Young Noble Be Monster Slaying

Chapter 351: The Dudou Collector

As Li Fujian kept watch over the area with his broadsword in hand, he remarked, "As expected, your divination reading was accurate, Brother Zhuge. He truly did emerge from the direction of the fire."

Zhuge Guanxing just smiled without speaking.

It turned out that Zhuge Guanxing had divined that Li Feiyu had a connection with fire, and they'd spent the day trying to figure out what that meant. Then in the evening, they noticed a fire had broken out in the city and rushed over, arriving just as Li Feiyu was fleeing. Zhuge Guanxing then swiftly cast a spell, instantaneously activating a formation technique and trapping Li Feiyu.

At the next second, Chu Liang arrived at the scene and found Li Feiyu was trapped, and he wasn't making a sound.

However, the trapped thief obviously wouldn't just accept his fate. He twisted his body and transformed into a whirlwind of black wind, spinning upward like a drill. Li Feiyu struck the top of the formation, creating a crack in the barrier!

Zhuge Guanxing waved his feather fan, swiftly reinforcing the formation with his foundational qi. Nevertheless, Li Feiyu changed his strategy. He raised the black iron awl in his right hand and resolutely hurled it forward!

Zhuge Guanxing immediately recognized the item. "It's the Formation-Breaking Awl!"

The Formation-Breaking Awl was an enchanted tool specifically designed to counter formations. With just a burst of power, the enchanted tool could instantaneously disrupt the links in an enchanted formation's patterns, causing the entire formation to collapse. Even if the caster were to repair the formation immediately, the wielder of the Formation-Breaking Awl could use that moment to escape.

The Formation-Breaking Awl was priceless, so Li Feiyu had not intended to use it except as a last resort. Nonetheless, he hadn't expected the formation of this disciple of the Fog-Hidden Mountain of Immortals would be so hard to break, so he had no choice but to use this priceless treasure. If given some time, he might have been able to break the formation on his own. However, the longer he let things drag on, the lower his chance of escaping would be.

The Formation-Breaking Awl embedded further into the formation's golden light barrier, making a small gap in it.

Li Feiyu transformed into a beam of black light and swiftly escaped through the gap.

Nevertheless, Li Fujian was already waiting there.

He said, "Trying to escape? Dream on!"

Li Fujian, a core disciple of the Great Astral Sect, swung his broadsword down from above, slashing through the air with a fierce burst of wind!

If Li Fujian's sword strike were successful, not even a cultivator with a higher cultivation level than him would be able to emerge away unscathed. However, the black light twisted like vines, coiling up along Li Fujian's sword and right arm. Li Feiyu, the black light, was obviously trying to reach Li Fujian's face!

Yet, this crafty move did not faze Li Fujian at all. When it came to fighting, the disciples of the Great Astral Sect had never been afraid of anyone!

Li Fujian suddenly clicked his tongue, producing a thunderous sound. "DA!"

Boom.

This thunderous sound was accompanied by a tremendous power that forcefully repelled the black light!

Li Feiyu was sent flying backward, and he reverted to his true form in pain. He then did a flip in midair and tried to escape again.

At this moment, Chu Liang descended from the sky and thrust out his palm!

In haste, Li Feiyu rose and thrust out his palm as well!

Boom.

Li Feiyi's cultivation level was slightly higher than Chu Liang's, but Chu Liang had the Secret Dragon Blood Technique, allowing him to enhance his strength by burning his blood. On top of that, he had the Jiuli Soul Armor, making him very difficult to beat in close combat!

Li Feiyu was sent flying again!

The moment Li Feiyu crashed to the ground, Zhuge Guanxing looked alarmed.

Zhuge Guanxing stomped on the ground and shouted, "Seal!"

A golden light extended into the ground from under his foot, attempting to seal off the ground in that area... but he was one step too late.

Li Feiyu sank into the ground as if melting into water. Just like that, he disappeared!

He'd used Escaping Through The Earth!

It wasn't surprising that he had mastered various stealth traversal arts. Stealth traversal arts like Escaping Through The Earth were relatively basic divine skills, so it was natural that Li Feiyu had perfected them.

Everyone had already known it would be difficult to capture him and had been mentally prepared for this. Nevertheless, they couldn't help feeling a little regretful that even with such an excellent opportunity to catch him, he still managed to slip away.

While Li Fujian was sighing, Chu Liang discreetly took a step back and looked at what was in his hand.

It turned out that the reason he hadn't drawn his sword and had instead used his bare palm to strike Li Feiyu had been to seize the opportunity to come into contact with the thief's hand.

Chu Liang had hoped to steal something from the thief. He'd thought that perhaps he might even be able to grab the Baxia Dual Rings if he were lucky.

Yet, when Chu Liang took the item out, he could tell just by the texture of the item that it wasn't an enchanted tool.

Chu Liang quickly glanced at it and saw that it was a bundle of silk with red strings and embroidery.

It's clearly another dudou![1]

Huh?

Why did I think "another"?

...

Right after that, Yun Chaoxian flew over.

Seeing Li Fujian, Zhuge Guanxing, and Chu Liang, Yun Chaoxian exclaimed regretfully, "Damn it! If I had been here, I wouldn't have let him escape!"

"Yeah, so why weren't you...?" Li Fujian asked weakly. "Was it because you didn't want to come here?"

"I couldn't keep up with them!" Yun Chaoxian stated loudly.

His tone left them all a bit stunned.

They were all thinking, It's fine if you get left behind, but why are you saying it so proudly?

"Now that he has escaped, it'll be harder to lure him out again." Chu Liang sighed. "We'd better just call it a day and think up some new plans on our own."

Zhuge Guanxing nodded. "Agreed."

The four of them then paired off and went their separate ways.

Back in his accommodation, Chu Liang fell into deep thought as he stared at the flower-patterned dudou.

Why would Li Feiyu have something like this on him?

Could it be that he's not just a cat burglar but also a pervert?

This was the second time Chu Liang had obtained a dudou. The first dudou he'd obtained had been stored in an Evil Ksitigarbha statue. The dudou had belonged to Enchantress Liu from the Scarlet-Robe Hall. It had helped him uncover Enchantress Liu's romantic relationship with the Southern-Route Guider, which turned out to be quite useful.

So, what about this one? Could it also help uncover some of Li Feiyu's interpersonal relationships?

The next morning, Chu Liang and Yun Chaoxian made their way to another inn.

After investigating through the night, they'd found out that Ji Lingyu and Tang Shi were staying there.

"Senior Brother?" Little Tang Shi was surprised to see Yun Chaoxian and Chu Liang. "Why are the two of you here?"

"We'd like to work with you," Chu Liang said with a smile. "Let's team up to track down Li Feiyu."

"Team up?" Ji Lingyu looked at Chu Liang and Yun Chaoxian. "Is there something that you don't have the right abilities to deal with? Is that why you need us?"

Otherwise, there would be no need to team up in a competitive trial like this.

"Miss Ji is indeed wise."

The four of them then sat down together.

Chu Liang chuckled and explained, "Last night, I took an item from Li Feiyu. It's surely stained with his aura. So, I'm wondering if you could see if it's possible to track down his hiding place by following the trail of his residual aura."

Hearing that, Ji Lingyu figured out why Chu Liang had come to her.

Turns out that he's aware of the ability that comes with my Xuan Yuan Golden Eyes. That's why he wants me to help him find the thief.

He's using me like a spirit dog.

Nevertheless, Ji Lingyu and Tang Shi didn't have any leads anyway.

Since a lead had been presented to them, Ji Lingyu readily agreed to Chu Liang's request.

"No problem."

"Let's openly share any leads we find this time. If we find anything further on our own later, we can compete then," Chu Liang said. "The main goal this time is to help the Ultimate Martial Mountain Manor recover the Baxia Dual Rings. We can't waste time; we have to get this done as soon as possible."

"Agreed." Ji Lingyu nodded. "Show me what you got from Li Feiyu."

Chu Liang then placed the dudou on the table.

"..."

Tang Shi and Ji Lingyu fell silent for a moment.

"Young Hero Chu, you didn't take out the wrong item, did you?" Tang Shi asked.

"What are you talking about? How could I have something like this?" Chu Liang replied hurriedly. "This is the item I took from Li Feiyu!"

As for how he got it, that wasn't easy to explain. After all, he couldn't just admit he had a skill for stealing things.

The two young ladies' expressions contained a subtle sense of disgust.

Ji Lingyu gave Chu Liang a strange look and then glanced at the dudou.

Eventually, she said, "I'll give it a shot."

Ji Lingyu closed her eyes and formed a hand seal.

Whoosh.

When she opened her eyes again, they glowed with golden light!

"This dudou does indeed have a trace of aura..."

Her gaze followed the faint trail of color out the door.

Using her mystical ability, Ji Lingyu searched through the streets and alleys of Donghuai City for that same aura.

"I see it...

"The same aura is concentrated in the east side of the city...

"At the Jubilant Melody Hall."

1. Here’s a reminder that this is the undergarment that women and children wore in ancient China. ☜