Chapter 23: Broken Blade Rice Shop.

Later that day, at exactly 1pm.

At an inconspicuous looking rice shop, Gu Yu Xing could be seen walking in.

His hair was long and black, nothing like the disheveled mess from before. He is a young man of about 5.8ft with a well toned body of a warrior, perfectly fitted with the signature black Gong Fu robe with a 'Gu' on its upper back.

It was almost the same style with what Gu Lin Fang and Gu Lin Ju were wearing but was still different. Due to their bloodline, he had a kind of seductive charm like Gu Lin Fang that made him seem trustworthy.

Upon entering the rice shop, the customers quietened down while the staff looked shocked.

"BOSS!!" The shopkeeper calls out and the customers went about their business.

The shopkeeper was a thick looking young man with bronze colored skin, which made it obvious that he was an external cultivator(Body cultivator) and he was by no means weak, considering he was at the Mid stage of the Auroras Core realm.

His bushy eyebrows locked up in pleasant surprise as he absentmindedly tried to hug Gu Yu Xing.

The other staff shook their heads with a sigh as the shop keeper was slapped back to the counter.

"How many times do I have to tell you..." Gu Yu Xing's cold voice rang across the place but was cut off by the shopkeeper's awkward words.

"Hehehe...I was just to excited, Boss Gong" he scratched his head awkwardly before approaching Gu Yu Xing with cautious steps.

This made the latter sigh, honestly, he had overreacted because he was still in a bad mood from the 'teachings' earlier today and he was taking it out on his friend and partner Fatty Zhu.

"Tsk tsk tsk, this is the first time I'm seeing someone close to me wearing clothes with the price of a house" Fatty Zhu exclaims in surprise while circling around Gu Yu Xing.

Something Gu Lin Fang was unaware of was that, despite Gu Yu Xing under the guise of Gong Shuren was someone who had dabbled in different things and had underlings under him.

So by taking Gu Yu Xing as his person, he technically got the full package. The scroll he found that was said to have the secret to awakening one's hidden bloodline had pushed him down the path of no return, making him slowly go mad.

And if he didn't meet Gu Lin Fang, perhaps that would have been his destiny. This rice shop was their cover in {Iron Crow city} and it had gathered a bit of popularity amongst the those who dabbled in the dark side of life.

{Broken blade Rice shop}, it had began as Fatty Zhu's bad joke six years ago and today it was a kind of neutral ground for exchanges amongst.

And though, those who used the place were mostly those of foundation establishment realm to the Qi gathering realm, it still gathered some respect and was even well known in Cruel Canyon because of Gu Yu Xing (Gong Shuren).

Gu Yu Xing placed his hand on Fatty Zhu's shoulder and took a deep breath before saying, "close the shop, there's much to discuss".

Fatty Zhu looked confused but did as he was told, "Alright Friends, we'll be closing temporally! I hope you can understand and come back later"

As he spoke, a chopper knife fell off his woolen jacket onto the floor. He looked around suspiciously with an awkward laugh and then picked it up with a dry cough.

"As I was saying, hehehe business will continue shortly, so...

Scram!!

You! Why aren't you standing up?!!"

The sound of shuffling could be heard as the customers struggled to escape from the raving butcher.

"Why is he always like that?"

"is that Gong Shuren?, He looks so young"

"I think so, they called him Boss"

"Shhhh do you want to die, it seems you are new to the outside world... I don't want to die okay?"

"Wait! Is that laughing butcher Zhu!!?"

"Hiiiii! Imbecile!!! you dare call him a butcher?!"

"it's sealed blade Gong Shuren!, Sir! Sir! Take me as your disciple!...ah!! Who punched me?!!!"

"You fool, you want to taste my sword?"

All sorts of incoherent discussions were heard as they ran out, Some clueless people were even stepped on in fear.

At the end of everything, the only ones seated were four members of the group that pretended to be customers to listen in on information.

The chef walked in from the kitchen while wiping his arms with a rough looking linen cloth.

It was a red haired boy of 14 with droopy eyelids, he scanned the place before spotting Gu Yu Xing.

"Master!" He joyfully called out.

Seeing this boy, Gu Yu Xing smiled with a nod" Jiang Qin, how are you?".

As the last successor of the Blood blade sect, He was secretly trying to expand their sect's practice, so he decided to take in a disciple.

This disciple turned to be this Jiang Qin.

"Master, you seem different" the kid suddenly said.

This attracted fatty Zhu's attention and he scanned Gu Yu Xing with a scrutinizing gaze, "hmm? The brat is actually right!".

The other people also nodded in agreement.

"Right, who came?" Fatty Zhu suddenly said and on noticing Gu Yu Xing's confused expression, he said "you wrote, 'he came' on the wall".

It was only then that Gu Yu Xing understood that Gu Lin Fang must have left a message to divert or confuse them, "Ah that, My father came".

"Huh? But Boss isn't your father dead?" Jiang Qin asked in confusion and the others nodded as well.

Gu Yu Xing sighs and took a chair to sit down before saying, "My adoptive father, He was my father's friend and just returned to {Iron Crow city} to settle his clan here".

Fatty Zhu notices the 'Gu' on his back and let out an "Oh!".

"A noble clan? Not even a merchant one?!!" His sweaty bronze skin seemed to glisten as he eyed Gu Yu Xing's clothes.

Jiang Qin's eyes glowed as he asked again, "you mean noble clan from the days of the empire or those who forced their way into that reputation"

"Old empire!" Gu Yu Xing stated curtly but his answer seemed to make Jiang Qin smile as he eyed Gu Yu Xing's clothes, "That means they must be very rich!!".

Luckily a slap hit the back of his head as Fatty Zhu glared at him," you want to rob the boss's family?".

"Huh? but they're not even that close!" He protested.

Gu Yu Xing decided to use the story that Gu Lin Fang prepared for him should Incase Gu Lin Ju asked about the bloodline.

"We share the same blood, my mother was from the Gu clan and Lord father has already helped me awaken my bloodline.

Yea it turns out I had one and I needed a senior member of the clan to unlock it".

""""""WHAT?!!!"""""""

This time everyone was shocked, after all they all knew the pan clan had no special bloodline and had tried to advise him severally, especially fatty Zhu who was aware of Gu Yu Xing's lack of talent considering they practically grew up together.

"Yes, my mother had fallen in love with a commoner and with the help of my adoptive father, she was able to change her name and elope with my father".

Unable to speak, they listened to him silently and Honestly, Even Gu Yu Xing was in awe at Gu Lin Fang's ability to cook up stories.

So he decided to lighten the mood and said, "Besides, how do you want to rob a Nascent soul expert?".

"F*ck! What did you say?" Fatty Zhu was so happy he began to laugh like a fool.

Jiang Qin was also smiling, Fatty Zhu grabbed a seat and slapped his thigh, "a Nascent soul backer, Hahaha...Fff... hahaha!!!!, Those fools in Cruel Canyon won't dare look at us in disdain anymore!.

Wait, I hope your new clan isn't a one of those 'self righteous"...

"No, they are... well I believe my adoptive father is a senior in Jianghu, He called himself Blood Demon Gu Lin Fang" this matter confused, Gu Yu Xing as well. Gu Lin Fang was at the Nascent soul realm and even had a 'title' Blood Demon, but it doesn't seem like anyone has heard of him.

Fatty Zhu looked at Jiang Qin and said, "do think he's one of the 10 great villains?"

Jiang Qin was also skeptical about it as well, "I'm not sure either".

"Well that's why I'm here, for that and this." Gu Yu Xing placed the list of names and the small bag of spirit stones on the table.

'Master Gu says he lost his memories but remembers that he was once called Blood Demon.

If I can help him find out about his past'

He looked at the others and said to Fatty Zhu, "First, don't ask questions, I want you to place a kill order on those within this list and secondly, I want you to find out everything you know about the Blood Demon Gu Lin Fang".

Hearing this, Fatty Zhu could almost tell something interesting was going to happen, so he spoke with a laugh "You got it, don't forget to introduce us to the big Boss later hehehe"

________________

At around passed four, In front of the {Sun Desert Bank}, a group of guards were loading something into a carriage while a middle aged man with a crooked moustache was talking to a young girl with a smile.

Gu Linju stood under her umbrella with two of the foundation establishment realm guards not too far behind as she listened to the man talk.

"Young miss Gu, I'm sorry we were not able to give the exact amount in taels.

The remaining 1.5 million can be given in the form of this cards, each of them represent five hundred thousand silver teals in any of our {Sun Desert Bank}.

You can change them to taels at a later time. you know with the upcoming auction, a lot of people have come to take ..." The middle aged man kept speaking in an attempt to please this little ancestor, especially as they are yet to know what clan she came from.

Amused, Gu Linju looked at the man and said, "Senior Tie, I understand your difficulties, so I won't pressure you too much hehe.

You know what, why don't you give me two of the cards and take one as an apology from the Gu clan for coming in on such short notice."

She bowed slightly while the Gu clan's maid next to her, Gu Wei Jui collected the cards with her hands shaking slightly, obviously She hasn't seen such money before.

"This!... I'm sorry I will have to refuse this gift" Tie Li zhan was appalled, who would give out five hundred thousand silver teals so easily?.

Unfortunately, Gu Lin Ju boarded the carriage without a word more.

As he watched the carriage leave, Tie Li zhan was lost in thought, "Gu clan? Why can't I seem to remember any big clans with that name?.

They can exchange one supreme grade spirit stone and two medium grade spirit stones without blinking an eye.

Must be a big cultivation clan that has been in hiding.

I need to pass this information to the headquarters".

Gu Lin Fang was simply unaware of the worth of those spirit stones in taels.

Gu Linju on the other felt surreal and pleased with herself. She held her father's spatial ring in her hands and quickly stored all the taels inside.

"Silly old man, pretending to not want it. If father didn't want me to give it to you, I would have collected it back with no regrets.

You should have thrown it back if you didn't want it, now you have gone on the path of slowly selling yourself.

I wonder how father thinks of these things, if senior Tie found out that he had collected gifts from a demon cultivator, I wonder what his expression would be like.

I almost want to tell him right now".

As she smiled at the thought while watching the lively city from the carriage window, dazzling all who set their eyes on her face through the light curtain.

And when they were curious, they would spot the unfamiliar symbol on the carriages side with the words 'Gu' on it.

So people began asking questions.

___________________

Unaware of this little waves, Gu Lin Fang looked at Li Cheng with a side glance.

The latter seemed fascinated after getting passed the fact that he was controlling a corpse.

"Lord Uncle, why use the dirty ragged robes?". He suddenly asked while looking at the now dressed corpse puppet.

Gu Lin Fang smirked and said, "Because it has a Hood, besides what would you think of you saw him like that for the first time?".

"Evil and terrifying" Li Cheng spat out without a second thought as he looked at the dirty brown robed puppet leaking thick black Qi and beneath the hood was just pitch black.