Chapter 261: Twin Dragon Pearls

The Dragon-Slaying Sword only activates this ability against living beings who possess bloodlines related to "Dragons."

Fu Chongjiu's dragon blood was very thin, but it existed nonetheless.

After draining the dragon blood and dragon soul, the two Dragon-Slaying Swords automatically flew back.

The thin thread flying through the air failed to pull out the soul for quite a while, then slowly faded and vanished.

But Xu Yuan knew the Fu family would likely send someone to trouble him.

Fu Chongjiu came to seek revenge and died in the end—the Fu family would naturally assume he was the murderer.

Xu Yuan sent out the beast-tendon rope, which drilled into Fu Chongjiu's "fish mouth."

The beast-tendon rope was pulled extremely thin, resembling silk from a silkworm.

Soon, it found the Longzhu Waidan inside Fu Chongjiu's body, wrapped around it, and pulled it out.

Xu Yuan quietly stowed it away.

This Longzhu Waidan was even larger than Fu Shuanghui's.

Afterward, he searched the corpse again, found several craft items, released the fishing net, and the body plopped into the river with a splash.

Floating up and down, it drifted away with the waves.

Only at this moment did Qin Ze and Di Youzhi rush up in haste.

They saw the half-human, half-fish corpse drifting more than a hundred zhang away.

Suddenly, a gray-white, withered hand shot up from the river water with a splash, violently dragged the corpse underwater, and never appeared again.

Xu Yuan said, "Report truthfully: Fu Chongjiu slaughtered the village to create Blood Salt Evil Spirits, ordered his death knights to assassinate the Purification Bureau inspector in the street, ambushed us at Zhou Family Market, and was finally knocked into the river by us, meeting his end in the mouth of an evil spirit."

"Yes!" The two subordinates asked nothing more; whatever my lord said was what it was.

Xu Yuan looked at Di Youzhi's severed arm: "How is it?"

Di Youzhi had already been bandaged, holding his severed hand himself: "Not a big problem. I'll get a Reattachment Pill when I return and can reattach it."

Xu Yuan tossed his own medicine pill to him: "This pill has reattachment effects. Reattach it now."

The longer the delay, the worse the result after reattachment.

If it exceeds a day, the severed hand might completely necrose and can never be reattached.

Di Youzhi also knew the severity, thanked my lord, and went to treat his wound.

Xu Yuan turned around and spat a mouthful of fire to the side.

Boom!

The flames accurately covered the evil, turbid thread that was quietly slipping away.

This thing sizzled as it burned.

Xu Yuan suddenly inhaled, swallowing the evil, turbid thread wrapped in the fire from his belly.

Before long, this evil, turbid thread would be sealed and refined into a Longzhu Waidan.

Although this thing was evil, it was quite useful.

However, sealing an evil spirit into a pill inevitably meant suffering its contamination.

Xu Yuan vaguely felt his body starting to itch.

Time to shed skin again!

He had already suffered severe contamination last time at Yu Well Village.

This time, refining the evil, turbid thread finally brought him to the critical point.

Every shed skin was quite useful; Xu Yuan had even fantasized about deliberately seeking contamination to shed several layers of skin.

But every skin shedding was a huge drain on himself.

If the interval was too short, he couldn't withstand it.

Just like when he first became a Fate Cultivator, chased by the Holy Maiden, he shed a body of scorched skin and was extremely weak at the time.

It was still the same saying: exercise restraint; the frequency cannot be too high.

The Rank Dan Xiu who impersonated Xu Yuan was a subordinate of Jia Yi, named Gao Xuanping.

He was also one of the five who descended the well that day.

He came over together with Seeing Fu Jingyu, Song Lu, and others.

Xu Yuan said to him: "You have made great merit this time. I promote you to the rank of Mountain-Moving Captain."

Gao Xuanping was originally only a One-Stripe Captain; this was equivalent to a two-rank promotion. Gao Xuanping was overjoyed and knelt to bow: "Thank you, my lord, for your patronage!"

"Rise. This is what you deserve."

Di Youzhi had reattached his severed arm. Qin Ze assisted on the side, shaved two wooden planks, clamped them over the wound, and bound them tightly with cloth strips.

"Return to Huicheng!"

The group passed through Zhou Family Market; the town was perfectly calm.

There were not that many snakes.

Everything before was Fu Chongjiu's mirage illusion.

On the road, Xu Yuan called Di Youzhi and Qin Ze over: "Do we have informants within the Fishing Gang?"

Both shook their heads: "That is Shanhe's territory."

Xu Yuan said: "Find a way to insert someone inside."

"My lord means..."

"Shanhe played us again this time. Taking hits without fighting back is not the style of our Purification Bureau!"

Di Youzhi and Qin Ze chuckled: "Rest assured, my lord. Leave it to us."

Both knew in their hearts whether it was the style of the Purification Bureau or not, but it certainly wasn't their lord's style.

Di Youzhi already had a direction: "The Iron Boat Gang frequently deals with the Fishing Gang. Let's start with the Iron Boat Gang."

Back in the city, Lin Wanmo had been waiting for news.

Xu Yuan brushed it over in a few words.

He said nothing about the dangers.

In Xu Yuan's account, the trip to the Zhou Family Gathering went smoothly.

He had seen through Fu Chongjiu's conspiracy from the very start.

He struck from behind with a single sword thrust and killed that scoundrel.

Lin Wanmo was somewhat suspicious, but since the child had returned whole and unharmed, he did not press further.

Aunt Wang was about to lecture Xu Yuan again, so Xu Yuan handed the case documents over to Fu Jingyu.

As Fu Jingyu wrote, Song Lu sat beside him, grinding the ink well, then propped her fragrant cheek on her hand at the table, gazing adoringly at her Brother Jingyu.

Once everything was settled, Xu Yuan asked Yu Yunhang to deliver the documents to He Youxing.

When Yu Yunhang arrived, it was already dark.

He Youxing took one look and felt his scalp go numb.

Good heavens, you've killed another Fu family member?!

He wished he could rush to the Nancheng Patrol Station right now, point at Xu Yuan's nose, and scold him.

But one could not go out after dark.

He held his nose and endured the night.

By the next morning, he had figured it out himself.

What do I care? As for these case documents, I will submit them exactly as he wrote them.

I will be leaving in half a year; the one who should have a headache is Ma Tianshou.

In truth, He Youxing still lacked confidence, fearing that if he went to scold Xu Yuan, the rascal might refuse to show respect and confront him on the spot; how would he then resolve the situation?

Taking advantage of that night, Xu Yuan consumed Fu Chongjiu's Dragon Pearl as bait.

Before consuming it, he first washed it clean with clear water.

But when he burned it with the Fire in his Belly, he found it would not work.

The power within Fu Chongjiu's Dragon Pearl was water and electricity.

Fu Shuanghui's was fire.

Xu Yuan's original plan had been to consume the Dragon Pearl to strengthen the Dragon Pearl's Inner Core.

But these two Dragon Pearls were incompatible, water and fire.

"What a pity..."

Xu Yuan could not help but feel regret.

If he could fuse the two Dragon Pearls, perhaps the Transformation into a Dragon Method could be elevated to the Fifth Rank!

Xu Yuan did not yet know that Fu Shuanghui had originally been intended by Fu Chongjiu as provisions.

Fu Chongjiu had his own methods for fusing these two Dragon Pearls if he were to eat his sister.

That would involve the cultivation method of the Fifth Rank Transformation into a Dragon Method.

Fu Shuanghui's memories did not contain it.

Since it could not be consumed, he could only refine this Dragon Pearl into an Outer Pill.

Yet, relying on this Outer Pill, he acquired some of Fu Chongjiu's abilities: Dragon Spits Mirage and Face-Smashing Rain.

Dragon Sheds Armor and Bone-Melting Poisonous Water were absent.

Additionally, he could draw lightning directly from the Outer Pill.

The gains from this single Dragon Pearl alone greatly increased Xu Yuan's strength.

Furthermore, Fu Chongjiu was carrying three Artisan Objects and a bag of seeds.

The seeds were cultivated by a Law Cultivator of the "Agricultural Method"; they grew from the double ears and could stabilize the soul.

"This thing... can be handed over to Zhou Leizi for proper study."

(End of this chapter)