Liu Xing went back to the items list page and saw many underlined words, indicating they were links.
"This is like Wikipedia!" he exclaimed.
Liu Xing was exaggerating a bit. After all, the info in this interface was too limited. It was disrespectful to compare it to Wikipedia. But the main thing was that the interface was full of links with more information. This would greatly reduce the time and effort needed to find the treasures!
"I've changed my mind," he said to himself.
His previous strategy was to start from the farthest place he could reach, thinking the competition would be less fierce there. But since he now knew the whereabouts of the treasure, down to who was holding it, there was no reason to skip this town.
Grinning, Liu Xing thought he had a real chance to win this race.
"This interface is so convenient. Maybe the person who created it is an app developer from Earth, or at least thinks like one."
He wasn't sure, and ultimately, whether there were other people from Earth or not didn't change anything.
"All right, let's go."
He activated Lightning Cloak and started moving north. The Qian clan's residence was there.
As he moved, Liu Xing wondered if this interface was some kind of test. After all, the elder must have known about this convenient tool.
As he moved over the rooftops like a ninja, the lone moon in the sky shone brightly, as if it were an eye following Liu Xing's every move.
About thirty minutes later, Liu Xing was crouching in the bushes. Through the leaves, he could see a small town. This town was located between three hills. The northern hill was the largest, and on top of it stood a giant castle with golden walls, curved roofs, and a beautiful white pagoda on one side. Many buildings with an ancient Chinese feel surrounded it, making the hill full of man-made structures. The eastern and western hills also had many buildings on top of them, but comparing these two hills to the one in the north was like comparing two normal houses to a mansion.
He suspected that the clan occupying these three hills was the Qian clan, and the town below was the mortal area fully controlled by the clan.
"All right, let's start," Liu Xing muttered.
He summoned his gun and pointed it at the largest hill. He felt danger from this clan. After all, he intended to sneak inside and steal one of their treasures. Purple Moon Sect thought that the Flute of Serenity belonged to them, but that sentiment was also shared by the Qian clan.
Not long after, Liu Xing became fully invisible, and he started to move toward the main hill. If he wanted to search for this guy named Qian Biaou, he needed to start from the most likely place he would live, which was the castle.
Liu Xing had actually tried to check information about Qian Biaou in the interface, like his appearance or his status in the Qian clan. But the interface didn't give him a link to Qian Biaou's page. This meant either there was no information about Qian Biaou or there was a step he still hadn't completed to access more information. Probably the former, since Qian Biaou came from this small clan near Mystic Moon City.
He moved swiftly using the Lightning Cloak technique but didn't try to move at maximum speed. After all, he was in enemy territory, and it was smart to be careful.
Soon after, he arrived at the outskirts of the castle. He jumped from roof to roof, trying to climb the castle from the outside. Before long, he stood on the white pagoda beside the castle. From this place, he could see the entire area of the hill.
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"All right, where to start."
Liu Xing remembered that the Flute of Serenity could increase cultivation speed, and while he didn't know how it increased cultivation speed, since it was a flute, there was a chance it could only be activated by playing it.
Sitting cross-legged on top of the pagoda, Liu Xing closed his eyes and cycled his qi around his ears, trying to enhance his hearing so he could hear everything around him.
After several minutes of sitting but not hearing anything, Liu Xing almost gave up, thinking to search manually. But just to be sure, he listened for a bit longer.
Half an hour passed, then an hour. After listening this long, his patience was finally rewarded.
In the distance, he could hear the faint sound of a flute, almost as soft as a whisper. Liu Xing stood up and started moving toward that sound. Each step he took made the sound a little clearer. The song this flute was playing was a sorrowful one, as if someone was trying to convey their sadness through the music.
Liu Xing now stood atop a wall. In front of him was a small training field with a big stone in the center. On top of this big stone sat a plump woman with several lines on her face. She played a song with her plump fingers, closing her eyes as she played the sorrowful tune. She wore black clothes, and in her hair, she wore a beautiful gold butterfly hairpin.
Seeing her, Liu Xing blinked several times. That woman was a cultivator, and if his senses were right, she was on the cusp of Lock Opening seventh stage. Only half a step from breakthrough. Yet, her face looked like that of a middle-aged woman, with several lines below her eyes. This meant either she was an old woman without much talent for cultivation, or she cultivated using a method that made her age faster. Probably the former, since he believed if she used a cultivation method that sacrificed life force and youth, she would be at a higher cultivation realm than merely Lock Opening.
Liu Xing wondered if she was Qian Biaou. Qian Biaou was a male name, but there was still a chance that Qian Biaou was her.
As he observed the woman who looked like a plump mother, Liu Xing studied the flute she played.
The flute was made from black bamboo, and at its tip, there was a ring of purple color. He suspected that this was the flute he needed to retrieve, so he tried to feel the qi around her, checking the effect of the flute.
He could sense the qi around her being sucked toward her at a steady rate. The effect was not bad, comparable to when someone ate a Qi Siphoning Pill of upper grade quality, which meant this flute could speed up cultivation to two times the normal rate. This flute was definitely the Flute of Serenity.
As Liu Xing stood on the wall, he wondered how to take the flute from her. He could just take it. With his speed and invisibility, he doubted she could react in time, but doing that felt wrong, especially since she played such a sorrowful song, and her posture and finger movements conveyed deep sorrow.
Liu Xing rubbed his chin, trying to decide what he needed to do. The options were only two: snatch the flute away, or turn around and leave. When the choice was simplified, the correct action was obvious. He wanted to be an inner disciple to get access to better resources, better connections, and more freedom. As an outer disciple, he needed to complete missions if he didn't want his points to be deducted. Even now, his sect points were in the negative. While an inner disciple needed to complete more dangerous missions, he heard they were more free to roam the world, sometimes even taking months or years on an expedition.
Deciding he would steal that flute, Liu Xing nodded. He needed to accept that stealing resources was sometimes necessary to pursue power. He wouldn't say robbing people was honorable, nor would he steal from others willy-nilly, but he was willing to steal on special occasions like this.
Still, Liu Xing would wait until that woman finished her song. He could wait a little bit.
He sat cross-legged and enjoyed the sorrowful song. It was beautiful yet haunting, as if that woman was trying to pour her sorrow into the song so her heart could be free from that sad emotion. But after several minutes, the song took a weird turn. The beat transitioned to short and choppy tones, she blew the flute forcefully, and Liu Xing could feel anger in every note. After that, it transitioned to a sorrowful song again, and not long after, it turned into an angry song again.
Hearing this, Liu Xing felt uncomfortable. This wasn't a single song, but two songs meshed into one, with no harmony between them, as if trying to combine water and oil. Still, this song was full of emotion. He could feel this woman was angry yet sad about someone.
"Qian Biaou! For such a cunning son, why are you so foolish! Just because you could scam some random man who had connections to Purple Moon Sect, you dared to take a bigger risk. And now look at yourself. You're dead! The only thing left of you is just your arms. And even those arms are now buried and being eaten by worms!"