Following the non-stop arrival of many Wanderers, the atmosphere in Pingxi City was on the rise.
In a few short days, it was as if the entire province's Wanderers had rushed to Pingxi City. In the main streets of the city, within the restaurants, you could see those Wanderers everywhere with their red headbands tied around their foreheads. They wore full martial regalia and carried their bows on their backs without concern.
King Cobra had yet to be caught, but with the arrival of these Wanderers, it had become a giant test of peacekeeping within Pingxi City. For the enforcers from the city's Law Enforcement Office, putting aside King Cobra, they already had enough trouble and were being run ragged on a day-to-day basis dealing with these Wanderers. Each Wanderer was not only a skilled warrior — they were also untameable — to expect these Wanderers to follow the rules was completely impossible. Not to mention, those Wanderers were already used to and had great experience in dealing with bureaucrats and the Law Enforcement Office. Even if you knew that some things were caused by the Wanderers, there was nothing you could do about it.
During the day, it was alright. Those Wanderers only wandered around a bit outside. But once night fell and the sky darkened, those Wanderers would be on the move — each of them wore a black scarf to hide their face as they started to go from wall to wall within Pingxi City, looking for clues while disregarding the law.
Even the small room that Yan Liqiang had rented near Nine Dragons Bridge was searched through for two nights. It was just that Yan Liqiang only pretended to be oblivious and asleep — those people that were investigating only opened up the roof tiles to have a look. After finding nothing, they left.
Since King Cobra had done his business at the Shatu people's quarters, once those Wanderers arrived in Pingxi City, many of them went to investigate that area.
However, the Shatu people within Pingxi City had long been spoilt and arrogant. Though their area was within Pingxi City, they had long since considered the west side of Pingxi City to be their self-sufficient, self-governed territory. Even Pingxi City's bailiffs found it hard to get in under normal circumstances.
After this, the area where the Shatu people converged suddenly became very popular.
The government officials and normal people within Pingxi City all weren't willing to upset those Shatu people, but those Wanderers didn't care at all. From the 2nd of eleventh lunar month onwards, for several nights in a row, there were incidents in the area the Shatu people lived.
First, it was some Shatu scouting groups who had some run-ins with the Wanderers in their area. A few of the Shatu scouts died from that. Afterwards, there were fires two nights in a row in the Shatu people's quarters. When the 5th of the eleventh lunar month came along, Yan Liqiang even heard that the Shatu people went to the Law Enforcement Office to report an offense, saying that several people had mysteriously disappeared from their quarters overnight.
The fate of those missing Shatu people wasn't of much interest to Yan Liqiang. Based off the case of the missing Shatu people, he instead was interested in was the fact that he could tell that out of the Wanderers that were currently in Pingxi City, there were some that were not only courageous but also intelligent. They had already discovered King Cobra's values, which could be worth well over the bounty of one thousand taels of gold.
This was because during the night of the incident, it wasn't just one warehouse that was targeted. The real loss for the Shatu people were those things that went missing from Aligujin's residence. It was just that the latter was never advertised by the Shatu people, and therefore the people within Pingxi city did not know much about it. However, in reality, when Yan Liqiang had left Aligujin's place, he still left quite a lot of clues. He killed many Shatu people while he was leaving. He specifically killed them during the time that Aligujin had left his residence and when all of the Shatu people were lured away by the warehouse fire. If someone was observant enough to look into the time and place of King Cobra's first appearance that night, then they would probably discover something.
After all, a move like luring the tiger out of the cave wasn't something that was too intelligent. It was just that the target involved in it couldn't uncover the truth.
It was naturally impossible to find out what had happened that night from the Shatu people. But if you kidnapped a few Shatu people and used a few tricks, those Wanderers that had gathered in Pingxi City could definitely piece together the majority of what had happened that night. They might even be able to discover the secret of what had laid beneath that burned down warehouse.
Also, anyone wanting to leave Pingxi City over the last few days had to have their personal belongings checked, which was a change from the norm. The word on the street was that this sort of check at the city gates was not only to catch King Cobra. To catch him, you didn't need to check everyone's personal belongings and luggage. This sort of detailed search could only be attributed to the fact that on King Cobra's person, there was probably something worth an enormous amount of money.
Yan Liqiang didn't know if the Wanderers were communicating with each other, but within a few short days, he could clearly feel that the Wanderers within Pingxi City were increasing in numbers; those Wanderers were also becoming much bolder.
Apart from appearing in the Shatu people's territory, in the last few days, when night fell, the richer households in Pingxi City would also be disturbed by those Wanderers. You could almost hear about those household security personnel having run-ins with the Wanderers on a daily basis. At the Law Enforcement Office, the number of cases and complaints about stolen valuables also dramatically increased.
There were honorable ones amongst the Wanderers, but there was no lack of those who were less scrupulous: they were willing to label themselves as Robin Hood to steal from the rich and to give to the poor when they were short on gold by doing some shady business. Even worse, the petty criminals within Pingxi City took this opportunity to also come out of the woodworks.
During the night, when those Wanderers were on the move, they were always wearing a headscarf or something to cover their features. As long as you didn't catch them in the act, even if you knew one of the Wanderers in the city had done it, you still wouldn't be able to find them.
Apart from the breakdown of security inside the city, the check at the city gates also became very detailed and a waste of time. Every day, outside Pingxi City gates, it was blocked for several hundred meters by people and carts. If you wanted to go out of the city, you had to wait for at least an hour in line at the gates. All the citizens of the city complained...
In a few short days, the entirety of Pingxi City became a zoo; it was utter pandemonium. If you walked onto the main streets to have a look at any time, you would see many armed people around, several times the number there were previously.
Due to the security of Pingxi City suddenly becoming a disaster, with too many random people hanging about on the streets along with the apparent disappearance of King Cobra, the martial arts academy made their new students go out onto the streets to look for him. When the 7th of elevent lunar month rolled around, the martial arts academy also stopped forcing all their new students onto the streets on a daily basis. Of course, if you wanted to, the martial arts academy wouldn't stop you. In fact, they might even offer you a few words of praise.
It was also on the 7th of eleventh lunar month that Yan Liqiang walked into the library at the Martial Academy. After borrowing a large amount of historical and cultural texts as cover, he also borrowed another pile of other types of books and started to rapidly flip through them rapidly in the library.
Good things came to those who waited, and Yan Liqiang finally found the answer he was seeking in a book called the 'Gifted Soldiers Manual'.
That blackish metal cylinder's real name was called the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon. A secretive sect called the Dragon Demon Island Sect that existed outside the bounds of the Han Empire created them and each Thunderfire Dragon Cannon could only be used once. When used, the cannon would spit out terrifying, high-temperature fire dragons that could cover great distances. It could melt metal within ten zhang and could not be shielded against. This Thunderfire Dragon Cannon was considered a simple killing method for close distances. From the book, people whose cultivation level was less than Martial Grandmaster could possibly find it difficult to safely combat the firepower of the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon.
And from another book, Yan Liqiang found another answer.
He obtained the thing within the black bottle that was sealed inside with wax — that was a soul-stealing poison, a type of terrifying poison that originated from the Han Empire's Death Valley. This type of poison did not have color or substance and it easily blended in with water. Using just one drop mixed with food could kill hundreds of people. If you put it on your weapon, it was like antiaris toxicaria, it could kill within the blink of an eye.
Now knowing what the uses were for those two things he had on hand, Yan Liqiang quickly put one of them into use.
After a week's worth of silence, Yan Liqiang began moving once again...