Urban Martial Saint

Fu Qingping led Ye Qing into the room and casually closed the door behind them, which showed he really didn’t want anyone outside to know what he was about to say.

Ye Qing followed beside him, full of doubt. He could tell Fu Qingping’s expression was even a bit grim, which made Ye Qing start to worry too. Fu Qingping’s strength was already Beyond The Pinnacle—what could possibly make his face look this serious?

As if pondering how to start, he stayed silent for a good while. Only then did Fu Qingping turn his head to look at Ye Qing, let out a low sigh, and say, ”The one‑month deadline has finally arrived after all.”

”What do you mean?” Ye Qing was stunned. Why would Fu Qingping suddenly say that? A one‑month deadline—what did he mean by that? What exactly had happened?

”From when Shijia left Shenchuan City until now, it’s already been a month!” Fu Qingping said.

”Shijia?” Ye Qing froze again. Counting it up, that was indeed the case. It really had been a month since Shijia left. But what was the problem with that?

Fu Qingping took a deep breath and said, ”Before he left, Shijia told me: if after one month he still hasn’t returned to Shenchuan City, that means something has happened to him!”

”Huh?” Ye Qing’s eyes instantly widened as he stared at Fu Qingping in shock. He knew Fu Qingping would never lie, which meant these words were definitely something Shijia had left beforehand. But what could happen to Shijia?

”What’s going on with Shijia?” Ye Qing asked in puzzlement.

”I don’t know what happened to him either, that’s just what he said.” Fu Qingping casually handed Ye Qing an envelope and said, ”Shijia left this behind. He said if he still hasn’t returned to Shenchuan City after a month, then you’re to follow the map inside the envelope and go look for him.”

”Me?” Ye Qing was stunned yet again. ”Why me?”

”I asked him that same question at the time, but he said it had to be you.” Fu Qingping shrugged helplessly. ”I don’t know the reason either, but anyway he repeatedly told me I absolutely had to send you to find him.”

Ye Qing took the envelope, opened it, and found a sheet of paper inside, with a map clearly drawn on it. This map looked a bit familiar to him. After examining it carefully for a while, Ye Qing suddenly realized in shock that this map was exactly the one formed by piecing together the clues Shijia had gotten before. Those clues had been left behind by Patriarch Bodhidharma. According to Shijia, Bodhidharma should have hidden a very critical item of the Buddhist Sect, and Shijia had gone to search for this thing. But why would he leave a one‑month deadline in advance, and say that if he still hadn’t returned to Shenchuan City within a month, Ye Qing would have to go look for him?

Ye Qing’s heart was full of doubt. Staring at the map, his brows knitted tightly. Shijia had tricked him many times, but after all, Shijia was the number one expert of the Buddhist Sect in the present age. His personality might be crazy, yet everything he did had deeper meaning. Whatever he was trying to do, there had to be some major reason behind it. And the fact that he wanted Ye Qing to go find him definitely also had a reason. But what on earth had happened that Shijia couldn’t make it back within a month? Could it be they’d run into danger? But if they really had encountered danger, then even if Ye Qing went looking, he’d be walking into danger too. What was Shijia’s game here?

”Did he say anything else?” Ye Qing asked.

Fu Qingping said, ”He just kept stressing that you absolutely must go find him. As for the rest, he said you can’t bring too many experts with you on the road, and you especially cannot bring any Beyond The Pinnacle masters!”

Ye Qing froze. So Shijia was basically telling him not to take too many people along, and in particular not to bring Fu Qingping. But what did Shijia mean by that? No experts, no bringing Fu Qingping—wasn’t he deliberately sending Ye Qing off to take risks?

”Then who can I bring?” Ye Qing asked.

Fu Qingping shook his head. ”That I don’t know. But Shijia did say, if you really don’t know what to do, you should go ask Old Wang Ba. Maybe you can get some help from him.”

”That bald donkey, all he ever does is make trouble for me!” Ye Qing couldn’t help cursing.

Seeing Ye Qing curse Shijia, Fu Qingping’s reaction was indifferent. In fact, many times, not only did Ye Qing want to curse Shijia, even Fu Qingping wanted to give him a few choice words himself.

”What are you planning to do about this?” Fu Qingping asked.

”What else can I do? Since that bald donkey made it sound so serious, I have to make a trip!” Ye Qing turned the map over and over, looking it through once more. ”Where exactly does this map point to? There’s not even a general location marked—how am I supposed to find it?”

Fu Qingping said, ”Shijia mentioned that the place shown on the map should be somewhere around Xiliang Mountain. Once you get to Xiliang Mountain, it should be much easier to find.”

Xiliang Mountain wasn’t close to Shenchuan City. Even by plane, it would take more than two hours just to get to a city near there. Shijia really knew how to toss himself around. Just to search for the item Patriarch Bodhidharma had left, he’d gone all the way to Xiliang Mountain. But then why had he set this one‑month deadline? Did Shijia foresee that there would be danger there?

Fu Qingping didn’t know any of that. He didn’t even know that the map was pieced together from clues left by Patriarch Bodhidharma. He’d only helped Shijia pass a message to Ye Qing. Once Ye Qing got the map, he went to find Old Wang Ba. According to Shijia, if Ye Qing had any questions, he could go ask Old Wang Ba.

Compared to Shijia, Old Wang Ba was at least somewhat more reliable. At minimum, a lot of the things he’d said before had already been proven true now. It was just that the guy was way too sleazy, so people always felt he couldn’t be up to anything good.

Old Wang Ba was also living here in the World Alliance, but he’d been pretty laid‑back lately. Every day he ate well, drank well, and lived comfortably. Most of the time he just wandered idly around the estate, teasing little girls and doing nothing much else.

When Ye Qing arrived at Old Wang Ba’s place, Old Wang Ba was sitting in the courtyard, leisurely basking in the sun. It was only mid‑March, but Shenchuan City was already quite hot. Old Wang Ba had his shirt hitched up, belly exposed, wearing a thoroughly content expression.

Seeing Ye Qing come in, Old Wang Ba lazily waved at him and said, ”Hey, Young Ye, over here!”

Looking at Old Wang Ba like that, Ye Qing felt like gouging his own eyeballs out. This old guy still had that sleazy middle‑part hairstyle, and now that life was good and relaxed, he had even more time to pamper his hair. Ye Qing seriously suspected he’d counted the hairs on his head one by one, splitting them neatly into two halves that hung perfectly down each side. Who knew how much gel he’d used; anyway, every strand of hair was stiff as a stick, and the whole thing looked unbelievably weird. Yet this old bastard still carried himself like he was some suave ladies’ man, occasionally blowing upward to make his bangs flutter a little, like he was super free and easy—completely unaware that his look was already inflicting major visual trauma on people.

Ye Qing sat down beside Old Wang Ba. After giving him a single glance and then refusing to look at him any longer, Ye Qing turned his gaze toward the flower beds in the courtyard. ”Eighth Master, there’s something I want to ask you.”

”About that bald donkey, isn’t it?” Old Wang Ba was just as blunt when it came to Shijia, directly calling him ”bald donkey” the same way Ye Qing did.

”You know about this?” Ye Qing’s eyes immediately widened as he stared straight at Old Wang Ba. ”You know what Shijia went to do?”

Old Wang Ba curled his lip. ”Bullshit. How would I know what he went to do? I’m not the tapeworm in his gut.”

”Then how do you know I’m here to ask about him?” Ye Qing asked, puzzled.

”I might not know what he’s doing, but I know what you’re going to do.” Old Wang Ba looked at Ye Qing with a squinty smile. ”My Divination Technique may not be able to read Shijia, but you think it can’t read you? Besides, that bald donkey Shijia told me before he left: if he doesn’t make it back within a month, I’m supposed to help you look for him. Now it’s been a month since he left, and you just happen to show up—what else could it be about?”

Damn, so that was it. Ye Qing couldn’t help spitting. He’d thought Old Wang Ba had actually divined what was going on; turns out Shijia had briefed him in advance too.

”Shijia said if I have any questions, I can come ask you.” Ye Qing looked at Old Wang Ba. ”So what do you have to tell me?”

”What is it you want me to tell you?” Old Wang Ba shot back.

Ye Qing froze for a moment. What kind of answer was that?

”I want to know where exactly he went. What’s he doing there? Why hasn’t he come back after a whole month? Why does he want me to go find him?” Ye Qing said.

”I can’t answer a single one of those. But I can give you a hint.” Old Wang Ba sat up and pulled his shirt down. ”If you’re going to look for that bald donkey, you’d better bring someone along with you.”

”Who?” Ye Qing asked curiously.

Old Wang Ba smiled. ”Fat Wang.”

”Fat Wang?” Ye Qing was taken aback, and the first person he thought of was Handsome Fatty Wang. That Tomb Robber—he hadn’t seen him for a while. Ever since Ye Qing had them help spread the story around Shenchuan City about their group coming out of the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master, Fat Wang had basically vanished. Now Old Wang Ba was telling him to take Fat Wang along to find Shijia—what did that mean? Could Handsome Fatty Wang know what had happened?

”That’s right, Fat Wang!” Old Wang Ba patted Ye Qing’s shoulder. ”Only if you bring Fat Wang can you find Shijia. Otherwise, if you go by yourself, you won’t even see a single hair of him!”

”Why?” Ye Qing couldn’t help asking. What direct connection was there between searching for Shijia and Fat Wang?