Republic of China Era: Entering the Dao through Divine Strike.

When Cheng Feiyan was recruiting people recently, she accepted all comers as long as they had a clean background and were willing to work.

This was originally intended to get Li Garden up and running as soon as possible, but now it seems that the relaxed threshold has also given unscrupulous people an opportunity to take advantage of it.

Of course, Li Xin personally reviewed the personnel residing in the mansion.

He possesses a special talent for psychic abilities, giving him a unique perspective on people, focusing solely on whether they harbor ill intentions towards him.

If you can get through this stage, you're basically fine.

But Li Xin was, after all, the head of the family, and he spent most of his day cultivating.

Even when not practicing, there are important things to do.

He wouldn't be keeping an eye on the servants coming and going every day, especially those short-term helpers who occasionally came to Li Garden to earn money.

Some people even come just to deliver something or take on odd jobs.

These kinds of people are not easy to guard against.

"Hongxiu, call Yang Fan and Dong Zhu here."

Zhuang Hongxiu responded and left. A short while later, two young men quickly entered the bamboo garden.

Yang Fan is now fifteen years old and has grown much taller. The timidity he had when he was a servant in Yang Tongpan's house has faded, replaced by a more composed and capable demeanor.

Dong Zhu was two years younger than him and still had that quiet and reserved demeanor, but her eyes were exceptionally bright, and she looked at everything with a peculiar seriousness.

The two of them were among the earliest "eyes" of Liyuan.

From Qingzihao to Wanfulou, many of the news stories came from them running around with a few teenagers.

"Young Master." Yang Fan bowed and saluted, slightly out of breath, clearly having run all the way here.

"The Red Lotus Sect may have sent spies to infiltrate. Think about who has been acting strangely lately." Li Xin handed over the letter.

Upon hearing this, Yang Fan was startled and frowned in thought.

Dong Zhu, on the other hand, seemed somewhat indifferent. Upon hearing this, his eyes darted around, and he slapped his forehead heavily: "Young Master, even if you hadn't asked, I was planning to report it anyway. There really is someone who is quite suspicious."

"explain……"

"The day before yesterday, Aunt Chen from the kitchen said that the new woodcutter, Wang Si, was very diligent, but after chopping the wood, he wouldn't leave and would always wander around the kitchen area."

Yesterday afternoon, he reappeared by the well in the backyard, saying he was fetching water, but the bucket was empty.

Most importantly, he asked Ali one question... 'Little sister, which room do you sleep in tonight?'

Li Xin's eyes flashed coldly for a moment, then returned to calm. "Where is he?"

"They're still in the woodshed in the backyard. I've had two guards keep an eye on them, planning to follow the trail and verify the information before reporting back. For now, we're not trying to alert them."

Li Xin stood up, picked up the Marquis of Xinting from the table, and strode towards the backyard.

Yang Fan and Dong Zhu quickly followed.

Zhuang Hongxiu walked at the back, waved her hand, and told Li Cheng and the others to keep a close watch.

Upon reaching the door of the woodshed, Li Xin pushed it open and went inside.

Inside the woodshed, a burly middle-aged man was squatting on the ground bundling firewood.

He was wearing a drab gray short-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his two forearms that were red from the sun.

Hearing the door open, he looked up, a simple, honest smile spreading across his face, revealing a set of slightly uneven, yellow teeth.

That smile was so innocent, so innocent that it was almost impossible to see any flaws in it...

But Li Xin doesn't need to look for flaws.

From the perspective of a psychic, the man was surrounded by a thick layer of gray-black, not the gray-white of an ordinary person, but the color of someone who harbors deep malice and murderous intent.

"Master Li, why did you come in person? The firewood isn't all bundled yet, I'll take it to the kitchen for you in a bit." Wang Si stood up, rubbing his hands together, his smile still as honest as ever.

Li Xin looked at him, without drawing his sword, and asked only one question: "What did the Holy Mother Red Lotus promise you? That you would give up being a good person and come to be a ghost?"

Wang Si's smile froze for a moment.

In that instant, a sharp glint, unlike that of a woodcutter, flashed in his honest eyes.

With his right hand, he pulled a short sword hidden under the wood-chopping axe from the woodpile. The blade was coated with poison and gleamed with a dark green, cold light. He thrust it straight toward Li Xin's lower abdomen.

The sword strike was swift...

He's clearly a trained fighter.

Moreover, its strength is quite good.

But in Li Xin's eyes, his fast sword was no different from slow motion.

He flicked his fingers, and a point of golden light struck Wang Si's wrist, which was holding the sword. With a crisp crack, Wang Si's wrist bones shattered into several pieces, and the short sword clattered to the ground.

Li Xin kicked out, and with a sudden gust of wind, Wang Si screamed and fell to his knees, both of his kneecaps shattered.

The voice rang in my ears again: "Who sent you? What are you planning?"

In the moment of excruciating pain, several images involuntarily flashed through Wang Si's mind.

The words of the person who issued the task came to mind, and I also remembered my own promise...

He had seen the layer of dark green talisman ash on the edge of the sweet water well when Jin Sanniang poisoned it, and he had also seen the words Jin Sanniang said when she grabbed him by the back of the neck and pushed him to the gate of Li Garden: "If Li Xin does not hand over the goods within three days, one more well will be added every day."

There's also the place where Jin San Niang hid; there's a crooked locust tree in the courtyard.

These images flashed through his mind, and he roared angrily in his heart, thinking about everything one by one.

He knew how Jin Sanniang dealt with losers.

He clenched his back teeth hard, and a wax-sealed venom sac burst open, releasing a bitter almond flavor that exploded in his mouth. His pupils dilated rapidly.

Before he fell, he saw the young man in the blue robe looking down at him, his eyes showing neither anger nor disappointment.

There is only one kind of understanding: having already seen all the answers.

"The Sweet Water Well in the South City has been poisoned with a karmic fire talisman."

Three days, one well each day.

Jin Sanniang hid in a courtyard in the south of the city, where there was a crooked locust tree. She brought twelve men with her.

Li Xin turned around and sheathed the sword, "Hongxiu, have Yang Fan and Dong Zhu take men to the south of the city to find that locust tree."

Senior Sister Jingya led a team to block off the surrounding alleyways, making sure no one escaped. Senior Sister Feiyan came along too.

With his [Secret Hearing] talent, Wang Si's thoughts can be heard instantly.

Whether the other person commits suicide or not is completely meaningless to Li Xin.

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204 Dewdrop Finger, Five Desires Demon (Part 1)

Zhuang Hongxiu didn't ask any more questions and turned to walk out of the courtyard.

She walked a little faster than usual, but still held the teapot steadily in her hand, without spilling a single drop of tea.

Passing through the moon gate, she placed the teapot on the stone stool and shouted loudly to Wang Jingya, who was practicing her sword in the courtyard: "Sister Jingya, the young master wants you to take a team of men to block the entrance of the South City Alley."

Wang Jingya paused in her action of sheathing her sword, smiled faintly, and slid the goose-feather sword back into its sheath at her waist. She then picked up the wrist guards from the stone bench, wrapped them tightly around her wrists, and asked, "How many enemies are there in total?"

"There were about sixty people, led by Jin Sanniang, the left protector of the Red Lotus Sect."

"Sixty men." Wang Jingya finished wrapping her wrist guards and beckoned to the young disciples practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard. "Lin Si, Sun Qi, take your weapons. The Red Lotus Sect demons are invading. Come with me and kill them on the spot."

Lin Si and Sun Qi exchanged a glance, slung their long knives behind their backs, and followed Wang Jingya out of the courtyard.

When Cheng Feiyan emerged from behind the screen wall, she had changed into a black, tight-fitting outfit, with two swords hanging at her waist.

Without asking about the destination, she walked straight to Li Xin and said only one sentence: "Father has stayed in Li Garden to oversee things. He told you to go out and do your business with peace of mind. With him at home, nothing will go wrong."

Li Xin nodded slightly, his gaze passing over her shoulder and looking toward the entrance of the main hall.

The master stood with his hands behind his back on the steps, his posture upright and steady, like a stone lion rooted in this place.

Seeing his master nod at him, Li Xin instantly understood what his master meant.

With his master guarding the rear, he didn't need to worry about the safety of his home.

Li Xin turned and walked out of the courtyard gate. The morning breeze gently lifted a corner of his blue robe. His figure flickered and quickly disappeared into the alleyway.

……

Yang Fan and Dong Zhu gathered intelligence faster than Li Xin had anticipated.

As soon as Li Xin stepped into the southern part of the city, Dong Zhu emerged from a narrow alley, his forehead covered with fine beads of sweat and his breathing slightly rapid.

"Young master, we've found the courtyard where the locust tree is located."

At the very depths of Willow Tree Alley, two red lanterns hung by the courtyard gate, their glow tinged with an eerie green. "Dong Zhu reported in a low voice.

"Is anyone going in or out of the yard?"

“A stick of incense burned before two people left through the back door and headed towards the Sweetwater Well. Senior Brother Yang has already followed them.”

Dong Zhu paused briefly before adding a crucial clue, "Young Master, those two men weren't carrying any swords or knives; they had several sections of iron pipe wrapped in oilcloth."

Even from a distance, I could smell a pungent sulfurous odor; it must have contained gunpowder.

Li Xin didn't stop walking, but his heart skipped a beat.

Iron pipes combined with gunpowder—this kind of firearm was not something that any martial arts force could possess.

The Red Lotus Sect has always relied on talismans and karmic fire techniques in combat. Although these techniques are unpredictable and difficult to defend against, their power is limited.

However, if they had gunpowder weapons, that would be a different story.

Martial arts practitioners are already highly skilled, and when combined with technology, their lethality is multiplied.

This also proves one thing: if they can produce this kind of equipment, there must be other people supplying them with resources.

Within the entire capital city, the number of forces capable of secretly circulating such firearms is as obvious as a louse on a bald man's head.

When Li Xin arrived at the entrance of Willow Tree Alley, Wang Jingya had already led her men to completely block off both ends of the alley.

She crouched behind a low wall, her goose-feather saber resting horizontally on her knees. The blade had just been sharpened and gleamed with a cold, eerie light in the morning sun.

Lin Si and Sun Qi each led two men to ambush on the rooftops on both sides of the alley entrance, their hands tightly gripping crossbows, all arrows aimed at the main gate of the courtyard, ready to fire at any moment.

Zhuang Hongxiu arrived at the scene at some point, standing next to a tea stall on the street corner, holding a bowl of cold tea in her hand, without taking a single sip.

She calmly observed the few pedestrians passing by on the street, subtly leading unrelated passersby away to avoid the chaos involving ordinary people.

"How long have you been inside?" Li Xin asked as he walked up to her.

"It's not even half a cup of tea yet. Cheng Feiyan has already scaled the wall and sneaked into the courtyard, intending to find out the location of the two Red Lotus Sect elders first." Wang Jingya used the tip of her knife to draw a simple map of the courtyard on the ground. "The courtyard is not large, with three main rooms and two rooms each in the east and west wings."

There is an old locust tree in the center of the courtyard, and there is a cellar entrance under the tree roots. Jin San Niang is most likely hiding in the cellar.

The two green lanterns at the entrance are manifestations of karmic fire talismans... If you try to force your way in, the entire courtyard will be burned to ashes.

No sooner had she finished speaking than a sharp, piercing clang of metal clashing rang out in the courtyard—Cheng Feiyan's twin swords had struck a heavy weapon.

Immediately afterwards, the wooden window of the west wing shattered from the inside...

Amidst the flying sawdust, a black figure was sent flying backward, his back slamming hard against the locust tree trunk with a muffled groan.

After landing, Cheng Feiyan staggered. Her left hand was left with only half a broken blade, while the knife in her right hand was intact, but the hand holding the knife was trembling slightly.

Blood trickled from the corner of her lips, but there was no fear in her eyes, only a fierce fighting spirit, and her momentum only intensified.

“Jin San Niang isn’t down in the cellar.” She spat out the blood foam from her mouth, pointing the tip of her knife directly at the cellar entrance under the tree. “The cellar is a hidden blacksmith’s workshop, filled with gunpowder and iron pipes.”

Elder Zhu Tianhuo is guarding here... His Karmic Fire Palm is extremely powerful; I can't defeat him.

Another elder, He Canyao, was also there, with various kinds of poisonous smoke hidden in his sleeves.

I held my breath the whole time, but I was still bothered by the poisonous gas.

"Everyone, please be extremely careful. Besides these two, there are dozens of Red Lotus Cult members lying in ambush in the courtyard, and a karmic fire talisman array has been set up around the locust tree."

Before the words were finished, a large cloud of yellowish-green smoke billowed from the cellar entrance, spreading across the blue brick floor.

Wherever the toxic smoke passed, the blue bricks were corroded with countless tiny holes, and the bark at the base of the locust tree turned black and cracked at a visible speed.

Dozens of dark red lights simultaneously illuminated the shadows around the courtyard wall.