Chapter 268 - 190: Er Lang Appears
"No rush, take a look at these two items."
As Chen Ku spoke, he took out from his backpack the head of Yao Wensu, preserved with lime and ice, and a relic from Huang Muxia’s body, whom he had burned to death not long ago, a jade pendant representing Huang Muxia’s identity.
"This is..." The middle-aged man immediately examined the head in front of him. With a touch of his fingers, he understood its identity: "The Fourth Realm Demon from Peace Path?"
His expression slightly changed: "Who is this person?"
"Yao Wensu, Incense Master of the Snake Fish Town branch of Peace Path."
Chen Ku said:
"That jade pendant belongs to Huang Muxia. I remember there’s also a reward for Huang Muxia with you guys."
"What?"
The middle-aged man was shocked, looking incredulously at Er Lang in front of him.
He initially thought that his opponent was relying on poisoning Xie Wenyuan, perhaps just having some hidden powerful means since poisoning does not represent true strength, but the Incense Master of the Fourth Realm from Peace Path and the city’s eighth expert, Huang Muxia...
They were both among the best of the Fourth Realm Experts!
"Huang Muxia was killed by you?" he swallowed hard.
Huang Muxia’s disappearance had happened just a few days ago, rumored to be missing, but it turned out he was killed by the person in front of him?
"Let’s settle the accounts, I’m in a hurry. By the way, no silver notes, I want gold notes." Chen Ku frowned slightly, suddenly smelling his brother-in-law Li Yuancheng’s scent nearby; it seemed like someone from the government was indeed watching the Grey Clothes Tower.
The middle-aged man heard the urgency in Chen Ku’s voice.
Immediately, without hesitation, previously he valued Chen Ku because he could complete tricky tasks, but now it was entirely because of his strength.
A Blade-Handler who could easily assassinate Fourth Realm Experts!
Who knows, maybe one day he’d bring the heads of Shangguan Yun and Yang Luochen. With such terrifying power, how could one not respect and dare not be negligent?
Shortly after, the other party came out holding a money box:
"In total, it’s one hundred and sixty-five thousand taels, we charge a five thousand commission, here’s one hundred and sixty thousand taels converted into gold notes, equivalent to eighty thousand taels of gold. You can redeem it at any Qiu Dragon Ticket Number establishment, take care of it."
Chen Ku collected the gold notes and said:
"Thanks, I’ll be leaving now, farewell."
The middle-aged man suggested: "The guest might want to leave through the secret door of the Grey Clothes Tower, it’s safer."
He was considering maintaining the reputation of their Grey Clothes Tower. If Chen Ku left from here and really got noticed and captured by someone from the government, wouldn’t it tarnish the reputation of the Grey Clothes Tower?
Chen Ku, however, said: "No need."
One must be cautious of the Grey Clothes Tower, such unfamiliar organizations dealing in assassin business should not be trusted too much.
The middle-aged man, seeing this, did not say more; since the other party was confident, so be it.
Chen Ku left the Grey Clothes Tower, slipped into an empty alley, activated the Earth Tunneling ability of the Five-colored Peacock, and returned to his own small courtyard from the black market district.
Not long after Chen Ku left, people from the government staring at the bounty list inside the Grey Clothes Tower saw the bounties for ’Xie Wenyuan,’ ’Huang Muxia,’ and the Incense Master ’Yao Wensu’ from Peace Path being taken down and marked with a tick.
Er Lang had appeared!!
Wang Yixian arrived nearby the Grey Clothes Tower immediately.
"Report to the Chief Constable; there was a person in a conical hat. Shortly after he entered and left, the Grey Clothes Tower took down those three bounties... We suspect he is the Er Lang! Even Huang Muxia was killed by this person!"
"Which way did he go?"
"That way, our men have started a house-to-house search, asking if anyone has seen a similar person."
Just as Wang Yixian quickly conducted the search.
Inside the Hongyan Tower.
Di Jianqing and two others had also heard the news, especially after hearing that Yao Wensu’s head was submitted for the bounty, the silhouette of that young man immediately surfaced in their minds.
"It’s him! He’s made his appearance!"
Meanwhile,
The people sent by Qin Yuxian received the news as well and reported it to Qin Yuxian immediately.
Qin Yuxian also arrived at where Master Uncle Shan Lingguan was immediately.
Inside a kitchen.
Upon hearing that the ’Triple Spirit Body’ youth had surfaced, Shan Lingguan immediately stood up, disregarding the snake soup he was cooking, and asked:
"Found him? Where is he? What’s his name? What is his background?"
"Currently, it’s only known that the youth’s code name is ’Er Lang’ within the Grey Clothes Tower and he accepted several tasks targeting Peace Path. Additionally, he poisoned Xie Family’s old shopkeeper Xie Wenyuan, and recently killed Huang Muxia of the Twin Rivers Guild. He even hunted the Nine-Colored Deer at one time..."
Qin Yuxian said slowly:
"Though he hasn’t been located yet, the government is also searching for him, but there’s at least one thing that can be confirmed; this person is possibly from Baojiao County, or he might have come from the Yuan Country because when he took on the first task from the Grey Clothes Tower, no one from Qiu Dragon Mansion had come to Baojiao County yet."
"Baojiao County?"
Shan Lingguan pondered:
"Is there such a person in Baojiao County?"
"Yes!"
Qin Yuxian suddenly spoke:
"There’s one person who’s quite suspicious and once clearly exhibited a ’Fire-element Physique’?"
Shan Lingguan shook his head and said: "Are you referring to Fu Huangfei? It’s not him."
"No, it’s not Fu Huangfei."
Hearing Qin Yuxian’s words.
Shan Lingguan asked in surprise: "Other than Fu Huangfei, who else has a Fire-element Physique?"
"This person is called Chen Ku; I’ve met him and even gave him a Martial Arts Gold Order."
Qin Yuxian said:
"This information was actually gathered by Qin Fang and the others in the past few days. Before we came to Baojiao County, this Chen Ku, a prodigy from Medicine King Hall, once had a showdown at the ’Wharf Fighting’ contest with someone in the Twin Rivers Guild in Baojiao County. One of the contests was to wear heated iron boots, and this son managed to take thirty-six steps in place while wearing the hot iron boots without a scratch... At that time, some suspected he might have some special bloodline and Physique, but later, as various prodigies came to Baojiao County, nobody mentioned it much until you recently talked about accepting a disciple. When you encountered someone with a Triple Spirit Body, it prompted Qin Fang and the others to track down this event.
After all, they aren’t locals; without inquiry and investigation, such things wouldn’t be known immediately.
"What? There’s such a thing..." Shan Lingguan said softly: "Are you saying this Chen Ku is Er Lang?"
"Originally, the suspicion towards him was just a little, as your requirement was for a Triple Spirit Body, but he only exhibited a portion of the ’Fire-element Physique,’ at most just like Fu Huangfei..."
Qin Yuxian said:
"Until he went and submitted Yao Wensu’s head, along with Huang Muxia’s head, and Xie Wenyuan’s head; inevitably it reminds one that these two people... both had immense animosity or at least enmity with Chen Ku, or at least with the Medicine King Hall, especially Huang Muxia, who even schemed against him with others."
Also, considering that this son possesses divine power and seems to have considerable spiritual power, which he used to effortlessly dismiss Fu Huangfei’s pursuit.
He recalled the time in the backyard of the county government office when Shangguan Yun tested Chen Ku with spiritual power.
At that time, he had a suspicion whether this person was the disciple heir Master Uncle was looking for?
That was why he was willing to gift Chen Ku a breathing technique to harmonize his spirit.
Otherwise, even though he had a habit of mentoring promising talents, it would not warrant such kindness to a stranger met for the first time.
"Why didn’t you tell me earlier?" Shan Lingguan asked.
"Afraid of leading Master Uncle onto the wrong path." Qin Yuxian said: "Wanted to speak after having more certainty, even now... certainty isn’t that high, only fifty-fifty chance it might be Chen Ku."
"Fifty percent certainty isn’t enough?"
Shan Lingguan had already exited the door:
"Don’t bother with the remaining fifty percent; I’ll personally test it to know."
Qin Yuxian, seeing the old man’s vigorous demeanor, couldn’t help but remind: "Master Uncle, be cautious not to scare him away again!"
The old man’s body slightly stiffened, but he still continued walking away.
"How could it be?"