Chapter 78: Still a Heretical Path Specialist

Southern Frontier Witch Alliance, Luojing Office!

At midnight, Bu Hanying sat in a pitch-dark room, cloaked in a black cloak.

Several other chairs around him were occupied by liaisons from major Witch Alliance sects.

As a direct disciple of Queyue Mountain Villa, Bu Hanying held the second seat in the hall, just below the Gudupaizuting Chilong Cave, and was now delivering an impassioned speech:

“The alliance of sects exists to revive the Witch Religion and re-enter the Central Plains.”

“Our Gudupai was once a orthodox sect, but was exiled to the Southern Frontier due to association with the Shiwupai and betrayal by the Three Teachings.”

“After years of missionary work, perceptions of our Gudupai have improved—even among the courts of North and South. The Northern Zhou court has even begun accepting our Wuyi .”

“But just three days ago!”

“Your Chilong Cave’s precious disciple slaughtered hundreds of civilians on Huaijiang!”

“Had our Queyue Mountain Villa disciples not sensed the danger and intervened, deaths would have reached six hundred!”

“This incident will ignite public outrage and destroy years of our hard-won progress—all because of Taishu Dan’s pill!”

The Witch Religion is fragmented: the Zhuji Sect and others who chant and dance to summon immortals are orthodox.

The Corpse Witch Sect and Ghost Witch Sect, who manipulate corpses, are clearly heretical.

The Gudupai sits between them: not truly heretical, since they don’t kill to cultivate, and even heal.

But calling them orthodox is absurd—they constantly breed poisons, raise parasites, and cast curses; their witch women are more seductive than ever.

Before the Witch Religion’s collapse, the Gudupai could still move freely in the Central Plains, merely disliked.

Now they’re all driven into barren, hostile lands, fighting beasts for survival—no wonder they’re resentful.

To return to fertile lands, the Gudupai follows the same path as the Three Teachings: spreading their teachings far and wide.

As long as they gather enough believers and gain high status, even the court must tolerate them—Buddhism rose this way, surviving multiple purges.

Luojing, as the capital of the Daqian Empire, is naturally a prime target for Witch Religion proselytizing; every sect has its ‘missionaries’ here.

But mass slaughter of civilians will breed public hostility toward the Gudupai , harming their missionary efforts.

For this reason, all sects have been meeting these past days to discuss damage control.

Yet the Witch Alliance is far from unified; their discussions are mostly sarcastic bickering.

The Chilong Cave’s Patriarch, Kong Tianyuan, head of the Gudupai and leader of the Witch Alliance, sat at the head of the table, his tone displeased:

“That traitor Taishu Dan was expelled from our sect thirty years ago. Even I wish to purge him, but he’s too slippery—we can’t find him…”

“Then it proves Taishu Dan learned the true Chilong Cave teachings!”

“Pah—according to reports, it was a disciple of the Daoist Hidden Immortal Sect who intervened. Why are you Queyue Mountain Villa trying to take credit?”

Queyue Mountain Villa had long dreamed of replacing Chilong Cave as leader of the Witch Alliance. Faced with this accusation, Bu Hanying remained cryptic:

“Our Lord has deep strategy. You need not inquire further. But if Chilong Cave stirs up trouble again, our Lord won’t clean up your messes anymore.”

The others half-believed him. The Chilong Cave liaison spat:

“Who stirs up more trouble than you Queyue Mountain Villa? Your Lord poisoned the ‘Number One Beauty of the Daoist Sect’…”

“That’s a matter of the Jianghu!”

Bu Hanying spoke solemnly:

“Nangong Ye and our Lord both encountered Fengyu Grass—a celestial artifact, won by whoever claims it. Had it been the Buddhist or Daoist sects, they’d have fought just as hard.”

“Nangong Ye lost. Can he blame our Lord? Would our Lord fight her with thunder arts instead of poisoning her?”

As they exchanged these cordial words, a crimson-eyed black snake suddenly slithered from the Chilong Cave liaison’s sleeve, lifting its head to flick its tongue:

“Sssss~”

The room fell utterly silent.

Bu Hanying lifted his hood, staring at the ceiling:

“Someone’s up there?”

Tap…

Whoosh—

A wind-cutting sound rose from the roof, then vanished instantly.

None of the liaison present had expected someone to infiltrate their midnight meeting in Xiaoyao Cave!

To avoid being wiped out by imperial forces, the wealthy liaisons immediately demonstrated their poison-master instincts—they scattered like rats!

In the blink of an eye, several vanished into the dark room using their unique arts.

Bu Hanying, fearing exposure, leapt out the back window of his fur shop into a dark alley and fled wildly.

But unfortunately, before he’d gone far, he saw a figure leap down from above, landing ahead in the alley!

Tap—

The figure stood tall, two blades hanging at his waist. The dim light obscured his face, but his aura was like the Reaper of Souls!

Whoosh~

The cold moon hung like frost; the alley fell deathly silent.

Seeing this, Bu Hanying knew his end had come—he braced himself like a man facing doom:

“Many Daoists were inside. Why did you block only me? Is it bad luck… or do you have another motive?”

Xie Jin had gone seeking Daoist allies, only to stumble into a rat’s nest of Southern Frontier Witch Alliance—his heart ached with regret!

After all, he still needed these people. If he killed them all now, he’d lose his herbalists and pill masters!

“If I wanted to kill, you’d all be dead already. I wouldn’t wait until now.”

For a fragile poison-master, being caught unaware by a martial cultivator on the roof was like a blade at his throat.

Bu Hanying’s eyes narrowed in suspicion: “What do you want?”

Xie Jin cut straight to the point:

“Blood Essence requires vast quantities of beast material. To supply it long-term, you can’t source it within Daqian’s borders—it must come from overseas. Does Queyue Mountain Villa supply it too?”

Bu Hanying frowned, but the distant figure warned:

“Best put away your magic bell—it’s useless. The three parasites hidden in your chest are potent, but too far to reach me.”

?!

Bu Hanying, fully shrouded in his cloak, trembled—he knew his strength paled before this man. He quietly retracted the bell and answered honestly:

“To spread our roots in the capital, we need self-sustaining income.”

“Blood Essence has high medicinal value and is sourced only from beasts. The Imperial Pharmacy and Taiyi Academy both use it—but because it’s the main ingredient of the ‘Transformation Pill,’ the court strictly forbids its sale on the open market.”

“We do sell it, but only to those seeking to preserve youth or replenish blood…”

Xie Jin wasn’t here to investigate drug dealers. He coldly said:

“The Witch Religion is infamous for its cunning. You wouldn’t sell such a hot commodity without checking your buyers’ backgrounds.”

“Among the Ghost Market buyers, have you encountered any experts whose identities you couldn’t trace? Someone who comes often, buying in large quantities.”

“Experts…”

Bu Hanying thought carefully: “We couldn’t determine their origins—least five or six levels of Dao cultivation. There are a few like that. We investigated, but our reach is limited.”

Xie Jin knew these few were likely rogue demon cultivators. He asked:

“When do they usually come?”

“Every ten days or so, but the clever ones avoid regular patterns.”

Here, Bu Hanying asked:

“Are you suspecting a rogue demon expert is buying Blood Essence at the Black Market to cultivate?”

Hearing this, Xie Jin’s gaze grew heavier:

“Yes. Do you have any advice?”

Bu Hanying, as a Gudupaiwushi , knew medicinal herbs nearly as well as a pill master. To rid himself of this plague, he analyzed seriously:

“Central Plains are tightly controlled. Those who buy in the Black Market have no connections—they’ll take any junk. Even if Chilong Cave dilutes a bottle with half pig’s blood, they still treat it as treasure.”

“So no merchant would sell high-grade Blood Essence. Genuine demon experts wouldn’t buy such low-grade stuff at the Black Market either.”

Xie Jin knew orthodox demon cultivators wouldn’t come to the Black Market—but he was hunting lone rogue cultivators. He asked:

“If one uses only low-grade Blood Essence and doesn’t add human blood, could one reach the fourth level of demon cultivation?”

Bu Hanying hesitated slightly:

“Yes. But the foundation would be unstable. You’d need constant medicinal support to neutralize the Blood Essence’s toxicity. If you’re hunting such a rogue, follow the trail of Longyang Flower.”

“Oh?”

Xie Jin grew serious:

“Why?”

Bu Hanying explained carefully:

“Beast-derived Blood Essence can’t match human blood. To make the ‘Transformation Pill,’ you must add medicinal herbs to protect the meridians from being destroyed.”

“A normal Transformation Pill contains at least some human blood. If you use only beast-derived Blood Essence, you must rely heavily on protective herbs.”

“This person has reached the fourth level of demon cultivation—he uses massive quantities of Blood Essence. The formula that suppresses its toxicity must include Longyang Flower. Follow that, and you’ll find him.”

Xie Jin nodded thoughtfully:

“Longyang Flower is available to anyone. How do I trace it?”

Bu Hanying shook his head:

“Rogue demon cultivators dare not kill often, so they must take Blood Essence long-term to quench their ‘blood thirst’—and thus must buy Longyang Flower regularly.”

“But Longyang Flower is extremely scarce. There’s no stable supply. To buy it long-term, you must pre-order from a merchant.”

Xie Jin understood—the moment you pre-order, you leave your identity behind.

Longyang flowers are not forbidden goods; buying them under a false identity would raise suspicion, and nobles and high cultivators are all vying for them—scattered buyers and herbal merchants with unclear backgrounds may not even sell them, let alone supply them long-term.

So the reserved identities are likely genuine, at most with a plausible excuse added.

As long as we check the predetermined list, finding this scattered cultivator should not be difficult…

Thinking of this, Xie Jinhuan nodded slightly:

“No wonder you’re from the Southern Frontier Witch Alliance—you truly understand the ways of heretical sects.”

Bu Hanying bowed: “Your praise is excessive; in matters of heretical paths, we are nowhere near even one ten-thousandth of the Chi Dragon Cave’s depth.”

Xie Jinhuan understood why the Poison and Gu Sect struggled—it couldn’t go three sentences without dragging in its rival merchants; this infighting was absurd!

“The Poison and Gu Sect uses many herbs—they must know the city’s networks. In your opinion, where would these bandit cultivators purchase Longyang flowers?”

Bu Hanying thought for a moment: “Longyang flowers change price daily; secondhand dealers have no stable supply. To secure long-term purchases at fair prices, one of the Four Great Herbal Shops in the East Market must be involved.”

Xie Jinhuan had found his lead and no longer troubled his fellow disciple’s senior uncle; he slipped quietly into the night.

The nightlight was too dim for Bu Hanying to see clearly; after waiting a moment, he realized the man was gone—and felt a great weight lift from his chest, vanishing swiftly down the alley…

(End of Chapter)