Chapter 4: Do You Know Who I Am?

Though Bai Chen's mind had been racing with thoughts, in reality only a brief moment had passed.

The disciples of Hexu Sect moved with remarkable speed, crossing the distance in a few bounding leaps before vanishing at the end of the alley, heading straight for the spot where he had set off the firecrackers.

As they passed by, one of the Hexu Sect disciples swept his gaze over the cloth covering Bai Chen's face, then glanced at Feng Ling'er being dragged along beside him — but paid them no further mind and didn't break stride.

Bai Chen thought: Hm? They don't seem to recognize Feng Ling'er.

He shot her a surprised look, only to find her face flushed with fury as she continued to shriek.

"You bunch of blind fools! Just wait until I reach the mountain gate — I'll have my great-uncle punish every last one of you!"

Bai Chen suddenly understood.

Ah, so she was the same as him — she hadn't officially entered Hexu Sect yet either.

He glanced toward the end of the alley and noticed that the three thugs who had been chasing them were nowhere to be seen.

They must have bolted the moment they spotted the Hexu Sect disciples.

Well then, no time to waste — opportunity knocks but once. Keep running!

Fifteen seconds left. Staying here wasn't safe; better to put more distance between them first.

Feng Ling'er was still hurling curses in the direction the Hexu Sect disciples had gone when he gave her a sharp tug, nearly sending her sprawling.

She stumbled several steps before regaining her footing and falling in behind him.

The moment she realized she was being dragged along by this scoundrel again, she launched into another tirade.

"You scoundrel! You lowlife! You filthy peasant! Let go of me this instant, or I swear I'll make sure you die without a grave to your name!"

Bai Chen said nothing, his eyes locked onto the System's progress bar.

Finally.

[Countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.]

[Successfully copied Feng Ling'er's Talent Trait: Flame Control Mastery.]

[First successful Talent Trait copy — bonus reward: Trait quality upgraded by one tier. Trait…]

The moment Bai Chen heard the System confirm the copy was successful, his heart leapt with joy.

He didn't bother listening to the rest of the System's notification. Still running, he glanced back and lowered his voice to ask Feng Ling'er:

"Do you know who I am?"

Feng Ling'er had been mid-curse when his question caught her off guard. She blinked, then resumed her tirade.

"Who would bother knowing a filthy peasant like you?! Take a good look at yourself — dressed in rags from head to toe, and those eyes peeking out above your cloth look like a sneaky little rat's. Just being touched by you makes me sick!"

Feng Ling'er's words were vicious, but they put Bai Chen's mind completely at ease.

"Good. As long as you don't know."

With a nod, he flung Feng Ling'er's wrist away and slipped into a side alley like an eel, vanishing in an instant.

One second Feng Ling'er was cursing and pulling backward against his grip; the next, her wrist was suddenly free.

With the forward force gone and no time to react, she staggered backward several steps and landed squarely on the ground.

"Ow!"

That fall was a solid one.

The pain brought tears to her eyes.

It took her quite a while to recover.

Feng Ling'er slammed both fists against the ground and let out a piercing shriek.

"Don't let me find out who you are, or I'll skin you alive!"

Bai Chen, already long gone, heard the distant shriek, raised a hand to dig at his ear, and kept right on running without a care, ducking through the narrow alleys along the edges of the market quarter.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Hexu Sect patrol disciples had already arrived at the alley where the explosion had occurred.

The lead disciple raised a hand, and the others immediately fanned out to begin a careful search of the alley.

The disciple in charge crouched down, pinched some of the dark, charred debris scattered across the ground between his fingers, and brought it to his nose for a sniff. All he caught was a sharp, acrid smell of smoke — nothing else.

He looked around.

There were no signs of a magical duel here, only the debris-strewn mess on the ground. He had no idea what the thing had been.

"Senior Brother Chen, nothing has been found."

The disciples returned one by one to report.

"Strange. That sound was earth-shaking — how can there be absolutely nothing out of the ordinary? Something doesn't add up."

Chen Shouqing frowned, puzzled, when suddenly a sharp crack of displaced air rang out from above.

A figure in a moon-white scholar's robe descended gracefully from midair, robes billowing, carrying with him an aura of deep, mountain-still authority.

The newcomer had a lean, refined face with a thin goatee beneath his chin — it was Wei Changgeng, the Hexu Sect Elder responsible for overseeing Shunhe Quarter and the affairs of the Outer Sect disciples.

"Elder Wei!"

The disciples immediately straightened and bowed in unison, fists cupped in salute.

Wei Changgeng gave a slight nod, his gaze sweeping over the mess in the alley. "Have you discovered anything unusual?" he asked in a measured tone.

Chen Shouqing stepped forward at once to report.

"Elder, the moment the sound rang out, the seven of us proceeded here immediately. Along the way, we encountered three individuals chasing a man and a woman. Not daring to delay, I released a pulse of Spiritual Energy pressure to drive the three off, and we arrived here without stopping.

"We have conducted a thorough search of the surroundings. Only this debris was found. There are no signs of cultivators engaging in a magical duel, nor any injured persons."

Wei Changgeng's brow furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

"I ask you — what is the founding principle of our Hexu Sect? What is our creed?"

Chen Shouqing immediately bowed his head in alarm, fists cupped. "Elder, the founding principle of our Hexu Sect is to uphold the mandate of Heaven, protect the Cangmang Region, suppress demons and evil, shelter the common people, stand as the pillar of the righteous path, and guard the peace of this land!"

Wei Changgeng fixed him with a heavy gaze and rebuked him: "Since you know this, why did you not come to the aid of those people in distress?"

Sweat was already beading on Chen Shouqing's forehead. He stammered out an explanation: "This disciple feared that some evil entity had entered the city to cause harm. Seeing that those individuals were all ordinary mortals, I thought…"

Wei Changgeng cut him off coldly: "You thought that a dispute among ordinary mortals was a trivial matter, not worth your attention?"

He swept his sleeve, and an invisible wave of pressure radiated outward, pressing down on Chen Shouqing's shoulders.

Chen Shouqing dropped to his knees at once. "This disciple was wrong!"

The other six disciples around him also knelt, heads bowed in acknowledgment of their fault.

Wei Changgeng looked at them and continued his rebuke in a stern voice.

"Our Hexu Sect stands as the foremost righteous power in the Cangmang Region. Our founding principle is to carry the banner of the righteous path and protect the people of Cangmang!"

"Whether mortal or cultivator, all are the people under Hexu Sect's protection! The common mortals of Shunhe Quarter live out their days tending to the fires of daily life — their safety and peace is the responsibility that rests upon the shoulders of you patrol disciples."

"If through your negligence those two had lost their lives, the fault would have been yours. Do you understand your error?"

Chen Shouqing and the other disciples kowtowed. "This disciple understands."

Seeing that they had recognized their mistake, Wei Changgeng let out a soft sigh and raised his hand. "Rise."

Chen Shouqing and the others stood and stepped to the side, heads still lowered.

Wei Changgeng surveyed the area and asked: "When you arrived, was there truly nothing unusual here?"

Chen Shouqing nodded. "Yes. When we arrived, aside from the black ash on the ground, there was nothing out of the ordinary."

"Mm."

Wei Changgeng raised his hand. A wisp of pale blue light condensed at his fingertip, and he gave a light flick.

"Go!"

The light at his fingertip burst outward, transforming into a vast invisible net that blanketed the entire alley.

This was a technique specifically designed to track Spiritual Energy fluctuations.

Within two hours, even the faintest trace of residual Spiritual Energy would be captured by this technique and revealed as a clear imprint.

Yet the pale blue halo drifted slowly through the air.

Everywhere the halo passed, aside from the Spiritual Energy fluctuations emanating from the disciples themselves, not a single extra trace of Spiritual Energy surfaced.