Li Guanqi arrived at the nearest city and, through a local informant, found a black market.

However, this black market only opened at night, so Li Guanqi had to wait until evening.

When night fell, Li Guanqi followed the informant’s directions and arrived at a very secluded alley.

The brawny man at the entrance turned out to be a Golden Elixir Realm expert!

Not wanting to stir up trouble, he straightforwardly handed over ten Spirit Stones and walked in.

The dark alley was lit by only a few flickering oil lamps.

Almost everyone setting up stalls in the alley wore black robes.

It was Li Guanqi’s first time at a black market. With his Insight activated under the black robe, he observed everyone’s actions and expressions.

He noticed that people here used a very special hand gesture to negotiate prices, with their hands covered by a black cloth so no one could see.

But he still managed to decipher the meanings of these gestures with his Divine Sense.

There weren’t many people coming and going, but each one had a very powerful aura.

In just the thirty-odd feet he walked, he sensed four or five Golden Elixir Realm cultivators.

There was even an almost imperceptible pressure comparable to the Elemental Infant Realm!

This made him even more cautious.

The stallholders in the alley tacitly kept a distance of about ten feet from each other, so even if a crowd gathered around a stall, it wouldn’t be crowded.

Soon, Li Guanqi found what he was looking for at a peculiar stall.

He walked straight up to the black-robed person and pointed at the four human skin masks on the ground.

Lowering his voice, he said, “I’ll take them all.”

After speaking, he extended his hand. The black-robed person didn’t seem surprised and extended his left hand, covering both their hands with a black cloth.

First, he tried a gesture, indicating four hundred low-grade Spirit Stones.

But the slightly withered hand grasped his fingers and shook them slightly.

Li Guanqi immediately understood; the old man meant the price was unacceptable.

So he said, “Any higher, and it would be too expensive.”

He knew the price of these items because the Great Xia Sword Sect’s points pavilion also had them.

Based on the points, he easily deduced the price.

But then the old man’s voice reached his ears.

“Kid, these human skin masks are not ordinary items.”

“Each one is a rare artifact-level item that can replicate anyone’s appearance.”

“Just place it on someone’s face, and it’s perfect for murder, robbery, and framing.”

Li Guanqi wasn’t surprised by the old man calling him “kid.” After all, their hands were touching, and his smooth skin couldn’t escape the old man’s eyes.

The old man then made a gesture under the black cloth.

Li Guanqi grasped the old man’s hand and whispered, “This price will do!”

He then handed a Storage Bag to the old man, who glanced at it casually before giving him the four human skin masks.

Li Guanqi took the items and quickly left the black market. After confirming no one was following him in a deserted alley, he disappeared from the city.

What Li Guanqi didn’t know was that after he left, the eyes under the black robe watched his departing figure, a mysterious smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

The black-robed person then packed up and left.

After leaving the city, Li Guanqi erased all traces of his journey, even changing directions several times.

It wasn’t that he was naturally cautious, but Su Xuan had told him too many stories about the outside world.

This made him have to be careful in dealing with the unknown.

Cultivators could live for three to five hundred years, or even thousands of years.

From his grandfather’s stories, he had heard more than once about people who endured for a thousand years just to seek revenge.

For cultivators, time was the easiest thing to forget.

Li Guanqi took out a map, glanced around, and chose a direction to fly at low altitude.

The place he was heading to was Changfeng Manor.

On the way, he took out a human skin mask and placed it on his face, gently molding it.

In the blink of an eye, he transformed from a handsome young man with jade-like features into an unremarkable youth.

Using Primordial Energy, he changed his voice and used a concealment technique to make his aura appear as if he were in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.

He took out a mirror to check his appearance and trimmed some hair to create stubble, nodding in satisfaction.

Concealing his figure, he moved under the cover of night, his black robe making him almost invisible.

Soon, he arrived in the mountains where Changfeng Manor was located!

Buzz!!

His Divine Sense spread out, cautiously probing everything around him.

The forest was filled with the roars and howls of beasts. He avoided many demon beast auras as he made his way to the mountain peak.

This place was behind Changfeng Manor, offering a bird’s-eye view of the entire estate.

Li Guanqi crouched on a tree branch, looking down.

Before his eyes was a brightly lit, sprawling manor.

The manor covered over three thousand feet, looking even more grandiose than Ye Feng’s home.

Many figures flew out from the manor on their swords, clearly searching for someone.

Li Guanqi held his breath, carefully studying the manor’s layout.

Changfeng Manor was symmetrical, with the main hall as the central axis, giving off an inexplicable sense of majesty.

However, from the front yard to the back, he didn’t see any place specifically for detaining people.

It seemed such a place would be very well hidden.

So he lay motionless on the tree trunk like a patient lone wolf, carefully observing everything about Changfeng Manor.

He didn’t move even as the sun rose the next day.

During this time, people constantly flew over his head, but he didn’t make a move.

Acting now would only alert the enemy, and without absolute certainty, he wouldn’t act rashly.

Suddenly!

Li Guanqi’s eyes narrowed, and he murmured to himself, “Are they coming…?”

It was the time for the manor’s patrol guards to change shifts.

He then noticed a squad of Foundation Establishment cultivators slowly emerging from the shadows.

These people were just out of sight, making Li Guanqi think it was a storage area or something.

Li Guanqi’s eyes narrowed further, unsure if this was where Zhao Yang was being held.

At that moment, a grumbling youth flew overhead.

“The guy’s long gone, and they still want us to search. What a waste of time.”

“Might as well find a place to sleep.”

Hearing this, Li Guanqi couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, “Just when I needed a pillow, someone brought one.”

Then, like a nimble snake, he disappeared from the tree trunk!