113: The Value of Images of Death

Qinghe City, a Mortal city that prospered due to the comings and goings of Cultivators.

Yuelai Teahouse in the south of the city was always the most well-informed and noisiest place.

With a 'bang' of the storyteller's gavel, the eyes of all the patrons were drawn to him.

“Last time, we spoke of the Ten Thousand Formation Ancient Cave, rife with Killing Intent, and the Vulture Sect Elder’s overwhelming might!”

“But who would have thought, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it!”

“A mysterious young hero emerged, treating Restrictions as nothing, offering his body to the formations, embracing death to find life!”

In a private room on the second floor of the teahouse, the window was half-open.

Lin Gou held a steaming cup of “Cloud Mist Spirit Tea,” listening to the increasingly exaggerated and absurd story downstairs, a smile unconsciously curving his lips.

He listened with great interest.

Su Meier sat opposite him, her slender fingers holding a osmanthus cake, but she did not bring it to her mouth.

On her exquisitely beautiful face, capable of captivating all beings, there was a somewhat bewildered expression.

“Death Artist?”

She whispered the newly coined nickname in a voice only the two of them could hear.

“Also, what does ‘cleared the world of evil with a tragic and resolute posture’ mean? Those people were clearly played to death by you.”

Lin Gou took a sip of tea and slowly said,

“Art always needs some embellishment and beautification.”

“Don’t you think this title sounds much more stylish than ‘Undying Monster’?”

Su Meier rolled her eyes at him, full of charm.

The storyteller downstairs had already reached the climax.

“The young hero, facing a powerful enemy, did not retreat but Advanced, sacrificing himself to the Dao, detonating the entire Immortal Cave’s Restrictions, and perishing with that Vulture Sect villain!”

“When the dust settled, people only saw a Jingguan built from the bones of the villains at the cave entrance, warning future generations!”

“This is the Death Artist’s swan song!”

The hall erupted in applause.

Reward money rained down on the storyteller’s platform.

Lin Gou also casually tossed down a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone, eliciting a string of thanks and flattery from the storyteller.

Su Meier watched his self-contented demeanor and completely lost her temper.

This man was truly enjoying all of it.

Back at their inn, the room had already been set up with soundproofing and defensive Restrictions by Su Meier.

She took out a uniquely shaped communication jade snail from her sleeve and injected her demonic power into it.

The jade snail glowed, and streams of information flowed into her Sea of Consciousness.

A moment later, she opened her eyes, her expression becoming somewhat solemn, yet also a little strange.

“The Tianji Pavilion’s bounty is real.”

“And, just now, they increased the bounty amount by another thirty percent.”

Su Meier looked at Lin Gou, her tone complex.

“Now, the entire Cultivation world knows that there’s a madman named ‘Death Artist,’ and his death is worth a lot of money.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Gou not only showed no trace of tension, but an unprecedented gleam erupted in his dark eyes.

It was the undisguised greed and excitement that a merchant would display upon seeing a huge business opportunity.

He walked to the window, looking at the bustling street below, and slowly said,

“They want to see me die?”

“Alright.”

He turned around, a nearly insane smile on his face that even made Su Meier feel a chill.

“But art is never free.”

“Since they want to see it so badly, let them pay for it.”

Su Meier’s heart skipped a beat.

She instantly understood Lin Gou’s meaning, and a chill shot from her feet to the top of her head.

This plan was too crazy.

To openly price and package his own death.

This was practically challenging the common sense and bottom line of the entire Cultivation world.

“You mean...”

“Exactly.”

Lin Gou interrupted her, his eyes burning.

“From today on, you will be my ‘Death Artist’s’ exclusive agent.”

“I will provide you with unique ‘death footage,’ and you will be responsible for selling it for the best price.”

He looked at Su Meier and extended his hand.

“Pleasure working with you?”

Su Meier looked at his outstretched hand, then at his face, which was filled with confidence and madness.

She was silent for a long time.

Finally, she still extended her hand and lightly clasped his.

The warm touch, separating as soon as it met.

“I need an alias.”

“Let’s call me... Madam Bai.”

The operation went even smoother than expected.

Su Meier’s intelligence network was far more powerful than Lin Gou had anticipated.

She quickly identified the most suitable first buyer.

Qinghe City’s wealthiest man, Zhao Wansan.

A merchant with low cultivation but immense wealth, whose greatest hobby was collecting all sorts of strange tales and legendary artifacts.

The transaction took place in a heavily guarded secret chamber within the Zhao family mansion.

Su Meier, under the alias “Madam Bai,” wore white clothes and a light veil over her face, exuding a mysterious and noble aura.

She wasted no words and directly took out a top-grade recording stone.

When the death footage of the Ten Thousand Formation Ancient Cave, personally “edited” by Lin Gou, was projected onto the chamber wall,

Zhao Wansan’s breathing instantly became heavy.

In the footage, the confrontation between the young hero (Lin Gou) and the evil Elder, the shocking reversal of the trap, the tragic sacrifice to the formation, and finally, the artistic corpse signature.

Every scene was visually impactful.

Every detail perfectly scratched the itch of a curiosity-seeker like Zhao Wansan.

“Good! Good! Good!”

When the footage finished playing, Zhao Wansan exclaimed “good” three times, his plump face flushed with excitement.

“I want this footage! Madam Bai, name your price!”

Ultimately, this “Death Artist’s Debut Exclusive Footage” was sold at a price that even made Su Meier’s heart pound.

That night.

In the inn room, bright moonstones illuminated the entire space as if it were daytime.

Su Meier sat at the table, looking at the small mountain of Spirit Stones, shimmering with various colors, piled before her, momentarily lost in thought.

She had lived for hundreds of years and had never imagined that money could come so easily, so absurdly.

“What’s wrong, my golden agent?”

Lin Gou’s voice came from behind her.

“Counting money until your hands cramp?”

Su Meier snapped back to reality, rubbed her somewhat throbbing temples, and leaned languidly against the chair back, revealing a tired but charming smile.

“Being this ‘Madam Bai’ is much more exhausting than fighting for my life.”

“I have to deal with those old foxes, every word must be carefully chosen.”

Her complaint carried a hint of girlish innocence that even she hadn’t noticed.

Lin Gou smiled and said nothing.

He slowly walked behind Su Meier, and those hands that had just been controlling thousands of Killing Formations now held a strange gentleness, lightly pressing on her temples.

Su Meier’s body stiffened abruptly.

A pure yet incredibly gentle spiritual power slowly flowed from Lin Gou’s fingertips into her Sea of Consciousness.

That spiritual power carried no desire, no Impurities whatsoever.

It was like the warm sun of early spring melting ice and snow.

Or like a clear mountain spring washing away dust.

The fatigue and stinging pain in her Sea of Consciousness, caused by mental exertion, rapidly dissipated under the soothing embrace of this spiritual power.

An unprecedented sense of ease and relaxation spread throughout her limbs.

Su Meier’s body went from stiff, to relaxed, then to slightly soft.

She could clearly smell the clean, inexplicably comforting scent emanating from Lin Gou.

Her heartbeat, in the silent room, began to accelerate uncontrollably, thumping faster and faster.

Her cheeks also quietly flushed with a captivating crimson.

At the same time.

The intelligence hub of the Cultivation world, Tianji Pavilion.

Within a magnificent palace suspended above a sea of clouds.

A woman in a purple palace dress, with a shrewd and capable demeanor, was repeatedly watching a piece of footage that had just been transmitted back from the Qinghe City branch through the highest-level channels.

It was Lin Gou’s “death edit.”

Her name was Yan Ziyue, one of the highest authorities among the younger generation of Tianji Pavilion.

Unlike Zhao Wansan, who watched with surging excitement,

Yan Ziyue’s beautiful eyes gleamed with the sharp light of analysis and insight.

“Perfect victim image.”

“Perfect villain portrayal.”

“Perfect timing for the reversal.”

“Perfect tragic ending.”

Her crimson lips parted slightly, her voice cool and clear.

“All of this is too perfect.”

“So perfect, it’s like a meticulously planned, repeatedly rehearsed, play.”

She extended her slender finger and lightly tapped in the Void Realm.

The screen froze on the scene where Lin Gou was pierced by a blood spear, his body flying backward, precisely landing on the main control formation eye.

“A dying person, still able to control his landing spot, accurate to the inch?”

“A monster capable of controlling ten thousand formations, getting burned so miserably by a mere Mortal fire trap?”

Yan Ziyue’s lips curved into a playful arc.

“Death Artist...”

“Interesting.”

She did not expose the deception.

Instead, she saw the immeasurable commercial value behind it, and... the research value for the ultimate Law of “death” and “resurrection.”

“Deliver my command.”

“Increase the bounty for the ‘Death Artist’ by another fifty percent.”

“And, issue a supplementary note.”

“Tianji Pavilion is willing to pay a sky-high price for live clues about the ‘Death Artist’.”

She wanted to force this person, or rather, this “team,” to step forward... Wealth is always accompanied by danger.

Lin Gou and Su Meier were eventually targeted.

On the third day after they left Qinghe City, they were blocked in a desolate alley in a market town.

There were five people in total.

The leader was a lean, black-clad Cultivator with eyes as sharp as a hawk’s.

He was a Golden Core Middle Stage Cultivator, his aura condensed, his Killing Intent fully exposed.

His nickname was “Ying Sun.”

A ruthless character in the bounty hunter circle, known for his viciousness and tracking skills.

“Madam Bai?”

Ying Sun’s gaze swept over Su Meier’s graceful figure, veiled by light gauze, and he let out a hoarse, sinister laugh.

“Stop pretending.”

“And you, kid.”

His gaze finally fell on Lin Gou, whose aura was unremarkable.

“You’re that so-called ‘Death Artist,’ aren’t you?”

“Our brothers are very interested in the Tianji Pavilion’s bounty.”

Su Meier’s eyes instantly turned cold.

Lin Gou, however, still maintained a harmless demeanor, even with a touch of well-timed panic.

“Fellow Daoists, have you perhaps mistaken us for someone else?”

“We are just ordinary Cultivators passing by.”

Ying Sun laughed heartily as if he had heard the funniest joke.

“Ordinary Cultivators? Able to abscond with three million Spirit Stones from Zhao Wansan overnight?”

“Kid, stop acting. Your act might fool those idiots, but not me.”

The smile on his face abruptly vanished, replaced by stark Killing Intent.

“I don’t need any damned footage.”

“I just need to kill you and bring your still-warm corpse directly to Tianji Pavilion.”

“That will be the best proof!”

The four Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators behind him immediately fanned out, sealing all exits of the alley.

A killing trap had already formed.

In the shadows at the end of the alley, the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

Su Meier’s fingertips were already brimming with ready-to-strike demonic power.

However, the “panic” on Lin Gou’s face quietly faded at this moment.

It was replaced by an incomprehensible, extreme calm.

He looked at Ying Sun and asked a serious question.

“You want to kill me?”

“Alright.”

“But my death is very expensive.”

“Can you afford the price?”

Ying Sun was completely enraged by Lin Gou’s utterly arrogant words.

A piece of Foundation Establishment trash, on the verge of death, still dared to play tricks on him?

“You’re courting death!”

He roared, the power of his Golden Core erupting, his right hand transforming into a claw, bringing with it a sharp whistling sound, intending to directly crush Lin Gou’s head.

And in that instant.

Lin Gou moved.

He did not counterattack, nor did he defend.

He made a move that caught everyone present off guard.

He suddenly spun around and charged towards the alley entrance, towards a team of city guards in uniform silver armor who were patrolling nearby.

His speed was extreme.

His voice, too, used all his life’s strength, filled with indignation and despair.

“Help!”

“Lord City Guards, help! ‘Ying Sun’ is a major fugitive wanted in the Western Continent, he’s trying to kill me to silence me!”

That shout was earth-shattering.

Ying Sun, who was attacking with all his might, confident of success, felt his mind go blank with a buzzing sound.

Western Continent fugitive?

That was indeed another one of his identities, but how could this kid possibly know?

He had no time to think.

Because Lin Gou’s position was too precise, too cunning.

His full-force attack, unleashed in a fit of rage, carrying the terrifying power of a Golden Core cultivator, had already been launched.

And its trajectory, precisely, without deviation, covered the team of city guards who had just been startled and were looking over with bewildered expressions.

“How dare you!”

The leading city guard captain was a Golden Core Great Perfection Cultivator.

He felt the deadly Killing Intent rushing towards him and was furious.

Boom!

The entire city’s alarm was instantly triggered.

A piercing siren echoed throughout the entire market town.

Ying Sun, in that moment, instantly transformed from a confident hunter into a public enemy number one, unable to defend himself, locked onto by the entire city guard force.

At the other end of the alley.

Lin Gou gave a brilliant smile to Su Meier, who was already stunned.

“Now, the audience, the stage, and the actors are all here.”

“Are you ready to film, my golden producer?”