While Yue Hai spoke of this reason, he still appeared to be stating the obvious, as if the words his master had spoken were absolute truth to him.
After his initial astonishment, Li Chonglou’s brows also furrowed slightly.
Undoubtedly, what Yue Hai practiced was the Mai Qian technique, and he had already reached the introductory stage. From this aspect alone, he could be considered half a fellow disciple, which made Li Chonglou somewhat concerned about the master he mentioned.
“Didn’t you say you hid in the mountains to cultivate yourself? Where did this master of yours come from?”
“This is all about the fate between my master and me. Years ago, he had too many enemies, leaving him as the sole survivor of his sect, so he also entered the deep mountains…”
According to Yue Hai, their meeting was extremely coincidental. Furthermore, upon learning the cultivation technique he practiced, the other party directly offered guidance, helping him break through a bottleneck he had been stuck at for years. Thus, Yue Hai took him as his master.
After explaining all this, Yue Hai added with admiration, “You have no idea how much my master knows. From astronomy to geography, there’s nothing my master doesn’t know!”
Li Chonglou quietly watched Yue Hai, who was speaking with animated enthusiasm, his brows still knitted.
Yue Hai was not young, approaching thirty. Coupled with his years of living in the deep mountains, he looked even older. On the street, he would be considered a figure of uncle status.
However, his facial expressions and the excited, animated way he spoke made him seem like a simple, naive child who had never been out in the world. One could call it immature, or one could call it pure.
In any case, it was completely inconsistent with his appearance.
At this moment, Li Chonglou felt the power in his acupoints gradually dissipating. Time was running out. Moreover, the stone had already detached itself when he forcibly broke through the curse power. This meant he had to figure things out before his strength vanished.
“Let your master’s matter rest for now. I need information about the Xi Gang.”
Yue Hai’s expression faltered for a moment.
“I don’t know about that either. After I came down from the mountains, I followed my master’s instructions to find a tall, thin person, and then he brought me here, where I met Gao Feng.”
“Oh, right, you didn’t do anything to him, did you? He has the medicinal ingredients I need. My master said that if I want to continue breaking through, I must rely on alchemy, and I was waiting to find another chance to trade with him.”
The more Li Chonglou listened to him speak, the tighter his brow became. For some reason, he had a gut feeling that this fellow had been tricked by someone. Unfortunately, time was limited now, and he couldn’t investigate further. He could only ask for his contact information.
“Mobile number? What is a mobile number?”
Li Chonglou froze on the spot, looking at Yue Hai with disbelief. He had never expected to hear such a question when asking for his contact details!
“You don’t even know what a mobile phone is?”
“Mobile phone? What is that?”
Yue Hai’s bewilderment stemmed from an instinctive emotion that most people couldn’t fake!
While Li Chonglou was still in a daze, the power in his acupoints began to drain at an accelerated rate. If it was like a water bucket with a small leak before, it was now like a hole had been punched, and the rate of loss increased several times over!
Time was truly running out!
In his helplessness, Li Chonglou quickly gave Yue Hai an address and added.
“If you want to continue improving, after you go out, go to this address!”
With that, Li Chonglou vanished from Yue Hai’s sight like a black shadow.
Yue Hai was stunned for several seconds before a spark lit up in his eyes, and a smile of excitement spread across his lips.
After leaving the underground passage, Li Chonglou scaled the wall of the compound and spent a few minutes returning to the street, where he received a call from Yue Fu.
“I’ve arrived. What happened? Was that explosion caused by you?”
Yue Fu on the phone was frantic. This was Shangjing, and an explosion case here was as serious as it could get! If Li Chonglou had really caused the explosion, he felt his own capabilities wouldn't be enough to protect him!
“No, it’s likely the work of Xi Gang. I’m handing this matter over to you to investigate.”
After speaking, Li Chonglou directly hung up the phone and immediately called Hei Dao, telling him not to come over as the matter was already resolved.
Having dealt with everything, Li Chonglou then quietly returned to the vicinity of the bar and found Lao Er’s car in a small alley.
He lightly knocked on the window, startling the person inside. Upon recognizing him, Lao Er reacted even more intensely, quickly opening the car door and urging Li Chonglou to get in.
As soon as he sat down, Li Chonglou heard Lao Er anxiously ask.
“Mr. Li, that explosion, it wasn’t caused by you, was it? If it was, you should go back and surrender immediately, or I’ll become an accomplice!”
“Uh, don’t be so nervous, it wasn’t me.”
“Really?”
“Don’t you see the police have arrived? If it were really me, would I dare to come here so openly?”
Lao Er’s tense expression finally relaxed. However, he didn’t know that Li Chonglou was discreetly sending a message to Long Shi.
Although the explosion wasn't his doing, the nearby surveillance cameras would have definitely captured him. If Long Shi didn’t use his special privileges to clear the evidence in advance, it would surely lead to further trouble if someone investigated it later.
Fortunately, Yue Fu was currently in charge. As long as Long Shi could grant him special permission for inter-district investigations, this matter could likely be handled perfectly.
While he had Lao Er drive him back towards Yi An, Li Chonglou began to organize the information he had gathered so far.
The situation wasn’t optimistic. Gao Feng had first been extricated by the old man he mentioned, then he could hire killers from Qing Gang, and finally, he became involved with Xi Gang. This involved at least three forces, two of which were the renowned Four Great Gangs of Shangjing!
The most crucial point was that Hai Yan was still missing, and Yue Hai knew nothing about it. If he wanted to continue tracking her whereabouts, he could only rely on Long Shi for now.
“I hope she’s alright.”
Li Chonglou sighed. He understood that the reason he could locate her within ten minutes before was by tracking her mobile phone. Now that she and her phone were no longer together, it would naturally take some time to continue tracking her whereabouts.
He couldn’t rush this matter.
Therefore, Li Chonglou decided to return to Yi An first and meet with Yue Hai again to clarify his matters.
At the very least, he had to understand the matter of the broken stone that the latter mentioned. His senior brother Ya Hao had never spoken of any other successors or inheritances being passed down, so where did that broken stone recording the Mai Qian technique come from?
Or did his never-met master have other successors?