Li Ban froze, turning to look at Shi Ming. "You have that kind of ability?"
If anyone else had said this, Li Ban would have been eighty percent skeptical and twenty percent convinced.
But coming from Shi Ming—who was blessed by the Undying Halo—and considering his dead-on prophecy about Lu Weizhong, Li Ban found himself believing it seventy percent.
He couldn't help but glance at Lady Kui's back again.
Though dressed in men's clothes, she couldn't hide her gentle, feminine grace.
Sunlight shone on her white silk brocade, glowing with a soft, pearl-like luster.
There was absolutely no sign that disaster was about to befall her.
Yesterday, the Silver Kingfisher brought back news that the city lord of Hundred Flowers City is going to make a move against the old pavilion master of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, Li Ban thought. Could Lady Kui be caught in the crossfire and die?
Li Ban then asked Shi Ming to look at him and the others to see if they faced any disasters.
He really was a mysterious guy with a unique ability.
Li Ban felt that sometimes Shi Ming resembled a Priest even more than he did.
The guy was probably playing the pig to eat the tiger.
Li Ban decided to treat Shi Ming a little better from now on.
After some thought, Li Ban returned to the courtyard and secretly let the Silver Kingfisher out.
The Silver Kingfisher was small and fast, making it perfect for stealth.
Having it keep an eye on Lady Kui couldn't be more appropriate.
First, it would prevent any sudden mishaps on her end. Second, it could monitor whether Hundred Flowers City made any moves that might affect her.
I should have sent the Silver Kingfisher to watch her last night, Li Ban thought. I've never let the Silver Kingfisher leave my side for this long before. I wonder if it will consume too much spiritual rhinoceros.
He decided to send it out and test the waters. If the toll was too heavy, he would just call it back.
If it came to that, he would directly invite Lady Kui to stay in the Red Plum Courtyard for the time being.
As for how she would explain it to the people of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, that was beyond Li Ban's control.
Watching over the Cyan Silk Algae seeds and cultivating his spiritual rhinoceros made the time fly by. Soon, it was late into the night.
Li Ban took over the Cat Girl's shift and told her to go rest.
However, the Cat Girl complained that staring at seeds all day was too boring and said she was going out to play for a while.
In any case, after Lady Kui's treatment, she was no longer coughing up blood.
Li Ban felt at ease letting her go out.
By the second half of the night, Shi Ming and Deng Jun couldn't stay awake any longer and went to sleep.
Li Ban was the only one left in the courtyard, still keeping an eye on the Cyan Silk Algae seeds.
The courtyard was perfectly quiet. Even if other guests enjoyed roaming the pavilion at night like the Cat Girl did, they rarely ventured into such remote and secluded guest quarters.
Suddenly, Li Ban stopped his cultivation and stood up, looking out the window.
He thought he smelled something burning.
Glancing at the seeds in front of him, he was just about to shout for Deng Jun to wake up and check it out when he heard the main gate outside the courtyard being thrown open.
"Young Master Wen, Young Master Wen~" the Cat Girl's restless voice rang out in the courtyard.
Instead of using the door, she directly pushed open the bedroom window. "Young Master Wen, the Elegant Pavilion is on fire!"
Li Ban was puzzled. "Isn't the Elegant Pavilion right on the water? How could it catch fire?"
The Cat Girl shook her head. "I don't know! The fire over there seems completely out of control. I'm not sure if it will spread over here."
Hearing her shouts, Deng Jun, who had already fallen asleep, dragged a drowsy Shi Ming out of the west bedroom and into the courtyard.
"A fire? What happened?" Deng Jun asked the Cat Girl anxiously.
For low-level spirit practitioners like them, even though they were much stronger than ordinary people in a fight, they still feared natural disasters like flood and fire.
Only someone with a special-type element like Li Ban possessed the means to protect themselves.
Li Ban looked out the window into the distance.
The strange smell he had noticed earlier was indeed the acrid stench of burning.
Looking outside now, he could already see the faint, orange-red glow of flames in the distance, along with black smoke billowing straight up into the sky.
"Tonight's fire is definitely no ordinary accident," Li Ban told them through the window. "Jun'er, take Young Master Jin and scale the wall to escape. Make absolutely sure you protect your young master."
"Got it," Deng Jun said. He hoisted Shi Ming onto his shoulder and turned to run out.
Li Ban then turned to the Cat Girl. "Miaomiao, let's go over there and take a look."
This fire likely had nothing to do with them, but the arsonist was probably targeting the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
Perhaps the disaster Shi Ming had prophesied during the day was coming to pass right here.
Lady Kui—she couldn't be allowed to die just yet.
The Cat Girl nodded. Though the fire was raging, as long as they weren't completely trapped in one spot, she didn't need to worry with her agility.
At the same time, she warned Li Ban, "The flames over there are a bit unusual. They seem very hard to put out. You need to be careful when you head over."
"It's fine."
Li Ban raised his hand. A layer of firelight flared up across the back of his hand and then withdrew.
Flame Skin. He had no fear of burns.
The Cat Girl had seen his Flame Skin before. "I'm just not sure if you'd still get hurt if the fire is too intense."
Li Ban nodded. "True. The amount of fire I can control right now is limited. But moving through the blaze for a short time shouldn't be a problem."
However, the flames weren't the only danger in a fire; the thick smoke was even more terrifying.
So unless it was absolutely necessary, Li Ban wouldn't venture deep into the inferno.
Becoming a Priest had only given him a spatial ability; it hadn't turned him into a superman.
Before leaving, Li Ban returned to the center of the room. He reached out and gently swept his hand over the small porcelain saucer on the table. The small porcelain bowl and the seeds inside it instantly vanished.
With an incident breaking out in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, he wasn't comfortable leaving the Cyan Silk Algae seeds behind in the courtyard.
Right now, aside from those seeds, Li Ban's Cubic Heaven and Earth was stocked with many essential living supplies, such as filled waterskins, non-perishable food, spare clothes, and common tools.
Since he had a portable space, it was only natural to stuff it full, leaving just a small amount of empty room for emergencies.
After securing the Cyan Silk Algae seeds, Li Ban turned and leaped straight out the window.
Seeing him emerge so casually, the Cat Girl cast a curious glance into the room, only to stare in shock when she realized the small porcelain bowl on the table had vanished.
Her cat-like pupils involuntarily constricted into thin vertical slits before slowly returning to normal.
Noticing her shock, Li Ban smiled. "Just a small Priest trick."
Before her pupils could dilate in shock again, Li Ban dropped his smile and gazed into the distance.
"Since someone set a fire right by the pond, they must have come prepared. Let's go check on Lady Kui first."
The Cat Girl stood beside him. She was actually much more interested in Li Ban's situation right now and almost didn't want to go to the fire anymore.
However, the growth of the Cyan Silk Algae seeds still required Lady Kui's continued supervision, so they couldn't just sit back and do nothing.
"Alright. Whatever you say, Lord Priest."
"Don't call me that," Li Ban coughed awkwardly. He quickly broke into a run, rushing out of the courtyard toward the Elegant Pavilion.
When he had listened to Nana and the others call him "Lord Priest" back in the Shadow World, he hadn't felt much of anything.
But hearing the Cat Girl say it now filled him with sudden embarrassment.
After all, he was well aware that in terms of sheer combat power, the Cat Girl could still easily beat the crap out of him.
The two darted past exquisite courtyards and beautifully landscaped gardens.
Along the way, many people had emerged from their rooms, gazing toward the flames.
But the vast majority didn't dare get anywhere near the blaze.
Those who could afford to stay at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion were mostly wealthy individuals who were extremely unwilling to put themselves in harm's way.
Because their courtyard was quite far from the Elegant Pavilion, the fire had grown even larger by the time Li Ban and the Cat Girl arrived near the pleasure lake.
Most of the people gathered here were busy fighting the fire. They scooped clear water directly from the lake and hurled it at the blazing Elegant Pavilion.
However, for some inexplicable reason, the flames weren't extinguished by the water; instead, they flared up even more fiercely.
Waves of agonized wails echoed from inside the Elegant Pavilion, though most of them gradually faded into silence.
The air here was extremely thick and murky. A nauseating mix of smells hung heavy, and just getting close made it hard to breathe.
Even with his Flame Skin, Li Ban didn't blindly charge in.
"The smoke is toxic." Li Ban pulled a matching handkerchief from the bedroom set out of his pocket. He crouched by the edge of the pond, intending to wet it so they could cover their mouths and noses.
But the Cat Girl suddenly grabbed his hand, stopping him. "This pond water smells weird."
Li Ban paused. There were so many acrid smells in the air that he hadn't noticed anything unusual about the water.
However, he knew her nose was sharp. If she thought it smelled weird, then something was most likely wrong with it.
He bent down close to the surface and gave it a cautious sniff.
"Why does this smell a bit like gasoline?"
Li Ban froze for a second, then inwardly gasped in shock.
Someone had actually poured a gasoline-like substance into the Elegant Pavilion's pond!
How much gasoline would that require? And what exactly was this substance?
Most importantly, how had they managed to dump something so dangerous into the water without anyone noticing?
Li Ban stood up and looked into the distance.
The Elegant Pavilion sat where the ponds converged.
From this central pool, several channels branched out, leading to different parts of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
Because of this, almost every guest courtyard had running water.
Even their remote Red Plum Courtyard had a stream running through it.
It was one of the pavilion's greatest features, but now, it had become a conduit for disaster.
"If the pond catches fire—"
Right at that moment, a man fighting the fire slipped and fell. Most of the water he had meant to throw splashed back onto his own body.
A stray spark drifted through the air and landed right on him.
The next instant, the spark flared into a small flame, and then violently erupted into a sheet of fire.
Screaming in agony, the man lunged toward the water, but Li Ban, having just rushed over, grabbed him tight.
"Don't go in the water!"
Li Ban swept his hand over the man, instantly transferring all the flames from the man's back onto himself. With a clench of his fist, the fire vanished completely.
He could still easily control this small amount of fire.
If it was any larger, Li Ban would only be able to protect himself from getting burned.
One second, the rescued man thought he was going to burn to death. The next, he realized the flames on his body were completely gone.
When he saw Li Ban holding him back, he quickly realized this stranger must have used some method to put out the fire, and he immediately showered him with thanks.
"There's oil in the water. It'll ignite the moment it touches fire," Li Ban said. Seeing that the man was dressed as a servant of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, he urgently asked, "Where is your manager?"
In such a chaotic situation, Li Ban, a complete stranger, couldn't quickly rally everyone. It was best to find someone with local authority to organize the crowd.
During this time, the Cat Girl had also stopped several people from scooping water or trying to dive into the pond while on fire.
But the pond was simply too large; they couldn't possibly stop everyone.
No matter how strong an individual was, they were still only one person.
Perhaps others had also noticed the anomaly with the water, but they were similarly powerless to stop the panicked masses fleeing the blaze.
Right then, in the distance, someone engulfed in flames finally plunged into the pond.
The surface of the water instantly erupted in a roar of fire. The flames rode the ripples, rapidly spreading out and threatening to surge down the narrow tributary channels into the distance.