After leaving Ji Sheng Hall, Hexi never stopped advancing towards the other courtyard in Yan Jing city’s eastern outskirts.

Inside Yan Jing city, you couldn’t fly with your sword, so Hexi exhausted her qinggong. At xu shi [1], Hexi was able to see the area three li north of the eastern outskirts.

A small unremarkable hill sat here. An official road led up to the eastern side of this hill, but because it was night time, people on the road had long since been scarce.

On the west side of the hill, there was a house that seemed to be particularly gloomy and shabby.

From far away, in the dark night, one could only see a yellow piece of paper that was stuck to black painted doors. The piece of paper fluttered about in the wind whenever it blew.

There weren’t any decorations at the door nor was there a plaque. Even the eaves were sunken in, exposing a fist-sized hole.

The whole house seemed to have merged into one with the surrounding night. Just by looking at it would cause someone to feel a type of gloomy cold.

historical

If an ordinary person were to be walking along this official road and happened across this residence, they would definitely think this was an abandoned haunted house. They wouldn’t have any interest in checking this house out.

The white moon brocade robe Hexi was wearing had already been changed into agile black clothes.

She didn’t use any spiritual energy, just her qinggong to jump over the wall. All her actions were soundless, even the bats hanging on the eaves weren’t disturbed by her presence.

Using the map Hexi took from shopkeeper Qin, Hexi quickly made her way through the house.

And along this road, Hexi saw many martial artists hidden inside the house.

At the very least, they were at high-rank Foundation Establishment stage. Every one of them was holding their breath and concealing themselves in the main courtyard, seeming as if they were patiently waiting for something.

What surprised Hexi the most was the fact that this entire residence was separated by a boundary.

The front yard was eerie. The martial artists were all hidden in secret places, not speaking and not moving. While the back yard was filled with patrolling martial artists. At times, one could even hear their boisterous laughter and conversation.

The map shopkeeper Qin gave her indicated that the location of the basement was in the back yard.

This allowed Hexi to be convinced just a bit more of this map’s authenticity.

Relying on the Purple Abyss Vine’s unique ability, Hexi was able to quickly break through the boundary and travel through the back yard’s various houses.

In the time it took to burn a stick of incense, she was finally able to locate the basement’s entrance which was similar to an ancestral hall.

The simple jade slip was lightly inserted into the notch at the entrance of the basement. As the basement began opening, a murky and moist smell along with the pungent smell of blood assaulted one’s senses.

Hexi’s body flashed into the basement. After walking for a moment, she saw an iron door.

This iron door seemed to be very thick and didn’t seem to have a lock or chain. Evidently, this door needed to be opened from the inside.

Hexi pushed against the door but found out that it didn’t even move an inch and the light in her eyes dimmed a little.

Suddenly, Xie Chongming’s harsh face flashed through Hexi’s mind. The corners of her mouth raised up and she quickly took out a disguise from her space, putting it on her face.

In the space of a few breaths, the originally beautiful youth transformed into a grizzly bearded old man.

Even the greedy glint in Xie Chongming’s eyes was imitated to perfection.

Although her build couldn’t be changed in such a short period of time, this disguise would be sufficient inside the dusky basement.

Hexi softly knocked on the iron door. Soon after, a square hole appeared on the iron door.

A guard peered out of the hole and at once, he saw the disguised Hexi’s impatient face. “Why haven’t you quickly opened the door? Until what time do you want me to wait here?”

[1] xu shi – a period of time between 7 and 9 pm