Anti-fraud manual for the cultivation world

Li Gu clasped his hands and said, "Understood. Thank you for your guidance, senior. I will no longer ask around randomly, lest I implicate innocent people."

The old beggar chuckled: "Not bad, lad. Judging from your voice, you're probably from the righteous path. What caused you to leave the Central Plains and come to Jiangzhou to make a living?"

Li Gu spent a fraction of a second thinking: should he lie or answer the truth?

Ultimately, he could have ignored the man's question and simply walked away, but he felt it was better to answer it here. The old beggar's attire and his followers bore a resemblance to the "Beggar Clan" from martial arts novels, a sect generally considered righteous.

The system hasn't issued a single alarm since we started talking to this old man, which means he's not the kind of person who lies all the time.

Perhaps we could try trusting them? Who knows, we might be pleasantly surprised?

Li Gu replied, "I offended someone and had to hide in Jiangzhou. My enemies are also chasing after me. The paper crane I asked about is their communication tool. I want to use it to find them and strike first to eliminate future troubles."

This is the truth, not a lie. It was said naturally without any emotional fluctuation, without revealing the slightest flaw.

The old beggar stared at Li Gu with deep eyes. If Jiang Zhou could use his divine sense, he would definitely be scanning Li Gu from head to toe. But he couldn't here, so he could only carefully examine Li Gu's emotional fluctuations and pay attention to his every subtle expression and movement.

After a few seconds, he chuckled: "Your enemy is the Demonic Sect. Recently, the Demonic Sect has been exchanging several paper cranes every few days, seemingly plotting something. And you, well, you're planning to ruin their plans."

Li Gu's silence was taken as tacit agreement.

The old beggar chuckled and said, "When you get old, you just like to watch a good show. The Demonic Sect getting its comeuppance is my favorite kind of entertainment, so I can do you a small favor."

"Go forward three blocks, turn right... Paper cranes flew out of that area this morning and returned around noon. If you lose the fight and are caught and interrogated, say that Old Hong from the Justice Alliance told you to let the Demonic Sect come after me."

Li Gu clasped his hands in thanks: "Thank you, I'll remember this. I hope I won't get caught."

He turned to leave, but Old Hong suddenly grabbed him with lightning speed. Even with his Foundation Establishment cultivation, Li Gu didn't have time to dodge, which startled him. Fortunately, the old beggar only grabbed his arm like an ordinary person and didn't exert any force: "Hey, why are you just leaving like that? When you asked my men questions, you gave them a copper coin to buy steamed buns. Couldn't you give me a little reward?"

Li Gu felt extremely embarrassed: "I thought someone with your abilities wouldn't be short of money..."

Old Hong blew on his beard unhappily: "What nonsense are you talking about? Look at me, how could I not be short of money? I haven't even had dinner yet."

Li Gu thought to himself: You're so capable, yet you have no money for food? Are you kidding me!

No, the system didn't issue any alarms!

This guy wasn't lying, he really doesn't have money for food?

Old Hong, with a shameless grin, said, "I've given you such crucial information, sir. Please give me some reward money. Please, have mercy and give me a few coins... I'll starve to death if I don't eat soon... I really want to eat the braised pork knuckle from Wangjiang Tower... It's not expensive, just one tael of silver from you will be enough."

Even his way of addressing people changed. Just now it was "Your Excellency" and "I," but now it's "Master" and "Your humble servant." The tone instantly shifted from the interaction between fellow martial arts practitioners to that of a beggar begging for food, and in a shameless way at that.

Li Gu was both amused and exasperated.

Well, I do have some money on me.

The constable's salary is 5 low-grade spirit stones and 5 taels of silver per month.

He had already received a month's salary, and because he and Zhang Yi had survived a month's wager with the constables, they had also taken all the salaries of the constables who had participated in the wager, so they had several dozen taels of silver on them.

Li Gu took out two taels of silver and handed them to Lao Hong.

The latter was overjoyed, and bowed deeply to Li Gu while holding the silver, saying auspicious words: "Your Excellency is greatly benevolent, may your blessings and longevity be as deep as the sea, may your children and grandchildren all be distinguished, and may your descendants achieve fame and success in every generation..."

This doesn't look like the demeanor of a senior expert.

Li Gu couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure two taels of silver is enough? No need for spirit stones or anything?"

Old Hong grabbed the silver and ran off, saying, "Mortal-run restaurants don't recognize spirit stones, they only recognize silver."

Li Gu: "You can go to the bank to exchange it."

Old Hong: "That's too much trouble..."

After saying that, he ran off and disappeared.

As soon as Lao Hong ran away, all the other beggars on the street immediately surrounded him, each stretching out a dirty hand and holding a broken bowl, gesturing towards Li Gu: "Sir, you're kind, please give us some more money."

Li Gu took out a handful of copper coins and scattered them around. The beggars bent down to pick up the money, and he took the opportunity to slip away. He ran to another street, which seemed to be outside the Beggars' Guild's territory, and finally he didn't see any more beggars.

"Hmph! The Beggars' Sect branch of the Justice Alliance? They're not to be trifled with either, not to be trifled with."

A constable's monthly salary is only 5 taels of silver, and he just gave out at least 3 taels in this short time.

Looking back, Zhang Yi was bending over and laughing in the distance behind him.

Despite a minor hiccup, the intelligence was ultimately obtained.

Li Gu straightened his posture, recovered from being distracted by Lao Hong, and returned to his business. He walked two more streets forward and turned right...

What appeared ahead was a chaotic slum, with a bunch of dilapidated houses built on a small hill, jutting out high.

This kind of terrain is unique to Jiangzhou. A small hill can actually rise up inside the city. No other city would allow such a random bump to appear in the city.

Li Gu only glanced at the cluster of messy houses and small hills from afar, but he was almost certain that the people of the Demonic Sect were hiding in the small house at the highest point, so that they could overlook a large area of ​​the surrounding streets.

Perhaps, even as I stand here, I am already being watched by Ouyang Ming or Ouyang Liang.

However, Ouyang Yang and Ouyang Liang were not very familiar with themselves.

At this distance, the two of them are unlikely to be able to determine the exact location.

Li Gu quietly made a gesture to Zhang Yi behind him and walked towards the pile of messy houses.

The movements shouldn't be too pretentious; they should resemble someone on the run, sneaking around, head down, constantly glancing left and right, as if afraid of being discovered.

Maintaining this timid posture, he deliberately walked through the middle of that group of houses.

He himself had his head down and couldn't see anything, but Zhang Yi, who was following far behind, could clearly see a head and a purple face peeking out of the window of the small house at the highest point. It was Ouyang Ming's corpse puppet.

He stared at Li Gu's back, seemingly trying to recall something. Then he turned around, as if saying something to the people inside the house. Soon, the door of the small house opened, and two black-clad disciples of the Demonic Sect, along with Ouyang Ming's corpse puppet, came out together and followed behind Li Gu.

Zhang Yi quickly followed.