With his injuries healed and his physical condition restored to its peak, Hei Xiazi naturally no longer needed to hide. He picked up his saber and stepped out.
Now, the roles in this game of cat and mouse were about to reverse. With a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth, Hei Xiazi stood at the crossroads, quietly waiting for his old friend to come and catch up.
"Boss, we found Hei Xiazi! He's right there." The man leading the pack was the first to spot him.
"Old Li Tou, you took long enough. You're finally here."
Dressed entirely in black, Hei Xiazi looked even more formidable than before, the dried blood from his earlier wounds adding a murderous aura to his frame.
"B-Boss, maybe we should fall back first? This blind guy doesn't look right," stammered one of Old Li Tou's subordinates before the boss could even speak.
"Idiots, what is there to be afraid of? Can't you see he's injured? Today, I'm going to make Hei Xiazi pay the price. Get him! Whoever kills Hei Xiazi gets a reward of two hundred thousand!"
Old Li Tou firmly believed that heavy rewards would bring out brave men. Since Hei Xiazi refused to work for him, he no longer had any reason to stay alive.
Two hundred thousand was enough for a family to live comfortably for a whole year. The only reason people went tomb robbing was for money, and now an opportunity was right in front of them. Even if this was the notorious Master Hei, they were willing to take a calculated risk. What if they actually pulled it off? Besides, he was already wounded.
Watching the men grow increasingly restless under Old Li Tou's instigation, Hei Xiazi let out a deep sigh.
"Well, I never thought I'd only be worth two hundred thousand. I can't even compare to half of Mute Zhang's price. How unfair."
The 003 Wisdom Brain hadn't expected Hei Xiazi's focus to be on that, and it was momentarily stunned. By the time it snapped back to reality, the ground was littered with bodies. Only Old Li Tou was left standing, though judging by the look of him, he wouldn't be upright much longer.
"Master Hei! Master Hei, please spare me! I can give you money, I have lots of money, I'll give you everything—just let me live!" Old Li Tou dropped to his knees and begged, completely stripped of his earlier arrogance.
It was a true testament to how the tables could turn.
"Oh? Really? All your money?" Hei Xiazi asked, walking up to him and putting on a convinced tone.
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Old Li Tou nodded frantically. "Yes! All my money is yours, as long as you spare my life."
"Too bad it's too late, though. You should've been quicker next time. Oh well." With a swift motion, his small Black Gold Ancient Saber sliced across the carotid artery, and the spurting blood bloomed like brilliant paint.
"Sigh, looks like the blind man isn't going to get his final payment this time either."
Hei Xiazi wiped his bleeding blade clean against Old Li Tou's clothes. Since it was his blood, it was only right to finish what he started.
"According to the information I've gathered, don't you almost never get your final payment?" 003 asked, puzzled as it reviewed its data.
Hei Xiazi paused for a step, then resumed his walk toward the exit.
"It's not like I *never* get paid, alright? It's just that those bosses refuse to listen. If they're determined to rush to their deaths, what can the blind man do?" Hei Xiazi spread his hands, making it clear it wasn't his fault.
"But based on what I know, the Northern Mute—who is ranked alongside you as the Southern Blind and Northern Mute—has a stellar reputation. He always manages to bring his employers out safely, and his market value is twice as high as yours," 003 said, looking over Zhang Qiling's file.
"If you like Mute Zhang so much, why don't you go follow him instead? Why bother sticking with me? Hmph."
Hearing the ceaseless praise for Mute Zhang ringing in his ear, Hei Xiazi was consumed by jealousy. What was he lacking compared to Mute Zhang? So what if the other guy's commission was a bit higher? It was their loss for not choosing the blind man.
"Synthesizing the data on both of you, you are clearly a better fit for our requirements. His life is far too complicated."
Looking at Zhang Qiling's dense, sprawling life history, 003 had never seen anyone lead such a miserable existence.
"Oh? You have Mute Zhang's file over there?"
Hei Xiazi stopped in his tracks and asked. He had known Mute Zhang for decades; while they weren't exactly close friends, they were certainly acquaintances, which meant Hei Xiazi knew a few things outsiders didn't.
"Of course. I have the data of everyone in this world who possesses bloodline traits, which makes it convenient for me to review and understand them."
003 didn't hide this from Hei Xiazi, especially since it still needed Hei Xiazi's help to approach these bloodline-bearers.
"Can I take a look?" Hei Xiazi was somewhat curious about how much they knew.
"Certainly." With a grand wave, a blue holographic screen materialized in front of Hei Xiazi, covered in a dense wall of text detailing the entirety of Zhang Qiling's life.
"Tsk, this Mute Zhang really has it rough." Compared to Zhang Qiling, Hei Xiazi felt like his own injuries were nothing at all.
"He certainly does. As the head of the Zhang Family, he suffered an incredible amount of grievances within his own clan," 003 agreed, nodding.
"When it comes to misery, who could possibly compare to Master Hei here?" Hei Xiazi recalled some unpleasant memory, and the smile at the corner of his mouth turned bitter.
"Although your clansmen are all gone, the Pixiu bloodline dormant within you has now been awakened. The Ulanara Clan, as worshippers of the Pixiu Sovereign, are bound to sense it. They will probably come looking for you as soon as you get out."
"What did you say? The Ulanara Clan still exists?" Hei Xiazi was startled by 003's words. If the Ulanara Clan was still around, did that mean he still had living relatives in this world?
"Yes. Even though the Ulanara Clan was purged back then, as one of the oldest Manchu-Mongolian Eight Banners noble houses, they left behind surviving embers. They merely went into seclusion."
Never underestimate the power of ancient noble families. As the saying goes: 'The ironclad noble houses outlast the flowing rivers of emperors.'
Even though the imperial era had ended and there were no longer emperors or aristocratic families in the open, the hidden influence of these clans remained a force to be reckoned with.
"So I'm just supposed to wait around for them to find me? Who knows how long that'll take?" Hei Xiazi hated waiting the most; he preferred to catch people off guard.
"It won't take long. The peace token on your chest is the best proof to verify your identity." 003 had fully absorbed all information about this world, so it knew things that even Hei Xiazi didn't.
"This was left to me by my mother." Hei Xiazi gripped the peace token tightly as his mother's figure surfaced in his mind.
"Correct. This is the identity token of the Ulanara Clan. With it, your identity will be officially recognized. Your mother was a legitimate daughter of the Ulanara Clan with a high status, so they will definitely come looking for you, a pearl left behind in the world."
With a mother from the Ulanara Clan and a father of the Aisin Gioro lineage, Hei Xiazi was a genuine imperial second-generation heir.
"Well then, Master Hei will just wait."
Learning that he still had living kin left in the world brought a rare wave of genuine happiness to the usually unfazed blind man.
"What is this red blinking dot?" Hei Xiazi pointed at a moving point on the blue screen and asked.
"That is Zhang Qiling's location. The moment you asked about him, I inputted his information into the system so you can monitor his whereabouts at any time."
According to the records, Zhang Qiling was the person who had spent the longest time in Hei Xiazi's company, and every time Zhang Qiling lost his memory, it was Hei Xiazi who tracked him down. Having Zhang Qiling's location marked would make finding him much less of a hassle.
"Looking at this map, he's not very far away," Hei Xiazi observed after comparing their respective locations.
"Indeed. He just finished up his job, just like you. But there is one thing different about him: all of his employers made it out alive, without a single exception," 003 pointed out earnestly.
"Hang on, are we really not going to let this joke go?" Hei Xiazi was not about to let his dark history be weaponized like this.
"I am merely stating the facts, completely devoid of falsehoods." As a program, objective data did not lie.
"Hmph, let's go home." For once, the blind man found himself losing an argument.
"I suggest you go and rendezvous with Zhang Qiling. Given his combat prowess, even if you didn't lift a finger, he could resolve all troubles on his own. Furthermore, establishing good relations with the Zhang Family—who also possess special bloodlines—will only benefit you and never harm you." 003 objectively analyzed the situation for him.
"Fine then." After a moment of thought, Hei Xiazi decided 003 made sense, turned on his heel, and headed in Zhang Qiling's direction.