Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Gulu gulu

Staring at Xu Qing’s departing figure, killing intent flashed through the old innkeeper’s eyes. However, by the time Xu Qing disappeared into the streets, he still didn’t choose to make a move.

In the silent night, the killing intent in the old man’s eyes slowly faded.

An enormous python’s head slithered down from the roof beam and landed besides the old man. Its mouth made gurgling sounds, as it it were talking.

"Why didn't I kill him?" The old man rolled his eyes.

“This kid’s a little strange. He gives me a sense of danger. If no trump cards are used…”

“Gulu gulu.”

“You’re the trash, your whole family is trash! Eat, eat, eat, all you know is how to eat. Alright, eat.” The old man muttered a few words, and the python beside him suddenly rushed out, swallowing the Rat Daoist’s body whole and slowly returning to the beam.

In the dark night, Xu Qing returned straight back to the Homicide Department, handing in the Rat Daoist’s head and receiving the 15 spirit stone bounty. Morning came, and he went to a small breakfast shop in the city run by a civilian.

After drinking a bowl of warm soy milk and eating a few biscuits, under the enthusiastic recommendation of the shopkeeper, Xu Qing hesitated and extravagantly ordered three eggs. After finishing everything, he carefully returned to his magic boat in the berth.

From this trip, he didn’t only obtain the 15 spirit stones from the bounty; he also obtained another spirit stone and a few miscellaneous items from the Rat Daoist’s leather bag. Calculating according to the common prices in the port, Xu Qing found that the miscellaneous items could be sold for an additional two or three spirit stones.

“Indeed, this is the most profitable method.” Xu Qing murmured before beginning to cultivate.

The day passed quickly, and Xu Qing opened his eyes once night fell. He wasn’t on duty tonight, but he still left the magic boat and went over to Banquan Road under the moonlight.

Since he could earn money by waiting there, Xu Qing planned to continue.

Just like that, when midnight arrived, Xu Qing’s figure appeared on Banquan Road once more. He didn’t hide at the same spot as yesterday, instead finding a different place to wait as he motionlessly stared at the inn.

But this time, a wanted criminal didn’t arrive. Instead, it didn’t take long before the old innkeeper walked out of the inn.

Stopping a few meters away from Xu Qing, the old innkeeper stared at him with a gloomy expression.

“Boy, you keep provoking me again and again. Do you really think this old man won’t make a move?”

“You won’t.” Xu Qing said calmly.

“You…” Seeing Xu Qing’s calm expression, the old man didn’t know what to say. After a long while, he gritted his teeth and opened his mouth to speak.

“Waiting here every day, what exactly do you want to do?”

Xu Qing was silent. After a few moments, he glanced at the old man and spoke in a low voice.

"I want to make money."

“I want to make money too!” Tentacles began to emerge from the old innkeeper’s eyes, and the space between his eyebrows began to split apart again. A cold aura instantly spread out.

"If you go on like this, no one will dare to come to my inn. My business has already been affected.” The old innkeeper stared at Xu Qing and spoke word by word.

"Get out of here right now!”

Xu Qing had a thoughtful expression and felt that the old man’s words made sense. If he went on like this, it was true that no one would dare to come over anymore. Thus, he nodded and left his hiding spot before walking over to the other side of the street.

Once there, he hid himself in an even more covert location.

The old innkeeper had thought Xu Qing was going to leave, but the other party actually just changed hiding spots. Veins bulged on the old innkeeper’s forehead, and he couldn’t help but laugh out of anger. He decided to simply give up talking, waving his hand and causing his forehead to directly split in two. The two halves of his head sagged downwards on either side.

In the place his head used to be, a red glow appeared. This red glow emitted a bloody aura, and inside it was a lump of flesh and blood that was filled with tentacles.

Those tentacles wriggled outwards with shocking momentum as the old innkeeper ferociously walked over to Xu Qing.

As a dangerous aura burst out, the giant python in the inn also reared its head, and nooses manifested from thin air in the surroundings, hanging down from many places on the street and completely encircling Xu Qing.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. He looked at the approaching old man and spoke slowly.

“This is the street, not your inn. I’ll respect your rules and won’t attack people in the inn, but if you want to stop me from making a move after they leave, it’s too unreasonable.”

“Could it be that when a person pays to stay at your inn, you include a service where you protect them even outside?” As Xu Qing finished speaking, he looked at the old innkeeper expectantly. He felt that the other party was a reasonable person.

The old man paused.

"So what if that’s the case!"

Xu Qing had a pondering expression on his face. He took out a bag of about 200 spirit coins from his leather bag and tossed it over.

The old man was taken aback.

“Since you’re providing protection, I’ll pay two days’ rent. Now you can protect me.” Xu Qing said seriously.

Holding the bag of spirit coins, the old man was stunned into silence for a while. He looked at the spirit coins, then looked back up at Xu Qing. After a long while, the old innkeeper let out an aggrieved sigh. His head that was split into two halves closed back up, and he showed a helpless expression.

“Gulu gulu…” Sounds could be heard coming from the head of the python in the inn nearby.

“Shut up, I know that he’s right!” The old innkeeper glared at the python.

He was indeed a reasonable person, and Xu Qing’s words were perfectly logical. He couldn’t find any flaws to pick an argument with.

Xu Qing hadn’t broken his rules, and also paid him spirit coins. According to the previous conversation, the old innkeeper did indeed have to protect him now…

The old innkeeper felt very helpless. He stood in front of Xu Qing and stared at him, and Xu Qing also stared back.

After a while, the old innkeeper sighed.

“I’ll give you the clues to two wanted criminals. You can go hunt those guys down, don’t come over to my place.”

After speaking, the old man took out a jade slip and imprinted some information into it. He threw the jade slip to Xu Qing and, not returning the spirit coins, went back to the inn without looking back.

When he left, the nooses in the surroundings dissipated. The python in the inn nodded its head towards Xu Qing as if in greeting before recoiling back to the roof beam.

Xu Qing glanced at the jade slip in his hand. Inside, there were two locations and the names of two wanted criminals. After putting it away, he lowered his head and removed some almost-invisible powder from the walls around him. Then he sprinkled some powder on the ground to neutralize the poison he’d placed earlier.

After that, he walked across the street towards his previous hiding spot. As he walked, he continued to spread a neutralizing powder to get rid of the poison he’d scattered all around. When he arrived at his previous hiding spot, he did the same.

Finally, he also removed several green plants from the side.

Those weren’t normal green plants – they all contained five different kinds of poison.

His change in location earlier was something he’d already prepared for. Whether it was his original hiding spot or his later one on the opposite side of the street, he had arranged poison powder all around in advance.

“I poisoned him with 37 different poisons, but the effects didn’t break out immediately…” After dealing with the poison, Xu Qing glanced back at the inn and narrowed his eyes before turning and leaving.

After he left, the old innkeeper’s calm expression instantly disappeared. His breathing hastened, and he immediately rummaged through his medicinal pills and ingested over ten kinds of detoxification pills. Then he quickly formed a hand seal and incinerated the leather bag given by Xu Qing.

The spirit coins inside were also incinerated into nothing.

“This kid is too vicious. He spread poison everywhere, and even the spirit coins he gave me are poisoned!” The old man gritted his teeth. In fact, the reason why he had compromised just then was partly because Xu Qing’s words were logical, but also because… he was almost unable to suppress the poison that was breaking out in his body.

In fact, the latter point carried more weight than the former.

“He’s so young and already acts like this… When he grows up, the human race will have another monster.” The old man gasped for breath. Gurgling sounds came from the roof beam of the inn.

“You like him?”

“He likes you too. Didn’t you notice? When he first saw you, the first place he looked was at your gallbladder.” The old man sneered.

The gurgles stopped abruptly.

Outside, the sky was still dark. Xu Qing moved rapidly through the streets. He didn’t completely trust the old innkeeper, so after thinking it over, he took out his identity token and sent a message before putting it away again. He hesitated for a moment before continuing on his way.

The first location given by the old innkeeper was a somewhat remote area. Once Xu Qing arrived, he concealed himself and waited patiently for a long time. He observed the area very carefully, but he eventually concluded that although someone had been there before, they hadn’t returned for a long time.

Thus, he gave up and moved on to the second location.

The second location was a gambling den. There were many people inside, and all kinds of shouts rang out everywhere. Xu Qing squatted on top of a nearby house, observing coldly.

According to the jade slip from the old innkeeper, a wanted criminal Sun Dewang arrived in the city recently and came to this place every day to gamble.

This Sun Dewang was from a nonhuman race. His cultivation base was decent, at the ninth level of Qi Condensation, and he usually prowled the Forbidden Sea. He was a pirate with an infamous reputation, and the bounty jade slip mentioned that he belonged to an organization called Sea Ghost.

Sea Ghost was one of several pirate forces active in the Forbidden Sea.

And the bounty offered for Sun Dewang was actually very high at 40 spirit stones. The spirit stones for this bounty came from many sources, with over a dozen maritime merchants contributing to it.

All of this displayed how brutal Sun Dewang was out at sea.

Thus, Xu Qing didn’t act rashly. He observed for over an hour, watching all kinds of gamblers go in and out of the gambling den and listening to their conversations. There were distressed gamblers, eager gamblers, high-spirited gamblers, and of course bitter and frustrated gamblers as well.

Xu Qing confirmed that there was no one with especially high spiritual energy fluctuations among them. After thinking it over, he didn’t choose to enter and check personally, but stayed outside to wait.

Just like that, time passed slowly. Four hours later, when dawn had almost arrived, Xu Qing finally saw his target.

It was a fatty wearing a brocade robe who was visibly non-human. After taking no more than a few steps outside the gambling den, he raised his head with vigilance and his gaze honed in on Xu Qing’s hiding spot. The fatty’s eyes instantly narrowed, revealing a dangerous light.

“Today is really a shitty day. I already gambled away all the money I made a few days ago, and now there’s someone trying to hunt me down. A mere seventh-level Qi Condensation cultivator wants to catch me, are you tired of living? Daddy here will kill you to recoup some of my losses!” The fatty took a heavy step and rushed towards Xu Qing’s location.

Dawn had almost arrived. A cold light flashed through Xu Qing’s eyes, and he also rushed out.

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