191: Chapter 191 Special Attention, Watching the Tigers Fight from the Sidelines

[Chu Sheng returned to the stone house, closed the door, and threw the book 'Middle Region Power Study' onto the table.]

[He sat by the bed, eyes closed, reviewing Shen Linger's matter from beginning to end.]

[The Mission Hall record deleted, the informant missing, and Deacon Zheng's evasive gaze.]

[Chu Sheng opened his eyes and began to act.]

[He first went to the vicinity of the Mission Hall, using his Divine Sense to track Deacon Zheng's movements.]

[Nothing unusual happened for the first two days, but on the night of the third day, he saw Deacon Zheng sneakily exit the back door of the Mission Hall, taking several twists and turns.]

[Chu Sheng transformed into a spectral shadow and heard voices coming from within.]

["Senior Brother Jia, that matter has been settled. The record is deleted, and the informant has been dealt with," said Deacon Zheng's voice.]

[Another voice sounded lazy, as if just waking up: "As long as it's settled. I'll put in a few good words for you with Elder Feng."]

[Chu Sheng remembered this name: Jia Zi.]

[A Disciple of Feng Qingyang's lineage with a cultivation at the Spirit Spring Peak, he held considerable influence among the Outer Sect Disciples.]

[Chu Sheng did not strike on the spot.]

[He returned to the stone house and kept the name 'Jia Zi' in his heart.]

[At night, he went to the mining tunnels as usual to absorb the Spiritual Vein.]

[Sitting cross-legged outside the stone wall, that hair-thin strand of Luck slowly flowed into his Dantian.]

[Chu Sheng closed his eyes and suddenly had a thought; he followed the flow of the Spiritual Vein and probed it with his Divine Sense.]

[The Spiritual Veins of the thirty-six peaks of Wendao Palace all branched out from beneath the Main Peak, extending in all directions like tree roots.]

[In the direction of the Thirteenth Peak, that branch was thick and powerful, with dense Spiritual Qi.]

[Chu Sheng's Divine Sense followed the branch upward and discovered something subtle: he could influence the distribution of Spiritual Qi in the branch by adjusting the 'position' from which he absorbed it.]

[It wasn't intercepting; it was 'diverting'.]

[Just like a river, if you dig a small opening upstream, the water downstream will decrease slightly.]

[Not much, but it adds up over time.]

[Chu Sheng decided to use Heavenly Secret Calculation to perform another divination.]

[He expended one year of his lifespan to cast a divination, calculating the 'fortune of a counterattack against Feng Qingyang's lineage'.]

[The phantom of the bamboo tube shook, and a slip jumped out—a Medium Draw.]

[Half auspicious and half ominous, an omen of a draw.]

[Not good enough, but not bad either.]

[Chu Sheng put the slip away, thinking: It's enough.]

[He began to adjust his absorption strategy.]

[Previously, he had absorbed randomly from the Spiritual Vein, involving all thirty-six peaks and spreading it very thin.]

[Now, he focused his attention on the branch of the Thirteenth Peak.]

[Every night, he sat cross-legged before the stone wall like a precise parasite, specifically absorbing from that branch.]

[Not much, just a little bit drawn away each day, just enough to make the Spiritual Qi concentration of the Thirteenth Peak slowly decline without causing a violent fluctuation.]

[On the first day, no one noticed.]

[By the fifth day, the Disciples of the Thirteenth Peak began to complain that their Cultivate progress was slowing down, but they thought it was their own problem.]

[On the tenth day, several Inner Sect Disciples jointly reported to the Deacon Hall, saying the Spiritual Qi on the mountain was not as dense as before.]

[Feng Qingyang personally intervened.]

[Feng Qingyang stood atop the Thirteenth Peak, eyes closed, his Divine Sense scanning the entire Spiritual Vein.]

[His expression was very grim.]

[He found the anomaly; the Spiritual Qi was indeed decreasing, but he couldn't find the cause.]

[The Spiritual Vein was not damaged, the Restrictions were not broken, and there were no traces of outside intruders.]

[Everything was normal, yet the Spiritual Qi was just that little bit less.]

[Feng Qingyang stood on the mountain for an hour before finally returning to his Immortal Cave with a dark face.]

[He suspected someone had tampered with it but could find no evidence.]

[Chu Sheng went about his business in the Outer Sect as usual.]

[Du Yu still detoured around him, and Lin Xiao was still polite.]

[No one knew that the anomaly of the Thirteenth Peak's Spiritual Qi was the work of this seemingly harmless Outer Sect Elder.]

[But Chu Sheng knew that just lowering the Spiritual Qi a bit wasn't enough.]

[At night, he slipped into Jia Zi's residence.]

[Jia Zi lived in the best stone house in the Outer Sect Disciple area, with two stalks of Spirit Bamboo planted at the door, making him seem superior to others.]

[Chu Sheng transformed into a wisp of shadow, passed through the wall, and landed inside the room.]

[Jia Zi was lying on the bed meditating, the aura of the Spirit Spring Peak slowly circulating in the room.]

[Chu Sheng did not hesitate.]

[He summoned the slaughter-focused zhu xian sword from his Dantian. Dark-red patterns flowed over the pitch-black blade as Sword Qi condensed into a line and silently pierced Jia Zi's brow.]

[Jia Zi's eyes snapped open, a shadow of a sword reflected in his pupils.]

[He wanted to shout, but his throat was sealed by the Sword Qi, unable to make any sound.]

[His body stiffened for a moment and then went limp, like a severed piece of wood.]

[Chu Sheng withdrew the sword and stood by the bed, looking at Jia Zi's corpse.]

[At the Spirit Spring Peak, he was considered someone of note in the Wendao Palace Outer Sect, but before the zhu xian sword, he was less than an ant.]

[He turned, transformed into a shadow, and vanished into the night.]

[He intentionally left a trace of Sword Qi, one that was sharp and carried the distinct characteristics of a Sword Cultivator.]

[In Wendao Palace, whose Sword Qi was the sharpest? Ye Gucheng's lineage.]

[When Feng Qingyang saw this trace of Sword Qi, the first person he would suspect would not be Chu Sheng, but his old rival from the Ninth Peak.]

[Chu Sheng returned to the stone house, closed the door, and sat cross-legged.]

[In his Dantian, that hair-thin strand of Luck was still flowing.]

[After ten consecutive days of his 'special care', the Spiritual Qi concentration of the Thirteenth Peak's branch had dropped by ten percent.]

[Not much, but enough to make the Disciples of Feng Qingyang's lineage feel irritable and distracted.]

[Cultivate progress slowed, the effects of Medicinal Pills were discounted, and even the success rate of Alchemy dropped.]

[Some began to complain, some began to suspect something was wrong with the Spiritual Vein, and some began to secretly go to other peaks to leech Spiritual Qi.]

[Chu Sheng saw all of this, his face devoid of any expression.]

[His cultivation was approaching the Peak of Sea Opening Realm.]

[The Diversion of Luck in his Dantian was like a never-drying stream, injecting a bit every day and growing a bit every day.]

[The Bottleneck of the Late Stage of Sea Opening Realm was becoming thinner and thinner, like a layer of window paper that would break with a single poke.]

[He was only a thin membrane away from the Dao Palace.]

[Chu Sheng closed his eyes, feeling that warm power flowing through his body.]

[The thousands of years of heritage of Wendao Palace was like a sleeping giant beast, and he was a louse clinging to the beast's body, sucking its blood.]

[The giant beast was completely unaware, while the louse grew fatter and fatter.]

[He opened his eyes and looked at the pitch-black night outside the window.]

[In the direction of the Thirteenth Peak, a few flickers of light could be faintly seen.]

[Feng Qingyang was likely still investigating the Spiritual Vein and likely still suspecting Ye Gucheng.]

[The corner of Chu Sheng's mouth twitched slightly—not quite a smile, just a slight movement.]