4: Chapter 4 A Dark and Windy Night, A Time for Murder and Arson

Three days flashed by in the blink of an eye.

During these three days, the Outer Sect Herb Garden was calm and tranquil, without even a single dog barking.

Qi Yang carried his broken hoe out to the fields every single day without fail, weeding, watering, and fertilizing.

After working for a short while, he would support his old waist on the ridges of the fields, panting heavily for a long time, coughing as if he were about to cough his lungs out.

That decrepit, cowardly, and spineless demeanor was portrayed by him down to his very bones.

Even when Su Qinghan occasionally pushed open her window and saw this wretched behavior of his, she couldn't even be bothered to conceal the contempt in the depths of her eyes.

Qi Yang acted as if he saw nothing at all.

Only in the underground secret room late at night would those turbid eyes of his burst out with a ghostly light like a hungry wolf.

These past three days, he deduced tonight's fatal trap over and over again in his mind, calculating every single possible variable that might appear.

Night fell, pitch-black and windy.

Qi Yang sat cross-legged on the bronze stone platform, slowly opening his eyes.

He fished out a set of oversized dark night clothes from his Storage Pouch and put them on, then took out a cicada-wing-thin human-skin mask and pressed it onto his face.

After a little kneading, a sallow and sinister middle-aged man's face took shape.

Next, he slapped a low-grade tier-1 breath-concealing talisman onto his body.

Although this trinket was of a low grade, it was more than enough to conceal the trace of weak spiritual power fluctuations of his 4th Layer Qi Refining.

After finally checking the blood-dissolving powder and corpse-dissolving water inside his bosom, Qi Yang slipped out of the herb garden silently like a night owl.

Thirty miles away from the Xuantian Sect's Outer Sect, there was a market town where Loose Cultivators gathered.

Inside the Drunken Immortal Tower, the largest restaurant in the market town, voices were currently roaring with excitement.

Deacon Wang Hu exposed his chest, flushed red as he chugged down a large mouthful of spirit wine, and heavily slammed his wine bowl onto the wooden table.

"Exhilarating! This Drunk Beauty really packs a punch!"

The few outer sect handymen at the same table immediately crowded over with smiles all over their faces.

"Deacon Wang has an immense capacity for liquor! In a few days, after you collect those fifty Spirit Stones from that old fellow, you must bring us brothers here to live it up again!"

Deacon Wang Hu hiccuped from the wine, a flash of lewdness crossing his eyes.

"Fifty Spirit Stones are nothing! What this daddy has set his sights on is that little vixen from the Luoxia Sect! That figure, that face, tsk tsk... It's too cheap for that old good-for-nothing who's already half in the grave!"

"Deacon says right! What kind of thing is that old man, how is he worthy of touching the Sect Master's daughter? Once that old bag of bones dies, won't that little vixen be entirely at Deacon's disposal?"

Deacon Wang Hu was overjoyed upon hearing this, tilted his head back to chug down another large bowl of wine, and stood up unsteadily.

"Alright, this daddy has to head back; tomorrow I still have to run errands for the big shots of the Inner Sect."

He pushed away the handymen who wanted to help support him, walking out of the Drunken Immortal Tower while cursing and swearing.

As the night breeze blew, the alcohol surged to his head, and Deacon Wang Hu only felt his entire body hot and his mouth parched.

To save some travel time, he didn't take the wide main road, but habitually squeezed into a secluded path leading to the back mountain of the Xuantian Sect.

This path was rugged and difficult to walk on, with dense ancient towering trees on both sides, normally not even a ghost's shadow could be seen.

Deacon Wang Hu walked with uneven steps, foully cursing Qi Yang and Su Qinghan in his mouth.

He didn't notice at all that on an ancient tree along the must-pass road ahead, a dark figure had already merged into the dark night.

Qi Yang lay flat on the tree trunk quietly like a lifeless stone.

His gaze pierced through the gaps in the leaves, staring fixedly at a natural spirit spring not far below.

This was the only water source on this path. Every time Deacon Wang Hu walked this road after drinking, he would stop here to drink some water to quench his thirst.

This was a pattern Qi Yang had deduced through observing in secret like a transparent person over the course of several years.

Just half an incense stick of time ago, Qi Yang had already poured all of that small bottle of colorless and odorless blood-dissolving powder into the spirit spring.

Heavy footsteps came from the mountain path, and Deacon Wang Hu walked over reeking of alcohol.

As he walked, he pulled open his collar, muttering: "This daddy is dying of thirst... What a lousy road..."

Seeing the spirit spring ahead, Deacon Wang Hu's eyes lit up, and he quickened his pace to walk over.

He squatted down completely defenselessly, cupped a handful of cool spring water in both hands, and gulped it down in large mouthfuls.

"Ah... Refreshing!"

Deacon Wang Hu wiped his mouth, preparing to stand up and continue on his journey.

Suddenly, his expression changed drastically!

A sudden, knife-twisting excruciating pain came from his Dantian, and immediately after, he discovered in terror that the spiritual power of the Qi Condensation 6th Layer, which was originally full within his body, was actually starting to frantically dissipate outward at this moment!

"What is going on?! My spiritual power!"

Deacon Wang Hu turned pale with fright, wanting to forcefully circulate his Cultivation Technique to suppress it, but found that his Meridians were completely empty, unable to raise even a trace of Spiritual Qi.

Not only that, his skin began to take on a strange grayish-white color, the blood throughout his body seemed to be corroded by some terrifying force, and an excruciating pain like ten thousand ants gnawing away came from his bones.

"Poison! There is poison in the water!"

With a bang in Deacon Wang Hu's head, more than half of his drunkenness was scared away.

With a thump, he fell to the ground, painfully curling up into a ball, cold sweat soaking through the back of his clothes.

He wanted to cry out loudly for help, but in his throat he could only emit a wheezing, air-leaking sound; his vocal cords had already been corroded and rotted by the poison!

In despair, Deacon Wang Hu touched towards the Storage Pouch at his waist with trembling hands, wanting to pull out the distress Jade Slip and crush it.

The exact moment his fingers touched the Jade Slip, an extremely light sound of piercing through the air suddenly came from the tree canopy above his head.

Like a preying night hawk, Qi Yang leaped down from the tree trunk!

While mid-air, Qi Yang's gaze was as cold as if he were looking at a corpse. He didn't have any nonsense, and couldn't even be bothered to say a single word of mockery.

Villains die from talking too much; he was not a villain, but he wanted to die even less.

He pressed his right index and middle fingers together, the Spiritual Qi of his Qi Refining 4th Layer surging crazily within his body, gathering a cyan light condensed to the absolute limit at his fingertips.

Low-grade tier-1 spell, Wood Thorn Technique!

This was the most dime-a-dozen spell in the Cultivation World, but in Qi Yang's hands, it had been practiced to the realm of perfection.

Pfft!

A half-foot-long sharp wood thorn shot out from Qi Yang's fingertips, accurately and flawlessly piercing through Deacon Wang Hu's throat!

Fresh blood splattered out like a fountain.

Deacon Wang Hu widened his bloodshot eyes, staring fixedly at the black-clothed person wearing the sallow mask in front of him.

He wanted to ask who you are, wanting to beg for mercy, but his ruptured trachea could only well up large mouthfuls of bloody foam.

He reached out a hand wanting to grab Qi Yang's trouser legs, but under the dual blows of the blood-dissolving powder's toxicity and the fatal injury, his vitality rapidly faded.

A few breaths later, Deacon Wang Hu's hand hung down weakly, the light in his eyes completely scattering.

Qi Condensation 6th Layer Outer Sect Deacon, dead.

Qi Yang landed steadily on the ground, not even looking at Deacon Wang Hu's face with unclosed eyes in death.

He quickly squatted down, skillfully untying the Storage Pouch at Deacon Wang Hu's waist, casually stuffing it into his own bosom.

The entire process flowed like clouds and running water, without the slightest hesitation.

After searching the corpse, Qi Yang did not pause for a moment; he pulled out a small black porcelain bottle from his bosom and unplugged the stopper.

Corpse-dissolving water.

This was a trinket he had figured out and concocted himself by ripening a few Rotten Bone Grasses using the black gourd.

Although its grade was not high, it was more than enough to handle corpses of the Qi Refining Stage.

Qi Yang tilted the bottle opening, a few drops of turbid yellow liquid dripping onto Deacon Wang Hu's corpse.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle...

The corrosion sound rang out in the silent mountain forest.

Accompanied by a pungent puff of white smoke, Deacon Wang Hu's flesh, bones, along with the clothes he wore, melted at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Finally, it turned into a puddle of foul-smelling yellow water, seeping into the soil, leaving only a dark mark in place.

Qi Yang frowned; this smell was too pungent, and those people from the Law Enforcement Hall were like dogs—they would definitely be able to smell it out.

His hands formed seals rapidly, mobilizing the remaining Spiritual Qi in his body.

Low-grade tier-1 spell, Spirit Rain Technique!

The spell usually used to water the herb garden was used by him at this moment to wash the ground.

A cluster of dark clouds gathered above his head, and a pattering spirit rain poured down, washing the bloodstains, footprints, and the stench of the corpse-dissolving water within a radius of ten zhang completely clean.

To make it more realistic, Qi Yang also specially took out a small unused remnant of the bone-eroding heart-corroding flower from the Storage Pouch, tossing it casually into the grass not far away.

The bone-eroding heart-corroding flower was a poisonous herb most loved by Loose Cultivators and evil cultivators. Leaving this chilling aura here was enough to guide the Law Enforcement Hall's sights toward those roaming evil cultivators.

After finishing all this, Qi Yang carefully inspected the scene three times, confirming that there were no flaws before turning and plunging into the darkness.

He did not directly return to the herb garden, but instead circled the back mountain for a full three large circles, confirming there was no tail behind him, before sneaking back to his thatched cottage.

He took off his dark night clothes, removed the mask, and washed away all the scents on his body using spirit water.

Qi Yang lay on the hard wooden bed, closed his eyes, and his heartbeat gradually steadied.