5: Snake Tongue follows the trail and kills Leopard Taoist

“Mr. Chen, what brings you here?”

Gu Changsheng remembered that the last time someone came to draw a portrait, the Chen family only sent a butler to inform him. Why did Mr. Chen himself come this time?

Mr. Chen cupped his hands, his face filled with worry: “Alas, my son has accidentally gone missing. The yamen has already been notified to search everywhere, but my son rarely shows his face, and I’m afraid the constables might miss him.

I trouble Mr. Gu to draw a few more portraits of my son; there will be a generous reward.”

Gu Changsheng nodded.

Ancient times were not like his previous life; realistic portraits greatly impacted the efficiency of finding people.

As for other painters, they were trash compared to Gu Changsheng.

“How many portraits of the Young Master do you want, Mr. Chen?”

Gu Changsheng picked up his brush and dipped it in ink.

“Not many, just a hundred.”

Gu Changsheng’s hand, holding the brush, immediately stopped.

This was treating him like a beast of burden.

“Ahem, for one portrait, I am willing to pay one tael of silver,” Mr. Chen quickly added.

“Mm, that’s easy to say.

Money isn’t important; what matters is feeling Mr. Chen’s sincere love for his son, which is truly touching.”

With the money in place, Gu Changsheng didn’t act coy.

His brush flew like a Dragon, sketching lines on the paper in an instant.

Two hours later, all the portraits were handed over, and the group left.

Looking at the hundred-tael silver note on the painting stall, Gu Changsheng shook his head.

This one business deal was equivalent to a year’s worth of ordinary income.

With money, one must spend it.

Two fox spirits inexplicably flashed through Gu Changsheng’s mind.

‘Listening to music at the brothel seems like a good choice.’

Evening, Hundred Flowers Brothel.

Gu Changsheng silently sat in a corner, drinking wine and eating dishes.

He looked at the graceful dancers on the high stage in the distance, a bitter smile on his face.

His purse was thin.

He inquired about the price, and the cost of staying one night would shrink most of the hundred taels he had, so he immediately dismissed the idea.

Life had to go on; the jade he bought last time was almost used up, which meant another expense.

He could only enjoy it with his eyes.

There were many customers like Gu Changsheng with limited funds.

Scholars, merchants, constables—all sorts of people gathered here.

They joked about the girls’ figures while discussing strange events that had recently occurred.

“Damn it, the yamen received another report today; another child went missing.

Over these past few days, there have been almost a dozen in total, right?”

“Nineteen.

That includes the Chen family’s Young Master.”

“Trouble. The Magistrate has issued a decree: alive, we must see the person; dead, we must see the corpse.

If we still can’t find any clues, I’m afraid he’ll start with us, accusing us of incompetence.”

“It’s also strange; all these children are of similar age, born at an inauspicious hour and month.

Boss, do you think there might be… demons at work…” a constable whispered.

“Shhh—”

Li Gongyi quickly interrupted.

“You can’t just say things like that.”

Soon, the few of them changed the subject, turning their attention to the women on stage.

Clink—

Gu Changsheng put down his wine cup, his eyes chilling.

“The Chen family’s Young Master… similar age, inauspicious hour and month…”

He remembered that the Animal Husbandry Method had requirements for a Cultivator’s birthdate.

It recorded a special secret medicine—using humans as medicinal guides to refine into cultivation treasures.

Could it really be a demon who Cultivated the Animal Husbandry Method?

Most of his drunkenness dissipated.

After leaving the building, Gu Changsheng quietly pulled out a dried, pink snake tongue.

It was Shen San’s snake tongue.

After Cultivating the Animal Husbandry Method, the body’s organs mutate and possess a certain spirituality.

Like this snake tongue, it is extremely sensitive to scents.

That day, after Shen San was beheaded, Gu Changsheng quietly bribed the corpse bearer, Yan Xiao Yi, and secretly cut off this snake tongue.

Black Qi was injected into it, and the dried snake tongue gradually became plump.

Gu Changsheng took out his wolf hair brush.

This was what the Chen family’s Young Master had used.

After absorbing a trace of his aura and injecting it, the snake tongue immediately twisted and wriggled, pointing in one direction.

“Hmm? It’s nearby?”

Gu Changsheng had tested the snake tongue’s search range, which was roughly five kilometers in radius.

He didn’t expect the Chen family’s Young Master to still be in this county.

Perhaps the other children were also in the same place.

Gu Changsheng meandered around, and as the distance grew shorter, the snake tongue’s twisting became more intense.

Finally, he stopped in front of a large, secluded mansion.

“The Li Residence…”

This was the residence of the Li family, another prominent household in the county.

His spirit permeated the snake tongue, and various scents poured into his mind.

Gu Changsheng closed his eyes and, sure enough, detected a trace of the Chen family Young Master’s aura within the Li Residence.

“No… such a strong smell of blood.

Some of the blood is still very fresh, no more than three days old.

The oldest is no more than a month, which perfectly matches the time of the children’s disappearances.

This Li Residence… has a problem.”

Gu Changsheng vaguely had a guess in his heart and turned to leave.

Catching criminals red-handed was not his job.

As a Changsheng, he was unwilling to take risks.

After all, he had only just begun his journey on the Dao of Cultivation.

“It’s better to report it to the yamen and let the constables handle it.”

After Gu Changsheng left, deep within the Li Residence, a Daoist Leopard looked at a fruit tree in front of him, his expression obsessed.

The fruit tree was about three feet tall, with a fist-sized green fruit hanging on it, but the surface of the fruit displayed the ferocious, pained faces of children.

Beneath the tree, three blood troughs extended to the roots, and foul-smelling fresh blood slowly flowed into them along the troughs.

“Soon, with seven more people, the fruit will be ripe…”

Late at night.

Li Gongyi was in bed with his wife when a stone suddenly pierced through the window.

With a cry of surprise, the oil lamp was lit. Li Gongyi, bare-chested, opened the window and cursed, “Which bastard is throwing stones into people’s windows in the middle of the night?

Don’t let me catch you, or you’ll get what’s coming to you.”

Li Gongyi rubbed the large bump on his forehead, feeling annoyed.

His 'younger brother' hadn't subsided yet, but his head had swollen up.

What a mess.

“Oh, husband, look, there’s a letter on the stone.”

“A letter?”

By the light of the lamp, Li Gongyi tore open the envelope, and his face immediately changed dramatically.

It stated that the prominent Li Residence in the county was linked to the recent disappearances of children.

“Something big has happened!”

The next day, sounds of fighting came from the Li Residence. A Daoist suddenly leaped over the high wall and fled.

A few breaths later, a team of constables kicked open the door and rushed out.

Li Gongyi looked at the fleeing figure of the Daoist, raised his polearm, and said, “The villain is vicious. Xiao Wu, notify the Magistrate to send troops for support.

The rest of you, follow me.”

“Okay.”

After Xiao Wu left, Li Gongyi’s pace gradually slowed down.

“Boss, why are you slowing down?” a young constable asked, puzzled.

“Bastard, if you want to die, don’t drag me down with you!” Li Gongyi scolded, “That villain is so fierce; if we few go up, it’ll be for nothing.

That Daoist Leopard is clearly a demon who has achieved success in Cultivating the Animal Husbandry Method, far superior to that Shen San.

If it weren’t for fear of making too much noise, none of us would survive.

Losing the target, at most, we’ll just be reprimanded by the Magistrate and have half a month’s salary deducted.

If we pursue him, our lives might be in question.”

“Haha, Ma Gui, learn from this. There are many tricks to catching criminals in the yamen.”

“The boss is right. It’s best if we split up and track him to avoid being noticed by the villain.”

A moment later, at a stream.

Daoist Leopard gasped for breath, cupping his hands to scoop water and drink.

Suddenly, whoosh—

A silver-white sword blade passed through his body, instantly piercing his heart.

“You…”

Daoist Leopard died instantly without even seeing the one who killed him.

“Sigh, I didn’t expect that after going in a circle, I’d still have to make a move.”

The dappled tree shadows revealed Gu Changsheng’s figure.

Over these days, his Fox Shadow Technique had already Cultivated to the second stage, allowing him to conceal his form with illusions, and indeed, the attack was effective.

As for the sword, it was the imperial longquan sword passed down from his ancestors, which his original body had never been willing to pawn off, no matter how destitute he became.

Paired with the Qingfeng Swordplay he acquired from a down-and-out wandering swordsman, Daoist Leopard died on the spot.

Gu Changsheng quickly searched him, taking the satchel from Daoist Leopard’s waist.

At this moment, his ears twitched.

Someone was coming!

The Fox Shadow Technique activated, and his figure subtly vanished.

In the distance, Li Gongyi only felt a blur before his eyes and rubbed them.

Approaching the stream, there was only Daoist Leopard’s corpse.

“That’s strange, there was clearly a figure just now…”

At this moment, the constables behind him caught up and immediately saw Daoist Leopard’s corpse, screaming in unison.

“Boss, you killed Daoist Leopard!”

“Haha, executing the evil leader, this is a great merit!”

Li Gongyi’s words of explanation were suddenly stuck in his throat.

Executing the evil leader meant a reward of three hundred taels of silver!