On her side, people had been watching Yu Qing since last night, right up until now. They had overheard bits of how Xu Fei and the insect addressed Yu Qing, and confirmed that only the three of them were nearby. After ruling out at least the basic risks, they finally showed themselves openly.
Hearing these words and seeing this formation, Yu Qing’s heart sank. In an instant he understood something. Their easy-going manner last night had been deliberate, meant to lull him into dropping his guard.
He just could not figure out one thing. If they wanted to harm him, why wait until today?
“Young master Shiheng” was clearly the insect’s way of addressing him. Yu Qing knew they had heard it and felt a little awkward. He turned back and saw that the other three from last night had already appeared, clearly surrounding them. He quickly explained, “Misunderstanding, this really is a misunderstanding on my part…”
The woman in the bamboo hat cut him off directly. “You and I are neither relatives nor friends, we have no grudge, and I never provoked you. You suddenly show up, and the first thing you do is lie to me. Do you think I would still believe a word from someone like you?” She tilted her head to give a signal.
The three immediately acted. Xu Fei and the insect had no chance to resist and were subdued in a flash.
Yu Qing was greatly shocked. He swiftly drew his sword, but before the blade could leave the sheath, clang! It was knocked flying by a strike from the plain-looking man. He crashed into a rock, his internal organs churning violently. He spat blood and fell to the ground. Before he could get up, the man planted a foot on his face, pressing half his face hard into the dirt. Looking down coldly, he warned, “Move again and I will crush your skull.”
From that single exchange, Yu Qing understood. The gap in strength was huge. The opponent was a Xuan-level expert.
He was now pinned to the ground by that foot and could not move.
Xu Fei and the insect were stunned and terrified.
The woman in the bamboo hat lifted her chin towards them and said calmly, “Take them away and question them separately.”
The woman grabbed the insect and left. Xu Fei was dragged off by the slightly plump man. The two were taken in different directions for interrogation.
Yu Qing was also yanked up. His face already had cuts from the stones, showing how much force the man had used to step on him.
Now that his mouth could move, Yu Qing immediately tried to explain again, “Misunderstanding, this really is a misunderstanding…”
Slap! The man swung his hand and slapped Yu Qing so hard his head spun. “Did I let you speak?”
With his ears ringing, Yu Qing had no choice but to shut his mouth. He was pressed face-down on a rock in a spread-eagle position and searched.
The man tore off the pouch tied to Yu Qing’s body and poured out a pile of items. The twenty small bags of spirit rice needed no explanation. Both the woman in the bamboo hat and the man recognised them at a glance, though the man still pinched each bag to check.
Also poured out were several hundred taels in silver notes, a bundle of rainbow silk, some emergency medicines, a metal scroll tube, and most importantly, a small bottle of demon-pointing dew.
The man took the bottle of demon-pointing dew, opened it to confirm, and raised an eyebrow.
He then opened the metal scroll tube, poured out a rolled painting, spread it open, and found only half of it. He turned his head to look at the woman in the bamboo hat.
She walked closer, took the half painting to examine, but could not see anything special. It seemed like an ordinary painting. Yet it was only half, and stored in a metal scroll tube, clearly not ordinary and surely hiding some secret.
She immediately shook the painting and asked Yu Qing, “What is the matter with this half painting?”
Yu Qing wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. “It is not half, it is one-third of a painting, used for dividing family property. My ancestors divided the descendants into three branches. Each branch head holds one part. I passed the provincial examination and am to take charge of one branch, so I hold one part. This time on the way to the capital, once the three parts are combined, we will divide the family business dividends according to custom. This year it should be over a hundred thousand taels of silver. I am willing to offer it all to you as compensation for my offence.”
What a mess. The woman in the bamboo hat frowned but roughly understood.
The man fiddled with the poured-out items and gestured to the woman in the bamboo hat. “This bottle is Xuan-level demon-pointing dew. This is the bowstring from an Ink Shadow Bow. These medicines are emergency remedies for travelling the martial world. And these spirit rice. Madam boss, how could a normal candidate heading to the capital for the examination carry such things? Add his cultivation level and the fact that he lied right from the first meeting last night. Nine out of ten, this fellow’s words cannot be trusted.”
Madam boss? Yu Qing’s mind turned over the words.
The woman in the bamboo hat stared at Yu Qing. “Are you actually a candidate heading to the capital for the examination or not?”
Yu Qing gave a bitter smile. “Last night I only borrowed the name of the top scholar for the sake of face. Apart from that, every word is true.”
The man said, “Then how do you explain these things?”
Yu Qing blinked. He would have liked to keep bluffing, but the problem was that Xu Fei and the insect had been taken away for questioning. The truth probably could not be hidden. He sighed. “I am not just a bookish pedant who only knows how to study. I also cultivate normally, and I always carry some emergency medicines with me. These spirit rice and demon-pointing dew were rewards given by a spirit plant master and a demon resolver from Liezhou during a riddle game the Liezhou governor Lu Jiwei arranged to see us off. This bowstring I took from the bow of a dead great archer when the examination group was attacked earlier.”
The woman in the bamboo hat and the man exchanged a glance. They could not tell whether Yu Qing was telling the truth or not. They could only wait for now until the results of the other two interrogations came back.
She still held the half painting in her hand, looking at it as if trying to spot any hidden secret.
Not long after, a still-shaken Xu Fei and the insect were brought back. The woman smiled. “Miss, this fellow is called A Shiheng. He really is a candidate.” She pointed at Xu Fei. “He is also a candidate. There are two candidates.”
The woman in the bamboo hat gave an “oh” sound, quite surprised, and her gaze fixed on the insect.
The woman said, “This one is a book boy.”
The woman in the bamboo hat immediately said nothing more. She paced away, raised her hand, loosened her fingers, and let the wind carry the half painting away.
The man who had injured Yu Qing quickly picked up the silver notes from the ground and stuffed the demon-pointing dew and rainbow silk into his own bosom.
Yu Qing suddenly sensed the atmosphere was wrong. He had not expected that even offering the lure of over a hundred thousand taels was not enough. Acting on instinct, he abruptly said, “The matter you came here to handle this time, I should be able to help you with it.”
He had already prepared words for confrontation, but he noticed that the four no longer bothered to verify the origins of the items on him through Xu Fei and the insect. Their words seemed to suggest that confirming they were candidates was enough. They did not seem to care about the rest. Especially when he saw them starting to pocket his belongings, he suddenly felt danger and spoke out.
As soon as the words left his mouth, all four from Miaoqing Hall froze for a moment, then slowly turned to look at him, including the woman in the bamboo hat.
Seeing that his words seemed to have an immediate effect, Yu Qing secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he had guessed correctly. These people really were troubled by something.
It was not entirely a blind guess. There was precedent. Last night he had already noticed that the woman in the bamboo hat seemed preoccupied. Moreover, she had casually mentioned having important business. At the time he had even wondered what business people from Youjiao Bu could possibly have in the ancient tomb wasteland.
Xu Fei and the insect were still in shock and fear, and did not notice anything else.
In short, the gazes of all four from Miaoqing Hall fixed on Yu Qing. The woman in the bamboo hat properly turned to face him and asked, “You will help us? Do you know what we are going to do?”
Yu Qing said, “I have a rough understanding of divination. This time heading to the capital, I already calculated that I would face a calamity. I also calculated that after meeting danger I would form a bond with a woman, and this woman would help me escape the peril. Looking at it now, this woman is most likely you.” He spoke to the woman in the bamboo hat with a tone of certainty.
Such an absurd statement suddenly coming out stunned not only the four from Miaoqing Hall, but even Xu Fei and the insect were completely dumbfounded. They all wanted to ask Yu Qing if he knew what he was saying.
The woman in the bamboo hat could not help but burst out laughing. “A fresh provincial graduate, also a cultivator, and yet you are a fortune-teller too. What else do you want to do?”
Yu Qing gazed at her steadily. “If I have not calculated wrongly, the matter you came to do this time is extremely important to you, more important than it is to any of the other three!”
The woman in the bamboo hat immediately met his eyes. A flash of surprise and doubt passed through her gaze.
The momentarily stunned woman suddenly scolded angrily, “Nonsense! If it was not important, why come here? Miss, this boy has a slick tongue. Do not let him fool you.”
Precisely because of those words, Yu Qing immediately threw a sentence at the woman in the bamboo hat. “Your husband is in trouble!” He still had a backup sentence ready in case he had guessed wrong.
As soon as these words came out, all four from Miaoqing Hall were utterly stunned.
Yes, the husband of the woman in the bamboo hat really was in trouble.
The woman in the bamboo hat was named Tie Miaoqing, the proprietress of Miaoqing Hall in Youjiao Bu.
The woman with a fierce appearance and slightly plump figure was named Sun Ping, the shopkeeper of Miaoqing Hall. The man who looked somewhat like her husband, also slightly plump, was her husband, named Zhu Shangbiao. The other plain-looking man, the one who had injured Yu Qing, was named Cheng Shanping. Both Zhu Shangbiao and Cheng Shanping were assistants in Miaoqing Hall.
And the boss of Miaoqing Hall, Tie Miaoqing’s husband, was named Yan Xu. He had already been poisoned by a strange toxin and was on the verge of death. The entire Miaoqing Hall could not find a way to save him. Unexpectedly, at this moment, the You Cliff that controlled Youjiao Bu suddenly issued a mission, giving Tie Miaoqing hope. As long as she completed this mission first, she could receive a reward that allowed her to make a request to You Cliff, and she could ask You Cliff to save her husband.
So she brought her people and hurried to the ancient tomb wasteland.
Miaoqing Hall did not have many hands. Apart from the two left behind to care for the poisoned Yan Xu, she had brought everyone else, precisely the three people here now.
The place suddenly fell silent. From the reactions of the four, Xu Fei and the insect immediately sensed something. They looked at each other, both feeling that “A Shiheng” had suddenly become rather mysterious.
Clang! Tie Miaoqing suddenly drew her sword. The blade instantly rested across Yu Qing’s neck. She glanced at Xu Fei and said coldly, “Just looking at your faces, you do not seem like candidates. You are not a candidate. Speak. Who sent you?”
She instinctively suspected that Yu Qing had been sent by some shop in Youjiao Bu, which was why he knew the situation of Miaoqing Hall inside out. Otherwise, how could an unrelated scholar heading to the capital for the examination possibly know that her husband was in trouble? If he really had such divine calculation ability, that would be unthinkable. How could a mere ancient tomb wasteland trap such a person!
From the reaction, Yu Qing knew he had guessed correctly. Even with a sword at his throat, he was not panicked at all. “Tell me what you came here to do this time. If I cannot help you, it will not be too late to kill me then. Speaking it out will not cost you anything.”
Cheng Shanping shouted, “Shut up! You cannot even guarantee your own safe exit from the ancient tomb land, yet you dare boast about helping us. Madam boss, this person is full of cunning words. He must be up to no good. Kill him at once to avoid being bewitched by him!”