36: The storm continues

After eating and drinking his fill, Gu Chang called the waiter to settle the bill.

“Alright, honored guest, that’ll be two taels and three mace of silver in total!”

The waiter immediately came before him and quoted a price. It had to be said that this meal alone was equivalent to five or six times the amount Gu Chang used to earn from selling fish.

“Bang!”

“If you can answer a few of my questions, then you don’t need to bother with the change; the rest is all for you!”

However, Gu Chang hadn’t forgotten his current identity, so he rather magnanimously pulled out a whole silver ingot, which looked to be a full five taels, and said these words to the waiter.

“Aye, honored guest, you speak! Anything I know, I will certainly tell you without reservation!”

As a waiter, his mind was naturally sharp. Seeing such a generous Jianghu chivalrous expert, he was naturally unwilling to offend them, and with benefits to be gained, he would certainly try his best to satisfy the other party’s requests.

“Very good, then tell me, is there any place in Baihe Town where I can inquire about news from the Jianghu?”

The reason Gu Chang asked the other party this question was not out of desperation. In reality, as a waiter in a large restaurant, he welcomed and sent off many Jianghu chivalrous experts every day.

Even if he wasn’t a person of the Jianghu, just by hearing a few words, the accumulated information over time would definitely not be small.

“Heh, honored guest, you’ve certainly asked the right person!”

“In Baihe Town, I happen to know there’s a Baixiaosheng here.”

“Honored guest, you only need to wait until dusk, go to the Bafang Building in town, order a private room, and a ‘Four Directions Come Fortune’ banquet, and you’ll be able to meet that person.”

The waiter immediately perked up and quickly told Gu Chang a way to inquire about Jianghu news.

“Good! I’ll remember that!”

“Then there are a few other things I need to know…”

Afterward, Gu Chang feigned asking him a few common-sense questions about the Jianghu, and the waiter answered them all one by one, which put Gu Chang’s mind at ease.

“Alright! Take it!”

Finally, Gu Chang straightforwardly handed the silver ingot in his hand to the other party.

“Thank you, honored guest! Thank you, honored guest!”

Receiving nearly two taels of silver as a reward for just a few common-sense questions, the waiter was naturally overjoyed and repeatedly thanked Gu Chang.

Immediately, Gu Chang left the shop and began purchasing the items he needed in the market town.

Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea—everything he needed this time, he bought the good quality, not like before when he would get inferior goods to make do.

Although he spent a lot of silver in the end, he could exchange a lot of such items with just one Reincarnation point.

After bringing all the goods back to the fishing boat, Gu Chang did not immediately return to the depths of Taihu Lake. Instead, he chose to change his appearance again and went back to the market town to gather information.

Baihe Town in the evening was noticeably livelier. Gu Chang, feigning familiarity, found the restaurant named Bafang Building, then ordered a private room and a banquet called ‘Four Directions Come Fortune’.

Soon, the dishes and wine were served, and at the same time, a Jianghu person who looked like a scholar also sat opposite Gu Chang.

“I am Zhao Fu, the Baixiaosheng of Baihe Town. May I ask what Your Excellency wishes to inquire about?”

After sitting down, the other party didn’t bother with pleasantries and directly asked Gu Chang what he wanted to know.

“I want to know about the haunting in Linhu Town.”

Gu Chang feigned calmness, calmly drank wine and ate, and at the same time, opened his mouth to ask the other party about this matter.

“So that’s it. It seems Your Excellency has also heard something. However, the inside story of this matter involves those Immortals!”

Upon hearing this, the other party immediately narrowed his eyes, then hinted to Gu Chang.

“I know. I want to know why such a thing happened? Will it affect our safety!”

Gu Chang’s expression remained unchanged as he continued to speak to him.

“So that’s it, then I can indeed explain.”

“This matter is not complicated. It was a Demonic Path expert who suffered Qi Deviation while cultivating, causing him to accidentally kill many people.”

“Later, the Immortal guarding Qingzhou Prefecture ordered someone to resolve this disaster. I presume there should be no lingering troubles.”

The other party lowered his voice and recounted to Gu Chang, but his words were vague; he only knew the general outline of the matter.

“So that’s how it is. Thank you for your guidance, Your Excellency!”

“I am new here and not familiar with the various Schools in this place. I wonder if I could trouble Your Excellency to introduce them, so as to avoid offending any important people in the future.”

Gu Chang nodded upon hearing this, then continued to ask the other party.

“Hahahaha, no problem! No problem!”

“This Taihu Lake region is mainly managed by the Seven Great Families, Five Great Schools, and the imperial court. Among them, the Seven Great Families are the Han, Zhao, Wu, Wang, Jiang, Lin, and Lei families, while the Five Great Schools are the Tieyi Sect, Qingjiao Sect, Heishan Sect, Xijian Sect, and Pai Jiang Sect.”

“The Seven Great Families basically all have First-rate Experts guarding them, and there are also many Second-rate Experts within each Family, not lacking young talents. Some families are even connected by marriage.”

“The Five Great Schools each occupy a territory and are even more powerful. Rumor has it that they even have the shadow of Cultivators behind them.”

“…”

Regarding this almost public information, the Baixiaosheng Zhao Fu before him was quite forthright, telling Gu Chang a great deal in one breath, and even specifically mentioned who could not be provoked.

This meal lasted for about two hours, until the sky was completely dark, and Gu Chang had inquired about almost all the information he needed before it ended.

Of course, in the end, he still took out a good amount of gold and silver as a reward.

“Crash! Crash!”

On the lake at night, Gu Chang steered his fishing boat into the depths of Taihu Lake. Along the way, he was also sorting out the information he had just acquired.

“The Martial Dao levels of this world are mainly divided into Unranked, Third-rate, Second-rate, and First-rate, with the strongest being the so-called Innate Experts!”

“This is completely different from the Realms in the Reincarnation World.”

First and foremost, the biggest difference for Gu Chang was the Martial Dao disparity between the two worlds.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t truly clashed with the Martial Dao experts of this world yet, so I’m still a bit unclear about the specific levels of these strength divisions.”

“According to the Baixiaosheng’s intelligence, local Gangs like the Great Green Gang are actually not even worth mentioning, meaning they don’t even have First-rate Experts. The strongest in the Gang are only Second-rate Experts.”

“Forces truly guarded by First-rate Experts would definitely not care about the territory of a small lakeside town. They would basically establish their Family businesses and found their Schools in prefectural cities and county towns.”

“And those so-called Innate Experts are even more mysterious. According to the Baixiaosheng, the number of Innate Experts within the entire Yu Kingdom would not exceed five fingers!”

“Every Innate Expert can absolutely be called a cornerstone of a region, even capable of changing the pattern of a province or region.”

“Even Cultivators would be quite polite when facing Innate Experts…”

The biggest gain from Gu Chang’s outing this time was a thorough cramming of these common-sense things.

Of course, since he hadn’t personally fought with the martial artists in the real world, Gu Chang was still not very clear about their strength.

After a series of wild thoughts, Gu Chang ultimately gave up the idea of trying his hand.

Those Martial Forest experts might not be much, but the Cultivators behind them absolutely couldn’t be underestimated!

So, without absolute certainty, he would never easily make a move!

Wouldn’t it be better to quietly practice martial arts and continuously improve his strength, making himself stronger and stronger?

Why wander around, provoking this and dealing with that for no reason? One day, he would inevitably provoke someone he couldn’t defeat.

“Phew! Next, I should go back and practice martial arts diligently! Strive to Breakthrough to the Marrow Refining Realm as soon as possible!”

Relying on the Six Paths of Reincarnation, Gu Chang could obtain enough training time, and even resources could be resolved. There was truly no reason to wander around in this world where Cultivators truly existed.

The next day, Gu Chang returned to the Island and began his systematic martial arts practice.

This time, he planned to spend more time cultivating in the real world, continuously strengthening his foundation, and then entering the Reincarnation World to seek opportunities for Breakthrough.

Under this plan, days passed. However, unbeknownst to Gu Chang, the area around Taihu Lake became thoroughly lively.

Because after the haunting some time ago, that Demonic Path expert did not die. Instead, he gained benefits in Taihu Lake, his strength increased, and to seek revenge, he committed several bloody major incidents, angering the guarding Immortal, who immediately sent people to Taihu Lake to kill that Demonic Path expert.

They then discovered that Taihu Lake actually produced a special ice lotus seed. This special lotus seed only appeared in winter, and long-term consumption could help Martial Forest experts and even Cultivators resist Heart Demons!

At that time, the Demonic Path expert who had suffered Qi Deviation and escaped had eaten the ice lotus seed after his escape, successfully suppressed his Heart Demon, greatly increased his strength, and finally committed several bloody major cases.

This discovery immediately caused a stir among various forces. Countless Jianghu individuals, major Families, various Jianghu Schools, and even the Cultivators guarding Yu Kingdom began to take action.

The entire Taihu Lake had become a new storm center. Even in the freezing cold, the boats at the dock were continuous every day, constantly searching the depths of Taihu Lake.

On this day, Gu Chang had just woken up from his sleep. This time, he had engaged in another extremely fierce battle with that Marrow Refining general.

“Just a little more! Only a tiny bit left to Breakthrough!”

After opening his eyes again, Gu Chang tried to grasp something, but ultimately caught nothing, leaving only a sense of loss in his heart.

During this period, he practiced martial arts during the day and continuously searched for cultivation resources and engaged in battles in the Reincarnation World at night.

Now, he was only one step away from Breaking through to the Marrow Refining Realm, but this step was extremely difficult to take, always separated by a thin membrane.

“A boat! Why is there a fishing boat here?”

“Go and see!”

“Yes!”

At this moment, a Ship sailed over from the distant lake. They had just spotted Gu Chang’s fishing boat on the lake.