The innkeeper was preparing to close up shop. Even though the city gates were open throughout the night, there were practically no customers at this hour.
After she had closed the door to the courtyard and turned around, she felt her eyes turn blurry and hurriedly blinked a few times.
There were obviously no other people in the lobby just now, but suddenly, there was a burly man standing at the counter.
"Bee Sting, have you seen any suspicious looking strangers?" the burly man had a square face, big eyes, and thick eyebrows. His looks could be considered rather majestic. He was big and tall, and even though it was nowhere near an aboriginal, he was still larger than the ordinary remnant citizens of the Hao Nation.
"Yo, this isn't the Lin Residence. What are you doing here today?" The lady boss immediately forced a smile as she looked at the man in front of her.
At the same time, questions ran through her mind.
This man is looking for strangers?
Who is he looking for?
Could it be those two upstairs?
Regardless of what place it was, there would be darkness wherever there was light. There would definitely be places beyond the reach of the light.
There was only one sect in Longshou City that had such power, the Death Toad Sect.
The burly man was Lin Yuan, a deputy chief of the Death Toad Sect. It was said that his strength was much higher than the chief's. Just because the sect chief saved his life once, he chose to remain a deputy ever since then. Even though he himself was much stronger than the Death Toad, he was considered someone trustworthy because he had remained loyal after so many years.
In Longshou City, he was considered someone pretty well established.
Even though the Death Toad Sect had gathered a bunch of local ruffians, which caused people to despise them for that, both the Death Toad and Lin Yuan had pretty solid martial arts skills. As a result, even the Nine Blades Sect wouldn't dare to provoke them.
"I'll leave after a couple of questions. It's pretty free and unfettered for you, Bee Sting, to be housed here in such a place. I was afraid that my men would not understand what etiquette was, so I came in person just to find more information," Lin Yuan said with a deep voice.
"Oh? It probably isn't a small matter since Deputy Chief Lin came personally? For you guys to make such big fuss, could it be that something has happened?" the lady boss softly replied as she leaned on the counter.
"Just tell me yes or no. One man and one woman. Both of them are young," Lin Yuan replied.
"You know our rules…" The lady boss rolled her eyes and looked at the second floor.
"Understood. Many thanks." Lin Yuan cupped his hands in gratitude.
He understood Bee Sting's meaning. Her rules were that nobody was allowed to cause trouble in her inn.
Nobody was allowed to touch her customers inside the inn.
"Where are they from?" Lin Yuan lowered his volume.
With a twitch of her body, the lady boss spoke softly as she sat on the bar counter with one hand resting on Lin Yuan's shoulder, "If you can show me that you are stronger than that idiot in my house, I'll tell you everything…"
"You must be kidding. Bee Sting and Jade Blade—I dare not offend this couple, " Lin Yuan answered as he took a step back.
"Are you despising us because we are old and faded?" the lady boss replied faintly. She circulated her gaze and captivated his soul.
Lin Yuan's heart thumped violently for a brief moment, but he quickly suppressed it.
The green snake bites, and the yellow bee stings. Bee Sting, one could tell what kind of a person she was just by her nickname.
The amount of people who wanted to get intimate with her, but ended up losing their lives, was as many as the number of carps crossing the river.
Reportedly, a prince from a warlord's family in the north was skinned alive by Bee Sting. He was indeed skinned alive. His skin was stuffed with straw, and his flesh was used to make stuffed buns.
After that, she was exposed and had no choice but to flee here.
After she escaped, it was said that over 10 puppets were found, and all of them were made of human skin and stuffed with straw.
Hence, she had another nickname and was called the Skin Craftsman.
"Look at your courage…" The lady boss stretched out her hand and drew a circle in front of him.
"Even though I'm rather gutsy, I know very well what I can do and what I can't…" Lin Yuan forced out a smile.
The lady boss grabbed ahold of his shirt and pulled him over. She took a few breaths close to his ear and murmured softly, "They said they were merchants from the Yun Nation, but I haven't seen any goods…"
"Many thanks." Lin Yuan immediately took a few steps back, cupped his hands, and vanished into the darkness.
The lady boss sneered after seeing that he had disappeared. After all, it would be good to have someone help her investigate the background of her guests.
…
Ren Baqian naturally didn't know that he had been under surveillance ever since he stepped foot into Longshou City. Furthermore, it wasn't just by a group of people.
Previously, he had painstakingly urged his students not to get into trouble. Never had he expected that nothing much had happened to them, but instead, he himself was being watched.
A night passed. The next morning, just as Ren Baqian opened the door, a body full of fragrance threw itself into his embrace.
"Hey…" A soft and charming voice sounded in surprise.
With quick reflexes, Ren Baqian lifted his arms to keep the other party away. While he was at it, he grabbed her twice, and it felt pretty good.
"Are you alright?" asked Ren Baqian as he pretended that nothing happened while he helped the lady who threw herself at him.
"I just wanted to ask if you would like to have breakfast, but never did I expect to slip and fall straight toward you." The lady boss's face was blushing a little. She stuck her chest out and brushed her hands gently across Ren Baqian's body as she stood up.
As Ren Baqian reminisced over the feel of her touch, he replied without any expression on his face, "Good to hear that you're fine. Prepare breakfast for two, and please do be more careful."
After sending the lady boss away, Ren Baqian shut his eyes. What had just happened was too much of a coincidence. She came and fell over as soon as he opened the door.
This Longshou City wasn't very big, but there were quite a number of demons and monsters around.
It was definitely more interesting to go out for a walk as compared to staying in the palace because there was more of the flavor of society. There wouldn't be any such experiences if he were to stay in the palace or remain by the empress's side.
Society was a place where all men were headed toward.
It was full of young and flirtatious married women, unmarried heroines, and cross-dressing beggars.
Ren Baqian's imagination flew around in his mind. He walked to the room next door, and the door immediately swung open as soon as he pushed on it. On the bed, Lin Qiaole lay sprawled out on her back with saliva drooling all over. She was wearing a piece of thin white cloth as a bra and a pair of shorts that were so form-fitting that they almost stuck to her body.
Ren Baqian reconfirmed her washboard figure, noting that it wasn't even as robust as his own pectoral muscles.
What a tragic story this was.
"Wake up. The sun is already shining on your bum…" Ren Baqian shouted as he stood beside the bed.
There was no response…
"Time to eat…"
"Oh, where?" Lin Qiaole immediately sat up with hazy eyes.
"Put on your clothes, and let's go down to eat."
…
After eating, Ren Baqian placed two grenades in his embrace and brought Lin Qiaole out for a walk. Along the way, he bought a money sack and placed the grenades in it before wearing it around his waist.
The duo walked the entire morning from the north part of the city to the south. Ren Baqian managed to conveniently find out more about his students.
After all, with so many aboriginals youths around, they would be pretty prominent, so it wasn't difficult to gather news about them.
They were all still in the city when Ren Baqian had arrived yesterday and had only left the city this morning.
Meanwhile, five disciples of the Nine Blades Sect entered the city flamboyantly riding dwarf horses.
"Let's first take a break and have some drinks. We shall continue with work in the afternoon," one young man suggested.
Everyone responded immediately, shouting, "Shao Yuan, this round of drinks shall be on you."
"Well said." That young man laughed and led everyone into a restaurant by the side of the road.
After everyone was full and had drank to their heart's' content, that young man brushed past someone as he walked downstairs and found a slip of paper in his hand.
When the rest weren't looking, he took a glance at that paper, and his thoughts were suddenly clear.
…
Just after Ren Baqian and Lin Qiaole left the restaurant, they spotted a commotion just ahead of them with people moving away to both sides of the road.
The clamor of horse hooves galloping hurriedly then sounded. The five disciples from the Nine Blades Sect sped along on their horses as they shouted, "Make way, make way!"
Ren Baqian initially stood indifferently by the road side with Lin Qiaole as they waited for the horses to pass. He didn't expect that one of the horses was actually running toward where they were standing. The young man on that horse shouted, "The horse has lost control. Make way, make way."
"He is doing that on purpose." As muddle headed as she could be, Lin Qiaole was still a Spirit Wheel expert, and her senses surpassed that of the ordinary people. She could see quite clearly that there was nothing wrong with the horse and that it only started heading toward them after the young man had spotted them.