Chu Li sipped some tea and smiled. “What did Lady Xiao plan to do with Gu Litong?”

　　“Lady Xiao doesn’t care about him.” Su Ru twitched her red lips and scoffed. “Lady Xiao felt that Master Xiao wasn’t wrong for kicking him out of the Public House. If it wasn’t for Master Xiao’s continuous pressuring, Lady Xiao would’ve punished him long ago!”

　　“But at the end of the day, he’s still a talented one,” Chu Li said. “Did we really have to let him go like that?”

　　“What else could we do?” Su Ru tilted her head and looked at him. “Unless you want us to be ruthless with him?”

　　Chu Li smiled as he shook his head.

　　“Wouldn’t that be too much?” Su Ru did not believe him as she stared at him unsatisfyingly. “He’s already in a bad situation. Moreover, he’s as good as useless for the rest of his life now and even then, he won’t be appearing in front of us anymore — that’s no different from being dead.”

　　Chu Li looked at her helplessly. “Chief, what do you think Gu Litong will do now that he’s been kicked out of the Public House?”

　　Su Ru laughed. “What can he do?”

　　“Don’t forget that he’s a Scribe of the West Garden. He knows quite a lot about the Public House. Don’t you think that the Ren Public House will make a jump on such a talented person? If he wanted to join the Ren Public House, do you think that the Ren Public House would reject him?” Chu Li said.

　　Su Ru’s smile stiffened.

　　Chu Li shook his head and sighed. “Gu Litong knows all the officers and the people in the Public House. More so, he knows everyone’s personalities. If the Ren Public House got him, then figured out everyone’s weakness and used it against them like how I dealt with Zhou Yuting, who do you think would be able to handle it?”

　　Su Ru furrowed her brows and thought about it deeply.

　　Xue Ling stood behind him and was prepared to fill up the teacups anytime. As she heard all of that, she furrowed her brows too. Was ending his life really necessary? All of what Master said was just to eliminate the root cause, did he not?

　　Su Ru raised her head and sighed. “Seems like we’ll have to go look for him.”

　　“Hmm. You could always do something to compensate for what he’s done.” Chu Li nodded. “Don’t just kill him off simply.”

　　He took a long sigh. Confronting someone like Lady Xiao, everything was a test. If he only cared about his own personal grievances, his horizons and even mind would shrink. Then, Lady Xiao would have lost her liking to him.

　　Now that Gu Litong had come to this extent, his future was already stripped away. For the rest of his life, he would only struggle at the lowest level.

　　He had felt much better and he did not have to do anything worse. In fact, it was a good opportunity to show how forgiving he was.

　　Su Ru sighed and furrowed her brows as she shook her head. “It won’t be easy to calm Master Xiao down… We need Lady Xiao to go and persuade him.”

　　“Nevertheless, Gu Litong is still a very gifted person. This should be dealt with as soon as possible in case it drags on and more problems surfaces. Who knows, Ren Public House may have already taken action.”

　　“I’ll send someone now!” Su Ru quickly stood up.

　　Su Ru’s apricot gown floated as she moved. Using the Light-body Technique, she disappeared from the courtyard in the blink of an eye.

　　“Master, would Gu Litong really join the Ren Public House? Is he not afraid of being assassinated by the people of the Ren Public House?” Xue Ling asked.

　　“What do you think?” Chu Li smiled.”He doesn’t really have a choice. He cannot be bothered about that now.”

　　Xue Ling furrowed her brows and nodded helplessly.

　　Chu Li shook his head. “This is why we can’t look down at anyone. Everyone has their own worth.”

　　Xue Ling gently nodded.

　　“Alright, I’ll start the spirit bath today. Go and prepare one wooden barrel just for it. It needs to be taller and narrower than normal barrels. It’ll allow me to stand inside so that the medication isn’t wasted,” Chu Li said.

　　“Understood, I’ll prepare it. When’s Master going to start?”

　　“At night.”

　　“Understood.”

　　She turned around and left the courtyard to get people to make the wooden pail.

　　However, Chu Li was not sure if the medication was going to work as the cultivation of the Sentient Menace had hit a brick wall. He was itching to progress but he was unable to do anything.

　　When Chu Li was preparing for the bath in the evening, Su Ru came over.

　　As always, she was in her apricot gown but she looked rather gloomy. She pushed the door open and went straight into the pagoda.

　　Meanwhile, Chu Li was squatting on the floor, checking the Glory’s Will Tree which was growing really quickly. It grew one inch in just a day and that was far beyond his expectations.

　　The Life and Death Scripture was indeed mysterious, accelerating the growth rates of many plants.

　　As she saw Su Ru enter the pagoda without saying a thing, Xue Ling understood immediately. She carefully served some tea and left quietly.

　　Chu Li smiled as he sat opposite Su Ru. He picked up the teacup that Xue Ling had just served and took a sip. “Chief, who made you angry this time? Do you need me to do something?”

　　“You can’t do anything!” Su Ru rolled her eyes at him. “We’re in trouble!”

　　“Is it about Gu Litong?”

　　“Hmm, Gu Litong is missing! I’ve ordered for people to search for him but we still couldn’t find him. Someone probably took him away!”

　　“Ren Public House?” Chu Li furrowed his brows.

　　He never thought that he would actually guess it correctly. The Ren Public House was indeed quick!

　　“We’re still unsure.” Su Ru shook her head and sighed. “We were late to make a move! We’re really in trouble now!”

　　“Aren’t there tracing masters in the Public House?” Chu Li furrowed his brows. “We need to find him quick. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Ren Public House or some other forces. They’re definitely not friendly to us!”

　　“I’ve already sent the Tracing Masters.” Su Ru pursed her red lips and scoffed,”If it really is the Ren Public House, it’s going to be really troublesome!”

　　“If it really is the Ren Public House, then we’ll have to keep our eyes peeled. They shouldn’t have gotten the news of this yet. I bet there’s a spy amongst us for the news to spread this quickly,” Chu Li said.

　　“A spy…” Su Ru sighed and nodded. “That’s for sure.”

　　Chu Li smiled. “We probably have a spy in the Ren Public House as well, don’t we?”

　　Su Ru rolled her eyes at him. “Why are you asking about this?”

　　Chu Li smiled, indicating that he understood.

　　It was apparent that there was a spy network. All the Public Houses had infiltrated each other so that no one would be able to conceal anything from each of the Public Houses. This meant that he was now in danger as well. Not only did he have to be careful of the Tempest Temple but he also had to be careful of Ren Public House since he had killed one of their masters before.

　　Su Ru glared at him with her bright eyes, unblinking as if her eyes were watery.

　　Being glared at like that, Chu Li felt a slight tinge of fear in which he quickly waved his hand. “It has come to a stage where even I don’t have any idea on what to do.”

　　Su Ru smiled sweetly. “Chu Li, you have the most crafty ideas. I’m sure you’ll figure it out!”

　　Chu Li stood up and paced around for a few steps, silent for the entire time.

　　With one look at him, Su Ru suddenly felt a ray of hope. Her smile became wider as she said in excitement, “Tell me… quickly!”

　　Chu Li stopped walking. “There is a risk to it.”

　　“Ah just get to the point!” Su Ru stared at him.

　　Chu Li coughed lightly before he said, “Chief, you know of the spies in our Public House, am I right?”

　　Su Ru nodded. “Yes. I can’t find them all, but I can probably find a few.”

　　“Then we’ll let these spies overhear a secret ‘accidentally’.”

　　“A secret?”

　　“A secret about Gu Litong. Let them know that he’s hurting himself just to gain their trust.”

　　Su Ru’s eye brightened, revealing a smile. “You and your crafty ideas!”

　　“This idea might not work, but it’s still better than nothing. We’ll also have our spies spread the information to Gu Litong that the Public House despises betrayal and as soon as they lose their worth, the consequences awaiting them would be very harsh. Hopefully, this deters Gu Litong from saying too much.”

　　“Hmm, killing two birds with one stone.” Su Ru nodded.

　　“I actually have one more.” Chu Li added.

　　“Tell me, tell me!” Su Ru pushed his left arm.

　　Chu Li just smiled. “Have you ever thought about letting Gu Litong accomplish something to cover up for his faults?”

　　“You’ve talked about that already, haven’t you?” Su Ru scoffed.

　　Chu Li shook his head. “It’s not the same thing.”

　　“Quickly tell me then!” Su Ru rolled her eyes at him and snorted. “Watch how I’ll punish you if you keep me hanging like this!”

　　Chu Li quickly waved his hands as a sign of defeat before he smiled. “We can actually make Gu Litong a spy.”

　　“A spy?” Su Ru was confused.

　　Chu Li nodded and said, “Now, the fake one will become real and vice versa. It’s said that the Lady from the Ren Public House is quite a great figure; she might not even buy our previous scheme and trust Gu Litong more instead.”

　　“Lu Yurong is indeed great.” Su Ru pursed her small cherry-like lips and shook her head. “It’s rare to have someone who is capable of putting Lady Xiao at a disadvantage!”

　　“If we frame Gu Litong as the spy and Lu Yurong trusts him, it would be for the best in the long run. Even if Lu Yurong was skeptical, we’ll lose nothing,” Chu Li explained.

　　Su Ru looked at Chu Li.

　　Instead, Chu Li smiled at her. “Do you think that I’m too heartless?”

　　“You’re treating Gu Litong as a pawn!” Su Ru shook her head. “You’re not treating his life seriously!”

　　All of those who wielded power cared not for emotions. They only cared about what outcome benefited them the most, using people around them as pawns. Lady Xiao operated under this concept as well. Being an Emperor’s daughter who was born into nobility, she was given an education that centered around this idea ever since she was young.

　　“If it were someone else, I might’ve tried to get him back but it’s Gu Litong,” Chu Li said.

　　He then scoffed, “I’m already kind enough to not kill him outright!”

　　Su Ru tilted her head and judged him. “Why didn’t you deal with him earlier if you were so smart?”

　　She thought that Chu Li was smart. If he wanted to deal with Gu Litong, it would have been easy. What was the point of waiting until now?

　　“I am kind, and I want to be kind to people.” Chu Li smiled.

　　Su Ru rolled her eyes at him.

　　“Okay, to be honest, he wasn’t really one of my worries. He was just a little smarter,” Chu Li said.

　　To be honest, he was actually waiting for something to happen. He was able to read one’s intrigue easily, so he decided to beat him at his own game. Since it was easy to deal with him, he could do it whenever.

　　However, he had only planned to sprinkle a few words here and there; he did not plan to get involved. If Master Xiao got mad, he might get himself into trouble since Master Xiao was the one who wielded the power of the Public House.

　　All these thoughts flashed passed his head as Chu Li continued, “Moreover, I’m not that pampered. I’m not like those tigers who can’t bite. As long as he stayed within his boundaries, I’ll leave him alone. But since he offended Chief Su Ru, I can’t tolerate that any longer.”

　　Su Ru pursed her lips and smiled. Then, she rolled her eyes at him. “Look at you!”

　　As soon as Chu Li said it that way, she was rather happy about it even though she knew that he was kissing her ass.

　　After all, Chu Li would definitely put his words into actions. He was not one who would just flatter her with words and no action — he meant every word of it. Although Gu Litong picked on him earlier on, Chu Li never even gave him a second thought until Su Ru was disrespected. Everything he did now was to stand up for her.

　　“Alright, I’ll have to report this to Lady Xiao.” Su Ru stood up gently. “If Lady Xiao takes your plans seriously, you’ll be given credit.”

　　“How is this a contribution?”

　　“Disingenuous!” Su Ru rolled her eyes at him and slowly left.

　　Chu Li started to prepare for his bath. He mixed all the herbs and began to cook it, wanting to give the effects a try.