“Fellow Daoist Fan, I heard you have something important to discuss with me, apparently some great opportunity. Why don’t you tell me about it?” Ye Kong’s heart was already on high alert, his left hand reaching for the talismans in his sleeve. If things went south, he’d take out Fan Jiulong first. With a hostage in hand, he’d be a bit safer.

Fan Jiushe sensed his wariness. A fierce glint flashed through his beady eyes before his smile returned instantly. “It really is a wonderful opportunity. Fellow Daoist Ye will definitely be pleased when he hears it.”

“Oh?” Ye Kong pretended to listen intently while his right hand also left his chopsticks and reached into his sleeve.

Fan Jiushe drew out the suspense before asking with a smile, “I wonder if Fellow Daoist Ye has ever been to a cultivator’s market? You know, the places where immortal cultivators exchange goods and trade pills and materials.”

“Oh? Where is it?” Ye Kong’s attention was genuinely caught. Saying he didn’t want to go would be impossible. He’d unlocked the spirit talisman scrolls and was desperate to visit a market to buy talisman paper, spirit-communicating brushes, and other materials. Hearing Fan Jiushe mention it naturally stirred his interest.

Fan Jiushe was in no hurry to answer where it was. Seeing that Ye Kong had taken the bait, he continued stirring up enthusiasm: “The cultivator’s markets, Nine She has been once. All kinds of talismans and pills, magical artifacts and treasures, plus various immortal cultivation materials you couldn’t even imagine. Wow, it was truly eye-opening! Oh, and there were all sorts of cultivation techniques, spell formulas, enough to make your head spin!”

Ye Kong couldn’t help but be tempted by this pitch. He asked again, “Would Brother Fan be willing to tell me where it is?”

Fan Jiushe, seeing the fish had taken the hook, deliberately pondered for a moment. “Aiya, the location is really hard to explain. That market only opens once every three months, and it’ll be opening in just a few days. Why don’t you and I travel there together?”

No matter how much Ye Kong wanted to visit the market, his vigilance toward Fan Jiushe didn’t relax. He had no desire to go anywhere with this guy, but if he didn’t travel with him, this fatty definitely wouldn’t tell him the market’s location.

He was on the verge of being able to create stolen contentspirit talismans. Not going would really eat at him. Besides, maybe Fan Jiushe really didn’t intend to harm him?

Seeing Ye Kong hesitate, Fan Jiushe exchanged a subtle glance with Fan Jiulong before continuing, “The cultivation world is one where the strong prey on the weak. Killing to seize treasures is especially common around the markets. Everyone knows people who come to the markets carry treasures and spirit stones, so many treasure hunters lie in ambush, targeting lone low-level cultivators.”

Fan Jiulong chimed in, “Why don’t the two of you go together? That way you can look out for each other. When those treasure hunters see two people, they probably won’t make a move.” After speaking, Fan Jiulong slapped his forehead apologetically. “We’ve been eating and drinking all this time and completely forgot to call for the girls! Haha, Eighth Young Master, just wait a moment. I’ll go make the arrangements.”

Fan Jiulong left with hearty laughter. Ye Kong had been planning to grab him as a hostage at the critical moment, but now that opportunity had slipped away.

Though Ye Kong was full of suspicions, since the man said he was going to arrange for girls, he could hardly attack him without any apparent reason.

“But I’ve only just started cultivating. I have neither spirit stones nor treasures. Going to the market would be pointless for me.” Ye Kong made excuses while his peripheral vision searched the surroundings.

“Ah, Fellow Daoist Ye, you’re mistaken. Even if you don’t buy anything, just going to look around and make some friends would be of great benefit to your cultivation path. Besides, once you know the location, after Fellow Daoist Ye’s realm improves in the future, you can always go check it out yourself.”

What Fan Jiushe said all made sense, but Ye Kong didn’t dare agree. Why would this guy be so earnest in his persuasion if he had good intentions? Plus the way these two brothers looked at him, that greedy, excited, drooling gaze, was frightening to behold.

Ye Kong’s first instinct was to refuse, but when he focused his senses carefully, he discovered he was already surrounded. Although his spiritual consciousness couldn’t yet extend outward, his keen hearing still allowed him to notice quite a few men breathing in low, suppressed tones.

Ye Kong’s heart jumped. So it really was a trap! Even more terrifying, when had these people closed in? He hadn’t even noticed! Clearly the Fan brothers had come prepared, and moreover, his trump card, the Invisibility Talisman, would be completely ineffective against Fan Jiushe.

Looked like he had no choice but to agree, otherwise he wouldn’t even make it out the door today.

“In that case, I’ll do as Fellow Daoist Fan wishes and we’ll go together when the time comes.” Ye Kong pretended to be guileless, then added with a laugh, “Actually I do want to go. I’m just worried that even the two of us together won’t be a match for those people.”

Hearing his agreement, Fan Jiushe was overjoyed. He waved dismissively. “That’s no problem. Those treasure hunters aren’t really that advanced in cultivation. As long as we’re careful, there shouldn’t be any danger.”

“Then I’ll be counting on Brother Fan, haha.”

Since Ye Kong had agreed, Fan Jiushe didn’t issue the signal to attack. Shortly after, Fan Jiulong returned with several pretty decent-looking girls.

Since they hadn’t come to blows, Ye Kong pretended not to know about the ambush. The three of them chatted aimlessly again, acting just like good brothers who hit it off perfectly.

Ye Kong wasn’t polite either. He pulled over a pretty girl called Little Oriole and let his hands wander freely, making up for two years of missed opportunities. He applied his 21st-century Earth grabbing, squeezing, kneading, and rubbing techniques to the absolute limit, turning Little Oriole into a puddle of mud plastered against him, her expression utterly undone.

“Haha, who would’ve thought Fellow Daoist Ye was an expert in this area? Why not just spend the night at Treasure Spring Pavilion after eating?” Fan Jiushe pointed at the trembling Little Oriole with a laugh. “This Miss Little Oriole hasn’t taken any clients yet, you know. You’ve already worked her up like this, might as well take her virginity tonight.”

Ye Kong thought to himself: Have fun while surrounded by your ambush? Being on edge the whole time wouldn’t work at all. And what if you guys changed your minds and attacked while I was in the middle of things? That would be a disaster.

“My two kind brothers, you don’t understand. The cultivation technique I practice requires maintaining my primal yang energy. I’m afraid until I reach Golden Core, I’ll only be able to satisfy my hands and eyes.”

This was a good excuse. Fan Jiushe couldn’t very well [Read on Jormuntl]insist he stay. He could only laugh and say, “Then we’ll see you in three days. Brother Ye, don’t be late!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be. I’ll spend the next three days thinking about what I might have to trade at the market.” Ye Kong said his goodbyes with a smile and left.

As soon as Ye Kong left, the Fan brothers’ faces instantly turned cold as ice. They dismissed the women, and Fan Jiulong asked in a low voice, “Little brother, why didn’t we strike? We can’t let this opportunity slip away!”

Fan Jiushe shook his head. “It’s best not to strike today. Treasure Spring Pavilion has too many eyes and ears. If we got into a fight with him, outsiders would inevitably find out. Ye Haoran finding out later is a small matter, but if outsiders learn I’m a cultivator, it’ll cause trouble. Since he’s agreed to go to the market together, we might as well strike then. That way it’ll be done without anyone knowing.”

A vicious gleam flashed through Fan Jiushe’s eyes and disappeared. He casually took out that small sword artifact again and admired it endlessly.

Fan Jiulong shook his head worriedly. “That kid may be young, but he’s cunning as hell and shrewd beyond his years. He very likely discovered our ambush and is playing a delaying tactic! What if he changes his mind in three days and refuses to go?”

Fan Jiushe slammed the small sword on the table with a bang and said coldly, “If he won’t go, then we can’t be blamed. We’ll tie up the entire Lu family, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll grab that ghost-faced mother of his too!”

Fan Jiulong could only nod. “Then we’ll let him live three more days!”

Ye Kong walked out of Treasure Spring Pavilion’s door. A refreshing cool breeze of the summer night blew over him, clearing his mind.

“Want to make a move on me? Be careful, push me too far and we’ll go down together! No, I need to think of something!” Ye Kong didn’t return to the Ye Manor. Instead he wandered back and forth, and when he reached a deserted area, he stuck on an Invisibility Talisman. Sure enough, he saw two shifty-looking guys follow after him.

“Where’d he go? We just saw him come in here.”

“What the hell? He vanished in a blink. Split up and look for him.”

Ye Kong had already taken advantage of his invisibility to blend into the crowd and headed straight for the Lu family home in the northern district.

Over the past six months, as Lu Jun and Lu Yi had expanded their forces and Ye Kong had taught them 21st-century methods of accumulating wealth, namely controlling gambling, drugs, and prostitution, and monopolizing certain industries, the Lu brothers were no longer the poor men who once had to borrow ten taels of silver.

Now that they had money, they couldn’t keep living in that collapsing mud hut. The Lu family now lived in a quite decent large courtyard compound near Northern District’s main street. Though it couldn’t remotely compare to the Ye Manor, it still had spacious buildings and rooms. The Lu brothers, Old Mrs. Lu, and Lu Qin each had their own quarters. They’d even bought a few maids and servants. They’d truly become the wealthy household of the northern slums.

Ye Kong didn’t remove the Invisibility Talisman. When he reached the Lu family’s gate, since the talisman was still effective, he circled around the Lu residence to see if anyone was monitoring the Lu brothers.

Fan Jiulong didn’t take the Lu brothers seriously at all. In his view, these two brothers had weak martial arts and relied entirely on Ye Kong backing them up. As long as they dealt with Ye Kong, wiping out the Lu brothers would be a matter of minutes. He couldn’t be bothered to have anyone watch them.

After circling around and finding no hidden sentries, Ye Kong took out a Wall-Penetrating Talisman and stuck it on the Lu family’s outer wall. When Ye Kong passed through the wall, the faint firelight on the gray brick wall flickered once, and the talisman paper burned away completely clean.

Actually, paper talismans were still quite powerful and useful. As long as you didn’t face an immortal cultivator, they were basically invincible. And there was another crucial point, anyone could use paper talismans. As long as you learned the talisman’s incantation, even ordinary mortals could use them freely. They weren’t like most spirit talismans that required spiritual power to activate.

The Wall-Penetrating Talisman was one of the commonly used talismans. Legend had it that Maoshan Taoist priests used Wall-Penetrating Talismans. Though these paper talismans couldn’t compare to spirit talismans, their many functions made Ye Kong reluctant to carelessly teach them to others. Aside from Lu Qin, he wasn’t planning to teach anyone else.

Otherwise, if someone with ill intentions learned them, that would be aiding evil. Petty theft would [noodles]be the least of it. With these talismans, they could enter anyone’s home at will, killing and arson, violating women, all without leaving a trace.

Of course, Ye Kong had no such hobbies. Though he was just a hooligan, he wasn’t twisted inside. If others didn’t provoke him, he had no reason to go around killing people. As for women, he’d always believed that forcing them was pointless. This sort of thing needed cooperation to be fun.

That said, if an opportunity presented itself, he wouldn’t pass it up. After all, he wasn’t a good person. Not playing the rogue a bit wouldn’t be true to his nature.

“Whoa, Little Qin’s taking a bath. Let me have a look first!”