Li Lun's expression froze at his words, his face filled with astonishment.
He was about to inspect the jade pendant more closely, but Lanshan had already tossed it to Bai Mo.
Bai Mo deftly hung it at his waist, affecting an air of nonchalance.
Li Lun's gaze followed, only to see the hem of Bai Mo's robe fall perfectly over the pendant, revealing just a sliver of it.
Lanshan grew impatient, pushed him aside, and headed inside.
"Your master summoned us from the mountains. What were his instructions?"
Li Lun paused. As a high-ranking member of the Li family, he knew the Patriarch had sought outside help—from individuals who operated in the shadows.
But after hearing nothing for so long, they had given up hope.
He never expected such a pleasant surprise.
He had no time for suspicion now. Besides, when Lanshan mentioned coming down from the mountains, he was already seventy or eighty percent convinced.
Very few people knew about that.
"I am Li Lun. Thank you all for coming to our aid. Please, follow me inside."
He was polite to Lanshan, yet his tone was laced with urgency.
"Are you the only ones who came?"
Lanshan shot him an indifferent glance, his expression suddenly turning irritable.
"Our leader will be here later. The city is crawling with the Wondrous Law Sect's dogs. You think he can just show his face whenever he pleases?"
"When the time is right, our leaders will act."
With that, he strode past Li Lun and headed for the Li Mansion.
Bai Mo followed close behind, sighing in relief internally.
'The gamble paid off!'
'This man has never seen the jade pendant, or at least he can't recognize it at a single glance.'
Li Lun shot the other Li family members a look before following Lanshan through the gate.
Even if they were truly rogue Cultivators, he didn't dare let his guard down.
Rogue Cultivators were no different from wolves and tigers.
The moment they stepped inside, Bai Mo saw figures leaping onto the Li Mansion's high walls, one after another.
A volley of iron arrows flew, and some who couldn't dodge in time were pierced through and fell from the walls.
But many more simply laughed with abandon as they charged into the Li Mansion.
Li Lun gritted his teeth. "The nerve!"
He turned, his voice strained. "I must ask for your help! There will be a handsome reward afterward!"
"Of course." Lanshan scanned the area, his eyes suddenly narrowing as he strode toward one of the side buildings.
"Say no more. Leave this area to me. I'll make sure it's as impenetrable as a fortress."
A chill entered Li Lun's eyes. That was a side building, which wasn't important in itself.
However, it was mostly occupied by the women. Letting a rogue Cultivator go there... that wouldn't be right.
"You fiend!"
He took a step, blocking Lanshan's path.
"That isn't a critical area. Warrior, you should come with me to the main gate..."
Lanshan nonchalantly shoved him aside.
"The main gate is too dangerous. People like us should just stick to guarding the inner courtyard. I didn't come here to throw my life away."
The others closed in, and before he knew it, Li Lun was surrounded.
"You..."
Bai Mo suddenly pointed, a flash of starlight erupting from his fingertip as it shot toward Li Lun's right eye.
Alarmed, Li Lun instinctively raised a hand to block.
But in that instant, a killing aura erupted behind him. Lanshan's fully-charged strike landed squarely on his back.
CRACK!
Li Lun thought he heard his own bones shatter. He opened his mouth to scream, but Shen Yang clamped a hand over it.
At the same time, several blades plunged into his body.
Li Lun's body slumped lifelessly to the ground.
Lanshan strode away.
It was a calculated ambush against an unsuspecting target. Moreover, Li Lun was already exhausted from previous battles, which was why their group had dispatched him so easily.
"Judging by the layout, that's where the Li family's side chambers are,"
Lanshan said.
"An item like the Mountain Entrance Map is usually held by a side branch of the family. They're the ones who maintain and update it."
He had already gathered this intelligence long ago.
Bai Mo had no objections and followed along.
They had discussed this beforehand. They would only take what they needed from the side branch and stay away from the main family's quarters.
They especially wouldn't go near the pavilion where the Li Patriarch normally cultivated—the one surrounded by water, its channels lined with buried Spirit Stones.
Even if there were treasures to be had there, they weren't things their group should touch.
If they did, it was uncertain whether they could escape with their lives tonight. Who knew how many others would turn on them?
Li Lun's body was discovered quickly.
As one of the top figures in the Li family, his death caused considerable chaos.
Han Meng found some lantern oil. The stuff was useful. He moved from place to place, starting sizable fires.
"Enemy attack!"
Someone spotted them and charged, brandishing a sword.
The group finally engaged in a proper fight.
Lanshan took the lead, his powerful frame barrelling forward. Barely anyone could withstand five of his moves.
His movements were grand and sweeping; when he swung his arms, the nearby flames seemed to dance along.
Han Meng and the others unleashed their own techniques. Though they looked ragged from the dusty fray, they were at least uninjured.
Han Meng had intended to look out for Bai Mo, but he turned to see Bai Mo raise a hand. A pinpoint of starlight appeared on his fingertip as he tapped a member of the Li family.
An arrow of blood burst from the man's back, and he collapsed on the spot.
"Hiss!"
"Is that... the Star-Pointing Seven Hands?"
Han Meng was filled with shocked disbelief.
He remembered that this technique, which was somewhat famous in the city, had ended up in the hands of his own leader, Lanshan.
After they returned from Celestial Barrier Mountain, the manual had been given to Shopkeeper Bai.
'How much time has passed? How can he already execute it so flawlessly?'
Bai Mo himself was shocked by the power of the Star-Pointing Seven Hands.
Spiritual Power flowed from his fingertip, not only forming a point of light but proving lethally effective every time.
His cultivation level was still too low. Otherwise, Bai Mo felt, the point of starlight could be launched like a hidden projectile.
'What a great technique!'
Bai Mo marveled inwardly.
Then he took two quick steps, sticking close behind Lanshan.
After all, he was only a Qi Refining Second Layer Cultivator, about the same as the Li family's grunts.
Lanshan threw a punch, sending an opponent flying into a decorative rockery.
The force of the punch went straight through the man's body, leaving a fist-shaped impression in the rock behind him.
The man was clearly dead.
Lanshan scanned his surroundings and breathed a sigh of relief.
"These guys are pretty skilled."
"Good thing their main forces are tied up at the front gate, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get this far."
Even from a distance, the shouts and cries from the main gate could be heard.
Amidst them, growing ever more frantic, was the roar of the Li family's Patriarch—a sound that was no longer human.
Lanshan looked at Bai Mo. "Shopkeeper Bai, you're incredible. You've already gotten the hang of the *Star-Pointing Seven Hands*?"
Bai Mo glanced around and replied humbly, "Just lucky, I suppose. I've only just learned the basics."
Lanshan praised him heartily.
"I definitely gave that manual to the right person! A brute like me who just relies on strength would never have been able to make anything of it."
They burst into a three-bay pavilion crowded with women, who all started screaming at the sight of them.
"Get out!"
With a wave of his fan-like hand, Lanshan shooed the women away.
Like a hungry dog pouncing on a meal, Shen Yang frantically overturned tables and cabinets, stuffing anything that looked valuable into his pockets.
This was their storeroom, apparently.
There was gold and silver, but no one present paid it any mind.
CLICK!
At the far end of the storeroom, Han Meng pressed a hidden mechanism, revealing a secret compartment.
"The Mountain Entrance Map!?"
He was overjoyed. "This is the Mountain Entrance Map!!"
Lanshan grew excited at the words, and the others crowded around.
There were also several booklets in the compartment. Bai Mo began flipping through them.
"Ledgers... *Hundred Explanations of Talismans*..."
"Hm? The *Jia Chen Alchemy Skill*?"
Bai Mo tucked the book into his robe. "I'm taking this."
That was all of value in the storeroom, aside from the hundred or so Spirit Stones that Wang Hu found.
Just then, a scream rang out from outside.
"The Patriarch is dead!"
"Those mud-caked peasants killed the Patriarch!!"
This was followed by even greater chaos.
Hearing this, Lanshan's face turned grim. "Time to go. The Enforcers will be here any minute."
Just as their group exited the storeroom, they saw members of the Li family retreating outside as well.
One of them spotted the group, shouted a curse, and made to approach.
Lanshan bellowed in a deep voice.
"Your cause is lost! Flee now, or die!"
That was enough to cow the crowd.
"Let's go," Lanshan said. "Over the wall!"
Weaving past the scattering Li family members, the group finally reached the wall.
"Get ready."
Lanshan grabbed Bai Mo, about to toss him over.
"Tsk, tsk." A soft chuckle suddenly came from above.
"Quite a harvest tonight. And look, here are the rogue Cultivators. Nowhere left to run."
Everyone looked up to see two disciples in green robes—Enforcers—landing on the wall.
One of them held a member of the Li family, who was pointing at Lanshan in terror.
"It's them! They're the help the Patriarch hired!"