Fan Yi and his group entered the town. The little kids didn't think much of it, but Old Han immediately frowned.
"Master..." Old Han began, wanting to warn him.
"Say no more. Eat when it's time to eat, sleep when it's time to sleep." Sensing the thickest, most bizarre aura coming from the north of the town, a gleam seemed to flash across Fan Yi's eyes.
"Hmph!" Old Han grunted in acknowledgment, then inched closer to Xia Wuxiu.
Seeing this, Xia Wuxiu instantly became alert, his eyes darting around as if everyone he looked at was a thief. "Master, since there's danger, why aren't we retreating?"
As he spoke, Xia Wuxiu pulled back Xiao Junyao, who had been trying to run over and play with Gu San.
Gu San curled his lips and said nothing. Little Junyao blinked, pouting her small mouth, and looked at her brother with an unhappy expression. Gradually, a hint of mist seemed to gather in her eyes.
Xia Wuxiu's mouth twitched, and he helplessly let go of her hand.
He didn't forget to shoot Gu San a fierce glare; if looks could kill, Gu San would have been pulverized long ago.
Gu San was no pushover either. As a hardcore person daring enough to jump off a roof to commit suicide, he stared right back with his wide, fluttering eyes, showing not an ounce of weakness.
"Cut it out." Fan Yi gave both of them a smack on the head. "I'm hungry, let's go eat!"
With that, Fan Yi smiled warmly at Xiao Junyao, flipped his hand as if performing a magic trick, and produced a piece of malt candy. "Come on, Big Brother will take you to get something delicious."
Xiao Junyao's eyes lit up. She let go of the hem of Gu San's shirt, ran over, took the malt candy with her small hands, and politely said, "Thank you, Uncle."
Fan Yi's mouth twitched as he said with a serious expression, "Call me Big Brother from now on."
"Okay, sure, Uncle. Junyao will remember," Junyao replied with an equally serious expression.
Fan Yi felt defeated, but the moment he looked at that little face pretending to be serious—
Gosh, she was just too adorable!
Fine, fine. Uncle it is, then. Fan Yi cheerfully led Xiao Junyao into the inn to order a big feast.
Beside them, Xia Wuxiu's internal alarm bells went wild: "Why is everyone trying to steal my little sister?!"
Gu San was also somewhat dissatisfied with his master; that piece of candy was supposed to be something he had secretly hidden to eat himself...
Watching Gu San and Xia Wuxiu walk into the inn with drooping heads, Old Han smiled silently.
Then he turned his head to look toward the north, but found nothing at all.
Just as Old Han turned his head back, a pair of listless, lifeless eyes vanished in a flash.
Old Han's pretty good mood just a moment ago became slightly restless, only calming down when he walked inside and saw Fan Yi using a chicken drumstick to tease Xiao Junyao.
In the inn's main hall, Fan Yi blinked, the corners of his mouth curving up like a cat that had successfully stolen a fish.
Both Old Han and the pair of eyes hidden in the dark had been within his perception the entire time.
And for all of this, he had that invisible giant net hanging overhead to thank—something ordinary people couldn't perceive at all!
The moment Fan Yi's group entered the small town, this formless giant net had lowered several strands of thread, attaching them to their bodies.
Much like the computer networks of his past life, it was monitoring their movements.
As a result, those very threads were commandeered by Fan Yi.
True, the net's essence was the true qi of Qi Refiners, but they merely acted as the central processing unit while the force of nature transmitted the signals.
Within this net, the force of nature acted like a fiber-optic cable used for transmitting signals, but in Fan Yi's hands, it was directly converted into another signal-processing center.
In other words, whatever signals the enemy received were entirely the ones he wanted them to get.
Though sitting inside a tiny inn, everything in the entire town—except for the core areas and useless parts—was within his perception.
As Fan Yi was blissfully enjoying this sensation of surfing the web, Xiao Junyao seized the right moment and took a precise, ruthless bite out of the chicken drumstick in Fan Yi's hand.
Fan Yi smiled good-naturedly at Xiao Junyao, who had savagely snatched the drumstick right out of his hand, and casually tore off the other drumstick to eat with relish.
Gu San resentfully pulled back his own hand, glaring with ill intent at the little girl who had usurped his position.
He suddenly felt that she was nothing short of a little demon; she wasn't cute at all anymore!
Unbidden, he recalled what his mother had said about malicious fox spirits with vicious hearts who loved eating children—every single one of them could transform into a stunning beauty!
While Gu San quietly racked his brains for a way to make his master realize this grave problem, Xia Wuxiu was also fuming inwardly: "This little brat is staring at my little sister even while eating!!"
Xiao Junyao savagely dealt with the chicken drumstick, Gu San silently worried for his master, and Xia Wuxiu pierced Gu San with hostile glares.
Old Han turned a blind eye, while Fan Yi felt that Xia Wuxiu might be extremely suited for practicing moves involving eye attacks, such as Lei Laohu's laser eyes.
"Right, once I get the Qi Condensation manual, I'll have to study and develop this properly," Fan Yi fantasized inwardly about the scene where his future disciple went to the Prince of Chu's Estate to elope, only to end up in a staring contest, shooting beams at each other with an exasperated Xia Wuxiu.
To ease this bizarre atmosphere, Fan Yi proactively beckoned a tavern waiter who had nothing much to do, asking if there were any eccentric people or strange events in the local area.
With that question, he actually managed to dig something up.
Turns out, there was a wealthy Gou family in this town—yes, a prominent family with the surname Gou.
It was said that this wealthy family was a prestigious clan in the town, absolute local emperors, with more family wealth than the emperor himself!
Hearing this, Fan Yi curled his lip. If it weren't for the recent peaceful years without wars,
given this Xia Hong's personality, which was cut from the exact same cloth as the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty in his past life, the first thing he would have done was execute this wealthy Gou family to fund military rations!
Though it was an exaggeration, just hearing that they were richer than the emperor showed how wealthy this family was—after all, in the eyes of ordinary people, even the emperor swept the floors with golden brooms.
So, to say the least, such a fortune could never withstand an audit; this kind of wealthy family was simply a pig raised by Xia Hong himself.
The story that followed was somewhat cliché: the wealthy family's young miss fell in love with a soldier who had been discharged from the military, completely ignoring societal taboos.
They loved each other recklessly, hopelessly entwined...
In the end, after Miss Gou used the threat of death to finally win her parents' consent, that discharged soldier actually had a change of heart.
Hearing this, Fan Yi glanced sideways at Gu San.
This heartless kid had also managed to persuade his parents, though not during that rooftop-jumping incident where he almost got lured away by a sugar cake.
The man changed his heart, the woman broke her heart, and the mistress rejoiced.
In the end, Master Gou kept it from his daughter and gave this pair of unfaithful wretches a severe beating. To put it in perspective:
A father might forbid his daughter from marrying, but you bastards can't just call off the wedding—didn't rich old Gou have his pride?
As a result, the servants hit a bit too hard, and the mistress didn't survive.
In a fit of rage on his wedding night, the discharged soldier poisoned the Gou family.
Hearing this, Fan Yi sighed inwardly. This fellow even resorted to plotting!
After the tavern waiter finished telling this dramatic and sensational story with a dry mouth, he looked at the group with bright, sparkling eyes, hoping for some kind of response.
As a result, Xiao Junyao was busy tackling a chicken wing, Gu San was distracted, and Xia Wuxiu felt that this kind of minor matter was utter nonsense!
Even Old Han merely let out a faint sigh.
Left without validation, the waiter shifted his gaze to Fan Yi.
The two of them stared at each other.
A moment later, Fan Yi recalled how awkward he had felt in his past life when telling a joke that fell completely flat.
"Bang!" Fan Yi slammed his hand on the table, his expression agitated and his whole body trembling. "Good! What a stirring, epic tale of a commoner's revenge!"
The waiter was stunned. Wasn't this supposed to be a heartbreaking love story?