[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-martial-immortality-starting-with-the-spirit-bea":3,"chapter-martial-immortality-starting-with-the-spirit-bea-martial-immortality-starting-with-the-spirit-bea-chapter-80":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Martial Immortality: Starting with the Spirit Beast Scroll",{"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},1636773,2103,"Chapter 80 - 76: Moisturizing Pill","martial-immortality-starting-with-the-spirit-bea-chapter-80",80,"\u003Cp>The county office received an average of ten to twenty wanted notices per year. Over fifty years, they had accumulated nearly a thousand of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The constables’ room was occupied, so Zhao Lin found an empty utility room to put the documents down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Constable Zhao, how are we supposed to search through so many wanted posters?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Qingquan found a feather duster and brushed the dust off the documents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How to search?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing so many wanted posters for vicious criminals, Tao Erleng’s fierce hatred for evil flared up, and he ground his teeth in anger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Filter by keyword...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin paused mid-sentence when he saw their blank looks. He explained, \"Look for words like ’rape-murder’ or ’rape’ in the documents. Then check the date the notice was issued and the killer’s age. If they match up, pull them out.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We’re assuming the killer is between fifty and sixty years old right now. Understand?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Understood,\" He Qingquan and Tao Erleng nodded simultaneously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three of them sat down—two searching and one verifying. After a full four hours, they had sorted out over forty relevant documents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin arranged these documents on the table in chronological order and went through them one by one, cross-referencing the culprits’ methods and characteristics. He did this part alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the second pass, the pool of suspects narrowed further, leaving only nine documents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These documents originated from Yan Province, Tai Province, Wu Province, and Ying Province, where Qinghe County was located.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The oldest document was from Yan Province, thousands of miles away. The case occurred in the 23rd year of the Hongxi era, over thirty years ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin picked it up and read it carefully. In addition to the official government wanted notice, there was also a bounty notice from the Xingyun Sect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Xingyun Sect was a major sect with several thousand members. Although it was far away in Yan Province, Zhao Lin had heard of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the world of martial arts, when a sect’s power grew to a certain level, it could participate in and influence government affairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The details of the case were as follows: The Xingyun Sect had a disciple named Wen Gensheng. He had once been punished by the sect for a mistake and had held a grudge ever since.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the day of a sect celebration, he took advantage of the chaos to lure out the Law Enforcement Elder’s nine-year-old granddaughter, whom he raped and murdered before fleeing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because she was discovered rather late, by the time the Xingyun Sect sent people to hunt him down, Wen Gensheng had long since vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wanted notice included Wen Gensheng’s portrait, age, cultivation level, and physical description.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Wen Gensheng, twenty years old, Second Layer of the Qi Realm, date of crime is the 23rd year of the Hongxi era...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin murmured aloud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That was thirty-two years ago now,\" He Qingquan added from the side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin nodded. By that calculation, Wen Gensheng would be fifty-two this year. The age matched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed that capturing him would be difficult, but not exceedingly so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Given that Wen Gensheng was a trained martial artist with a questionable background, it was impossible for any sect to take him in as a disciple. At most, he could serve as an Honored Guest Elder or an instructor at a martial arts hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without a sufficient supply of resources, it would be very difficult for him to advance in his martial path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin estimated that Wen Gensheng’s cultivation was likely still in the Qi Realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cases in the other eight documents mostly occurred in Wu Province and Tai Province. It wasn’t until this year that a similar case had appeared in Ying Province.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From these documents, Zhao Lin could roughly piece together Wen Gensheng’s movements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After fleeing Yan Province, Wen Gensheng went to Wu Province, changed his name to Yan Tiesheng, and worked as an instructor at a place called Tiantong Martial Arts Hall, where he laid low for five years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But a leopard can’t change its spots. In the 31st year of the Hongxi era, Wen Gensheng struck again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The victim was a young female disciple from the Tiantong Martial Arts Hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Gensheng not only brutalized the female disciple but also took her undergarments. His methods were already quite similar to today’s case.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Wu Province authorities and the Tiantong Martial Arts Hall jointly issued a wanted notice and a bounty for \"Yan Tiesheng\".\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the second, and last, time Wen Gensheng left behind a description of his appearance after committing a crime.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over the next decade or so, Wen Gensheng committed a crime every few years. His methods grew more practiced, the intervals between attacks shortened, and his crimes gradually evolved into a series of rape-murders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for some unknown reason, Wen Gensheng suddenly went quiet for the last ten years, with no similar cases reported, only to start again this year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite this, he had harmed no fewer than fifty women over the years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To capture him, various provincial governments offered rewards ranging from one hundred to one thousand taels. But the largest bounty of all was from the Xingyun Sect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To apprehend Wen Gensheng, the Xingyun Sect offered a reward of one Moisturizing Pill plus one hundred taels of Gold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A Moisturizing Pill?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin’s heart skipped a beat. Though he didn’t know how valuable a Moisturizing Pill was, the fact that the Xingyun Sect would formally list it in a bounty meant it was certainly no ordinary pill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One Moisturizing Pill plus one hundred taels of Gold... It seemed the Gold was just a bonus, and the pill was the real prize.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin gathered the nine documents and said to He Qingquan, \"Elder He, please take the trouble to return the other documents. Remember, this matter must be kept strictly confidential!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don’t worry, Constable Zhao. My lips are sealed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Qingquan agreed readily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although he couldn’t fully grasp Zhao Lin’s investigative methods, he could tell from the documents that they were related to the current case and was secretly amazed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was already past noon. Zhao Lin made an excuse about getting a meal and left the county office, heading straight for the Liuhe Sect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this point in the investigation, they could have already moved to arrest the suspect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the method of capture was closely tied to this Moisturizing Pill. He had to understand its significance first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a constable, most of the credit for solving cases went to his superiors—namely, the County Magistrate and the head constable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rewards on the wanted posters would also be confiscated by the government, and he would only receive a very small portion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the Xingyun Sect’s bounty was different. It was more like a public underworld contract—whoever caught the man would get the Moisturizing Pill and the hundred taels of Gold!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the Moisturizing Pill was truly precious and greatly beneficial to one’s martial path, then he had to ensure he was the one to capture this man personally.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A Moisturizing Pill?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the rear courtyard of the Liuhe Sect, Zhu Huaishan sized Zhao Lin up and asked, \"Where did you hear about that?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin laid the nine documents out in a row in front of Zhu Huaishan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Wen Gensheng!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Zhu Huaishan saw the first document, his eyes reddened, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Master, what’s wrong?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin had never seen his master so agitated and was stunned. Then his heart tightened. ’Could Master have some connection to this Wen Gensheng?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He studied Zhu Huaishan closely and found that the more he looked, the more his master resembled the portrait of Wen Gensheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’They couldn’t be relatives, or even father and son, could they?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Huaishan noticed Zhao Lin’s gaze and guessed what he was thinking. His face darkened. \"What nonsense are you thinking? I wish I could kill him with my own hands! Where is he?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin knew his master had no reason to deceive him—his strength was plain to see. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, \"He’s hiding in a secret passage in the Yunlai Inn.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let’s go get him now!\" Zhu Huaishan said, standing up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Master, wait.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin hadn’t expected his master to be even more eager than he was. He explained, \"We aren’t familiar with the layout. We might be at a disadvantage if we rush in. Besides, what if the secret passage has multiple exits and he gets away?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Huaishan sighed, sat back down, and said slowly, \"To tell you the truth, I am also from the Xingyun Sect. Wen Gensheng... was my disciple.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin’s mouth fell open, but he didn’t know what to say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Huaishan continued, \"When disciples of the Xingyun Sect reach the Blood Realm, if they cannot advance further, they generally have two choices.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They can either remain in the sect to hold a position and manage its assets, or they can leave to establish new branches, discover talented young people, and send them back to the sect.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I chose the former. I stayed in the sect as a deacon and took on several new disciples, Wen Gensheng among them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The boy had good aptitude and was diligent in his training, but he had an extreme temperament and often did outrageous things. I thought he was still young and would gradually correct his ways as he grew older, so I only gave him minor punishments. I never expected...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I felt ashamed and unworthy of the sect, unable to face them. That’s why I came here to Qinghe County, hoping to train a few talented disciples to atone for my past mistake.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A silence fell between them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Lin comforted him, \"Master, you can’t blame yourself for this. Some people are just born bad. They’re antisocial—no, that’s not right. I think it’s called a callous personality. They’re born like stones; you can never warm them up.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1659,"2026-06-06T11:22:22.287Z",1,"novelbin.me","17599276336d79af0ef6ad8dbdf9db61a34347e711b7a17ec691a9eb4e56b1df","martial-immortality-starting-with-the-spirit-bea-chapter-81","martial-immortality-starting-with-the-spirit-bea-chapter-79",122,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmartial-immortality-starting-with-the-spirit-bea-cover.jpg"]