Chapter 76: Another Bumper Harvest!

"Today at noon!"

He Ningshuang caught her breath and replied, "The time of death was all today at noon. Oh, and the cause of death was poisoning! Including the Three Absolutes Valley Sect Master — he was poisoned first, then killed."

They died at noon?

Chen Mu was startled.

"What about Tang Wuyang?" Zhao Fuzhou pressed.

"Everyone except Tang Wuyang!"

He Ningshuang said in a serious tone, "The corpses of everyone else from Three Absolutes Valley are all here. Only Tang Wuyang is missing."

"It seems Tang Wuyang has officially become a member of the Longevity Cult," Zhao Fuzhou said calmly.

Whatever Chen Mu could think of, he naturally could as well.

The three trials for entering the Longevity Cult: eat human flesh, kill your entire family, cut off your own retreat!

Eating human flesh can be done secretly in private; killing one's whole family can also be pinned on someone else.

But cutting off one's own retreat cannot be faked — it's basically public. You hack away your own path of retreat yourself, and from then on, you can only throw in your lot with and rely on the "Longevity Cult"!

Tang Wuyang poisoned them first, then killed everyone in Three Absolutes Valley. Whether coerced or willing, from now on he can only walk that one road to the bitter end.

It looked like the people of Three Absolutes Valley were poisoned by Tang Wuyang during their noon meal.

'That beast must have returned to Three Absolutes Valley right after I escaped…'

Chen Mu thought to himself.

……

"My lord, what should we do?"

He Ningshuang asked, "Three Absolutes Valley has been wiped out, and Tang Wuyang has joined the Longevity Cult. Should we issue a warrant for him right away?"

Issuing a warrant for Tang Wuyang was inevitable, but the timing of when to put out the warrant was a matter that required careful consideration.

"Wait a moment."

Zhao Fuzhou shook his head. "Wait until I get back from Three Absolutes Valley."

"My lord, may I go along with you?" Chen Mu heard this and cupped his fist in a salute.

He Ningshuang glanced at Chen Mu. "You are…"

"Lord He." Chen Mu cupped his hand toward her, but still did not remove the human-skin mask. However, the voice he spoke with was his own.

He Ningshuang was puzzled at first, then recognized it the next instant. Her eyes went wide, but she did not call him out.

She only gave Chen Mu a strange look, then glanced at Zhao Fuzhou.

"Fine."

Zhao Fuzhou smiled faintly. "As long as you can keep up — I don't plan to ride a horse."

"I should be able to keep up." Chen Mu smiled as well.

"Then let's go."

Zhao Fuzhou lifted his foot and headed for the door. "Ningshuang, you stay. No need to go again."

"Yes, my lord!" He Ningshuang bowed and answered.

Chen Mu saluted her, then followed Zhao Fuzhou and quickly left the Zhenwu Division.

Whoosh~

Whoosh!

The moment they were out the gate, Zhao Fuzhou shrank the earth to inches — each step covering dozens of meters — and flew toward the city gate.

Lightness skill!

A very exquisite lightness skill: one step, dozens of meters. It clearly combined both explosive sprinting and long-distance endurance.

Chen Mu had not yet picked up any related skill card for this kind of explosive-sprint type of lightness skill.

Fortunately, his peak realm 《Wind-Chasing Leg》 was enough to let Chen Mu keep up.

Zhao Fuzhou flew ahead; Chen Mu followed closely behind.

Between the two of them, a distance of about three meters was maintained the whole time.

Once out of Wulong Fucheng, they pressed on without stopping.

Under the night sky, Zhao Fuzhou showed no sign of slowing down, not even stopping once.

From start to finish, Chen Mu stayed right behind him and never fell behind.

Neither of them spoke a word along the way.

What Chen Mu did not see was that the corners of Zhao Fuzhou's mouth, flying ahead, had curled up slightly at some unknown point.

……

Three Absolutes Valley.

When Chen Mu arrived following Zhao Fuzhou, Yan Qingyuan and the others, who had come over in the afternoon, had already gathered the corpses and laid them out together — three long rows on the open ground.

【Corpse detected. Pick up?】

"Yes!"

【Corpse detected. Pick up?】

"Yes!"

……

After walking half a circle around the open ground, Chen Mu had picked up a fistful of cards.

Then he reached into his pouch and checked them one by one.

He had gained thirty-six Internal Force Cards, two Memory Cards, five Skill Cards, three Cultivation Cards, and ten Power Cards.

The rest were either Stamina Cards or Energy Cards.

First, he read two memory cards to see if there were any clues.

As it turned out, one card came from a menial disciple of Three Absolutes Valley — he knew nothing and had simply been poisoned to death over lunch.

The other came from a female disciple, equally in the dark, who had been fighting over a man right before she died.

Just like the three memory cards previously picked up from the Guo family, there was no clue to point the way.

Every building in Three Absolutes Valley had already been searched by Yan Qingyuan and the others, with no discoveries either.

Chen Mu walked around holding a torch, and when the Zhenwu Si guards saw him, they didn't question it.

Because Chen Mu had come in Zhao Fuzhou's company.

Though he was an unfamiliar face, no one spoke up.

He walked the entire valley once, hearing and smelling nothing out of the ordinary.

Chen Mu returned to Zhao Fuzhou's side, cupped his fist in salute, and said, "My lord, no discoveries."

"Mm~"

Zhao Fuzhou nodded. "Since you found nothing, go down and rest, or head straight back."

"Your subordinate takes his leave!"

Chen Mu saluted once more, then turned and left.

The card was in hand; there was no reason to stay in Three Absolutes Valley any longer.

Straight home!

"My lord, who was that brother just now?" Peng Wu asked, puzzled, watching Chen Mu's retreating back.

"One of ours."

Zhao Fuzhou replied, then ordered, "Bury all the bodies."

"Yes!"

Seeing that Zhao Fuzhou didn't want to say more, Peng Wu sensibly shut his mouth and sent his men to dig a pit.

……

By the time Chen Mu returned to Wulong Fucheng, dawn was nearly breaking.

Because he had used an Energy card on the road, he wasn't the least bit tired.

Back home, he greeted Huang Feiyang, who was up early practicing Wu Gong, went inside, closed the door, took out the cards, and tallied his gains.

Mainly a few skill cards, and this time there was another special skill card.

Eagle Eye!

As the name suggests, once the card is used, one gains eyesight like an eagle's.

Eagle Eye isn't just farsightedness — it also includes light sensitivity and depth perception.

This ability was a perfect replacement for the Wu Gong "Startled Swallow."

Coincidentally, he had picked up an archery martial-skill card in Three Absolutes Valley.

This martial skill was called "Soul-Chasing Arrow"!

Three Absolutes Valley had three absolutes.

Archery, medicine-making, and fist arts.

Although "Soul-Chasing Arrow" was not an Innate martial art, like "Cloud-Sweeping Sword," once cultivated to the Perfection Realm, it could wield the power of an Innate martial art.

Soul Lock!

Consuming one's own spirit, driven by true Qi, the shot arrow could keep chasing its target.

Eagle Eye and "Soul-Chasing Arrow" — a perfect match!

Another standout skill card was neither a martial skill nor a cultivation method, but a battle formation.

"One-Line Spear Forest Formation"!

No surprise — it had likely been picked up from Xie Chenglin.

This battle-formation method was exquisitely crafted, using the long spear as its foundation to condense spear momentum.

Momentum!

The might of a battle formation's momentum was tremendously powerful.

The Great Zhou imperial court had stood to this day for over five hundred years.

For it not to have declined over such a long time, apart from the powerful figures at the top, the army's battle-formation arts were the strongest of any dynasty through the ages — and one of the keys.

"One-Line Spear Forest Formation" had been created by Xie Chenglin himself.

Without a relevant memory card, Chen Mu didn't know whether the Iron Spear Sect had ever actually assembled this battle formation.

The last distinct skill card was a martial skill suspected to be Innate.

"Dual Forms Sword Qi"!