I couldn't figure out what I'd said wrong, even after I got out of the car.

I asked Lin Zhao, but she just kept a straight face and didn't say anything.

When I asked the other girls, they told me to figure it out myself!

Wasn't that just screwing me over?

If something's wrong, just say it!

If you don't say anything, how am I supposed to know what's going on?

In the end, those girls closed the group chat. I couldn't get anything out of them!

Ye Yang just told me, "You're hopeless," and slipped back into the car.

Forget it, I'll just do it the old way! If I can't figure something out, I won't think about it!

I immediately started thinking about the Hidden Cloud Village.

Now, masters of Kongdao (Way of the Void) were gathered in the Hidden Cloud Village. They would definitely be able to see through whatever anyone was carrying.

If I walked into the Hidden Cloud Village with the token in plain sight, Chen Shuyu's contact would see it, and so would everyone else.

That would probably stir up trouble.

Lao Liu told me to throw the token away, probably wanting to muddy the waters!

But where should I put the token?

While I was pondering this, Ye Yang said, "See that supermarket up ahead? That's a sentry post for the Thieves' Guild."

I looked ahead and saw a roadside supermarket built against the mountain.

In the old days, martial artists would meet at roadside tea stalls, but now it was supermarkets or fast-food restaurants.

Ye Yang parked the car near the supermarket, tossed the keys onto the counter, and gave the owner a hand gesture.

The owner asked without batting an eye, "What do you folks need?"

Ye Yang said in a deep voice, "North has a leaf that obscures the sun."

"You're Ye Dangjia (Family Ye)?" The owner glanced at me. "This way, please!"

The owner grabbed the keys, called a clerk, and had our car driven to another fork in the road.

As the owner walked toward the shelves, he asked, "Who invited Ye Dangjia to come this time?"

Ye Yang said, "No one invited me. I just came to join in the fun!"

The owner raised an eyebrow. "It's best if Ye Dangjia wasn't invited. Several big brothers and sisters in the village are looking for partners right now. I wonder if Ye Dangjia is interested?"

Ye Yang replied casually, "I'll see."

The owner was immediately pleased to hear that Ye Yang hadn't refused. "This way, please! After you go in, head straight for the first house at the entrance of the village. Just say that Lao Zhou (Old Zhou) from the supermarket sent you, and someone will arrange the rest for you."

As the owner spoke, he pushed on the shelf, and a hidden door immediately opened.

Behind the door was a secret passage that ran through the mountainside.

As Ye Yang led us inside, I couldn't help but ask, "What were you guys talking about just now?"

Ye Yang explained, "The Thieves' Guild isn't lacking in people who understand feng shui and mechanisms, but their inheritance isn't complete. Sometimes they need to find genuine sorcerers to cooperate."

"Bei Yi Ye (Northern One Leaf), although not a member of the Thieves' Guild, has some connections with them! Of course, Bei Yi Ye isn't the only feng shui master and mechanist who cooperates with the Thieves' Guild. Some of them even have long-term partnerships."

Ye Yang paused. "The reason we were able to get in so smoothly is that neither the Daoists nor the Kong (Void) Sects dare to easily offend Bei Yi Ye."

"After we go in, no matter which group we cooperate with, the owner outside will get a referral fee. How could he not be happy?"

While Ye Yang was speaking, a village came into view.

From my angle, I could see the side of the village.

From the side, the village was divided into two by a wall. On the outside of the wall were modern two- or three-story buildings, while on the inside were ancient buildings that looked like they were from two or three hundred years ago.

I asked curiously, "What's the deal with this?"

"The rules of the Thieves' Guild and the Kong Sects," Ye Yang said. "That wall represents the Jianghu (martial world). If you don't want to participate in the Kongdao (Way of the Void) actions, you can climb over the wall, and no one will bother you. Even if there's a grudge, you have to settle it after you leave."

"If you stay in the 'Jianghu,' it means that you've accepted life and death without complaint. On this side, there's no order to speak of. Even if you kill someone in the street, no one will say a word. You can even pay someone to help you dispose of the body. Let's go!"

The three of us walked along without encountering anyone until we entered the village, where we saw a completely different scene.

The open space at the entrance of the village was full of stalls. Although the stalls were mixed together, the cloths they spread on the ground were quite interesting.

Most of the cloths were red and white, but only a few people used black cloths.

Ye Yang introduced nonchalantly, "Those with red cloths are from the Thieves' Guild. Most of their items are mingqi (funerary objects) that were taken from places where they shouldn't be seen. The red cloth signifies that they are seeing the light of day again."

"Those with white cloths are from the Kong Sects. Their items are things they've stolen from others, and they can't be seen in the light. The white cloth is to send those items off, as if they were dead, and it's best if they don't appear in the world."

"Interesting!" I said as I looked at a stall. "Why doesn't that black cloth stall have anything on it?"

Ye Yang glanced over there. "Those are life-selling stalls. Didn't you see that they're all sitting on the cloths? If you give them enough money, they'll risk their lives for you."

While I was talking to Ye Yang, someone came up to us. "Are you here to do business or just looking around?"