Chapter 528

"Caught the murderer yet?"

Li Yan frowned slightly and asked.

He didn't care about the coroner's life or death.

Though they were in the same line of work, they had never met; why should he care? He only asked because of Wu Qu.

"We clashed—I nearly caught him!"

Wu Qu clenched his fist tightly and said in a low voice, "He used poison needles. His martial skills were mediocre, but his escape technique was astonishing—he's definitely a cultist expert."

"I almost had him, but he used a desperate technique, willing to damage his foundation, and vanished without a trace."

Li Yan mused, "Have you found out if this fellow had made any enemies?"

"I originally thought the same thing…"

Wu Qu looked up, his gaze turning grave. "But I just heard another piece of news—in a short time, three 'Living Yin Officers' have been murdered!"

Li Yan's heart jolted at this. "Someone is hunting 'Living Yin Officers'!"

Now he finally understood why Wu Qu looked like this.

It wasn't just because of his friend's death—this matter's severity was enough to make the Huangquan Organization explode in rage.

Thinking of this, Li Yan said grimly, "Has it started again?"

The Huangquan Organization was originally founded in response to a massacre targeting 'Living Yin Officers,' with both orthodox and heretical parties involved, ultimately sparking a great disaster.

Since then, that original agreement was born.

And now it's happening again—could it be that the human realm's transformation has arrived, and someone is trying to eliminate the 'Living Yin Officers' ahead of time?

"I don't know…"

Wu Qu fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I have something to tell you—don't get angry."

"Someone in the organization is spreading rumors that you broke the agreement first, causing all this trouble, and they want to publicly declare that Huangquan has nothing to do with you."

"What?"

Li Yan doubted he'd heard right, almost laughing. "Are they idiots? How long ago was my incident?"

"If they wanted revenge, why wait until now?!"

Wu Qu nodded, paused, then said, "Perhaps you've been tainted by my association."

"To be honest, the selection of 'Living Yin Officers' is entirely based on chance. Over the years, it's become a mix of good and bad."

"Some who got their soul warrants became powerful overnight, colluding with the Protectors to extort money. I couldn't stand it—I've scolded them often."

"You were introduced by me, so they're mostly using this as an excuse. Huangquan has a rule: if a certain number oppose, they can block someone's entry. They're exploiting that rule."

"It doesn't matter."

Li Yan picked up his teacup and shook his head slightly. "I never intended to join Huangquan right away—I was going to observe first. If this is how it is, I won't join."

When I agreed to the Fengdu meeting, I only wanted an organization to back me up against Zhao Changsheng.

But now that things have come to this, I might as well give up.

First, this Huangquan Organization seems off.

The few people I met before were fine, but there are clearly many 'Living Yin Officers' in the group. If so many oppose me, there must be a faction hostile to me.

Forcing my way in might bring trouble.

Besides, I no longer need to rely on these people.

"Not joining is fine."

Wu Qu's mood was clearly poor, his eyes still filled with killing intent. "'Living Yin Officers' have a special status—even when meeting, they try to hide their identities."

"Only five people in the organization knew my friend's identity. And with other 'Living Yin Officers' being killed, there's likely a traitor inside!"

Li Yan nodded in agreement, then asked, "Wu Brother, what are your plans?"

Wu Qu sighed. "I've known that coroner as a friend for over ten years—we shared our lives. Now I'm heartbroken and have no desire to protect anyone else. I may leave Huangquan."

He bit his lip hard. "But this revenge cannot go unanswered!"

"I'll stay in Shu for a while. The fox will eventually show its tail—I'll kill the traitor and use his head to honor my brother!"

"If you need help, just call."

Li Yan gave his promise, then shifted the topic. "Wu Brother, since you're here, I've got something that saves me a trip."

He could see Wu Qu was in bad spirits.

With such a state of mind, he might get into trouble—if he went out recklessly and fought someone, he'd be in danger.

Better to give him something to focus on, to calm him down.

"What is it?"

"I want you to help me open the fist—teach Ba Ji."

"I don't take disciples, but I can recommend someone to Cangzhou…"

"Not a child—my brother."

"Brother?"

…………

"This is your brother?"

Looking at Wu Ba grinning in the courtyard, Wu Qu's eye twitched. He whispered to Li Yan, "Is this a human demon? Li Yan, are you joking with me?"

"His name is Wu Ba."

Li Yan answered seriously. "He's a human demon, but no different from a human—he's a brother worth relying on."

"This is ridiculous!"

Wu Qu shook his head outright. "If my clan elders found out I taught martial arts to a spirit, they'd expel me from the family register."

"No, no—I can't agree to this."

"I don't want your Wu family lineage."

Li Yan quickly gripped Wu Qu's shoulder. "Just the ordinary Ba Ji fist—the kind that's spread everywhere. I don't know it myself, so I've come begging to you."

"Teach it however you like—he learns however he can. How much he picks up depends on his insight. After all, ordinary Ba Ji is already everywhere…"

Li Yan never liked to flatter people.

But the reputation of "Ghost Scare" wasn't baseless.

For his brother, he'd beg and pester without shame.

"I…"

Wu Qu, worn down, sighed. "Fine. I'll stay a few days and teach him the stances. But after this, I won't recognize him as my disciple—he learned it all on his own!"

"Good, good!"

Li Yan grinned and called out to Wu Ba, "What are you standing there for? Come and pay your respects to your master!"

"No!"

Wu Qu quickly stopped him. "Say that again, and I won't teach."

"Alright, alright…"

Li Yan smiled. "We slaughtered a sheep yesterday—there's still some left in the kitchen. I'll have someone heat it up for you. Can you eat lamb dumplings?"

"Anything's fine."

Wu Qu waved his hand impatiently.

After Li Yan left, he looked at Wu Ba's idiotic grin and scowled. "You dare to bear the surname Wu? From now on, I'll call you Big Fool—and you better answer when I call you. Understood?"

"Got it, got it… I'm Big Fool."

Wu Ba scratched his head and grinned.

Seeing this, Wu Qu was even angrier, silently cursing Li Yan—but said nothing more.

"Show me your horse stance!"

He barked. Wu Ba immediately assumed the stance.

The horse stance is the foundation of training. After days of Li Yan's instruction, Wu Ba's stance was decent enough.

But to Wu Qu, it looked utterly awkward.

"Is this a horse stance?"

He snorted, stepped forward with his left foot, spun his body, and suddenly raised his right leg, kicking Wu Ba's ankle.

He'd taken this kick many times when he first learned fistwork.

It was meant to teach disciples what a stable horse stance truly was.

Thud!

But Wu Ba didn't budge an inch.

"Hey~ You stubborn stick!" Wu Qu cursed in Cangzhou dialect.

He unleashed hidden force in his leg and yanked sharply forward.

Yet Wu Ba only swayed slightly—and still didn't fall.

"Damn…" Wu Qu's gaze changed.

He could tell Wu Ba hadn't used hidden force to resist—he was relying purely on raw physical strength.

He remembered Li Yan's words earlier.

"My brother has innate supernatural strength!"

Innate supernatural strength?

A fire rose in Wu Qu's eyes as he lightly rubbed his right foot.

Wu Qu's eyes flared with anger as he lightly rubbed his right foot.

Boom!

Wu Ba fell flat on his back, then scrambled up, ignoring the dust on his clothes, still grinning like an idiot.

"Laugh?"

Wu Qu also chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "In a couple days, see if you can still laugh."

…………

In one by one/p>

"Beyond the Nine Provinces lie the Eight Yins; beyond the Eight Yins lie the Eight Hong; beyond the Eight Hong lie the Eight Ji. The Eight Ji means 'the farthest reaches of the eight directions'…"

"Your head, shoulders, elbows, hands, tailbone, hips, knees, and feet—all must be trained to perfection. Your whole body becomes eyes; your entire frame becomes hands!"

"This is called 'to endure'; this is called 'to shoulder'…"

"Remember: keep your head raised, neck straight, body upright…"

"You big fool, you're going to kill me!"

As Li Yan had predicted, the Eight Ji was the perfect fit for Wu Ba.

This giant was a natural piece of raw jade.

A little polishing, and he'd become a peerless weapon.

No man could resist the temptation of shaping raw jade into a divine artifact under his own hands.

Wu Qu was no different.

At first, he taught only basics.

But once Wu Ba mastered them, seeing his ancient ferocity, Wu Qu couldn't help but teach him more.

Thus, the entire day was filled with scolding.

Li Yan and the others knew this was Wu Ba's opportunity.

Wu Qu himself was a genius of the Wu family of Cangzhou; in martial experience and insight, he was no less than Zhang Xiaoshan.

Compared to him, Li Yan still had a long way to go.

With such a master teaching, they couldn't afford to miss it.

Everyone dared not speak loudly; even Sha Li Fei, these past two days, had moved to the servants' courtyard and rented a room to train.

The promised two or three days had quietly become a week.

Wu Qu seemed to have come to terms with it—still cursing under his breath, yet imparting many essentials of the Eight Ji.

Simply put, Wu Ba was born to train the Eight Ji.

The Eight Ji demands: "First, train brute force like a mad demon; second, train softness to seal, block, and deflect; third, train inch-to-inch connection and entry-exit; fourth, train free stances like a lazy dragon lying down; fifth, train heart, liver, gallbladder, spleen, and kidneys; sixth, train tendons, bones, skin, and flesh as one."

Ordinary cultivators spend years of arduous practice to master internal force.

But Wu Ba was born with divine strength, extraordinary bloodline, and had awakened his Body Divine Skill—he'd mastered hidden force through self-study alone.

Training the Eight Ji thus skipped its most difficult phase entirely.

Wu Qu's daily torment was meant to help him consolidate his force.

Meanwhile, Li Yan took charge of gathering outside intelligence.

He had now connected with the Sichuan underworld; some more secret information could be bought with money.

As he'd predicted, the Sichuan underworld was seething with hidden currents.

On Mount Qingcheng, the new Patriarch still showed no sign of emergence…

Mount Emei wasn't faring any better.

Several factions on the mountain hadn't fully broken ties, but they were each pursuing their own agendas, acting as if they'd never speak again…

Yet under the mediation of Guangde Temple, several orthodox Daoist sects of Sichuan had reached cooperation to jointly exterminate the Worship Dragon Cult.

Zou Shaohai's Divine Fist Society seized this chance to hold a grand assembly in Chongqing, inviting Divine Fist Societies from all over Sichuan, unifying their strength.

Even the Gelaohui had joined them.

These underworld figures, working alongside orthodox Daoist sects, roamed everywhere.

The mobilization of Sichuan's forces had indeed proven effective.

They gathered intelligence and uncovered several hidden halls of the Worship Dragon Cult—similar to the one Li Yan's group had found, hidden deep in ancient forests, all secretly controlling water spirits through esoteric methods.

Under orthodox Daoist power, all these hidden halls were uprooted.

In addition, they found several villages secretly worshipping the Great Lord of the River.

The Sichuan Provincial Administration Commission issued direct orders, classifying the Worship Dragon Cult as a heretical, licentious sect, banning its worship.

Ordinary folk worshipped deities merely for blessings and fortune.

Now that it had become a disaster, everyone avoided it.

In a short time, the Worship Dragon Cult became a rat chased by all in Sichuan; coupled with the imperial bounty for reporting it, people spoke of it as if it were a tiger.

Unfortunately, the Worship Dragon Cult's leader never showed himself…

As for the Wang Fu side, something had also happened.

Just two days after the Winter Solstice, an assassin opened fire on the streets of Chengdu using a new-style firearm, reducing a Wang Fu Commandery Prince to bloody fragments—so shattered, he couldn't even be reassembled.

This stirred up a hornet's nest.

The Prince of Shu flew into a rage, personally drawing his sword and mounting his horse, leading his personal guards to scour Chengdu.

This broke the imperial edict ordering him to remain secluded and reflect.

But faced with the Prince's fury, no one dared mention it; even the capital sent an edict posthumously honoring the dead Commandery Prince, soothing the Wang Fu.

This incident also revealed the Emperor's true stance.

After all, blood is thicker than water—as long as the Prince of Shu didn't openly rebel, the capital would turn a blind eye.

Because of this, previously silent officials of the Wang Fu faction had become bold, sending snowflakes of accusations and complaints to the Chengdu Prefectural Office and the capital.

The censors who had come to cause trouble earlier had slunk away from Sichuan.

The Prince of Shu had finally broken free of his shackles.

This was far from good news for Li Yan and his group.

With no more restraint, the Wang Fu would no longer act stealthily when targeting them.

Li Yan knew perfectly well who the assassin was.

Tang Ling of the Meishan Sect!

The "Formless Young Master" likely had a hand in it too.

Under these circumstances, Li Yan naturally wouldn't leave lightly.

They stayed within Suining's borders; protected by Guangde Temple, the Wang Fu seemed to have forgotten the matter and sent no more agents.

Seizing this chance, Li Yan, like the others, trained fists by day and sought out places thick with yin-evil energy to cultivate the Luo Feng Jing by night.

Before they knew it, several more days passed, and the Minor Cold arrived.

According to the lunar calendar, it was the seventh day of the twelfth month.

There were few days left before the Spring Festival.

And Wu Qu's teaching had finally come to an end.

"The Fengdu Yellow Springs Assembly is about to begin."

After breakfast, Wu Qu spoke directly: "I'm going on a journey—I must find that traitor."

Li Yan quickly said: "Shall I come with you?"

"No."

Wu Qu shook his head. "You coming would only give them more excuses to trouble me, and the traitor would hide deeper."

"Don't worry—those people can't stop me!"

He finished, then looked at Wu Ba with complex eyes and shook his head. "If you ever get the chance, take him to Cangzhou—perhaps the Meng family will make an exception and accept him."

"Farewell!"

"Safe travels!"

They were all children of the Jianghu—no sentimental farewells. Wu Qu packed his bags and headed for the dock, boarding a boat directly to Fengdu.

Meanwhile, a letter arrived from Mount Qingcheng.

The new Patriarch of Qingcheng had finally been chosen!

(End of Chapter)