The howling cold wind swept up the snow on the ground, slashing at one’s face like a knife.
A waning moon hung above the treetops, adding to the desolation.
Despite this, the drunken and sated Geng Ying still felt warm all over.
By now, the sky was completely dark, and the road was deserted.
Geng Ying staggered out of Xiushui Town, following a small path into the mountains.
The once lively him was now aching and weak-kneed, needing to lean against a tree to rest after short distances.
Walking and stopping like this, it took more than an hour for Geng Ying to finally reach a hidden valley.
By now, most of the alcohol had dissipated from his body, but to be safe, Geng Ying ignored the cold and rubbed his face with the snow on the ground.
Because he knew that if Big Brother Hei Yunzi found out he secretly drank and fooled around under the pretense of gathering information, his life might not be spared.
Hei Yunzi had strict orders that no one should linger outside privately, especially not have excessive contact with others, to avoid exposing their whereabouts.
But after being cooped up in the mountains for so long, finally getting out once and coincidentally meeting a flirtatious woman, how could Geng Ying resist?
But it’s almost done; that woman has been urging him to take her away recently, so it’s time to end it.
Geng Ying secretly made up his mind, planning to find a way to kill Mrs. Yang next time to prevent future troubles.
After sorting out his thoughts and thinking about how to respond to Big Brother later, Geng Ying took a deep breath, habitually looked back to make sure no one was following, and then stepped into the valley.
Little did he know, shortly after he left, a shadow almost blending into the night suddenly appeared where he had stood.
Now Zhao Ya’s Concealing Breath Technique had reached a highly advanced realm, so despite Geng Ying being very cautious, testing, and counter-tracking all the way, Zhao Ya easily evaded it.
However, after Geng Ying entered the valley, Zhao Ya did not follow.
His intuition told him that this valley wasn’t as simple as it appeared to be.
There might be hidden sentries inside; if he rashly barged in, he could alert the enemy.
In the description of the sect’s mission, this Hei Yunzi was very cunning, highly vigilant, and would flee at the slightest disturbance.
This was the main reason he had been at large without being caught so far.
This time, it was Zhao Ya’s good fortune; he happened to encounter Geng Ying indulging himself on his first trip to Xiushui Town to gather information, successfully tracking him to this valley.
If the opponent were scared away, it would be difficult to find Hei Yunzi again.
In fact, Zhao Ya’s discovery of Geng Ying was largely due to luck.
Initially, Zhao Ya just wanted to investigate Xiushui Town to see if Hei Yunzi had left any informants.
For such a notorious bandit, staying informed was most important.
Being a significant town within his area of activity, Xiushui Town would generally have informants left for coordination.
He went to the small eatery for this reason.
If there were indeed informants, a small eatery as a gathering place for idle locals in Xiushui Town would surely be the place they frequent.
It was in this context that Old Yang was discovered by Zhao Ya.
Honestly, at first, Zhao Ya didn’t pay much attention to him.
The only noteworthy thing was that this man seemed overly sensitive to the teasing of outsiders.
But this could also be explained by the fact that his wife indeed had an affair with someone else.
Zhao Ya had no interest in such scandalous news; his attention was primarily on the young shopkeeper.
Compared to Old Yang, this relatively young shopkeeper seemed more suspicious.
But Zhao Ya soon changed his mind.
Because he clearly heard Old Yang muttering indistinctly in his drunkenness.
After removing meaningless curses and insults, the gist was that his wife had been slept with by a man from outside the town.
And this man was not someone he could provoke, claiming to be a mountain bandit, while Old Yang was just an ordinary civilian, incapable of confronting such a character.
So every time he came, Old Yang could only hide in the small eatery, drinking away his humiliation.
When Old Yang said this, his voice was extremely low, so much so that even if you sat opposite him, you couldn’t hear what he was saying, only assuming it was a drunkard’s gibberish.
But with Zhao Ya’s keen ear, he immediately identified, and his spirits were lifted.
A man coming from outside the town, claiming to be a mountain bandit, was very likely one of Hei Yunzi’s men.
After all, within hundreds of miles nearby, besides Hei Yunzi’s band of roving bandits, there were practically no other bandits.
Though pleased inside, Zhao Ya showed no sign of it on his face.
Because he didn’t know if there were any of Hei Yunzi’s men in the eatery, and if he showed unusual behavior and got noticed, it would all be for nothing.
This was the reason for Zhao Ya’s subsequent extreme caution.
After leaving the town and waiting in the mountain woods until dusk, Zhao Ya executed the Spirit Turtle Hibernation Technique, silently reentering Xiushui Town, then laying in ambush outside the small eatery, quietly waiting for the right moment.
As expected, soon Geng Ying brought Old Yang’s wife to the small eatery, and after a binge, Geng Ying left contentedly.