Master of Strange Dao

"Forget it, I don't want to hear anymore, I have things to do, you deal with it yourselves."

Ye Jiuyuan rubbed his sore shoulders and walked out.

It was only after Ye Jiuyuan had disappeared that the prisoner let out a sigh of relief and said to the prison guard,

"Hurry up, hurry up, I've confessed everything, I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

The prison guard gave him a glance, ignored him, and went on his way.

Meanwhile, Ye Jiuyuan left the Shadow Department through a side gate, dressed in casual clothes. He strolled along, stopping now and then. When passing through a vegetable market, he even greeted some people.

"Little Ye, up so early?"

"Did you not sleep well last night?"

These people seemed unaware that he was from the Shadow Department.

Ye Jiuyuan had a warm smile on his face and responded to each greeting, and someone even stuffed a cucumber into his hand. He didn't mind, wiped it casually, and started munching on it.

After wandering down a couple of streets, he came to a side road and sat down at a breakfast stall.

"A bowl of tofu pudding, extra sauce, extra coriander, make it spicier, and add a plate of bread to that."

He looked around, approached a table and asked,

"Brother, is this seat taken?"

"No, it's free, sit wherever you like."

"Alright then."

After Ye Jiuyuan had sat down, he vigorously slurped the steaming, smooth tofu pudding. He took a bite of the bread, soaked it in the pudding until it was dripping with sauce, and then stuffed it into his mouth.

"Brother, you should try this. Old Zhao's bread is freshly fried, it goes really well with the tofu pudding."

"Okay, I'll give it a shot." Yu Ziqing lifted his head and called out to the vendor, "Boss, give me a plate of bread too."

Yu Ziqing tried it, and it indeed tasted delicious, seemingly even more suitable than fried dough sticks.

Yu Ziqing, munching on the bread, could never have guessed that this friendly young man, who seemed to know the local vendors well, was actually the Shadow Chief, Ye Jiuyuan.

"Not bad, huh? Old Zhao's bread is small, but it's not as greasy as fried dough sticks, it's less filling, freshly fried, and very aromatic. If you don't remind old Zhao, he'll surely try to pass off something he fried earlier as fresh."

Listening to Ye Jiuyuan, the surrounding customers all laughed heartily, and even Old Zhao, the bread vendor, joined in the laughter.

"Little Ye, don't talk nonsense. The ones I fried earlier were just made a while ago; they haven't been sitting long."

"Still, they can't beat the taste of freshly fried ones."

Yu Ziqing, chuckling and eating, was feeling quite satisfied after finishing a bowl and, without any feeling of heaviness, called out,

"Boss, another bowl and another plate of bread, please."

After eating more, Ye Jiuyuan, observing Yu Ziqing's hearty appetite, said,

"Eating too much at one time can make you not want to eat later."

"No worries, I have a good appetite."

"I meant, after you finish, you'd better leave quickly. This place isn't really suitable for you. If you get too accustomed to it here, you might not be able to leave even if you want to."

Yu Ziqing swallowed a piece of bread and lifted his head to look at the guy across from him.

There was more to the remark.

It was at that moment that Yu Ziqing seriously looked at the other person.

At first, he thought he might just be a cultivator living nearby.

Now, he realized, this guy had come specifically to meet him.

To tell him to scram and not to stay in the Dali Imperial City.

Daring to disturb him early in the morning, and a Ye at that, must be quite powerful.

"Ye Jiuyuan?"

"Eh, you know me?" Ye Jiuyuan seemed a bit surprised.

"Besides Chief Ye, there's probably no other Ye who would come to meet me this early to tell me to scram."

"Young Master Qing, you flatter me. I'm saying this for your own good. You'll be unsafe here, and the Imperial City will be unsafe too. I don't want to see millions of hungry ghosts appear in the Imperial City; that would greatly increase my workload."

Ye Jiuyuan kept a gentle smile on his face and spoke very calmly, continuing to eat his breakfast as he spoke.

"I think you're overthinking it."

"No, I haven't overthought; it's already here."

Right after Ye Jiuyuan finished speaking, Yu Ziqing sensed an incoming assassination attempt from behind.

Yu Ziqing kept his expression unchanged, pretending not to sense it, and continued eating his breakfast.

The next moment, a black arrow flew over his head, aimed directly at Ye Jiuyuan.

Ye Jiuyuan raised his hand in front of him, a wisp of dark light emerging in his palm. The arrow dissolved silently into the darkness and vanished.

"It seems, Lord Ye, you indeed thought wrong, it's not me they're after." Yu Ziqing continued to hold his bowl and eat his tofu pudding as if nothing had happened.

The hatred within the assassination attempt was as visible as a beacon.

Someone was seeking vengeance against Ye Jiuyuan, and they had lost all reason in their desperation.

If Yu Ziqing intervened, he would be drawn into the conflict.

In an instant, chaos erupted around them, the crowd stood up hastily to escape, and Yu Ziqing also carried his bowl of tofu pudding and moved aside.

However, unlike others who ran far away, he stood a hundred yards away on a wall, watching the drama unfold.

Ye Jiuyuan glanced at Yu Ziqing, then looked forward again, his smiling face slowly becoming serious.

He vanished on the spot and, within a few breaths, returned dragging a person with him. He threw the lifeless body on the ground, casually dropped a black bow beside it, and quietly waited there.