They were really lucky to find traces of Jiang Kuai. He must not let this clue go to waste. He wished he had a pair of wings to fly there. To him, a thousand miles was not far.
"Don't you need to go back and prepare?" Su Ru said, "Get some clothes to change."
Chu Li shook his head and said, "I don't have time to care about that. This is a rare opportunity. I'll go immediately and I might be able to reach there overnight!"
"Very well," Siao Qi nodded slightly and said, "Be careful of Jiang Kuai. Not only is his levitation peerless, his martial arts are very powerful too. It was said that he has a profound fist technique. Do not think that only his levitation is good and overlook his fist technique!"
Chu Li smiled, "This is only natural. I will take my leave now!
Siao Qi waved her hand slightly, "Go."
"Chu Li, wait a moment. I'll get some things for you," Su Ru said in a hurry and quickly left.
She brought a bag and handed it to Chu Li, "There is some food inside. Since you have to run for one night, you'll need to eat something."
Chu Li took the bag with a smile and then disappeared in a flash.
He exerted Imminent Skyline to the best of his ability. The surrounding spiritual energy, like a raging tidal bore, turned into inner energy immediately after entering his body, supporting the continuous display of Imminent Skyline.
When dawn came, he had arrived in Min State.
Tracing the unique symbol used by the Public House, he found a household.
It was a wealthy family. The door was big and the courtyard was enormous. The residence has four layers, with a backyard garden. It was magnificent and majestic.
He went into the residence directly in a flash and appeared in front of the woodshed. This woodshed had the unique symbol of the Public House.
He knocked on the door and there came a thunderous voice, "Who?"
Chu Li said, "Chu Li."
The door of the woodshed was opened. The one inside was a tall and heavily built brawny man. He was more than thirty years old, with a dark complexion and a pair of bright piercing eyes. His spirit energy full and strong.
He appeared to know some martial art but he did not reach Innate Mastery's Boundary.
Chu Li handed a white Jade waist tag to him, "Public House's rank four Scribe Chu Li."
A rank four Scribe's waist tag was made of white jade. It was warm and translucent, a peerless jade, highlighting the wealth of the Public House. This piece of fine jade can definitely be sold for 10,000 taels silver.
"Please, come in!" the brawny man looked at the jade tag carefully and handed over his ebony waist tag to Chu Li, "Moh Ta. You can call me Elder Moh Ta!"
Chu Li cast a glance at the ebony waist tag and stepped into the woodshed. He did not sit down but said instead, "Brother Moh Ta, let's just skip the courtesy. This is urgent. Where is Jiang Kuai?"
"Can't find him anymore," Moh Ta touched his head and gave an awkward and bitter smile.
Chu Li lifted one brow.
Moh Ta sighed, "I did not see Jiang Kuai with my own eyes. One of my informants met Jiang Kuai in the restaurant, but he immediately lost Jiang Kuai!"
Chu Li frowned and pondered.
Moh Ta said, "Maybe Jiang Kuai is not in Min State anymore. This guy is very vigilant. Once he found out that someone was trailing him, he immediately fled and was gone in an instant!"
Chu Li nodded. This was indeed Jiang Kuai's style. Once he saw that something was wrong, he would run away, obeying the rule of "of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is best" [1].
"I ask someone to inquire about Jiang Kuai's whereabouts too but no one saw Jiang Kuai again, so I suspect that he has left."
Chu Li sighed, "What a difficult guy!"
"He's a slippery guy. I had mobilized the informants all over the town but still, nobody saw him so he should have left." Moh Ta said apologetically, "It's all my fault. I should have told them to pretend that they did not know anything after seeing him and to not track him."
"Even if they did not track him, he will not stay for long too," Chu Li waved his hand, "He will not stay in the same place for a long time."
Moh Ta nodded, "I'm really sorry for troubling you to come here for naught!"
Chu Li said, "Not necessarily for naught... I still need Brother Moh Ta's help for one thing."
"Please say," Moh Ta said hurriedly.
He felt a little guilty. What he did was a little unfair. He was afraid that the Public House would blame him for his negligence. Just when he was a little hesitant about reporting the situation, someone from the Public House had arrived.
Chu Li said, "Can you hang a white cloth in the highest point of the town with 'Jiang Kuai is a son of a bitch' written on it?"
"Ah—?" Moh Ta's eyes widened.
Chu Li smiled, "Since he does not show up, we can curse him and see whether he is in the town or not."
"This...," Mota smiled bitterly, "Doing this is..."
"Underhanded?" Chu Li smiled, "He stole our things. Scolding him a little is nothing much, right?"
"Of course cursing him in private was nothing," Moh Ta gave a wry smile, "But to hang it in such a high place, isn't it going overboard?"
"It's to force him out," Chu Li shrugged and said, "We can only use such strategy."
"But his levitation is peerless, even if he really shows up, we can't do anything to him, isn't it?" Moh Ta said.
Chu Li said, "If he appears, leave the rest to me."
"It seems that Brother Chu's levitation is quite good," Moh Ta laughed.
It was no wonder. Since the Public House sent him here, he must be someone who had an extraordinary levitation. Otherwise, he did not have to come here. In addition, he came here so quickly thus his levitation was indeed incredible.
"I'll count on Brother Moh Ta," Chu Li waved his hand.
"Jiang Kuai's levitation was top-notch so he is very arrogant. Although he knows that this is a trap, he will still show up," Moh Ta snorted, "This unbridled guy will definitely tear this piece of white cloth!"
Chu Li smiled.
Jiang Kuai was no great evil, he just liked to snatch things and called it an act of robbing the rich to assist the poor.
With this style of conduct, he offended a lot of people but he was still able to live as a free man. There were two reasons: one was that he had excellent levitation and second was that he was very cautious. He might not necessarily fall into the trap.
However, this time, he went too far. Longevity Grass was a life-saving item. Snatching it was the equivalent of ending Second Lady's life. It was tantamount to murder.
"Brother Chu, please take a break in my place. I'll send someone immediately to do the task." Moh Ta said.
Chu Li nodded slightly and gave a fist salute, "I have troubled you."
Moh Ta waved his hand, "This is within the scope of my job. You don't have to be so polite."
He had a vigorous and resolute temper. He gave Chu Li a fist salute and turned to go out, closing the woodshed door when he went out.
Chu Li sat on the bed and meditate.
Manifesting Imminent Skyline and ran overnight with endless inner energy was a huge burden on his body. Luckily, his Sentient Menace had reached the fourth level so he was able to bear it.
At noon, Moh Ta returned and brought Chu Li some food and wine.
They drank wine and ate food while they chatted.
Moh Ta told Chu Li about what he did. He bribed the largest restaurant in town and replaced its signboard with the white cloth, fluttering in the breeze and visible to the whole Min State Town.
Moh Ta laughed and said that as long as Jiang Kuai was still in town, unless he was willing to be a coward, or else he would not stay quiet.
Having peerless levitation and towering arrogance, how can Jiang Kuai be able to tolerate this? If he really can swallow his pride, then Moh Ta would have to hand it to him and admire him form the bottom of his heart!
Chu Li listened to Moh Ta's laughter, shook his head and laughed too in spite of himself.
"Brother Chu, tonight we guard the restaurant and see if he shows up!"
"It's okay, I'm fine on my own."
"You alone?" Moh Ta frowned, "More people, more power."
Chu Li shook his head and said, "There's no use even if there's a lot of people"
"...Okay," When Moh Ta saw that Chu Li was very confident, he had a sudden interest to watch the show, to see if this rank four Scribe sent by the Public House had an amazing levitation.
In his heart, he admired Chu Li and was a little jealous of Chu Li too.
With his martial arts, he can only stay in this remote Min State. In comparison with Chu Li, they were like a heaven and an earth!
He would like to see what skills Chu Li had. If things were screwed up, the Public House will know but it was not due to his incompetence, it was because Jiang Kuai was too powerful!
Chu Li can see his thoughts clearly but he pretended to not know. This was human's nature so one cannot be overcritical. It will be fine as long as Moh Ta did not obstruct him.
Translator Notes
[1] 三十六计,走为上计 is translated into "of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is best". The Thirty-six Stratagems was a Chinese essay used to illustrate a series of stratagems used in politics, war, and civil interaction. Fleeing is the last stratagem (36th) in this essay. It explains that if it becomes obvious that you will be defeated, retreating or fleeing is the best course of action. It later becomes an idiom that means when things reached a point where nothing can be done to resolve it, you can only flee.