As they formulated their plan, Lu Qinghe finally lost her patience, forced by the Butcher to unleash her ultimate move.
Her hairband suddenly snapped, letting her dark hair cascade.
She flipped backward, her tresses whipping through the air.
From this distance, Li Ban couldn't tell if any hair had actually shot out, but he saw the Butcher dodge Lu Qinghe's initial attack, only to suddenly freeze in place.
That confirmed it for Li Ban: Lu Qinghe's hair had struck.
The Butcher clamped one hand over his face and pointed at Lu Qinghe with the other. His mouth moved as if he were saying something, but a moment later, he crashed to the ground.
"Huh?" Cat Girl let out a soft exclamation, her gaze locking onto Lu Qinghe. "I know who she is now."
Li Ban glanced over. "Who?"
"Her title in the Assassin Hall is 'Love Silk,' and she used to be a silver-token assassin. According to the records, she died during a mission. It seems she faked her death."
Li Ban nodded. "I'll be careful."
4th Tier? Didn't that put her on equal footing with Du An?
So her identity as a bedmaid was nothing more than a carefully crafted disguise.
Then again, Du An was quite charming, and Lu Qinghe was pretty and delicate. It made perfect sense that the two of them had tumbled into bed together.
"Wait for me," Cat Girl suddenly said, darting out and leaving Li Ban alone in the brush.
Li Ban couldn't stop her in time, so he had no choice but to wait.
Cat Girl was incredibly fast, her steps completely silent on the ground.
She quickly reached Lu Qinghe's side.
Li Ban immediately noticed Lu Qinghe put her guard up. She looked extremely wary, as if afraid Cat Girl would snatch her high-grade element. But Cat Girl merely stood three meters away and spoke to her, causing Lu Qinghe's expression to soften.
Cat Girl entered the wooden cabin, then emerged carrying a large cloth sack over her shoulder and departed in a different direction.
Seeing Cat Girl walk away, Lu Qinghe promptly grabbed something else and turned to leave.
A short while later, Li Ban saw Cat Girl circle back around, still carrying the sack.
"You didn't happen to take... the Cyan Silk Algae, did you?" he guessed.
"It's exactly the Cyan Silk Algae," Cat Girl said with a smug look. "I told Lu Qinghe we'd split it half and half. She actually thought I was going to fight her for the high-grade element."
"Then why didn't you?"
Li Ban refused to believe that Cat Girl was afraid of Lu Qinghe.
"I'm perfectly satisfied with my current element. I don't plan on risking a swap."
Her large, round eyes stared straight at Li Ban. "I intend to keep advancing."
Because she wanted to keep advancing, she actively chose not to fight for a high-grade element.
In the past, Li Ban might have found this strange, but he understood now. Cat Girl believed that the element best suited to herself was the greatest.
If someone only cared about raw power and recklessly assimilated elements, the difficulty of fusion would skyrocket in the later stages.
For someone like Lu Qinghe, who coveted every high-grade element she laid eyes on, advancing in the later stages would be riddled with trouble. If things went wrong, she might just become the next Zhou Gu.
Some believed that the sheer strength of an element was more important, while others prioritized the sustainable advancement of their identity.
Cat Girl clearly belonged to the latter group.
She had already decided on—and perhaps even prepared—the element she needed to assimilate for her next Tier.
Li Ban, however, didn't share this concern.
After all, he had yet to discover any upper limit to the number of elements he could fuse.
If advancing his identity didn't strictly require him to maximize the spiritual rhinoceros in all of his current elements, he would genuinely try to assimilate every single one he encountered.
A true all-around powerhouse!
As they spoke, Cat Girl pulled a smaller bag out of the large sack over her shoulder.
"This is your share."
Li Ban took it and looked inside, astonished to find a section of Cyan Silk Algae as thick as a man's thigh.
It was the main stalk of the Cyan Silk Algae—the very same one that had previously forced Lu Qinghe out of the water.
It turned out that Cat Girl's 'half and half' deal included a share for Li Ban.
Li Ban didn't stand on ceremony and accepted the Cyan Silk Algae.
He truly needed it right now to increase his elemental spiritual rhinoceros.
Still, he silently committed every bit of unprompted help Cat Girl gave him to memory.
Even though he knew this was an investment on her part, Li Ban swore to himself that once his own "business" flourished, he would absolutely pay Cat Girl her "dividends"!
After dividing the spoils, Cat Girl didn't return to Qingcheng County with Li Ban.
She advised him to report to the Assassin Hall as soon as he returned.
Lu Qinghe would clean up his loose ends anyway, and an even more powerful backer would handle the cleanup for her.
Li Ban didn't need to worry about any ensuing fallout. He just needed to quietly claim his merits and advance.
Before heading back, however, Li Ban found a deserted cave, chopped his newly acquired Cyan Silk Algae into segments, and absorbed it directly.
No matter where he hid such a valuable treasure, nothing was safer than consuming it on the spot.
It was just that something others had spent thousands of taels to buy was immediately converted into spiritual rhinoceros in his hands. He wondered if the original buyer would die of anger upon finding out.
As for Li Ban, he was thoroughly satisfied.
This massive amount of Cyan Silk Algae completely maxed out both his Iron Fish Scale and Silver Kingfisher.
Even his Flute Sound was now close to fifty percent.
Sure enough, a man couldn't get rich without sudden windfalls.
Robbery was a fast way to make money, but looting the looters was even faster.
Having finished absorbing the Cyan Silk Algae, Li Ban slapped his cheeks to wipe away any lingering traces of joy and immediately hurried back to Qingcheng County.
By the time he arrived, the city gates were on the verge of closing.
Dodging the guards patrolling for the curfew, Li Ban made his way straight to the Yongan Pawnshop. Without bothering to knock, he vaulted over the wall.
Inside the pawnshop, he zeroed in on a room with its lights still on.
The occupant was the same clerk who had received him during his very first visit.
The clerk had been sitting bare-chested on his bed, counting his money.
Upon seeing someone suddenly intrude, his immediate reaction was to throw his bare stomach over the coins spread across the bed.
"Y-You're Lord Li," the young clerk stammered. Even after recognizing Li Ban, he made no move to get off the bed.
"Where is the shopkeeper? I have goods I need to offload urgently."
The clerk raised a finger and pointed. "My uncle is in the inner courtyard, in the east room of the main house."
He sold his uncle out without a second thought.
"Thanks."
Li Ban offered his thanks and left.
Only after confirming from the shadow on the paper window that Li Ban had truly departed did the young clerk clamber up, his heart still pounding.
"He probably wasn't here to rob the place, or he definitely would have silenced me."
Looking down, he began plucking the large copper coins that had stuck to his sweaty stomach, one by one.
As he kept counting, a bright grin spread across his face once more.
Meanwhile, Li Ban had already gone to the east room of the main house and woken the shopkeeper. Although this shopkeeper wouldn't pry into the missions Li Ban accepted, Li Ban could rely on him to pass any necessary messages along to the Assassin Hall.
Alternatively, he could have gone directly to the Assassin Hall branch in the Black Market.
However, Li Ban wasn't sure if he and the Black Market contacts were on the same mission chain.
So, he still opted to seek out the pawnshop's shopkeeper.
"Lord Li, what is—"
"A major issue occurred with the mission. Who do I report to?"
The shopkeeper bolted upright in bed, then looked slightly embarrassed as he used the corner of his quilt to cover himself.
"I will prepare a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone right away. Please write it down. I will send it off via carrier pigeon immediately."
The ink the shopkeeper retrieved was a highly specialized formula.
After Li Ban finished writing and blew the paper dry, the ink traces completely vanished.
It likely required a special chemical wash to reveal the text again. The shopkeeper, draped only in an undercoat, saw that Li Ban had finished and immediately sent the letter out.
"Lord Li, it's getting quite late. Would you like to stay here for the night?"
The shopkeeper was trying to keep him around. If the Assassin Hall sent someone to ask questions, it was best if the primary party involved was present.
"Alright."
Li Ban couldn't afford to run right now.
While trying to prey on others, the iron-badge assassin, the Butcher, had been preyed upon himself.
An opportunity for promotion had arrived.