Chapter 502: Knocking on Every Door

Chapter 502: The Door to Every Home

"Looking at you like this, doesn’t it mean everything’s been sorted out already?"

Pai Yong, draped in coarse linen, sat alone at the table, his gaze fixed on the copper cauldron before him. The broth within bubbled with a fiery red glow, its sizzling sound echoing softly.

A faint, dim glow danced across the screen as Li Qian, weary and drained, slumped in the back seat of a swiftly moving carriage. He held a damp white cloth, gently wiping the dried blood from his hands.

"Don’t count on it, though. We didn’t even manage to kill Lu Ning."

He tried to mask his relief, but the moment passed too quickly. As if a shadow had slipped through, plunging him into darkness.

"Even if a tool had consciousness, it would still be nothing more than an object. People like you—always playing by the rules—will eventually fall. If everyone acted like that, the great Liu would be extinct in no time."

Li Qian spoke plainly, his voice steady. "But this time, you stepped in to help. I must uphold the rules. If I say otherwise, I won’t dig deeper. Besides, you don’t deserve my trust, do you?"

"Looks like you’ve got a lot of enemies in the middle," Li Qian said, his tone tinged with amusement.

"Indeed. I’ve heard whispers of your involvement in the Lu clan’s affairs. But that doesn’t mean you’re not a pawn. You’re just another pawn in the game of power."

The words struck a chord. The woman turned her gaze away, her expression unreadable.

"These words are just small talk. You’ve been involved in so much drama, you’ve lost your way."

Despite the tension, the two remained silent for a moment, the only sound the gentle crackle of the fire.

In their many journeys, the woman had come to understand that the man in the red robe—Li Yong—was no ordinary figure. His presence was a storm, and though he seemed to carry the weight of the world, it was clear he was not the hero the city needed.

Li Qian smiled faintly. "You’re not as lucky as I thought. If you’re serious about survival, you’ll need to be more careful."

Li Yong’s eyes narrowed slightly, the firelight reflecting in his sharp gaze. "And if you think I’m just a pawn, you’re wrong. I’ve seen the truth. The game is cruel, and I won’t let it break me."

The silence that followed was heavy with unspoken words, but neither moved. The weight of their words hung in the air, a silent promise of what was to come.

Li Jun leaned his body back and said lazily, "Sure, how about I come to Chongqing Prefecture to keep you company?"

"A quite comprehensive investigation." Liang Huo sneered, "What, have those honorable deans finally decided to settle scores with me after the autumn harvest?"

Leaving an registrations-bait like Liang Huo on the outside might make it possible to fish up the evil sharks lurking beneath the surface of the sea.

"Sigh."

Li Jun shook the bloody water from his hands and turned to look at the dumbfounded Liang Huo behind the counter.

"Master Liang, do not be angry. The people I inquired about just now have all been confirmed as high-risk rogue ghosts who betrayed the Mo Sequence, and many followers and rogue ghosts have died by their hands. Because you once had contact with them, we pay special attention to your safety, repeatedly troubling you, and hope you can understand."

"It does not matter."

And the root cause affecting his mood was the woman standing directly opposite him at this moment, separated by a three-foot-wide counter.

Bang!

A head exploded with a loud bang, scattering splattered filth all over the ground.

"The Chi Lord is dead."

"I am no gentleman; I am just a petty man."

Li Jun recalled the scene at the top floor of the Lu Mansion a few hours ago, pondered for a moment, and said with a serious face, "There is some difficulty, but it doesn't seem as hard as you say."

Li Jun asked in return, "Without roots, how can one find a foothold?"

"Where there are people, there are roots."

"Forming factions, clustering into forces, and defeating the enemy without fighting—this is the superior strategy commonly used by the Confucian Sequence."

Liang Huo said with a cold face, "Now that everything is clear, can I ask you to leave? I am not as fortunate as you to live free of worries in the Central Branch; I still have to open my doors and do business."

"That point, I can actually feel."

Li Jun gazed at the dark night outside the window and said without hesitation, "The companion capital, Jinling."

This sentence clearly startled Pei Xingjian, who immediately blew his mustache and stared, saying, "You kid are returning good with evil, aren't you?"

"Need you even ask? Of course, it would be just like today, sending a crowd of worthless lackeys to surround you until you are exhausted, and then slowly dealing with you."

"Of course."

Though reluctant, Liang Huo still suppressed the irritation deep in his heart and repeated the words he had already spoken countless times.

"Go and see the Central Branch of the Juzi Hall of the Mo Sequence, to find out what kind of tiger's den and dragon's lair it really is!"

"Talk like that when you finally reach Sequence Three."

Even the Chi Lord had once fallen into a similar trap, but unfortunately, the opponent's strength was simply too formidable, and the capture personnel they sent out were wiped clean the moment they showed their heads.

"These are all things we ought to do. Although you are not a member of the Juzi Hall, as long as it is the Mo Sequence, the Central Branch has an obligation to ensure his safety."

"I indeed knew the Chi Lord, but that was many years ago, and we have long since lost all contact. As for the two rogue ghosts you mentioned named Changjun and Lord Ma, I do not know them at all! I am just an ordinary Mo Sequence artisan running a handicraft workshop in Jinling City, without even a piece of Mo Armor to call my own. How could I possibly know those precious divine-artifact rogue ghosts?"

Pei Xingjian shook the pair of chopsticks in his right hand, "I stood by once when we were in the Japanese Region, which was uncalled for on my part. This time I return the favor, and we are even."

The woman added, "The greatest rogue ghost traitor of this Central Branch has already been executed."

"What do you mean? Still don't believe me, and preparing to arrest me back to the Central Branch for interrogation?"

The woman extended a fair, slender finger from her black robe, poking the counter surface one tap at a time.

The woman stared intently into Liang Huo's eyes, and only after a long while did she smile and say, "I shall take my leave for now. I wish you prosperous business, Master Liang."

In the end, it was Pei Xingjian who lost his patience first, asking with a look of astonishment, "Are you really not the least bit curious, kid, how I knew about Lu Siyi's involvement in the Jinyiwei affairs of the Japanese Region besides Lu Yuzhang? And how I could predict so accurately that someone would move against the Lu Mansion tonight?"

Li Jun burst into laughter and said calmly, "In the past, I had no ability. When I suffered losses at the hands of others, I could only swallow my broken teeth along with the blood, hiding in a corner to lick my wounds while staring wide-eyed at my surroundings, terrified of being stabbed in the back again if I wasn't careful. If you had told me back then that a gentleman's revenge is never too late even after ten years, I would have listened obediently."

Over the years, the Central Branch had used this exact method to deal with many rogue ghosts who harbored double loyalty.

Lu Ning was an unwavering member of the New Donglin Party and the most loyal follower of Chief Grand Secretary Zhang Fengyue.

Liang Huo said contemptuously, "If that's the case, why did the Mo Sequence still participate in building the Yellow Millet Dreamworld? And why bind rogue ghosts and the Mo Sequence together to depend on each other?"

The woman offered Liang Huo a textbook-standard smile, the curve of her lips and the number of teeth showing being just right.

"Once a bound rogue ghost dies, they vanish into ashes completely, whereas the Mo Sequence will only be injured. Therefore, binding is for better control, and autonomous consciousness is merely to allow the tools to be used better, not to let them stand equal with us!"

"Spotting weaknesses, dividing and conquering, winning over one group while suppressing another—this is the mediocre strategy."

"What does his life or death have to do with me? I've said it many times, I only met him a few times when I was young, and we haven't been in touch for many years."

Although the woman's tone was gentle, her scrutinizing gaze remained fixed on Liang Huo's eyes, as if trying to dig out any trace of suspicious anomaly.

"Take a rest. There is a good saying: a gentleman's revenge is never too late even after ten years. You don't need to rush this moment." Pei Xingjian suddenly spoke.

"Then I really must thank you immensely," Liang Huo said sarcastically.

"Then according to what you say, wouldn't tools without consciousness be even better?"

"As for why I know this news..."

"Brother Jun, now that the Taoist priest Chen Qisheng and Xiao Bai have gone to Jiangxi Province, and Sister Yuan has taken Xiao Hei to Suzhou Prefecture in Nanzhili, where are we going?"

Pei Xingjian rolled his eyes and said crossly, "Your path is indeed more capable of fighting than I expected, even able to exchange blows with some Sequence Threes who aren't very good at rolling up their sleeves and swinging fists, but people of the Confucian Sequence have always considered matching strength hand-to-hand a disgrace."

"I know that in the eyes of many people today, I am still not some grand figure, at most a relatively large trouble. But for me, it is now my turn to take a knife to trouble them, instead of standing in a corner in constant dread like before."

"An old man becomes a shrewd fox, an old ghost becomes a clever spirit?"

"But in comparison, I still prefer to pull up other people's roots. Elder Pei, you don't need to persuade me further. This time we are not even; rather, I owe you a favor. If there is anything you need me to do in the future, just speak."

Li Jun smiled upon hearing this, tossing the white cloth stained with dark blood out of the carriage window.

And the string of special patterns embroidered on the cuffs of her robe indicated that her identity was that of an investigator belonging to the Central Branch of the Juzi Hall of the Mo Sequence.

"The inferior strategy?"

However, these secrets were unknown to the so-called righteous individuals like Liang Huo who liked to speak up for rogue ghosts.

Zou Sijiu squatted beside that mutilated corpse, muttering in a low voice.

"Shouyu, tell me, if I dressed up as a woman, do you think I would look a bit more pleasing to your eye?"