"Every veteran patron in Zhao Hua City knows about the soul-stealing, bone-lting beauty at the Shuyu Boat, Susu! She can really make a man’s bones turn to jelly!"
Hearing the taunt, Zeng Xiuyuan wasn’t annoyed in the least. He replied confidently, "Isn’t it better that she’s famous? Maybe Yuchi Jue was pretending to be a patron all along. In a little while, he might just walk right into the trap at the Shuyu Boat!"
"Enough of this nonsense!" Zhong Zhe took a puff from his dry pipe, adopting the air of a senior. "These past few days, although I haven’t found any clues about Yuchi Jue in the brothels either, I did hear that starting three months ago, people have been disappearing from so of them from ti to ti..."
Leng Jing couldn’t help but interrupt, "Uh... People disappearing from brothels? That’s perfectly normal, isn’t it?"
"The ones who get beaten to death for being disobedient, the ones who drink themselves to death, the ones who catch a nasty disease and die from it..."p>
"When those people die, they don’t even wait for morning. They just have soone dump the bodies in the mountains or the river. To the public, aren’t they all just reported as ’missing’?"
Zhong Zhe waited for him to finish his rant before continuing, "But what I heard is that in the last three months, the number of these disappearances is several tis higher than usual."
"In particular, a few courtesans suddenly decided to throw themselves into the river. They were even seen doing it, but no bodies ever floated up downstream..."
Leng Jing was still dismissive. "Alright, that is a bit strange. But what does it have to do with the Ten Directions Sect and Yuchi Jue?"
"It’s probably just so other practitioner of an Evil Skill who has Fallen into Demon and has a thing for trapping and killing those courtesans!"
Zhong Zhe was at a loss for a rebuttal, so he just continued to take long drags from his dry pipe.
In truth, Zhong Zhe was also getting anxious. Although he carried the Hundred-legged Ancestor’s venom on him, it had been a long ti since he’d been able to absorb any fresh Poison Miasma.
Even though reaching the True Qi Realm allowed one to swagger around anywhere, the scarcity of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi ant they couldn’t truly live carefree and unrestrained.
You couldn’t just stay wherever you wanted for as long as you wanted.
However, Zhong Zhe’s words had just sparked a flash of inspiration in Zou Feng’s mind, and he suddenly realized sothing.
He knew that the reason they had previously suspected Yuchi Jue was hiding in a brothel was that the man was severely injured and was surely trying to find a way to recover.
The Cultivation Skills of the Ten Directions Sect focused on Visualization.
Zhao Hua City, with its countless brothels and libertine lifestyle, clearly provided a suitable environnt for this.
Therefore, it was indeed most likely that Yuchi Jue was using his Formless Divine Skill to blend in at the various brothels.
’But the problem is, we’ve all overlooked one thing.’
’Even with the Formless Divine Skill, Yuchi Jue wouldn’t necessarily have to show up in person...’
’After all, no matter how exquisite the Formless Divine Skill is, a True Qi Realm Martial Artist could still see through the disguise. It’s not completely foolproof.’
’Not to ntion Yuchi Jue is still severely injured, so the Formless Divine Skill definitely can’t be used to its full effect.’
’So, Yuchi Jue probably hasn’t been personally involved at all. He’s been hiding sowhere secluded the whole ti.’
’As for his thod of recovery, it could be to raise a batch of "Great dicines."’
’He has these "dicine people" go to the brothels and practice the corresponding Evil Skills for him.’
’Once their Cultivation is successful, he can then absorb and refine these "Great dicines" to achieve the sa healing effect.’
"Hey, that bastard! Yuchi Jue is probably raising Great dicines!" Zou Feng slapped his thigh and imdiately voiced his theory.
After hearing him out, Zhong Zhe and the others perked up, all feeling there was a ninety percent chance Zou Feng’s speculation was correct.
The reason they hadn’t thought of this earlier was naturally related to the different Cultivation Skills they practiced.
Obviously, the Cultivation Skills practiced by Zhong Zhe, Leng Jing, and Zeng Xiuyuan didn’t require "Great dicines," Human Gu, or the like, so it wasn’t the first thing that ca to their minds.
But Zou Feng had raised the Iron Blood Gu Poison Group and had also practiced a Cultivation Skill from the Ten Directions Sect, so it was only natural for him to think of this possibility.
"No wonder we’ve been searching for over ten days and found nothing. So that bastard hasn’t been showing up in person at all!?"
Leng Jing gritted his teeth. "Well, that makes things easier. First, we’ll round up everyone in the brothels who could be a ’Great dicine.’ I’ll personally interrogate them. We’re bound to get sothing!"
"Don’t worry. No matter how tight-lipped these ’Great dicines’ are, I guarantee I can pry sothing out of them!"
Leng Jing was clearly extrely confident in his thods of torture.
He was originally an Executioner for the Rakshasa Sect, so his abilities in this area were certainly extraordinary.
But Zou Feng quickly shook his head. "We can’t do that!"
"Why not? You don’t trust ?" Leng Jing asked, displeased.
"It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s... most of these ’Great dicines’ probably don’t even know they’ve been targeted. I’m afraid they’ve all unwittingly beco Yuchi Jue’s Great dicines..."
At this mont, Zou Feng thought of the woman nad Nong Yu he had t at the Shuyu Boat, and the two Evil Cultivators he encountered afterward.
The reasons these three Evil Cultivators gave for staying at the brothel were all very reasonable, with no obvious flaws.
’But thinking about it now,’ Zou Feng mused, ’Nong Yu’s whole story about practicing an Evil Skill just to get revenge on the Blood Wolf Gang... all of it was likely ’implanted’ in her mind by Yuchi Jue.’
This wasn’t an exaggeration. Yuchi Jue was a Second Grade expert, and he was well-versed in the mind-affecting Cultivation Skills of the Ten Directions Sect.
Brainwashing his "Great dicines" through hypnosis should be a simple matter for Yuchi Jue.
So, those who had beco Great dicines wouldn’t even know they’d been ensnared. The goals they thought were perfectly logical were very likely just implanted, false mories.
After hearing Zou Feng’s explanation, Leng Jing was stunned. "It’s that troubleso? Then what do we do?"
"Don’t be hasty. Once a Great dicine ’ripens,’ it will naturally be guided by a ’suggestion’ to automatically go to Yuchi Jue’s hiding place!"
"Didn’t Master Zhong just say that so courtesans threw themselves into the river, but their bodies were never found floating downstream?"
"Jumping into the river was just a cover. Most likely, after entering the water, these Great dicines used so waterway to get to where Yuchi Jue is..." Zou Feng said.
Zhong Zhe picked up the thread, "Then we just need to keep an eye on the ones who are most likely to be Great dicines. That way, whether the Great dicines go to Yuchi Jue’s hiding place on their own, or Yuchi Jue cos out personally to collect them, we’ll be able to nab that fiend!"
Their discussion quickly concluded. The group’s previous gloom was swept away, and they all felt that they were getting closer and closer to catching Yuchi Jue.
’But I’m a little worried,’ Zou Feng thought. ’The disappearances started multiplying three months ago, which proves Yuchi Jue has been raising his Great dicines for quite so ti.’
’And after absorbing so many Great dicines already, how much of his injury has he recovered from?’
’If we end up facing a fully recovered Second Grade expert, we’ll be in serious trouble.’
’But it probably hasn’t co to that. It’s like I said, with how thin the Spiritual Qi is, how could a Second Grade Martial Artist who’s been severely injured recover so easily?’
’Taking several years to recover is the norm.’
’So, even if Yuchi Jue has refined a lot of Great dicines, it’s impossible for him to have recovered to his peak condition so quickly.’
’And our side has four True Qi Realm masters. Taking him down should be no problem!’
Once the discussion was over, the group hurried off, full of motivation.
On the way, Zou Feng thought for a mont and ultimately decided that of all the Evil Cultivators he had t in the brothels, Nong Yu from the Shuyu Boat was the most likely to be one of the Great dicines.
’Using a musical instrunt to unleash an Evil Skill, influencing the emotions of the Shuyu Boat’s patrons, and then inducing hallucinations of the world around them... that perfectly matches my understanding of the Ten Directions Sect’s Cultivation Skills.’
’So, for the ti being, I need to make the Shuyu Boat my primary focus.’
’I’ll start by stationing myself at the Shuyu Boat tonight.’
’Even though Zeng Xiuyuan is at the Shuyu Boat, I’ve always felt that guy isn’t reliable...’
「That night, Zou Feng revisited the familiar place.」
He sat for a while but didn’t see any sign of Nong Yu.
Zou Feng imdiately called over the Madam and asked nonchalantly, "Where is Nong Yu? I wish to hear her play a tune!"
Hearing this, the Madam said awkwardly, "Well... Sir, Nong Yu... she’s fallen ill... She’s been resting recently..."
"What illness?"
"A venereal disease..."
Zou Feng frowned instantly. "I thought the deal was that she entertains, but doesn’t sell her body?"
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