At the entrance of the store.

I heard someone call my name, and I turned around to look at the man who spoke.

This person looks somewhat familiar, but I don't seem to know him.

"Young man, it's me! We met back in Ping'an Village."

The man covered his mouth with his hand: "I shaved my beard, I look a little different, don't I?"

"Oh! It's you!"

That's when I recognized the man; he was the one who had made the deal with me in Ping'an Village and told me about the problem with the basement of the council chamber.

The man laughed too: "Haha, what a coincidence! I never expected to run into you while buying cigarettes!"

"You're too late! Everything in this shop, except for the owner, is sold out! I only managed to buy two packs of cigarettes, but I'll give you one!"

I handed the man a pack of cigarettes, then casually asked, "Did you also find Qingyun Town by following information?"

Upon hearing my words, the man looked surprised and said, "Brother, you found this place by yourself? That's really impressive!"

Hearing this, I was a little confused: "What do you mean? Didn't you come here from an investigation?"

"Of course not! We just discovered there was a problem with the basement of the council chamber, and then it was bombed!"

After saying this, the man suddenly widened his eyes: "Brother, I only told you this information. You didn't blow up the council chamber, did you?"

I stared into the man's eyes and replied seriously, "Brother, you can't just say things like that! So many outsiders have gone to Ping'an Village. If you can find out there's something wrong underground, others can find it too! Randomly pinning this label on someone could get someone killed!"

"Haha, it was just a joke, why take it seriously!"

Seeing my strange gaze, the man quickly changed the subject: "I thought all the teams in this town were attracted by Ping'an Village, but I didn't expect you to be able to find out on your own. You're quite resourceful!"

I took out a cigarette and handed it to him: "You said these teams were attracted by Ping'an Village, what do you mean by that?"

"It seems you really don't know about this! After the council hall was bombed, the chief of Ping'an Village summoned all the outsiders together and said that he knew we came for the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace. He also said that the entrance to the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace is in Qingyun Town and that we should find it ourselves. At the same time, we are not allowed to harass Ping'an Village anymore, otherwise they will definitely not be polite to us!"

The man paused for a moment: "Back then, the explosion at Ping'an Village caused widespread panic. Everyone was afraid of getting into trouble if they stayed, so when the clan chief spoke up, they all came to Qingyun Town to try their luck! You saw what happened next: suddenly hundreds of people came to this small town, and even the shops were emptied! I heard that quite a few people didn't even enter the town; instead, they went into the mountains after arriving here!"

After hearing what the man said, I was first surprised, but then I quickly felt relieved.

It seems that Duan Jinyan and his group really did get what they wanted from the council chamber.

Because the information they took posed a threat to Ping'an Village, the clan chief simply made the news public and revealed what had happened in Qingyun Town.

As a result, countless teams flocked to this place, creating competition among them and making each other a stumbling block, which inevitably slowed everyone down.

The clan leader's goal is to stir up trouble in Qingyun Town, and I don't know what he'll do next.

Seeing that I didn't respond, the man gestured with the cigarette in his hand and said, "Young man, I'll remember this favor! We've met twice, so we can be considered friends. If we meet on the same boat again in the future, I hope we can each do each other a favor!"

I snapped out of my thoughts and nodded with a smile: "Of course, we're in it for the money, not like those who blew up the council chamber."

"Haha, may everyone get rich!"

The man clasped his hands in a fist salute to me, then turned and left.

Knowing that so many people in Qingyun Town had been recruited by Ping'an Village, I became less anxious to find Duan Jinyan.

The clan chief chose to muddy the waters by bringing everyone to Qingyun Town, rather than directly telling everyone the coordinates of the entrance. He believed that as long as everyone came to Qingyun Town, it would be enough to cause trouble for the bandits.

In other words, the information Duan Jinyan stole could only confirm that the exit of the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace was in the vicinity of Qingyun Town, but the specific location was not written down.

In this way, we are back on the same starting line as Duan Jinyan.

But I was stumped about how to find this Miao Jiang Immortal Palace.

The most important aspect of finding a burial site is understanding feng shui.

However, the understanding of feng shui differed across dynasties, so different feng shui theories were needed to find different tombs.

However, the Miao Jiang Fairy Palace is just a legend. It is not only not recorded in official history, but also only briefly mentioned in unofficial history.

The legends surrounding it have been passed down orally from generation to generation of tomb raiders. After being told by so many people, the story has likely become quite different from the original source.

More importantly, these legends only mention that the Miao Jiang Fairy Palace has rare treasures, but they don't mention the dynasty in which it was built, or the direction of the entrance, etc.

As I pondered this matter along the way, I led Manjing back to our lodgings.

I hadn't walked far when a man in his fifties suddenly called out to me from the roadside, smiling as he approached: "Young man, I was in a hurry and forgot my lighter. Could you lend me a hand?"

"convenient."

Lost in thought, I casually handed him the lighter.

Just as I reached out, the middle-aged man suddenly raised his hand and sprinkled a white powder at me and Manjing.

"Big brother, be careful!"

Seeing his opponent make a move, Manjing kicked the opponent's ankle.

Having landed a successful blow, the middle-aged man stopped arguing with us and ran away.

"stop!"

Manjing was tall and strong. He rushed up behind the middle-aged man, grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him back with brute force.

"court death!"

Unable to escape, the middle-aged man pulled out a dagger and slashed it directly at Manjing's neck.

"Whoosh!"

I saw the middle-aged man draw his knife, flick his wrist, and a throwing knife pierced his arm. Immediately afterwards, he was pinned down by Manjing.

I grabbed the middle-aged man by the collar, dragged him to the side of the road, and held a short knife to his neck: "What did you just use on us? Give us the antidote!"

"Young man, you know your stuff! Since you know I poisoned you, why are you still acting this way?"

The middle-aged man looked at me with a smile: "If you really hurt me, the poison you're afflicted with will be impossible to cure!"

I applied force with my hand, causing the blade to slice through the middle-aged man's skin: "Your powder is faulty, and so is my throwing knife. If we are poisoned to death, you won't be able to escape either!"