The Legend of Fangren

In the quiet night, with no one around, only the two people gazing at each other in the wooden shed.

"Master Zhang, what are you doing here?" Having just been affected by hallucinations, Fang Shi was still wary of the "Zhang Kongming" in front of him.

Zhang Kongming replied directly, "You weren't affected by the hallucinogenic effect. These sheep are under the influence of the Yin Silk Gu, so they will instinctively look towards edible things. I used the eye-blinding technique to cover their eyes, and that solved the problem. Also, don't look at me like that; I am who I am."

"Oh...is that so?" Fang Shi's eyes became even more suspicious.

Do you think I'd believe you just because you say you're the person in question? Wouldn't it be even more suspicious if you specifically emphasized that you are the person in question?

Fang Shigang's brain, which had just undergone a brainstorming session, was now in a state of being consumed by conspiracy theories.

What evidence do you have?

He had seen mushroom people who looked exactly like real people, so it was possible that this Immortal Zhang was also a mushroom person, although he was a mushroom person in a certain sense... Well, we're all mushroom people.

This world is just one giant mushroom! (?)

Zhang Kongming didn't know what had gotten into him. It was one thing for him to come here rashly, but if he alerted the enemy, all his investigations in the city over the past few days would be for nothing.

So he said, "That day when you entered the sect, you saw under the skirt of a female elder at the foot of the mountain."

"So what?" Fang Shi retorted stubbornly.

A glint of light flashed in Zhang Kongming's eyes: "Blue."

"..." Fang Shi paused for a second, then nodded: "Alright, you are Immortal Zhang."

I didn't expect you to see it too, Master Zhang. I'll go and complain to Elder Qian later.

Getting back to the main point.

"Master Zhang, what are you doing here?"

Fang Shiwang asked, but Zhang Kongming countered, "Why are you here? And why have you been watching the inn all day? You've been up the mountain for over two months. If you were going to come down to the Nourishing Realm for training, you should be helping out in Qingye City."

Fang Shi's eyes lit up: "So you're the person we're looking for."

"What's wrong? You need something from me?" Zhang Kongming thought for a moment. "Did someone give you something and ask you to deliver it?"

"Guess," Senior Brother Crane said. He believed that once you meet the right person, you will naturally know what to do next, so he insisted on the "guess" principle.

If Zhang Xianchang doesn't tell him what to do, then he can't bring himself to say it.

Zhang Kongming thought for a moment and said, "I think I understand... If the person who gave you the item is the sect leader, then you should give it to me."

"Why is he the sect leader?"

"Because that guy likes to calculate, he's always calculating opportunities here and fate there. I travel around, and he uses me as an anchor point to calculate everywhere. Whenever something happens, he asks someone to send me a message. It's not the first or second time."

"Wow..." Fang Shi exclaimed, his mouth agape in amazement. "Can the Sect Master always predict things so accurately?"

"Of course not, he usually just asks me to bring back some local specialties."

Zhang Kongming said, "But this time, it shouldn't be that simple. We can read the letter when we get back. Let's save people first."

With a flick of his wrist, the wooden planks on the ground were lifted by a burst of steam without making a creaking sound.

Looking inside, it was a dungeon.

Fang Shi quickly followed and asked from behind, "Master Zhang, are you also aware that your disciple has been abducted?"

"I don't know. I came here with you. Two months ago, I left Canglong Peak and passed through this place. I heard about some missing children, so I stayed to take a look."

As Zhang Kongming walked and talked, his actual Xuan Qi exploration had already revealed the entire dungeon. The two walked past a corner of the dungeon and came to a cell, where they saw several skeletons.

"Unfortunately, I didn't find this place at first. A month later, the service at the inn suddenly became 'good'. If I wanted to stay longer, I couldn't act rashly, and the things I could investigate each day were very limited."

Fang Shi frowned and moved closer, only to see that the skeleton in the cell was small and thin, the remains of a child.

Zhang Kongming, having lived a long and eventful life, showed no anger on his face, only sighing, "I never expected the Qumu City officials to do such a thing."

Fang Shi asked, "Will the sect interfere with what they're doing?"

"Yes, this kind of thing has happened before... Of course, everything must be based on evidence."

"I have evidence," Fang Shi said, revealing the strangeness of the matter when he brought up the sheep's head.

After listening, Zhang Kongming was not surprised at all: "The way those Aries outside look is because they've been affected by this evil spell. I remember it was used by an evil sect called 'Xuanling Sect' back then."

Fang Shi realized that the cultivation world was indeed full of villains like this.

Once the existence of the evil sect's methods is confirmed, the intervention of the sect becomes even more logical.

The two continued walking inside and arrived at the inner cell, where they saw several disheveled figures lying on the ground, eating food from wooden boxes like wild animals.

Zhang Kongming said, "Yinmu Silk, this is a treasure of the Xuanling Sect. It can bewitch people's minds. Back then, they used this method to establish a foothold in various cities, with henchmen everywhere. It took the sect a lot of effort to kill and drive them away."

"So they're back now?"

Zhang Kongming nodded: "It's not surprising. Evil sects are hard to eradicate because they are driven by human nature. No matter how thoroughly they are cleaned up, they will always exist in the shadows."

Now that these filthy things are almost out in the open, one can imagine that they must be teeming with trouble in the shadows.

Just like cockroaches.

"Fang Shi, pull them out. They're not thinking straight right now and won't struggle. Let's take them and leave immediately. My abrupt departure from the inn has probably been exposed, and soon someone will be coming to check on us."

"Received." Fang Shi immediately tore open the cell door and pulled out the three people inside.

The three disciples who were chatting and laughing just a few days ago have become completely dull-witted, only knowing how to eat and sleep. If you didn't know better, you would think that there are college students in the Xuan Realm now.

He had no choice but to roughly tie the three of them together with rope and carry them on his back.

Seeing this, Zhang Kongming exclaimed, "Your strength has increased a lot in just two months. No wonder Qu Yang was able to take you in."

Fang Shi was carrying the person out when he heard him say this, and quickly proved his innocence: "I didn't go to the Heaven and Earth Pavilion to do hard labor."

"I know, when did Qu Yang become so generous that he even gave Tian Fang the job of a laborer?"

The two quickly left the cell, and sure enough, a squad of soldiers arrived at the wooden shed shortly afterward to inspect the dungeon.

"Damn it! The people here have also disappeared. Quickly inform the city lord. The great cultivator in the inn must have gone to inform the sect by leaving suddenly."

Tonight, undercurrents are stirring in Qumu City...

Two men in black followed the soldiers.

"My lord, are you just going to stand by and watch them get rescued?"

"What else can we do? You've seen how strong that kid is. Yangmu Pearl is useless against him; it's already 'died' at his hands once, and it still hasn't learned its lesson. There's another cultivator whose cultivation is not low either; we can't afford to offend him."

"Then all that effort was for nothing." The servant shook his head, sounding dejected, but his face showed no concern.

"That's not necessarily true."

The young master stopped and looked back at the towering city lord's mansion not far away: "When the building is about to collapse, everyone will push it down. There are countless families in this city who want to become officials. When the sects settle accounts and outsiders flock to us, we will have plenty of opportunities."

The attendant said, "Young master, we should hide when the sect is settling accounts."

"Of course, but before we hide, we can also add fuel to the fire."