Longzang

Chapter 104 Big Fish
After leaving the North District, Wei Yuan strolled around the East District.

Unlike the eeriness of the West District and the stark contrast of the North District, the East District has many shops selling everything from raw materials to human and witch heads. The streets here are noticeably wider and cleaner, with ditches dug on both sides to drain sewage. As Wei Yuan walked down the street, he saw several human heads embedded in the shop signs on his left and several heads of the Wuyu tribe embedded in the shop signs on his right.

The eastern district was bustling with numerous shops, and many merchant caravans had established permanent outposts there. Wang Lang frequently frequented this area. Wei Yuan thought that if he was lucky, he might be able to find clues related to him.

Just then, Wei Yuan saw a dignified-looking middle-aged man emerge from the other end of the street, followed by several guards. A large, prominent black mole adorned the man's face.

The Celestial Lord's intervention was indeed extraordinary!
Wei Yuan suddenly stepped into the middle of the road, blocking the man's path. The middle-aged man stopped and said in a deep voice, "Friend, the road is wide, why don't you try walking on the other side?"

Wei Yuan sneered: "The road may be wide, but with me here, there's nowhere you can go. You're Wang Lang, aren't you?"

The middle-aged man stopped the guards who were about to rush forward and said in a deep voice, "It's me! What does my friend want?"

Wei Yuan drew his sword, pointed it at the sky, and said, "Someone is offering money to kill you. But I, Li, prefer to kill honorably, so I'll give you a fair fight. Now I'll show you what a real sword is!"

Dao power gathered wildly at the tip of the longsword, and everyone subconsciously looked over. Then they heard Wei Yuan shout, "Immortal Sword. Pure White!"

Suddenly, a burst of intense light erupted from the longsword, illuminating half the city! Everyone who looked in that direction was instantly blinded, realizing the pure white sword intent.

A blinding light flashed, and Wei Yuan, like a ghost, appeared before Wang Lang in an instant, stabbing him seven or eight times in one breath, each sword piercing his chest and abdomen. However, a flash of white light appeared before Wei Yuan, and Wang Lang's figure vanished. A paper figure was pierced through Wei Yuan's longsword, with several holes in it.

"Cunning!" Wei Yuan cursed under his breath, then slipped into a narrow alley between nearby shops, using his Concealment and Invisibility techniques to disappear completely. A missed attack, a thousand miles away—that's the essence of an assassin.

In a small, closed shop a hundred feet away, Wang Lang's figure was outlined. He rubbed his red, swollen, and tearful eyes and cursed angrily, "Cunning."

Wang Lang knew something was wrong the moment Wei Yuan appeared, and secretly used a paper doppelganger. He just hadn't expected that the swordsman, seemingly upright, was actually treacherous. What's the difference between using a sword to blind someone and a thug throwing lime powder before a fight?
Wang Lang, still shaken, felt increasingly uneasy. The man displayed neither sword techniques nor sword intent, nor any sword energy, and his sword was always in his hand, only used for random thrusting. He was probably a fake swordsman.

As night fell, Wei Yuan, who had spent the day wandering around the city, finally returned to the Tangping Inn. After returning to the courtyard, he took off his cloak and took out the array plate to examine it closely.

A jade earring has now appeared in the array plate. Although nothing seems to be happening at this moment, Wei Yuan senses that some mysterious things around him are slowly changing with the array plate.

In truth, Wei Yuan never intended to kill Wang Lang. If he were to go all out, Wang Lang, a mere individual, wouldn't even know how he died, let alone activate his substitution technique. Wei Yuan was simply telling Wang Lang that someone wanted to kill him, urging him to quickly prepare some follow-up actions.

Wei Yuan had just started fishing when the innkeeper presented him with a commission to assassinate Wang Lang, who was most likely closely connected to Yun Feifei. Wang Lang's actions would trigger a chain reaction, forcing many hidden figures to act as well. These fish needed to swim to see Wei Yuan's bait so he could catch a big one.

Now all Wei Yuan needs to do is wait patiently.

Just then, a commotion arose from the neighboring courtyard. The customers were cursing and swearing, while the waiter spoke in a humble tone. The customers, however, were not giving up and started cursing even more. Suddenly, the waiter's voice rose eight octaves, and the customers immediately regained their composure.

Wei Yuan didn't mind his new neighbor's behavior; no one in this place was normal. He had a simple dinner and then noticed that the bookshelves in his room had been replaced with new ones. It seemed this inn had quite a large collection of books and changed them frequently; the owner was indeed a refined scholar.

Wei Yuan picked up a newly released book and opened it to take a look.

Today's story is about a female cultivator who forged her Dao foundation and embarked on the path to immortality. Although she forged a worthless human-level Dao foundation, it didn't stop her from encountering a young True Lord, a middle-aged True Lord, an elderly True Lord, as well as a Human King True Lord, a Crown Prince True Lord, a General True Lord, a Top Scholar True Lord, and so on.

All the True Lords initially looked down on the female cultivator's weak foundation, but after spending time with her, they all saw her unique and sincere heart, and fell in love with her, their love unwavering until death. The female cultivator developed poignant and touching stories with each True Lord, and in each story, she was devoted and earnest. Until one day, after meeting all the True Lords and making a vow of life and death with the young True Lord, she finally understood, resolved to be herself again, and thus went to the Immortal Realm to begin a new chapter.

However, the Immortal Realm chapter of this book was only started, and it was only written twice before it was stopped. Wei Yuan guessed that the author encountered a tribulation while writing, and half of the book became his unfinished work.

In addition, there are many Dharma Aspect True Persons in the book who, due to insufficient cultivation, are not worthy of forming karmic connections with female cultivators. Only the most handsome ones can have the ending of unrequited love and heartbreak, while the rest are just passersby.

Of course, the storybook was full of Yin and Yang principles, a vast and powerful collection. Wei Yuan appeared to be engrossed in reading late into the night, but in reality, he was studying the Madman of Heaven and Earth in his sea of ​​consciousness. He leaned against the jade mountain, with withered branches beside him and a full moon hanging overhead, studying and pondering alongside him.

Just as Wei Yuan was pondering the profound meaning, the shadow in the moon suddenly surged, throwing out three streams of black energy that floated in front of Wei Yuan. These three streams of black energy were different from those that Wei Yuan had previously inhaled and exhaled; they were deeper and more profound, as well as thicker, and appeared to be substantial.

Although Wei Yuan had accumulated several thousand strands of black energy over the past ten years, they were all dim and sparse, barely perceptible. It would probably take hundreds of strands combined to equal the value of the single strand he had just acquired. Half of this fortune had been used in the battle against the Snow Mountain Giant Eagle, and the other half had been integrated into the foundation of the Myriad Rivers and Mountains Dao. Now, only a dozen or so strands of scattered black energy remained in his sea of ​​consciousness. Now, suddenly obtaining three strands of fortune, each of significantly higher grade, naturally greatly shocked Wei Yuan.

He looked up at the full moon in the sky, and suddenly understood the meaning of the shadows in the moon:
This is a reward for you.

Wei Yuan felt that if he were playing the role of a tyrannical eunuch instead of a hot-tempered swordsman, he would be kneeling and thanking the heavens for their grace.

Of course, Wei Yuan only thought about it casually; the shadow in the moon couldn't possibly have any real intentions. Wei Yuan pondered for a moment and felt that obtaining the three strands of fortune was probably still related to the Madman of Heaven and Earth. When Wei Yuan wrote the Foundation Chapter of the Madman of Heaven and Earth, he felt that the world was changing, but since he was in the Empty Valley of Suspended Azure, the changes in the world were basically not noticeable within the mountain gate unless it was a tribulation for ascending to immortality.

What had he figured out that attracted such extraordinary fortune? Wei Yuan felt he was on the right path, so he put down the book he had finished reading, "The Biography of a Female Cultivator," and picked up the next one.

Wei Yuan, within his sea of ​​consciousness, began to carefully study the story of the Madman of Heaven and Earth from the beginning. Inside the room, Wei Yuan opened the new storybook, and the first thing he saw was an illustration. The artwork was exquisite, and the brushstrokes were realistic and delicate, truly a work of sincerity.

As Wei Yuan was pondering the true meaning of the Great Dao, completely oblivious to the passage of time, he suddenly sensed something and looked towards the door. He saw a large object fly over the courtyard wall and be thrown into the yard!

His train of thought disrupted again, Wei Yuan was naturally annoyed and went into the courtyard with a cold face. Wei Yuan first looked around before looking at the object that had been thrown in. It was a human-shaped package, completely wrapped in black cloth.

Of course, in a storybook, opening a human-shaped package would usually bring a surprise. Unfortunately, this isn't a storybook, but reality.

Wei Yuan reached out and summoned his longsword. He swung the sword and cut open the black cloth, revealing the person inside—or rather, the corpse.

Wang Lang!

His face was deathly pale, his eyes wide open, pupils dilated, and he was lifeless. Only a charred sword mark remained on his throat, very similar to the one Wei Yuan had left on the throats of the knights that morning.

However, the wounds only appeared similar; in reality, they were vastly different. Wei Yuan had cut the wound and then burned it with fire-based Dao power, simulating the Great Sun Sword Qi. Wang Lang, on the other hand, was genuinely wounded in the throat by a fire-based magical sword. The two were completely incomparable.

The fish is hooked!

Wei Yuan sneered inwardly. At this moment, there were arrays inside and outside the courtyard that could detect and track enemies. Inside was an array plate bestowed by the Immortal Lord. Regardless of whether one entered the courtyard or not, throwing something here would create karma. Did he still think he could escape?
A muffled thud came from not far away; the person who threw the object had hit something, and the sound was clearly painful. Then, a house collapsed inexplicably, having been hit quite hard. Wei Yuan's feng shui formation wasn't going to be easy to withstand. The man, however, was quite resilient; despite the houses collapsing along the way, he managed to run far away.

Wei Yuan wasn't in a hurry to give chase. A formation plate appeared in his hand, glowing with a faint blue light. A tiny point of light was seen rapidly moving away, heading west. In such a short time, he had escaped several miles away, which was quite swift. However, the faster you run, the more unexpected things happen. By now, he had probably lost half his life.

This tactic of luring the tiger away from the mountain was truly clumsy. Wei Yuan didn't even need to guess; he could tell it was bait just by looking at the tiny point of light in the array plate. After all, there was another point of light, dozens of times larger, hovering just a mile away!

This array traces cause and effect, not ordinary methods. The person who threw Wang Lang's body in fled with all their might, trying to lure Wei Yuan into pursuit. But compared to throwing away the body, the mastermind behind it all clearly had a much greater karmic burden, so even though they hadn't intervened, they were still lured out by the array. They hid a mile away, probably intending to observe Wei Yuan in secret, planning their next move.

Wei Yuan pushed open the door to leave the courtyard, intending to conceal himself and give the large fish a surprise a mile away. But after taking only two steps, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a chill. Another bright spot suddenly appeared in the array plate, much larger and brighter than the previous two! This person was right next to Wei Yuan, the very one who had argued with Xiao Er!
Wei Yuan was standing in front of the gate of the neighboring courtyard. He took two steps back, and the bright spots on the array plate slowly disappeared. He took two more steps forward, and the spots reappeared.

This is the real big fish!
This person was extremely well-hidden. If Wei Yuan hadn't been standing right outside the door at such a close distance, even a Celestial Lord's feng shui array wouldn't have detected anything unusual about him. Moreover, when Wei Yuan arrived at the Lying Flat Inn, this person was already staying in the next room.

Wei Yuan felt a chill run down his spine. Was he fishing, or was the fish fishing for him?
In times of great importance, one must remain calm. Therefore, Wei Yuan took a deep breath, composed himself, and planned carefully before acting.

Wei Yuan burst through the courtyard gate and rushed inside!

(End of this chapter)