The sound of the explosion completely interrupted the voice that had been echoing in Lu Sheng's ears.
"Are these your memories? They're all sealed in this mirror, "Lu Sheng lowered his sabers and walked slowly towards the mad woman in the distance.
"ROAR!!"
The mad woman lunged at Lu Sheng.
Her movements were faster than the little girl's, and the sharp nails on her fingers were stronger. But to Lu Sheng, it was all in vain.
He didn't even look at the other party's shadow. Instead, the blood web on his body contracted and expanded.
"BOOM!!"
The scorching Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies inner Qi exploded, blasting the mad woman who had appeared behind Lu Sheng into the air.
Lu Sheng swung the saber in his hand.
"SPLAT!"
The saber accurately nailed the mad woman to the ground. The hot, masculine inner Qi on the saber burned her, causing her to howl in pain. She tried to pull the saber out, but to no avail.
Lu Sheng walked calmly to the woman and looked down at her.
"Do you hate me?"
He asked the same question as the voice.
The mad woman struggled and howled in pain. She knew nothing at all, like a dying beast.
Lu Sheng gripped the saber hilt.
"Lingling … Lingling … Mama's here …" the mad woman suddenly called out softly.
Her body calmed down, and the eyes in her messy hair slowly turned gentle. Her hands waved about, as if searching for something.
"… Mama's here …" the woman's voice softened as she repeated.
Lu Sheng's expression calmed, and his inner Qi flowed into the saber hilt.
"SPLAT!"
The woman's entire body burst into flames, turning into a pile of black ash.
As the woman disappeared, the surrounding rice paddies also began to distort and blacken, slowly returning to the original courtyard of Holy Fame Square.
Lu Sheng stood in the middle of the courtyard, saber in hand, looking at the black ash on the ground.
He didn't know why the maker of the mirror had given the little girl such hope.
Lu Sheng couldn't tell if his intentions were good or bad. He only felt displeased. After killing so many ghosts, this was the first time he felt this way.
His last question and the woman's answer made him feel vexed.
"Sir?" Xu Chui walked out of the house. "What should we do with the mirror?" He did not seem to notice what had happened.
Lu Sheng looked back at him.
"Pack it all up and take it away."
"This … fragment as well?" Xu Chui asked hesitantly.
"Everything."
"Yes!"
Lu Sheng stood in the courtyard, not moving for a long time. Until the sky gradually brightened. Dong Qi came out of the bedroom timidly.
"Ambassador!" Dong Qi walked to the front of Lu Dao and bowed to him seriously. "If it weren't for you last night, Dong Qi would have met with misfortune."
"Just hand over the reward," Lu Sheng said calmly. "Let's go and take a look at Medicine Master Zhuo Qingyang."
"Yes."
At this time, Xu Chui had also packed up the mirror stand. The large bag of mirror shards was also difficult for him. He specially found a cowhide mattress as a bag and wrapped everything up.
The trio went straight to Zhuo Qingyang's bedroom.
Dong, dong, dong.
Dong, dong, dong.
No one answered.
Lu Sheng glanced at Xu Chui. Understanding his intentions, the latter took a step back and kicked the door. Instantly, the door swung open.
Lu Sheng walked in first and saw Zhuo Qingyang lying motionless on the bed. His face was pale.
He strode over and put his hand under his nose. He was long dead.
"He's dead." He turned to look at Dong Qi, suddenly remembering the servant girls and guards he had seen before.
"Why is there no sound so early in the morning? Go check on your servant girls."
Dong Qi seemed to remember something as well. She nodded, her face pale. Hearing Lu Sheng's order, she quickly responded in a low voice and ran out of the room.
Xu Chui went forward to examine the cause of death and said in a low voice, "The corpse seems to have died of natural aging. There are no obvious wounds or bleeding, and no signs of poisoning. Perhaps it was caused by the ghosts. "
Lu Sheng exhaled and was about to speak. Suddenly, Dong Qi's scream came from outside.
He and Xu Chui immediately turned and ran out, following the direction of the scream. Outside a side room, they found Dong Qi gasping for breath while leaning on a pillar.
Dong Qi almost broke down when she saw the two of them.
"The high emissary … is dead … they're all dead …" she cried.
Lu Sheng glanced at the open side rooms and walked in to take a look. A servant girl was lying on the bed. She was no longer breathing, and her corpse stank.
On the other side, Xu Chui rushed to another room and also let out a low cry.
Lu Sheng walked out of the room and looked at Xu Chui. The latter nodded at him with a solemn expression. Indeed, she was dead.
He walked a few steps and looked in through the door. Indeed, there was another corpse lying on the bed. The thick stench of a corpse wafted out, and the whole room was a little disgusting.
"Check all the other rooms," Lu Sheng said in a low voice.
"Yes!" Xu Chui answered and sped up, breaking into room after room.
Lu Sheng also split up to check the other rooms.
As time passed, the two of them quickly checked all the surrounding courtyards.
The entire Holy Fame Plaza was dead silent. Apart from Dong Qi's personal servant girl, everyone else who lived here was dead. Moreover, many of them had been dead for god knows how long. Their corpses were already infested with maggots.
Dong Qi was scared out of her wits. At least a third of Tea Sect's upper echelons were resting in this Holy Fame Plaza. Who would've thought that on this trip …
When the sky was completely bright, her subordinates rushed over. Under Dong Qi's orders, they carried the corpses out of Holy Fame Plaza, their faces pale.
Many people had come to watch the commotion as well. They formed a circle around the main entrance and watched as the corpses were carried out one after another.
Chief Qu, who was stationed in this town, was the highest ranking official. He had come to investigate the situation. Chief Qu was the leader of the Winged Honor Guards stationed in the nearby fortress. He was also an old friend of Tea Sect and had to offer a considerable amount of silver to him every year. He had come to ask about the situation to repay the favor.
Dong Qi chatted with Chief Qu for a while before sending him off. She even slipped him some silver as payment for his hard work. Only then did she send off these old soldiers.
Lu Sheng brought Xu Chui to check on Sect Master Dong Shengping's corpse.
With the help of one of Dong Qi's assistants, the two of them quickly found a tombstone buried on the hillside outside the town.
Dong Qi had her men dig up the corpse and set up a pergola before placing it inside. Lu Sheng and Xu Chui went in to investigate carefully.
The pergola was sweltering under the scorching sun.
Lu Sheng stood beside the corpse that was covered with a white cloth. He reached out and gently lifted a piece of cloth to reveal the corpse's head.
There was an obvious knife wound on the corpse's head. It went diagonally across the eye socket, the bridge of the nose and the mouth.
It was very deep.
"This should be a fatal wound," Lu Sheng frowned. He didn't need to look for long to feel a faint trace of Yin Qi emanating from the wound.
This trace of Yin Qi could only be felt from a corpse that had been personally killed by a ghost. As such Yin Qi was too weak, Lu Sheng would need to absorb it at least a hundred times before he could accumulate enough Yin Qi to upgrade his Strength Proficiency martial arts once.
Therefore, he couldn't be bothered to do so. The puppet, the piece of cloth, and the bronze mirror were the main sources of Yin Qi.
"There's also a wound on the abdomen. It's a stab wound. It should have been caused by a weapon like a dagger," Xu Chui added.
Lu Sheng nodded, indicating that he understood. He looked at the corpse and fell into deep thought.
'That mirror is the culprit. It made use of the little girl, Lingling's resentment. After killing her, it seems to have become some kind of special tool. There's definitely something wrong with this mirror. It couldn't have killed a pitiful little girl and so many people for no reason. It must have some purpose. '
After another round of inspection, Lu Sheng had a rough idea of how the Tea Sect members and Sect Master Dong Shengping had died.
"Sect Master died from a sneak attack. The murderer is unknown, but it should be that ghost called Lingling," Lu Sheng explained.
"The rest of the sect's upper management were attracted here by Apothecary Zhuo Qingyang. They died by using the mirror to absorb life force. "
"Life force can be absorbed?" Xu Chui was stunned.
"Life force is the energy that is naturally produced when you eat, sleep, and rest. This energy makes your heart beat and gives you strength. It allows you to move, talk, and laugh. This is life force, "Lu Sheng explained." In other words, it's Yang Qi. "
"Oh …" Xu Chui understood.
Lu Sheng stood beside the pergola and took out the puppet that he had picked up from his waist pouch. The puppet was filled with thick Yin Qi.
Although the ghost that was dealt with this time was only a Single-Vein Anomaly in terms of strength, the mirror on its back seemed to have a deeper meaning and was unfathomable.
"Forget it. Let's leave the matter of Tea Sect here for now. We'll continue to sweep other places," Lu Sheng instructed.
"Yes. Besides this place, there's another nearest help point nearby, but it's only at Spirit Level. The reward is three hundred taels of silver. "Xu Chui took out the list that he had brought with him.
"Go and replenish your dry rations and water with Dong Qi. We'll leave today." Lu Sheng looked at the Tea Sect members who were waiting nearby.
The main purpose of this trip was to sweep up Yin Qi. He practiced Yin-attribute inner force and needed a large amount of Yin Qi. Moreover, he also needed to compress inner Qi. Until now, he had no idea how to do it.
'Perhaps I can use Yin Qi to forcefully extrapolate and improve my inner force. If my body is hard enough, I should be able to compress inner Qi and liquefy it.' An idea suddenly came to him.
'But I'd better solve the Yin Yang imbalance first.' Lu Sheng's mind raced. 'As long as I can get a rudimentary mastery of this Yin-attribute inner force and forcefully upgrade it with Yin Qi, I might be able to achieve the effect of liquefying inner Qi and harmonizing Yin and Yang at the same time.
'In that case, if all goes well, I just need to get a rudimentary mastery of Aquarius Qi and increase it to a sufficient amount. Then, I might be able to achieve miraculous results,' Lu Sheng's heart leaped.
The two problems that he had been worrying about, the Yin Yang imbalance and the bottleneck in his cultivation, could perhaps be solved in one fell swoop.
Xu Chui quickly went to speak with the Tea Sect members who were standing guard by the side. Dong Qi hurried over immediately and instructed the group to bury her father's corpse.
"Esteemed Envoy, you're leaving just like that? I wonder if the reason behind this … has been investigated? "Dong Qi discreetly stuffed a note into Lu Sheng's hand.
Lu Sheng glanced at it without batting an eyelid. It was a gold note, with the number "100" vaguely printed on it.
One hundred taels of gold. This was Dong Qi's personal reward to Lu Sheng, apart from the reward to Crimson Whale Sect.
One hundred taels of gold was equivalent to a thousand taels of silver. In his previous life, that was equivalent to a million yuan.
'Indeed, those in the tea business are all filthy rich.' Lu Sheng was well aware that the more rural a place like this was, the more remote it was from the Emperor, the more profits it could rake in far more than a large city with strict governance. Sects like this, which were not well-known but rich, were not rare even in the Northern Lands, not to mention the other regions.
Especially when Tea Sect was backed by the Winged Honor Guard. There were experts from the Intelligence Agency in the army, and they could be considered to be under the command of Taoist Bai Feng. In terms of safety, it was no less than Crimson Whale Sect's trade route.
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