Li Fan's goal was clear this time.
He first "borrowed" some silver from a wealthy merchant in the city and began inquiring about news regarding Mister Bai.
They say money can make the devil turn the millstone.[2]
What Li Fan found strange was that despite throwing a great deal of silver around, he gained almost no useful information about Mister Bai.
It was as if such a person didn't exist in the city at all.
Li Fan had to change his approach, asking instead about exceptionally handsome young men in the city.
Under the peculiar gazes of the residents, Li Fan narrowed it down to three candidates who fit the description.
After some investigation and seeing them in person, Li Fan eliminated the first two. They were just relatively good-looking ordinary mortals.
Only the last one remained.
Li Fan arrived before a remote, dilapidated small courtyard. The youth's information flashed through his mind.
According to the residents' descriptions, the owner was a young man who appeared somewhat sickly.
This youth was not a local. He had arrived in Ningyuan City two years prior, following the tide of refugees from a disaster zone.
After using his last remaining silver to buy this courtyard, he had settled down here.
The young man lived in seclusion, rarely showing himself.
It was said he had excellent penmanship and made a living teaching in the households of wealthy families in the city.
Yet, he possessed strikingly good looks; everyone who had seen his face praised his handsome appearance.
Sensing no presence of a living being inside, Li Fan entered the courtyard.
A quick sweep with his divine sense revealed nothing out of the ordinary.
However, Li Fan knew that within Mister Bai’s home stood a broken statue forged from Immortal-Severing Stone, capable of blocking divine sense perception.
Unwilling to leave things at that, Li Fan pushed open each door in turn, entering and carefully inspecting every room.
When he came to a room that appeared to be a storage space on the western side of the small courtyard, his footsteps paused slightly.
Moving aside the clutter scattered on the floor, Li Fan lifted a thin stone slab set into the ground.
Beneath it, a pitch-black hole was suddenly revealed.
A slab of Immortal-Severing Stone...This is the place!
A faint smile touched the corner of Li Fan's mouth as he leapt down into the hidden chamber below.
Upon landing, the faint, coppery scent of blood assailed his nostrils.
1. A Mother-Child Sword is a specific type of paired weapon where a smaller "child" sword is concealed within or paired with a larger "mother" sword. ☜
2. aka money makes the world go round ☜