His opponent halted his charge, pulling back in time, not wanting to push Li Ran into a corner. It wouldn't benefit either of them.
Li Ran spat out a mouthful of blood and stood up shakily.
To get out of the fight as quickly and reasonably as possible, he deliberately took a few more hits from his opponent.
The presiding Gu Master stepped onto the arena and announced the result of the match.
Li Ran was already burning with anxiety. After retrieving the Tengxun Gu, he pretended to gesture and left the arena.
Cursory healing his injuries, he hurried back to his residence.
"Damn it, how could this happen? What the hell is going on? Why did I suddenly lose contact with the Flower Bud Gu?"
An incredibly heavy cloud loomed over Li Ran's heart.
The Flower Bud Gu was a Gu he had refined. The moment Fang Yuan refined it, he had immediately sensed it.
"There are only two possibilities for this situation. One, the Flower Bud Gu was destroyed. Two, someone else refined it! Was I discovered? No, maybe it's not that bad. Maybe my house was just robbed. Damn it, I've lived in Merchant City for eight whole years. I know every thief around here. And someone still took a liking to my crappy place!"
Li Ran walked quickly. The Starstone was extremely important. Even with his composure, he couldn't help but feel a secret anxiety.
He regretted it.
He should have hidden the Flower Bud Gu in a more secretive place, not just in a hidden compartment under the bed boards.
But in truth, it wasn't entirely his fault.
He was completely alone. To hide himself, he had no friends. He hadn't seen his wife or son in years. The brothels, gambling dens, and taverns he frequented were always crowded and not suitable for hiding things.
He could have stored it in a pawnshop or a bank, but making a big deal out of storing a trivial piece of rough stone would be too strange. If the Merchant Guild investigated in the future, it would be a huge suspicious point.
In Merchant City, snakes and dragons mixed together. There were plenty of Gu Masters who worked as thieves. But to crack the Flower Bud Gu, a Third Turn Gu Master was needed. But why would an ordinary Third Turn Gu Master be interested in his shabby residence?
Li Ran had been in hiding for six whole months. He had almost forgotten his past himself. When he hid the Flower Bud Gu, he was very confident. But now, that confidence had all turned into self-blame.
"I hope it can be salvaged!"
He arrived back at his residence, feeling anxious. The door was ajar.
He pushed the door open and immediately saw the room in complete disarray.
"It really was thieves!" The thought instantly sprang into his mind.
Thieves weren't a big deal. As long as his identity wasn't exposed, everything could still be salvaged.
"That's right!" Li Ran comforted himself. "I always communicated with the Wu clan through a single, direct line. I don't have any evidence left in my hands. That legendary Gu is also wrapped inside the Starstone. Who would understand its value without cracking the stone open? I just need to find the thief. Using the connections I've built up over eight years..."
Thinking this way, he gradually calmed his emotions, expelling the panic from his heart.
"Should I report it? Enlist the help of the city guard to catch the thief? No, it's better to try tact first, and if that doesn't work, then use force. It's best to get the Starstone back peacefully. The city guard isn't reliable either. They won't put much effort into helping a nobody like me. Maybe I should hire a Gu Master from the Iron clan?"
"Hm? This is..." At that moment, his eyes narrowed. On the flipped-up bedboard, he clearly saw a Gu.
The Heart Voice Gu!
This Gu was Second Turn. It was a bluish-black, about the size of a baby's pinky fingertip. Shaped like a spiral shell, wide at one end and narrow at the other, with a thread-like pattern on its surface.
"Heart Voice Gus always come in pairs. They allow two Gu Masters within a hundred paces to communicate using their heart voices. Could it be... the thief deliberately left this for me?!"
A hesitant light flickered in Li Ran's eyes. Then, gritting his teeth, he stuffed the Heart Voice Gu into his ear like an earplug.
"Who are you?" Li Ran infused his True Essence, activated the Heart Voice Gu, concentrated his mind, and tried to ask in his heart.
"The question of who I am isn't important. What's important is that the name Li Ran is probably a pseudonym, right? Hehehe." Immediately, Fang Yuan's voice rang out in Li Ran's heart.
In an instant, Li Ran's pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks. It was as if he had been struck by lightning. He stood there completely stunned.
"Not good, he's discovered my identity!" Li Ran was utterly terrified.
Things had developed into the worst possible outcome!
But he was, after all, a mole who had been lying low for eight years. Faced with such a sudden upheaval, he still managed to barely steady his nerves. Gathering his mental strength, he said to Fang Yuan in his heart: "Pseudonym? What pseudonym? What do you mean?"
As he spoke, he carefully tiptoed around the simple room.
Then, he leaned his back against the wall and turned his head to look at the street outside the window.
"The effective range of the Heart Voice Gu is only a hundred paces. This mysterious man must be somewhere nearby." He rapidly thought about his countermeasures.
Using the Heart Voice Gu required one to focus one's mind and concentrate one's mental energy to hold a conversation. Ordinary stray thoughts would not be transmitted.
But Fang Yuan had already anticipated his current mental state. He chuckled softly: "You don't need to pretend, Li Ran. I am not your enemy; I am your cooperator. To show my sincerity, we can meet."
"Meet?" Li Ran was genuinely stunned.
Immediately after, Fang Yuan's voice sounded in his heart again: "Now, you are going to walk out the door. Turn left once you're outside the gate."
"Why should I listen to you?" Li Ran cried out in his heart.
Fang Yuan smiled faintly: "Don't try to probe how much I know. I will always know a little more than you imagine. Like this: I'll count to five, and you can think it over carefully."
"One." Fang Yuan began to count.
Li Ran's mind raced.