The five of them gathered once more in a dark alley, looking at one another in silence. They already knew that Yang Chun had been stabbed.
"Young Master Li is already investigating who stabbed him; he's bound to find us," Zhang Zhong said. "I told you not to do it, but you just kept pushing for it."
"How was I supposed to know?" Li Ping retorted. "That bastard went back and gave him another stab after we left! That completely ruins us, and now we can't even leave for the moment."
"Why don't we just ask random people on the street how to escape Yunxia City?" Wang Yun suggested.
"Look, there's a guy over there who keeps staring at us," Du Ju said.
All five of them looked toward the man. He had half his face covered with a cloak, and seeing the five of them staring, he walked over.
"He's coming," Zhu Heng said, his voice trembling slightly.
The five of them nervously stood up, positioning themselves to run at any moment.
"I've been watching you guys for a long time. The five of you always like to hang out here. What are you discussing?" the man asked.
"We want to know how to escape Yunxia City."
"What a coincidence. I happen to know how to leave. But do you have any money? One hundred taels per person."
"One hundred taels?" the five cried out in unison.
"We don't have that much. Can you lower it a bit?" Li Ping asked.
"Then how much are you willing to give?"
"Ten taels each?"
The man turned and walked away without looking back.
"Don't go! We can talk things over," Li Ping shouted.
"Talk about what? We don't have that much silver. It's all that guy surnamed Chai's fault! If he hadn't cheated us out of a thousand taels—" Zhang Zhong began.
"Don't we still have that axe? We can use it as collateral," Li Ping interrupted.
"No way," Wang Yun said.
"But that axe belongs to all five of us," Du Ju argued.
"This axe is worth way more than five hundred taels," Wang Yun said, taking out the axe and channeling his spiritual energy. The small axe instantly grew to the height of a person. "Gewen said this axe is worth thirty thousand taels. If we mortgage it just like that, how are we going to make a living once we get out? We won't even have a tool to chop firewood for people."
"Wang Yun makes sense," Zhu Heng agreed.
"Fine then. Let's go ask at the apothecary which herbs are valuable, and then we'll go to Ziyang Peak to gather them," Li Ping said, pulling out a small bottle. "We searched this off Yang Chun. He said these are Qi-replenishing pills used by cultivators of Alchemical Cultivation. Let's go ask if they're worth anything."
When the five emerged from the apothecary, their previous disappointment was instantly replaced by sheer joy. The apothecary owner had informed them that a single pill could sell for one hundred taels—and there were twenty-five pills in the bottle! But where were they supposed to find that man from earlier? The five hurried back to the dark alley.
"If we just wait here like this, who knows how long it'll take," Wang Yun said.
"What else can we do? He said earlier that he kept an eye on us all along. Maybe he'll walk back by," Li Ping replied. He took the bottle, gave each person a pill, and said, "Since these are for Alchemical Cultivation practitioners, we can eat them too. Maybe they'll help us run faster once we've taken them."
The five immediately swallowed the pills and sat cross-legged to meditate. Remembering Li Gewen's request to help look for the thief, Wang Yun brought it up right away.
"Then let's hurry up and help him find the thief, so he won't have time to look for us," Li Ping reasoned. "Zhu Heng, you stay here and wait for that man. If you see him, tell him we have the money, and then let us know."
The four flew up to Luzhu Peak to search the grassy fields for rabbits. A gray rabbit darted across the grass; Zhang Zhong and Du Ju threw stones at the exact same moment, while Li Ping and Wang Yun closed in from both sides, striking the rabbit dead.
Wang Yun picked up the rabbit. "It's dead. How are we supposed to train with a dead one?"
"We could never hit them before, so why did it die the moment we hit it this time?" Du Ju wondered.
"It's probably the Qi-replenishing pill taking effect, deepening our cultivation. Let's go again," Li Ping said.
The five were already masters at hunting rabbits with stones. Decades of skipping stones by the stream allowed the four of them to quickly strike down another. Wang Yun took a drop of blood from the rabbit and let it scamper away.
"Senior Brother Gewen said using this method proves I've learned the skill. If we can't even catch a rabbit, there's no point talking about finding the thief," Wang Yun said, sitting cross-legged in meditation.
After a moment's thought, Li Ping pulled out the Qi-replenishing pills. "Here, have another one."
To Li Ping's utter surprise, that extra pill instantly propelled Wang Yun to break through into the Fourth Realm. The traces of the rabbit running across the grass were etched with absolute clarity into Wang Yun's mind.