Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

"Thank you very much!" The burly man clasped his hands in a fist and bowed to Mo Yuming to express his sincere gratitude. Then he respectfully invited the old man to take a seat.

The burly man and the restaurant owner were neighbors and knew each other very well. So the owner didn't need the man to order; he quickly brought out the dishes and drinks the man usually ordered.

"Brother Wan, this is a remote and impoverished place, so it can't compare to the bustling Central Plains City. Please bear with us and make do!"

The burly man raised his exquisite wine cup, gestured slightly to the old man, and offered him a glass of fine wine.

“We’ve been brothers for decades, how can you say such formal things? If I were to treat you like a stranger, why would I have traveled all this way to find you?”

The old man also raised his wine cup in response to the big man's toast, his words filled with emotion.

The two leisurely sipped their wine and ate their delicious food, chatting idly about this and that.

Just as Mo Yuming was feeling bored and was about to get up and leave, he suddenly overheard their conversation mentioning Li Qing's affairs. So he quietly sat down again and pretended to continue eating.

Fortunately, their conversation seemed unreserved, and they appeared completely oblivious to the presence of a stranger sitting beside them. The burly man slowly began to speak:

"Brother Wan, you were doing so well under Vice President Li, why did you quit?"

"Oh, don't even mention it. Ever since that guy surnamed Li went away for more than ten days, he's gone crazy ever since he came back."

The next day, he began to sell off his assets on a large scale.

In Zhongyuan City, all of his dozen or so tool shops closed down and were transferred to other businesses.

Those shops with higher levels were allowed to stay for the time being, while those of us below level two were sent away.

So, I had no choice but to pack my bags, leave Zhongyuan City, and go out to find a way to make a living.

The old man sighed deeply and said slowly.

"Why would he do this? He's the vice president of the Central Plains City Refiners Association! How could he possibly give up such a hard-won asset?"

The burly man then lowered his voice and said with a puzzled look:

"Or did he offend some important figure and want to escape?"

"I don't know either. How could he tell us the truth when we're the ones who do all the hard labor for him all day long?"

However, I did hear a few snippets of information. Apparently, one of his apprentices committed a serious crime that might implicate him.

It seemed that even he couldn't handle that major incident, so he decided to flee with his family and leave Zhongyuan City.

Just as he was dismissing us, I noticed several carriages parked at his residence, and people inside were loading things onto them.

Old Man Wan took a sip of the cheap liquor and frowned slightly as he spoke.

"Where is he planning to run off to? If he really offends some powerful force, do you think he can escape?"

The burly man, his face full of curiosity, continued to press for more information.

"Those who secretly fled were his family members. I heard that his legal wife is from Zhenglan Kingdom and has some property there. I guess if she's going to escape, she'll go to Zhenglan Kingdom."

He still has several properties he hasn't sold off; he can't run away.

Besides, he still holds the title of vice president. If he wants to leave, he needs to find a reason, otherwise he can forget about working in the weapon-refining industry in the future.

So when he closed those shops, he publicly stated that he wanted to expand to larger areas and wanted those at a slightly higher level to continue following him.

Upon hearing these conversations, Mo Yuming immediately felt a strong sense of unease.

He sensed something was amiss, so he pretended to have finished eating, paid the bill immediately, and left.

Upon arriving at the guest room, he immediately used his soul tablet to send a message to Jiang Yuheng, instructing him to dispatch a team of men as soon as possible to secretly ambush the route from Zhongyuan City to Zhenglan Kingdom, and to ensure that Li Qing's family could not escape.

The message Jiang Yuheng passed to Mo Yuming was just relayed by their spies.

It is understood that after selling all his properties, Li Qing did not leave Zhongyuan City. In the past few days, he has been hiding in the Refiner Association building and has rarely shown his face.

Meanwhile, the Refiner's Association remained completely calm, without any unusual activity. Jiang Yuheng speculated that Li Qing was likely stalling for time, assessing the situation, and awaiting a decision from the Feather Emperor's Palace.

It's also possible that he has already held secret talks with the higher-ups of the Refiners' Association. After all, the Refiners' Association is a huge force, and after weighing the options, they might want to suppress the matter.

They didn't care about Mo Yuming's attitude, feeling that Mo Yuming and his group posed no threat to them.

They didn't want to offend Wu Ji by following Mo Yuming's wishes. After all, Zhongyuan City was still under Wu Ji's control.

As a powerful marquis, Wu Ji would not be easily defeated.

If they were to expose Wu Ji as Mo Yuming intended, it would be tantamount to openly opposing Wu Ji, which would bring them no benefit whatsoever.

Therefore, they decided to protect themselves by transferring their families and property, while Li Qing himself stayed behind to wait and see how things would develop.

From his perspective, Li Qing's actions did have some merit. However, he overlooked Mo Yuming's perspective.

Mo Yuming couldn't possibly let Wu Ji get away with such a scheme without taking any action. Having seized the opportunity, how could they possibly let it slip away so easily?

Even without Li Qing as cannon fodder, Mo Yuming and the others wouldn't give up the opportunity to counterattack. However, the original plan needed to be changed.

There are very few people in the town, and after nightfall, there are hardly any people walking on the streets.

The entire town was completely enveloped in night. Mo Yuming, having nothing to do, sat in his room. He first practiced the Witch Clan's mental cultivation technique for an hour.

Then, she took out a maple leaf fruit from her storage bag and ate it. Back in Shangyuan City, Mo Yuming had given Huang Xiaoxiao a few maple leaf fruits.

Unfortunately, her cultivation system is water-based, and like Xinlan, her absorption rate of the extreme fire element contained in the maple leaf fruit is too low.

Moreover, his current cultivation level is only at the fifth level of the Human Realm, and his physique is also somewhat inferior to Xinlan's.

Having only eaten one maple leaf fruit, she couldn't withstand the impact of its powerful, extreme elemental properties. She had no choice but to ask Grandma Qingwei for help in refining it. Mo Yuming had no choice but to keep it for herself.

Mo Yuming's fire-attribute profound skill has now reached the sixth level of the Earth Rank. He performs exceptionally well in absorbing the energy of the maple leaf fruit, absorbing about 70% to 80% of it.

Especially after he practiced the Witch Clan's mental cultivation method, his absorption rate of fire-attribute spiritual energy greatly increased, and the speed also increased significantly.

After Mo Yuming consumed the maple leaf fruit, the extreme fire element contained within it was completely refined by him in just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Mo Yuming's fire-attribute profound skill has improved again, and it's about to reach the peak of the sixth level of the Earth Rank. Mo Yuming is also very concerned about improving his other three profound skills, but unfortunately, he doesn't have any immortal fruits or crystals like the Maple Leaf Fruit that can provide a large amount of ultimate attribute spiritual power.

Otherwise, he also wanted to try to see if he could quickly improve his cultivation level under the current circumstances.