Becoming a martial arts god starting from the mortician.

"I dare not speak presumptuously," Shen Qi said, bowing slightly as he carefully chose his words to explain to Zhou Wenyuan.

"My lord, please allow me to explain. Even livestock scorched by flames know to struggle and thrash about; so too do humans. If a living person is burned by flames, even if they lose all consciousness, their limbs will still twist in pain, and they will claw and scratch."

"But when I examined the thirty-odd charred corpses today, they were only slightly curled up, which means that the people had already died before the fire started."

Zhou Wenyuan's gaze shifted slightly as he looked at Shen Qi.

"It's just a gang fight. They killed people first and then set fire to cover it up. Although the methods are ruthless, it's not unprecedented. How did you determine that it was the work of evil cultivators?"

"What you say is absolutely right, sir. If that were all, I would not have come here rashly." Shen Qi slightly raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, and slowly pressed them against the top of his head.

"Among the more than thirty charred corpses, more than ten people had five deep finger marks on their skulls."

"The gang battles in the outer city are usually fought with knives, axes, fists, and feet. To leave such finger marks on a person's skull is something that an ordinary martial artist probably couldn't do."

Zhou Wenyuan's hand, which was fiddling with the charcoal fire, suddenly stopped.

Although those people in the outer city were low-class, they were able to form gangs, and their leaders and several chieftains were all quite capable, with many being martial artists in the mid-to-late stages of Body Tempering. To be able to silently slaughter over thirty people without even a whistleblower's cry for help…

Zhou Wenyuan suddenly turned around and strode out of the hall. "Someone come here!"

The door was quickly pushed open, and a minor official on duty strode in, bowing and awaiting orders.

"Go find Fang Hongzhen, the Envoy of Suppressing Evil." Zhou Wenyuan spoke very quickly. "He happens to be reporting for duty at the office these days and hasn't left the city yet. Tell him he has something important to discuss and to come see him immediately."

The minor official accepted the order and hurried away.

Zhou Wenyuan stood in the hall with his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth.

Even the slightest possibility must not be overlooked.

……

About 15 minutes later.

Light footsteps came from outside the corridor.

The wooden door was pushed open from the outside.

The man who stepped across the threshold was a gaunt old man. He was around fifty years old, with high cheekbones and deeply sunken cheeks. A large, dark robe draped over his body, billowing loosely in the wind, making him appear even thinner.

Shen Qi subtly raised his gaze upwards.

Its life-giving threads were crimson, like blood. They were even three points thicker than Zhou Wenyuan's.

He quickly looked away.

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at the old man's waist.

A black iron box, about a foot long, hung there, its lid secured by three heavy brass locks placed side by side. The locks were polished to a high shine, clearly the result of years of handling.

Zhou Wenyuan quickly stepped forward and briefly explained the whole story.

"Walk."

Fang Hongzhen immediately turned around.

……

The three of them left the Observatory.

The wind howled and the snow swirled, the night was as dark as ink.

Zhou Wenyuan led the way, turning into a secluded side alley. After winding through several bends, they stopped at the base of a moss-covered stone wall. He reached out and felt around for a moment before pushing open a hidden door that blended seamlessly into the wall.

……

Once you exit the passageway, you enter the outer city.

The wind and snow continued to rage, and the long street was covered in a blanket of white.

When they arrived at the mortuary, two lanterns covered with thick paper were hanging under the eaves of the front yard, and the fire in the charcoal brazier flickered precariously. Zhao Youtian had long since run back to the inner city, leaving only two servants wrapped in felt coats, huddled in the gatehouse snoring, completely unaware that three living people had arrived outside.

Shen Qi led the two straight to the funeral parlor.

Fang Hongzhen walked straight to the stone bed closest to the door.

With thin, bony fingers, he pinched a corner of the burlap and lifted it without hesitation.

A huddled, charred skeleton was exposed in the dim light. Limbs were twisted, and the flesh was burned and cracked, revealing the charred bones beneath. The smell of burning was stronger.

Fang Hongzhen immediately bent down and reached out, his five fingers forming a claw as he covered the charred corpse's crown.

It took Fang Hongzhen a full half-cup of tea time to straighten his back.

He picked up a rag from the side and casually wiped the charcoal ash off his hands.

"The Hidden Darkness Technique"

Fang Hongzhen turned to Zhou Wenyuan and uttered these three words.

Having said that, he lifted the black iron box at his waist with one hand.

The three heavy brass locks were pried open one by one, and the heavy iron lid was lifted. Fang Hongzhen took out a yellowed silk scroll with rough edges and slowly unfolded it on the empty wooden shelf next to him.

The silk scroll is densely covered with human anatomy diagrams, showing the pathways of meridians and the structure of the skeleton. In the corners of each diagram, fine characters are annotated with cinnabar, detailing the characteristics of various forms of death.

Fang Hongzhen's withered fingers traced across the silk scroll, finally hovering over a skull diagram.

The image shows five bright red cinnabar dots around the Baihui acupoint on the top of the head.

"Press down on the Baihui acupoint, insert five fingers into the bone crevices. This person had their martial meridians forcibly extracted, dying from extreme pain." Fang Hongzhen pointed to the annotation in cinnabar, then to the charred corpse on the stone bed, "Exactly accurate."

Zhou Wenyuan leaned closer to look, and a shadow fell over his cold, stern face.

"This person is probably not practicing those fragmented texts circulating outside," Zhou Wenyuan frowned. "But the Hidden Netherworld Sect has disappeared for hundreds of years, how could a successor suddenly appear?"

Fang Hongzhen quickly rolled up the silk scroll, carefully stuffed it back into the black iron box, and locked it with three copper locks.

"They probably came from the north." The old man straightened up and pondered for a moment.

"The North has been in chaos for so long, with countless martial artists killed or wounded. Those scum love to congregate in places like this. Over the past ten years, who knows which beast might have managed to piece together the fragments, or perhaps the Hidden Nether Sect is hiding in the North."

Fang Hongzhen's gaze fell back on the charred corpse's skull, and his face twitched.

"This person's level of skill is probably already quite high."

"How so?" Zhou Wenyuan hurriedly asked.

"The Hidden Nether Technique uses evil to enter the Dao, devouring the martial veins of others to strengthen itself. This scum probably ate too much in the north, and his evil intent replaced his divine will. He reached the fifth realm of Tongyi and was completely reduced to a puppet driven by evil arts. Otherwise, he would never have been able to easily bypass the boundary of my Great Evolution."

The fifth realm is understanding.

Zhou Wenyuan swallowed hard.

"Elder Fang," Zhou Wenyuan asked in a deep voice, "is it possible that more than one infiltrated at the same time?"

Fang Hongzhen shook his head. His decision was decisive and without hesitation.

"The marks on the bones don't lie."

He lifted the white cloth covering another charred corpse.

"The indentations on the skulls of these dozen or so corpses are all of the same depth."

The wind and snow howled outside the door, causing the oil lamp on the table to flicker.

"We must dig out this scourge as soon as possible." Fang Hongzhen looked at the raging snow outside the door. "There are inferior martial veins everywhere outside the city. In the eyes of this bastard, the ground is full of walking resources. Now that they have tasted the sweetness, they will surely start a massacre."

"He uses heretical techniques to attain enlightenment, so his progress in cultivation must be rapid."

"If we don't get rid of him now, and let him devour everything with such impunity, once he uses his massive amount of blood and energy to reach the Flawless Realm..."

The old man's withered hand pressed heavily on the iron box.

"By then, apart from the Prefect and our Chief, I'm afraid no one in Chengping County will be able to control him."

……