When they left the bank again, it was already afternoon and so they wandered around the extensive Bo Chaos estate. It was fenced in on all sides with high walls and there were guards everywhere. There was even a patrol on the wall.
Qing Lai sighed, it was becoming increasingly obvious that they wouldn't be able to get in without force. As evening fell, she was attracted by a commotion at one of the entrance gates. To get a better view, they swung themselves up onto the roofs and sat behind one of the gilded dragon statues that adorned the roof.
Two men, worn out and exhausted, pulled a cart through the city gate. As soon as they had passed it, they collapsed. One of the guards lifted the cloth and turned away, retching. Zhi Cheng looked over at Qing Lai. He had clenched his hands into fists and lowered his eyes.
"Which one of them is your brother?" asked Zhi Cheng, eyeing the two worn-out men.
"He's not with us. He'll probably have stayed behind to rescue the rest of the women!" Qing Lai replied hoarsely.
Zhi Cheng watched as two other men pushed the cart along. The night descended over them and a bright full moon rose over Chaisang.
The warm wind blew through the streets and over the rooftops, making the two men look almost unearthly. As if a demon and an angel had come to earth to play a game.
"Shall we then?" Zhi Cheng asked, looking at Qing Lai expectantly. The man with the golden-brown hair sighed heavily, but finally gave in.
They ran across the rooftops, letting the wind carry them as they flew over the wall that spanned the huge estate and landed softly on the other side.
The guards, over whose heads they flew, looked at them open-mouthed. They couldn't believe who had the audacity to enter the manor.
For Qing Lai's sake, Zhi Cheng tried to limit himself to knocking the men out. So he ignored the cracking of their bones and the crunching of their necks until he found the right amount of force to knock them down without too much damage.
Qing Lai ran ahead. The palanquin was still in the courtyard, so it couldn't have been long since Bo Chao had returned.
Sure enough, he found the anxiously trembling, rotund man waddling hurriedly through a hall of white stone and dozens of magnificent vases. Several of his private bodyguards immediately stood in his way, but Zhi Cheng was quicker. With a swift movement of his fan, he pushed them away from him so that Qing Lai could reach Bo Chao without any detours.
The Ghost King just let the last man go down and snorted. Not killing people was a lot more strenuous than expected when dozens of uniformed guards stormed into the hall. Zhi Cheng cursed. Qing Lai twisted the chubby man's arms behind his back so that he cried out. The men immediately stopped.
"Wh-what do you want? I-I'll give you money, rare artifacts, just say what you need. We don't have to use force," the man stuttered with a voice like a mouse.
"We'd like to know what's valuable enough to wipe out an entire caravan," Qing Lai hissed. His friendliness had given way to anger. Bo Chai squeaked painfully as Qing Lai increased the pressure on his twisted arms.
"I don't know what the Lord is talking about," Bo Chao whimpered and looked at Zhi Cheng with watery eyes. As if he saw him as the more sensible of the two. Zhi Cheng opened his fan and put a fist behind his back.
"Do I have to repeat his question?" he asked. Bo Chao swallowed and finally shook his head.
"T-this is tricky, w-if I tell you, I might lose my head," he said in a trembling voice. Zhi Cheng leaned forward.
"I'll make the decision easier for you; don't tell us and you'll definitely lose your head," he whispered.
Bo Chao's gaze slid to Qing Lai, but his expression icily confirmed Zhi Cheng's threat. The hall filled with more and more guards. Qing Lai took a step back, Zhi Cheng took a step forward.
"Let's talk somewhere else!" Qing Lai decided and heaved the corpulent man out with him. Zhi Cheng's red eyes gleamed. When he could no longer sense Qing Lai's presence, he let the strands of his spirit threads shoot out of the walls and pierce the guards.
They were trapped like flies in a finely woven black spider web and fell to the ground, screaming in pain. When the screams died down, he fanned himself and looked at the men.
His poisoning seemed to be mostly healed. He no longer felt pain or the thickening of his blood, nor did he feel a barrier preventing him from using black magic at will.
Even the guards looked nauseous, but no longer poisoned. He nodded in satisfaction, then followed Qing Lai. It wasn't hard to guess where he had fled to. With someone like Bo Chao in tow, only the slums were really an option.
He found him not far from the jetty where the two had arrived the night before. Bo Chai was choking, which was really not his profession. Qing Lai greeted Zhi Cheng with a beaming smile, then turned back to the fat man.
"If you don't mind," he instructed him. Bo Chai's tears actually fell onto the velvet blue silk and he sniffled unmannerly.
"What bad luck I have, what bad luck I have!" he kept repeating, sniffling all the time. Qing Lai sighed, his patience was wearing thin.
"I assume, Mr. Chao, that you don't store your goods in your house. After all, it's highly toxic from what we've seen of it so far. Where do you store the boxes of poison? Do you make it yourself, do you sell it? Do you use it? Do you import it? ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?" he shouted angrily.
Bo Chao flinched and looked at Qing Lai with wide eyes. How did he know all this?
"You're clever, young man," he mumbled.
"It's not the first time I've seen things like this and I'm well aware of people's greed. As well as their dark sides," Qing Lai replied impassively.
Zhi Cheng had stood next to him and was content to frighten the man with his mere presence.
He couldn't help but admire Qing Lai's sharp mind. His pretty little head was working non-stop, asking the right questions, drawing conclusions and connecting the loose threads into whole strands. Zhi Cheng grinned proudly, but the smile faded when he caught Bo Chao's irritated look.
"So? Where are you hiding your goods from Duifang? And by the way, who's supplying you with them?" he asked sternly.
Bo Chao admitted defeat and told the two of them that there was a gigantic, flourishing black market in the vast labyrinth of caves under the mountains that surrounded Chaisang. It only opened its doors on the night before, during and after the full moon. To enter, you had to offer a drop of your blood as a pledge, which is why it was called the Blood Bazaar.
You could only enter if you had a personal recommendation or were accompanied by a high-ranking member. Zhi Cheng and Qing Lai wordlessly agreed that Bo Chao would be their entry ticket.
"What luck, today is a full moon, if you would be so kind as to accompany us, dear Mr. Chao!" said Qing Lai without any warmth in his voice.
Bo Chao whimpered, but had given up all resistance when Qing Lai grabbed him and pulled him along. They soon found a cutter that could carry them all, and Qing Lai paid the grumpy old man a gold tael to get there and one to get back. Without a word, he pocketed the money, which was more than he would earn in a lifetime, and sailed the trio to the other shore.
Bo Chao puffed and panted like an old horse, he was not used to walking and then through the dense undergrowth and branches of the forest. When they finally reached one of the many cave entrances, he pointed to it and gasped for breath.
"If you go in there, sooner or later you will come across guards, show them this seal and they will lead you to my camp," he gasped hoarsely. Qing Lai took the white jade seal from him and examined it briefly.
"You will accompany us, of course!" he said.
"I insist!" gasped Bo Chao.
"This will not be negotiated," Qing Lai replied and pushed the man into the cave.
Zhi Cheng was almost tempted to summon a spirit flame when Qing Lai ignited a fire talisman and thrust it into Zhi Cheng's hand.
"Go ahead, I'm behind you," he said softly. Bo Chao whimpered the whole time, but led them dutifully through the winding paths and narrow alleyways.