookie. As for the Pill Master rankings, I personally don’t care much about them.”
Upon finishing, Li Tan heard Tang Leyin’s soft laughter.
“Master Li, you’re too modest. If you’re considered a rookie, then there aren’t many skilled pill refiners left in the world.”
Li Tan originally wanted to say, “You’ve never even seen me refining pills, how can you know how skilled I am?”
But he thought it unnecessary to dwell on the issue and simply laughed it off.
He definitely didn’t expect that Tang Leyin would coincidentally witness the refining of the Nine Revolutions Green Spirit Pill.
Soon enough, the small Black Market was almost entirely explored, with nearly every stall visited. Tang Leyin returned empty-handed, while Li Tan managed to find a barely usable herb.
However, just as the two were about to leave, an unexpected incident occurred. Two mysterious figures, completely wrapped in black robes with gloomy eyes, had unknowingly begun tailing them. These mysterious figures were clearly no ordinary individuals. If not for Tang Leyin’s reminder, Li Tan wouldn’t have noticed them at all.
“The people behind us are probably the accomplices of that evil cultivator from yesterday.”
Pretending to know nothing, the two slowly walked forward as Tang Leyin whispered softly.
“They definitely are. Those guys’ stench could be smelled from across a river. But how did they find us? That doesn’t make sense.” After last night’s destruction of the black-clothed men’s inn, there were no other witnesses. Even if the black-clothed men’s faction was powerful, it shouldn’t have been possible for them to discover who was responsible for the attack so quickly.
Unless—”Our movements were leaked. Who could it be?”
Tang Leyin asked cautiously.
“It must be that old bastard. There’s no doubt. He probably told those black-clothed men about me rescuing Xiaoxue with Lin Cui, which led to us being targeted. But how did they find us so quickly?”
Frowning, Li Tan said doubtfully. Tang Leyin shared the same question, but for now, they had no clue. After pondering for a while without reaching any conclusion, they temporarily set the issue aside and resolved to first deal with the tailing behind them, as being followed was an uncomfortable feeling.
They exchanged a glance, silently understanding each other. Li Tan and Tang Leyin packed their belongings and slightly quickened their pace, exiting through a small door directly opposite the entrance. They passed through a corridor about ten meters long and emerged into a narrow alley.
Then they walked out of the alley, crossed several streets, passed a few buildings, and arrived at a secluded stream.
This stream was man-made, responsible for supplying water to the residents along the riverbank, and connected with the city moat. In the middle was a short stretch where a water disaster had once occurred. Driven by superstition, the residents had all moved away.
Perhaps there was a deeper reason behind it, but that was not the topic for now.
In any case, Li Tan and Tang Leyin stopped at this deserted riverside. They turned around together and Li Tan coldly spoke.
“The two behind, no need to hide anymore.”
“Hehehe…” an unpleasant raspy laughter came. From behind a tree no more than ten meters away from Li Tan, two thickly-robed figures emerged, their faces obscured and unrecognizable.
“Kid, how did you find me?” the taller man asked solemnly.
“You managed to find us, so you must have some ability. You’re at the Innate stage, right? No wonder Lin Suifeng, that useless fellow, couldn’t handle you.”
Lin Suifeng was Lin Clan’s second elder.
The speaker was the shorter man, his tone extremely flippant.
As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Leyin quietly muttered, “It really is him.” Li Tan shrugged noncommittally, then turned his gaze toward the two black-robed men.
“So, the two of you are here to avenge your vicious dog?”
“Hehehe, of course not. We wouldn’t care about the life or death of a dog.”
“Then what do you want with me?”
“Just to figure out one thing, that’s all. Haha. How could you, a useless brat, suddenly improve so dramatically in just a few days and beat up a beast?”
The shorter man’s tone became slightly more serious. The taller man spoke again, and the air seemed to freeze.
“As for the woman beside you, you were the one who destroyed our inn hideout yesterday, weren’t you? What is your relationship with Li Tan?”
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