After eating and drinking, Chu Li looked at the sky outside and got up to leave. Moh Ta proposed to help but Chu Li refused politely.
The sun was setting and the twilight was like a haze that covered the Earth.
The sunset glow tinted the sky red and dyed the entire Min State Town into the color of rose. The whole firmament and earth looked magnificent.
Chu Li went out of the residence silently and strolled casually, feeling the atmosphere of Min State Town and unknowingly arrived at the restaurant that Moh Ta said—Sunrise Restaurant.
This Min State Town's largest restaurant was about 20 meters high. Anyone standing on its rooftop can overlook the entire Min State Town.
Looking from below, a long white cloth was fluttering in the air and the words written on it using red vermillion was "Celestial Monkey Jiang Kuai is a son of a bitch", but it was covered by the residual brilliance of sunset so it was not very conspicuous
Chu Li smiled and walked into the Immortal Restaurant. He sat at a table on the third floor.
It was still early so there were not many people eating there. There were seven to eight tables occupied by people on the third floor and they were whispering about this matter. Sitting on the third floor, they can see the white cloth through the open window when they looked up. It was hard not to see it.
"Who is so idle? To do such an immoral thing!"
"Someone has nothing else better to do!"
"Celestial Monkey, I have heard his name. It is said that his levitation is peerless!"
"Just by hearing this alias, one would know that he has superb levitation. What does he look like?"
"Based on the alias, he must be ugly and barbarous!"
"Hahaha, nobody has ever seen Celestial Monkey. This guy is said to be quite mysterious in his whereabouts, appearing at one moment and disappearing the next!"
"If he saw this, surely he would fly into a rage!"
"Who is so unscrupulous? This is too mean!"
"It must be the enemy of Celestial Monkey."
"If he has the ability, he should just find Celestial Monkey himself for revenge. Is there really a need to use this kind of trick?"
"Celestial Monkey's levitation is superb. He can't find him to seek revenge so he can only use this trick!"
"If it is as you say, doing this is not unfounded?"
"It's definitely for revenge. Even if he can't seek revenge, at least he gets to blow off some steam. Anyways, Celestial Monkey is not a good person too!
"Hehe, could it be that Celestial Monkey stole your things before!"
"Hahaha, you think that Celestial Monkey will steal anything? Good old Feng has nothing worthy to be stolen by the Celestial Monkey! Even if you invite the other party to steal, the other party wouldn't even give a damn!"
"Nonsense! ... I have not been robbed before. A friend of mine got something stolen by Celestial Monkey and it was his family heirloom—the jade Guanyin [1]!"
"Did your friend see what Celestial Monkey looked like?"
"…No!"
"Then how did he know that it was stolen by Celestial Monkey?"
"Other than Celestial Monkey who has such levitation, who can steal the jade Guanyin hidden in a secret chamber?
"Hehe, not necessarily!"
"Anyways, it's most likely!"
Chu Li listened to their squabble and secretly shook his head. It seemed that most of Celestial Monkey's fame came from the dissemination of false rumors. Among ten things, he may have only done one or two, and the rest were all falsely blamed on him.
Activating the Omniscient Mirror, the scenes within three miles radius appeared in his mind.
The long white cloth was blowing in the wind. The Sunrise Restaurant was already brightly lit and under the lights, the vermillion writings on the white cloth were more conspicuous than during the day. It can be seen from everywhere in the town.
Chu Li drank a mouthful of fine wine and then took a piece of beef and chewed it slowly.
If Celestial Monkey really wanted to take action, he would either do it when there were a lot of people or when there was nobody. The best choice was when there were many people so he can fish in troubled waters.
With the passage of time, the night deepened and the Sunrise Restaurant became livelier.
Occasional clamor and music can be heard from the brightly lit restaurant and there were even sounds of laughter. Chu Li's eyes swept across the tables around him. All of the tables had asked for a musician. They listened to songs while they ate and drank, having the time of their lives.
Chu Li sat by himself at the window. He was pouring and drinking wine by himself, so he was quite eye-catching.
However, others saw that he was wearing a silk robe and there was an air of elegance and gracefulness around him. It was apparent that he was not an average person so nobody brought it upon themselves to provoke him.
"Look at what is written above!" Suddenly someone stopped in front of the Sunrise Restaurant and exclaimed while pointing at the white cloth.
The people around looked up and they had just noticed the words on the white cloth.
Chu Li shook his head. Most people usually do not look up at the sky, especially the signboard of Sunrise Restaurant as its towering buildings was the signboard itself.
More and more people gathered below and talked about it.
Chu Li revealed a smile. The crowd gathered too quickly and this was strange. It seemed that someone was pulling the strings behind and it must be Jiang Kuai.
People had the habit of being curious. They came in twos and threes and gathered around, pointing and talking. They were speculating who did this, saying that it was a disgrace to the educated class and scoffed that Sunrise Restaurant would actually lend out their signboard and a businessman who pursued material gains to such an extent was really disheartening!
"Chi!" a soft hiss suddenly sounded and a ray of light shot towards the white cloth.
"Ah!" People exclaimed in surprise and scattered.
The pole with the thickness of a baby's arm and the length of 20 meters fell slowly. If this fell on a person, it will definitely crush that person to death. Nobody wanted to suffer this.
Fortunately, the pole was long enough and it fell slowly, so it eventually hit the roof of a house next to it and this stopped its fall. The white cloth written with words fell onto the ground.
Chu Li's gaze sharpened and he saw the person who shot the pole down.
A slender young man shot a small pebble with his fingers and broke the pole. The power of this move was astonishing. He admitted with regret that he was not as good as that young man. It was obviously a unique martial art technique.
The youth looked valiant. With a sneer at the corner of his mouth, he glanced at the white cloth. He then blended into and ran together with the crowd.
Chu Li had set his eyes on him, but he did not forget to pay attention to the surroundings too. Under the Omniscient Mirror, every face and the subtle facial expressions on them were presented in his mind.
Other than that valiant young man, there was nothing strange with the others.
Chu Li looked into the mind of that valiant young man and was immediately stunned. His facial expression changed slightly.
The people on the third floor flocked in front of the window, overlooking the chaos below, breathing sighs of amazement again and again and discussing it. They were dubious about how the signboard which was perfectly fine one moment will fall down the next moment, it was too dangerous!
Some people felt that it must be because God could not bear watching it, so He cut the signboard.
Some people felt that this was a coincidence. Sunrise Restaurant was already 50 years old, and the signboard should have been replaced. No matter how thick the wooded pole was, it was exposed to the sun, wind, and rain all year round. If not today, it will not take too long to fall too.
Chu Li watched the youth's action in his mind and, all of a sudden, disappeared from the table.
The valiant young man followed the crowd and left the Sunrise Restaurant, and then blended into the people coming and going on the street, and finally, after three turns and another two, he went into a winding alley.
The small alley was quiet and the stone pavement glistened in blue light under the lights of the strings of lanterns.
Chu Li suddenly appeared ten meters behind the valiant young man and yelled, "Jiang Kuai!"
The valiant young man's figure paused momentarily but he continued walking.
Chu Li shouted, "Jiang Kuai, what did you do to Yi Public House's item?"
The valiant young man's facial expression changed slightly, but his footsteps did not falter and he kept walking forward as if he did not hear him. Soon, he disappeared in the corner of the alley.
A trace of smile appeared in the corner of Chu Li's mouth. Who would have thought that Celestial Monkey's appearance was so dignified, with no hint of a monkey's look? Even if he walked on the street, nobody would believe that he was the Celestial Monkey. The wonders of the world were often surprising!
From Jiang Kuai's mind, he saw where the Longevity Grass was. He breathed out a long sigh of relief and thanked God.
Fortunately, Celestial Monkey was a clever man. The Longevity Grass was fine, but Chu Li only saw a secret chamber from his mind. It was not clear where the secret chamber was located so Chu Li still needed to ask a few more questions.
With this thought, his figure blurred and he disappeared in a flash.
Translator Notes
[1] Guanyin is an East Asian bodhisattva associated with compassion as venerated by Mahayana Buddhists and followers of Chinese folk religions. She is commonly known as the "Goddess of Mercy" in English. The Chinese name Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, meaning "[The One Who] Perceives the Sounds of the World".
(Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin)