Chapter 54: The Identity Jade Token of the Wu County Lu Clan

"Master Lu of the Four Rivers Gang? What do you want with him?" The man’s small eyes revealed a look of surprise.

Bai Pu increased the force in his fingers, and the man immediately began to breathe heavily, his eyes rolling back as he struggled to say, "Spare... spare my life..."

Bai Pu slightly loosened his grip.

The man finally became obedient, no longer daring to ask questions, and led the way honestly.

Before long, Bai Pu arrived in front of a rather grand mansion, with the words "Lu Mansion" inscribed above. He waved the man away and stepped forward to ask at the gate:

"Is this Lu Chuan’s home?"

The gatekeeper glanced at Bai Pu with disdain, clearly unimpressed with Bai Pu’s ordinary medical officer attire (changed in the Wounded Soldier Camp), and retorted, "Who are you to dare speak my master’s name so casually!"

Bai Pu smiled and said, "My name is Lu Pu, the twenty-second generation descendant of the Wu County Lu Clan. If I’m not mistaken, Lu Chuan is a generation younger than me, so why shouldn’t I call him by his name?"

"You... wait a moment!" The gatekeeper, now somewhat intimidated, turned around to report. Shortly after, someone came to lead Bai Pu into the courtyard.

Lu Chuan was a thin elder, with graying beard and hair, aged around fifty or sixty. He wore a scholar’s robe and a Confucian cap, looking more like a well-read scholar than a gang leader.

Upon seeing Bai Pu, Lu Chuan quickly asked, "Among the Wu County Lu Clan, there are many descendants, but I’ve never heard of someone named Lu Pu. May I ask, young friend, which branch are you from?"

Bai Pu cupped his hands and said, "My ancestor Lu Qing left the family for certain reasons. Hence, my name never entered the family registry, and it’s no surprise that Master Lu didn’t recognize it."

Lu Chuan’s eyes flashed with a sharp insight (literally), followed by a prompt from the Spirit Realm Will that Bai Pu received:

Lu Chuan’s expression noticeably softened, and he said congenially, "Indeed, I seem to recall that there was a grand-uncle named Lu Qing who left early. What the young friend says is true... well, I should call you little uncle instead."

Observing Facial Expressions and Reading Moods is one of the Confucian Scholar abilities of the Three Kingdoms Plane, which can discern the truth or falsehood of what someone says by observing their spirit and complexion.

Fortunately, Bai Pu was genuinely a distant descendant of the Lu Clan, which allowed him to pass the truth determination. Otherwise, with his Spirit Attribute, there was no way he could have deceived Lu Chuan, the scholar.

Although Bai Pu didn’t dare to presumptuously accept Lu Chuan’s courteous address, he cupped his hands and said, "As a young man, I don’t dare accept the honorifics from Master Lu. You may simply address me by my courtesy name, Bo Yue."

Lu Chuan also didn’t wish to call a young man ’uncle’, especially as they weren’t directly related uncle and nephew, and many generations apart, outside the exogamous kinship! Seeing Bai Pu’s understanding, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of goodwill and smiled approvingly, "In that case, forgive my forwardness... Bo Yue, seeing your military physician attire, you must be undergoing training with the army! May I ask what brings you here?"

Bai Pu replied, "I heard that there are Daoist sages skilled in alchemy at Huilong Temple in Chaisang City. However, searching through all the pharmacies in the city, no one knew of them, so I wanted to ask Master Lu for some information about the location of Huilong Temple."

"Huilong Temple?" Lu Chuan’s eyes flashed with insight again (this time not literally), pondering something but did not speak further.

"Could it be that Master Lu knows?" Bai Pu thought to himself.

Lu Chuan laughed it off, changing the subject.

Bai Pu was well aware that Lu Chuan surely had some intelligence about Huilong Temple, but since their goodwill wasn’t strong enough, he wouldn’t speak. Doctor Liu’s reaction corroborated this as well.

Building goodwill was originally Bai Pu’s forte. Unfortunately, when facing Lu Chuan, an old man, the charm value brought by high looks inevitably took a hit.

Bai Pu didn’t want to slowly accumulate goodwill and directly said, "Master Lu, I heard there are some disputes between the Four Rivers Gang and the Wild Wolf Gang, as well as the Red Lotus Society?"

Perhaps because Bai Pu was a descendant of the Lu Clan and considered one of their own, Lu Chuan didn’t hide it, nodding and saying:

"Actually, the disputes with the Wild Wolf Gang are minor. They deal in shady businesses that we don’t care for, so there’s no need for conflict. The real conflict is with the Red Lotus Society.

"Our Four Rivers Gang primarily deals in brewing, along with trading gold, silver ornaments, and cloth, while the Red Lotus Society mainly deals in grains. Originally, there were not only no conflicts, but also cooperation, since brewing requires grains!

"But in recent months, the Red Lotus Society started their own brewery, and they refuse to sell grains at a fair price to us. Worse still, they’ve sent thugs to raid our Four Rivers Gang’s shops. It’s outrageous! In the past two months, our gangs have fought three times, without a decisive outcome yet."

Bai Pu casually said, "Give me a list of the key members of the Red Lotus Society, as detailed as possible."

"Oh? Bo Yue, are you suggesting..."

"Now that I wish to return to the Lu Clan, I must support where I can, of course," Bai Pu said. "Master Lu, rest assured that although I may appear as a mere physician, I am more than slightly skilled in the arts of combat and enemy confrontation."

Lu Chuan gave Bai Pu a meaningful look and smiled, "Bo Yue, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. You’re so eager to help me, it must be for information about Huilong Temple, right!"

Seeing Bai Pu nod, Lu Chuan stroked his beard and said, "Very well, I’ll send someone to investigate Huilong Temple. Once there’s news, I’ll inform Bo Yue, how about that?"

Bai Pu agreed, but Lu Chuan’s earlier statement couldn’t be taken at face value. The so-called investigation of Huilong Temple was merely a pretense, as the actual intelligence about Huilong Temple was probably in Lu Chuan’s head!

Whether Lu Chuan would be willing to disclose it, and the level of detail of the intel, were surely correlated with Bai Pu’s efficiency in completing the task.

If Bai Pu could dismantle the Red Lotus Society’s lair or eliminate key members with influence, Lu Chuan would likely provide detailed intelligence.

However, if Bai Pu stumbled and failed to weaken the Red Lotus Society at its core, Lu Chuan might dismiss him with "no results from the investigation."

Afterward, Lu Chuan took out a jade token and handed it to Bai Pu, saying, "Bo Yue, now that you’ve returned to the Lu Clan, please accept this Identity Jade Token."

Bai Pu took the token, and the Spirit Realm Will sent a prompt:

Great item!

Glancing at it, Bai Pu immediately confirmed it was a great item, as one particular feature stood out: it doesn’t take up an equipment slot and works just by being placed in the Storage Space, making it top grade.

Not to mention it can be upgraded based on reputation with the Wu County Lu Clan!

This was also why Bai Pu chose the "Famous Family" prefix without hesitation and joined Sun Quan’s Army faction!

Because this would make the Spirit Realm Will generate Bai Pu’s initial identity with a high likelihood of a renowned clan origin from the East of the River, maximizing the "Famous Family" effect.

At the moment of receiving the Identity Jade Token, the Spirit Realm Will sent another prompt.

Bai Pu filled in the name "Gangxin" and then closed the leaderboard. He wasn’t too concerned about it, only occasionally checking it to analyze what other top-ranked Awakened might be doing.