SFS Chapter 57 Inside Story
Chapter 57 Inside Story
After having breakfast, Zhou Qiuyuan headed towards the West City Market.
He hadn't walked far when he stopped in front of a steamed bun stall, took out a dozen or so coins and bought a few meat buns.
While eating a meat bun, Zhou Qiuyuan casually turned his head and glanced around.
Sure enough, a familiar figure came into view.
Gu Lin disguised himself as a vendor selling candied hawthorns, his eyes unconsciously glancing at the steamed bun shop.
He avoided Zhou Qiuyuan's gaze and loudly proclaimed, "Selling candied hawthorns! Delicious candied hawthorns!"
This guy followed us.
This is a bit troublesome!
Before, I would simply follow the established path of spiritual practice, living a monotonous life.
In the past ten days, after deducting the allowances and rewards for the twenty-eight members of Dark Night, Zhou Qiuyuan has earned more than 400,000 coins through Dark Night. Even if Dark Night were to cease operations for a month, it would not be a problem.
Things are different now. He had just received news that it might be a magical artifact used by cultivators and wanted to verify the information.
Leaving aside the bad luck brought by a sycophant, once Gu Lin learns about the cultivator's magical artifacts and informs Lu Chengping, things will get really messy.
Having luckily obtained a magical artifact from a cultivator, one must still guard against Lu Chengping's sneak attacks and hidden arrows.
The only thing we can do is find a way to get rid of it.
Zhou Qiuyuan munched on a meat bun and headed towards the north of the city, pretending to be heading to his sect's secluded courtyard for cultivation.
He kept glancing at the restaurants he passed, wondering whether he should go inside and then slip away through the back door.
This is too obvious. Gu Lin will definitely guess that he has been exposed and that this will only create more trouble.
An exposed spy is always better than an unknown threat.
As Zhou Qiuyuan turned into an alley, he saw four children, about six or seven years old, playing a game of grass fighting, their faces beaming with bright smiles.
The smile seemed contagious, and it also appeared on Zhou Qiuyuan's face.
"Aren't you Old Liu's kid? Brother Zhou hasn't seen you for a while. I just passed by and saw someone selling candied hawthorns. I'll treat you each to one."
"You've mistaken me for someone else..."
When the child with his hair in a topknot vehemently denied it, a rather clever child reached out and covered his mouth, frantically winking at his playmate.
Their family wasn't wealthy, and they had only eaten candied hawthorns a handful of times in their lives. Since someone was willing to treat them to candied hawthorns, they certainly couldn't pass up the opportunity.
"My mother said we must not lie."
Zhou Qiuyuan was surprised to encounter such an honest child. He smiled, patted the child's head, and took out twelve copper coins from his pocket.
"It's fate that we met, so let me treat you to a meal!"
The four children happily accepted the copper coins and thanked the kind-hearted man, saying, "Thank you, big brother."
Zhou Qiuyuan smiled and pointed to the street they had come from, and the four of them ran over there on their toes.
Just then, Gu Lin, disguised as a candied hawthorn vendor, approached the street. Children surrounded him, holding up coins to buy candied hawthorns.
Gu Lin was about to push away the clueless little child when he saw Zhou Qiuyuan looking over with a smile. His expression froze, and he could only take the copper coins and hand over four strings of candied hawthorns.
Having just dealt with the four little children, when she turned around to look again, Zhou Qiuyuan had already disappeared without a trace.
He quickened his pace and looked around, but could no longer find the figure in gray.
Zhou Qiuyuan shook off his pursuers, changed direction several times, and headed towards the West Market district.
As they passed through an empty alley, purple lightning flashed across Zhou Qiuyuan's face, and his flesh seemed to come alive, writhing continuously.
After making slight adjustments to his appearance, he transformed into an ordinary-looking young man, then turned around and went into a clothing store to change into a brown coat.
After changing his clothes and appearance, even people who knew him well could not recognize him.
After finishing everything, Zhou Qiuyuan walked unhurriedly into an alleyway.
This alleyway is close to the bustling city center, and there are beggars lying on the road. When they see someone coming, they all beg, "Sir, please have mercy."
A beggar in tattered clothes was much stronger than an ordinary beggar, and his eyes did not have the lifeless look of the beggar, but rather a hint of cunning.
This person is Huang Shisan, a member of the Dark Night faction.
He maintained his identity as a beggar, wandering the bustling streets and alleys, gathering intelligence for Dark Night.
Huang Shisan did not recognize the Dark Night Deacon who had changed his appearance. He spoke similar auspicious words as the other beggars.
Zhou Qiuyuan gave each person three coins and headed straight for the teahouse not far away.
This is the source of the intelligence.
The teahouse was very quiet, with only the owner and waiter present. Zhou Qiuyuan ordered a pot of tea and sat down on the first floor to wait quietly.
An hour passed in the blink of an eye, and the teahouse business remained slow. Zhou Qiuyuan changed the tea three times, without showing any impatience on his face.
It wasn't that Huang Shisan's information was wrong, but rather that Zhou Qiuyuan didn't want to miss the opportunity and arrived an hour early.
"Waiter, bring me a pot of good tea! I'm dying of thirst!"
Two strong-looking men entered the teahouse. They looked quite similar, suggesting they might be related by blood.
They glanced at Zhou Qiuyuan, who was resting with his eyes closed, and then looked away without paying any attention.
This person's blood and energy were not abundant; even if he was a body cultivator, he was still a novice with low skill. The two were only one step away from the Vajra Realm and looked down on such a minor character, heading straight for the second floor.
The second floor was deserted. The two found a place to sit down and began to talk in hushed tones.
Zhou Qiuyuan stayed on the first floor instead of the second floor to prevent himself from becoming a variable that would cause the two to stop exchanging information.
In doing so, we would lose an opportunity to verify the information.
Do you really think I can't hear you just because you're far away?
Just then, Huang Shisan arrived at the teahouse, took out a coin and asked the innkeeper for a bowl of tea, while looking at the kind man not far away with a strange expression.
Zhou Qiuyuan seemed oblivious, quietly channeling his lightning spiritual power into his ears.
"It would be so much better if we just stayed in the inner city to cultivate. The higher-ups insist that we search for cultivators from Tianqiao City in the outer city. This is such a chore."
"Brother, you're the most well-informed, do you know something inside?"
"You've come to the right person!" Another voice paused, with a hint of smugness in it. "My sister-in-law warms the manager's bed. Half a month ago, when I was making love with her, she said she overheard people from Tianqiao City trying to exchange magical artifacts for Dao soldier quotas from above."
"After investigating, they found out that the other party was from the Chu family, a family of cultivators in Tianqiao City, so they planned to steal the magic weapon and kill them to silence them."
"Unexpectedly, this person was just a shield placed in the open by the Chu family. He only obtained a flawed magic artifact to cover up his true intentions, and all his efforts were in vain."
"The higher-ups don't want to miss this big fish. They want to find the Chu family and their assets for a comeback, so they sent us to search everywhere."
"These are cultivators after all; we can't confront them head-on." He took a sip of water, paused, and continued, "As long as we find a member of the Chu family who is suspected of being a cultivator, reporting this matter will be a great achievement."