Chapter 165: Heaven and Earth Have No Mercy—All Things Are Straw Dogs

"Get out, get out! Anning Guard on duty—everyone clear off!"

"Damn it, I'm talking to you—stop touching!"

Tan Hu glared with eyes the size of copper bells, making the guests of Chunyan Tower nearly lose their hard-ons.

Inexperienced young patrons still hesitated over the silver they'd spent and the pleasures they hadn't enjoyed.

Veteran customers had already slipped away in the chaos.

Right—free sex.

Ning Zhongtian led his men striding into Chunyan Tower.

At that moment.

Li Rui stepped down the stairs with ease: "Chief Ning, I've found something."

Ning Zhongtian gazed at Li Rui with satisfaction.

"Brother Li, I was right about you."

He'd only given the order this morning—yet by night, a lead was found. This efficiency was terrifying.

How could he not be pleased with such a capable subordinate?

Saying this, he followed Li Rui up the small Chunyan Tower.

As soon as he stepped inside, Ning Zhongtian saw Baozhu lying on the floor, her skirt pulled up nearly to her thighs.

Yet he felt not the slightest interest.

Not him—any man would feel the same.

Baozhu's body was black and blue, her face grotesque—nowhere near the legendary beauty she'd once been.

Ning Zhongtian narrowed his eyes slightly: "A mei yao?"

Seeing Li Rui nod.

His face darkened instantly; he gritted his teeth: "Again, it's the Ghost Ming Jiao!"

A mei yao, like a gui yao,

is a monster bred through the Art of Raising Demons.

But unlike gui yao, mei yao are extremely stealthy—nearly indistinguishable from humans—and often appear as beautiful men or women.

Legend says that in the previous dynasty, Emperor Xuan had a special fondness for mei yao.

More than half of his three thousand concubines were mei yao.

He was known as the greatest demon-hunter of all time.

Later, the founding emperor of Yu sealed the Art of Raising Demons—and mei yao vanished with it.

Now that a lead had been found, Ning Zhongtian, though furious, couldn't help sighing in relief—since he'd confirmed the Ghost Ming Jiao's involvement, his mission was already half done.

Then Ning Zhongtian asked curiously: "Brother Li, how did you spot this mei yao?"

Baozhu was the top courtesan of Chunyan Tower—she'd served countless nobles, many of whom were seventh-rank experts.

He himself had visited Chunyan Tower before.

Yet he'd noticed not a single flaw.

Li Rui chuckled: "Dragon overcomes all evil. The qi cultivated from my Flying Dragon in the Heavens painting reacts to any demonic presence."

Ning Zhongtian understood.

"So that's how."

He'd heard of such a trait before—but achieving it required immense fortune and destiny.

"Could qi fortune truly be conserved?"

"Spent a lifetime as a stable boy, cursed and unlucky—now finally getting his luck back?"

He was genuinely envious—but only to a point.

If Ning Zhongtian had to swap lives with Li Rui—endure fifty or sixty years as a stable boy, then stumble into fortune—he'd refuse a thousand times over.

Was this really true?

Of course not.

Li Rui wasn't a Heavenly Official of Fortune—he couldn't possibly be lucky in everything.

He saw through the mei yao

thanks to his Insightful Eyes.

The mei yao hid well—even showed no murderous intent toward him, and didn't even react to the mist—but her protective talisman betrayed her.

On Baozhu's body, Li Rui spotted at least seven or eight spots glowing with spiritual energy.

For a courtesan—even a top one—that was wildly abnormal.

And according to the madam's earlier description, Baozhu's past was tragic!

Could that possibly be normal?

That's why Li Rui returned to Chunyan Tower tonight.

Ning Zhongtian's lips curled slightly.

With this mei yao, he could now answer Jiang Lin's expectations.

Jiang Lin had given him seven days—he solved the case in less than one.

A divine detective!

"Brother Li, though you get no official credit, I, Ning Zhongtian, will record this as a major achievement for you!"

With the case solved, Ning Zhongtian felt a great weight lift—he was in high spirits.

"Thank you, Chief Ning."

Li Rui didn't refuse or pretend modesty—he accepted gladly.

At that moment.

The madam, who had been muttering nervously for a long while, seized the chance to approach: "My lord, Chunyan Tower had no knowledge of Baozhu's affair."

She'd heard the commotion and rushed in.

Then she saw Baozhu, who looked like a Rakshasi.

Her face turned deathly pale—she still hadn't recovered.

Li Rui had forbidden her from spreading word of it—only now, with Ning Zhongtian here, did she dare cry out her innocence.

Ning Zhongtian glanced at the madam and snorted coldly:

"Whether you knew or not, we'll find out—take them all in!"

Hearing Ning Zhongtian intended to interrogate her too, the madam's face turned instantly ashen.

The matter was temporarily settled.

The mei yao Baozhu and several key figures from Chunyan Tower were all taken back to the Anning Guard.

Everyone marveled at Ning Zhongtian's efficiency.

Li Rui, meanwhile, kept his achievements hidden, effortlessly claiming a major accomplishment.

As for what came next—it had nothing to do with him.

Ning Zhongtian would report to Jiang Lin; how to handle the Ghost Ming Jiao was no concern of his—a lowly seventh-rank official.

Five days passed.

Li Rui had been training when someone knocked on his door.

He opened it.

There stood Yao Xue, poised and elegant.

Li Rui: "Miss Yao, what is it?"

Since capturing Baozhu, Yao Xue had mostly stayed in the Interrogation Hall, coming and going at odd hours—they'd barely seen each other. "Thank you, Elder, for your help—my inner demon is gone."

Yao Xue bowed to Li Rui.

Li Rui: "Congratulations, Miss Yao."

Yao Xue had broken her inner demon so quickly—likely because Qu Chengfeng's death had strengthened her will.

Whether this was joy or sorrow, he couldn't say.

"Today, I've come to bid you farewell."

Li Rui was surprised: "Miss Yao is leaving?"

Yao Xue nodded: "My master has returned—I'm leaving Qinghe."

"Have you found the real killer?"

Yao Xue shook her head: "No—the mei yao turned to blood the moment she was brought to the Interrogation Hall. The trail is gone."

Clearly, Ning Zhongtian had buried the matter.

=9+book_bar

Even Li Rui hadn't known.

Yet he hadn't expected that old Immortal Zhang, after losing his disciple, would just walk away—without seeking revenge.

Yao Xue sighed softly: "My master says it's all fate—my senior brother and junior brother were destined for this calamity. It cannot be changed."

Li Rui's heart stirred slightly.

"Fate."

Legend says some enlightened sages can foresee others' fortune or misfortune—but never interfere.

Yao Xue's master was likely such a person.

Cold-hearted toward human ties?

It was a transcendence born of having seen too much life and death.

Li Rui recalled passages from ancient texts; he even suspected that Master Zhang had brought his three disciples to Qinghe not for immortal fortune, but to face tribulation.

Survive the tribulation, and the immortal path lies open before you; fail, and all is ended.

Clearly.

Yao Xue was the one who survived; her senior brother and junior brother both failed the tribulation.

After passing the tribulation, who would still care about the tribulation itself? One must continue on the quest for immortality.

"Heaven and earth have no mercy—they treat all things as straw dogs. The immortal path is truly the most heartless."

Li Rui sighed inwardly.

Countless beings seek the immortal path, yet the vast majority perish along the way, reduced to a handful of yellow earth.

A flash of insight struck him; he seemed to grasp something.

He bowed his fists:

"Miss Yao, safe travels."

Yao Xue smiled in return, like ice melting in early spring: "Senior Li, take care."

Watching Yao Xue's retreating figure,

Li Rui sensed that this disciple of Wenxian Tower, after enduring all trials and overcoming her inner demons, had grown even more resolute in her quest for immortality.

Perhaps this was her master's true intention.

"Quest for immortality. Quest for immortality."

Ten Thousand Great Marshes.

This place lay ten thousand li from Qinghe, Changnian shrouded in toxic mists, rarely visited by mortals.

Legend says.

Long ago, the founding emperor of the Yu Kingdom slew thirty thousand troops of the previous dynasty within the Ten Thousand Great Marshes, severed the head of the Xuan Kingdom's War God, and thus seized dominion over all under heaven.

In a hidden cave.

Qu Chengfeng sat with eyes closed, cross-legged upon a stone platform, palms upward, faintly exuding an air of celestial detachment.

"Is it done?"

"Almost."

Two voices whispered within the cave, their gazes fixed unblinkingly on Qu Chengfeng, their expressions tense.

The next instant.

Around Qu Chengfeng's platform, the air churned like turbulent waves.

Upon closer look,

Qu Chengfeng was surrounded by a sea of corpses and blood!

The stone platform stood at the center of a blood pool, where corpses rose and sank, half-visible, half-hidden.

Before the platform,

three tall incense sticks burned, their thin white smoke rising slowly like threads.

Beneath the incense stood three offerings.

They were unmistakably a deer, a roe, and a muntjac—clearly a blood sacrifice.

Generally, wealthy families offered three sacrificial animals—pig, fish, and chicken—called the lesser three sacrifices; the richer would use ox, sheep, and pig—the greater three sacrifices.

Imperial sacrifices reached even higher: dragon, phoenix, and tiger.

Since no true dragons or phoenixes existed, they substituted with jiao dragons and divine birds.

But there was another category, called the Jade Bureau's Three Sacrifices, offered to gods and immortals.

The blood sea churned, obscuring Qu Chengfeng's form.

The next instant!

Qu Chengfeng's eyes flew open in terror as he stared at the scene before him—then a bloodied hand reached up from the pool.

He could not move.

He watched helplessly as the hand forcibly shoved into his mouth, then stretched his jaws open, inch by inch, driving deep into his throat.

"What is this doing?!?!"

Qu Chengfeng's eyes bulged as if about to burst.

Soon, the hand entered his throat; his windpipe swelled outward, clearly revealing the ridges of fingers.

Violent nausea overwhelmed Qu Chengfeng; he wanted to vomit.

But the hand blocked his throat, preventing any release.

At the very moment the hand fully entered his body—

Qu Chengfeng grew calm, ceased all struggle, and became hollow, devoid of any human emotion.

The blood sea stilled.

The two black-robed figures exchanged glances, then crept cautiously toward the platform.

"Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here?"

Qu Chengfeng's expression remained vacant.

His mouth mechanically opened and closed, murmuring.

Then, pain twisted his face; he clutched his head and shook violently, a terrifying aura seeping from his body.

"No, I should already be dead… Yes, I am dead… Then why am I alive again?"

His words were absurd, beyond comprehension.

The two black-robed figures fell to their knees:

"We humbly welcome the Immortal Lord, reborn!"

Qu Chengfeng's eyes suddenly brightened; his demeanor grew serene and peaceful, as if awakened:

"Yes… I am an immortal."

(End of Chapter)