In the marketplace, lower-grade magical tools usually sold for anywhere between five and twenty spirit stones, with two stones as the usual starting bid. Pretty reasonable, really. Even if you didn’t need the item yourself, you could always sell it later for a small profit.

So, the three flying swords went for nine spirit stones, the five-pronged metal fork fetched two, and the ironwood shield turned out to be the priciest of the lot. Old Daoist Hu Du ended up buying it for five stones.

That made a total of sixteen spirit stones. There happened to be sixteen people who hadn’t taken part in the bidding, so they split the stones evenly, and everyone was happy.

There were still eight spirit stones, three spirit jade pendants, and five hundred taels of silver left over, which no one mentioned. Everyone knew that rightfully belonged to Liu Xiaolou.

After wrapping up the deal, everyone felt a bit more at ease. Liu Xiaolou brought out a jar of Bamboo Leaf Green wine to share with the others, then quietly stepped aside to look through the account books Fang Bu’ai had brought back.

There were five books in total, covering income and expenses from the 1st to the 5th month of this year. Every coin of silver and every spirit stone that came in or went out was carefully recorded, line by line.

Liu Xiaolou couldn’t really make sense of the ledger, but he could at least see the total. Forget about the silver, the record showed a total of three hundred and twenty-six spirit stones.

He’d found fifty-six of them in the chest. So… where had the remaining two hundred and seventy gone?

Choosing to target Hongji Tavern wasn’t just about cutting off loose ends or getting back at Tianmu Mountain. He also hoped that by tracing the money and spirit stone transactions, he could follow the trail and uncover Lu clan’s next potential target. That was why he’d asked Fang Bu’ai to collect the ledgers in the first place.

But to Liu Xiaolou’s disappointment, there wasn’t a single note in the books about what happened to those missing two hundred and seventy stones.

He pulled the empty chest closer and examined it carefully. After a moment, he felt something was off. The feeling came from his experience building custom racks for his Qiankun Pouch. The lower half of the chest was just a little too thick.

So he pried open the bottom of the chest. And sure enough, there was a thin little notebook hidden inside. When he flipped it open, he couldn’t help but grin.

It was a record book listing the spirit stone loans that various Lu clan branches and affiliated manors had taken from the Hongji Tavern over the past year. Fifteen entries in total, each for different amounts. Ten, twenty, thirty stones and so on.

Because the Tianmu Mountain clan had so many halls, side branches, and tangled family ties, the tavern’s shopkeeper had even added a few brief notes beside each entry, just to keep things straight and remember who was who.

[16th day of the 1st month: Lu Ziyang of Hualin Hall requested a loan of spirit stones. He is the direct grandson of the Second Elder Lu. Loan granted: 20 stones.

22nd day of the 1st month: Hua Mengmei of Zongling Manor requested a loan. Her son, Hua Fuxin, serves as an inner-sect steward in charge of brewing spirit wine. Loan granted: 30 stones.

1st of the 2nd month: Chang Sanlang of Baiye Mountain requested a loan. He is the younger brother of Lu Wu’s wife, from the main Lu line and an inner-sect disciple. Loan granted: 10 stones.”

“7th day of the 2nd month: Lu Yuanji from Fenglin Ravine requested a loan of spirit stones. He’s the younger brother of inner-sect disciple Lu Three, serves as an outer-sect steward in charge of purchasing alchemy materials. Loan granted: 20 stones…]

Lu Three was actually Lu Yuanlang, third among the inner-sect disciples. Hence the nickname “Lu Three.” Within the Lu family’s second branch, however, he was the eldest of his generation. The young master Liu Xiaolou had lured to his death in the Xingde Mountain mine earlier was Lu Yuanlang’s younger brother, and this Lu Yuanji was their second brother.

Given that Lu Yuanji was only an outer-sect steward, his cultivation level could be, at best, at the peak of the Qi Refinement stage.

After skimming through the record, Liu Xiaolou immediately asked, “Anyone know where Fenglin Ravine is?”

“About forty li to the northeast,” replied Dragon Mountain Wanderer, “between Tigerwind Mountain and Maolin Hill.”

As soon as the question was answered, everyone gathered closer. Liu Xiaolou began, “I’m thinking we should strike again before the Tianmu Mountain lot realizes what’s going on. This Lu Yuanji is from the same branch as Lu Yuanlang, and his cultivation shouldn’t be higher than the peak of Qi Refinement. The only thing I’m not sure about is his manor in Fenglin Ravine; how big it is, and whether he’s got many people there. Anyone know?”

If it’s the main manor of the Lu family’s second branch, they could not attack it. Going in would be suicide. But if it’s just Lu Yuanji’s small villa, then it’s worth thinking about.

The heroes there had traveled all over and knew a lot, and Mu the physician piped up; he’d actually been there a few years back. “The place wasn’t big,” he said. “I passed through five years ago and treated someone there. I didn’t know it belonged to the Lu second branch at the time. After I finished, the landowner stiffed me on my fee. One life, and not worth ten spirit stones? Ten! Have I ever asked for an extra one? Damn it!” He ranted for a bit, then added, “Anyway, not many people live there. It’s more like a private residence, lots of women and kids. We can take it.”

Liu Xiaolou thought for a moment. “Let’s go check it out.”

Huang Ye said, “Xiaolou, if this really is Lu Yuanlang and his brothers’ outer house, then yeah, it’s going to be destroyed. But I beg everyone... leave the women and children out of this.”

When she said “women and children,” she meant those who couldn’t fight back. That was the unspoken rule among cultivators everywhere. Even the outlaws of Wulong Mountain followed it. Still, seeing how fired up everyone was, Fairy Huang Ye couldn’t rest easy and reminded them again.

That second reminder worked. The four brothers from Guzhang Mountain fell silent for a while before finally letting out a heavy sigh and nodding. Their youngest brother had been killed by Lu Yuanlang. They wanted nothing more than to slaughter everyone around him in revenge.

So the group set out under the cover of night, with Mu the physician leading the way to Fenglin Ravine. When they finally reached the southern hill and looked down, the little manor really was as small as he’d said.

Liu Xiaolou hesitated, the decision to attack resting entirely with him. After a long moment of silence, he finally waved his hand. They’d traveled all night, the target was right before their eyes. There was no turning back now.

The group moved down from the hillside, splitting left and right to surround the manor. They were just about to charge in when suddenly, they scattered like headless flies, bumping blindly against the courtyard walls.

The tiny manor, surprisingly, was protected by a formation. It was only a low-grade illusion formation, but even that meant the place had something worth guarding.

For those who didn’t understand formations, getting trapped inside meant there was nothing to do but smash their way through. But for Liu Xiaolou, this was nothing new.

He stepped into the formation himself, fingers tracing quick calculations, feet moving in precise steps. Truth be told, this protective illusion wasn’t much stronger than his first attempt at the Abyssal Blackstone Formation back in the day. Barely an improvement. Within the time it took for one stick of incense to burn, he had unraveled the illusion, revealing the manor’s green willows and white walls before everyone’s eyes.

Still, though the formation hadn’t stopped the Wulong Mountain band, it had bought the manor a bit of time. Five cultivators now stood atop the high wall, scanning the intruders. One of them shouted, voice ringing out:

“Who dares attack Fenglin Manor? Don’t you know this estate belongs to the Lu family of Tianmu Mountain?”

The Wulong Mountain crew wasn’t in the mood for talk. Dragon Mountain Wanderer, Fairy Huang Ye, Old Taoist Hu Du, and the four brothers from Guzhang Mountain charged forward, blades flashing as they clashed with the defenders. Captain Hu barked an order, leading his squad straight into the manor.

Liu Xiaolou watched for a moment and quickly sized them up. All five opponents were no pushovers. The strongest one was at the peak of Qi Refinement, just a notch below himself. The next two were around the ninth and tenth layers, and the remaining three were somewhere between the fifth and seventh.

Without hesitation, he hurled out the Abyssal Blackstone Formation, trapping one of the sixth-layer cultivators inside. Then he called over Old Cripple and Qi Laoqi, who had been standing guard, to join the fray. With that, the tide immediately turned in their favor.