Chapter 46: The Key to Breaking the Impasse

Ye Feifan caught the spatial bag, gently weighed it in his hand, and peeked inside.

Hmm... It seemed nothing had been skimmed off; Old Hei was still a man of his word.

Certain that there were no issues, Ye Feifan readily tossed the bottle over to him.

Old Hei hastily caught it, opened the stopper, and took a sniff with an intoxicated expression on his face. Even little Huang beside him looked spirited, its eyes glowing as it stared at the bottle.

"Now that the matter is settled, I should be leaving."

Seeing that Old Hei was about to leave, Ye Feifan quickly said, "I have a deal. Would you be willing to take it?"

"What deal?" Old Hei paused, and the jade bottle held in his claws vanished in the blink of an eye.

"You detected quite a few auras on the Buddha statue at the brothel. Tomorrow, someone with the exact same aura will be coming over. Help me catch him."

"Are you joking?" Old Hei frowned.

"You've seen him in the visions—the tavern waiter who rendezvoused at the brothel. He is only at the Eighth Tribulation realm. Even if he breaks through, he won't exceed the First Tribulation Mortal Transformation realm. You can catch him."

"I'm not going!"

"Half a catty of vital fluid. If you won't go, I'll find someone else."

"I'll go!" Old Hei gritted his teeth, ultimately unable to resist the temptation of the vital fluid. He burrowed under the quilt to sleep and muttered, "Wake me up when the time comes."

With the quilt occupied, dark lines crisscrossed Ye Feifan's forehead, but he said nothing and reached out his hand toward the weasel. "Come here."

Bracing himself, Little Huang leaped onto Ye Feifan's palm.

"Are you willing to become my pet?"

"I am." Though somewhat uneasy in his heart, at the thought of the vital fluid, Little Huang still agreed.

A drop of blood fell onto Little Huang's glabella, and Ye Feifan perceived Little Huang's information.

"Pet: Weasel (Little Huang)."

"Race: Great Immortal Huang."

"Strength: First Tribulation Mortal Transformation Realm."

"Talents: Camouflage, Puppet Control, Deity Invocation, Weasel Escape..."

"Description: A high-intelligence demonic beast, descendant of Great Immortal Huang. Naturally timid yet grateful. In times of crisis, can release a special gas causing negative attacks such as tearing and paralysis. Often controls corpses to carry out extraordinary and difficult tasks."

High intelligence!

Ye Feifan was thoroughly astonished. Even Big Huang hadn't been marked with high intelligence... Little Huang's intellect was off the charts, truly living up to being a species that had worked undercover in Shaba for ten years.

"I'm a bit curious. Why haven't you transformed into a human?" Ye Feifan asked a rather mysterious question. Neither Big Huang nor Old Hei had transformed into humans, and Little Huang should know something about it.

Sensing a hint of friendliness from the person before him, Little Huang relaxed his mind and said, "The cost of transforming into a human is immense. Those who transformed did so aided by their cultivation and medicinal pills. We walk the path of the strong."

"The path of the strong?" It was the first time Ye Feifan had heard stories concerning the demonic race.

"Most demonic beasts achieve success in cultivation or consume pills to take on human form, but their inherent demonic aura cannot be concealed, and their innate talents will have flaws. I read about the method for perfect human transformation in an ancient demonic text."

"Has Big Huang read it too?" Ye Feifan turned his head to look at Big Huang on his shoulder. Her eyes were blank, as if she knew nothing of this matter.

"Some demonic bloodlines carry racial inheritance. She follows her inheritance in cultivation and has never read that ancient text."

"What are the contents?"

Little Huang pinched one of his small arms and said, "As long as we cultivate to the Ninth Tribulation Mortal Transformation Realm, we will face nine transformation tribulations. Surviving them allows us to transform into humans and step into the Mortal Passing Realm... If we fail to survive, our bodies will turn to dust, becoming what humans call Great Immortal Huang, Cat Immortal, Fox Immortal, and the like."

"They are all grievances of those who failed their tribulations?" Hearing this deep secret, Ye Feifan could not help but draw a sharp breath.

However, now that he knew this, Ye Feifan felt somewhat invested in helping Big Huang and the others survive their tribulations. Old Hei's strength also did not exceed the Mortal Transformation Realm, so there was still a chance.

Pulling out a drop of vital fluid and giving it to Little Huang, Ye Feifan said, "You go to sleep too. Tomorrow we still have to go intercept him."

Swallowing the vital fluid in one gulp, Little Huang beamed with joy, familiarly calling out, "Alright, Brother Feifan," before sneaking under the quilt.

"Things are getting a bit troublesome!" Pinching the bridge of his nose, Ye Feifan looked at the gloomy Big Huang on his shoulder, sighed, and produced a drop of vital fluid to feed her.

Finding a chair to lean against the wall, Ye Feifan closed his eyes and entered the dreamscape.

Since the waiter was coming tomorrow night, he might catch up on sleep during the day. He might as well drain the opponent's energy a bit first.

"Congratulations to the host for fishing up a white dream infected by Yin Qi, gaining one hundred and ten points!"

...

"Congratulations to the host for fishing up a white dream infected by Yin Qi, gaining one hundred and ten points!"

...

"Congratulations to the host for fishing up a white dream infected by Yin Qi, gaining one hundred and ten points!"

...

Fishing in dreams consecutively hollowed out a good portion of the waiter's body, yet it was still impossible to uncover past secrets or generate nightmares... Ye Feifan even began to doubt whether he was immune to being entangled by wronged spirits.

Activating the Disguise Dream Mirror, Ye Feifan observed the waiter's living environment and let out a sigh of relief inwardly. It looked like he was still at the Welcome Inn, and it would take quite a while for him to get over here.

He himself had tried traveling from Tianzi City to Wuju Town; the fastest took three or four days, and taking the public transport required two hours.

Since the waiter had decided to come at night, with such a short amount of time, there was only one method!

A teleportation array!

There might be a teleportation array nearby. The waiter must have set up the array somewhere in Wuju Town, and as long as he managed to find the array, he could intercept him.

Where would the teleportation array be?

Checking the store, there were indeed quite a few good things like array detectors, teleportation interference stones, and three-section heavenly mystery jades... But the prices were prohibitive, with starting prices all in the thousands of points... He temporarily lacked the points to make a purchase.

Tossing the dream fish into the Dream Refining Furnace, Ye Feifan began absorbing dream breath to cultivate.

...

The alarm on his pocket watch rang. It was precisely ten o'clock in the morning. Ye Feifan stopped cultivating and returned to reality.

Old Hei and Little Huang were still sleeping, and Big Huang had crawled into his embrace at some point. He was the first to wake up.

A sliver of sunlight shone through the gap in the window. Ye Feifan deduced it wouldn't rain tonight; otherwise, the waiter would definitely not dare to venture out at night, especially if he bumped into the ominous entities transformed from those he had harmed to death...

In that case, he could only sing a dirge for himself.

Presumably, the waiter would never expect that instead of staying within his sect, Ye Feifan had come to Wuju Town to wait for him...

He wasn't the only one with high intelligence; to stay alive, one had to keep courting danger. In this regard, Ye Feifan reckoned he surpassed the waiter by a lot.

"Wake up, we're about to make a move."

Ye Feifan repeated it several times, but none of the three pets woke up. He had no choice but to take a drop of vital fluid and smear it on Big Huang's lips.

The spiritual aura surged up, causing Old Hei to leap straight out from under the quilt, while Little Huang tumbled onto the floor and woke up as well.

"What a waste!" Old Hei wore a look of heartache, but upon remembering that catching that man would net him half a catty of vital fluid, his mood improved considerably.

"I have a plan. Are you willing to help?"

"Speak." Old Hei's gaze was vigilant.

"A teleportation array is hidden in the town. The waiter will come over through the teleportation array tonight. As long as you find it, we can easily intercept him."

"You want me to find the teleportation array?" Old Hei's gaze turned peculiar. At first hearing, the request didn't sound too demanding, but upon deeper thought, it required him to use his trump card. He quickly shook his head and said, "I can't find it. Wuju Town is so big, how am I supposed to look?"

Wuju Town was big?

Hearing this excuse, Ye Feifan almost laughed out loud. Wuju Town wasn't even a tenth the size of the old district in Tianzi City... Old Hei had sprinted wildly through that old district just days ago, yet now he uttered such crude words... He was truly impressed...

"Little Huang, do you have a way?" Unable to do anything with Old Hei, Ye Feifan looked at Little Huang, who was rubbing his head.

"I have a teleportation array sensing stone. It will grow warm as long as there is a teleportation array nearby." Little Huang bared his teeth and silently pulled a green stone from behind his back.

"Very good. Help me find it, and I'll give you ten drops of vital fluid tonight."

"Thank you, Brother Feifan!" Upon hearing the reward of ten drops of vital fluid, Little Huang smiled so broadly his mouth was almost crooked.

"Go on, be careful."

"Mm!" Little Huang pushed open the window and jumped out. His talent was comparable to a chameleon's, so he wouldn't run into trouble anytime soon, and Ye Feifan felt quite at ease.

"Get ready. Once we find the teleportation array, we strike. He bounces around too much and definitely knows something. I need him to shut his mouth permanently."

"What are you going to do?"

"Catch him alive."

Old Hei shook his head and said, "I can't guarantee that. He might have some trump card for escaping."

"Big Huang, you'll join the fight tonight too."

"Do I have to?" Big Huang yawned and blinked her watery, round eyes.

"Too many things are tied up in this. We need to take action, otherwise we'll be too passive. You just need to snap his tendons and ligaments; leave the rest to us."

"Alright." Big Huang nodded, licked her lips, and reminisced about the taste of the vital fluid.

"If tonight's deal succeeds, you and I have another very simple deal."

"There's another deal?" Old Hei pricked up his ears, a trace of wariness in his eyes, terrified that Ye Feifan would propose some impossible task.

"The task is very simple. In a few days, I'm going to the Li family to take that Buddha statue. You just need to remove the Buddha statue from the brothel after I arrive at the Liu family."

"Is it really that simple?"

"It's just that simple."

"What about the reward?"

"Half a catty of vital fluid!"

"I agree!"

"Happy cooperation!"

Old Hei and Ye Feifan reached a consensus agreement, both smiling as each obtained what they wanted.

One hour later, Little Huang jumped in through the window.

"Brother Feifan, I've found the teleportation array."