Chapter 468: Observing for Now, Continuing Seclusion

What a fine medical cultivator, this healer with a heart of benevolence, and to be traveling in the mortal realm just as the Red Star streaks across the sky, leaving behind a fainted beauty...

I have to say, this coincidence is so abundant that even Du En wants to complain about it a little.

Bai Ji is clearly aware of this himself, and at this moment, he smiles bitterly and takes the initiative to speak: "I also feel that all of this is just too coincidental, as if some expert were specifically targeting me. I have been feeling uneasy in my heart, but now that I see you, I actually feel a sense of relief."

By offering a moderate compliment and pointing out the many coincidences himself, he makes it appear that he is merely an innocent victim.

Du En is noncommittal toward this, but he had naturally been observing just now, yet the result was the same; there was not the slightest abnormality.

So he turned to ask Zhu Yi some questions.

It was mainly about her diet, medication, and physical condition while traveling with Bai Ji, even more detailed than when an old physician asks about an illness. Some topics were highly private, and the questioning made Zhu Yi's face flush with shyness.

However, she knew the stakes and did not hide anything, answering every question asked.

After finally finishing, she glanced at the people around her with concern. Seeing that they did not show any strange expressions, she realized that Du En had considered their privacy and masked the content of their conversation, which made her breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Then, she secretly glared at her brother.

Because Zhu Qing seemed quite relaxed; he likely trusted Du En too much, so he was still letting his imagination run wild and looking thoughtful, and then he wore an expression of being happy to see it all—in short, he seemed quite out of place.

"It seems there is nothing suspicious."

"Many thanks for your sagacity, my Lord; you truly see through everything..."

Bai Ji does not have the relaxed, trusting mindset of Zhu Qing; he knows very well that if any unexplainable doubts were to arise during this time, his little life would likely end right here.

Although this City Lord before him is clearly very different from previous City Lords, he is definitely not a kind and naive person like Zhu Yi; this can be seen from the way those notorious old guards tremble before him as if fearing a tiger.

And Du En's performance seems to confirm this speculation.

——Facing Bai Ji's sycophancy, his gaze has not a ripple of emotion; he just stands there silently waiting.

The atmosphere quietly becomes tense. Bai Ji is also sensible enough to shut his mouth. Although he has some confidence in his own actions, he also becomes quite uneasy and cannot help but be suspicious of everything.

Just as this atmosphere brews and develops to the point where the Zhu siblings are thinking about whether to beg for mercy, the head of the guards finally returns in a hurry.

"Exalted One! We have carefully investigated and verified it; there is indeed a person named Bai Ji in the city, and the records and inquiries from all aspects basically match up!"

Du En glances at Sheng Zhaoshui again; the other party has a hint of gravity and nods slightly toward him, indicating that the situation is exactly as stated.

It is precisely because there are no doubts in the whole process that it seems full of doubts!

"How about we just kill them one by one?"

After being silent for a long time, An Shen weighs it repeatedly before voicing this suggestion.

It is very much in line with his philosophy of action: if there is no other way, one must sacrifice a portion of people to achieve the goal.

So, kill them one by one until the signs of change appear.

But what if they are all killed and it was all a mistake? Du En does not directly ask this question back, but instead says: "No, continue to prepare first; for now, do nothing."

"..."

Facing Du En's wait-and-see approach—the mature opinion of controlling movement through stillness—An Shen wants to speak but stops. Glancing at Sheng Zhaoshui, who has returned to his side and seems to approve of both approaches, he ultimately says nothing and defaults to this decision.

After all, it is truly not the right time for internal division.

However, if it drags on for too long, he is not the type of person who will only passively take orders.

What a troublesome teammate.

Du En cannot help but grumble inwardly.

Then, amidst Bai Ji's extreme anxiety while waiting, he says: "The current situation is very special; you will all live in the City Lord's Mansion from now on!"

Bai Ji lets out a long sigh of relief, feeling that he has passed this hurdle, but then he thinks of something. His expression is conflicted and hesitant, but in the end, he bites the bullet and speaks: "My Lord, Exalted One, this... I still have some patients in the mortal realm who are waiting for medicine..."

"Send someone to deliver it; ensure they are cured."

Du En waves his hand and arranges it with the head of the guards.

Suddenly, Bai Ji shows an expression of relief.

But in reality, anyone with a discerning eye can see that his mood is actually still quite uneasy.

*Sigh! * I can only hope this City Lord is kinder than the rumors say and will not take my life in the end...

He thinks to himself.

Du En observes.

In short, the three of them live in the City Lord's Mansion for the time being.

After personally arranging for them to have living quarters far apart, the head of the guards wants to monitor Bai Ji, but Du En rejects it outright. Instead, he has everyone move out, leaving Bai Ji empty and isolated, as if he were on a desert island.

At this point, he even wants An Shen to set up some arrays and restrictions to further confine the other party.

It seems the main point of suspicion is still on this side, though for the Zhu siblings, it is loose on the surface but tight underneath, using other methods; it can be said that he is treating everyone equally.

"... This approach is too slow and tepid."

Facing the request, An Shen only says this. As his gaze shifts, his tone sounds matter-of-fact: "Also, to think you didn't consider searching their memories and experiences directly, but instead used shallow methods like questioning and investigation; this truly cannot guarantee authenticity."

"Then, can choosing to search the soul and trace memories ensure it is foolproof and absolutely true?"

Du En only asks this in return, causing this deity to fall into silence for a moment.

Because it cannot be guaranteed.

Seeing that he says nothing more and goes to set up the arrays and restrictions, Du En looks toward Sheng Zhaoshui in a matter-of-fact way.

"Fine, fine, I'll do the odd jobs; I'll continue doing the odd jobs."

This guy is very much the same as usual, appearing easier to talk to during ordinary times.

In short, the general situation is tentatively settled like this.

After An Shen finishes the arrays and restrictions, he simply returns to his previous seclusion to continue fussing over and preparing his own methods.

Du En does not go back to seclusion directly. Although he takes out a jade slip to start pondering secret arts, most of his attention is still on the three of them. In the following days, Bai Ji lives in fear and trembling, performing very normally.

Zhu Yi seems to have developed an interest in the medical Dao because of this encounter; she asks the head of the guards for some related books and then stays indoors to study them intently.

At first, she felt some strangeness and detachment toward the unfamiliar environment and living quarters, but she soon adapted and returned to the state she was in when she was at home.

And her brother, Zhu Qing, although still worried about the doubts surrounding his sister, now that she has returned, the heavy stone in his heart has finally fallen.

So he thought it over and felt he had to seize the opportunity to strive for something, so he took the initiative to grasp the current opportunity and went to find the head of the guards who looked after and favored him, proposing that he wanted to serve the City Lord's Mansion.

Sheng Zhaoshui was an easy-going person, and Du En did not mind this matter either; neither of the two managers had any objections, so the result was quite smooth, and he began to learn various things as a newly entered apprentice clerk in the mansion.

"... Everything is normal."

After observing in secret for a while, he reached this conclusion.

Du En felt that this was the biggest abnormality, but since the key figures were now under his nose, he was not afraid that the mastermind behind the scenes would not reveal any flaws! Thus, his attention gradually converged on switching to cultivating secret techniques and Daoist arts, continuing the closed-door cultivation that had not yet been finished.

The connecting secret technique for the Unmelting Ice Soul is a profound secret technique named "Nether Winter Hides Yang"; according to its description, when cultivated to perfection, even the true sun can be completely hidden into the void, without leaking a trace of light or heat.

It is very obvious that this is a connecting secret technique selected by Meng Changqing specifically for Du En's current situation, which can satisfy his requirements to the greatest extent.

The ice seal must be stronger, and the concealment must be better! With the foundation of the Unmelting Ice Soul, it is not difficult to switch cultivation.

【Spell: Nether Winter Hides Yang (Well-versed 0/50)】

"The method of 'grinding' practice is simple: as long as I erupt with light and heat, and then cast this secret technique to seal it into the nether, each successful attempt counts as one, and ten times equals one point of proficiency."

It looks like ordinary 'grinding' practice, without any extra requirements; isn't it just normal repetitive practice? But in reality, the light and heat Du En erupts now must at least be at the level of manifesting the Undying True Form; even if a ten-thousand-year glacier were placed in front of him, it could be evaporated in a very short time, so this condition for 'grinding' is actually quite harsh.

Simple yet harsh, the Great Dao is simple yet hard to understand! There is actually a similar 'grinding' practice for the Sun True Fire; do you really think that absorbing and refining Sun Essence is some ordinary and simple process?

That is direct absorption and direct refining; under the eruption, it is equivalent to a sun rising within the body, and even with Du En's current physical and spiritual endurance, he would likely be in a sorry state.

Fortunately, he is resistant to burning; although the process is predictably painful and difficult, there is actually no problem.

After settling the secret technique, it was the turn of those four Daoist arts.

Relatively speaking, the difficulty has actually dropped significantly.

Because what is being switched to is only a Profound-grade Daoist art.

Lifting the Mountain is the simplest, because its advanced Daoist art had actually been used by Du En long ago, but due to the lack of an overall framework and not paying enough attention to it before, it had not been specifically combed through, which is why it remained in that old state.

Now, with the results of the predecessors' multiple corrections placed before him, he almost finished cultivating it successfully as soon as he finished reading it.

【Spell: Mountain Moving (Small Achievement 0/100)】

The 'grinding' practice for this Profound-grade Daoist art is still so simple: just carry a mountain and lift weights. Although this mountain has changed from a single peak to a mountain range with a base of at least five hundred mountains, Du En's physical body is now sanctified; let alone a mountain range composed of five hundred great mountains, even if it were composed of thousands of great mountains, he could easily lift them high!

That is why he could kill the Stele-Carrying Grudge Spirit, which seemed to be of the same rank or even one level higher than him, so easily and simply.

Because although both sides only seemed to be weak prodigies, in reality, whether it was the primordial spirit or the physical body, this side had already stepped one foot onto the threshold of a prodigy, and with the two erupting together, briefly squeezing into that rank was something that could be done.

"However, when it comes to actual implementation, it doesn't have to be that troublesome; there is already a ready-made mountain to carry."

What mountain?

Kongsang Mountain! The weight of this sixth-tier blessed land is much higher than any mountain range, and he feels that carrying, lifting, and moving it should be just right.

After finishing the switch for Lifting the Mountain, he struck while the iron was hot and turned to the half-earth-elemental Daoist art of Killing Wind Turns to Sand.

Its advanced version was finally chosen to be "Scraping Killing Profound Dust," a Profound-grade Daoist art with a strange name that also seems to have been tossed out by True Monarch Chengru.

Scraping, killing, scraping sand; it still retains Killing Wind Turns to Sand, or rather, the former is the principle of its entry, and only after fully mastering it can one continue to talk about what follows.

Profound Dust.

Profound is mysterious, and it is also profound color, similar to black.

Dust: sand and dust on the surface, with dust and insignificance inside, containing a high and subtle state of mind.

Stirring up killing winds, bringing up sandstorms, darkening the sky and earth, directly covering the heart!

From body to heart, from outside to inside, from shallow to deep... in short, it is more advanced and stronger, and it was very smooth to cultivate.

【Spell: Scraping Killing Profound Dust (Well-versed 0/50)】

"Only well-versed, hmm, that's normal. After all, the Lifting the Mountain lineage focuses on being simple and brutal; once the level is reached, one can go smoothly all the way to the final Heaven-grade Daoist art, Star Driving."

Du En was quite satisfied with this, and then his gaze turned to the Giant Spirit Dharma Image.

To be honest, the advanced Daoist art here also chose a type that is quite purely piled up, rather than the situation of the previous Giant Spirit Dharma Image, because he has now mastered the way of puppets and does not need to carve out fancy tricks on this.

Moreover, fancy tricks are not easy to handle, which would increase the difficulty of 'grinding' practice; overall, the cost-effectiveness is really not high, and there is overlap and repetition, so it was abandoned.

Matching it with his current Saintly Body, after the change, it became this Daoist art now named "Dragon-Subduing True Image."

——What was bitten off from True Monarch Chengru was actually the number of choices; the specific Daoist art was not decided, so Meng Changqing could change it in a timely manner, and even played a bunch of tricks to try to fool the other party.

In short, as the name suggests, when cultivated to perfection, it can rival and subdue a true dragon! "However, the Giant Spirit Dharma Image was modified beyond recognition for me; what will this thing look like after further cultivation? A giant robot fighting a true dragon?"

Du En thought this way while snatching a moment of leisure.

Then he worked hard to conquer it, and it was successfully cultivated very smoothly.

【Spell: Dragon-Subduing True Image (Small Achievement 0/100)】

"Hmm... why does it feel like it's mixed with Buddhist things?"

After truly realizing and finishing the further cultivation, Du En felt that it was a bit wrong, carrying some different undertones. If it weren't for the fact that he had the Three Flavors before and the Diamond after, and it actually carried quite a few Buddhist methods, he probably wouldn't have been able to discern the flavor inside.

"In other words, there will be two routes of extension later, Immortal Sect and Buddhist Sect, Buddhist..."

As soon as he thought of the Buddhist Sect and Buddha, he thought of his experience when he was in the Queguang Star Realm.

False Buddha, Vow-Mind Hell, River of Tears of All Living Beings, Great Compassion Human Demon...

(End of this chapter)