Legend of Immortal Bodies

"Could I really be a genius?"

While patrolling the streets the next day, Liang Yue was still thinking about last night's training and could not help muttering to himself.

"Heh, you only noticed now? I noticed ages ago." Chen Ju, walking beside him, heard this and laughed. "Things others never notice, matters others never think of—you see them all. I've long thought you were a genius."

"Not when it comes to solving cases. I mean cultivation," Liang Yue said.

"Haha, when I first broke through to the Second Realm, I thought I was some peerless genius too." Chen Ju wore the expression of someone who had been there before. "Don't get confident too soon. It gets difficult when you try to break through again afterward."

"You should count as late Second Realm now. How long does it take you to cultivate a new technique?" Liang Yue asked.

"That depends on the technique's difficulty." Chen Ju replied, "For simpler ones, three to five days of visualization will let you grasp its spirit and charm. Harder ones might take a month or two. Generally, if you can't comprehend it after more than a month, then you'll never comprehend it in this lifetime."

"What if you could comprehend it at a glance?" Liang Yue asked again.

"Are you joking?" Chen Ju laughed. "Not even one of those legendary Immortal Bodies could do that, could they?"

"Oh..." Liang Yue said no more and instead asked, "What is an Immortal Body?"

"Some people are born with supernatural gifts and surpass ordinary people by far on the path of cultivation," Chen Ju explained. "The Sword Dao Academy once compiled all the Immortal Bodies that had appeared in the world. There were over eight hundred kinds in total."

Most of a street patrol was spent with nothing to do, so he patiently explained to Liang Yue. "The top ten among them are ranked. For instance, the universally acknowledged number one Immortal Body in the world, Heavenly Breath, was said to have belonged to Li Sheng in ancient times."

"Those with this Immortal Body can absorb the spirituality of living beings they kill into themselves, greatly increasing their cultivation. It is exceedingly terrifying. Fortunately, no one has been heard of possessing it since Li Sheng."

"The fourth-ranked one is called the Supreme Immortal Body. It is said that Miss Wen from the Bureau of Exorcism possesses such an Immortal Body—her heart is free of distractions, and she was born like a god."

"The fifth-ranked God King Blood is the bloodline inheritance of the Imperial Clan of the present Yin Dynasty. It is somewhat like what you just described: favored by heaven and earth, they achieve twice the result with half the effort when cultivating any divine ability or technique. In ancient times, it was also called the Immortal Spirit Body. Only after the dynasty was founded was its name changed to God King Blood."

"Are there many people with Immortal Bodies?" Liang Yue asked curiously.

"Of course not. They are one in ten thousand," Chen Ju said. "And aside from some people with powerful backgrounds, many who are born with supernatural gifts choose to conceal their Immortal Bodies, fearing they will draw the covetous eyes or hostility of others. That makes the number of Immortal Body possessors known to the world even smaller."

"Having too much talent is dangerous too..." Liang Yue said.

"Yeah." Chen Ju said, "A few years ago, I heard about a man surnamed Shi who had a pair of the legendary Supreme Bones. They were forcibly dug out of him! They say it was even done by his own relatives!"

"That vicious?" Liang Yue's brows tightened.

Fortunately, he did not seem to possess any exceptional innate gift. His comprehension was merely a little higher than average. That should not be enough to invite anyone's covetousness.

At most, he just needed to keep a low profile in the future.

After chatting for a few moments, Liang Yue turned back to Pang Chun and asked, "Da Chun, how is that technique manual you read yesterday?"

"Hehe, pretty good." Pang Chun gave a simple-minded grin. "I can basically fall asleep after looking at it three times."

"..." Liang Yue fell silent for a moment. "That book was given to you so you could practice, not use it as a sleeping aid."

"Huh?" Da Chun was startled. "I thought only people who couldn't sleep read books."

Liang Yue looked at Da Chun helplessly.

There seemed to be nothing in his world besides eating and sleeping. In a certain sense, he truly was a pure person—one who had broken free from refined tastes.

"When I fell asleep, I even dreamed of a white-bearded old man who insisted I hit him, so I just kept hitting him..." Da Chun muttered.

"Couldn't tell at all." Chen Ju laughed. "You look so honest and upright, yet you dream of beating up old men every day."

The three chatted and laughed as they walked. When they passed Linmen Street again, they suddenly saw a crowd gathered before a storefront ahead, with a constant uproar coming from within.

They could vaguely hear people shouting things like, "Someone's died!" and "Hurry and report it to the authorities!"

Liang Yue immediately became alert. "Let's go take a look!"

The disturbance was happening at the very same little tavern that had caught fire a few days ago. The elderly couple who ran it stood helplessly inside, their faces full of panic.

A man lay on the floor inside the tavern, curled up with his whole body flushed red. Both hands gripped his throat tightly as though he could not breathe, while his body convulsed without stop. He looked as though he was about to die.

Two other men stood beside him. One held a kettle and was gulping water into his mouth, while the other stood with his hands on his hips and shouted at the crowd, "Hurry and report it to the authorities! This tavern's wine is poisoned—my brother is about to be poisoned to death by them!"

"That isn't it... It definitely isn't our wine..." the old couple feebly protested from the side.

"Then did he drink someone else's wine?" the man shouted.

Chen Ju stepped forward and pushed through the crowd. "Stop arguing. What happened?"

The standing man wore a hempen robe covered in patches, with a thoroughly unruly appearance. The moment he saw the Imperial Capital Guard uniforms, he seemed to find his vigor and loudly said, "Officer, look! My brother was perfectly fine. He drank just one bowl of their wine and ended up like this! They must have poisoned the wine!"

"How could that be?" The old woman looked ready to cry. "I don't even know them. We have no grievance or enmity. Why would I poison them?"

"Then it's even more serious! It means their wine itself is poisoned, and anyone who comes here could drink it!" the man loudly clamored. "Shouldn't you take them back and give them a thorough, severe interrogation no matter what?"

The moment he said this, the old couple became even more panicked, on the verge of crying together.

"You don't need to tell us what to do!" Chen Ju barked at the man, making him step back, before turning to the elderly couple. "What happened? Did he really collapse after drinking your wine?"

This elderly couple had run their business here for many years and had always been honest and simple folk. Chen Ju truly did not believe they would poison anyone.

"Th-this..." the old man said tremblingly. "The three of them came here to drink. This man had only just finished a bowl when he suddenly collapsed. I don't know what happened either... Officer, our wine cannot possibly be poisoned... If you don't believe me, I'll drink some for you."

"Hmph, of course it won't be poisoned when he drinks it himself! But there's definitely something wrong with the bowl my brother drank! Otherwise, why would he be like this?" the man refused to let it go.

"Gah—gah—" After being fed several large kettles of water, the man on the floor improved slightly. His skin remained bright red, but his breathing had become somewhat smoother. He pointed at the elderly couple and struggled to say through his constricted throat, "The wine... There's something wrong..."

Ever since entering the tavern, Liang Yue had fixed his attention directly on the man and crouched there to observe him.

Now that he saw the poisoned man was no longer in mortal danger, he finally spoke. "Is the bowl of wine he drank just now still here?"

"I knocked it all over!" The standing man pointed. A jumble of tables and chairs lay scattered on the floor over there, while the wine jug and bowls had already shattered, spilling wine everywhere.

"You claim there was something wrong with the wine. Don't you know these are important pieces of evidence? You knocked them all over. How are we supposed to determine whether it was poisoned or not?" Liang Yue looked at him.

"Does that still need proving? My brother is a grown man, and he nearly died here!" The man's behavior was strange. His eyes kept blinking as he met Liang Yue's gaze, as though reminding him of something. "Whether there was a problem or not, won't you find out if you just take them back and interrogate them?"

Liang Yue looked again at the weakened man on the floor. "No need yet. I do have a way to see whether your friend was truly poisoned by this tavern."

He stood and declared loudly, "Let's buy several portions of wine from other taverns and let him drink them all. We'll see whether anything happens to him. If he is fine after drinking them, that will prove this tavern's wine is the problem."

"Ah, this..." Hearing this, the elderly couple immediately panicked. "Captain Liang, what are you doing? We clearly didn't poison anyone. Th-this..."

To them, this logic simply made no sense.

If other taverns' wine was fine, how could that prove their own wine had a problem? Could Captain Liang have accepted these scoundrels' dirty money and joined them in framing their family?

Though he had solved the arson case last time thanks to his help, perhaps a man who had been righteous only days ago had suddenly been blinded by money.

After all, wealth moved people's hearts.

Besides, such things were hardly rare within the Imperial Capital Guard.

Yet for some reason, the man on the floor who had just escaped death frantically waved his hands when he heard this. In a weak voice, he said, "No, no... I absolutely can't drink any more wine."

"Why?" Liang Yue asked calmly. "Surely every tavern's wine isn't poisoned?"

Hearing this, the man lying on the floor threw back his head and let out a shrill cry. "Gah—"

Then he fainted cleanly and decisively.