Yu Qing did not expect her to do this. “No way, are you threatening me?”
Liu Piaopiao nodded very affirmatively. “Yes.”
Yu Qing stared into her eyes for a while, then finally reached out, drew his sword, and stuffed it into her hand.
Liu Piaopiao was taken aback. “What are you doing?”
Yu Qing turned his back to her, pulled down the collar at the back of his neck to expose his nape, and pointed at his spinous process. “Come on, strike right here.”
After being stunned for a moment, Liu Piaopiao sneered. “Cut the crap with me.”
Yu Qing glanced back at her. “What are you thinking? Do you not want to know what disease I have? Cut open the flesh here at the spinous process and look at the bone inside, and you will know.”
She understood, but this method of verification was a bit over the top. Liu Piaopiao hesitated slightly. “Are you sure?”
Yu Qing said, “Do you want to see it or not? If you do not want to see it, do not blame me for not telling you.”
Alright, Liu Piaopiao immediately stopped wasting words with him. She swung her sword cleanly, pressing the blade against the spinous process at the back of his neck. After a brief pause to give him time to prepare, the blade suddenly cut in. Seeing no blood flow, she felt reassured and sliced open the flesh.
After sheathing her sword, she quickly leaned in, using her fingers to spread the torn flesh. She saw that half of the spinous process bone had turned golden, which left her astonished. She raised her sword again and tapped the blade against the golden bone, which actually produced a clinking metallic sound. In other words, this half of the bone had turned into metal.
She stared for quite a while, truly unable to believe it. After repeatedly confirming, she stabbed her sword into the ground, quickly tended to Yu Qing’s wound, and even sprinkled some medicinal powder on it.
Yu Qing tidied up his collar, turned around, and picked up his own sword from the ground to sheathe it. “I can feel the golden bone expanding bit by bit. No one knows what terrible consequences it will bring once it spreads completely. It might even cause sudden death. Do you still think an ordinary person can cure my condition?”
Liu Piaopiao was full of shock and doubt. “What is going on? How can there be such a strange disease?”
Yu Qing said, “Do not ask any more. If you ask more, the matter will not just involve me personally. I have no right to tell you anything else. In short, I brought this upon myself this time. Regarding the incident of breaking into the Undersea Immortal Mansion back then, whether that Sea Woman was killed or not, I really have to rely on you to help inquire at Thousand Flow Mountain. As for how to inquire without arousing suspicion, you are at Thousand Flow Mountain and definitely know better than I do how to do it, so I will not say any more.”
Liu Piaopiao did not refuse, which meant she agreed, but she was still shocked. “Why are you always mixed up in some mysterious and unpredictable things? How did you get this strange disease, and where did you get this bizarre information to know that the Sea Woman from thousands of years ago could cure it?”
She found that ever since she got to know this guy, every time they met, they touched upon mysterious and unpredictable matters.
Yu Qing chuckled, which eventually turned into a long sigh as he looked up at the sky. “It is all because of money.”
He felt bitter inside. If it were not for the money, he would not have gone to explore the tomb at Yuanshan. After all the tossing around, now it was fine, he had a lot of money, but it was just a huge pile of debts. How could he have imagined back in the Linglong Temple that he would owe so much money in his life? He would not have imagined back then that he could borrow so much money.
Now even if he wanted to stop, he could not. With a sword hanging over his head, he had to continue playing the game.
Liu Piaopiao could not quite understand his obsession with money. In her eyes, this guy was the type who would never lack money as long as he wanted it. Thinking about his instructions, she still said the ugly words first. “I can do my best to help you inquire about the Sea Woman, but after all, it is something from thousands of years ago. I cannot be sure if I can find the answer.”
Yu Qing said, “There is nothing I can do if you cannot find it. By the way, since you know where I live, I suppose you have also looked into my landlord?”
Liu Piaopiao asked, “Which aspect do you mean?”
Yu Qing said, “Who is she? Could it be a trap deliberately set up by someone against me, such as planting a spy or a lookout by my side?”
Liu Piaopiao was quite surprised. “Why would you think like that? Did you discover anything abnormal about her?”
Why think like this? Yu Qing did not know how to explain, so he shook his head slightly. “Being careful never hurts.”
Liu Piaopiao said, “Since you are being careful of her, you must have observed her to some extent. Whether you have found any suspicious points, you should know yourself. You took the initiative to buy things from her and contact her, and then followed her to her home. To design a trap for you, unless someone knew your destination long ago and made arrangements in advance, otherwise, looking at the time period since you arrived at the Sea Market, it is impossible to make such a perfect arrangement in such a short time. After you contacted her, we did immediately look into that fox woman. Her name is Hu Youli. Her parents were also minions of Thousand Flow Mountain when they were alive. There is not much of a problem with this fox woman, and she is not someone brought in temporarily to make up the numbers. Of course, the situation in the Sea Market is very complicated. It is not surprising if someone has a hidden identity. It is also possible that she has always been a hidden agent for some faction, ready to be activated at any time. That is also plausible.”
Yu Qing was silent for a moment, then pondered and said, “If we can confirm one thing, we can probably know if she has a problem.”
Liu Piaopiao said oh. “What thing?”
Yu Qing said, “I discovered at her home that she actually likes my poems and essays. She has copied a lot of them. This makes me suspicious. How can it be such a coincidence?”
Liu Piaopiao immediately understood his meaning. If that kind of liking did not exist before and suddenly appeared now, it was undoubtedly aimed at him. She nodded immediately. “This is simple. It does not even need to be covered up. I can directly arrange for someone to investigate. Is there anything else? If not, I will go back first. I should not stay away for too long, as it will easily arouse suspicion.”
Yu Qing said, “That letter of mine is very important. Remember to help me send it out.”
Liu Piaopiao said, “Rest assured, Fat Nan said it was important, so I have already arranged to send it out. By the way, if you had not mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten. I advanced the money for sending the letter myself. Give it to me.” She raised her hand and flipped her palm in front of Yu Qing.
That expression, that manner, this cold woman actually showed a cute and charming side of a little woman.
Yu Qing really wanted to say, you are now working for the Third Cave Master of Thousand Flow Mountain, do you still lack this little bit of money? He wanted to save every penny he could, but thinking about the matter of the immortal peach, he already owed her a favour. Now he was asking her to help with things again, and if he haggled over this small amount of money, it seemed a bit unreasonable. He immediately took out a banknote and asked, “How much?”
“How much do you think it is worth for me to risk helping you?” Liu Piaopiao asked in return. Seeing his face instantly show a pained expression, a smile reappeared on her cold face, and two words popped out of her mouth, “Priceless!”
Then she turned and walked away, heading towards that pool of water. “Just owe it for now. We will talk about it when you have more money. I will contact you when there is progress on the matters you assigned.”
Seeing her leave, Yu Qing quickly shouted, “How will you contact me?”
Liu Piaopiao paused by the water. “At your place, the south facing window. Starting from today, do not open it normally. Once you need to meet me, leave it open and do not close it again. I will understand when I see it. Stand on the south facing balcony and look along the street. At the diagonal crossroads ahead, that building painted with yellow paint that can make eye contact with you, the top floor window facing the street. If I need to contact you, I will open half of the window. When you turn to leave, remember where this is. The place for future meetings will be here. When you come here again, you cannot use the method of going straight to the Underworld Temple. If you do it too many times, it will be easy for people to lock onto your location. Remember, be extremely careful. There are various talented demon cultivators here at Thousand Flow Mountain. As long as you are a target locked onto by Thousand Flow Mountain, if Thousand Flow Mountain really wants to track you, almost no one can escape. If you always disappear inexplicably, I am worried that sooner or later it will arouse Thousand Flow Mountain’s interest in you.”
After finishing, she turned her head and asked, “Remembered?”
Yu Qing, who was concentrating on memorising, immediately replied briefly, “The south facing window of my residence. Do not open it normally. Leaving it open all the time means meeting you. The diagonal crossroads opposite, the building painted with yellow paint, the top floor window facing the street. Opening half of it means you are inviting me to meet.” After finishing, he looked at her to confirm.
“Worthy of the Tanhua famous all over the world, you have a good memory.” Liu Piaopiao teased coldly, and then reminded, “We cannot go back at the same time. Stay here for an hour before you leave.”
“Alright.” Yu Qing agreed.
Liu Piaopiao dove into the water and disappeared.
Yu Qing looked at the banknote in his hand and sighed with a hint of melancholy. “Priceless? Owing favours and owing money. How can I repay it if I owe too much? I do not know when I will truly get rich.”
Remembering his bold words when he swore to become a rich man, he sighed again. He slowly stuffed the banknote into his bosom, sat down again, sorted out the content of the conversation just now, and remembered one thing. He forgot to ask her what her current position was.
After waiting for almost an hour, he lay in front of the rock crevice to clearly see the corresponding environment outside, then slipped into the water. He carefully figured out the underwater environment, figured out and memorised where the underwater cave opening was, and then quickly left.
This time, he slipped a long way underwater, almost landing on the other side of the Sea Market.
Returning to the residence, Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, who were waiting for him, eagerly asked about the situation.
Yu Qing told them in detail about some things he needed to be careful about, and that his two senior brothers also needed to be careful together.
Xiao Hei slept until the middle of the night before getting up, and then shouted that he was hungry. The three martial brothers tacitly allowed him to run to Hu Youli to ask for food. Who told Hu Youli to say that the food at her place was much cheaper than outside? If you can save, why not save?
Besides, with their cultivation level, it did not matter if they did not eat for a few days. But Xiao Hei was different. He was still young, his understanding of cultivation methods was not enough, and he was still in the beginner stage of cultivation. If he did not eat for a long time, he really could not stand it.
Very soon, the smell of meat floated out from the balcony downstairs. Hu Youli’s family used a balcony as a kitchen.
Smelling the meat, Yu Qing immediately found his two senior brothers and told them, “Do you know how that woman’s so called hand drawn maps were made? She has carved templates at home, and she just printed them out one by one.”
As soon as these words came out, the purpose was immediately achieved. Thinking of the selling price of five hundred taels, the expressions of Nan and Mu both changed instantly, and they quickly went downstairs.
The two ran to the balcony downstairs and saw Hu Youli roasting meat. Xiao Hei was already beside her, looking so greedy that he was almost drooling, saying from time to time, “Sister, hurry up.”
Hu Youli immediately giggled. “Is sister pretty?”
“Pretty!”
“How pretty?”
“You are the prettiest.”
This compliment made Hu Youli beam with joy, fully revealing her youthful vitality, and she even smiled to reveal dimples.
Seeing Xiao Hei’s spineless appearance, Nan Zhu, who was dawdling beside him, was really worried, and finally asked, “How much are these meat patties?”
Yu Qing, who was slowly coming down the stairs inside, immediately stopped, tilted his head, and pricked up his ears to eavesdrop.