The smugglers fell to their knees along with the guards, kowtowing in the direction of the manor gates. Qin Ye shifted slightly. But Lu Qingshan placed a hand on the boy's shoulder to stop him from getting up.

  "Not yet," he mouthed, making sure everyone was awake. He was waiting for the bulk of his Bloodseeker Flies to catch up. When they entered the city, he had dispersed them into individual waves of flies, as it would be much too audacious to have a massive swarm approach.

  The smuggling group knelt on the hard stone floor for a few minutes. Then, the gates slowly opened. Out came an old man leading two young men behind him, all clad in dark, jewel-adorned robes.

  "Is everything in order?" he asked.

  "Yes," one of the smugglers replied.

  "Good." The three of them moved to take one cart each. Qin Ye motioned to hide them from sight again, and another peeked inside. It was the old man's face, old and wrinkled. His eyes were nearly closed - but then they snapped open as his mouth drew a grim line.

  "Where is my armor?" he snapped. "You are missing more than half of what I asked for!"

  "What?" One of the other smugglers accidentally said. Immediately, one of the young men buried a fist deep into the person who spoke.

  "Mistake after mistake is all I see," drawled the elder as he walked over to the struggling smuggler. His foot pressed down onto the wounded man, drawing a quiet sob of pain.

  None of the other smugglers spoke up to defend him. Instead, they listened with heads lowered, waiting for the elder's wrath to subside. It eventually did, as the other two men confirmed everything else was in order.

  "You're lucky you brought more than I expected for the weapons," the old man said. "Very lucky." One of the young men brought a sleek sword sheath. The elder slid the sword out and tossed it towards the gate. Another martial artist stepped out to catch it, disappearing back into the shadows afterwards.

  The old man looked very pleased at what he saw. Lu Qingshan made a mental note of the sheath's appearance. The Song family seemed more and more suspicious the more he knew about them and their actions. So many secret moves, a very successful smuggling operation, and bribed guards were only a piece of the puzzle. He became intrigued about what they were hiding.

  "Take the carts in and you will be paid." The old man retreated back to the gates, leaving the young men behind. Instead of doing the work, the two of them ordered the smugglers to stand back up and push the carts themselves. Meanwhile, they sat on top of the carts, watching with a smile.

  Lu Qingshan still did not make a move to leave. The rumors he'd heard depicted a completely different picture of the Song family compared to what he saw today. This family was ruthless.

  Flies were flooding into the courtyard by the cluster, filling his senses with more of the Song family manor's details. He saw many empty places where the carts were likely to go. But one of them was more defended than the others, with many martial artists waiting in dark shadows. It almost looked like an ambush to him.

  Lu Qingshan went through all his insect connections to memorize all their locations. He mapped out a general area of the place by the time the carts reached their destination.

  The smugglers stopped, breathing heavily. Exhaustion was clearly visible on their faces as they knelt back down onto the ground. From there, Lu Qingshan’s cart was taken into a large storage building and down into a secret passage.

  He saw the men of the Song family exchanging silver with the smugglers, a smile on all their faces. The smuggling group repeatedly kowtowed and said their thanks. Then they left, while a cluster of flies trailed behind them.

  Far from the manor complex, on the Song family road, a pair of martial artists emerged from the darkness and waited. The joyful smugglers failed to notice a dagger aimed at their throats. Two of their guards died before they had the chance to react.

  Arrows flew through the air and pierced the chests of multiple smugglers. In their panic, only a few of them managed to put up a fight. The rest fled, but with no one to defend them and a wide open area perfect for archery, lost their lives before they even reached halfway to the exit. The two martial artist ambushers easily slaughtered the last defenders.

  Lu Qingshan deduced that both of them were Marrow Tempering experts from the battle, and probably the archer too. This entire complex contained more martial artists than was shown on the surface. They were definitely planning something.

  The cart came to a stop deep underground in a tunnel. Lu Qingshan had seen enough of the Song family to know they were enemies, but now was not yet the time to make a move. He waited until the man had gone far away before directing everyone out.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  The four of his Elders fanned out behind him, ensuring the area was empty. They had entered a dark storeroom where various illicit armaments were stored. Among them were sets of armor, weapons, and even crossbows. No one would’ve batted an eye had the Song family kept a few sets, but this was way beyond what anyone expected.

  “Are they planning to rebel?” Li Fanghua muttered.

  “Doesn’t matter.” Liu Yingting had been twitchy from the beginning. “Let’s just leave and go find what my family left me.”

  Lu Qingshan’s swarm continued to fly through the area while they exited the tunnel. Knowing exactly where the Song family defenses were made it easier to leave without engaging in any conflicts. His flies spread throughout the entire manor, leaving no area untouched.

  Then several flies disappeared from his spiritual connections. Lu Qingshan placed his focus on that area. When a cluster of flies crossed an invisible line leading to a medium-sized house, the flies rapidly weakened and fell from the sky. But their connection with him dissipated midair. They died before hitting the ground.

  “Faster,” Lu Qingshan urged. His threat assessment of the Song family went up to the maximum level. Clearly, there was an immortal cultivator residing in the area.

  They returned to the smooth stone road. To help facilitate their later return to the Song family manor, Lu Qingshan guided the Bloodsense Bug to a bloody puddle and let it feed. A few heartbeats later, he traced the bug’s new connection to a recently buried corpse in the yard of an old, rickety house.

  It wasn’t the right set of blood. Lu Qingshan picked out a more subtle drop of blood spatter and had his Bloodsense Bug absorb that too. This time, the connection led to a martial artist sleeping in their room.

  “Good. Let’s go,” he said.

  Leaving the Song family manor wasn’t difficult. Lu Qingshan pieced together the information he received from Miao Mei, his flies, and the map stolen from the Golden Dragon soldiers. He quickly decided on a series of plans to accomplish their goals in the city.

  “Meng Zhang, I need you to take a look at these areas.” Lu Qingshan pointed out a few spots on the map. “They seem to contain a few gang members. We can recruit them later, or take their territory.”

  “Liu Yingting,” he continued, “let’s go visit Miao Mei first. We’ll head towards your family manor after we confirm the royal guards are no longer watching the area. I suspect they are, and they’re trying to find you first.”

  The man nodded in response. Li Fanghua was still alright with not seeing her parents for another day, but Lu Qingshan let her go anyway. He asked Qin Ye to accompany her in case of trouble.

  Lu Qingshan needed to keep an eye out on that Song family immortal cultivator. He put his flies on a timer. When they neared the end of their lifespan, they were ordered to fly towards the death zone.

  Then he left to go find Miao Mei’s store with Liu Yingting. From her descriptions, the store she managed was in a mostly isolated area from the bustling markets. It still had plentiful customers though. There were a few spots that matched what she said on the map.

  Lu Qingshan deployed his Bloodseeker Fly swarm to trawl through three different areas before he finally found the one Miao Mei was hiding in. Her shop was a general goods store located at a corner of the city. A sign that read, “Little Treasure Store” hung on the side of the building.

  She wasn’t in the store, though. Neither were her two assistants. His flies piled into the nearby stores and crawled through every corner between the buildings. A few of the shopkeepers cursed in annoyance, and he eventually found a veiled Miao Mei speaking with another store owner.

  A cluster of flies swooped through her sight. Her eyes looked disgusted for a moment before recognition dawned in them.

  Miao Mei's next words were impossible for his flies to hear, but she put her arm out to stop the shopkeeper from shooing the flies away. After a brief exchange of words, the woman left the building. But instead of returning to the Little Treasure Store, she ducked into a nearby alleyway and hid behind a few scattered containers.

  Lu Qingshan continued probing the entire area with his swarms. He found four people standing in suspicious places, all with a sightline towards her store and her fellow storekeeper. One on the street, one in an alley, and two on the roofs. He made a mental note of their appearances and silently appeared in front of Miao Mei.

  "What's wrong?" he asked.

  "There are people watching the store," she whispered. "It's not very safe there. My two assistants are currently out, but even they've said they're being followed."

  "Who is our enemy?"

  "I don't know," she admitted. "But it's been happening before the royal guards came to the city."

  "We can do some investigations," Lu Qingshan said. "I sent Meng Zhang to track some other areas. Li Fanghua and Qin Ye are currently making sure her family's okay.”

  The four people had begun to notice she was missing. They started to move too, giving Lu Qingshan no time to start a conversation.

  “I’ll go retrieve my assistants,” she said. “Should ward off their suspicions.” Miao Mei acted normal as she left the alleyway.

  Lu Qingshan frowned. Normally, he’d just kill them all. But he didn’t know who was their backing. Since he’d already gotten a clue about immortal cultivators being in the city, he had to tread with caution. Who to kill required some thought or he risked alerting them early.

  He watched them back in return, spotting a gap in their surveillance where he could enter the store. He and Liu Yingting successfully snuck into the Little Treasure Store. The four suspects seemed to see each other, sharing signals before two of them left the area in Miao Mei’s direction. Meanwhile, the other two remained behind.

  Lu Qingshan had acquired blood from Meng Zhang, Li Fanghua, Qin Ye, and Liu Yingting for the Bloodsense Bug to track them at all times. He’d be able to find them later. For now, he waited for Miao Mei to return, giving himself time for a break, or a quick nap. His eyes wandered to the stone slab.

  Blood Seas Inner Force (Level 4, 9272/10000)

  Never mind. He could forgo sleep.