The woman heard Shen Bai's greeting and nodded without speaking.
Zhang Chaofeng stopped dead in his tracks. Realizing the woman knew the Shopkeeper, he couldn't help but give Shen Bai a look of sudden understanding.
Shen Bai said expressionlessly, "Keep staring and I'll dock your pay."
Zhang Chaofeng quickly raised his hands, admitting his mistake.
Only then did Shen Bai lead Cheng Shuang toward the back courtyard.
Cheng Shuang was extremely curious along the way.
She had originally thought this expert was just passing through Shengyun County and that she had simply been lucky to run into him.
But to her surprise, Shen Bai was actually a local resident.
The pawnshop was quite old, and Zhang Chaofeng had a good relationship with Shen Bai. This proved he had definitely settled down here.
This situation only made Cheng Shuang more curious.
Cheng Shuang believed that if she had such abilities, she would have gone to Fenglin State to make a name for herself long ago. Yet here Shen Bai was in Shengyun County, which she just couldn't understand.
But she didn't ask, as it was Shen Bai's private business. So, Cheng Shuang just kept her head down and followed behind.
...
After entering the courtyard, Shen Bai led Cheng Shuang to a place to sit.
Cheng Shuang was about to speak when Shen Bai stopped her.
Shen Bai took out the Jade Pendant and asked, "How do you activate the power of a Deceitful Object?"
Cheng Shuang's expression stiffened. Then, recalling that this man seemed to be ignorant of many things, she explained, "You communicate with it using Qi to use the Deceitful Object's power."
Shen Bai nodded and tried to channel a wisp of Qi into it.
His plan was that if he could still use the Deceitful Object's power, it would be a real bargain.
'Even if it has a limited number of uses, being able to both use its power and extract it would be a double win.'
But then, Shen Bai discovered the Jade Pendant was completely empty inside.
'Looks like the power inside vanishes after it's extracted,' Shen Bai thought to himself.
Having figured it out, Shen Bai didn't dwell on the matter and asked.
"Do you have any news on the Five-Heart Sect? Or their plans?"
Seeing Shen Bai finally get to the point, Cheng Shuang quickly answered, "In three days, the Five-Heart Dharma Assembly will begin. It's said to be held at Xiyun Mountain, east of Shengyun County."
"I'll come find you then, and we'll infiltrate it together."
Shen Bai stroked his chin. "It was that easy to find out the location of the sect members?"
Cheng Shuang shook her head. "No, but the Five-Heart Sect has explicitly stated that everyone is welcome to attend the Five-Heart Dharma Assembly. We can just pretend to be interested participants."
Shen Bai fell into thought.
'By that logic, people from the Government Office will probably show up too. Would the Five-Heart Sect really be that stupid?'
With large numbers of townspeople heading to Xiyun Mountain, and the Government Office already suspicious of the Five-Heart Sect, the Sect Leader couldn't possibly pull such a major stunt in plain sight.
Cheng Shuang shook her head. "I don't know either, but this is our only chance to find a weakness in the Five-Heart Sect."
How could Cheng Shuang not be aware of such an obvious flaw in their plan?
"Besides, from what I know, the Government Office is also preparing for the Five-Heart Dharma Assembly in three days. Everyone's attention is focused on that date."
Shen Bai tapped his fingers on the table. "In that case, come back in three days."
For now, they had very few clues, so Cheng Shuang's approach was quite reasonable.
"Then I'll take my leave," Cheng Shuang said, standing up.
She realized she didn't dare to stay long in Shen Bai's presence; after all, she couldn't figure out his personality.
An elder in Cheng Shuang's family had once told her it was best not to get too involved with people who were both incredibly powerful and whose personalities were hard to read.
Shen Bai didn't stop her. After she left, he went back to practicing the Blood Sword Dance on his own.
...
The daytime passed in a frenzy of Shen Bai's grinding.
His Skill Level in the Blood Sword Dance rose steadily. In a short time, it increased by another hundred-plus points, reaching a progress of 1400.
In the meantime, Shen Bai ate dinner, and after Zhang Chaofeng left, he started grinding again.
The process of grinding was, of course, immensely enjoyable.
It might be torture for others, but Shen Bai felt that this kind of productive grinding was the ultimate form of pleasure.
'Maybe I'm just cut out to be a Gan Di.'
Shen Bai thought to himself as he continued to grind.
His Blood Sword Dance improved as the night wore on.
...
In the blink of an eye, the first half of the night was over.
The time gradually crept into the latter half of the night.
Shen Bai downed a bowl of Qi Blood Medicine and tirelessly continued his grinding.
Just then, he suddenly stopped.
'There's a noise.'
Shen Bai could hear a faint sound coming from the street outside.
In the dead of night, such a subtle noise would be completely inaudible to an ordinary person.
Only Shen Bai, with Qi in his body, could hear it with perfect clarity.
After a moment of thought, Shen Bai grabbed his rusty Longsword and went to the front gate.
Peeking through the crack in the gate, Shen Bai saw the scene outside.
On the street, a dozen or so townspeople were walking forward with vacant expressions, still dressed in their nightclothes.
At the head of the group, a figure in a black robe, completely covered from head to toe, led the way while holding a long banner.
A severed head with a dull, lifeless gaze hung from the top of the banner.
The head's mouth opened and closed mechanically.
Every so often, a sound as faint as a mosquito's buzz emanated from the head on the banner.
"Five Hearts Facing Heaven, free and unfettered..."
The scene was so bizarre and grotesque that Shen Bai tightened his grip on his Longsword.
'These townspeople seem to be bewitched by the head and are being led somewhere.'
'Five Hearts Facing Heaven... the Five-Heart Sect again?'
As he was thinking this, Shen Bai heard the sound of doors opening one after another.
One by one, townspeople emerged from the houses on both sides of the street, each with a vacant look on their face, joining the crowd.
Seeing this, a thought suddenly struck Shen Bai.
'I see. What a brilliant strategy.'
'Everyone was fooled by this feint!'
'It's not in three days—it's tonight!'
That morning, Shen Bai had heard from Cheng Shuang that the Five-Heart Dharma Assembly was set to begin in three days.
He had been wondering why the Five-Heart Sect would announce it so openly. Now, he realized it was a feint.
While everyone's attention was focused on the date three days from now, they were suddenly spiriting away the townspeople tonight using this method.
No one would have expected it.
Shen Bai thought for a moment, then came up with an idea.
He suddenly opened the gate, walked out with a vacant expression on his face, and fell in line behind the group.
'Since they're here, I might as well follow them and see what the Five-Heart Sect is up to.'
With that thought, Shen Bai had already walked a good distance.
The black-robed figure was still leading at the front, not having noticed an anomaly had joined the crowd.
The crowd continued to walk forward.
Shen Bai suddenly spotted a familiar face.
Cheng Shuang, her face also vacant, was walking a short distance ahead. When the black-robed figure wasn't looking, she quietly turned her head and shot Shen Bai a meaningful look.
The corner of Shen Bai's mouth twitched.
'You've got to be kidding me.'
Shen Bai felt this scene was remarkably similar to the one they had encountered at the Qian Family's residence.