Zhou Gu was slightly surprised to see Li Ban agree without any reluctance.
He hadn't expected Li Ban to genuinely not care.
He stroked his chin. "I can see that right now, you only know the most superficial fist and kick techniques, along with basic saber arts. I have a set of palm techniques that I modified based on my Iron Palm element. Even an ordinary person can learn a little bit of it."
Zhou Gu actually wanted to teach him a new palm technique?
Now it was Li Ban's turn to be surprised.
The Zhou Gu in his impression was an absolute egoist. He was actually going to compensate him for such a trivial matter?
Truthfully, Li Ban hadn't even cared about the money from selling the liquor distillation technique.
It wasn't his exclusive skill, anyway.
However, since Zhou Gu wanted to teach him a palm technique, Li Ban certainly wouldn't refuse.
With that, not giving Li Ban any time to react, Zhou Gu walked to the center of the training ground and rapidly executed three incredibly ferocious-looking moves.
"First move: Whirling Soul Sever. Second move: Heaven-Shaking Wave Breaker. Third move: Ironblood Mountain Quake."
Li Ban immediately focused all his attention on memorizing Zhou Gu's movements.
All three were wide-open, sweeping offensive maneuvers. Watching Zhou Gu strike, his palms whipped up the wind, looking as if they could shatter boulders.
Li Ban also saw why someone without the Iron Palm element could only learn the first few moves.
Almost all of these moves involved using bare hands to clash head-on with the enemy.
Without the Iron Palm to protect one's hands, they would be crippled after just a few strikes.
But Li Ban had the Iron Fish Scale!
Although there was only one scale, it could move freely between his two hands according to his will.
As long as the shifting speed wasn't too fast, with some practice, Li Ban should be able to match the power of Zhou Gu's palm strikes.
Zhou Gu demonstrated it once.
With Li Ban's current insight, just seeing it once was enough for him to grasp most of Zhou Gu's moves.
This martial art really wasn't complicated.
Zhou Gu pulled back his stance. Seeing Li Ban staring into the air, trying hard to memorize it, he didn't disturb him.
Li Ban opened his eyes and began to imitate Zhou Gu's movements.
He corrected his posture as he recalled the demonstration.
Zhou Gu watched from the sidelines, occasionally offering a few pointers. He only left when he saw there were no major flaws in Li Ban's form.
A month later, Li Ban was on the training ground again, listening to Huo Jiang relay the latest news about the Cyan Silk Algae.
The Eternal Trading Association had held a grand auction next to the Mass Grave.
They sold half the root system and the entire main stem of the Cyan Silk Algae.
Rumor had it that they sold for over a thousand taels of silver.
Hearing this, Li Ban silently drooled in his heart.
He coveted the silver, and he coveted the Cyan Silk Algae too.
"The roots are used to try and cultivate new seed discs. They were bought by a minor faction. It's a pity Lord Du has no interest in the Cyan Silk Algae." Huo Jiang was still a bit indignant.
Although the Death Prison wasn't a wealthy government office, Lord Du had old ties with Wan Chengming, the master of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda. By leveraging his official status to suppress the other minor factions, it wouldn't have been impossible to accomplish something big with a little money.
While Huo Jiang felt deep regret, he didn't know that Li Ban was currently thinking of Lu Qinghe.
Lu Qinghe had hidden the seed disc that fell off the Cyan Silk Algae. He didn't know whether she intended to use it herself or hand it over to some superior.
Li Ban still wasn't sure if Lu Qinghe was Du An's person or Zhai Liu's.
If she was Du An's person, then Du An definitely wouldn't try to snatch the Cyan Silk Algae's roots.
As for Li Ban, he hadn't yet found a chance to plant his Cyan Silk Algae seed.
Fortunately, the seed still brimmed with spiritual rhinoceros, showing no signs of dying.
The silver ring that Yin Cui had found in the same spot had already been polished.
The text on it, however, wasn't something Li Ban recognized. It looked a bit like hieroglyphics, and a bit like complex mathematical symbols. Li Ban hadn't sold this ring; he kept it on him, thinking it might hold some kind of fortuitous encounter.
The two of them sighed a few more times over the high price the Cyan Silk Algae had fetched, then hitched up the horse carriage.
Today was the day Li Ban had to go to the Qingcheng County Assassin Hall to check for missions, while Huo Jiang had to visit the County Office to pay his respects to the newly appointed County Deputy Lu.
The weather had already grown hot. As they neared the Qingcheng County gates, Li Ban once again saw the people setting up stalls outside.
He frequented Qingcheng County quite often now, and sometimes he would buy food and drinks when passing through.
One stall he visited quite often was a tea stand run by an old woman and a little girl of six or seven.
The old woman carried a shoulder pole out from the mountains; one basket held teapots, charcoal, and the like, while the other held water.
The little girl followed behind the old woman, carrying a wooden basket on her back filled with tea leaves.
The two of them sold hot tea in the winter and herbal tea in the summer.
Lacking both the capital and the qualifications to sell tea inside the city, they could only wait by the official road outside the gates.
Just like NPCs respawning at a fixed location.
However, with Huo Jiang beside him this time, Li Ban didn't want to waste time stopping the carriage, so he didn't go over.
But the little girl carrying the tea basket spotted Li Ban at a glance.
She stopped her hawking. She didn't wave or greet him, but instinctively stared at him, watching him ride the carriage closer and then further away.
"Don't stare at the lord," the old woman said, giving the little girl's collar a small tug from behind.
"Why?"
"If we beg the lord for things too many times, he won't like coming here anymore."
The little girl lowered her head in disappointment. "Oh."
She wasn't staring at Li Ban for any other reason; it was just that the last time he came to drink tea, he had casually tossed her a preserved dried apricot.
That was a preserved fruit the town's teahouse had gifted Li Ban. Because it was rare, Li Ban had packed it up to take away, occasionally taking it out for a treat.
So far, he had only given the little girl one.
Thus, the little girl was always hoping to get a second one someday.
After the carriage entered the city, Li Ban parted ways with Huo Jiang between the Black Market White Market, heading to the pawnshop alone.
This time, he received his second mission.
It wasn't to assassinate someone.
It was to rob a courier caravan!
The mission details clearly stated that a minor faction from Langzhou had bought the Cyan Silk Algae roots and a mysterious item sold by the Myriad Ancient Pagoda.
Now, to escort the Cyan Silk Algae roots to Langzhou, they had hired two courier agencies, splitting into four teams and taking four different routes to escort the goods to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion in Langzhou.
As a robber this time, Li Ban would follow the orders of an Iron-rank assassin to seize the cargo.
Since the courier caravan had split into four routes, Li Ban figured they would likely also split into four groups to seize the goods.
He just didn't know which one he would ultimately be assigned to.
Although this wasn't an assassination mission, cutting off people's wealth was bound to cause casualties.
Li Ban memorized the time, location, contact signal, and token from the mission, then left the pawnshop.
Though the Assassin Hall was ostensibly for assassins, those of low status like them were more like a loose band of thugs. They gathered when there was profit to be made and had no contact with each other in everyday life.
After reuniting with Huo Jiang, Li Ban told him about the mission on the road.
Hearing this, Huo Jiang immediately frowned.
"Four routes means they'll need at least four robbing teams. All just to snatch a Cyan Silk Algae root that might not even be successfully cultivated?"
If it couldn't be successfully cultivated, although the Cyan Silk Algae root could be used to make other items or serve as a component for creation-type elements, its value would definitely plummet.
Li Ban had noticed this as well. "Right, it's not worth it. So I'm guessing that the true purpose of this caravan might not be the Cyan Silk Algae at all."
Escort missions were divided into open cargo and hidden cargo.
If some goods needed to be transported secretly, a smokescreen would be set up.
Even if the smokescreen was lost, it would be worth it as long as the true cargo could be kept safe.
While it wasn't necessarily true that a valuable open cargo meant a valuable hidden cargo, if the open cargo was highly valuable, the hidden cargo's value certainly wouldn't be low.
If there was a hidden cargo this time, what could it be?