49: Chapter 49 Scapegoat, Qingyun Market

The Law Enforcement Hall Disciple took the ledger, opened it, and immediately frowned.

On the ledger, the amount of nether grass handed over by Qi Yang every month was clearly recorded. Surprisingly, after every single entry, there was even Jiang Duosheng's private mark from when he received it!

Even more fatal, the ledger also detailed the time and amount of high-grade nether grass that Jiang Duosheng forcibly took every time he came to the herb field under the pretext of loss and wastage!

How was this Qi Yang's embezzlement record? This was clearly Jiang Duosheng's death warrant!

"You damn old dog! How dare you forge a ledger to slander this Manager!"

Seeing the shifting expression of the Law Enforcement Hall Disciple, Jiang Duosheng instantly realized what was happening.

Flustered and exasperated, his Qi Refining Tenth Layer Spiritual Qi violently erupted, and he raised a palm to strike down viciously toward Qi Yang's head!

He wanted to kill him to silence him!

Facing an enraged strike from a Qi Refining Tenth Layer expert, there was not the slightest panic in Qi Yang's eyes.

Pretending to lose his footing from the wind of the palm strike, he let out a panic-stricken cry and tumbled awkwardly to the side.

At the exact instant Qi Yang fell and his body brushed past Jiang Duosheng, his wide sleeves shook abruptly.

Wrapped in an extremely subtle layer of Wood-attribute Spiritual Power, a discarded Jade Slip slipped silently into the inner lining of Jiang Duosheng's wide sleeve like magic!

Bang!

Qi Yang slammed heavily onto the muddy ground and rolled twice. Covered in mud, he looked incomparably miserable.

"Stop!"

The leading Law Enforcement Hall Disciple grabbed Jiang Duosheng's wrist, his face darkening completely.

"Manager Jiang, the matter hasn't been investigated clearly yet. Do you want to kill to silence the witness right in front of us?"

"I... He's slandering me!"

Jiang Duosheng trembled with rage as he pointed at Qi Yang on the ground and shouted.

"Whether it's slander or not, the Law Enforcement Hall will make an impartial judgment."

The leading Disciple snorted coldly.

"Elder Wu has ordered that all suspects must be thoroughly searched! Manager Jiang, pardon our offense!"

Two Law Enforcement Hall Disciples immediately stepped forward, forcibly holding down Jiang Duosheng to begin searching his person.

Confident in his innocence, Jiang Duosheng did not resist. He sneered at Qi Yang on the ground: "Search! I'd like to see what trickery you can pull out!"

But the next second, his sneer froze on his face.

A Law Enforcement Hall Disciple pulled a discarded Jade Slip from the inner lining of Jiang Duosheng's sleeve.

"What is this?"

The Disciple probed the Jade Slip with Spiritual Qi, and his face drastically changed!

"What audacity! This Jade Slip actually contains residual Sword Qi from Senior Brother Chen Daoyuan's Scarlet Gold Burning Heaven Sword Technique! There's also a trace of extremely pure Nether Cold Poison!"

This Jade Slip was precisely the ironclad evidence Qi Yang forged earlier when he went to Jianzhi Peak on business—secretly collecting the residual Sword Qi left behind by Senior Brother Chen Daoyuan's frenzy and mixing in nether poison juice!

"No! This isn't mine! I have no idea how this thing ended up in my sleeve!"

Jiang Duosheng was terrified, his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, and he let out a miserable shriek.

"Caught red-handed with the evidence, yet you still dare to quibble! Take him away!"

The Law Enforcement Hall Disciples didn't listen to his explanation at all.

The ledger proved Jiang Duosheng embezzled nether grass, and the Jade Slip proved he was connected to Senior Brother Chen Daoyuan's Qi Deviation.

The chain of evidence was perfectly closed!

They directly sealed Jiang Duosheng's cultivation and dragged him out of the herb field like a dead dog.

Awaiting Jiang Duosheng would be the pitch-black, sunless despair of Heifeng Mine.

Dead silence returned to the herb field.

Qi Yang slowly got up from the mud and patted the dirty soil off his clothes.

Looking in the direction Jiang Duosheng was dragged off, he smiled coldly.

"Trying to play dirty with me? Remember to bring a brain in your next life."

After this incident, Jiang Duosheng became the scapegoat and was crippled.

To compensate this "wronged" honest man who "meritoriously reported the crime", the Inner Sect higher-ups gave a wave of their hand and directly granted Qi Yang absolute autonomy over this remote Nether Grass Field.

From then on, without Qi Yang's permission, no Disciple except Elders was allowed to set foot in this herb field!

This was precisely the result Qi Yang had dreamed of.

...

Half a month after the storm, the Nether Grass Field became a dead corner in the Inner Sect that nobody cared about.

Qi Yang enjoyed the peace and quiet. Every day, aside from tending the herb field for show, he spent all his remaining time in the secret underground room engaged in bitter Cultivation to consolidate his Qi Condensation 8th Layer Realm.

On this particular evening.

A cold, clear sword light descended from the sky, landing steadily outside the Nether Grass Field.

Su Qinghan had arrived.

She wore the moon-white long dress of an Inner Sect Personal Disciple, carrying a long sword on her back.

After this period of Cultivation, her cultivation had reached the Peak of the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation, only one step away from the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

However, Qi Yang keenly noticed that the Spiritual Qi fluctuations around her were somewhat unstable, clearly indicating she had hit a Bottleneck.

"Fairy's grand arrival honors my humble abode. This old man fails to welcome you properly."

Hunching his back, Qi Yang walked out of the fence gate, habitually putting on that old farmer's smile.

Su Qinghan looked at Qi Yang, her gaze as complex as ever.

She had heard about Jiang Duosheng being crippled. Everyone thought Jiang Duosheng had acted out of a guilty conscience, but Su Qinghan always felt that this seemingly harmless old man before her was definitely not as simple as he appeared on the surface.

However, she did not pry deeper; everyone had their own secrets.

"Old man, pack up. Come out of the Sect with me tomorrow."

Su Qinghan came straight to the point.

Qi Yang froze for a moment. "Leave the Sect? Where to? These old bones of mine..."

"To Qingyun Market."

Su Qinghan interrupted him, her expression turning somewhat solemn.

"I received a secret letter from the remnants of Luoxia Sect. In the underground black market of Qingyun Market, a three-leaf golden lotus will appear."

"A three-leaf golden lotus?"

A barely perceptible glint flashed across Qi Yang's murky old eyes.

Of course he knew what this thing was.

This was a rare Second-Grade High-Rank Spirit Medicine. Its effect was not to raise cultivation, but to purify Spiritual Roots!

In the Cultivation World, Spiritual Roots determined one's upper limit. Dual Spiritual Roots were a Genius, while Three Spiritual Roots were merely considered upper-middle talent.

Su Qinghan possessed the Three-element Profound Spiritual Root. Although stronger than ordinary Three Spiritual Roots, her impure Spiritual Roots became her greatest obstacle if she wanted to Breakthrough to the Qi Refining Tenth Layer and enter the true core circle of the Inner Sect.

If she could obtain the three-leaf golden lotus and purify her Spiritual Roots, her Cultivation speed would experience a qualitative leap!

"If Fairy is going to buy Spirit Medicine, why take this old man along?"

Qi Yang feigned ignorance.

"Inner Sect Disciples are not allowed to go down the mountain without good reason, especially to a place like Qingyun Market where dragons and snakes mix."

Su Qinghan looked at him and said calmly, "However, I reported to the Deacon Hall under the pretext of taking a family member to visit relatives. You are that family member."

Qi Yang understood. Su Qinghan was using him as a shield.

Although Qingyun Market was within Xuantian Sect's domain, Loose Cultivators gathered there in crowds, and there were even many demonic and evil cultivators hiding their identities to trade in the black market.

Bringing along a hundred-year-old man at the Qi Condensation Third Layer could indeed greatly lower others' guard.

Ordinarily, Qi Yang would definitely find an excuse to refuse such an errand that might invite trouble.

But right now, he needed to visit the black market even more than Su Qinghan did!

Stuck at the Qi Condensation 8th Layer, he urgently needed a type of spiritual material called Poison Sha to Breakthrough his Bottleneck.

This kind of insidious thing could not be bought in legitimate Sect markets at all; it was only available in the black market!

"Since it is Fairy's order, this old man shall naturally comply."

Qi Yang agreed, even putting on a flattering look of being overwhelmed by favor.

The two left Xuantian Sect.

To avoid attracting attention, Su Qinghan changed into ordinary green Loose Cultivator attire and wore a bamboo hat to cover her devastatingly beautiful face.

Qi Yang still wore those tattered hemp clothes and carried a shabby bundle on his back, following closely behind Su Qinghan step by step like an old servant.

Qingyun Market was less than two hundred miles from Xuantian Sect. The two did not ride swords; instead, they hired a Mortal horse carriage and traveled bumpily for a full day before arriving at dusk.

The market was built inside a giant valley. The outer perimeter was a bustling marketplace where Mortals and low-level Loose Cultivators set up stalls, filled with noisy crowds and heavy carriage traffic.

Meanwhile, the true core trading area and the black market were hidden deep within the valley inside a Formation.

"Follow me closely. This isn't like the Sect; murder and robbery happen here every day."

Su Qinghan lowered her voice, her hand resting on her sword hilt.

"Rest assured, Fairy, this old man understands."

Qi Yang hunched his back, appearing subservient as he followed behind.

Under his bamboo hat, however, his murky old eyes had grown sharp as a hawk's.

A powerful perception released silently outward, taking in every single Spiritual Qi fluctuation within a hundred-zhang radius.

Inside his wide sleeves, several sleeve arrows dipped in instantly fatal poison had quietly slid into his palms.

The waters of Qingyun Market ran very deep. The emergence of a supreme treasure capable of purifying Spiritual Roots like the three-leaf golden lotus would definitely attract the greed of countless desperate outlaws.

If Su Qinghan wanted this Spirit Medicine, it definitely wouldn't be smooth sailing.

And he, Qi Yang, also prepared to take advantage of this chaos to get his hands on the Poison Sha spiritual material required for his Breakthrough!