39: Chapter 39 Evil Thoughts Lurk, The Targeted Sheep

Lin Ze lowered the wide bamboo hat on his head, relying on the "thousand illusion mask" he had obtained from a Loose Cultivator.

His appearance at this moment was still that of a sallow-faced, gaunt middle-aged man with a scar at the corner of his eye.

He left through the back door of the Lingxiao Rice Hall.

Without staying for a moment, Lin Ze boarded his small black-awning boat docked at the outer pier.

"Splash..."

He paddled the oars, and the small boat soon sailed into the spiritual mist of the Yunmeng Marsh.

However, Lin Ze did not know.

That just after he steered his boat away from the pier, from a towering teahouse diagonally opposite the Lingxiao Rice Hall, a pair of eyes was staring in the direction he had disappeared.

It was the resident Cultivator of the Cloud Mist Wen Clan, Wen Lie.

The Cloud Mist Wen Clan was a rival Family that had been fighting openly and secretly with the Linghu Lin Clan in these outer waters for decades.

Wen Lie was currently holding a strange insect in his hand.

This insect was called the "Qi-Seeking Moth," and it had an incredibly abnormal sense of smell for high-level spiritual energy fluctuations.

"What a Lin Family, what a farming waste of the Linghu Lin Clan!"

Wen Lie gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing with unconcealed jealousy and greed.

Earlier, when Lin Ze was trading inside the Lingxiao Rice Hall, although there was a soundproofing barrier and an anti-peeping Formation, a trace of extremely cold spiritual energy had escaped when the five first-grade High Grade "ice jade marrow fruits" were taken out of their box.

That trace of residual aura was still captured by the Qi-Seeking Moth perched under the eaves of the Rice Hall.

Wen Lie's face twisted slightly with jealousy.

Even the direct descendants of the main branch wouldn't see a few High Grade spiritual fruits in a year. How could a bottom-tier ant like Lin Ze have them?

"Since you dare to leave the protection of the water market with such a treasure, don't blame me, Wen, for being ruthless."

Wen Lie smiled.

Having spent years in this water market, what Wen Lie was best at was killing with a borrowed knife.

He reached into his Storage Pouch and pulled out a Sound-Transmitting Talisman, his fingers moving rapidly to draw on it.

"North of the water market, towards Reed Island."

"A fat sheep disguised as a third-level Qi Refining Loose Cultivator, carrying Spirit Stones and first-grade High Grade spiritual fruits."

"Once the deed is done, I, Wen Lie, only want the kid's head and identity token. All other belongings will belong to you, Boss Shen."

"Go."

Wen Lie flicked his finger, and the Sound-Transmitting Talisman turned into a streak of fire, disappearing into the most chaotic and dirty Underground Shantytown of the water market.

In the Underground Shantytown, inside a sewage cavern that never saw the light of day.

A burly man with a bare upper body covered in hideous scars was drinking a bowl of Beast Blood Wine in large gulps.

This person was none other than the notorious bandit leader around the Cloud Mist Water Market... Shen Hu.

A cultivation at the Peak of the Sixth level of Qi Refining, combined with a ruthless "Mad Blood Saber Technique."

These made him a butcher feared by everyone in these waters.

The number of Loose Cultivators who had died at his hands was at least eighty, if not a hundred.

"Snap!"

With a flash of fire, the Sound-Transmitting Talisman landed in Shen Hu's broad palm.

"Spirit Stones?"

"First-grade High Grade spiritual fruits?"

Shen Hu let out a burst of wild laughter.

"That insidious villain Wen Lie may be full of bad ideas, but his information has never been wrong."

Shen Hu stood up and grabbed the Nine-Ring Ghost Head Broadsword stuck in the stone wall of the cavern.

"Third level of Qi Refining?"

"Even if you, the Lin Family kid, are hiding your cultivation, at most you're only at the Fourth level of Qi Refining."

"Under my Mad Blood Saber, you're just a pig that requires a little extra effort!"

Shen Hu strode out of the cavern and jumped onto a Black Fast Boat.

A stream of spiritual energy water sprayed from the rear of the fast boat as it plunged into the vast wind and snow, following the faint scent left by the Qi-Seeking Moth.

Deep in the Yunmeng Marsh, the mist was so thick it felt like it could drip water.

Lin Ze steered his black-awning boat, not taking the smooth main channel.

He pushed the "Water Wave Perception" derived from his Major Achievement level "Spirit Net Technique" to its limit.

"Almost there. As long as I pass through that Misty Reef Forest ahead, I'll enter the warning range of the Reed Island Formation."

Lin Ze calculated silently in his heart.

Suddenly, Lin Ze smelled blood.

"Such a strong smell of blood..."

Not just the smell of blood; in the microscopic vision of his "Water Wave Perception."

On the water's surface a few miles away, the steady undercurrent was being disturbed by a surge of spiritual power.

This chill was not the coldness of the Yunmeng Marsh itself, but carried a ghostly aura from Hell.

"Something's wrong, retreat!"

Lin Ze didn't hesitate for a second; his survivalist instincts made him reach a decision instantly.

He immediately converged all his aura and turned the boat around, wanting to bypass this unknown place of trouble.

"Ah!"

A scream suddenly tore through the thick fog on the river.

The sound was so sharp it even pierced through the wind and snow, stabbing into Lin Ze's eardrums.

Lin Ze slid into a reed bed and, using the reeds as cover, extended a thread of Divine Sense to look ahead.

In the next moment, his eyes suddenly contracted to the size of needlepoints.

On the churning blood-colored river ahead, a pale white bone flying boat was floating.

On the flying boat stood a demonic Cultivator clad in a wide black robe, his entire body shrouded in black mist.

And beneath the demonic Cultivator's feet lay a mangled body.

Although the body was a bloody mess, from the remaining clothes and the shattered jade pendant at the waist, Lin Ze still recognized his identity at a glance.

It was the resident Cultivator of the Cloud Mist Wen Clan, Wen Lie.

The person who had been secretly spying on him in the water market just now.

Wen Lie wasn't completely dead yet; his limbs had been brutally snapped by some extremely cruel method, and a large hole was torn in his chest, yet his heart was still beating.

"Spare... spare me... My Wen Clan Old Ancestor... is at the Foundation Establishment..."

Wen Lie wailed, blood foaming from his mouth.

"Noisy ant."

The black-robed demonic Cultivator held upside down a huge, pitch-black banner embroidered with countless hideous ghost faces... the evil ghost banner.

"To become the main Soul in my Ten Thousand Soul Banner is an honor for an inferior Bloodline like yours!"

Without any nonsense, the demonic Cultivator stabbed the evil ghost banner into Wen Lie's crown.

"Squelch!"

A tearing sound rang out.

Before Lin Ze's shocked eyes, Wen Lie's translucent Soul was actually forcibly pulled out of his body by that evil ghost banner.

The Soul let out a silent, agonized wail before being frantically bitten and devoured by the ghost faces on the banner.

Finally, it completely merged into the churning black mist.

"Soul searching and spirit seizing... Demonic Path methods!"

Lin Ze sucked in a breath of frigid air, feeling a chill surge from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.

The Spiritual Pressure emanating from this black-robed demonic Cultivator, while not yet at the Foundation Establishment Stage, had definitely reached the terrifying level of the Peak of the Ninth level of Qi Refining.

"Go!"

Lin Ze did not hesitate.

He was about to completely hide his presence and steer the boat away from this slaughterhouse.

However.

Just as the demonic Cultivator finished devouring Wen Lie's Soul and closed his eyes, seemingly digesting the memories obtained from the Soul search...

The demonic Cultivator's eyes, hidden under his hood, suddenly snapped open.

Two streaks of blood-red light locked onto the reed bed where Lin Ze was hiding.

"Oh?"

"So in this backwater place, there's actually a peerless fat sheep hiding with Spirit Stones and first-grade High Grade Realm-breaking spiritual fruits?"

The demonic Cultivator's hoarse and cruel laughter boomed across the river.

Through Wen Lie's Soul memories, he knew... Lin Ze was nearby.

"Found you, little mouse."

Boom!

The river water around the bone flying boat turned into puddles of foul-smelling black water the moment it came into contact with the black mist.

The demonic Cultivator stomped his foot and charged toward the reed bed at a terrifying speed that Lin Ze had never seen before.

"I'm locked on!"

Alarm bells rang in Lin Ze's heart as an unprecedented sense of life-and-death crisis instantly enveloped him.

This demonic Cultivator's Divine Sense was too overbearing; the concealment of the Major Achievement level "Spirit Net Technique" was completely useless before such absolute Realm suppression!

"Since I can't hide, let's see who's faster."

Lin Ze slapped his Storage Pouch, and the first-grade Low Grade flying Magical Artifact he had just bought from Lingxiao Rice Hall for thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones... the "green travel leaf," instantly appeared in mid-air.

"Limit-Breaking Heavy Water, pour in!"

Lin Ze did not use ordinary spiritual power to activate this Magical Artifact.

He jumped onto the green Magical Artifact, which was as large as a banana leaf, and the "Heavy Water Vortex" in his Dantian roared, pouring into the Formations of the "green travel leaf."

"Buzz!"

This flying Magical Artifact, which was originally only first-grade Low Grade, burst into light after coming into contact with the high-quality mana of the Limit-Breaking Heavy Water.

"Boom!"

A huge circular wave exploded on the river surface.

Stepping on the green travel leaf, Lin Ze turned into a streak of green lightning, skimming the surface of the Yunmeng Marsh and fleeing frantically toward Reed Island.

"Trying to escape?"

"In front of my 'Ghost Bone Shuttle,' even if you grew wings, you'd still have to leave your fat behind for me!"