Li Mu could have killed the poisonous Taoist, but in the end he let him go.

Even the most hateful person has a pitiable side; in some ways, this person also has aspects that deserve pity.

Although this man was a chatterbox, he helped him recognize the old Taoist priest, which was one reason not to kill him.

Li Mu was exasperated to have encountered two gossipy people in one day.

Having memorized the names Tianxuan Sect and Yi Hongming, Li Mu left the forest.

He was going to find a market or town to see if he could buy a map to tell directions.

More than ten minutes later, a village appeared in his consciousness.

The village isn't large, with only a few dozen households, and it's especially quiet at midnight.

Li Mu landed in the courtyard of a farmer's house, where some coarse cloth clothes were drying.

His current casual attire looks rather out of place here.

After changing into a set of clothes he found in the yard, he took out the spider silk mask.

Not only that, she also used her spiritual power to promote the growth of her hair, and casually tied her medium-length hair into a monk's bun.

When he left the courtyard, he had already transformed into another person, his senior brother, Mo Lishi.

After stepping onto the flying sword again, Li Mu continued forward along the village road.

Nearly an hour later, after flying over countless villages, they finally arrived at a city.

.

Fuxing City.

The earliest city established in the outer reaches of China has expanded to over a thousand square kilometers after more than a thousand years of development.

The city has a population of over 400,000, and with the population of the surrounding villages and towns, the total population is nearly one million.

Xu Mingxuan, the city lord of Fuxing City, is also the owner of the Treasure Pavilion.

Lord Xu has been in the city for over sixty years, and his cultivation is unfathomable. The Xu family has many ancestral-level martial artists, and even more martial artists under their care.

In the distant lands of the divine continent, the Treasure Pavilion is a force on par with the four major sects.

While the four major sects were expanding their territories and occupying the four cardinal directions, the Treasure Pavilion did not participate in the division of territory.

For over a thousand years, the Xu family has only occupied Fuxing City, until now.

It can be said that Fuxing City is the Xu family's private city.

The fact that the Xu family could stand tall in China for a thousand years with just one city speaks volumes.

Because of generations of trade, it has become a bond that keeps the major powers coexisting peacefully.

Li Mu rested outside Fuxing City for several hours before entering the city at dawn.

He didn't come here to learn about history; he came here to buy a map of China.

Surprisingly, maps that are commonplace in China are rare items here, and are only sold at the Treasure Pavilion.

The currencies used here are copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins.

Moreover, the map is not cheap; it costs ten gold coins.

He originally had gold, but he used it all to refine array flags.

Having no other choice, he destroyed a golden array flag and casually shaped it into a golden cake.

To the astonishment of his staff, Li Mu traded gold coins for a map and then turned to leave.

.

Now that we have maps, traveling within China will be much easier.

To be absolutely certain of the two martial artists' identities, he needed to have someone identify them again.

Therefore, he returned to Black Mud Lake.

The purpose of returning was twofold: to confirm the identities of the two people in the phone video, and also to see the Fire Lotus.

Since so many people are eager to see the fire lotus, it must be something special. It wouldn't be bad to pick a few along the way.

When Li Mu arrived at the Black Mud Lake, he smelled the even stronger fragrance of lotus blossoms and felt that his cultivation was somewhat weakened.

Only then did he realize that he had come to the right place; this fire lotus was definitely not simple.

Even just smelling the fragrance is beneficial to his cultivation; what would happen if he obtained a fire lotus or a lotus seedpod?

Looking at the dozens of acres of lotus pond, he and everyone else looked forward to it.

In the Black Mud Lake, several lotus flowers have already bloomed, but most are still buds.

The petals of the blooming lotus are indeed vibrant, as bright as fire; presumably, this is why it is called the fire lotus.

To Li Mu's surprise, since the lotus flowers were already in full bloom, why weren't these people picking them? Were they waiting for the lotus seeds to ripen?

With everyone else watching and waiting, he naturally wouldn't make a move.

He thought to himself that as long as someone takes action, he can harvest a large number of fire lotuses with lightning speed.

.

Waiting is always boring.

Smelling the rich fragrance of lotus blossoms, Li Mu strolled along the lakeside and returned to the place he had stayed yesterday.

Xu Shiheng and the River God each lay on a deck chair, looking very relaxed.

Inside the tent, Uncle Nian was wiping down a few fishing rods, with several reels lying to the side, but no fish baskets.

Li Mu found it very strange that he came fishing without bringing a fish basket.

Li Mu, who had transformed himself into a completely different person, did not go up to greet them.

Just as he was trying to find someone to confirm the photo, a team of more than ten police officers appeared in his consciousness.

The dozen or so police officers were all dressed in black martial arts attire, and several of them were holding wanted posters.

The portrait on the wanted poster is indeed of Li Mu. The portrait is quite good, at least 80% like him.

Upon seeing the portrait, Li Mu felt a pang of sadness.

He never expected that he would be wanted by the police after only two days in the country.

One of the patrolmen stepped forward and loudly addressed the martial artists waiting by the lake for the fire lotus to ripen:

"Fellow Daoists, let's take a break for now and come over here to identify the wanted criminals."

A reward will be given for information leading to the arrest of the wanted criminal; a substantial reward will be given for assisting in the capture; those who knowingly fail to report such information will be punished the same as the wanted criminal.

As this constable spoke, several other constables began to show the portraits to the crowd.

Li Mu was certain that at least dozens of people had seen him when he was here yesterday, but now not a single person had come forward to confirm it.

Whether they didn't want to cause trouble or didn't want to delay their harvesting of the fire lotus, these people all fell silent.

Having changed his image, Li Mu had a thought in his mind that he wanted to send out.

Two martial artists were wanted throughout the entire martial arts world of China, but unexpectedly, after entering, he became the wanted person himself.

He changed his image because he didn't want to appear different, but unexpectedly he managed to evade the wanted notice by a twist of fate.

.

"Hey! You there? Let me see the portrait."

The police officers who were on the scene, seeing that no one answered, were about to put away the arrest warrant.

Someone behind them shouted that they wanted to see the portrait. The lead officer saw the person, quickly turned around, and went over with the portrait.

"Young Master Xu, what are you doing here? Um, this is the arrest warrant that was just issued."

"Huh! It's him? I know him. His name is Li Mu. We had tea together yesterday. How come he's wanted by the police?"

Xu Shiheng's eyes widened immediately upon seeing the portrait. Wasn't this Brother Li from yesterday?

"Young Master Xu, it's like this. The brothers guarding the teleportation array said that this person came in from outside."

As soon as they came in, they took out an electronic tablet and asked them if they knew Elder Yi of the Tianxuan Sect and his disciple Zhou Zhe.

Xu Shiheng frowned immediately after hearing the police officer's explanation.

He thought to himself, "No wonder that Brother Li looks even more flamboyant than me; he came in from outside."

"This person had arranged to come over today, but something must have gotten in the way, and he didn't show up."

Also, I've met this person before; he's a generous and open-minded person, and doesn't seem like someone who would commit crimes.

"Is it because that idiot Zhou Zhe from the Tianxuan Sect offended someone outside, that's why they came after us?"

Li Mu stood not far away and heard their conversation clearly.

Now there's no need to ask anyone; the identities of those two people have been confirmed from the conversation.

At the same time, I gave Xu Shiheng a big thumbs up in my heart for his gossipy nature.

This guy guessed way too accurately; he was indeed here to settle scores.