Becoming a martial arts god starting from the mortician.

coming.

Shen Qi knew that the evil person lurking in the shadows was nearby.

Zhou Wenyuan was right; the murderer had indeed not left Qingping Town.

He was targeted the moment he showed his face during the day.

Shen Qi tightened the strap of the toolbox on his shoulder, his hands sweating profusely.

He suppressed the urge to look around and kept walking towards Qingping Town.

We need to stay calm.

Zhou Wenyuan must be nearby. As long as I can survive the first wave of attacks, I'll be safe.

"sand--"

The withered yellow grass was swept into the air by a gust of wind.

A dark shadow swept towards Shen Qi's face.

too fast.

Shen Qi had no time to dodge and could only watch helplessly as danger approached. As the man's sleeves fluttered, a pure black beast head tattoo was revealed on his wrist.

With a large mouth and fangs, it is greedy and ferocious.

gluttonous!

A gaunt, unrecognizable face loomed large before Shen Qi's eyes.

Sunken eyes, high cheekbones, and bloodshot eyes.

He stared at Shen Qi and let out a strange laugh: "I never expected that this wretched town would overlook someone with such extraordinary talent as you! Such vigorous vitality! You are fit to be of use to me!"

Dangerous!

A wave of heat suddenly erupted from the shadows behind Shen Qi.

"roll!"

Zhou Wenyuan emerged from the shadows and struck the evil cultivator in the chest with his palm.

"Bang!"

The evil cultivator grunted and was sent flying several feet away.

He tumbled several times in mid-air before crashing heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Zhou Wenyuan landed gracefully, standing firmly in front of Shen Qi.

A flash of anger crossed his eyes as he looked at the evil cultivator struggling in the pile of rubble.

"You beast," Zhou Wenyuan's voice deepened, "you've actually achieved bone and blood fusion and entered the Precious Body Realm!"

Shen Qi took a deep breath of cold air, and the tightness in her chest finally dissipated.

He was breathing heavily, staring intently ahead.

Precious Body Realm. The third realm of martial arts.

This evil cultivator was actually a whole realm higher than Wang Laosan; no wonder Wang Laosan didn't even have a chance to fight back.

Zhou Wenyuan's expression turned serious. His hands hung naturally at his sides, a faint golden light emanating from his palms. He said coldly, "If I let you escape to another town, and you kill a few more people and steal their martial veins, I really won't be able to deal with you. Today, I absolutely cannot let you live!"

Coughing sounds came from the pile of rubble.

The evil cultivator coughed up black blood and scrambled to his feet.

The coarse linen clothes he was wearing were mostly shattered by Zhou Wenyuan's palm strike, revealing his thin, bony body underneath.

At this moment, his body glowed with a dark red luster.

"The court's lackeys..." The evil cultivator wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, grinned maliciously, and stomped his legs hard on the ground.

He transformed into a red and black afterimage and lunged at Zhou Wenyuan once more.

The two collided instantly.

Shen Qi only heard a series of "bang bang" sounds.

The specific moves were completely unclear.

The scattered air currents directly overturned the surrounding soil.

Forced to retreat by the aftershocks, Shen Qi could only raise his arms to protect his head and face, observing the battle through his fingers.

This is the true essence of martial arts combat.

He watched the terrifying destructive power unleashed by each punch and kick without blinking.

The situation on the field quickly became clear. Zhou Wenyuan was, after all, a realm higher than the evil cultivator.

After exchanging two blows, Zhou Wenyuan struck the evil cultivator hard in the chest with a palm strike.

"puff--"

The evil cultivator coughed up a mouthful of black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, then collapsed backward to the ground. His body convulsed violently twice before coming to a complete stop.

Won.

Shen Qi slowly lowered the arms that were protecting her head and face.

Zhou Wenyuan snorted coldly, and the golden light in his palm slowly receded. With his hands behind his back, he walked unhurriedly toward the evil cultivator's "corpse."

He had to retrieve the lost copy of "The Pulse Search Record" belonging to his junior brother, Wang Shouyi.

Shen Qi hid ten steps away and habitually glanced at the evil cultivator's life thread.

I only glanced at it.

Shen Qi's scalp tingled, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

wrong!

The life thread on the evil cultivator's head was not broken at all!

A thick, black life thread remained intact, hovering above the evil cultivator's head.

He's faking his death!

Zhou Wenyuan is less than three steps away from practicing heretical cultivation.

He bent down and reached into the evil cultivator's arms.

"Sir, be careful! He's not dead!"

Ignoring the risk of revealing his abnormality, Shen Qi let out a loud roar.

Upon hearing the shout, Zhou Wenyuan instinctively abandoned his outstretched hand movement and forcibly twisted his waist and hips, turning the half of his body that was sticking out to one side.

In the blink of an eye.

The heretical practitioners on earth suddenly rose up.

A pale white bone spur had appeared in his hand, its tip coated with a dark blue poison.

This attack was incredibly fast, heading straight for Zhou Wenyuan's throat.

If it weren't for Shen Qi's loud shout, this stab would have pierced Zhou Wenyuan's neck.

Even so, the bone spur still pierced Zhou Wenyuan's side of the neck.

The sharp wind ripped off a few strands of Zhou Wenyuan's hair, which slowly drifted away in the air.

Zhou Wenyuan felt a chill run down his spine.

Overwhelmed with shock and rage, his eyes instantly turned bloodshot.

"court death!"

Zhou Wenyuan roared, twisting his body in mid-air and sweeping his right leg fiercely towards the evil cultivator's knees.

"Snap!"

The evil cultivator's knees were swept off, causing him to lose his balance and fall forward.

Using the momentum, Zhou Wenyuan suddenly rose high and slammed a heavy blow into the evil cultivator's crown.

"Snap!"

Another crisp sound.

His head was smashed so hard it caved in, and he lay limp on the ground like a lump of mud. Brain matter and blood kept spilling from his seven orifices.

Shen Qi stood at a distance and looked up at the evil cultivator's head again.

This time, the black lifeline finally snapped.

The broken edge was jagged, and a strand of dark red lifeblood belonging to Zhou Wenyuan was wrapped around it.

Zhou Wenyuan looked down at the half-dead evil cultivator below, his chest heaving violently.

"Practicing evil arts harms both oneself and others." His tone was icy. "In the end, one loses all reason and becomes a puppet controlled by evil arts. What's the point?"

The evil cultivator lay in a pool of blood, making a hissing sound from his throat.

His mouth was full of blood and foam. With his last bit of strength, he turned his head slightly and stared intently at Zhou Wenyuan.

"The imperial court... its lackeys..."

He let out a bitter laugh, "You control martial arts resources... and decide other people's futures based on the quality of their martial arts lineage... By what right... I'm not reconciled! I'd rather die than accept this..."

Before he could finish speaking, the light in his eyes went out completely, turning into ashes.

This evil cultivator at the Precious Body Realm, who had killed several people and tortured the Detective of the Celestial Observation Bureau, finally breathed his last.

The wilderness returned to silence.

Only the rustling sound of the autumn wind blowing through the withered grass could be heard.

Zhou Wenyuan stood there, silent for a long time. He looked at the corpse of the evil cultivator, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes, which finally turned into a long sigh.

He bent down and rummaged through the evil cultivator's tattered clothes for a while, pulling out a thin booklet stained with blood—it was Wang Laosan's lost "Tracing the Pulse Record".

After tucking the booklet into his pocket, Zhou Wenyuan slowly turned his head to look at Shen Qi, who was still standing ten steps away, shaken.

He looked Shen Qi up and down a few times, his tone filled with doubt and inquiry.

"Shen Qi, I'm so grateful to you just now. If it weren't for your reminder, I'd probably be done for here today."

He paused, then asked again.

"But I don't understand."

"You clearly have no martial arts cultivation whatsoever. That evil cultivator just now used a secret technique to conceal his life force, even I was fooled..."

"How exactly did you figure out... he was faking his death?"