Chapter 243: Killing in the Night

In the dark night.

Fu Huai swept out from the wall of the County Office like a night owl, his cloak flapping in the night wind.

When he landed, he didn't make any sound, and without stopping for even a moment, he swept straight toward the west.

Passing through half the city.

Two quarters of an hour later, he appeared near the Anning Guard, and even looked behind him, confirming no one was there before he let out a sigh of relief.

His eyes were gloomy:

"That fellow surnamed Zhuang, he really deserves to die!"

Even though Zhuang Renhe had been hidden enough, he still saw that Zhuang Renhe had sent people to monitor him.

In order to deal with Zhuang Renhe,

he had wasted too much time.

But it was worth it; Zhuang Renhe's actions only strengthened his thoughts: the Immortal Venerable's affairs must never be told to that ungrateful white-eyed wolf.

'Shouldn't have followed.'

Today, he had finally found an opportunity to slip out in the middle of the night.

Fu Huai circled the Anning Guard for a full circle, and finally stopped in a hidden corner.

'One hundred zhang, this is just enough.'

Having found a good spot,

he took seven or eight bottles and jars from his bosom.

The things inside were even more strange.

There were black leaves and seven-colored feathers; if one didn't know his identity, one would think he was a charlatan in the Jianghu.

Fu Huai crushed the leaves and feathers, then mixed them with the blood of an unknown green demonic beast.

The fishy smell made one want to vomit.

Fu Huai didn't even frown, having long been accustomed to this.

He raised the bowl, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he drank the soup dry.

This thing was a secret medicine for Qi-Watchers, named "Spirit-Returning Soup," which could enhance eyesight.

Fu Huai had been preparing this soup all this time.

After taking this soup,

he could see the situation of Jiang Linxian and Li Rui more clearly and determine who was the person the Immortal Venerable was looking for.

Of course,

one had to pay a price for gaining such ability.

Qi-Watchers generally didn't live long.

Why?

It was because every time they opened their eyes, they would lose lifespan, so generally speaking, as long as there was no important matter, Fu Huai almost never opened his divine eyes.

"Chaos opens, Yin and Yang turn; the spirit eyes awaken to observe the universe. The subtle and the infinitesimal all enter the eyes; false forms are hard to hide."

Fu Huai chanted.

In an instant,

a pair of eyes flashed with eerie cyan light.

"Divine eyes, open!"

With a low shout, the Eight Trigrams could faintly be seen rotating in his eyes.

Fu Huai's lips curled slightly.

"Let me see, who exactly is the Fallen Immortal."

He stood up slowly.

Just as he was about to look toward the Anning Guard, a voice sounded behind him:

"Are you looking for me?"

Fu Huai's body shook, and he turned his head violently.

"Who is it?!"

The next instant,

his eyes became dull.

"Is it an immortal?!"

In his divine eyes, Fu Huai seemed to see an Immortal King standing before him, the endless immortal might making him tremble from the depths of his soul, unable to stop himself from wanting to kneel.

What is the Fallen Immortal atmosphere?

This is the Fallen Immortal atmosphere!

Thump!

Fu Huai finally couldn't overcome the fear in the depths of his soul and actually knelt down with both knees, barely managing to suppress the urge to prostrate.

Jiang Linxian's face showed no expression.

"Qi-Watcher?"

"A person from the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao?"

Fu Huai's voice trembled: "Immortal... Immortal Venerable, please spare my life."

The instinct to survive made him not want to die.

But Jiang Linxian didn't listen to a word Fu Huai said.

Sword light flashed.

A large, bloody hole was instantly torn in Fu Huai's throat; the sword was too fast, and even the blood hadn't reacted yet.

"Ugh..."

Fu Huai's pupils widened, and just as he had barely revealed a look of pain, he lost all his strength in an instant and collapsed to the ground with a thump.

His breath ceased.

Jiang Linxian glanced faintly at Fu Huai's corpse on the ground and swept his sleeve.

Fu Huai's corpse was torn apart by the terrifying sword intent, decomposed, and finally disappeared into nothingness.

There wasn't even a drop of blood on the ground.

If this scene had been seen by Li Rui,

he would definitely have called it the number one skill for scattering ashes in the world; looking at Jiang Linxian's skillful technique, it was clear he hadn't done this just once or twice.

In fact,

Li Rui had indeed seen it.

Outside the Anning Guard, in a desolate house, on the roof.

Li Rui narrowed his eyes slightly, secretly shocked: "Jiang Linxian, how could it be him??"

On his back was something wrapped in black cloth, long and strip-shaped.

A rough look, it was a hammer.

That's right, it was precisely the Divine Fire Burning Heaven Hammer Old Man Tie gave him.

He had been watching this new advisor of Zhuang Renhe for a long time; even though that advisor's actions were already very hidden, the "Sparrows" bought by the Heaven and Earth Alliance still provided quite a bit of useful information.

Through the analysis of the information, plus Li Rui personally squatting and following outside the government office, he had determined this desolate house.

He was squatting here, and also holding the Divine Fire Burning Heaven Hammer.

Of course, he was just waiting to hammer Fu Huai to death.

He hadn't expected

that someone had actually snatched it first, and the person who snatched it was actually Jiang Linxian.

This scene was truly unexpected.

It was too far away here, and he could only faintly see the side of his face, and the voices of the two talking were completely inaudible.

But just a side profile was enough for him to determine it was Jiang Linxian.

Someone could imitate Jiang Linxian's face, but certainly no one could imitate Jiang Linxian's sword.

Especially that sword, which he could see in his dreams every night—the Greedy Wolf.

Li Rui couldn't have recognized it wrong.

But it was still the same question: why would Jiang Linxian appear here?

'There is a problem!'

Under Li Rui's gaze,

Jiang Linxian finished destroying the corpse and then returned to the Anning Guard as if nothing had happened.

Everything was as if nothing had happened.

Li Rui looked at the smoke in his Wisdom Eye.

It had faded.

Clearly, the person who had been targeting him before was Fu Huai.

'Forget it.'

Li Rui jumped off the roof, took a handkerchief from his waist, carefully wiped away all traces of his presence, and then jumped over the wall and left, returning home through the secret passage left under the bridge outside the Anning Guard.

Jiang Linxian's matter didn't linger in Li Rui's heart for long.

Who didn't have secrets?

He himself was full of secrets.

Jiang Linxian could become a Primordial expert, naturally he also had too many secrets.

These were not things he needed to explore.

As long as one point was confirmed: Jiang Linxian's interests were the same as his—that was enough.

Happy to be ignorant.

Some things, if one had to pursue the truth with all one's might, would only bring trouble to oneself in the end, or even fall into a situation of no return.

Li Rui crawled out of the tunnel.

Then carefully took off the black bundle behind him, revealing the Divine Fire Burning Heaven Hammer wrapped inside.

This was the treasure of the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang.

If it weren't for the sake of his life, Li Rui naturally wouldn't have used it for killing at will.

Although he used a saber, the Divine Fire Burning Heaven Hammer was a fourth-rank top

This trip out was to kill people.

Every extra bit of strength meant a few more chances at survival.

One could not afford to be careless.

Even a lion uses its full strength when hunting a rabbit, let alone when going to kill someone.

Li Rui's state of mind was without a single ripple.

In fact, as soon as he returned to his room, he sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion and began to circulate his Qi. Outside Qinghe City.

In the mountain forest.

"So... where are the people?"

A roar like that of a lion shook the leaves until they fell one by one, the words clearly carrying uncontrollable anger.

Yuan Gao's eyes were wide with rage, staring fixedly at Zhuang Renhe, as if he might devour this Qinghe County Magistrate at any moment.

Zhuang Renhe's expression turned cold, and he sneered, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You deliberately hid from me, and now that the people are gone, you want to turn around and blame me?"

"Let me tell you, I, Zhuang, am not so easily bullied!"

He showed no intention of backing down in the slightest.

Moreover, just as he had said, Fu Huai had left the county office behind Zhuang Renhe's back, so he had a valid argument no matter where he went.

>

Yuan Gao was suddenly exasperated.

He was a Fifth-Rank; once discovered entering the city, it would become extremely troublesome, so he had been waiting outside the city for news from Fu Huai.

Originally, every once in a while.

Fu Huai would meet with him; today, it had already been three days past the scheduled meeting date.

He realized something was wrong, which was why he had come to find Zhuang Renhe.

Sure enough, Fu Huai had gone missing.

As for why Fu Huai wanted to hide from Zhuang Renhe, it was naturally because he did not want Zhuang Renhe to know the secret of the Immortal Venerable.

Yuan Gao narrowed his eyes: "Zhuang, this is your territory; are you really going to do nothing about it?"

Zhuang Renhe chuckled: "I will look for him, but whether I can find him is not for me to decide."

"If he sought his own death, who can he blame?"

On the surface, he refused to yield, but inwardly, he was also muttering to himself.

How could Fu Huai have gone missing?

He already knew that the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao had come to Qinghe for the sake of the so-called Immortal Qi.

"Could it be that the Immortal Qi is really in Qinghe?"

Otherwise, how could Fu Huai have gone missing?

Thinking of this, Zhuang Renhe's heart burned even more fiercely.

"That is Immortal Qi, after all."

He was sincere about looking for Fu Huai, but how to deal with him after finding him was another matter entirely.

At the very least, he could not be returned to the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao.

Yuan Gao snorted coldly: "You had better do your utmost to find him, otherwise the Xueying Laozu will certainly not forgive you lightly."

Zhuang Renhe sneered inwardly.

"Using the Xueying Laozu to pressure me? Do you really think I was scared into submission?"

He was able to become the actual person in charge of the Zhuang family; he was not some soft-shelled shrimp that hadn't weathered any storms.

"Farewell."

Zhuang Renhe couldn't be bothered to waste words.

He turned and left.

Leaving only Yuan Gao standing in the woods, his expression shifting between light and shadow.

Fu Huai was missing, and it was in Qinghe.

In all likelihood, he was already dead.

The only difference was who had killed him.

"Was it Jiang Linxian, or Cao Wei?"

"Or perhaps that Transcendent Immortal hiding in Qinghe?"

The Qinghe of today made even him feel unable to grasp it; this was no longer Qinghe, it was clearly an abyss.

The blacksmith shop was a scene of intense heat.

Elder Tiekuang and Liu Tiezhu worked with tacit understanding, and almost every day, high-rank weapons were produced.

Such efficiency.

Made people look on with envy.

The business of the Heaven and Earth Alliance was becoming more and more prosperous; besides buying weapons, they had also opened up sources of goods in the Wu Kingdom, so the return trips were no longer empty-handed.

Make one business trip, earn two pots of money.

Of course, the bulk of the profit was still in the weapon business.

Buying arms, no matter which era it was in, was the most profitable trade.

Li Rui stood to the side and watched.

His gaze fell upon his apprentice, Liu Tiezhu.

"Approaching Golden Bone?"

He was secretly shocked in his heart.

Liu Tiezhu's speed of progress was truly terrifying; he was only slower than him, a cheater, and he was crushing almost all the so-called geniuses of Qinghe.

Born with a Jin Gang Body, terrifying indeed.

Of course.

The more critical factor was that he had followed a good master.

Elder Tiekuang taught well, and even more appropriately.

His entire set of skills seemed tailor-made for Liu Tiezhu; his own foundation was good enough, and he had encountered a good teacher.

Breaking through was no different than drinking water.

Perhaps in less than two years, Li Rui would have an extra Seventh-Rank Willow Sinew apprentice.

Of course.

Once he reached the Seventh-Rank, Liu Tiezhu's advantage of being born with a Jin Gang Body would diminish significantly; one only had to look at Tan Hu to see that.

Half an hour later.

A brand-new Sixth-Rank weapon was produced.

Only then did Elder Tiekuang and Liu Tiezhu walk over.

Liu Tiezhu had long since seen Li Rui, but he had been busy forging and couldn't be distracted; he grinned and said happily: "Master, you're here."

Li Rui nodded at Liu Tiezhu.

"Senior Tie, you've worked hard."

As he spoke, he took two cups out of a food box:

"This is the first batch of green plum drink of the new spring, most suitable for relieving the summer heat; I bought it specifically for you to taste."

Elder Tiekuang was already used to Li Rui currying favor.

At first, he would curse a couple of times, but now?

He couldn't be bothered to curse.

Moreover, the things Li Rui sent were indeed to his liking.

Who wasn't born loving hardship? If one could enjoy life, one naturally would.

Elder Tiekuang took the large porcelain cup Li Rui had prepared, tilted his head back, and drank it all in big gulps.

The iced green plum drink was clear and sweet with a hint of sourness, and the irritability from being roasted by the furnace all day vanished instantly.

Elder Tiekuang smacked his lips: "This stuff is not bad, prepare more in the future."

"If you like it, Senior, I will buy more in the future."

Li Rui laughed.

Isn't that how relationships are brought closer?

If a stone can't be warmed, it's because the method was wrong; making people not dislike you and catering to their preferences is a discipline in itself.

Only those who are used to serving people would know this.

Li Rui didn't want to learn it; he was forced to when he was a coachman, and later he just got used to it.

He took the opportunity to ask: "Senior, are you very familiar with Jiang?"

Elder Tiekuang glanced at Li Rui: "You mean that Jiang kid?"

"He's alright."

"His talent is ridiculously good, and he doesn't have any bad intentions, so don't worry."

Li Rui asked tentatively: "Had Jiang dealt with the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao before?"

Elder Tiekuang pondered for a moment:

"It should be because of the Immortal Treasure that he got involved with the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao; I hadn't heard of it before."

Li Rui's heart stirred slightly.

The image of Jiang Linxian killing that Ghost Gui Ming Jiao expert that night surfaced in his mind.

Elder Tiekuang rested for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, then began to call Liu Tiezhu to start working again.

When it came to the simple matter of forging, these two would never get tired.

Days passed one by one.

Li Rui, following Elder Tiekuang's guidance, practiced diligently every day, tempering his body with the Hammering Qi Method.

His Immortal Xuan Qi became increasingly solid.

The God-Fire Burning Heaven Hammer was indeed the treasure of the God-Weapon Shanzhuang; swinging this weapon actually had the miraculous effect of consolidating one's roots and bones, and when combined with the Hammering Qi Method, the effect was even better than expected.

Breaking through too quickly was a problem that appeared in many geniuses.

But for it to appear in a person nearly eighty years old could be called extremely rare.

It was only because Elder Tiekuang's eye for talent was amazing and he was skilled at bone-reading that he could discover this hidden danger.

Li Rui's practice not only consolidated his foundation but also tempered his true qi, which could be called killing two birds with one stone.

This day.

In the room of the Li residence.

Li Rui was meditating as usual, the dragon-form moving within his body, constantly solidifying his Immortal Xuan Qi.

Suddenly.

He opened his eyes.

"The time has come."

(End of chapter)