Chapter 320: Zang Machine Obtained, Martial Intent Puppet

"Good!"

Zhou You slapped his thigh, "It's settled then. Since you are willing to trust me, I will take on this matter."

"I won't boast, but as long as I am alive, everyone will be able to get out alive."

Liu Fengji nodded, "It's a deal."

A moment later, after the page boy Xiao Xu returned and learned that his Young Master was actually willing to take the risk, he was so frightened that he jumped up and down, looking like a soul-lost little rabbit, "No, no!"

In the end, it was Liu Fengji who used his authority as Young Master to suppress him.

Zhou You took out two pieces of incense and handed them over, "Take a sniff, no need for much, you will naturally fall into a deep sleep, and there will be no aftereffects upon waking."

This Soul-Bewitching Incense was obtained from that pair of senior and junior brothers, the flower-picking thieves and Hua Zhuomo, and its potency was extremely strong.

Regardless of whether it was a grumpy water buffalo or a rutting boar, one feed and it would immediately collapse to the ground, without even needing to wait for it to take effect.

Moreover, there were no aftereffects upon waking; they would be lively and ready to do whatever they needed to do!

Good stuff, yet it was used by those two beasts to ruin decent women.

"Young Master, wait a moment, let me test the poison first!"

The loyal little page boy inhaled with all his might, then collapsed headfirst to the ground, clean and swift.

Liu Fengji laughed in spite of himself, chose a natural posture, smelled the incense and fell asleep, following suit and becoming motionless.

After Zhou You confirmed that the two had fallen into a deep sleep, he took out a black cloth to cover their eyes before taking out a Hunger Pouch.

The pouch opened, a suction force enveloped the two, and they shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye, being drawn into the interior of the pouch.

Zhou You tied the rope to seal the opening and tucked the pouch into his sleeve.

He still had 10 days; he had to leave within this time and release the two from the pouch.

Whether they remained in a coma or woke up to find themselves in an inexplicable space, it was possible to cause physical and mental harm to Liu Fengji and his servant.

Hmm, during the process, Zhou You was quite ungentlemanly and snuck a peek at Liu Fengji's back; sure enough, there was a birthmark.

The outline of this birthmark was distinct; it was impossible to tell which part was natural and which part had been processed by a tattoo artist, as it was a complete character.

The panel was immediately triggered, giving a prompt:

"Character collected +1, current total number of Nine Cauldrons Seal Script: 2."

"Character being analyzed, estimated time required..."

Zhou You thought, why go through such trouble? I want it now, so he directly chose to use Experience Points to cheat.

"Experience Points -10000, analysis complete, the content of this character is as follows..."

In an instant, the number of Seal Script characters Zhou You had fully mastered increased by one, in addition to Bewitchment.

After the panel's correction, analysis, and restoration, this character returned to its original appearance.

It turned out the Liu family had been mistaken; the true function of this character was not merely to exchange Martial Dao realm for the luck of surviving a desperate situation.

To be precise, this character represented... Zang (Hidden) Machine.

Zang represents concealment; Machine refers to the key point of a matter.

Every time Liu Fengji's realm regressed, it was not the price of an exchange, but a means by which the character weakened his sense of presence to avoid danger or various calamities.

Time runs according to its own laws, and dangers and calamities also have fixed trajectories.

The principle of Zang Machine is to erase the characteristics targeted by the calamity by weakening your prominent features—that is, the key points—ultimately allowing you to escape unscathed in a state of invisibility.

The incident Liu Fengji encountered at age six happened suddenly, and coupled with an insufficient sample size, it caused the Liu family to fixate on the idea that it only worked if the Martial Dao realm was weakened.

Subsequent research followed this fixed line of thinking and went astray; it was like singing off-key.

Only until Zhou You incorporated it into the panel for analysis could the misinterpretation be eliminated and its original appearance restored.

As for the character on Liu Fengji's back, it belonged to secondary fan-fiction creation—simple, crude, and providing quick gratification, but that was the extent of its limit. The potential of the Nine Tripod Characters lay in constant combination and improvement; once the limit was set, even if other related characters were found, it was destined to be incompatible and could no longer be deeply excavated.

With a sympathetic gaze, Zhou You sent Liu Fengji into the Hunger Pouch.

Turning bad luck into good and meeting with auspiciousness—in the end, it was just a beautiful dream that would eventually be punctured.

If one day in the future, the danger Liu Fengji encountered was no longer a price his Martial Dao realm could satisfy, what would happen? Would it use his life force to make up the difference?

"Sleep peacefully, I will keep you safe."

Although Zhou You had obtained the character Zang Machine, he did not dare to use it for the time being.

His current active identity was Lu Zhigang, and what was his greatest feature? Poison! Once Zang Machine was activated and his strongest combat ability, poison, was stripped away, things would become troublesome, so he decided to dismiss this thought for now.

He was certain that by using Stealth and acting alone, he could leave this land.

Liu Fengji and his servant were originally the biggest variables, but now that they were hidden in the pouch in his sleeve, there was absolutely no trace left.

Although the Hunger Pouch was separated by a thin layer of human skin, its shielding effect was unexpectedly strong.

Next... set off.

After Zhou You left with the people, this land returned to its original desolation, and even the footprints were buried.

Half a day later, a martial artist with a slightly dull expression appeared on the spot and flipped the soil with a punch.

Layers of soil rolled over like waves, and the miscellaneous items buried at different times were successively exposed on the ground.

The martial artist lay on the ground, his nose twitching like a wild beast, until he finally smelled a familiar scent in a clod of earth.

"Found... found the target, Young Master! Hehe, Liu Jia Ji Xiang Er, a treasure bestowed by heaven."

"The commission from the Golden Immortal Dao can now be fulfilled."

This martial artist was, shockingly, one of those high-level martial artists from Liu Fengji's Personal Guard.

However, his appearance here, both in behavior and speech, was very strange, revealing a sense of disharmony everywhere.

The next moment, the martial artist stood stiffly in place, motionless.

Footsteps sounded, and a hunter riding a crocodile-headed monster appeared behind him.

"The Great Shaman uses Essence Energy to devour blood and Qi, turning this person into a Martial Intent Puppet; it is ultimately not as good as a genuine betrayal."

"He is like this, sometimes working and sometimes not, intermittent; just as he found the target, they escaped again."

The scout carelessly released a crimson centipede; the centipede's joints were flexible, winding and moving as smoothly as flowing water, burrowing into that patch of soil and opening its mouth to swallow and bite.

There was a scent in the soil, Zang traces left behind by a living person.

By consuming the soil, the crimson centipede could pick up the trail and track the target that had just departed.

However...

The next moment, the crimson centipede became frantic, spinning in circles on the spot, its speed increasing faster and faster.

The scout ordered it to stop, but the usually docile and obedient crimson centipede actually refused to listen.

Snap!

The crimson centipede eventually coiled into a ring, bit through its own body, and lay in a pool of green blood, slowly dying.

The scout's expression was incredibly grave; he knew he had encountered a thorny situation—the target had wiped away all traces.

This centipede was a raised exotic witch-beast, yet it had been forced to commit suicide; it was clear that not a single trace left to track could be found.

He looked at the martial artist, who was as stiff as a corpse, and said, "From here on, I can only rely on you."

The martial artist's eyes were blood-red, and the surging Qi and blood flowing through his body possessed the distinct aura of that witch-tribe powerful martial Giant who had attacked Zunyang City that day.

(End of chapter)