26: Chapter 0026 Albizia Wood

Thud!

Zhou Guanlian fell straight down, her life extinguished.

The Twin Purple Flood Dragons, having successfully completed their sneak attack, coiled back onto Gu Huan's shoulders, acting as his protective guardians.

He had been struck by a charm technique.

He was unable to move for a short time.

Only when the Supreme Heavenly Demon Art resumed its circulation did he gradually regain his senses.

Glancing at the deceased Zhou Guanlian, he wasn't surprised at all; he had long since secretly ordered the Twin Purple Flood Dragons to strike first if she showed any intent to kill him.

“Last time, when you tried to kill me, I nearly took your life.”

“This time, since you still haven't learned your lesson, you had no choice but to die by my hand.”

Last time,

had Hall Master Su Hongyun not appeared in time,

Zhou Guanlian would have already met her end in the Yellow Springs.

Of course, had Gu Huan killed a Hehuan Disciple then, he wouldn't have escaped death either.

In a way, Hall Master Su Hongyun hadn't just saved Zhou Guanlian back then; she had saved Gu Huan as well.

But this time,

Zhou Guanlian wasn't so lucky,

and Gu Huan wasn't so merciful.

She was destined to die here.

Gu Huan quickly cleared the battlefield, collecting six Storage Pouches and a single tooth.

Boom!

Purple demonic flames flared up; it was time to destroy the evidence.

[Ding! Lifespan increased by one breath.]

...

Night fell.

Only then did Gu Huan feel safe enough to leave the stone cave.

He wasn't in a rush to return to the Hehuan Sect. Instead, he found a secluded cave, lit a campfire, and calmly began to take stock of his gains.

He inspected the six Storage Pouches one by one.

Among them, Liu He's Storage Pouch yielded the most.

He found over two thousand Spirit Stones in total. A small portion of these were bribes from Li Yunlu, while the vast majority came from Law Enforcement Hall Master Zhao Tongwu. As a Blood Spirit Sect spy embedded in the upper echelons of the Enforcement Hall, it was only natural for him to use Spirit Stones to buy Liu He's loyalty.

Next was Zhou Guanlian's pouch.

It contained about five hundred Spirit Stones, a few Hehuan Medicinal Pills, and a half-burnt piece of fragrant wood.

“Is this hehuan wood?”

“Rumor has it that this wood aids in dual cultivation, allowing one to infinitely extract a Cauldron's primordial yang.”

Thinking back carefully now,

he realized how Little Puppy had died.

Only three days after Gu Huan had disfigured Little Puppy, Zhou Guanlian had come knocking on his door, claiming Little Puppy had died because of him and suggesting he take his place as her new Cauldron.

That was a blatant lie.

Little Puppy's true cause of death was Zhou Guanlian's Essence-gathering technique.

Draining a Cauldron to death in such a short time is no easy feat, unless there's a massive gap in cultivation or some other Heaven And Earth Treasure is used.

hehuan wood.

That was exactly Zhou Guanlian's murder weapon.

Little Puppy must have continuously inhaled the fragrance of the hehuan wood until his primordial yang and potential were completely drained, leading to his death.

“That enchantress is truly ruthless!”

“I was wondering why Little Puppy died so suddenly; it turns out it was all because of this piece of wood.”

Gu Huan felt no pity.

This master and servant pair got exactly what they deserved.

Among the remaining four, Zhang Shan and Liu Yuan each had over two hundred Spirit Stones, plus a few basic Medicinal Pills.

As Li Yunlu's personal maids, Bai Lan and Huang Ju surprisingly had fewer Spirit Stones, totaling only a bit over a hundred between them.

They had quite a few Hehuan Medicinal Pills, including aphrodisiacs and Virility Pills. The rest of their belongings were almost entirely women's clothing, categorized into indoor and outdoor styles.

He had to admit,

these women certainly knew how to enjoy themselves in private.

Additionally, Gu Huan found three identical folding fans on them.

Upon opening them, he found they were very similar to Lvzhu's. Each had a front and a back; the front bore the character 'Lu', while the back featured a lifelike painting.

The settings varied.

Some were set on a couch, others on a table.

Some were on the ground, and some were even in the sky.

The artist's skill was superb, bordering on perfection. The expressions on the women's faces were perfectly captured, and every detail of their bodies was rendered with exquisite precision, without a single flaw.

“These are beautifully done. All four paintings must be by the same hand, and a female artist at that.”

Gu Huan wasn't just making a wild guess.

He reached this conclusion because the details of the women's bodies were much more lush and intricate than those of the faceless men.

The artist clearly understood the female form better than the male.

The artist's gender was practically written on the canvas.

Having finished his inspection,

he put away the fans and useful resources and burned the rest to ashes.

Then,

Gu Huan took out the tooth and erased the Restriction on it.

Inside, he indeed found a few secret letters and a pebble-sized prismatic crystal that was incredibly hard and sharp.

“Is this a High Grade Magical Artifact?”

Gu Huan had never seen such an artifact and didn't know its origin or use. He took out the letters and read them carefully, and the truth suddenly dawned on him.

This item was called the Mystic Blood Diamond, or Blood Diamond for short. It was indeed a Magical Artifact, but a rather unique one.

It was a special artifact with growth potential, refined by Golden Core Cultivators of the Blood Spirit Sect using their own essence blood.

Standard Magical Artifacts

are divided into Low Grade, Medium Grade, High Grade, and the rare Top Grade.

Although the Mystic Blood Diamond was a High Grade artifact, it possessed the potential to grow into a Top Grade one.

The method for upgrading it was identical to nurturing a Demonic Form: it required constant nourishment with a Cultivator's essence blood until it advanced.

“It can advance just by being nourished with essence blood?”

“Isn't this tailor-made for me?”

Gu Huan was overjoyed.

Thanks to the reversal system, he recovered one drop of essence blood every two hours, giving him a total of twelve drops a day.

Such an efficient rate of nourishment

was even superior to that of a Golden Core Cultivator.

Beyond the pleasant surprise of the Blood Diamond, Gu Huan also discovered something deeply unsettling.

More than half the content of the letters involved exposing the movements of Hehuan Disciples. Most of them were female Disciples, with very few males mentioned.

Song Yuchan's name was mentioned multiple times.

Furthermore, Qin Yao's name also appeared prominently in the letters.

This wasn't just about exposing their locations; it looked like a targeted slaughter or some other conspiracy.

“How did they find out where these Disciples were going and pass that information so accurately to the Blood Spirit Sect?”

Gu Huan found it strange.

Hehuan Disciples were free to come and go as they pleased.

How could these spies track them and set up ambushes in secret?

The Enforcement Hall didn't have the capacity for intelligence gathering.

Could it be the Bounty Hall?

“They were only exposed while they were out on Sect missions. I see; there must be Blood Spirit Sect spies within the Bounty Hall as well.”

The Bounty Hall

was responsible for intelligence gathering and bounty missions.

They could precisely track Hehuan Disciples when they went out, allowing them to set ambushes in advance.

Of course,

not all the ambushes were successful.

The letters mentioned five separate ambushes targeting Song Yuchan, all of which had ended in failure.

There was only one mention of an ambush against Qin Yao, which had occurred just a few months ago.

The Blood Spirit Sect had sent six Disciples to ambush her, one of whom was a highly talented 'Immortal Sprout.' In the end, they were all killed—a massive loss for the Sect.

“Looking at it this way,”

“Qin Yao didn't cause a disaster; she survived a brush with death.”

The six Blood Spirit Sect Disciples had been targeting them all along. Fortunately, they had managed to survive.

Gu Huan kept the letters

and hid the tooth away.

He extinguished the campfire and made his way back to the Hehuan Sect under the cover of darkness.

Elsewhere,

Qin Yao and Liu Zhu emerged from the Enforcement Hall, their faces clouded with rage.

“Senior Sister, he’s not here.”

They had planned to ransom him, and if that failed, they would cause a scene.

But since Gu Huan wasn't in the Enforcement Hall, what was the point of making a scene?

“Liu He must have taken him away.”

“Then we need to find him quickly and get Gu Huan back.”

Qin Yao felt a headache coming on.

If she knew where Liu He was, she would have gone there immediately.

But she had no idea where they had taken him, and the more time that passed, the more danger he was in.

“What do we do now?”

Liu Zhu was truly anxious. If she hadn't been afraid of making Qin Yao suspicious, she would have burst into tears.

Gu Huan had been so good to her—acting as a Cauldron, giving her Medicinal Pills, and even gifting her a Magical Artifact. How could she not cherish such a master?

“Jile Peak. Junior Sister Liu, do you dare to charge there with me again?”

“Why wouldn't I? Let's go right now.”

Liu Zhu took the lead,

with Qin Yao following closely behind, her eyes flickering with thought.

Li Yunlu wouldn't have written to her for no reason; there must have been a hidden message.