Chapter 11: Encountering a Thief, the Cold Glint of a Long Blade

“Twenty-seven days left…”

Today is the sixth day of the sixth lunar month!

Every morning when I wake up, it feels as if someone is shouting a reminder; it is truly maddening.

What’s even more maddening is that it’s raining today.

The torrential rain falls from the sky, and everyone in the city is restless.

Because it is raining, the Rain-Night Demon will appear, dragging people into the water to silently devour them.

Although the official propaganda claims the Rain-Night Demon only appears by the water at night, everyone in reality knows not to go near the water even during the day.

Riversides, lakesides, and stone bridges must all be avoided from a distance.

This rain is falling particularly hard, like a downpour, *huala-la*.

Luo Zhou thought for a moment and decided not to go to the Dao Academy today.

He would cultivate at home!

As a student of the Immortal Sprout Hall, he had that privilege.

He had three Dragon-Slaying Spikes, which were basically enough; making more would be difficult to preserve over time.

Calculating the time, Lu Yue should be able to find new prey in these two days and head out to hunt!

He began to rise and cultivate, first practicing Qingxuan, then Zixiao, then Brown Scale, then White Sun, then Black Nether, and then practicing Qingxuan again…

Three hundred and sixty forms, practiced repeatedly!

Tired from cultivation, Luo Zhou sat down and began to reminisce.

Recalling the memories of the Five Great蠹 (Wood-boring) Demons, with their memories, Luo Zhou knew about seven or eight out of ten of all the situations in Cuiling City.

Cuiling City is governed by a Dao Foundation-stage City Lord, with twelve head constables, fifty constables, and hundreds of assistants under his command.

In fact, there aren't many constables. Cuiling City has a local population of 200,000, a permanent floating population of 100,000, and thousands of transient people every day.

Besides the constables, there are 500 men in the Maritime Police Battalion in the east of the city and 800 men in the Fire Crow Army in the west; these are the true armed forces of Cuiling City.

The head constables in the city include Yan Ruoyi, Chi Yu, Wang Ying, Li Haitian, Wu Lihui…

Luo Zhou had a feeling that the Third-Day Demon must be among them.

Because the Third-Day Demon is definitely in the Qi Refining stage, and these twelve head constables are also in the Qi Refining stage.

But trying to find the Third-Day Demon among them is a pipe dream.

Luo Zhou dared not tail them. These head constables possess various tracking and investigative supernatural abilities and are professionals; if he tracked them, he would be discovered immediately and be courting death.

When killing Gu Shanhe, Luo Zhou didn't even dare to touch the other man's clothes, let alone take his storage bag.

In the memories of the Five Great蠹 Demons, it was repeatedly emphasized to stay far away from these head constables.

However, it wasn't without a way.

Luo Zhou intuitively felt that the bloodline of the Wang family members was not simple. By the night of the ninth, the seventh-day soul-returning night, perhaps he could discover the secret of the Third-Day Demon from the Wang family’s Dead Nether Spirit.

But he would need to prepare some spiritual incense and talismans for sacrificial soul-summoning.

By nightfall, the rain finally stopped.

In some of the low-lying streets and neighborhoods in the city, the water had already accumulated to over knee-height.

Ping'an Ward is located on high ground in the city, so there was no flooding.

Luo Zhou thought for a moment, rose quietly, and headed toward the Wang family again.

He would go and investigate once more!

But upon sneaking into the Wang family home, Luo Zhou frowned; the Wang residence had completely turned into a large construction site.

Liu Jinpeng had beaten the bald Old Wang’s relatives and inherited the Wang family’s property.

In the past few days, all sorts of news had been flying around the neighborhood.

They said Liu Sanmei married the bald Old Wang just to get his property.

They said Liu Sanmei and Liu Jinpeng were not siblings at all, but husband and wife, and the child Liu Sanmei gave birth to was also Liu Jinpeng’s.

Luo Zhou didn't believe it at all. The so-called property of the Wang family was only worth a few taels of silver.

It wasn't enough for Liu Jinpeng to pay such a high price.

Giving his own wife to someone else to play with?

But sneaking in tonight, Luo Zhou found something wrong.

The outside of the Wang house was normal, but the inside had been turned upside down. It didn't look like a resident renovating, but rather as if they were searching for something.

And in the middle of the night, there were people in the house digging three feet deep, excavating secretly.

Luo Zhou snuck in to take a look; this Liu Jinpeng definitely had a problem. It was possible the rumors weren't groundless.

He left quietly and went home to rest.

The more angry one is, the calmer one must be; the sadder one is, the louder one must laugh!

On the seventh day of the sixth month, just as Luo Zhou expected, Lu Yue discovered a new Crocodile Dragon.

The team leader, Cheng Wanli, came over to notify Luo Zhou.

Luo Zhou immediately called out to the team leader.

"Team leader, do me a favor. A friend of mine has passed away; help me buy some spiritual incense and talismans for sacrificial soul-summoning."

Cheng Wanli frowned and said, "These kinds of spiritual incense and talismans aren't cheap; they all start at the price of spirit stones."

One spirit stone is one thousand broken spirit shards.

Luo Zhou gritted his teeth and said, "I have thirteen thousand broken spirit shards on hand."

That was thirteen spirit stones!

Cheng Wanli said, "Alright, when we return this time, I'll take you to the Spirit Market, but it really isn't cheap. Think about it carefully; we traded our lives for these shards. Is it worth it?"

Twenty-six days left. He must kill the four 蠹 cultivators. If he couldn't do it, Luo Zhou had an intuition that perhaps death would be a good thing.

"It's worth it!"

"Alright, tomorrow when we return from hunting the dragon, I'll take you to the Spirit Market to buy the goods."

The two made an agreement!

On the eighth day of the sixth month, the group went out to hunt dragons again.

This time, it was a full hundred miles away!

The heavy rain from the previous two days had caused the Crocodile Dragons to re-divide their hunting grounds.

Familiar with the road, the group set off.

Luo Zhou changed his gear, carrying two eyebrow-height staffs and a short blade; he replaced his pig-iron spear with a solid copper staff.

It was five feet long, with a copper melon the size of a fist at the head, and the entire staff weighed thirty-four catties.

Now with the strength of nine oxen, ten thousand catties of force, he had switched to a heavier weapon.

Cheng Yunbo was in charge of logistics and prepared the weapon for Luo Zhou, which didn't cost much silver.

On the way, Lu Yue continued to check for any tracking.

Changing between ten horses repeatedly, they arrived at the location of the Crocodile Dragon.

Everything went smoothly, and Luo Zhou quietly found the Crocodile Dragon.

It was just that in the Crocodile Dragon's new hunting ground, there were no Dead Nether Spirits, and naturally, there were no rewards for rewarding good and punishing evil.

Luo Zhou made his move. This time it was easier than before; the range of the Dragon-Slaying Spike had expanded, making it even safer.

After killing the Crocodile Dragon, he broke the seven orifices to create the traces of a curse-kill!

Luo Zhou discovered that this Crocodile Dragon was covered in bite wounds; it had been driven out of its original hunting ground.

The world is difficult; it’s not just hard for people to get by, even beasts like the Crocodile Dragon have a hard time surviving.

The group got busy, loading the cart, camouflaging, driving the cart, and returning.

After passing the Black Pine Forest ahead, less than twenty miles remained to return to Cuiling City.

Suddenly, Zhang Chuan said, "The wind is tight!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked; this was a code for danger.

They immediately stopped moving forward and stood guard cautiously.

Cheng Wanli looked into the distance and roared

"Which friend is on the road? Which gang? Blocking the path and setting up a formation..."

Before he could finish the underworld slang, a hiss came from the forest opposite.

All ten yellow-maned horses collapsed, cutting off the possibility of the Dragon Tooth Group escaping.

Without a sound, more than twenty masked men in black robes rushed out from the mountain forest.

Zhang Chuan roared and drew his bow to shoot!

An arrow flew like lightning, immediately piercing the head of the masked man at the very front, killing him on the spot.

But the other side seemed not to care about the death of their companion at all; still without a sound, they swarmed over like a dark cloud.

It made one’s heart chill with fear, feeling incredibly terrified and weak all over.

Zhang Chuan continued to draw his bow, and at this moment, his value was reflected.

Every time the bowstring rang, one of the opponents was shot down.

The person hit by the fourth arrow let out a scream, immediately breaking the opponent's silent killing formation.

Zhang Chuan laughed loudly, dropped his bow and arrows, took an iron hammer in his left hand and a battle saber in his right, and rushed over, killing his way into the crowd.

Lu Yue and Cheng Yunbo each held their weapons, guarding the trailer.

Luo Zhou raised his solid copper staff, panting heavily.

Team leader Cheng Wanli had disappeared, but they all knew that Cheng Wanli had gone to find the enemy's lead sorcerer.

To be able to make all the yellow-maned horses collapse with one sound and to be able to set up a silent killing formation, the enemy leader must be a sorcerer.

Zhang Chuan killed his way into the crowd, his figure moving rapidly, his battle saber dancing; one slash decapitated a man, and as his iron hammer fell, brains splattered.

Every time they hunted dragons, he did almost nothing but lend a hand, seemingly worthless.

At this moment, he was completely worth the share of spirit shards he received!

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(End of chapter)