Chapter 962: Chapter 962: The Eerie Street
About Liu Zixuan’s plan to set the Celestial Dao Alliance’s backyard on fire, Zhao Yi vaguely guessed something, but he was a bit worried. Could Jiang Yunxuan and Huzi really pull it off with just the two of them?
After all, that was the real dragon’s den and tiger’s lair. One careless move and they’d lose their lives. But then again, if even he could sense the danger, how could Liu Zixuan not know? So he simply couldn’t be bothered to overthink it.
The car sped toward their destination. After about two hours, they stopped on a small country road near a township.
"Where is this?" Xiaoxiao asked.
"Yongle Town. No one knows the exact location of the Ghost Valley Sect, so we can’t go into the Sect to pick her up. Based on the time Ripple left the Sect, this is the only route she can take to come back to the city and find us. And I’m certain there are already quite a few Celestial Dao Alliance people lying in ambush on this road." Liu Zixuan said in a low voice.
Hearing this, Zhao Yi frowned and looked toward both sides of the road. The road wasn’t very long; right now they’d stopped at the edge of the intersection, and from where they stood they could see the whole stretch.
To their front-left there was a fruit stall, with a man and a woman sitting behind it chatting.
On their diagonal side there was a business sedan parked, nothing special about it at first glance.
At the end of the road there were four or five seemingly elderly men playing Chinese chess.
He raised an eyebrow. "None of these people look like ambushers from the Celestial Dao Alliance!"
Xiaoxiao nodded along. "Yeah, this just looks like an ordinary country lane. And those people don’t seem to have any Cultivation at all. Don’t tell me you’re being too cautious?"
"Sometimes what your eyes see isn’t the truth." Liu Zixuan narrowed his eyes slightly, then leaned back in his seat.
If it were him before going to the Profound Sword Sect, he would definitely have shared Xiaoxiao and Zhao Yi’s thoughts, feeling there was nothing unusual here. But after interacting with Old Qing, he’d understood a lot of things.
Everything in front of them looked very normal, but it was normal to the point of being a little weird.
"Want me to go down and take a look?" Zhao Yi asked.
"Go. Walk through this little road and just stand at the end and wait." Liu Zixuan said.
Zhao Yi nodded, got out of the car, and strolled forward with his hands in his pockets as if nothing was wrong. When passing the fruit stall, he deliberately lingered for a few seconds, but the people behind the stall didn’t make any move.
He walked onward, half-squatted by the sedan to pretend to fix his hair in the side mirror, and even deliberately peered inside. After the car showed no reaction, he finally walked up to the men playing chess.
But just as he’d steadied his footing, the few onlookers intentionally or unintentionally squeezed Zhao Yi out of the crowd.
"What the hell are you doing? You saw Zhao Yi deliberately release some Martial Artist aura when he went over, and those people didn’t react at all!" Xiaoxiao, sitting in the passenger seat, asked in confusion.
Liu Zixuan raised an eyebrow. "Since Sword Venerable Ling Xiao entrusted you to me, I’ll give you a free lesson today."
"..." A few black lines instantly popped up on Xiaoxiao’s forehead. She rolled her eyes at him. "My dad only asked you to treat my illness, when did he ever ’entrust’ me to you!"
Liu Zixuan didn’t keep joking. He pointed at the fruit stall ahead. "If you were the stall owner, what’s your purpose in setting up a stall?"
"To sell fruit, duh. You really need to ask?" Xiaoxiao spread her hands.
"Exactly. Since the goal is to sell fruit, why did he stay completely unmoved when Zhao Yi walked over and stopped there just now?" Liu Zixuan said with a teasing smile.
Xiaoxiao immediately furrowed her brows, feeling Liu Zixuan made sense. A fruit seller, even if you just walked by without stopping, should stand up and try to attract business. Yet that man and woman didn’t say a single word!
She curled her lip. "Maybe they thought Zhao Yi didn’t look like someone who’d buy fruit. You can’t really tell much just from that!"
"Look at that car." Liu Zixuan pointed at the business sedan. "The engine’s running, and there’s smoke coming out from the sunroof. That means there are people inside. But when Zhao Yi went over to use the mirror and even peered inside, if you were the owner, wouldn’t you be annoyed?"
"Of course I would. I’d definitely get out and curse him out!" Xiaoxiao blurted out instinctively.
Liu Zixuan spread his hands. "But they didn’t. The windows are tightly shut. If we weren’t at this angle where we can see the smoke and the exhaust, passersby would never think there’s anyone inside."
"When you put it that way, that’s true." Gradually, Xiaoxiao also accepted Liu Zixuan’s view. These people were indeed a bit strange.
"What about those playing chess?" Xiaoxiao asked.
Liu Zixuan shook his head. "This place is at least four or five li away from the village up ahead. What old guys would be bored enough to hike four or five li out here just to play chess?"
"But none of them have any Martial Artist aura on them." Xiaoxiao, though she agreed with Liu Zixuan’s reasoning, was still confused.
"As for that question, let Ripple explain it to you later." The corners of Liu Zixuan’s lips slowly curled up.
"Acting all mysterious!" Xiaoxiao huffed angrily in dissatisfaction, then turned her head away and stopped talking.
But just as she turned her head, she was so scared that she let out a scream.
"Ah! G-ghost... ghost!"
Liu Zixuan snapped his head around. Outside the car window, a white-haired old man was peering inside. The old man looked a bit sloppy and pale. From behind the glass he really did look a bit like a ghost, so it was no wonder Xiaoxiao screamed.
Liu Zixuan lowered the window and asked, "Can we help you?"
"Young man, want to buy some medicine?" The old man grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.
"No, no!" Xiaoxiao was already badly spooked, and now this guy was trying to sell them medicine, so she impatiently waved her hand.
"You kids look like you’re here sightseeing. This place is pretty far from the town, and there aren’t any inns around. You’ll definitely be camping tonight. I’ve got medicine to repel snakes and bugs—only place you’ll find it." The old man took out a few packets of medicine and shook them in front of them.
"Oh? There are snakes and bugs even in spring?" Liu Zixuan asked.
"One look and I can tell you’re from the north, kid. Here in the south, this season’s already got plenty of snakes and bugs." The old man handed the packets through the window. "I’m the only one around here selling repellent. If you miss it, you’re going to suffer tonight."
"How much?"
Given how sensitive the situation was right now, Liu Zixuan didn’t want to waste too much time on this old man.
"Not expensive, twenty yuan." The old man grinned, yellow teeth showing.
Liu Zixuan took out the money and handed it to him. "Thank you."
"Don’t mention it." The old man stuffed the money into his pocket, then took out a few more packets of medicine and walked further ahead, looking very much like someone who made a living selling medicine around here.
"I don’t get it. We’re all Martial Artists, and you’re even a doctor. Why would you buy this kind of scammer medicine?" Xiaoxiao asked irritably.
"He’s no scammer..." Liu Zixuan looked at the packets in his hand with a strange expression in his eyes.
