In the latter half of the night, the guard shifts changed, and the three men returned to their quarters.
Li Qingxian did some last-minute cramming. He opened the book on Basic Daoist Skills that Zhou Chunfeng had given him, learned the ’Paperman’ Skill, and crafted four palm-sized paper figurines, which he then placed nearby.
The night passed peacefully.
Once they were on the road again, Li Qingxian deliberately fell to the back of the column. As he walked, he used Observing Fate and Qi to look at the middle-aged man named Nie Shan, one of Ye Han’s suspected accomplices.
He couldn’t see Nie Shan’s Qi Fortune, nor his Destiny Image.
He faintly sensed two strange powers blocking his Observing Fate and Qi.
Li Qingxian continued to walk as he made his inferences.
’One of the auras is similar to Ye Han’s; it must come from the protection of his Fate Grid. To Nie Shan, Ye Han is one of his Benefactors. The other power feels familiar. I’m sure I’ve sensed it somewhere before, but I can’t quite place it... Let me think...’
Li Qingxian racked his brain for a full hour before the memory of encountering the Emperor Star’s Fate Suppression in the Imperial Prison surfaced in his mind.
’Yes, that’s the feeling! It isn’t Emperor Taining’s personal power; it’s a Great Trend Formation. I understand now. It’s the Royal Family... the Royal Family and Relatives.’
A chill ran down Li Qingxian’s spine. No wonder Zhou Chunfeng refused to name the mastermind behind Ye Han—it involved the Royal Family.
Li Qingxian tried to recall which members of the Royal Family and their relatives Li Gangfeng had offended back then. He came up with seven different possibilities in an instant. ’There’s no way to know where to start. Forget it. This is exhausting.’
Li Qingxian then secretly observed the other three men. The result was the same: they were all protected by Ye Han’s Fate Grid and the Royal Family’s power. In fact, the protection from the Royal Family’s power was even stronger on two of them.
As for Ye Han himself, Li Qingxian glanced over but couldn’t see a thing.
Having reached a Grade Level, Ye Han was on a different level than before. Even if Li Qingxian exhausted all his Qi Fortune Fish, he wouldn’t be able to enter Ye Han’s Life Mansion.
Li Qingxian kept mulling it over.
’Nie Shan and the other three are shielded by the Royal Family’s Great Trend Formation. Without some external force, even if I enter their Life Mansions and see their Destiny Stars, I won’t be able to perceive their Destiny Images. It’s just like that day in the Disciplinary Hall; if the Guard Commander hadn’t spoken, I never would have seen the Ge Dynasty’s Destiny Image. If my Grade Level were higher and I had mastered more Fate Skills, I could secretly use all sorts of techniques—clashing, draining, afflicting, harming—and deal with them in minutes. But right now, I simply don’t have the strength.’
’So, the first step is to figure out how to weaken the protection of the Royal Family’s Great Trend Formation...’
Li Qingxian forced himself to think, recalling stories of Fate Masters, various rumors, and the mnemonic chants he had memorized. Without realizing it, his understanding of the relevant Fate Skills deepened.
The column advanced slowly. Along the way, they could vaguely make out desolate villages. Occasionally, they spotted disheveled, grimy people who, like wild animals, would stare from a distance before quickly scurrying away.
The harsh sun beat down. Under the clear morning sky, the column trudged slowly along the earthen road.
The crack of the whip against the ox’s hide grew more and more frequent.
They rounded a patch of overgrown wasteland and turned a corner. A shimmering, winding river snaked before them, the light glinting off its surface and dazzling their eyes.
"A river!"
"Lord Wuu, let’s go down for a swim and cool off."
"We can’t take this marching day and night anymore."
"We might be able to handle it, but the ox can’t!"
Wuu Jingtian’s expression softened. He waved a hand and declared, "We’ll rest by the river for two hours at noon today!"
The men cheered.
After speaking, Wuu Jingtian carefully surveyed the area.
Li Qingxian and Han Anbo also scanned their surroundings.
The river flowed through a low-lying channel, with slightly elevated banks lush with plants and trees. A single dirt path was the only thing parting the dense vegetation.
About a hundred yards to the left, a greyish-white stone bridge spanned the river, connecting the earthen roads on both banks.
On the opposite bank, behind a stretch of rolling earthen slopes and a copse of trees, the corner of a white wooden roof was visible.
Han Anbo said, "There’s a village ahead."
Wuu Jingtian nodded. "Pay them no mind. We’re here for Demon Hunting. We can worry about other things once we reach Dadong County."
The men hurried to the riverbank. The old ox picked up its pace as well. Once unhitched from the cart, it made a beeline for the water, bellowing as it drank.
More than half the men stripped off their clothes at the river’s edge and plunged into the water.
Some charged into the deep water for a swim, some waded in the shallows trying to catch fish and shrimp, while others simply gave themselves a thorough bath.
Li Qingxian stood on the bank, noticing that Ye Han and his four companions had not entered the water.
Suddenly, someone shouted, "Liuu Xiang, you son of a bitch! I’m downstream trying to drink, and you’re pissing upstream?"
"Bullshit! Can you even see my piss from there?"
"I can’t see the piss, but I can see you lying there in the water, shaking that little spout of yours."
"..."
The men roared with laughter and jeers.
A few of the men dumped the water from their bamboo canteens and headed further upstream to refill them, cursing Liuu Xiang all the way.
Liuu Xiang paid their curses no mind, lying back in the water with a grin as he basked in the sun, occasionally splashing water onto his face.
He had a burly build, but his eyes and brows were delicate. A single beauty mark sat just under the corner of his right eye like a teardrop. His light brown eyes reflected the shimmering, rippling surface of the river.
Li Qingxian watched the naked Night Guards in the water, feeling a pang of envy.
He thought for a moment, then decided against it. ’If Ye Han isn’t going in, then neither am I.’
SQUELCH, SQUELCH...
Under the sun, a massive, gleaming-white figure—a veritable snowman—stomped through the shallows and charged into the river. KER-PLUNK! The sound was like a thunderclap erupting from the riverbed.
Everyone whipped their heads around to look. In the middle of the churning waves, Yur Ping surfaced, contentedly wiping the water from his face.
Han Anbo cursed, "Yur Ping, if you’d put any more oomph into that, the wave would’ve knocked me right over!"
The men erupted in laughter.
After they’d had their fun for a while, a few of the younger Night Guards, led by Yur Ping, started trying to catch fish and shrimp.
Before long, as several Night Guards were preparing lunch, a funeral procession crested the slope on the opposite bank. Accompanied by the sounds of pipes and drums, they slowly made their way forward.
Some people carried white cloth banners, others scattered paper money that filled the air, and a few held long-burning lanterns. The people at the very front of the procession were wailing to the heavens, while behind them, several able-bodied young men shouldered a pitch-black coffin.
Han Anbo only needed a single glance to say, "That person was killed by a demon. See the coffin? It has slashes carved into it. That’s the people of Yanzhou’s way of imitating wolf claws, hoping their families will be spared from a similar fate."
Wuu Jingtian asked, "Is it dangerous?"
Han Anbo swept his gaze over the mourners at the front. "The family members have dark skin, rough hands, and are rail-thin. Their mourning clothes are old and worn; the deceased was poor. The fact that an ordinary person is getting a proper funeral means there haven’t been many deaths. If there were, they’d just be buried hastily. The procession has men and women, old and young, so they must not be afraid of the demon. This tells us the demon isn’t strong. It’s probably a solitary creature, no higher than Tenth Grade. It doesn’t dare enter the village and only picked off someone who was alone."
Wuu Jingtian frowned and said to a Night Guard beside him, "Go over to that procession and ask for a village head, an elder, or a Steward. Bring them here and find out what happened. We’re from the Demon Hunting Bureau; we should investigate."
The Night Guard went to meet the funeral procession while the others began to get dressed and climb out of the water.
A short while later, an old man wearing coarse brown clothes under his white mourning robes followed the Night Guard over. As he drew near, he saw the Iron Rhino Armor on Wuu Jingtian’s chest and the Brocade Robes worn by the others. He dropped to his knees with a thud and cried out, "I beg you, my lords from the Night Guard, please save Fangyuan Village! Two people have already died in the last ten days."
"State your name and tell us what’s happened," Wuu Jingtian asked.