Laying a Trap

"Want to inspect my universe bag?"

"It won't be that easy."

"How about this: if it's there, do with me as you please."

"But if it's not, I won't even ask you for an apology. Just give me ten portions of the herbs for the Scarlet Fire Glazed Pill."

Qin Feiyang said calmly.

Yet he seemed slightly hesitant and unconvincing in his words.

Elder Wan and the others twitched their faces.

This little bastard really knew how to take advantage of a crisis.

Elder He's gaze sank slightly, and after scrutinizing Qin Feiyang for a moment, he noticed that Qin Feiyang seemed somewhat guilty.

Instantly, he concluded that this brat must be putting on a facade of calm!

A trace of mockery crept onto his face as he said, "Today, I am going to inspect your universe bag regardless. If it really isn't there, I'll send someone to deliver ten portions of the Scarlet Fire Glazed Pill herbs to you later!"

"Are you certain?"

Qin Feiyang frowned, his guilt even more apparent, and he even seemed somewhat flustered.

"I am certain!"

Elder He bit out every word, looking extremely resolute.

Qin Feiyang looked toward Elder Wan and the matron, cupping his fists as he said, "Two seniors, I hope you can bear witness for this junior."

"With pleasure."

Elder Wan nodded.

In truth, they were also very eager to know whether this little bastard was the one who orchestrated the looting of the Pill King Palace's herb garden.

Qin Feiyang smiled.

Without hesitation, he fished out his universe bag, took out Cangxue, and tossed the universe bag straight to Elder He.

Elder He caught the universe bag, gave it a brief inspection, then pulled out a piece of paper and frowned. "Who gave you this formula for the Scarlet Fire Glazed Pill?"

Qin Feiyang said indifferently, "I refuse to answer questions unrelated to the herbs."

A cold glint flashed in Elder He's eyes, and he continued his inspection.

A moment later.

He pulled yet another universe bag from within the first one.

This universe bag was precisely the one Lin Han had given to Qin Feiyang.

Elder He said in a deep voice, "There are at least four to five million gold coins in here. How can a mere martial master like you possibly possess such a massive fortune?"

Elder Jing chimed in, "Need you ask? He must have stolen our herbs and sold them off!"

Shi Zheng sneered, "Utter nonsense! These gold coins were given to Jiang Haotian by Lin Han. I was right there at the time and saw it with my own eyes!"

"Lin Han actually gave him this many gold coins?"

Elder Wan and the matron exchanged glances, both finding it utterly unbelievable.

"Sigh!"

"Fatty and Lu Hong only arrived at the Martial King Palace a little over an hour ago."

"Even if we had stolen the herbs, in such a short span of time, it would have been utterly impossible to go and sell them."

"If you can't even figure out something as simple as that, I truly worry for your intelligence."

Qin Feiyang let out a deep sigh, casting a disdainful look at Elder He and the others as he spoke.

Elder He said, "Don't be so arrogant, not just yet!"

Soon.

He discovered a vast quantity of herbs inside the universe bag and sneered, "There are at least tens of thousands of herbs in here. How do you explain this?"

In reality, a portion of these herbs had been obtained when Qin Feiyang looted the treasury of the Black Bear City Lord's Mansion.

Another portion consisted of the ten thousand doses of healing pills and ten thousand doses of bone-mending pills he had purchased at the Treasure Pavilion that afternoon.

And obviously.

Elder He assumed these herbs had been plundered from the herb garden.

Jia Hei and Elder Jing also couldn't help sneering, both convinced they had caught him red-handed.

However.

Qin Feiyang showed not the slightest hint of tension. He waved his hand and said, "Come, come, come, take all those herbs out."

"Let's see what other tricks you can pull."

Elder He sneered, taking a few steps back before dumping out a massive pile of herbs. They piled up like a small mountain, radiating colorful glows and exuding a fragrant aroma!

Qin Feiyang stepped forward, grabbed a herb, and said calmly, "Open your eyes wide and take a close look at the soil on these roots. Do they look like they were just plucked from an herb garden?"

One sentence awakened the dreamers!

Elder He instantly realized he had committed a most elementary mistake.

Herbs grew by absorbing the vital energy of heaven and earth. Whether cultivated in the soil or stored in a universe bag, they basically would not wither or rot.

That is to say.

This pile of herbs, in appearance, looked no different from ones just pulled out of an herb garden.

Yet there was one place by which the time of plucking could easily be determined.

And that was the soil on the roots!

Herbs freshly pulled from the ground would undoubtedly have fresh soil.

Yet the soil on the roots of this pile of herbs was nearly all shaken off, completely devoid of moisture.

This was sufficient to show that these herbs had been plucked from the earth a very long time ago.

As for the Pill King Palace's herb garden, it had been looted only a little over an hour ago.

Clearly, these were not herbs from the herb garden.

Furthermore, the soil could not possibly have been dried out by pill flames.

Because the moment herbs encounter pill flames, they wither.

At this moment.

The expressions of Elder He and the two others turned ashen to the extreme.

This was basic common sense; even an idiot could have thought of it, yet they had completely overlooked it. They had utterly disgraced themselves to the utmost degree.

Qin Feiyang said casually, "Well? Do you still dare to claim these herbs are yours?"

The matron chuckled lightly. "This is probably the most ridiculous thing in the world!"

The three of them had never been as embarrassed as they were now. Their old faces burned red hot, and they wished they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Qin Feiyang asked, "Are you done inspecting?"

With a gloomy face, Elder He inspected everything carefully one more time, then, filled with unmitigated resentment, tossed the universe bag back to Qin Feiyang.

After putting away all the herbs, Qin Feiyang asked with a beaming smile, "Pardon me, do you still wish to conduct a body search?"

Elder He gritted his teeth. "Don't push your luck!"

"Did I?"

Qin Feiyang wore an innocent expression.

Itched with hatred, Elder He said in a deep voice, "If I remember correctly, you also have a place where you can hide your person."

A chill stirred in Qin Feiyang's heart, but he nodded and said, "No problem, I'll let you search. But this time, it won't just be ten portions of the Scarlet Fire Glazed Pill herbs—make it twenty."

Although he agreed readily, his demeanor once again showed a hint of guilt.

Seeing this.

Elder He's gaze turned gloomy to the extreme.

Now he finally understood.

Qin Feiyang's previous guilt was entirely feigned—it was a trap set for him.

All for the sake of extracting the Scarlet Fire Glazed Pill herbs from him!

"I can't let him succeed again, or I'll lose thirty portions of herbs."

Believing Qin Feiyang was acting again, he resolutely gave up the idea of inspecting the ancient castle.

In reality.

Those herbs were indeed inside the ancient castle.

This was the brilliance of Qin Feiyang's strategy.

Blending truth with falsehood, reality with illusion, he had completely scrambled their judgment.

He also realized that this trip today would definitely yield no results.

Without evidence, saying anything more was useless.

Instead, they would only reduce themselves to clowns.

He did not want to continue making a fool of himself at the Martial King Palace.

"Jiang Haotian, the road is long, let's take our time and see."

Issuing a thinly veiled threat, he glanced at Fatty and Lu Hong and barked, "You two, follow me back to the Pill King Palace immediately!"

With that, he turned and prepared to leave.

However.

Fatty didn't follow him at all.

He fished out his identity token and sneered, "Sorry, fatty here is now officially resigning from the Pill King Palace. You big shots—fatty can't serve you anymore, and I don't want to serve you either."

"Huh?"

Elder He paused in his stride, turned his head to glare darkly at Fatty, and said, "What did you say? Say it again?"

"In order to persuade Jiang Haotian, fatty here gave it his absolute all."

"But what about you lot? Not only do you not reward fatty, you even turn around and slander him. People like you—fatty really can't afford to provoke you."

"So, fatty knows when to be sensible and scram early on."

With those words!

Fatty gave his large hand a fierce squeeze, and accompanied by a crisp crack, his identity token was instantly crushed into powder.

The gazes of Elder He, Jia Hei, and Elder Jing instantly turned terrifying upon the shattering of the token!

It was a look that spelled certain death!

"I am also leaving the Pill King Palace."

After a brief struggle, Lu Hong also took out her identity token and crushed it to pieces.

She had no choice.

If she returned to the Pill King Palace, she would undoubtedly be subjected to brutal torture, and the end result would only be death.

And by leaving the Pill King Palace, although it would anger these people, there was at least still a sliver of hope to survive.

This action by the two of them infuriated the trio to no end.

If Elder Wan and the matron hadn't been standing right beside them, they really would have killed them on the spot!

Terrified, Fatty and Lu Hong hid behind Qin Feiyang.

Because Qin Feiyang was their only pillar of support in Yan City.

Inwardly, Qin Feiyang felt bitter.

Well, this was wonderful. Elder He and the others would undoubtedly misinterpret this once more, assuming he had instigated the two of them to quit the Pill King Palace.

"Ahem!"

He gave a dry cough and smiled. "Three seniors, although the true culprit behind the plundered herb garden hasn't been found, we've finally cleared up the misunderstanding between us. Why not stay and join us for bear paws to celebrate?"

"Pfft!"

Elder Jing spat out another mouthful of old blood.

"Oh dear!"

Qin Feiyang's expression shifted, and he hurriedly said, "Why are you coughing up blood? Come, come, come, quickly have a bite of bear paw to nourish yourself—after all, this was something you went to such bitter lengths to get."

"Jiang—Hao—tian!"

Elder Jing ground out every single syllable through a low, angry roar, barely able to control his raging temper.

"Let's go!"

Elder He cast an icy glare at the three of them, and burning with overwhelming fury, transformed into a streak of light and tore through the air.

Jia Hei hoisted Elder Jing and followed closely behind.

"Elder He, remember to have someone send those ten portions of Scarlet Fire Glazed Pill herbs over as soon as possible!"

Qin Feiyang shouted after them.

Elder He's aged body trembled, and he muttered in a low voice, "Old Jia, once we return, immediately send someone in disguise to keep watch on the Martial King Palace. The moment they step foot outside the Martial King Palace, find an opportunity to eliminate them!"

"Understood."

Jia Hei nodded, murderous intent flickering in his aged eyes.

Without another word, the three of them vanished swiftly into the night sky.

"Phew!"

Qin Feiyang secretly let out a long breath. The crisis had finally been averted.

Elder Wan withdrew his gaze and frowned. "Tell me the truth, did you or did you not plunder the Pill King Palace's herb garden?"

"We really didn't."

Fatty shook his head, wearing an innocent expression.

Elder Wan eyed the three of them up and down, then smiled. "As long as you truly didn't do it, feel free to stay safely at the Martial King Palace."

"Many thanks, Elder Wan!"

Lu Hong hurriedly bowed in gratitude.

"If the people at the Pill King Palace were all as kind as you, Elder Wan, we wouldn't have been driven to this point."

Fatty sighed and shook his head, conveniently tossing out a flattering remark.

Elder Wan smiled wryly and shook his head, warning the two of them, "Old man here won't fall for your flattery. Although I'm letting you stay at the Martial King Palace, you are not to cause trouble, or I'll throw you out just the same."

"Absolutely not."

Fatty immediately thumped his chest in guarantee.

Seeing Fatty's posture, Lu Hong's anger flared right back up, and she wished she could march up and slap him across the face.

One would rather believe that a sow could climb a tree than trust a single word out of this dead fatty's mouth—these were lessons learned through hard experience!