All-class Gu Immortal

Chapter 58 Traitor to the Witch God Cult

"Ccrunch! Crunch!"

A sickening chewing and gnawing sound echoed from Zhao Lie's body.

Seeing Zhao Lie's miserable state, Zhang Jian felt a chill run down his spine.

When Zhou Qing looked at him with a pitying expression, he felt a chill run down his spine, and his mind felt like it was about to explode.

With Erqing joining the party, Zhao Lie's suffering soon came to an end.

The Crimson Flame dared not compete with it for Zhao Lie's essence blood, and its devouring noises diminished considerably.

In the short span of a dozen breaths, Zhao Lie's body transformed into a skeletal, dried-up corpse. His once glossy skin became like dry, rotten tree bark, as if it would crumble into dust with the slightest touch.

"Madman! Monster!! Demon!!!"

Zhou Qing released his grip on Zhang Jian's mouth, and Zhang Jian broke down emotionally.

Knowing that death is inevitable, there's no use being afraid.

But few people could endure such inhumane torture before death.

"Speak," Zhou Qing said calmly, looking at Zhang Jian.

"Zhou Qing! You're ruthless!" Zhang Jian roared.

"I'm looking for Jiuquan because I previously encountered a member of the Witch God Cult who was parasitized by the Green Silk Gu!"

“Very good, continue.” Zhou Qing nodded.

"That man's Green Silk Gu was almost cultivated into a wine worm, but it was discovered. As a result, he betrayed the Witch God Cult and was hunted down by the Witch God Cult members. He was seriously injured and was saved by me."

Zhang Jian continued.

"Later, his injuries became too severe, and his qi and blood were greatly depleted. He was unable to continue cultivating the wine worms, so he put the Green Silk Gu into the wine spring."

During that time, to repay my life-saving grace, he instructed me in martial arts, which enabled me to break through the skin barrier.

"And then?" Zhou Qing's gaze sharpened as he recalled the remains Er Qing had discovered beneath Jiuquan.

"Later, followers of the Witch God Cult appeared in the town, and the man left the town."

Not long after, he came back to me with his last breath and entrusted me with his secret manual and wine-loving insects.

Unfortunately, although I knew the way to Jiuquan, I couldn't avoid the miasma.

Otherwise, if I had a thirst for alcohol, I wouldn't have said that." Zhang Jian said, his face full of resentment.

Zhou Qing raised an eyebrow, her eyes subtly shifting.

Where is Jiuquan?

“You went up the mountain with She Quanyi, didn’t you find Jiuquan?” Zhang Jian asked back.

"Where's the manual?" Zhou Qing searched Zhang Jian's body and found a money pouch containing only four coins of silver.

"I kept the manual in the room in the southeast corner of the backyard of the Zhao residence, under the first floor tile on the right side of the foot of the bed."

The manual contains methods for refining Gu worms through blood refining, as well as an internal energy cultivation technique called the 'True Scripture of a Hundred Poisons.'

Zhang Jian spoke as cleanly and efficiently as pouring beans from a bamboo tube.

"Are there any experts living in the backyard of the Zhao residence? What is the situation with the guards?" Zhou Qing asked in a deep voice.

"Only servants and us junior stewards live in the southeast corner. The strongest martial artists living near my room are two third-class diners at the Body Refining Realm."

However, they went to bed early at night because they had to inspect the Zhao family's various businesses in town during the day.

Zhang Jian explained.

“Very good.” Zhou Qing nodded.

"I hope you will keep your promise!" Zhang Jian closed his eyes, looking as if he were about to be executed.

After waiting for a while without any movement, Zhang Jian opened his eyes and saw Zhou Qing with a cold smile on his face.

"Do you really want me to infiltrate the Zhao family to find the secret manual?"

Zhou Qing suddenly said.

"Actually, I've been to Jiuquan. Besides the wine worms, I also found a corpse there. Guess whose it was?"

"You!" Zhang Jian's expression changed. "You already..."

Zhou Qing's hand gripped Zhang Jian's neck tightly, like an iron clamp. "You've gone too far!"

"You definitely will," Zhang Jian said, his face full of resentment.

"Crack!"

With a sharp crack, Zhou Qing snapped Zhang Jian's neck.

"Although you lied to me, I still took pity on you and let you go."

Zhou Qing muttered to himself.

The presence of corpses in Jiuquan doesn't really prove anything.

However, Zhang Jian's excessive cooperation was highly suspicious.

The idea that someone who escaped from the Witch God Cult would return to repay a life-saving debt and entrust the secret manual to him before dying sounds like a hastily fabricated lie.

Zhou Qing was more convinced that Zhang Jian had killed the traitor of the Witch God Cult.

"Whether it's true or false, we'll find out by exploring the cold pool."

"Pfft, pfft." Erqing appeared beside Zhang Jian's corpse. "Eat."

With Zhou Qing's approval, Erqing crawled into Zhang Jian's corpse and began to feast.

While Erqing was eating, Zhou Qing began to search the corpse. He found twenty-nine gold beans and several dozen taels of silver on Zhao Lie's body.

According to the gold-silver exchange rate in the Great Jin Dynasty, one tael of gold could be exchanged for ten taels of silver, but ten taels of silver could never be exchanged for one tael of gold.

It takes at least twelve taels of silver to exchange for one tael of gold.

A single golden bean is about one or two ounces.

In other words, Zhao Lie could casually go out and take more than three hundred taels of silver with him.

Back then, to pay the registration fee of three taels of silver, he ate wild vegetables and bran porridge for almost half a month.

"Truly befitting a rich young master!"

Zhou Qing poured the gold beans into his money bag.

Then he took out the corpse-dissolving liquid from his bag.

White smoke instantly rose from the corpse.

呲呲
呲呲
After Zhao Lie's body turned into pus, Zhou Qing poured it on Zhang Jian, who had become a dried corpse.

Finally, there was the Flesh Refining Realm martial artist who was drained dry by Erqing from the very beginning.

"Such good stuff, and we've already used it all up."

As the last drop of the corpse-dissolving liquid fell from the porcelain bottle, Zhou Qing felt a little regretful.

Lin Qiu didn't have the recipe for the corpse-dissolving liquid; he didn't know if he could buy it in the county town.

"It seems we can't go to the county town."

Zhou Qing used his water bottle to wash away the conspicuous bloodstains in the forest, put on his monkey mask, and ran non-stop toward Black Wind Mountain.

Last time, he went out at the same time as Lin Qiu, and Lin Qiu died.

This time, he went out at the same time as Zhao Lie, Zhang Jian, and another two, and the three of them disappeared together again, which would be too suspicious.

Fortunately, it was still dark when he went out, and he could still make it back before dark.

evening.

Zhou Qing found the basket left on the mountain, placed the package at the bottom of the basket, and filled it to the brim with mulberry leaves.

Erqing, Jincan, Chiyan, and Zihuo Feiyi all set out and helped him catch a snow rabbit and two pheasants.

Before descending the mountain, he smeared some mud on his body to make it look like he had fallen.

On his way down the mountain, he carried two pheasants in one hand and a snow rabbit in the other. With his sharp eagle eyesight, he deliberately bumped into a few villagers, showed off his catch for the day, and then took the mountain path closest to Caisang Village to descend the mountain.

Upon returning to town, Zhou Qing immediately delivered the pheasant and snow rabbit to Baiwei Restaurant, where they sold for 620 coins.

Then he went to the backyard of the martial arts school to collect the meat dishes for the next few days.

He finally went home.

"Ah Qing, aren't you going to the county town?" The old woman was sweeping the yard when she saw Zhou Qing returning with a basket on his back, and she looked puzzled.

"Shh!" Zhou Qing quickly stepped forward, signaling the old woman to be quiet.

"I've been on the mountain all day! I plan to go to the county town in a few days,"

"I'll remember. I'll go buy some meat for dinner." The old woman nodded, asked no further questions, put down the broom, and headed out.

"Grandma, I want to eat braised pork tonight," Zhou Qing said with a smile.

"I understand!" Although the old woman had a limp, she walked quite fast.

"Phew!" Zhou Qing returned to the silkworm room, lay down on the wooden bed, and let out a long sigh.

After regaining some strength, he took out a money bag full of gold and silver coins, took a deep breath of the strong smell of money, and hid the money bag under the floor tiles.

Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, another twenty days had gone by.

Zhou Qing maintained the same regular routine as before.

In the morning, we went up the mountain to pick mulberry leaves, hunt, and raise Gu poison.

Occasionally, I'll spend the whole day on the mountain.

He spends most of the afternoon practicing the White Cloud Palm technique at the martial arts school.

In the evenings, he would practice the Azure Water Technique.

During this time, he practiced the "Wind Slash" sword technique to the "proficient" stage.

Once one's cultivation level is raised, these third-rate martial arts techniques become easy to master.

Without the powerful blood and qi replenished by the blood-nourishing powder, Zhou Qing's cultivation speed slowed down considerably.

However, it's all for safety.

Ten days ago, news of the disappearance of the seventh son of the Zhao family had already spread throughout the city.

In recent days, many 'suspicious' individuals have been taken to the government office for questioning.

"It's time to show my skills." Zhou Qing looked at the increasingly solid fourth cloud of qi and blood on his arm and decided to add an extra layer of insurance for himself.

(End of this chapter)