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Tingyu stopped in front of Grandmaster Bai’s grave. No one was there.

“Told you,” Chen Feiyuan said. “He couldn’t possibly be here.” Despite his words, Chen Feiyuan’s eyes darted left and right as he scanned the area.

“He’s here,” Tingyu said softly, looking at the gravestone.

Surprised, Chen Feiyuan looked at the gravestone and noted the fragrance of alcohol. He suddenly looked thoughtful. Obviously, someone had come to visit the grave once they were gone. After some thought, he sighed. “We don’t know for certain it was him. It could have been anyone. And even if it was him, what does it matter…?”

Tingyu bit her lip, as if she wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words.

“He’s in Seven Blood Eyes now,” Chen Feiyuan continued, “a glorious member of their echelon. But if he doesn’t show complete and utter loyalty to his Master Seventh, then he’ll be nothing.... There’s not much he could do about Teacher’s death, so there’s no point in deluding ourselves. Besides, maybe you were wrong, and it wasn’t him. Maybe that thankless wretch didn’t come here at all. If we want to get revenge for Teacher’s death, we’ll have to do it ourselves!”

With that, Chen Feiyuan led the crestfallen Tingyu out of the graveyard and back to her residence. After seeing her inside, his face became incomparably solemn.

On the way back to the Chen Clan, one of his three attendants, who looked to be the same age as him, said, “Young Master, the thankless wretch you mentioned, is it that Xu Qing who everyone’s talking about nowadays?”

Suddenly, Chen Feiyuan spun in place, his eyes cold as he viciously slapped his attendant in the face.

The attendant was thrown to the side and smacked into the ground, but immediately scrambled into a kneeling position.

“If I want to call him a thankless wretch, that’s my business!” Chen Feiyuan snapped. “But he’s my Elder Brother. Maybe I don’t like him, but Teacher approved of him, therefore, so do I. Who the hell are you to talk about him like that in front of me?”

The trembling attendant started knocking his head against the ground.

“Considering how long you’ve served me, I’ll give you a proper burial.” The attendant began frantically begging for his life, but only a moment later, the other two attendants grabbed him and broke his neck. Everything went quiet.

Chen Feiyuan didn’t pay any attention to the commotion. After frowning for a moment, he said, “Activate all my deep-cover spies. I want to know what the Gold Core experts in all eight clans are up to. I don’t care how much this costs. Pay it.”

“You want all of them activated?” one of the attendants asked. They both looked surprised.

“All of them.”

The attendants immediately began to make the arrangements.

Meanwhile, Chen Feiyuan frowned. I don’t know what that thankless wretch Xu Qing is up to right now, but I have the feeling he’s going to get involved in this thing. If he sticks his head in the wrong place, he could end up in big trouble.

He did the right thing by not coming to see us. Tingyu is a simple girl who cares only about studying medicine. She’s not built for this kind of intrigue. If she slipped up and leaked word that he’s here, the Seazombie bounty alone would be too tempting for people to resist.

In fact, it’s possible that someone killed Teacher just to lure out Xu Qing. Kill two birds with one stone. Or maybe there’s an even more complicated plot afoot! I just hope I’m overthinking things.

Xu Qing wasn’t the only one who had changed in the past two years. After Chen Feiyuan returned home and became sucked into clan power struggles, he had transformed dramatically. For one thing, he became much more focused mentally. At the same time, his time spent with Grandmaster Bai affected him deeply, imbuing him with a profound hatred for the politicking of the Violet Lands.

He looked at his two attendants. “Did you make the arrangements?”

The attendants nodded. Then, only a moment later, their faces turned dark and blood sprayed out of their mouths. They dropped dead.

I had no choice. I can’t even trust the two of you. Now that you’ve done your job, there was no other option but to see you on your way.

Previously, the only people Chen Feiyuan had trusted in the Violet Lands were his teacher and Tingyu. With his teacher gone, the only person he trusted now was Tingyu.

I suppose I can trust the thankless wretch also. I wonder if he noticed the evidence of the twenty-four-hour rot-dispelling pill.... Given his skill in plants and vegetation, he should be able to pick up on the clues left behind by the poison in Teacher’s body.

Frowning, Chen Feiyuan got rid of the corpses and left.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Violet Lands’ capital city, Xu Qing stalked through the shadows, not revealing a scrap of his aura. His eyes were cold as he moved along.

The reason he hadn’t made contact with Tingyu and Chen Feiyuan was that he feared it could cause further complications. Xu Qing knew how much money was on his own head, and it wasn’t lost on him that someone might have set this whole thing up as a trap. Besides, even if it was a trap, it was probably ancillary to the actual murder. The fact that the supreme yin chosen assimilation pill formula was missing showed that there was a larger plot.

If someone is trying to use this to get at me, it’s probably someone from the Violet Lands. Maybe I’m thinking too much into it, but regardless, I need to be on my guard and ready for anything.

Eyes narrowing, Xu Qing dusted himself with poison powder and made sure his aura was completely hidden, then continued on his way.

He had already identified the clues he needed to track down the killer. Master Seventh’s red jade slip had explained the special characteristics of the culprit. Considering the killer was a Gruegloom, it was going to be difficult to catch. The Captain had offered some advice, but Xu Qing already had his own methods.

Anything that used mutagen in cultivation could be detected by his shadow. After all, mutagen was food for the shadow.

The Violet Lands capital city was a place where good people and villains rubbed shoulders, and had a lot of people with strong mutagen. But when you added in the aura of the Forbidden Sea, then it narrowed down the range of targets.

Because of that, a matter that would be difficult for most people wasn’t very hard for Xu Qing. All he needed was to provide his shadow with a few key pieces of evidence, and he could easily track down the killer.

What was more, Xu Qing knew that, given his teacher’s skill in the dao of alchemy, there was no way he wouldn’t leave behind some clues. After all, even Xu Qing, with his inferior skill, could leave behind clues if he ended up being killed.

Therefore, Xu Qing had taken time to observe the corpse from afar, and had also cast his senses into the soil when he grieved in front of the gravestone. Because of that, he knew for certain that his teacher had been poisoned with a twenty-four-hour rot-dispelling pill.

Such pills could actually have a beneficial effect when taken regularly over a long period of time, especially on mortals. However, there was an unusual side-effect; someone who consumed such a pill, then died afterward, would start decomposing at a rapid rate. In fact, they would usually turn into a sludge within twenty-four hours.

It was a unique type of pill that Grandmaster Bai would only concoct when he had free time. However, there was more to the pill that average people wouldn’t know about. Only Grandmaster Bai’s students would know that the primary ingredient in twenty-four-hour rot-dispelling pills was meltsoul mist.

Meltsoul mist, also known as heaven closes its eyes, is a mutated spirit plant that exists in misty conditions. It can be used to melt markings left on the soul, and is very difficult to detect or extrude. It is a primary ingredient in twenty-four-hour rot-dispelling pills.

That was the clue Grandmaster Bai had left behind. It all made sense. The killer’s soul had been infected with a minute trace of meltsoul mist, and Xu Qing knew exactly how to identify it.

And thus, he sped through the night, following his shadow to check on three possible suspects. The first one was staying at an inn. Once he was close, Xu Qing personally inspected their aura, then immediately turned and left.

It’s not this one.

Taking advantage of the darkness of night, he headed to the second possible suspect. This one lived in an ordinary citizen’s house, and didn’t emit any cultivation base fluctuations or even any traces of mutagen. However, they couldn’t evade detection by Xu Qing’s shadow.

Upon nearing, Xu Qing stopped moving. Then his eyes glittered with cold light, and he slipped inside the residence.

An old man lay asleep inside, but the moment Xu Qing entered, he opened his eyes. Looking in shock at Xu Qing, he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, a black iron skewer thrummed toward him.

A tremor passed through the man, and though he didn’t emit any cultivation base fluctuations, he seemed to have entered the profound radiance state. Dodging the skewer, he appeared right in front of Xu Qing.

“So, you found me? My disguise was perfect! Let’s see who you are.” As the words left his mouth, he reached toward Xu Qing’s face as if to dispel the magical technique he had used to disguise himself.

But then, Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly, and the old man’s face fell. Overwhelmed by a sense of intense danger, he shot backward.

He moved too slowly. Xu Qing suddenly thrummed with spectacular power, as if he were burning on the inside, and then his knee flew through the air. A boom rang out as Xu Qing’s knee smashed into the old man’s chest. It collapsed in a mass of blood and bone, and before the old man could begin to fight, Xu Qing stepped forward and unleashed balefire. However, his opponent didn’t have a soul, so without the slightest change of facial expression, he tapped into Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits.

The man shivered as he turned into a mass of energy and blood that Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits absorbed. What was left behind was empty skin that flopped to the ground.

This didn’t surprise Xu Qing at all. His shadow immediately stretched out and covered over the empty skin, then sent some information to Xu Qing.

“Lead the way!” Xu Qing said. He gathered the items he had placed in the area to conceal any fluctuations from the fighting, then sped after the shadow.

He knew full well that Grueglooms were difficult to truly kill. But he didn’t care. He would kill it over and over again, however many times it took. After all, it had no way to teleport out of the city. The only thing Xu Qing regretted was that the Gruegloom had died so quickly that Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits had only managed to take a tiny sliver of its essence.

I couldn’t get much Gruegloom essence because of how quickly it died. But it doesn’t matter. Intense emotions can stir one’s spirit... once it gets terrified, it’ll be much easier.

***

Somewhere else in the capital city, in the district controlled by the Zhou Clan, a sleeping servant suddenly opened his eyes. Sitting up, he took in a few deep breaths and looked around in a panic.

Who was that guy? Not only was he able to find me, but also, his cultivation base was terrifying. He crushed me in an instant. I was in that body for a long time, and it could unleash three-flame battle prowess!

Unfortunately, thanks to natural limitations, I can only resurrect myself and take over mortals. And it takes time to get used to the new body and unleash its potential. Otherwise, it would be a lot easier to get out of here. Dammit! This mission was supposed to be easy, but then they locked down teleportations. Well, they can’t lock things down forever. That said, why did they have to send a grue cultivator after me?

The servant’s eyes gleamed wickedly as he looked around, then started chuckling coldly.

This is just a minor hiccup. This particular person I marked for resurrection is a Zhou Clan servant, and now I’m in the royal palace. Unless that guy is working with someone in the Zhou Clan, he’ll end up dead for sure if he tries to come in here!

Despite his confidence, he stayed on the alert the entire night. The next morning at dawn, as the sun’s rays entered the royal palace, a burly man with a scar and a Qi Condensation cultivation base opened the door to the servants’ room.

When the other servants saw that scarred face, their expression flickered and they quickly got to their feet. None of them dared to move slowly. This scarred fellow was a trusted aide to the Zhou Clan leaders, and he had a short temper. In the past, he had even beaten servants to death. The lives of servants weren’t worth much, and no one cared if they died.

The scarred man spat onto the ground, snorted coldly, and then strode past servant after servant until he was in front of the one that had been possessed by a Gruegloom.

The Gruegloom servant shivered nervously as the scarred man measured him up. Then the scarred man pulled out a knife and plunged it into the servant’s heart, before slashing it through his throat!

It happened so quickly the Gruegloom servant could do nothing other than open his eyes wide and stare in shock at the blood pouring out. He was stunned, and had no idea what was going on.

Meanwhile, the scarred man grinned, and then, in front of all the shocked servants, plunged the knife into his own belly and sliced it open. Pulling out his intestines, he wrapped them around the Gruegloom’s neck, tightened them, and whispered, “My lord and master wanted me to say hi, and tell you... the game has just begun.”