After Ling Tian left the city, in front of the city gate there were many caravans coming and going.
Ling Tian went to one of the caravans and offered to pay them to take him along, but his offer was met with refusal.
Ling Tian didn't mind much and went to make his offer to several other caravans, but even after offering double the price, no one accepted his offer.
Ling Tian was confused for a while, but soon realized the reason for the caravans' refusal.
It was because of his reputation that had spread during the past three days. None of the merchants dared take him with them, not because they had high moral standards, but because they were merchants. If any of them took Ling Tian, other merchants would exploit that and tarnish the caravan's reputation. Of course, who would travel with a caravan that accepts even assaulters?
When Ling Tian realized this, he sighed while thinking: "Well, it seems I need to buy a horse."
But before Ling Tian went to find a horse, a voice called from behind: "I can take you with me, but you must pay triple the price."
Ling Tian turned toward the voice's owner and found a middle-aged man wearing a yellow robe, with a piece of wood carved with "Jin Sheng" hanging at his waist.
His face looked tired with many dark circles under his eyes.
Ling Tian thought his business was going so badly that it made him desperate enough to risk the caravan's reputation. "Well, his bad luck is my good luck." With this thought, Ling Tian said to the caravan owner: "It's a deal."
Ling Tian paid three spiritual stones while thinking: "This leaves me with fifty-three spiritual stones. Well, this was necessary to ensure my safety." Ling Tian smiled while thinking of the sword and many other things he had bought to maintain his safety.
After payment, the caravan owner, whom Ling Tian learned was named Qi Ji, led him to the passenger carriage.
After Ling Tian boarded the carriage, he saw three people sitting.
The first was a handsome young man wearing a purple robe, who appeared a year or two younger than Ling Tian. His eyes carried endless coldness with a little pride.
Beside him sat a girl wearing a blue robe, approximately the same age as the young man. She was very beautiful, and unlike the young man, she was smiling and full of energy.
The last person in the carriage was a middle-aged man with many scars on his face and an unpleasant expression.
Ling Tian nodded to them and sat beside the middle-aged man, waiting for the caravan to begin moving.
While waiting, suddenly the girl said to the handsome young man beside her: "Su Han, are you as bored as I am?"
Su Han looked at her and just nodded, then began ignoring her.
When the girl saw Su Han's reaction, she grumbled: "Can you act normal for once at least?" Then she turned her head to look at Ling Tian and said: "What do you think?"
Ling Tian thought for a moment before answering: "Well, I'm bored too, but this is better than being roasted under the sun."
When the girl heard Ling Tian's response, she laughed and said: "Finally, there's a normal person! Yes, you're right, boredom is better than being roasted. By the way, I'm Shi Rui."
Ling Tian hesitated a little, but eventually answered: "I'm Ling Tian."
When Shi Rui heard that, she was surprised and said while looking at Ling Tian with disgust: "Pervert!"
Even Su Han raised his head and cast a disgusted look at Ling Tian before looking away.
The only person who didn't react was the middle-aged man sitting beside Ling Tian.
Ling Tian didn't know what to say, as no one would believe him, so he remained silent.
After a while, the caravan began moving.
Soon two days passed. During these two days, Ling Tian was helping caravan members, not because he wanted to, but because he had to. Ling Tian had noticed the looks caravan members gave him, full of disgust. These looks made Ling Tian fear that the guards might slack in protecting him, or even worse, leave him to die if bandits attacked. So he began helping earnestly, and fortunately, his hard work seemed to bear fruit.
Now Ling Tian was eating and joking with the guards.
After dinner ended, caravan members began busying themselves with their work, leaving Ling Tian to contemplate the fire near him:
"Why do I feel these two days are better than the previous two years? Maybe because I no longer feel empty."
Ling Tian laughed quietly and thought with amusement:
"How funny! Who would believe that a womanizer like me would prefer spending time with men in the middle of the forest over women's company? This is really funny!"
After this thought, he raised his head to look at the sky:
"What beautiful stars! Why did I only notice this now?" Ling Tian thought while contemplating the stars.
After a while, Ling Tian stood up thinking:
"Well, rest time is over, now it's training time."
Ling Tian entered the forest and began walking toward the lake from which the caravan drew water.
After a while, Ling Tian reached near the lake surrounded by forest.
This was the best place because of the water element from the lake and wood from the forest. As for earth, any ground contains some earth element, but the highest concentration of earth element comes from mud, which was available in Ling Tian's case since he was near a lake. This made this spot the best place for Ling Tian's training.
Ling Tian sat in lotus position and began operating the Heaven's Pulse Technique, trying to draw spiritual energy into his body.
After an unknown amount of time, Ling Tian heard a sound from the lake.
Ling Tian advanced a little cautiously while trying hard not to be discovered, and looked at the lake.
Ling Tian saw a man in his late twenties, with only his upper half exposed, and on his back was a tattoo of a headless scorpion.
Ling Tian recognized the young man as one of the caravan members, but what surprised him was the tattoo on his back. However, he didn't think about it long since many caravan members had tattoos.
Ling Tian looked at the sky and realized it was time to return.
Ling Tian returned to his tent and slept until dawn, then woke up to help prepare breakfast with the remaining caravan members.
After a while, breakfast was prepared and Ling Tian sat with caravan members eating.
"So, what do you think? Could Ma Kong have done it?" said one of the guards while eating.
But his words confused Ling Tian and he said:
"What happened?"
When the guard heard Ling Tian's voice, he said while looking at Ling Tian:
"Little Brother Ling, excuse me, I forgot you were here." Then he began explaining:
"Today when we woke up, we discovered one of our members was missing. At first we thought he was harmed or worse, killed. We went searching for him, but no matter how much we searched, we found no trace of even a struggle, so we returned. Guess what we discovered?"
Ling Tian said in confusion:
"What?"
The guard said with a little anger and much sadness:
"We discovered that many belongings of caravan members had been stolen, so we think Ma Kong might have stolen the belongings and fled."
When Ling Tian heard the guard's words, his eyes gleamed a little, but that gleam quickly disappeared and he said:
"Maybe he really did flee."
After Ling Tian's words, a guard said angrily:
"That bastard! I can't believe I was helping a bastard like him!"
After the guard finished speaking, the guards began expressing their opinions. Some cursed, others still believed in Ma Kong's character, but most of these were those whose belongings weren't stolen.
The discussion continued until they finished eating.
In the next two days nothing unexpected happened except increased vigilance after the Ma Kong incident, until they were stopped by people.
Ling Tian got down after Su Han and Shi Rui got down and before the mysterious man.
Although his relationship with the guards had improved, his relationship with Su Han and Shi Rui had only changed slightly, as they now no longer looked at him with disgust but still ignored him. As for the middle-aged man, his relationship with him hadn't changed—he didn't even know his name.
When Ling Tian got down, he saw seven people covered in mud with torn clothes full of blood. Their condition was really bad.
Qi Ji advanced surrounded by guards saying:
"Who are you and why are you blocking our path?"
The person who seemed like the group's leader stepped forward and said:
"Greetings, I'm Lu Yin, leader of Long Hu caravan. As you can see, we were robbed by bandits. Fortunately, they only cared about money, so after abandoning our caravan they didn't pursue us."
Qi Ji stared at them for a while then said in a questioning tone:
"Long Hu caravan? This is the first time I've heard of such a caravan name."
Lu Yin said while sighing sadly:
"We're a new caravan and this is our first journey, so you haven't heard of us before."
Qi Ji nodded then said:
"And what do you want from my caravan, Caravan Leader Lu?"
"Not much, just for you to take us to the nearest city with you. Of course, I'll compensate you once we reach the city." Lu Yin said with a hopeful look.
Qi Ji thought a little then said:
"Fine, but you must allow my guards to search you. I hope you understand this is for safety."
"Of course, no problem. I'm really grateful for accepting my request." Lu Yin said with a happy smile on his face.
At Qi Ji's signal, the guards advanced to search Lu Yin and his followers.
During the search, Ling Tian saw something that made his eyes light up strongly.
After a while, the guards finished searching the group and advanced to tell Qi Ji:
"No problem, sir, they have nothing. Although they're cultivators, there's no mid-level cultivator among them."
Qi Ji nodded and said:
"Take them to the carriage."
After taking the Long Hu caravan, almost nothing changed in the caravan and they continued moving until it was time to set up tents and prepare dinner.
As usual, Ling Tian went to fetch water for the caravan.
When he returned, he poured the water in the basin and went to eat with the others.
When they finished dinner, many sat with the guards chatting and laughing, with Ling Tian among them naturally.
"Little Brother Ling, can I ask you a question that's been on my mind for a while?" one of the guards suddenly said to Ling Tian.
Ling Tian answered knowing what he would ask:
"Go ahead."
"Did you really try to assault Dong Yuan Yi? I mean, you don't seem like that kind of person." the guard said hesitantly.
When the crowd heard their friend's question, they all had curiosity about knowing the truth. Even Shi Rui and Su Han, who were nearby, raised their ears to hear Ling Tian's answer.
Ling Tian sighed and said:
"No."
Then he began narrating the conspiracy and how he was just a pawn used by the Hong clan to reach his clan.
When the guards heard Ling Tian's explanation, they all became angry.
"That damned Hong clan! They know no shame." one guard said angrily.
"Leave the Hong clan and focus on that whore Dong Yuan Yi! I can't believe I was one of her admirers." said another guard who had been a fan of Dong Yuan Yi.
Even Shi Rui and Su Han nodded at the guards' words and felt they owed Ling Tian an apology.
One guard tried to comfort him, but before any words could come out, he began coughing blood.
After the first person, everyone in the caravan began coughing blood.
Qi Ji came out thinking with fear and worry:
"No doubt it's them, but how and when?"
As Qi Ji expected, Lu Yin came out laughing from his tent and said:
"Qi Ji, in your next life think about whether you can afford to offend one of them or not."
Qi Ji looked angrily at Lu Yin saying:
"How could you poison us? We made sure you had no poison."
"About that, I can tell you the reason."
One of the guards stepped forward saying.
Ling Tian recognized the guard—it was the same person who had the tattoo on his back.
Qi Ji stared at the guard and said:
"Qin Bu, so it was you from the beginning."
Qin Bu said nothing and went to stand behind Lu Yin.
"Well, talking time is over, boys, kill them."
Lu Yin said while releasing killing intent.
But when Lu Yin and his group tried to gather qi to attack, they felt excruciating pain in their lower abdomen.
Lu Yin and the rest of his group were shocked.
"I'm poisoned, but how?" Lu Yin said with surprise and a little fear.
"Well, I think I'm the one who can explain it to you."
Ling Tian said this while standing up from his place just as Qin Bu had done.
Ling Tian smiled while looking at Lu Yin and said:
"You poisoned the food and I poisoned the water, isn't it simple?"
Lu Yin said in amazement:
"You, but how did you know?"
Ling Tian put his hand on his chin and raised his eyes upward as if thinking, then said:
"Well, it's a long story but I'll explain to you anyway. You see, a few days ago while I was training, I saw someone bathing. Guess who it was?"
Lu Yin answered angrily:
"It was Qin Bu, wasn't it?"
Ling Tian answered enthusiastically:
"Correct! It was Qin Bu. At first I didn't pay attention and went back to sleep, but one thought occurred to me: why would someone bathe in this cold water in the middle of the night? This question wasn't answered until morning when I learned that one of the guards named Ma Kong had disappeared. That's when I realized Qin Bu killed Ma Kong, and I thought the reason was that he robbed the guards and blamed Ma Kong."
Ling Tian said this all at once, making him take a deep breath before continuing:
"I thought that until this morning. Do you know why?"
Lu Yin was confused and answered:
"Why?"
Ling Tian said with pleasure:
"Because of your appearance, of course! Don't you think your story is strange? How can bandits let anyone escape from them? Also, despite the blood traces on your clothes, you weren't scratched, isn't that strange?
But what made me certain something was wrong was during your search—because of your torn clothes, I saw a small tattoo on your back that was the same as Qin Bu's tattoo."
Lu Yin asked a question that was on his mind:
"Why were you sure we would drink the water?"
Ling Tian smiled sarcastically and said:
"Isn't that a stupid question? Obviously you would eat and drink, because if you didn't, the caravan members would suspect you."
"Well, I understand. But what will you gain? We can't use qi, but except for you, no one can move properly."
Lu Yin said with a confident smile.
Ling Tian quickly answered while putting his hand on his head and saying embarrassedly:
"Well, my plan was never to defeat you. All I wanted was to slow you down so I could escape, and this was the best way.
But I found a way to defeat you, so I didn't run when everyone started vomiting."
Lu Yin said in amazement:
"And what is this method by which you'll defeat us?"
"I never said I would be the one to defeat you.
Well, my role ends here, time for the main characters to appear."
Ling Tian said while stepping back.
Then he looked at Shi Rui and Su Han:
"You two can begin."
Both Shi Rui and Su Han were shocked and looked at each other, then afterward they smiled and released the aura of late-stage Qi Condensation.