Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Night Encounter Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Night Encounter Editor: Atlas Studios In a perilous mountain wilderness, a young man leaps and bounds across the terrain with ease, as if walking on flat ground.
“With profound Inner Strength, everything indeed becomes easier. The Qinggong technique ‘Water Traces Shadow Crossing’ of the Ziyang Sect used to reveal to me only a hint of its profound mysteries, but now, with the augmentation of my Inner Strength, it’s as if I have been reborn!”
The person here was none other than Su Mo.
After taking on the mission, he naturally had to hurry to Jiming Post.
He had feigned departure earlier, merely to deceive the onlookers; in reality, he had circled back to clandestinely investigate those hidden in the darkness.
However, this round-trip maneuver positioned him behind those people.
To avoid revealing any flaws to the enemy, Su Mo had no choice but to blaze a new trail with his Qinggong, cunningly circumvent them, and emerge ahead without their notice.
With the enemy and ally clearly identified, yet the information asymmetry prevailing, no matter what tactics the opponents deployed, Su Mo could easily thwart them.
As long as he could deliver ‘that thing’ into the hands of someone named Wang Xianglin at Jiming Post, right under their noses.
Then, this matter would have nothing to do with Su Mo anymore.
Whatever complications arise in the future would be between Wang Xianglin and these henchmen.
As for himself, if there was escort silver to be obtained, he would earn Silver; if not, the system mission’s reward would still ensure a profit without loss!
“This is the true way to protect oneself in the Jianghu; otherwise, simply killing these few people… not to mention the ease, even if they truly were killed, it would not necessarily be safe.
“Troubles may still seek you out afterward.
“Only by truly casting off these troubles could one make the wisest move!”
Pausing ever so slightly, Su Mo swiftly assessed his surroundings and estimated, “I have traveled forty or fifty Li, I should already be ahead of them by now…”
Immediately discerning his path, within moments he arrived upon a desolate ancient pathway amidst the mountainous woods.
“If I follow this path at my normal pace, pressing on night and day, I should be able to reach Jiming Post in another four days.”
Letting out a slight breath, Su Mo continued his determined march.
Time swiftly passed, the sun began its descent in the west, and the elongated shadows of the trees swayed, the distant sky dyed in reds and purples, hinting at the bleakness of approaching autumn.
Not long into his journey, at the roadside of the wild mountains, a quaint little tea house suddenly came into view.
Su Mo’s eyebrows quivered ever so slightly: “Could it be that I’ve arrived?”
An inn on an ancient road is hardly a place of safety.
Consider who would open a tea house in such a rarely trodden place; aren’t they afraid that travelers with malicious intentions would commit murder and robbery?
Consequently, tea houses and inns situated in desolate locations are often fraught with danger.
One might carelessly find oneself in a murderous inn, becoming the proverbial ‘fat sheep’ on the butcher’s block.
Yet, Su Mo proceeded knowing full well the dangers, like venturing deliberately into the tiger’s den. However, upon approaching the tea house, he realized he had guessed wrong.
He had guessed wrong, not regarding the beginning, but the outcome!
The tea house was small, with a few tables scattered on one side.
A corpse lay sprawled over the counter, a knife piercing through its neck!
The blade had not only penetrated his neck but also the counter, with blood dripping down from the knife tip onto the ground, bit by bit.
The eyes of the corpse were wide open, retaining the terror that had filled them in the final moments of life.
This was someone Su Mo recognized… one of those who had been surreptitiously spying on him earlier!
And because of this, Su Mo had not guessed the beginning incorrectly.
This person had set up this tea house here, evidently in anticipation of his arrival, presumably with the intent to trap him within.
However, he had guessed the ending wrong.
He had already thought of several ways to cope, but never did he imagine that none of them would be necessary.
Because he never anticipated that someone would kill him before any of that happened!
Who was it that made the move?
Su Mo stood still, lost in thought.
After a moment of silence, he walked past the body and came to the back of the teahouse.
There, lay two more bodies.
However, compared to the one outside, these two were treated with much more dignity.
They had been killed by someone but were neatly laid out side by side.
Judging by the state of the bodies, they had been dead longer than the one outside.
“It wasn’t the same person’s doing… So, were they the original owners of this teahouse?”
Su Mo sketched out a conclusion in his mind, resolving an uncertainty:
“I thought I had outflanked them, but the murderer had outflanked me instead. By chance, there was a teahouse by the roadside in the wilderness. Thus, after the killing, the murderer occupied the nest, quietly waiting for me to walk right in.
“I wondered, even if you have great Divine Skills, how could you conjure a teahouse out of thin air so quickly?
“Yet, for some reason, someone introduced complications and ended up stabbing him right here at the counter.
“This has become interesting, who could it be that did it? You do a good deed and don’t leave a name, but at least leave a note, right?”
He shook his head slightly, unable to comprehend at the moment, but several possible conjectures emerged in his mind, though it was pointless to discuss them now.
After wandering around inside and outside the teahouse and failing to find any clues, Su Mo decided to leave it be and continue on his journey!
In Jianghu, there are too many things beyond explanation or understanding.
There’s a saying, “Don’t be surprised at the strange; the strange defeats itself!”
Whoever did this and for whatever reason, if it was meant for him, they would eventually reveal themselves.
Getting in a panic now, truly unwise!
After leaving the teahouse and continuing towards Jiming Post, the sky gradually darkened.
Su Mo didn’t travel at night, and with nowhere like an abandoned temple to rest, he simply found a suitable spot and started a fire.
He warmed up some flatbreads from his pack over the fire and ate them with plain water.
“Tomorrow, as I pass through a town, I must buy a roast chicken to have on hand. Eating these flatbreads every day is really tasteless.”
While speaking, he suddenly sniffed the air, as the smell of meat wafted to him on the nighttime breeze.
Su Mo was astonished: “Did sleep come upon finding a pillow? How come I smell meat as soon as I mention roast chicken?”
In a short while, he saw a person swaying towards him from the shadows.
By the light of the fire, it was clear that the man was not young.
His hair was messy, and his clothes ragged. A large red gourd hung from his waist, staggering with every step he took.
In his left hand he held a stick, and in his right, he carried a roast chicken, gnawing at it as he approached the firelight. He sat down without giving Su Mo a second glance, put the chicken aside, and took off the red gourd from his waist, immediately releasing the scent of alcohol.
He lifted his head and guzzled, then sighed deeply: “Good wine!”
After speaking, he glanced at Su Mo:
“Do you dare to drink?”