Why are you raising your voice like that?

Holding the treasure chest in his hands and examining it for a while, Chu Liang suddenly felt a bit awkward.

If it had been the belongings of those three little rascals, he wouldn't have felt a shred of guilt in pocketing them—they were hardly pillars of virtue. However, this chest looked incredibly valuable; it was impossible for those three to possess anything worth keeping in such a container.

This was, in all likelihood, stolen loot.

If it belonged to someone else, Chu Liang certainly couldn't keep it for himself. But those three had fled so quickly that he had no idea who the owner might be or how to find them. After some thought, he decided to return to the First Grade Sword Hut and ask Xu Sui if he had any way to help locate the owner.

When he returned to the hut, Xu Sui happened to be out, likely in the smithy delivering food and water to Xu Kunwu. Chu Liang sat in the main hall waiting for him, fiddling with the chest.

At that moment, Di Nüfeng strolled in, asking, "What are you doing here?"

"I found a treasure chest and don't know where to look for the owner, so I wanted to ask Brother Xu if he could help," Chu Liang replied.

"Open it and see what's inside. You might just find out who it belongs to," Di Nüfeng suggested.

"But this chest is quite mystical; it likely requires specific techniques to..." Chu Liang began, holding it up.

"Leave it to your master. I’m the best at opening treasure chests," Di Nüfeng said with a confident smile.

With that, she extended a finger and snapped it. A precise, purple-gold flame, like a soaring bird, leapt from her fingertip, circled in the air, and vanished in an instant.

Looking at Chu Liang’s palm, only a thick book remained; the chest was gone.

"Where's the chest?" he asked, blinking.

"I opened it," Di Nüfeng replied nonchalantly.

"No..." Chu Liang gestured at the empty space in his hands. "You opened it, sure, but where is the chest?"

"It's already open, what do you need the chest for?" Di Nüfeng asked, puzzled.

*You have a point there...* Chu Liang was speechless.

He turned his attention to the book. To be kept in such a precious chest, it had to be of significant value. The master and apprentice opened it to find a thick ledger, densely packed with records of transactions spanning several years.

"This is all..." Di Nüfeng stared at the pages, her expression turning solemn. "Numbers!"

Chu Liang nodded, pondering aloud, "This is a ledger recording private transactions between the Myriad Beast Hall and the Wolf Fang Gang—and it’s a ledger that shouldn't see the light of day. The profits were eventually taken elsewhere, converted into cultivation resources, and then funneled back into the Wolf Fang Gang."

"I suspect this involves high-level members of the Myriad Beast Hall secretly selling off spirit beasts. The Wolf Fang Gang is merely a channel, not the buyer. Logically, the Myriad Beast Hall has the backing of the Whale Gang; even in Taotie City, let alone the Nine Provinces and Four Seas, they wouldn't need such a high-commission middleman."

"If high-ranking officials were embezzling public funds for private gain, then it all makes sense. This ledger wasn't kept under tight security because it was valuable, but because its discovery would expose their dirty dealings."

In this world, money laundering was far too easy. One could simply go on a trip and return claiming to have found treasures in some secret realm or dangerous zone. There was no way to trace the origin of massive, unexplained wealth; one only needed to convert it into a rare herb or treasure to hide it away. If one were to investigate the discrepancies, the only thing that wouldn't match up would be the current number of spirit beasts in the Myriad Beast Hall...

The arrival of the Whale Gang's young mistress, Xu Hongqiu, the turmoil at the Myriad Beast Hall, the middle-aged man's desperate lethal strike last night... because of this ledger, everything suddenly clicked into place in Chu Liang's mind.

*So that’s how it is.*

His expression turned to one of sudden realization.

Di Nüfeng, however, was completely lost. "You can tell all this from a bunch of numbers? Is there some secret code?"

*Sigh.*

Chu Liang sighed silently. He couldn't blame her. Her master was already formidable enough in combat; if she were also well-read, how would anyone else stand a chance?

At this point, Xu Sui returned from outside. Seeing them, he greeted, "Senior, Young Hero Chu, are you looking for me?"

"Yes," Chu Liang looked up and asked, "Brother Xu, I wanted to ask, who is the manager of the Myriad Beast Hall?"

"Hmm? The Myriad Beast Hall..." Xu Sui paused, thinking. "That is an important asset of the Whale Gang. It’s managed by a person surnamed Xu, I believe his name is Xu Nanling."

Chu Liang smiled slightly. It really was him.

...

Later that evening, the Myriad Beast Hall received two unexpected guests.

Because the name reported was Di Nüfeng of Mount Shu, Xu Hongqiu set aside her work to greet them personally, followed by Xu Nanling, Elder Cang Xing, and two squads of Whale Gang subordinates. It was fair to say that everyone capable of a fight in the Myriad Beast Hall was present.

"Junior, Xu Hongqiu of the Whale Gang, has long admired your name, Senior," she said, bowing to Di Nüfeng as soon as she saw her. She then raised her bright eyes to meet Di Nüfeng’s gaze directly, her presence not lacking in the slightest.

Di Nüfeng didn't pressure her; instead, she tucked her hands into her sleeves, glanced at her lazily, and immediately chuckled, "Oh my, you're Xu Bashan’s daughter? For someone as ugly as him to produce a pretty little girl like you, it really is..."

"Master," Chu Liang tugged gently at her sleeve.

"What? I’m just engaging in polite social pleasantries, courtesy before the fight," Di Nüfeng whispered back.

*Right,* he thought, *redefining the meaning of "pleasantries."*

"The recent incident in Nanguan City was thanks to you and your disciple for helping our Whale Gang clean house. I’ve been wanting to thank you properly, but I’ve been tied up with business lately. It’s embarrassing that you had to come here yourself to meet," Xu Hongqiu said, her expression unruffled as she returned the pleasantries.

"Eh—" Di Nüfeng waved a hand dismissively. "There’s no need to mention rooting out evil; I do it a hundred or so times a year. I’m here today mainly to ask about what happened last night."

"Last night?" Xu Hongqiu looked at Chu Liang.

"Sigh..." Chu Liang sighed, acting coy. "I kept saying I was fine and it was all a misunderstanding, but my master insisted on coming here to get to the bottom of things... *cough, cough, cough!*"

He coughed heavily as he spoke. There was no helping it; he had left so righteously last night that it wouldn't look good to suddenly turn hostile. So, the master and apprentice had agreed to play good cop and bad cop.

"My disciple is honest and upright," Di Nüfeng said, feigning heartbreak. "It’s very easy for him to get bullied when he’s out and about. As his master, I have to protect him. I’m just here to ask: who hit my disciple last night?"

"Senior, this was our fault..." Xu Hongqiu looked troubled, wondering how to explain the situation to Di Nüfeng.

Behind her, Xu Nanling’s expression stiffened. He wasn't a fool; he could clearly see that this master and apprentice were here to pick a fight. Most likely, they were here to extort them.

But he wasn't afraid. After the chaos at the Myriad Beast Hall last night, all the missing spirit beasts were written off as losses. While suspicious, there was no concrete proof, so his position remained unshakable. Even if Xu Hongqiu arrived with an official order, she couldn't do much to him.

In fact, he had always looked down on Xu Hongqiu. She was a little girl he’d watched grow up; she wasn't even twenty yet—what kind of skill could she possibly have?

Hearing Xu Hongqiu apologize first, he became annoyed. If she admitted it was the Myriad Beast Hall’s fault, wasn't she admitting it was his fault alone? Not only was this little girl losing face before outsiders, but she was also inviting extortion and selling him out in the process.

If this had been handled by someone with real experience in the underworld, they would have insisted they were in the right, or at most, called it a misunderstanding.

He stepped forward, interrupting Xu Hongqiu loudly: "I hit him!"

He had to seize the initiative. In an instant, he had prepared various contingencies. No matter how Di Nüfeng questioned him, he was confident he could refute them one by one and send them away empty-handed.

Regrettably, the heated debate he imagined never happened.

Seeing him step forward and interrupt, Di Nüfeng’s smiling expression vanished. She planted her left foot, kicked her right leg up, and sent him flying with a single strike.

*Bang!*

*Boom!*

The kick looked neither fast nor heavy, but it landed squarely on Xu Nanling’s chest. His figure vanished from the hall in an instant. Then came a boom against the hall wall, another against the outer courtyard wall, then another against the shop wall across the street...

With every boom, the faces of those in the Myriad Beast Hall trembled. Finally, after six or seven consecutive roars, the sound stopped.

That seemingly effortless kick had sent Xu Nanling flying across three streets!

Di Nüfeng lowered her leg and dug into her ear with her left hand, looking at the direction Xu Nanling had vanished with an annoyed expression. She asked, for no one in particular:

"Why were you shouting so loudly?"