Shopkeeper Wu returned to the third floor holding a wooden box of fresh red, green, and blueberries, only to find that Lu Yu had already left, leaving a note on the table.
After reading the content of the note, Shopkeeper Wu placed the wooden box on the table and left the room.
After recognizing Huang Lao San's identity, Lu Yu followed him and left the Divine Weapon Pavilion store.
Drawing on his experience in the Soldier's Secret Realm last time, Lu Yu spent 6 million Points in the marketplace to purchase a fifth-grade Spiritual Treasure that can conceal aura.
The Shadow Cloak, a fifth-grade Spiritual Treasure, functions to hide one's aura and mask one's appearance. When in the shadows, it even grants invisibility, making it impossible for even those in the Qi Sea Realm to detect the user if they remain still.
It's a highly functional auxiliary Spiritual Treasure, and its price matches its high value.
Lu Yu donned the Shadow Cloak and followed behind Huang Lao San, who was completely unaware.
Huang Lao San turned and entered a small alley. After entering, he instinctively looked back to check if anyone was following him. Seeing no one behind him, he confidently walked deeper into the alley.
Not long after Huang Lao San left, Lu Yu entered the alley.
Following Huang Lao San's pace, Lu Yu arrived beside a guesthouse. It was a square-shaped, single-story building that seemed to have been rented entirely by the Iron Tomb group, with the courtyard gate tightly closed.
Standing in the shadow, Lu Yu activated his Fire Demon Eyes, causing two unobtrusive points of firelight to appear beneath the dark cloak.
He saw two data lines appear behind the courtyard gate, indicating there were guards posted there. Although they were only at the Qi Cultivation level, Lu Yu did not want to alarm them. Before he could be certain of capturing everyone here, he would not act rashly.
Lu Yu couldn't see the Qi Blood or Spiritual Power bars of the people inside the room, possibly because the walls were too thick.
Lu Yu deactivated the Fire Demon Eyes and was about to use Earth Glide to burrow underground to investigate further when he accidentally noticed a shadow hiding within the guesthouse's boundary wall shadow.
Once discovered by Lu Yu, the shadow quickly vanished into the darkness. If Lu Yu hadn't clearly seen the opponent's Qi Blood and Spiritual Power bars above their head, he might have thought he was seeing things.
The opponent's spiritual power attribute was quite special, naturally possessing a concealment property, allowing Lu Yu only to see the bars but not their exact values.
"Are there others targeting the Iron Tomb?" Lu Yu pondered as he watched the spot where the shadow disappeared.
He had no idea which faction the opponent belonged to or what their goal was.
Regarding the goal, Lu Yu did have a guess. When he recognized Huang Lao San, he remembered the jade token and thought of the Windstorm Thieves, who attempted to rob the Divine Weapon Pavilion branch and were annihilated.
The Windstorm Thieves hid the treasures stolen from Cyan Mountain Town, and the key to unlocking the treasure, the jade token, was held separately by several leaders of the Windstorm Thieves, with Huang Thief being one of them.
Collecting all the tokens would open the treasure, granting access to the wealth they had plundered.
The Iron Tomb's target must be the Windstorm Thieves' hidden treasure, and the shadow's target might likely be the treasure as well.
Of course, until everything is confirmed, all of this is just Lu Yu's speculation.
Taking out the Earth Spirit Pearl, Lu Yu performed Earth Glide, sinking into the ground, and put on the X-ray Wind Goggles. He surveyed the scene in the courtyard, feeling like he had glitched underground in a 3D game.
Seeing Huang Lao San's figure, Lu Yu moved towards him and discovered that there were spike-head and ponytail men in the room.
Last time, spike-head and ponytail man took advantage of the confrontation between Fei Feng and the Qi Sea Realm expert to slip away unnoticed.
At that time, Lu Yu's attention was entirely on the patriarch of the Liang family, not noticing when the two slipped away.
Afterward, he merely assumed that they were ordinary players.
Seeing them here now, Lu Yu realized that their trouble-making wasn't merely because of the false dan of the Fire Phoenix.
Besides the spike-head and ponytail man, Lu Yu also saw a familiar face: Wu Ping, who had previously escaped through the youth training camp's teleportation array.
At present, all the Iron Tomb members he bore grudges against were gathered here, and Lu Yu surreptitiously rubbed his Storage Ring, tempted to release the Qi Sea Realm puppet to go on a rampage.
There were two others in the room that Lu Yu hadn't seen before, seemingly the leaders of this operation.
Huang Lao San was reporting the intelligence he had gathered to them.
"About a year ago, a group of outsiders came to Meishan Town. The leader of that group seemed to know the town's mayor. The mayor allowed the strangers to stay on the back mountain for some time, and during that time, villagers were not allowed up there. A few days later, the strangers left Meishan Town and haven't returned since."
"The townsfolk say that the mayor of Meishan Town often goes to check on the back mountain, appearing very concerned about something there. But no one knows what exactly is on the back mountain; the townsfolk haven't noticed any changes."
"That group of strangers is very likely the Windstorm Thieves, with the mayor probably knowing them and helping them hide the treasures stolen from the Divine Weapon Pavilion."
"If the information is correct, the Windstorm Thieves' treasure is hidden in the back mountain of Meishan Town. We need the mayor to guide us to the exact location."
Huang Lao San reported the intelligence he had gathered to the others.
"Should we act against the mayor?" Ponytail man Liu Feng said, "Won't it bring trouble back to us?"
The mayor's position, however low, is still an official of the Zhou Dynasty. Provoking the official powers of the Zhou Dynasty risks the downfall of the Iron Tomb.
Though feared among players as a terrifying faction, the Iron Tomb is merely an insignificant small group before the Zhou Dynasty. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novᴇl(ꜰ)ire.ɴet