Becoming a god starts with one certificate becoming eternal.

The night rain in Qingshi Lane clung to the tiles like a thin layer of oil.

Ye Xiao walked to the entrance of the alley, bypassing the lit road and walking through the dark alley.

Not long after, he arrived at a noodle shop. This time, Lu Xingzhou was not there; instead, a simply dressed young man came.

He had previously received a message from someone asking him to meet here.

"My name is Xia Zhe, and I work under the deputy envoy."

The young man handed over a cloth bag and said, "There are seven hundred and twenty taels here. The deputy envoy said he has already taken his share, and the rest is yours."

After saying that, the young man turned and disappeared into the rain.

Ye Xiao felt the heavy weight of the cloth bag; it was a huge sum of money.

"After paying off the 150 taels of medicine debt and deducting household expenses, I'll still have nearly 500 taels left." He quickly calculated in his mind: "For a while, I won't have to worry about money."

The tension that had been building up inside him for so long finally eased a little.

But he also knew that money alone wasn't enough... he had to use that money to become stronger.

Ye Xiao tucked the cloth bag deep into his clothes, pressed his palm against the knotted rope, and ate a bowl of noodles at the noodle shop, just like a real person who had come to eat noodles.

After finishing his noodles, he took two more bowls with him and left. Instead of immediately returning to Qingshi Lane, he took a few more turns along Yu Lane.

It was neither fast nor slow, like simply taking shelter from the rain.

He deliberately paused at a crowded street corner, using the vendors' shouts to conceal his footsteps, then turned into a darker alley, stopping where the water was deepest. That's where footprints were most easily left, and where his tail was most easily spotted.

He stood there for three breaths.

Only the sound of rain followed behind; no second footsteps caught up.

After confirming that everything was safe, Ye Xiao turned around and went back to Qingshi Alley.

The first thing he did after entering the room was not to speak, but to lock the bolts and then lock the iron bolts.

The lights in the room were dim. Mother was a light sleeper. Hearing the noise, she coughed lightly, then quickly suppressed it, as if afraid of waking Xiaoxue in the inner room.

Ye Xiao didn't disturb her. He simply placed the noodles on the table, then walked to the stove and lifted two inconspicuous old bricks.

Beneath the bricks was a dry, empty trough, a hiding place he had prepared long ago.

He quickly divided the silver in the bag into two parts: the money for medicine and the money for buying medicine later were placed together, and the money for household use was placed separately.

After doing all that, he put the two bricks back on, pressed his palm against the brick surface to make sure they fit perfectly.

In the end, he only kept a few taels of loose silver on him for emergencies.

……

Before dawn, the rain stopped, and the stone slabs on the eastern section of Bishui Street gleamed with a wet light.

Sanjing Lane remains well-organized. Water signs are managed, vehicles passing through Liumukou are registered, and the yellow dog at the lane entrance doesn't bark at people, but just sniffs them before lying back down.

All of this shows that the rules on the surface haven't been broken.

But as soon as Ye Xiao entered the alley, he sensed something was amiss.

The door to the small courtyard at the end of the alley was half-closed; there was no sound of dice being played, nor any smell of alcohol.

Shen Sheng, Yan Quan, and Ma Wu were all present, their faces ashen.

Ye Xiao calmly asked, "What happened?"

Shen Sheng lowered his voice: "My lord, the registers went missing last night."

Ye Xiao's eyes instantly turned cold. Without this, they couldn't investigate Zhao Jiu's account, and Hui Xiu might lose his position.

Yan Quan gritted his teeth: "The person who settled accounts is dead, and a guy named Scarface Qiang has disappeared. The gang leader once said there were spies here; it must be him!"

"Besides taking the ledger, did you leave any other message?" Ye Xiao asked.

Ma Wu took out a piece of paper and handed it to Ye Xiao: "This is what they left behind. It says... within three days, outside Huaimukou, at the old salt warehouse."

"My lord, we still have two days. Should we just charge straight in?"

Yan Quan's face was filled with anger. Ever since Ye Xiao showed his formidable strength and saved him, he had never been dissatisfied with Ye Xiao again. Instead, he regarded Ye Xiao as his true boss.

"If I take you there now, we'll fall right into Zhao Jiu's trap."

Ye Xiao said calmly, "He dares to be so blatant; he must have laid a trap, just waiting for people to come to him."

Yan Quan, looking unwilling, asked, "Are we just going to let this go? They're taking advantage of us! Besides, without the account books, how will you answer if the head of the hall asks about the accounts?"

"I'll handle this. You can continue with your work as usual." Ye Xiao turned and left.

Shen Sheng asked in confusion, "Sir, didn't you know they were already prepared to lure people in? Why did they come to us willingly?"

Ye Xiao didn't stop walking, only leaving behind one sentence:

"The register is there; I must go. They're trying to trap us like turtles in a jar; let's see who the turtle is..."

Yan Quan saw Ye Xiao leave and wanted to follow, but then he remembered that he had almost ruined the whole plan because he hadn't listened to Ye Xiao last time, so he stopped.

He couldn't help but ask, "Should we inform the hall master? Zhao Jiu is quite strong to begin with, and with the ambush they've prepared, the lord's chances of survival are slim!"

"it's useless."

Shen Sheng shook his head and said, "This is something that will inevitably happen during the transfer of power. The hall master will not interfere. Besides, it's too late to find the hall master now."

"Are we just going to watch him die like this?" Yan Quan gritted his teeth. "No, he saved my life. I can't let him go alone! I have to go help him!"

Seeing that he had lost his mind, Shen Sheng immediately said, "You know how skilled the master is. Even if he can't defeat Zhao Jiu and the others, escaping shouldn't be a problem. If you go with him, you'll only be a burden and harm the master."

"Then what do you suggest we do!" Yan Quan said angrily.

"Didn't the lord say that we should just do what we're supposed to do?" Shen Sheng said. "The only way to help the lord is to protect our territory and prevent anyone from taking advantage of us."

……

The old salt warehouse was not far from Huaimukou. The dampness was so bad it tasted bitter. The warehouse door was half-closed, and the inside was as dark as a well.

The moment Ye Xiao stepped across the threshold, he caught a faint smell of medicine.

"They came very quickly."

A laugh rang out from the darkness, a calm and unhurried laugh, as if it had been expected that you would come.

The tinderbox lit up.

Several shadowy spots in the salt warehouse came to life at the same time. Three crossbowmen crouched in three different positions, a fine net hung on the beam, a hooked chain dragged on the ground, and a ring of fine powder was scattered on the ground.

A man emerged from the edge of the firelight, his face crisscrossed with old scars; it was none other than Scarface Qiang.

He tapped the wooden box on the ground with his toe, smiling as if he were making a sale: "The account books are in the box. You can take them if you want."

"But Ninth Master said that if you tamper with the account books, you'll lose your life here."

Ye Xiao didn't move, only glancing at the positions of the three crossbowmen, his tone as flat as if he were counting:

"You've prepared everything perfectly, but it's meaningless to me."

Scarface's smile deepened: "Whether it's meaningful or not, you'll find out soon enough."

As soon as he finished speaking, the crossbowmen, as if receiving a command, instantly took action.

At the same time, the crossbow strings snapped, and three bolts shot out from the air at tricky angles.

One arrow bites the throat, one arrow locks the chest, one arrow blocks the retreat.

In that instant, Scarface Qiang's eyes were filled with unwavering determination.

Even if one has achieved mastery of bone forging, as long as one is exposed to the Suppressing Breath Dispersion, one's qi and blood will be stagnant, and one will be unable to dodge or block it, and will only die.

But in the next instant, his confidence seemed to be shattered in front of him.

The moment the string was plucked, Ye Xiao had already moved.

He stomped his foot, causing the salt powder to explode, and his body shifted half a foot off the ground... The first arrow, used to wipe clothes, pierced the wooden beam with a dull thud.

The second arrow followed closely behind. He casually raised his sleeve and rolled it up, using the edge of the beam to deflect it. With a "clang," the arrow deflected, grazing his shoulder. His clothes tore open, and a small cut appeared on his skin, from which blood immediately seeped out.

The third arrow went straight for the throat.

Instead of retreating, Ye Xiao advanced, stepping onto the edge of the firelight, and twisted the arrow shaft with his five fingers.

"Click!"

The arrow shaft broke, and he casually tossed the broken arrow back into the darkness.

"puff!"

A muffled groan came from the darkness as a crossbowman was struck in the shoulder; blood splattered onto the salt powder, instantly staining the area red.

Scarface Qiang's expression changed drastically, his voice hoarse: "Impossible! Once the Suppressing Breath Powder is applied, the Bone Forging Force should stop... How can he still possess such power and speed!"