Martial Arts: My talent multiplier increased

Shen Youlan's gaze changed slightly.

Fang Yuan didn't directly ask about the murder case. He approached it from a business perspective, focusing on "customer traffic." For a top courtesan, a decrease in customer traffic directly impacts her income. She had both the grounds to accept this topic and the motivation to elaborate.

"It's more than just a feeling." Shen Youlan's voice lowered slightly. She drew a small circle on the table with her fingertip. "The western part of the city has been rather unsettled lately. Young Master Fang has probably heard about it as well."

She looked up and her gaze fell on Fang Yuan's face. She paused for a moment.

Testing. Observing Fang Yuan's reaction intensity to the three words "not peaceful".

Fang Yuan maintained a nonchalant expression, as if he had heard about it but didn't care much.

"How many people died? The shop assistant at Baicaotang mentioned it briefly. I don't know the specifics."

Shen Youlan's fingers stopped.

She was trying to determine whether Fang Yuan was telling the truth.

Fang Yuan deliberately revealed a "flaw." "A shop assistant at Baicaotang mentioned it briefly." This statement conveyed two pieces of information to Shen Youlan: First, Fang Yuan's intelligence source was a low-level employee at Baicaotang, not some high-end channel. Second, Fang Yuan's attitude towards the murder case was one of "curiosity" but "lack of in-depth understanding."

A wealthy and talented young martial artist is curious about a murder that occurred on his business territory. Normal. Too normal. So normal that Shen Youlan wouldn't be alarmed by this reaction.

"Three people." Shen Youlan's voice was even lower. Her body leaned forward slightly. Fang Yuan's divine sense detected a faint trace of the lingering scent of Youdie San in her breath. Extremely faint, it drifted across the table. "They are all solitary, low-level martial artists. Their essence blood was..."

She paused for a moment, glancing at Tie Meng standing by the door.

Tie Meng chewed on a piece of dry rations he had pulled from his pocket. His expression was blank. He seemed completely unconcerned about what the two people inside were saying.

Shen Youlan withdrew her gaze.

"His life essence has been drained. Young Master Fang, who in Liangshui City do you think has that ability?"

Fang Yuan did not answer the question.

He used the same technique Shen Youlan had employed. (A rhetorical question follows.)

"What do you think, Miss Shen?"

Shen Youlan's lips curved into a smile. That smile was three times more genuine than any of her previous smiles.

It wasn't because she was happy. It was because Fang Yuan's question confirmed something for her: this young man wasn't stupid.

"What kind of knowledge could Youlan, a woman from a brothel, possibly have?" Her fingers rested on the wine glass again. "However, there have been some unfamiliar faces in the west of the city lately. Their accents aren't from Liangshui City. Nor are they from the neighboring cities. They seem to be... from further north."

North.

Fang Yuan's fingers twitched below his knee.

The direction of the token's pulse. Northwest of the city.

The "north" that Shen Youlan mentioned doesn't refer to the north of the city. It refers to the area north of the city.

Fang Yuan's doubled comprehension allowed him to instantly overlay information. The token came from Zhao Lei. Zhao Lei was from Yunyan City. Yunyan City was east of Liangshui City. But the token pointed northwest.

If the token's pulse points to the stronghold of that "evil cultivation organization," then the stronghold is located in the northwest of the city.

Shen Youlan's description of "unfamiliar faces from the north" perfectly matches this location.

Fang Yuan showed no sign of thinking. He picked up his wine glass and touched his lips to it again.

"North? How far north?"

Shen Youlan's gaze lingered on Fang Yuan's face for a couple of moments.

Fang Yuan could sense what she was doing during those two breaths. She was assessing whether Fang Yuan's interest in the topic was just "casual conversation" or "deliberate questioning."

Fang Yuan's tone helped her make her judgment. Casual. Curious but not eager. The normal curiosity of a young man chatting with a pretty woman in a restaurant.

"I don't know about Youlan," Shen Youlan shook her head. Her fingers slid down the rim of the wine glass and landed on the table. Unconsciously, she drew a few strokes on the wood grain.

Fang Yuan's eight-fold standing meditation technique recorded the entire trajectory of those strokes.

It wasn't unconscious.

The shapes drawn on the tabletop. Two intersecting lines. The intersection point is slightly northwest.

The three short lines are distributed in the three quadrants of the intersection. One is in the west. One is in the north. And the third is outside the intersection, slightly southeast.

Distribution of bases.

Shen Youlan was unconsciously conveying information through subtle movements. But it wasn't meant for Fang Yuan. It was her own habit. Someone who deals with spatial intelligence for a long time will unconsciously draw maps in their mind with their fingers when thinking.

With twice the comprehension, Fang Yuan converted the spatial positions of those few strokes into the actual geographical coordinates of Liangshui City within two breaths.

The stronghold to the west. Probably on the western outskirts of the city.

The outpost to the north. Northwest of the city.

The one in the southeast direction.

Fang Yuan clenched his fists below his knees.

Southeast. Outside the city. If we zoom out a bit in from that direction...

Green Medicine Valley.

Fang Yuan's face remained unchanged. But his heart skipped a beat for a moment. His fourfold physique brought his heart rate back down in the next instant.

Three outposts. Not one.

It was larger than he had anticipated.

While Fang Yuan's mind was racing, his mouth didn't stop moving.

"How long did Miss Shen stay at Zuixianlou?"

The topic shifted. From the murder case to Shen Youlan herself.

Shen Youlan's defenses tightened slightly. But Fang Yuan's question was very natural. "How long have you been working here?" was a common topic of casual conversation.

"It's been almost two years."

Two years. Fang Yuan memorized this number.

"A person from Liangshui City?"

"No." A hint of vague emotion crept into Shen Youlan's smile. "Youlan is from Suizhou. My family suffered a misfortune, and I eventually ended up in Liangshui City. I was fortunate enough to be taken in by the madam of Zuixianlou."

Suizhou. Fang Yuan mentally reviewed the geography. Suizhou was northwest of Liangshui City. The distance was approximately...

Fang Yuan's fingers paused for a moment.

northwest.

It's the Northwest again.

A woman from Suizhou. She carried the Ghostly Butterfly Powder. She deliberately suppressed her cultivation level. She had been operating in the area where the murder occurred in the west of the city for two years.

Fang Yuan did not believe in coincidences.

But a subtle "I see" expression appeared on his face. Just the right amount of sympathy. Not too much, not too little.

"That's not easy."

Shen Youlan lowered her eyes slightly. Her eyelashes cast a small shadow under her eyes.

That was a very well done movement. If Fang Yuan hadn't been constantly scanning the movement of her facial muscles with twice the spiritual perception, he might have genuinely thought it was a reaction to being moved by the scene.

But her orbicularis oculi muscle didn't contract at all while her eyelids drooped. Genuine sadness would cause involuntary tension in the muscles around the eye socket. She didn't.

fake.

Fang Yuan mentally updated the label he had given Shen Youlan.

She's no ordinary information broker. She's received systematic training. Her micro-expression management skills far exceed what one would expect from a courtesan.

Fang Yuan took another sip of wine. The rim touched his lips. The wine swished. No liquid entered his mouth.

"Miss Shen," Fang Yuan put down his wine cup, his tone slightly more serious than before. "The western part of the city is not peaceful, and Bai Cao Tang's distribution points have also been affected. Miss Shen is well-informed. If there are any new developments, please let us know. Bai Cao Tang will not let you waste your time."

Fang Yuan took out a small silver ingot from his pocket. Five taels. He placed it on the table. No more, no less.

It shows sincerity. It doesn't seem deliberate.

Shen Youlan's gaze lingered on the silver ingot for a moment.

She raised her hand. Her slender fingers tapped next to the silver. She didn't take it.

"Young Master Fang, you're too kind. News of Youlan isn't worth much." She said this, but Fang Yuan clearly saw her finger tapping next to the silver. The pad of her index finger pressed a shallow mark on the table.

I took it. But I didn't take it in front of others. I took it after he left.

Fang Yuan stood up.

"Then I won't bother Miss Shen any longer. Let's come back for drinks another day."

Shen Youlan also stood up. Her skirt brushed against the chair leg, making a soft rustling sound.

She stepped aside to let him pass. When Fang Yuan passed by her, the distance between them was less than a foot.

A fragrance wafted from Shen Youlan. It wasn't the scent of cosmetics. It was the base note of some kind of floral essential oil. Fang Yuan's spiritual perception caught a new detail at that distance: behind her left ear, there was a tiny, flesh-colored, almost invisible mole.

It wasn't innate.

The color uniformity and edge sharpness are incorrect. It looks like it was applied with medication.

Disguise. A mole behind the ear is a marker in some identification systems. Fang Yuan had seen similar records in intelligence manuals; peripheral members of certain large intelligence organizations would make concealed marks in fixed locations for silent confirmation among internal personnel.

Fang Yuan didn't look at it much. His gaze remained fixed straight ahead from beginning to end. Only his spiritual perception was active.

I left the private room. I went downstairs. I walked through the lobby. I went outside.

Fang Yuan squinted for a moment as the sunlight hit his face.

Tie Meng followed him out. He had long since finished chewing the dry rations in his mouth, but his cheeks were still moving as if he was chewing habitually.

Walk thirty feet out of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.

Fang Yuan's doubled spiritual perception caught a gaze coming from the second-floor window behind him.

Shen Youlan.

She stood behind the window of the private room. The curtain was only slightly ajar. Her gaze pierced through the gap and landed on Fang Yuan's back.

It wasn't the lingering affection a courtesan felt when watching her patron leave.

Colder. More focused. Like weighing something.

Fang Yuan did not turn around.

Tie Meng leaned closer. The two of them turned into a narrow alley.

"You went to the brothel just to have a drink with that woman?"

Fang Yuan didn't stop walking.

"There's more than one hideout in the West City murder case. At least three: the West City, the North City, and the area outside the city towards Qingyao Valley."

Tie Meng paused for a moment.

"You got that information out of that woman?"

Fang Yuan did not answer the question.

He said something else.

"Green Herb Valley. Have you heard of it?"

Tie Meng shook his head.

Fang Yuan slipped his left hand back into his pocket. His fingertips touched the edge of the dark gold fragment. It was cool to the touch. Beside him lay the faded token. It was cold.

Three strongholds.

The second fragment is in that direction.

They are in the same direction as the evil practitioners who kill and drain blood.

The light shone in from the end of the narrow alley, casting a long shadow of Fang Yuan.

His lips curved into a tiny arc in the shadows.

Thirty feet behind her, the curtains on the second floor of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion were closed. Shen Youlan turned and returned to the table. The five-tael silver ingot on the table was still in its original place.

She did not take the silver.

Her fingers rested on the armrest of the chair Fang Yuan had just been sitting on. She rubbed the spot where Fang Yuan had touched it.

Then she lowered her head, looking at the few intersecting lines she had unconsciously drawn on the table.

The lines are faintly visible through the gaps in the wood grain.

Shen Youlan's pupils contracted by half a millimeter.

She realized something.

Fang Yuan didn't drink a drop of that wine the entire time he sat opposite her.