Becoming a martial arts god starting from the mortician.

Shen Qi immediately bent down, his fingertips tracing the charred skull inch by inch.

Although the gang members were burned beyond recognition, the five indented finger marks on their skulls remained clearly visible.

He turned and touched the body next to him. In the same spot, there was the exact same finger bone indentation.

"Take them away." Shen Qi straightened up, wiped his hands with a rag, and shouted towards the door, "Next batch."

"Alright!" The servants waiting outside couldn't wait to finish this filthy job, so they pushed their carts and ran off as fast as they could.

Over the next half hour, the charred corpses on the stone bed were replaced batch after batch.

As expected, the severed ends of the life threads of these gang henchmen were all wrapped with those eerie black life threads.

Shen Qi did not hesitate. He carefully avoided the black lines, peeled off the dark red life threads one by one, and put them all into his palm.

In the instant of assimilation, memories flood the mind.

……

The scene shows the middle of the night, with wind and snow raging.

The door to the Chang Le Gang's headquarters was pushed open silently.

A figure in a black robe, shrouded in wind and snow, glided into the front yard like a ghost.

The first to react were two gang members who had gotten up to urinate in the middle of the night. They had just opened their mouths, but before they could even utter a cry of surprise, they saw the man in black robes slightly raise his sleeves.

With a crisp crack, the two men's heads lolled to the side; they were still standing, but they were already dead.

Immediately afterwards, the man in black robes stepped over the threshold and entered the hall.

The leaders inside the hall were flushed and tipsy, so they didn't notice him.

They felt a chilling gust of wind sweep past, and before they could even scream, their skulls were crushed.

The scene abruptly ended.

Shen Qi suddenly opened his eyes, his heart pounding wildly.

Such ruthless and bizarre methods are definitely far superior to those of the evil cultivator we encountered in Qingping Town!

He spread out his right hand. The continuous assimilation over the past few days, coupled with today's unexpected windfall, had almost completely replaced his original gray-white life threads. The number of life threads was also more than double what it used to be.

Just one step away from the goal!

With just a few strands left, his lifeline would completely shed its gray-white color and turn entirely crimson.

However, at this critical juncture, becoming stronger is not always a good thing.

The more vigorous one's Qi and blood, the more conspicuous one becomes in the eyes of evil cultivators.

Shen Qi grabbed a white cloth and covered the charred corpse's gruesome face with it, then turned and strode to the basin of water.

He grabbed the soapberry and rubbed it twice to wash away the cigarette ash between his fingers before changing into a clean gray cloth uniform.

Lifting the heavy curtain, the wind and snow continued to rage.

"Once everything's done, take them all to the morgue," Shen Qi ordered the lazy servants in the next room.

Several laborers peeked out and saw that the corpses were all covered up tightly. They all breathed a sigh of relief and quickly pushed the cart to get back to work.

……

Inside the tent, the charcoal fire was burning brightly.

Zhao Youtian was holding a brush, drawing circles on the account book, his face full of worry.

"Brother." Shen Qi pushed open the door, bringing in a blast of cold air.

Zhao Youtian looked up and saw it was Shen Qi. His chubby face immediately brightened: "Oh! Seventh Brother, you're all cleaned up so quickly?"

"All done." Shen Qi walked to the charcoal brazier and stretched out his hands to stir-fry the food.

Zhao Youtian gave a thumbs-up and praised repeatedly, "Thanks to you, Seventh Brother! I can finally rest easy. There's already so much work to do in this snowy weather; if I had to be sent to so many more cells, the higher-ups would have skinned me alive!"

While Zhao Youtian expressed his gratitude profusely, Shen Qi stared at the flickering charcoal fire, his mind racing.

The sudden appearance of a powerful and evil cultivator in the outer city, capable of silently wiping out entire families, is no small matter.

With his vital energy growing stronger every day, continuing to stay in this outer city mortuary is like a piece of fatty meat, emitting a delicious aroma, willingly placed on that evil cultivator's chopping board!

Relying on yourself? That definitely won't work.

Hide away? You can hide until the very end.

If you want to survive, there's only one way left.

"Brother Zhao." Shen Qi withdrew his hand and patted his sleeve.

"What's wrong, Seventh Brother?" Zhao Youtian asked, quickly closing the account book and looking over.

"I have something extremely urgent to attend to, and I need to return to the Observatory immediately," Shen Qi said in a low voice.

Zhao Youtian paused for a moment. He glanced at the dark sky outside the window; the wind and snow were fierce. Why go to the Observatory at this hour?

But he was a shrewd man with a quick mind. How could a mere mortuary steward like him possibly know about the duties of the head of the Imperial Observatory? Did he want to die even faster?

"Hey! Seventh Brother, business is more important!" Without another word, Zhao Youtian quickly grabbed the thick, warm cotton-padded coat next to him and shoved it into Shen Qi's arms. "You can go without worry. It's windy and snowy outside, the roads are difficult to walk on, so make sure you wrap yourself up tightly!"

"Thank you, brother." Without further delay, Shen Qi put on his cotton-padded coat, pushed open the door, and plunged into the swirling snow.

Stepping out of the mortuary, the long street was already covered in a blanket of white snow, which was ankle-deep.

The fierce wind whipped up heavy snow and lashed at my face, stinging like a knife.

He tightened his collar, lowered his head, and walked quickly forward.

Since the evil cultivators have set their sights on the Chang Le Gang and tasted the benefits, they will certainly not let go of the other gangs. The fact that these gangs have clustered together in the outer city is like a sheep pen being entered by wolves.

Therefore, Shen Qi deliberately avoided the main streets where gangs were entrenched, and instead chose to go into the narrow alleys where ordinary people gathered.

With so many people around, even evil cultivators would have to think twice before making a move. If they caused a big commotion and alerted the inner city, the experts from the Celestial Surveillance Bureau wouldn't be to be trifled with.

Shen Qi mingled among the small groups of people hurrying home. He deliberately slowed his pace, trying to control the growing surge of energy within him.

We passed through several deep alleys along the way. Occasionally, we could see refugees huddled together in the corners of walls. Some were still shivering desperately in the wind and snow, while others had long since frozen into hard ice sculptures, completely silent.

After walking through the winding streets and alleys of the outer city, the view ahead finally opened up.

A three-zhang-high stone wall stood in the wind and snow.

Because of the heavy snow, the soldiers guarding the city were all hiding at the city gate, and the few passersby they occasionally checked were rather perfunctory.

Shen Qi strode forward, took off his waist tag, and handed it to him.

Upon entering the inner city, Shen Qi identified the direction and headed straight for the Observatory.

Before long, the outline of the huge plaque with gold lettering on a black background became visible in the wind and snow. Even in such harsh weather, two rows of heavily armored guards still stood at the entrance.

Shen Qi strode up the steps in three quick steps, holding the waist token high in his hand, his voice clear and resonant:

"Shen Qi from the outer city mortuary has an extremely urgent matter and requests an audience with Lord Zhou Wenyuan!"

……

Supervise the inner hall of Tiansi.

After listening to Shen Qi's words, Zhou Wenyuan reached out and poked at the silvery charcoal in the brazier in front of him, his brows furrowed.

"You mean... there are heretical cultivators who have already infiltrated the outer city?!"