Chapter 444: Late-Night Visitor

Zhou You stretched his arms; he was not afraid of no one coming, only of being ignored.

Someone had set their sights on him, which meant his previous actions had been effective; people from the Golden Immortal Dao were indeed lurking in Chongguang Cheng.

Thinking of this, he could not help but be in a great mood; he tore open a bag of iron broad beans and enjoyed them with the leftover wine.

"Crunch, crunch, crunch!"

The main body of Zhou You was in Fucheng, where his top priority recently was getting engaged; his marriage to Hua Youxing was already a sure thing, and he was currently preparing the various supplies needed for the wedding.

With good news at his doorstep, he could not get away, so he left all the hard and tiring work to his two avatars.

His first avatar, Lu Zhigang, had initially gained the trust of the strange scorpion Du Wuyao, and the two were traveling together toward the crisis-ridden Ten Thousand Poisons Secret Workshop.

Du Wuyao was no simple character; this person was unfathomable and seemingly only at the Primary Martial Master realm, but after spending this period together, Zhou You determined that he was definitely not as simple as he appeared on the surface.

On the way, he revealed that the Ten Thousand Poisons Secret Workshop was located in the largest boundless Zhaohai in Beixuan Zhou.

The Zhaohai was situated in a border region, covering an area of ten thousand li; its climate was unpredictable, and it was independent of other regions, possessing a world of its own inside.

According to studies in geography and meteorology, the zonal development of a world is by no means synchronized; there are always some local areas that exist in a state of lag and suspension, which creates unique "refrigerator zones."

For example, Beijing, far from the prosperous lands of Zhong Yuan, had a harsh climate and was sparsely populated, so it preserved many ancient species.

Such areas are far from the development of mainstream civilization, retaining traces of antiquity, like frozen blocks in a refrigerator.

The Zhaohai where the Ten Thousand Poisons Secret Workshop was located was also one such refrigerator zone.

The boundless swamp was like a vast ocean, and its geography influenced the weather, creating a unique environment.

Many ancient poisonous insects and monsters hibernated here, sleeping beneath the damp, ten-thousand-year-old mud; once they awoke, they would breed frantically, forming periodic insect tides.

There were even plants that had long been extinct in the outside world, which possessed extremely high medicinal value.

A large portion of the trade between the Medicine King Sect and the Ten Thousand Poisons Secret Workshop consisted of these rare, ancient plants.

It was easy to imagine that Lu Zhigang's trip would surely be full of harvests and infinite possibilities.

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Thinking of this, Zhou You crushed an iron broad bean and tossed it into his mouth, chewing it with great relish.

The next day, he finished the seal, and the regular customer came to pick it up; he carefully observed the seal against the sunlight, unable to put it down and full of praise, giving Zhou You a thumbs-up repeatedly.

"Old sir, this craft of yours is superb."

The regular customer was a burly middle-aged man, a martial master by status, yet he had a penchant for literature and stone carving, and was very willing to spend money on it.

"You flatter me; if you are satisfied, please come back to support my business."

After the regular customer put away the seal, he asked one more thing: "Old sir, I see that although your hair and beard are all white, your body is still quite healthy."

"If I may be so bold as to ask, could you endure the hardship of travel to go on a business trip to another place? Rest assured, the reward will be absolutely generous."

Zhou You was a bit confused; he was just a man running a stall selling calligraphy, why would he need to go on a business trip? He did not understand! He was curious in his heart, but he also knew he could not be impatient to ask, so he said indifferently, "Let me see; I cannot get away recently."

"That is fine. My sect has not yet opened its doors, and the mountain roads are blocked. It will not be too late to invite you, old sir, once they are open."

This sentence from the regular customer revealed a great deal of information.

A sect? He was actually a member of a sect? After the man left, Zhou You closed his eyes to recall his characteristics and discovered that this person was not a member of any sect near Fucheng.

Another place?

Hmm, there could be no mistake; he was from a sect in some prefecture of Beixuan Zhou.

But, why would a martial arts sect invite an old man who sells calligraphy to visit? To carve a monument and sing their praises?

This small interlude passed quickly. Zhou You closed his shop in the afternoon and went out for a walk; having finished this job, he had earned the rent and food money for the next month and could rest for a while.

Chongguang Cheng was lively and had many fun places; although there were still people from the Xie family searching the streets, normal resident activities had returned to normal.

He bought a bag of iron broad beans and a pot of wine as usual, and carried them as he passed through Snake Goods Street.

That massive Snake King had its body coiled around a pillar that ten men could not embrace, its pair of eyes tightly shut, the slits of its eyes hidden in the folds and scales, as if it had been sleeping for thousands upon thousands of years.

Around the cage where it was kept, insects were extinct, and in the corner, there was a tabby cat that had been scared to death, its corpse long since shriveled.

Most of the foot traffic on this street would stop in front of the Snake King to watch the spectacle, stretching out their arms to compare the size of the snake's fangs.

The Snake King squinted in its sleep, ignoring these little things that were not even enough to fill the gaps between its teeth, a fishy wind blowing from its nostrils.

"Wow, truly magnificent."

Zhou You glanced at the lineup guarding the Snake King: a high-level Martial Master with seven or eight disciples, who periodically used their Qi and blood to reinforce the cage.

The cage was not built from ordinary wooden stakes, but forged and assembled according to the requirements of a Qi and blood divine weapon; at the intersections, Charm Cores were embedded. Roughly counting, there were at least a thousand Charm Cores from transformed charms, and over a dozen from small latent charms.

The most eye-catching one was at the very top of the cage: a Charm Core from a large latent charm.

A small latent charm was equivalent to the level of a middle-to-high-level Martial Master, but once it advanced to a large latent charm, it was at the level of a strong martial artist.

With such a massive investment in the cage, it was no wonder the Snake King could only crouch within it, unable to escape.

Zhou You looked at the high-level Martial Master guarding the cage, nodded with a smile, and then left.

It was already dark when he returned to the shop; he installed the door panels, put away the table, and began to make his bed on the floor. Outside the door, the footsteps of the lamp-lighting night watchman rang out, chanting the slogans to remind every household to be careful of water and fire.

Zhou You counted his footsteps; today, just like usual, he would leave this street after 237 steps.

Today's surveillance seemed to be unusually different from usual; the steps had already exceeded 250, yet the figure had not yet disappeared.

Could it be...

The space around Zhou You's ears suddenly fell into silence; all the tiny sounds of the night disappeared, as if he had sunk to the bottom of the water.

He listened for the footsteps again, but they were gone; he could not hear the slightest movement.

Zhou You opened his eyes to look, and the light was gone too; the lamp-lighting night watchman had disappeared from the range his senses could reach.

No sound, no outline, just as if he had been erased by an eraser, leaving only the background behind, clean and empty.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The map was unrolled and the dagger revealed.

He had long anticipated this moment, but he had not expected it to come so suddenly, and to come so... quickly.

Was the person who made the move really that lamp-lighting night watchman, or was it someone else? Having dealt with Kunpengzi, he had some understanding of the style of the Golden Immortal Dao; this group of people did not seem like the type to charge into the front lines.

The shop where Zhou You was currently located seemed to have its light and sound swallowed by a giant void mouth, severing all connection with the outside world.

Yet the enemy had not appeared, quietly trapping him, clearly possessing great confidence and patience.

Zhou You's heart stirred; in the Snake Goods District dozens of streets away, the Snake King, which had been sleeping soundly on the ground, suddenly opened its eyes, two Seal Script characters the size of dippers appearing in its pupils.

The Seal Script was, shockingly, the one Zhou You had just mastered... "Control."

The night was lonely!

The Snake King looked around in confusion, then closed its eyes and continued to sleep.

(End of this chapter)