The Legend of Fangren

After a whole white sheep was slaughtered, the meat was wrapped in yellow paper, loaded onto a wooden cart, and the money was handed over to the shopkeeper.

With the payment settled, the purchasing agent pulled his wooden cart out the door, walking much faster than when he arrived.

Fang Shi quickly climbed down from the wall and chased after him, stopping the procurement officer at the corner of a small alley.

"Hey young man! Why are you blocking my way for no reason? Aren't you afraid of being knocked over? My wooden cart is quite sturdy; if I'm not careful, even I can't hold it back."

Suddenly someone jumped out in front of him, startling the purchasing agent, who couldn't help but start cursing.

Fang Shi ignored him, offering a practiced apology with a docile demeanor, which only made him less likely to be scolded.

The purchasing agent had nothing to say and didn't want to waste any more time with him, so he turned to leave with a sour face, only to find that the kid was still standing in front of him. It seemed that he was really going to take a hit from him before he was satisfied.

"Hey, move aside! Can't you see I'm coming over?"

"Yes, yes."

Fang Shi nodded hurriedly, then, feigning a furtive manner, leaned forward and asked, "Uncle, you look like a purchasing agent, so what's in your wooden cart?"

"Oh...?" Upon hearing this, the purchasing agent glanced at Fang Shi and noticed that he was well-dressed and seemed to have been waiting for him. He immediately guessed the reason.

"Looks like you're also looking to buy some cheap meat?"

"Oh?" Fang Shi was surprised that the other party already knew before he even started to persuade them.

Just like the waiters in those restaurants, these procurement people also have their own ways of making a quick buck.

Since the other party was "in the know," things became much easier. Fang Shi immediately took out the money, which made the purchasing agent's eyes light up and he secretly swallowed his saliva.

Seeing his greed rising within him, he quickly shook his head, trying to appear calm, and said, "I didn't realize you were so wealthy, but to be honest, I can only sell you the less appealing parts of the meat. That way, my manager will turn a blind eye. Do you understand?"

"No problem," Fang Shi nodded.

He visited several restaurants, ordered their signature dishes, and looked at other dishes. He knew that the way meat was eaten in the Xuan Realm was extremely "refined". Some parts with strong flavors or that looked unpleasant were simply not eaten by anyone.

The most typical example is the animal head.

The so-called beast is a manifestation of the imbalance of the chaotic spirit; the so-called head is the place where the chaotic spirit resides. Therefore, in the mystical world, there is a very widespread traditional view that eating the head of a beast will cause a person's chaotic spirit to become unbalanced, lose their spirit and mind.

He had just seen the sheep's head loaded onto the wooden cart in the courtyard, so he said, "Uncle, since you're willing to sell it, hurry up and take it out so I can see it. I just want to have a taste, I don't care too much."

"Okay, then take a look for yourself." The purchasing agent turned around, lifted the cloth hanging on the wooden cart, and took out the outermost large package, which still had a fixed shape when viewed from the outside.

Sure enough, the purchasing agent patted the package and said, "The only thing I can sell is this big sheep's head. If you don't mind, I'll sell it to you."

"Um……"

Fang Shi pretended to recognize the sheep's head and hesitated, then asked, "Uncle, are you sure there's no other meat?"

The purchasing agent clapped his hands and said, "Where else could we find meat? My manager is a well-known shrewd businessman. He used to be the butcher in the city lord's mansion. He knows meat extremely well and is very picky. If there's a little less head meat, so be it, but if there's even a little bit of good meat missing, he can tell immediately. I've already said all I can say. You can buy it or not, it's up to you."

"Okay, okay, I'll buy it."

As usual, Fang Shi pointed out a string of coins, seemingly unsure of the exact amount, and feigned ignorance, asking, "Is this enough?"

Oh my! I was delighted when I saw it, but I didn't expect this young man to be so dim-witted, actually thinking that even the beast head would cost a lot of money.

No wonder, it's probably because he ate too many beast heads and his brain isn't working properly.

"That's enough, that's enough." The purchasing agent grabbed the money string as if afraid he would change his mind, and held the sheep's head bundle in his arms. Then he pulled the wooden cart away without stopping.

In this transaction, both sides got what they wanted, so it was a win-win situation.

Of all the meat in this cart, the one Fang Shi most wanted to buy was precisely the animal head.

He reasoned that since the sheep had been mentally and physically dull in life, and other parts of its body could not have been affected by the suppression of its functions, only damage to its mind could have caused this.

This was also thanks to the various brainwashing and hypnosis-themed films and television shows he watched in his previous life, which made him think of many possibilities immediately.

After carefully storing the sheep's head, and seeing that it was getting late, Fang Shi decided to return to the restaurant first.

"Hezi, I'm back! Guess what we're having for dinner?"

Several bowls of food were brought up from below. Fang Shi pushed open the door and entered, but was so startled that he almost dropped the bowls and chopsticks.

What about people?

The house was empty; there was no one in sight.

Could there be a thief?

The room was tidy, and there was no indication of a fight.

Fang Shi hurriedly put down the food and walked to the window. Luo He's spear was gone. It seemed she had left on her own, perhaps to see an acquaintance.

But is this acquaintance the person they came to find? Not necessarily. He specifically told Luohe to wait for his return before he left, since the letter was still with him.

In this way, Luohe must have seen an acquaintance, and this acquaintance was not staying at the inn, otherwise she would not have been in such a hurry to follow him out.

After much thought and considering the events of the past few days, I realized that only one person could do this: Senior Sister Qu.

How could Senior Sister Qu be here? Even if Qumu City is her hometown, she was kidnapped by the men in black.

"Hiss..." Fang Shi gasped.

I fear that Qu Mucheng's strangeness is even deeper than it appears now.

Given its historical entanglement with Qingye City, and now the sudden outbreak of the beast disaster, which is clearly man-made... the two cities have been polarized because of this incident, and the scenes of decline and prosperity have seemingly returned to what they were back then.

Moreover, the officials and nobles of Qumu City somehow managed to raise their livestock to be fat and strong, yet devoid of any spirit.

It should be known that creatures in the mystical realm, once they have enough water and food, may "evolve" under certain stimuli. Therefore, large-scale breeding requires extreme caution. Otherwise, if a group of livestock is taken to slaughter and stimulated to evolve into mystical beasts, it will increase the dangers. If they are allowed to run around in circles, they may cause other livestock to also become mystical beasts, which will be another unnecessary beast disaster.

Considering all these factors, if the beasts below the mountain are indeed related to Qumu City, then how did Qumu City come to have such methods?

Although the city lords are mostly skilled in cultivation, they are too busy with many affairs in the city to have time to study such techniques.

Moreover, the worst relationship between cities and sects is that they keep to themselves and don't interfere with each other. But now, their formation has been broken, it's difficult to attract beasts, and they're raising "corpse beasts"... All these methods have suddenly appeared out of nowhere recently, which are extremely strange. Once exposed, it would be tantamount to declaring war on the Dragon River Sect and Qingye City, and even more so, it would put them at odds with all the well-known and righteous sects.

Even if Qu Mucheng had a deep-seated grudge against Qingye City, he wouldn't act so impulsively.

Even if they ambushed someone on the way, they could use the excuse of power struggles in Qumu City to justify it. But why kidnap a disciple? Could it be for extortion? But why would someone kidnap their own daughter for ransom? Even the other kidnapped disciples don't necessarily have any powerful backgrounds. There's absolutely no need to kidnap them, and it's impossible to deduce any purpose from them. It's completely disconnected from their main motives.

"Unless there is a third party involved who provided Qu Mucheng with magical means, and it is because of the secrecy of this third party that Qu Mucheng dared to openly cause trouble."

In this way, many things become clear.