Yesterday evening, the master and apprentice sat down at a table for dinner and then started chatting.

"Qin Hong, your Green Peak Leg technique is almost fully developed, isn't it?"

Guo Tianheng asked with a faint smile.

"Yes, I estimate that with another seven or eight months of training, I can master the Green Peak Leg technique."

Qin Hong smiled and said respectfully.

"very good.

"Once you've mastered the Azure Peak Leg technique, your martial arts foundation will be much more solid. Then I'll teach you ordinary peak-level techniques."

Guo Tianheng nodded in satisfaction and continued slowly, "It's a pity that I couldn't take Lin Xiaofei, who you mentioned has extremely high talent in martial arts, under my wing. Otherwise, he would have been my second disciple with good talent."

“Master, Junior Brother Lin’s talent in martial arts surpasses mine. Why do you say you can’t accept him as your disciple?”

Upon hearing this, Qin Hong was puzzled and quickly asked.

"Lin Xiaofei has extremely high talent. Everyone wants to take him as their disciple, and I am no exception."

However, someone had already taken a liking to him, so naturally I had no chance to take him as my apprentice, and neither did the other managers.

Therefore, those of us in management positions could only watch helplessly.

Guo Tianheng said with a hint of a sigh in his voice.

After leaving the Qingfeng Gang branch residence, Lin Xiaofei looked around but did not find anything suspicious.

He was still somewhat wary of the rat-beast master cultivator he had never met before. If he found anyone intercepting him, he would immediately return or hide in his spatial bead.

The sky was pitch black. Lin Xiaofei estimated the time; it should be around three o'clock in the morning.

There was no one on the surrounding streets, nor was there the owner of the rat beast, so Lin Xiaofei quickly walked away.

"If He Buzhong wants to go to Xiegu County, he can either go out of the city from the east or from the west. Both routes will get him to his destination."

If He Buzhong were to head west out of the city, he would likely encounter the second-in-command of Black Wind Stronghold, and the local bully's stronghold was also in that direction. Therefore, he probably wouldn't choose to head west.

Lin Xiaofei was making plans in his mind, but his steps remained quick.

Having worked as a menial disciple at the Medicine Pavilion for forty-nine days, pushing a large cart with Wang Shan every day, walking back and forth through the streets and in and out of the city gates, he was very familiar with the streets and routes of Qingshan Town and walked quickly.

However, he did not rush to leave the city gate. Instead, he turned and headed towards the Song Family Escort Agency. He planned to check the situation before deciding which city gate to exit from.

“There are two roads leading out of the city from the east to Xiegu County.”

One option is to take a mountain path, and the other is to take an official road.

If you take the official road, a section of it is guarded by the third leader of Black Wind Stronghold, making it easier than going out through the east gate of the city.

Ding Baiyu, the third leader of Black Wind Stronghold, is a mid-stage martial artist with over fifty ordinary late-stage martial artists under his command, making him extremely powerful.

He Buzhong's trip to Xiegu County this time clearly means he will never return to Qingshan Town. Therefore, he will definitely take all his wealth with him. Taking the official route makes it easy for the third leader of Black Wind Village to extort a large sum of money from him. Although he won't die, he will suffer a great loss.

Lin Xiaofei secretly analyzed that the only option was to take the back road, where there was only a small band of bandits, about twenty people.

Therefore, taking the back road is safer, as it makes it less likely to be chased by bandit leaders and local bullies, thus allowing one to leave Qingshan Town.

"Therefore, I estimate that the bandit leader, Xiao Huba, might ambush He Buzhong on the side road and kill him."

So I'd better follow them at a distance until they go down the path, wait for them to kill each other, and then I'll go up and pick up the pieces.

However, to confirm which route He Buzhong took, the only option was to wait outside the Song Family Escort Agency until they saw him leave.

Lin Xiaofei thought to himself silently.

He knew his own strength; he couldn't possibly intercept and kill He Buzhong alone. Although he didn't know He Buzhong's strength, the other party was a bandit who had been around for many years and must have some skills. He wouldn't be so easy to deal with.

Furthermore, with a team from the Song Family Escort Agency escorting them, they were likely a group of people with considerable martial arts skills, so Lin Xiaofei would not have attempted to rob the caravan.

Ordinary martial artists go through three stages: skin refinement, flesh refinement, and bone refinement.

Lin Xiaofei estimated that he himself had not yet refined his skin and was not even considered an ordinary early-stage martial artist. However, he had mastered the Great Perfection of the Piercing Flow Palm and the Lesser Perfection of the Eighteen Swift Wind Swords, so his strength was at most comparable to that of an ordinary skin-refining martial artist.

Once he faces an ordinary martial artist who has refined flesh and bones, he has no choice but to run away.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a group of people approaching. Lin Xiaofei quickly dodged and stood in a dark corner.

Soon, from the east side of the street, a group of people escorted eight or nine carts of goods. Each cart had a flag with a large "Song" character on it, and they were heading towards the west side of the street, which was the direction of the west gate.

Lin Xiaofei stood in the dark corner. There were about thirty people passing by him. He looked up at the words on the flag and silently watched the group leave.

"They are going through the west gate, so He Buzhong should not be among them."

Lin Xiaofei thought to himself, and after the group left, he quickly quickened his pace and stepped into the other side of the street.

More than ten minutes later, Lin Xiaofei arrived near the most secluded courtyard in the east of the city. From afar, he could see two large lanterns lit on either side of the gate of the Song Family Escort Agency. The gate was open, and two men with swords at their waists stood on either side of the gate.

"The gate is open, so it must be the Song Family Escort Agency. Another group of people is about to come out from inside."

Lin Xiaofei stood by a dark corner, looking at the Song family's gate from afar, not daring to approach. Although he had thought everything through, this operation was very dangerous and required extreme caution.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes...

On a cold winter morning, Lin Xiaofei stood there silently, like a statue, always watching his surroundings and glancing at the entrance of the Song Family Escort Agency from time to time. He wouldn't leave until he was sure He Buzhong had left.

Finally, after more than twenty minutes, Lin Xiaofei's eyes lit up.

At this moment, it was still pitch black. He saw a group of people walking out of the gate of the Song Family Escort Agency in the distance.

This group consisted of seven people, six of whom were tall, strong, and robust, and all wore the same long gowns with a large "Song" character written on their chests.

At this moment, each of them had a long sword hanging at their waist.

Lin Xiaofei stared intently at them and immediately judged that six of them were from the escort agency.

The other person, dressed in a gray long gown, was probably around thirty years old. He was a thin man carrying a package and was the last to come out of the door.

Lin Xiaofei immediately perked up, analyzed the situation, and guessed that the person should be He Buzhong.