The Immortal Fishing in Troubled Waters

Lu Xiyun was also very depressed about the incompatibility between Qin Shu and Xie Lingyan.

Prince Lu couldn't understand it. Big Brother Xie was so easy to get along with, and Qin Shu was such a good person, so why couldn't he get along with Big Brother Xie?!

Lu Xiyun was very tired of being caught between two people.

Ren Xuan was embarrassed. City Lord Xie would only break down those who really wanted to take advantage of him. He could only hope that Xie Lingyan would be nice to Qin Shu in the next life.

He smiled flatteringly, "If His Highness and City Lord Xie start arguing again, then you'll be the one struggling to handle it. Why bother?"

Lu Xiyun lowered his eyebrows. What Ren Xuan said... made some sense...

He hesitated for a moment, then started the communication.

On the other end of the message, Xie Lingyan spoke very quickly and hurriedly, as if she had taken time out of her busy schedule to respond to Lu Xiyun.

"Xiyun, what's the matter?"

Lu Xiyun told the truth.

"My two senior brothers will follow up on this matter. If there is any progress, Yinshu City will also report it to the court."

Ren Xuan coughed dryly and said, "Thank you, City Lord. I came from Wujia Village. To be honest, the Second Master has been sleeping on the street for several days."

...If you rely on this guy's efficiency, you will never be able to report to the court in your lifetime.

On the other end of the message, Xie Lingyan's silence was deafening.

Ren Xuan could feel that the diligent City Lord Xie was about to be crushed to pieces by that resentful senior brother.

After a long while, Xie Lingyan threw over another address.

"Big Brother discovered a transit point."

"I'll send you the address—Xiyun, send someone to keep an eye on Fang Xingfei and have him go over there immediately."

"By the way, tell him that if he dares to take advantage of the big brother again, he will go on missions alone from now on."

When the interrogation ended, Xie Lingyan seemed to have dropped something - probably an innocent tumbler.

Lu Xiyun swallowed his saliva: "...Senior Brother, shouldn't you be the type to take care of your junior brothers? Why does Brother Xie's senior brother sound so unreliable?"

Ren Xuan smiled and said, "There's nothing strange in this world. It's normal."

Ren Xuan wrote down the address and said, "My Lord, leave this matter to me. You continue to practice swordsmanship, or rather, continue to cultivate yourself."

Lu Xiyun: "..."

···

Ren Xuan returned to the street, and sure enough, the "beggar" in black clothes and white belt was still lazily leaning against the wall, with his bamboo hat drooping, and it seemed that he had "fallen asleep" again.

He walked closer and half-knelt down: "Brother Fang."

Zhu Li lifted his hat slightly, revealing a pair of lazy eyes, and said in a leisurely voice: "General Ren, so soon, is there a result?"

Ren Xuan smiled politely, but his tone was straightforward: "I've found the location of the hidden soldiers' lair and was planning to go over and investigate. Brother Fang, would you like to come with me?"

Fang Xingfei pressed the bamboo hat back onto his face and said submissively, "General Ren is a skilled martial artist. Why would he need my help?"

Ren Xuan raised his eyebrows, thinking that this guy could really lie down.

He paused, finally dropping the politeness: "Brother Fang, Yinshu City is also investigating this case. Now that there's a breakthrough, if you're unwilling to leave, I can only ask City Lord Xie to send someone else."

As soon as these words came out, Fang Xingfei raised his eyebrows and sat up straighter: "Do you know the third brother?"

Ren Xuan nodded without changing his expression.

Fang Xingfei seemed to be provoked by something. He patted his robe and forced himself to put on an appearance of "cooperation". "General Ren, to be honest, my senior brother will be back soon. If I leave rashly, he won't be able to find me when he returns, and something might happen."

Ren Xuan rolled his eyes in his heart.

If this guy were more serious, he would represent all the lazy people in the world.

In my impression, Xie Lingyan can be considered diligent and conscientious. Are these two brothers really taught by the same master?

Is the quality of the 'civil servants' in Yinshu City so uneven?!

He simply stopped smiling and said bluntly, "Brother Fang, I have just contacted City Lord Xie."

"Xie City Lord's original words were—"

"If you continue to take advantage of your senior brother to fish in troubled waters, you will be the only one to complete all the missions from now on."

Fang Xingfei's mouth twitched slightly.

After a long silence, he sighed deeply, as if accepting his fate: "Since General Ren is determined to go,...it's not impossible."

Fang Xingfei mumbled something, but Ren Xuan didn't hear clearly and didn't bother to ask.

The two of them hurried all the way, bypassed the end of the village, and soon entered the pine forest in the north.

The forest was dark and deep, the pine needles were thick and soft, and footsteps fell almost silently.

Following the address written down by the Lu family, they headed north and finally found the cave entrance hidden by bushes behind a pile of rocks on the mountainside.

The entrance to the cave is extremely hidden. If it were not indicated on the map and someone had not cleaned it in advance, there would be no trace of an entrance.

Fang Xingfei squatted down to inspect it, his fingertips tracing the crack in the stone door. "Someone has been in and out recently, no more than three days ago."

Ren Xuan nodded, put one hand on the hilt of the knife, and went in first.

The corridor inside the cave is not long, only about ten feet, and the terrain is slightly low, as if it was rebuilt from a natural mountain belly.

But the further you go in, the lower the temperature becomes, until at the end of the corridor, a stone chamber suddenly appears.

The stone chamber was several dozen feet in diameter, with five huge wooden racks standing in the center, but the racks were empty.

Ren Xuan walked forward, picked up a piece of copper scattered on the ground, and then narrowed his eyes.

"It's the mark of the 'Dark List'."

Fang Xingfei tilted his head, staring at the mottled symbols on the copper plate. "What does this ghostly painted symbol mean?"

Ren Xuan lowered his voice a bit, "This is 'Seven', the exclusive mark for the seventh place on the Dark List."

He raised his eyes and said, "This place is the private vault of the 'An Bing'."

Fang Xingfei raised an eyebrow, his eyes vaguely glancing at the copper piece, and said lazily, "General Ren, you know a lot, don't you?"

Ren Xuan didn't even raise his head, and spoke calmly and straightforwardly: "I've killed many people on the Dark List, so it's not too much to remember my name."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly raised his hand.

Fang Xingfei was startled and listened attentively - a faint voice came from the end of the corridor.

The two exchanged glances, then immediately lowered their bodies and moved towards the other end of the stone wall.

The stone walls were mottled, and the torches were reflected on the wet rock surface, flickering.

In the firelight, a young man was being forced to kneel on the ground by two black-clad assassins. His shoulders were uneven, as if they were supported by an external force. It was obvious that he had suffered a severe blow before being captured.

A hidden soldier who seemed to be the leader stepped forward, kicked the man to the ground, and said in a deep voice: "Who are you and how did you find this place?"

The young man curled up on the ground convulsed all over. After a long while, he slowly spoke in a low voice: "You robbed the imperial court's goods privately. The commander-in-chief will not let you go."

The stone chamber was silent for a moment, and then a burst of laughter broke out.

"Do you think you can go back alive and see Pei Jiming?!"

The man who was speaking squatted down, grabbed his chin and twisted it roughly, forcing him to look up and face the firelight.

The man in black clicked his tongue, a look of scrutiny and amusement in his eyes: "Pei Jiming sent this pretty boy to investigate the Seventh Master. Does the commander-in-chief have no one left under him?"

Several people laughed, and the atmosphere was frivolous and ridiculous.

The man was forced to look up, but his eyes were unfocused, only vaguely fixed on the distant fire. He laughed hoarsely, "They are all well-known figures on the blacklist. There is no money to be made elsewhere, so why do they have to earn this desperate money?"

"Ha." A dark soldier leaning against the wall laughed, pulled out a chair and sat down, then lazily replied, "We're all on the edge of life, so what's wrong with Master Qi making a little more money?"

In the darkness of the corridor, Ren Xuan's eyes narrowed slightly. He suddenly said in a low voice: "This man is useful, kidnap him and get him out."

Before he could finish his words, Fang Xingfei raised his hand to stop him: "Why are you in such a hurry? How do you know he can't get out?"

In the center of the stone chamber, the young man coughed twice, tilted his head and spat out the blood, chuckling softly, "Tens of thousands of knives? Even if Master Qi snatched them, he wouldn't necessarily be able to get rid of them, right?"

One of them kicked away the remaining wooden frame beside him, his voice suddenly rising: "What a joke! Master Qi had already made arrangements with them."

He pointed at the weapon racks in the center of the stone chamber and said with pride, "Look how many are left here?!"

The young man seemed not to have heard at all. He coughed a few times, blood on the corner of his lips, and his face was as pale as paper.

His tone remained unchanged as he slowly asked, "...Has the deal been made?"

The words were quiet, but they made the expressions of the people around them pause. The leader looked alert, his eyes sharp, and his tone became gloomy: "Dead man, there is no need to know so much."

The young man sighed softly, "That's troublesome."

Amidst the horrified gazes of the crowd, the man who originally looked like he was about to die stood up slowly.

A light blue halo spread out from the young man's side like water ripples.

The hidden soldiers were about to pounce when they found themselves unable to move because of roots growing under their feet. A sharp pain shot through their chests, and when they looked down, they saw thorns of vines emerging from the ground and piercing their chests.

In an instant, corpses were scattered all over the stone chamber.

The young man raised his hand, the green light at his fingertips faded, and the wooden vines on the stone wall slowly retreated back into the wall, leaving only bloodstains.

The young man brushed away the blood stain on his sleeve with disdain, cast his gaze in the direction of the two people, and said coldly: "Have you seen enough?"

Ren Xuan subconsciously drew his sword - this man was definitely not Pei Jiming's subordinate.

Ren Xuan was about to attack, but someone stopped him on the shoulder again.

Fang Xingfei lazily stepped out of the shadows and asked jokingly, "Brother, have you had enough fun?"

Ren Xuan: “……?”

He glanced back and forth between the young man and Fang Xingfei twice, his expression changing from confusion to subtlety, and finally only a line of big words remained: Who of you calls whom senior brother?

The young man had clear eyebrows and a pale complexion, and looked younger than Fang Xingfei no matter how you looked at him.

Fang Xingfei knew what Ren Xuan was thinking and spread his hands casually: "The technique is good."

Ren Xuan narrowed his eyes. Those vine thorns and the energy traction just now were typical wood-attributed techniques.

Wood represents life, prosperity and endless reproduction. No wonder this person looks like he is about to die one second and recovers as normal the next.

The young man in white paused when he saw Fang Xingfei, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes: "Why are you here?"

Fang Xingfei said confidently, "I received a tip that the hidden soldiers' nest is hidden here, so I came to investigate."

Ren Xuan: “……?”

This is not right, is it?! He had just dragged this ancestor over with all his persuasion and persuasion, and now this guy has put on a "model public servant" face?

Fang Xingfei ignored Ren Xuan's gaze and only introduced him: "This is General Ren, the court's commander in charge of this case."

The young man nodded slightly: "Yinshu City, Xiao Wujiu, nice to meet you."

As if thinking of something, Fang Xingfei turned around and said, "We've found the other party's lair. Brother, can we report to the Third Brother now?"

Ren Xuan: “…”

You're so polite to say 'we'...