[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-lord-of-the-immortal-food":3,"chapter-lord-of-the-immortal-food-lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-70":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Lord of the Immortal Food",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2313193,4524,"Chapter 70: Chapter Seventy: Wooden Bead, Book, Ming Qitian","lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-70",70,"\u003Cp>Shang Lang found the target faster than anyone else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even after nearly fighting all night and bearing multiple wounds, Shang Lang remained one of the top combatants beneath the Fenghuai Sect Master.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His martial art excelled in rapid recovery and resilience under injury and fatigue; handling such matters came naturally to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was in Qingfeng Alley, an old street where the residences suggested relatively wealthy inhabitants; along the way, shops lined the road—Li the Tailor, Old Lu’s Wine Shop, Old Master’s Jewelry… it seemed the most “prosperous” spot in the entire city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the street was still sparsely populated, so Shang Lang spotted the anomaly at a glance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A girl of sixteen or seventeen ran into a jewelry shop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was normal for a girl to buy jewelry, but this girl was dragged in by a large dog.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Big Black! Stop! Big Black!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl, drenched in sweat, stumbled forward, pulled by the leash; suddenly she turned sharply, looked up—and the dog leapt into the shop beside the street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh no! Big Black! Don’t touch their things!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl was yanked through the door, nearly tripping over the threshold; before she could recover, she was yanked again—the dog had leapt straight into the jewelry display.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A clatter of silver beads shattering and jade cracking rang out; the girl’s heart turned icy, and the shopkeeper, terrified by the sudden intrusion of the black beast, leapt over the counter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dog seized something from the display, turned its head, and its ghostly blue eyes made the girl scream, dropping the leash and collapsing to the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having seized the object, the dog seemed to have completed its mission; it dropped it on the floor, bared its fangs, and lunged at the girl.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aaaah!! Big Black!!” The girl shrieked—then suddenly felt weightless as she was flung backward, a figure stepping between her and the dog.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shang Lang clamped the dog’s jaws shut, using his body to block its writhing form, and turned to say: “Your dog seems mad. I’ll pay for the damages. Go home.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh? But… but…” The girl sat dazed on the street, about to speak—when her collar tightened and she was dragged away by a strong arm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shang Lang turned back to see the shopkeeper sprawled on the ground, staring blankly at the dog’s body in his hands, its bone spines grotesque.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shang Lang grimaced apologetically: “Just pretend it was a dream.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He poured true qi violently into the dog’s mouth, severing its life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tossed the corpse down, picked up the object it had seized, and examined it: a wooden carving, the size of a walnut.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s this?” Shang Lang asked the shopkeeper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huanghua wood dragon-and-phoenix bead. A decorative piece.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shang Lang held it to the light: the carving was adequate, but not refined; the surface polish was dull.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He squeezed hard—it cracked open, revealing only wood inside, no anomaly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Zhao went to Lao River Road.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were many homes here, but arranged in strict order, with few hiding spots in the alleys; he leapt onto a high rooftop and watched passersby, yet saw nothing unusual.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Could it be inside the houses?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if something strange happened inside, wouldn’t the family notice?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Zhao leapt down, grabbed a passerby, and flashed his badge: “Which household here has few people?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Few people? Everyone lives here with their whole families—no one’s short on people,” the passerby said, puzzled. “What are you looking for, officer?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Zhao frowned: “At this hour, which house has only one or two people inside?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The passerby thought a moment, then said: “Ah! I know—Officer, you’re looking for the Zhao Family Courtyard! They’ve all moved to the prefecture, leaving only Old Lin to guard the house.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Which one?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The biggest one…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he finished, Zheng Zhao leapt into the air, shooting straight toward the large mansion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The passerby felt as if a giant kite had been yanked right before his eyes; he staggered back a step, and when he turned, the “kite” was already in the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My goodness…” The passerby was speechless with shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Zhao landed on the Zhao Family Courtyard’s roof; its gray walls and black eaves indeed exuded more nobility than other homes—it was a three-hall compound, silent and empty, yet clearly maintained with regular cleaning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Zhao focused his senses; a faint sound reached his ears from one room. He drifted down silently, landing outside, then pierced the window to peer inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside, the room was filled with books; an old, hunched man shuffled stiffly between the shelves, and when he turned once, a flash of blue eyes passed by.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Zhao signaled his companion to wait, then slipped soundlessly into the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shadowed the old man step by step until the man stopped before a bookshelf.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Zhao looked up—the top of the shelf bore a large character: “Wu.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man pulled out a book—his mission complete.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hidden “dragon flesh” began spreading uncontrollably; the man’s face twisted grotesquely, scales and horns emerging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the transformation lasted only a second—*clang*—his head was cleanly severed and fell to the floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Zhao caught the book; its cover read: *A Brief Discussion on Advanced Martial Arts*.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Zhao flipped through it: as the title suggested, it was a half-baked compilation by some amateur who’d jotted down every “powerful martial art” he’d ever heard—disorganized, mixing internal cultivation with sword techniques, listing Kunlun alongside bandit camps, descriptions mostly false, drawn from street rumors and wild speculation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Zhao flipped through it, found no hidden layers, tucked it into his robe, and returned straight to the county office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yunzhang went to Big Willow Tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a common resting spot for nearby villagers; now three or five old men sat chatting idly. He spotted his target immediately—the man was sprinting straight down the street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He told his companion to clear the path ahead to avoid involving civilians, then trailed the figure, watching where it went.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the path grew increasingly strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, it had been running too long; second, if it kept going this way, wasn’t it heading back toward the county office?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ahead, two figures appeared—one green, one white; whether Xing Zhi and Xu Weizhou had spoken or not, it was clear that Ming Qitian and Xu Weizhou were now leaving the city together to meet the enemy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The companion clearing the path was explaining the situation to them when Wang Yunzhang moved to hurry forward—suddenly, the figure leapt high, lunging straight at Ming Qitian!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was slapped to the ground by Xu Weizhou’s palm; its body lay pinned beneath Xu Weizhou’s foot, visibly beginning to mutate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yunzhang rushed over, watching Ming Qitian with uneasy curiosity, rubbing his hands: “Er… Lord Ming, you might have to come back to the county office again…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Ming Qitian could speak, Xu Weizhou’s face darkened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ming Qitian nodded; Xing Zhi had already told her she might be asked to carry something, so she turned on her heel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Weizhou turned too. Wang Yunzhang blinked, surprised: “Sir Xu, you don’t need to go back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Weizhou stopped, his face even darker.\u003C\u002Fp>",1189,"2026-06-20T13:17:09.438Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","a8231fdb2a11da29db953a39406f517d968e5cbc0062329d61cbe1024f762916","lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-71","lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-69",771,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Flord-of-the-immortal-food-cover.jpg"]