Han Yu sent Driver Yun out first.
The old driver disguised himself effortlessly, slipping into the flow of the town with the practiced ease of soone who had once lived here. His posture bent slightly, his expression dull, his steps too casual to attract notice.
Within minutes, he vanished into the crowd with all the presence of a grain of sand amid a beach.
Han Yu watched him go, noting the way Qing Luan's eyes followed Old Yun with an anxious glimr. She was nervous about everything now, about every stray sound, every corner of the street. Her fear had fused with hatred, making her sharpened awareness almost painful.
Han Yu placed a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her back toward the courtyard.
"Stay inside. All of you. You have money. Buy food, buy what you need. But do not leave this house unless I say."
Qing Luan nodded. "Yes. Honored disciple."
Fen Dugong, Ziyue and little Mue nodded too, though fear trembled in their eyes. But they obeyed. They knew it was too early to draw unwanted attention.
Once they were inside, Han Yu turned around and walked down the alley.
It was ti for him to gather information.
But first, he needed to not look like Ju Fan.
That was the difficult part.
He changed into a plain brown robe he bought from a roadside stall. It was scratchy and slled of dust, but it would do. After that he picked up a wide straw hat from a nearby vendor. The hat was so large it hid most of his face in shadow.
He tried to relax his expression. That proved harder than transforming his Qi.
Ju Fan's face had long since molded itself into a naturally cold and violent mask. When he tried to look normal, his face actually twitched. His jaw felt stiff, his lips refused to soften, and his eyes kept narrowing on instinct.
Eventually he gave up with a grunt.
'Fine. If I cannot look friendly, then I will look unremarkable.'
He lowered the brim of the hat until it shadowed everything above his nose. As long as no one caught a clear view of his eyes, he would not be easily recognized.
Han Yu took a walk through White Peacock Town.
This was his second ti scanning the streets with the mind of a predator, but today he let his spirit sense drift like a net across the streets. He wanted to appear harmless while his senses did all the real work.
He walked slowly, sotis stopping at stalls, sotis lingering near taverns, sotis pretending to look at vegetables or fabrics. anwhile his spirit sense swept the area, listening to voices within the range of two hundred ters.
Gossip was the opium of the masses.
And cultivators loved gossip just as much.
"Did you hear? That Birch Leaf collector broke Old Peng's arm yesterday."
"Again? That rchant guild is really becoming tyrannical."
"What choice do we have? They have that monster guard. The one who killed a whole gang alone."
"I heard it was thirty n."
"No, forty."
"They say he used to be a wandering cultivator who slaughtered an entire family of thieves in a single night. That is why the rchants hired him."
Han Yu absorbed every word.
The exaggerated rumors were expected, but under the myths there were always slivers of truth.
He moved on.
At a noodle stand he overheard two couples talking about prices.
"Birch Leaf raised the cost of grain again. My family cannot afford stead buns anymore."
"I told you to switch to millet. Everyone is doing it."
"Easy for you to say. My son eats like a bull."
"I wish soone would teach that rchant clan a lesson. But with that Young Master Ye around, who dares."
"Huamu Ye? That useless brat? If not for the guard behind him he would have been beaten ten tis over."
Han Yu sipped the broth he bought, pretending to enjoy the flavor while storing the information.
He drifted toward the central street next.
There he found the real music of a town.
Gossiping aunties.
A group of won sat under the shade of a tree washing vegetables. They chatted loudly.
"Huamu Ye ca to the market yesterday. He tried to flirt with the potter's daughter again."
"Poor girl. She is terrified of him."
"And why would she not be? He nearly broke her brother's fingers last ti for telling him to stay away."
"Disgusting brat. And still only at the fifth stage of body tempering. Can you imagine?"
"And he is already twenty seven! My nephew reached the ninth stage at twenty. What a disgrace."
"But the guard Elder Bai follows him everywhere. As long as that man is around, no one can teach Huamu Ye a lesson."
"Did you hear the rumor? Elder Bai killed a Qi Condensation cultivator with one punch."
Han Yu raised a brow at that.
'One punch?'
He quietly scoffed.
If the guard was really at the Mid stage of Core Condensation, killing a Qi Refining cultivator in one punch was nothing worth bragging about. Mortal and low level gossip tended to exaggerate everything to the heavens anyway.
Which was fine.
Fear made people predictable.
He moved on, drifting toward the Birch Leaf rchant estate.
It was a large compound with three connected courtyards, two side buildings, one training yard, one warehouse and a front reception hall. A decorative plaque hung over the main gate reading, Birch Leaf rchant Guild.
Han Yu circled the area leisurely, looking like a worker returning ho.
His spirit sense extended often, slipping around corners, through thin walls, past windows with only minor care. No one inside had the ability to sense spiritual probing. The only formations here were basic warning barriers and low tier Qi shields.
Barely worth ntioning.
He counted the cultivators.
Ten in total.
One Early Core Condensation. Nine in Qi Refining.
The rest appeared to be servants, attendants or ordinary rchants.
'A small power. Not insignificant for a town like White Peacock, but utterly insignificant before a Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect cultivator.'
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