Infiltrating the world of cultivation

Wang Chao's first reaction was to be startled, but after using his spiritual sense to investigate, he found that it was a false alarm.

"Shi Wen, go open the door."

The dynasty had already uncovered the truth and was naturally fearless. However, Shi Wen was quite intimidated by Li Qingxia and walked to the door with a wary expression.

"Thud! Ah!"

While grilling, Sun Juan accidentally burned her hand with splattered oil and instinctively cried out.

The hearts of everyone who was already on edge suddenly trembled with fear.

Just as Shi Wen was about to open the door, he kicked it out.

"Ouch!"

The shopkeeper covered his forehead and sat down hard on the ground, looking like he had been hit quite hard.

"The shopkeeper?"

Shi Wen was surprised; it turned out to be a false alarm.

"What's wrong with you guys? Didn't we say the lights would be turned off after dark? Are you out of your minds?"

The shopkeeper scrambled to his feet, looking as if he wanted to devour everyone.

Only after everyone repeatedly assured him did the shopkeeper leave, still feeling apprehensive.

The meat was ready to eat. The room was dark, with only the bright moonlight shining through the oiled paper, making it possible to vaguely make out human faces.

However, this had little impact on the dynasty. Even in the dark, he could see clearly, which was one of the advantages of being a cultivator—their level of life had already changed.

"Now, young lady, can you tell me the truth?"

Shi Wen spoke up, and after such a farce, everyone knew that Li Qingxia was just joking earlier.

"He was a notorious thief, but he was different from the others. He didn't steal antiques or paintings, nor did he lust after women. He seemed to have a special fondness for gold ingots."

I've been tracking him for a long time, but I still haven't caught him.

Li Qingxia revealed the truth, and everyone looked at each other in disbelief. There were countless treasures more valuable than gold ingots, yet that great thief chose to steal that heavy gold ingot.

"What did that notorious thief look like? And what was his cultivation level?"

Xuan Yang Wan'er asked a question, and even she became interested in this unusual phenomenon.

"I don't know, no one has ever seen his true face, but his cultivation must be quite strong. Those boxes containing gold ingots are very heavy, and ordinary people can't carry them away."

The strange thing is, each time the incident occurred, the box was intact, but the gold ingots were gone. How did he manage to take so many loose gold ingots?

Li Qingxia's words left everyone speechless. Without a single clue, even if the murderer stood right in front of you, you might not recognize them.

"It's not like we have absolutely no clues. He's not very tall; he seems to be a bit of a dwarf."

Li Qingxia also felt a little embarrassed, after all, she had been tracking the killer for so long and still didn't know what he looked like.

Do you know why there are warnings like "Don't turn on the lights after dark," "Don't go out after dark," and "Don't make a sound after dark"?

Because he always committed his crimes at night, those who carried torches and shouted to catch him all ended up dying, while those who let him take their money lost their lives.

Tonight, I placed a whole box of gold ingots at the village chief's house and sent someone to spread the word that we would be moving them overnight.

As long as that notorious bandit is still here, he will definitely go and steal it!

Li Qingxia had planned this all along. She was also highly skilled and daring. An ordinary person would probably have backed down, but Li Qingxia was very strong and could fight against someone at the third stage of Qi Refining. That's why she dared to come alone.

The four members of the dynasty originally did not want to meddle in other people's business. Their original intention was to stay for one night and then head east to the capital.

But it wouldn't be right for Sun Juan to just leave after rubbing that young girl on the ground for so long, so everyone decided to help Li Qingxia complete the bounty mission.

Under the hazy moonlight, the group split into three groups and lay in ambush around the village chief's courtyard.

Shi Wen and Xuan Yang Wan'er were naturally grouped together, and since Wang Chao didn't need to cooperate with anyone, Sun Juan and Li Qingxia were assigned to the same group.

The group lay in wait for a long time, but there was no movement around them.

An elderly man with a hunched back and a staggering gait passed by the village chief's courtyard.

"The sky is dry and everything is dry, be careful about the fire."

"Thump!—Thump!", "Thump!—Thump!", "Thump!—Thump!"

The Tang Dynasty had a tradition of night watchmen. Wang Chao checked the time; it was a little past seven o'clock. The night watchman's clapper sounded, one long and one short.

"Thump! Thump!", "Thump! Thump!"

At the second watch, around nine o'clock in the evening, there were two short, distinct sounds, different from before.

"Boom! -- Boom! Boom!"

When the third watch is struck, around 11 p.m., the sound slows down and then pauses.

The old man was quite punctual; his error was never more than three minutes. Wang Chao knew that during the day, he used a sundial to keep time, but at night, when there was no sun, he used an hourglass.

It seems that the hourglass timer is quite accurate, with a relatively small margin of error.

The fourth update was around 1 a.m.

It's almost the second day. Hasn't that notorious thief received the message yet?

After all, Li Qingxia had been very secretive in sending the message in order to lower their guard. If that notorious thief hadn't received the message, everyone might have been waiting in vain.

Others may not know, but Wang Chao showed no impatience whatsoever; sniper training was far more tedious than this.

I still can't forget the experience of lying down next to a cesspool and aiming for 24 hours. It was truly a double torment of body and mind.

Here, with a gentle breeze and a bright moon, the environment is so much better.

"Hey? Why didn't that old man come?"

At 1:05, Wang Chao was a little puzzled. Before this, the old man who kept watch was never more than three minutes off, but this time, it took a little longer.

Although a five-minute error was nothing, Wang Chao felt something was amiss.

call out!

The dynasty moved, flying directly towards the village chief's residential area, where the gold ingots were stored.

The rest of the group, seeing Wang Chao's actions, realized that the situation had changed.

Bang!

Wang Chao kicked the wooden door open.

"屮!"

Even with the temperament of a dynasty, he couldn't help but swear. When everyone arrived, they saw that the black box containing the gold ingots had been pried open, and all the gold ingots inside had been looted.

"Shi Wen, go ask the village chief where that old night watchman lives."

Wang Chao realized that he had been careless. He had thought Wang Chao was just an ordinary martial arts master, but now Wang Chao was a fourth-stage Qi Refining expert. No matter what happened, Wang Chao could see it.

He was very confident in his senses and hadn't released his spiritual awareness, yet now, that notorious thief had stolen the gold ingot right under his nose—it was an utter disgrace.

It's obvious that this is no ordinary notorious thief. From the pile of freshly turned soil next to the black box, you can tell that the other party is a cultivator.

Because it's impossible for someone to dig a hole in the ground without making a sound; clearly, the other party has mastered a spell similar to earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to escape from the ground).