It seemed everyone was envying Little Black.
Nan Zhu let out an inexplicable sigh, then muttered, “By the way, this kid won’t say anything random, he won’t be tricked into talking by others, right?”
Yu Qing said in a low voice, “There is no need to worry about that. When Little Black was running around in Youjiao Port, I expressed this concern to Hei Zi. It turned out my worry was unnecessary. This kid was trained by Hei Zi from childhood in that kind of environment. Eating, drinking, and having fun are all fine to talk about, but ask him about anyone or anything around him and he absolutely won’t reveal a single word. Even if captured by Rift Valley Villa, he won’t expose his family’s situation. This kid still has a bit of foolish backbone.”
“That’s good then.” Nan Zhu breathed a sigh of relief, then said in a low voice, “What is the situation at the Dark Temple? Tell us.”
Yu Qing did not hide it from them. The three martial brothers gathered together, heads close together, listening as he gave a detailed account of what happened after entering the Dark Temple.
Hearing that matters had become increasingly bizarre, Nan Zhu fixed his eyes on the ring on his hand. “You are still wearing it on your hand like that?”
Yu Qing: “It should be fine. Even the Dark Monk didn’t recognise it. Apart from the sea race, probably no one on land would recognise it either. I actually hope someone on land can recognise it and come find me.”
The two pondered thoughtfully, understanding his meaning. Anyone who could still recognise it might be related to the other ring.
Their thoughts returned to the problem. Nan Zhu muttered, “That is to say, the Sea Maiden is the strongman’s younger sister…”
Yu Qing: “The possibility is very great. It basically is her.”
Nan Zhu: “Then in this vast sea of people, how do we find her? The Dark Sea Immortal Mansion has already been captured by others. Even if she is alive, could she still be staying here? If she has gone to the outside world, aren’t we just busying ourselves in vain here?”
Yu Qing: “Since someone saw that ring a few years ago, that proves one point. Even if the person went to the outside world, they would still occasionally come here to move about.”
Nan Zhu: “What do we do next?”
Yu Qing: “We must first confirm whether the target is still alive. Confirm whether the woman the Starfall Island fellow saw is actually her. The Sea Maiden was merely a maidservant of the Dark Sea Immortal Mansion. Even the mountain guardian beast was killed by those who broke in. Could that maidservant have escaped that calamity?”
Nan Zhu rolled his eyes listening. Mu Aotie couldn’t help but frown and say, “How do you confirm something from thousands of years ago?”
Yu Qing: “It is difficult to confirm, but we are not qualified to retreat from difficulties now. We have neither power nor wealth here, nor enough manpower. We can only rely on ourselves, grasp the only clues, and try hard to find some more traces to search for.
Once we figure out whether the person is alive, then it is easy to target our approach. If we are looking for the Sea Maiden, naturally there are ways to look for the Sea Maiden. If the ring has passed to another person’s hands after thousands of years, then it means the clues provided by the strongman may not be useful, and continuing would only be a waste of effort.
Besides, we are not entirely without leverage here. Isn’t Liu Piaopiao here? First find a way to contact Liu Piaopiao, let her inquire from within Thousand Flows Mountain about the matter of capturing the Dark Sea Immortal Mansion back then, see if the Sea Maiden was killed. Additionally, the benefits of Little Cloud Realm were all taken by us. It is also time to find a way to meet her and give her an explanation. We cannot just keep playing dumb because she doesn’t go to Youjiao Port, right?”
After reopening Miaoqing Hall in Youjiao Port, they had been waiting for Liu Piaopiao’s arrival, yet Liu Piaopiao had never gone there, nor contacted them.
Hearing Liu Piaopiao’s name, the other two’s eyes brightened. Nan Zhu nodded and smiled, “Exactly, exactly.”
Yu Qing: “Don’t ‘exactly’ just yet. The most urgent matter to resolve is Little Black’s situation. Unable to find his son for so long, Hei Zi must really be going mad with worry.”
Nan Zhu nodded repeatedly, “Right, right, right. We must hurry.”
Not only must they hurry, not a moment could be delayed further. Mu Aotie quickly went downstairs to borrow a set of brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and returned to hand it to Yu Qing.
The task of writing was certainly Yu Qing’s. He spread the paper on the floor and wrote a letter right there on the ground, then handed it to Nan Zhu to find a Thousand Li Messenger.
Nan Zhu took the letter and was about to run,
but Yu Qing called out to him, “Don’t rush. Do you know where to send the letter?”
Thousand Li Messenger delivery was somewhat different from ordinary human letter delivery. It was not the kind where you write the recipient’s address and name on the letter. The letter was placed in a specially constructed box. Once opened, it would leave obvious traces on the letter showing it had been opened.
Once the recipient found two traces left on the letter, they would know the letter had been peeked at by someone.
Nan Zhu was taken aback, “Send it to Wu Hei, where else?”
Yu Qing reminded him, “The letter is naturally for Wu Hei, but the address cannot be Miaoqing Hall. The ‘Thousand Li Residence’ outside Youjiao Port has already played us once. I don’t trust any of these so called Thousand Li Messengers. Last time we didn’t know which family was scheming against us, but in any case our ‘Miaoqing Hall’ name may already be flagged with the Thousand Li Messengers…”
Nan Zhu stared blankly, “Then how do we send it?”
Yu Qing: “Send it to the shop next door to us. Later find an envelope to put it in, write on it that the letter is to be forwarded to Second Brother, then put it in another envelope to conceal it. Second Brother often associates with the people at the shop next door. When the shop next door opens the letter and sees Second Brother’s name, they will naturally understand what is happening and won’t continue opening it further. They will naturally forward the letter to Second Brother.
When Second Brother sees the letter he will naturally understand, and will naturally give it to Hei Zi. Later, even if Second Brother and the others correspond with us again here, with our reminder this time, when sending letters they will also take measures to conceal their connection with Miaoqing Hall.”
Nan Zhu sighed, knowing this was from being traumatised by being tricked last time, looking back three times with every step, always worried someone was scheming behind their backs.
But it did make sense. He nodded and said, “Fine, I understand.”
Yu Qing: “Also, after the letter is sent, find a way to inquire and confirm whether Liu Piaopiao is still at Thousand Flows Mountain. After all, we have not been in contact with her. Seventh Brother, remember, although the Sea Market appears complex and chaotic, one thing is beyond doubt. It has always been under the control of Thousand Flows Mountain. Thousand Flows Mountain must have eyes and ears everywhere here. When inquiring, you must be extremely careful and cautious.”
“Yes, noted.” Nan Zhu agreed, and tucked the letter into his bosom.
Yu Qing then said to Mu Aotie, “Ninth Brother should go too. Seventh Brother doesn’t need a helper. Before being called, don’t walk together with Seventh Brother. Keep some distance, and help keep watch.”
Mu Aotie gave an “mm”, and followed Nan Zhu to leave quickly.
The two did not leave through the main door that went through the tunnel. They directly opened the door and went onto the balcony, then leapt down from the balcony one after another.
Yu Qing also walked onto the balcony, watching the people coming and going on the road below, watching the brilliant lights of the Sea Market, then looking at the shifting stars to silently calculate the time. He discovered it was already the middle of the night, even almost dawn, yet the colours of the Sea Market remained unchanged. It truly was a city that never sleeps.
After watching Seventh Brother and Ninth Brother disappear, he retreated back inside, closed the door, turned and went directly downstairs, wanting to see what Hu Youli was doing.
Although Hu Youli was purely a chance encounter, he still had a measure of caution in his heart. He was still worried whether she might have been arranged by someone, wanting to observe a bit more in secret. This was also the reason he had stayed behind.
Going downstairs to look, in the living room that now appeared rather crowded with many miscellaneous items piled up, Hu Youli seemed to be printing something from an engraved block.
Little Black was messing around beside her. Rather than helping out, it was more accurate to say Hu Youli was playing with him.
Hu Youli was teaching Little Black how to evenly apply ink to the engraved block. Little Black looked very happy playing, giggling incessantly from time to time.
Yu Qing moved closer to look. He just happened to witness a freshly peeled off printed sheet, and couldn’t help reaching out to pull it over to examine. He discovered it was precisely the so called hand drawn Sea Market map he had previously spent five hundred taels of silver to buy.
Hu Youli turned back to glance at him, not caring in the least, and continued printing sheet after sheet.
Yu Qing bared his teeth, shaking the map in his hand at her, “This is your so called hand drawn map? These sheets casually printed out with a clatter, and you have the nerve to sell them for five hundred taels each?”
Hu Youli countered, “If it wasn’t hand drawn, where would it come from? Do you think it is easy to walk through the entire Sea Market and draw the terrain in such dense, detailed manner? Such a densely complex map, even copying from it, would take several days to draw one sheet. Is several days’ work only worth five hundred taels? You don’t really think labour in the Sea Market is this cheap, do you?”
She pointed at the dense patterns on the engraved block. “After I walked through the Sea Market and hand drew the map, I traced the drawing and carved it out knife stroke by knife stroke. It took me over a month on and off. It is not like I can sell many sheets every day. What is wrong with me selling one map for five hundred taels? It is a shame you practice Ah Shiheng’s copybook. Without that discernment, without that breadth of mind, can you achieve anything?”
“…” Yu Qing was actually speechless. How could this even be connected to Ah Shiheng?
After Hu Youli’s rambling, she ignored him too, and continued printing her own maps.
Yu Qing stood by speechless for a while. However, one thing he could see was that this woman was very skilled at this work. It did not look like something cobbled together temporarily.
Afterwards he pulled Little Black upstairs, forcing him to sleep.
Little Black had actually not slept for two days and two nights either. He had also rowed in the Dark Sea and exerted quite a bit of effort. Once he slept, he fell into a snoring slumber the moment he lay down.
Before long, the sky brightened. The lights of the Sea Market went out. The entire Sea Market was half shrouded in a hazy mist.
After the morning sun came out, Yu Qing stood facing the balcony, watching with his own eyes as the Sea Market returned to the hustle and bustle of daytime. Just then, he suddenly saw two familiar figures returning. They were precisely Nan and Mu. He had not expected the two to return so quickly.
The two did not come up through the hole from downstairs either. They directly flew up, entered the room, and immediately closed the door.
Although the two appeared calm on the surface, Yu Qing knew them, and could still tell something was abnormal. He hurriedly asked, “What happened?”
Nan Zhu said in a low voice, “Guess who I ran into? I just happened to run into Liu Piaopiao. It cannot even be said I ran into her, but rather Liu Piaopiao actively arranged to meet me. She told me to tell you that we have been exposed, that we are already under the surveillance of Thousand Flows Mountain. They already know clearly where we live.”
Yu Qing’s expression instantly became grave, “What happened?”
Nan Zhu: “She didn’t say the specifics. She said she happened to be under orders to watch us too. Seeing the two of us go out, she then found a way to arrange a chance meeting with me, and could not have a long talk with me either. She wants you to go out again at noon. Don’t go anywhere else, just go to the Dark Temple, to the cliff by the sea at the Dark Temple. She will meet you there.”