Chapter 60 Flawless Calculation

Liu Dequan!

"Strange... Didn't the tavern waiter say that Martin Xiao would come over? How did it become Zhang San instead?"

"How does Zhang San know about the secret room? Could Martin Xiao have told him?"

"Scouting the path..." Liu Dequan sighed, knowing he would no longer be able to wait for Martin Xiao.

With the path already scouted by Zhang San, the Liu family's preparations must have alerted Martin Xiao. It was very likely that the other party was lurking in the shadows of the old district, watching the courtyard.

"Martin Xiao..." Savoring the name quietly, Liu Dequan's footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Ye Feifan felt a bit exhausted. Without any changes, he waited quietly for an hour... The footsteps gradually approached. That old schemer was indeed laying an ambush!

Liu Dequan looked somewhat disappointed; the entrance to the secret passage had not been opened, meaning the other party had truly seen the Liu family's deployments.

After Liu Dequan left, another set of footsteps rang out.

The newcomer's steps were heavy yet carried a hint of caution. Ye Feifan could be certain that this person was not Liu Dequan.

The person paused by the secret passage for a few minutes, seemingly hesitating whether to enter. Several minutes of silence finally led the newcomer to make up their mind and step into the secret passage.

After a long ten minutes, the sound of something moving echoed out. The entrance to the secret passage was covered up, and the footsteps gradually died away.

The person hadn't come back up, but instead hid inside the secret room!

Waiting by the stump for the hare?

Making sure no one was monitoring the area, Ye Feifan slowly climbed out of the wine jar. With a heavy expression, he silently evaporated the wine water from his body, casting a deep gaze at the wine jar at the entrance of the secret passage.

Which old schemer had come over to wait by the stump for the hare?

Were they waiting for him to walk right into their trap?

The props purchased during the novice period showed extraordinary value. The effect of the Disguise Dream allowed him to stir up trouble right under the noses of powerful experts... Anyone else would have been killed long ago, which also made Ye Feifan begin to doubt the system's motives.

What was the system's purpose?

It forced him into a state of tension while simultaneously pushing him to court death. Even with his arrogant intellect, he could not deduce the system's intentions.

Ye Feifan was a perfectionist. He turned around to glance at the wine jar, then spent one merit point to retrieve the watering can from "Dream Field" and filled the wine jar to the brim with water.

If the other party discovered that the wine jar was missing wine, they would surely realize that someone had been hiding inside, and this method would be deliberately countered next time, depriving him of one survival method.

Filling the wine jar with water meant that even if the other party noticed the lower concentration of alcohol, they would simply assume some drunkard had sneaked in to steal a drink (drinking half the wine and topping it up with half water), and would never suspect it was used as a hiding spot.

Perfect!

Brilliant!

Covering the jar lid, Ye Feifan carefully inspected the surroundings for any potential hiding spots. Making sure no one was there, he slipped out of the cellar and hurried away from the old district without stopping.

On the surface, the Liu family seemed weak, but in secret, they were even more terrifying than the Zhang family.

The waters of Tianzi City ran deep...

Leaving the old district, the sky was already nearing dawn.

Ye Feifan had no idea where he should head next. The tavern waiter's intelligence was too monstrous, almost completely countering his very existence.

Should he use the Seven-Arrow Nail Book to get rid of the tavern waiter first?

To use a mystic-tier wicked art, Ye Feifan felt a pang of reluctance. Goodness knows when he would ever draw it again.

The gap in strength between him and the tavern waiter was not a full major realm apart. As long as he worshipped him for twenty-one days, he could curse the opponent to death. His only worry was the opponent's ghost Gu, or whatever it was called.

Old Hei's warnings could not be ignored, but Ye Feifan had never witnessed the tavern waiter's ghost Gu, making it hard to jump to conclusions. If he capsized in the gutter, he wouldn't even have a place to cry.

Curses, Gu magic, wicked arts, divine arts, and immortal arts were all branches evolved from mystic arts. At the root of it all, the source remained the mystic arts.

Mystic-tier wicked arts and Gu magic could not be easily distinguished in superiority. The ghost Gu was likely cultivated through Gu magic, and blocking a wicked art would be entirely normal. It would be awkward if he used it and it had no effect.

If he didn't possess the Dreaming System, Ye Feifan would almost suspect that the tavern waiter was the true protagonist, given how defying the heavens his luck was.

"I cannot stay in Tianzi City for the time being. The Liu family's reach is too long and there's nowhere to hide. I might as well go to Yellow Mud Fields to avoid the limelight..."

Having made up his mind, Ye Feifan immediately hurried eastward, away from the Liu family.

Speaking of Yellow Mud Fields, that place was also a sandbar-like expanse, but dozens of times larger than the sandbar, and it was a small mountain village where outsiders rarely intervened. Past the Liu family lay a suburban area, and it would take three hours to reach the mountain village.

In his childhood, Ye Feifan had heard Xun Tianxing tell stories about Yellow Mud Fields. A group of dwarfs hid there; they looked like children, but their exact ages were actually a complete mystery.

Despite their small stature, no major power in Tianzi City dared to harbor designs on them, and their surname was extremely bizarre—sounding quite unbelievable, the rare surname of "Small."

They were hospitable yet not foolish. The story of the farmer and the snake was a vivid example, a classic case recorded in ancient histories. If one approached them with hostility, one would die without even knowing how.

"I hope he won't come looking for me..."

Safely passing through the Liu family's territory, Ye Feifan finally reached the suburbs.

Many of the fields still belonged to the Liu family's property, so he dared not lower his guard, carefully and cautiously passing through the farmland.

Wheat was planted in the fields, but he caught a whiff of danger. As soon as he stepped into the grove that formed his only path, a group of men in black swarmed in from all directions.

The men in black knew that Martin Xiao had entered the Demonic Gate; the Liu family did not yet have the capability to contend with a sect, so they dared not send out experts of high cultivation realms. The ones dispatched this time were a group of younger-generation powerhouses.

"Martin Xiao, surrender without a fight!" Despite their masks, the voice of the leader still allowed Ye Feifan to glean a lot of information.

If any major figures had come, they wouldn't have bothered with so much nonsense and would have simply used overwhelming force to crush him.

With so many people coming just to block him, it didn't quite add up... They must have been wary of the Demonic Gate's attitude.

"The younger generation!" Ye Feifan chuckled softly.

From Zhang Da's situation, it was clear that if the younger generation of Tianzi City lacked exceptional talent, they probably couldn't even reach the realm of the Five Calamities... How could any geniuses among this group of black-clad juniors come out here to throw their lives away?

These men in black must be from collateral branches. Without weapons, he might not be their opponent... But drawing out the Blood Fiend Novice Sword would present an entirely different picture.

He could fight them, so he didn't need to run!

"How did you know I was in the suburbs?" Ye Feifan drew the novice sword from his back, its lingering fierce aura causing the men in black to treat him as if facing a formidable enemy.

"The boss anticipated long ago that you would come to the suburbs, and we've been waiting here for you for a long time!" Mentioning the tavern waiter, the leading man in black drew back his bowstring, a smug look in his brows.

"What?" Ye Feifan's heart turned ice-cold. His destination had been guessed in advance?

That was a decision he had made on the spur of the moment!

Silent for a second, Ye Feifan steadied his mind and asked, "When did you guys get here?"

"We waited for you half the night, and didn't expect you to actually come." The leading man in black was not afraid of Ye Feifan escaping; with their massive numbers, he enjoyed toying with his prey and didn't care about any counter-kills.

Ye Feifan's thoughts were in a bit of a mess. He hadn't encountered any opponents when fleeing from the old street alleys, yet Liu Dequan had been waiting for him at the cellar—meaning the tavern waiter had made multiple plans.

There were also men in black lying in ambush to the west of the Liu family. His own caution had saved his life, and the ambush over there was much stronger than the men in black before him.

The suburban ambushes were mere disposable pawns; the tavern waiter had sent them here to die, and him killing them would push Martin Xiao's identity directly into opposition against the Liu family...

If he didn't kill them, once he left, scouts sent by the tavern waiter would surely come to deal with them...

Ruthlessly framing others was a talent of overlords, and the tavern waiter possessed that potential!

What high-level methods!

If Ye Feifan guessed correctly, the younger generation lying in ambush for him in Tianzi City must be very strong... Transportation in the city was well-developed, and reinforcements would arrive much faster than in the suburbs. Even if they encountered him, their losses wouldn't be large.

"Where did you receive your orders? Since you know my identity, you still dare to block me?" Ye Feifan put on a terrified facade, his hand holding the sword trembling.

"You brat know fear too? We came from the Welcome Pavilion side. You'd better surrender sooner rather than later, we still need to go back to sleep!" The leading man in black said no more, waving his hand as the rest of the black-clad men brandished their weapons.

"You blew in the wind for half the night, aren't you cold?" Ye Feifan instinctively glanced around. The surrounding men in black also instinctively stepped back; they understood the logic of a cornered beast fighting to the death.

They weren't afraid of beasts running; they were afraid of beasts fighting desperately!

"Stop the nonsense. Surrendering now is still in time, leave it late and you'll suffer."

"You can try!" If it had just been a guess moments before, Ye Feifan was now truly certain that these men were all chess pieces arranged by the tavern waiter.

The Welcome Pavilion had started receiving orders, and the person who gave the orders was the tavern waiter. That detail was rather thought-provoking.

He had been tracking the tavern waiter the whole time, so how could he not have known about him issuing orders?

The back door of the brothel was the best place to issue orders, but the tavern waiter hadn't gone in; instead, he ran to the Fragrance Pavilion.

Pondering carefully, the most plentiful window of time for the tavern waiter to issue orders... could only be in the kitchen!

There was a hidden secret room in the kitchen!

The men in black surrounding him were very likely the garrison personnel guarding that place, stationed there to protect something. At the time, with no one else at his disposal, the tavern waiter had ordered them to be used as disposable pawns.

Could it be that the moment he escaped the kitchen, the other party had realized something was amiss?

Being able to quickly analyze his escape route and destination meant that the tavern waiter was truly no ordinary person!

Was everything he did under their calculations?

Cold sweat broke out on Ye Feifan's forehead, and his heart trembled slightly. That person had to die, otherwise he would never feel at ease!