He Bo's Peering

The latter half of March had just arrived.

At the end of spring, a light drizzle fell in a soft, steady patter.

Dusk had only just arrived, yet the sky was already pitch-black. Outside Nanmo Border City, the torches newly lit in the Shack District flickered with such childish light that they could barely illuminate anything.

"What unpleasant weather. Tsk!"

Cursing inwardly, Corpse Affairs Steward He Bo stood at the entrance to the loft. After hesitating for a moment, he still stepped outside and entered the damp, stifling rain.

The drizzle could not wet his clothes, and his feet never touched the water. After leaving Elegant Courtyard, he quietly cast a spell, then stepped into the Shack District and silently passed through the people coming and going there.

They only felt a chill in their hearts, as though some primordial beast had passed by. They instinctively stepped aside, looking around in all directions, yet seeing nothing. Cold sweat immediately broke out on them. Terrified, they did not dare linger any longer.

He Bo continued forward in silence, his destination clear.

The gravediggers' courtyard!

The reason was that Du En, the leader here, had not come to demand his wages for quite some time.

Perhaps he had learned his lesson and become wiser, knowing fear now. Ordinarily, that was nothing worth paying attention to.

However, no one had died on the gravediggers' side for a long time either.

Although He Bo felt that this was actually rather good, saving him from wasting his time here for no reason, whenever he thought of Du En's calm face, he could not help feeling a little suspicious.

Thus, today, he had finally taken action and come to see what was going on.

He had only approached to within a certain distance when he could not help stopping and raising a hand to fan the air before his nose.

"What stinks?"

In the damp, stifling air, a faint smell of decay stubbornly hung on, lingering without end.

"These wretches really are stinking to high heaven. Tsk. I'll just stay here and take a look with my Spiritual Sense."

He Bo forced himself a few steps closer and began observing the gravediggers' courtyard with his Spiritual Sense.

He could barely reach the courtyard with it, and he did not want to move even a little closer.

Du En and the others had not returned yet. However, He Bo did not have to wait long. In the drizzle, six people hurried back through the muddy standing water beneath their feet.

Their entire bodies were soaked, and five of them could not stop trembling.

They were the gravediggers.

On rainy days, sinister black aura was especially difficult to dispel. It could also be carried along by the rain and flow onto the gravediggers' bodies. Thus, being infiltrated by sinister energy was unavoidable.

As soon as they returned, they immediately stripped off their filthy, wet clothes, then gulped down several bowls of Spirit-Expelling Soup prepared that morning and already gone completely cold. Afterward, they huddled together like a cluster of bare white quails, crowding close for warmth.

Du En also casually drank a bowl to soothe his throat, then brought out the clay stove and lit a fire.

The heat of the flames drove away some of the dampness.

"They look just as they always have—no different from livestock."

Watching from afar, He Bo sneered inwardly as before.

Then he noticed something strange. Du En had not taken off his clothes, and his face remained as calm and indifferent as ever, unchanged from before.

In his hands, meanwhile, he was carrying a large owl.

"A Rotten Owl?"

He Bo was still feeling surprised when he saw Du En boil water, then begin bleeding the bird, plucking its feathers, and gutting it.

"Damn it!"

A foul stench immediately spread through the air, joining forces with the existing odor. The smell of decay suddenly grew thick, catching He Bo completely off guard.

He hurriedly backed away several steps and shook out his sleeves, his eyes full of disgust. Then he could not help laughing aloud.

"Hahaha! I was wondering what was going on. So that's it!"

Why had they not demanded their wages, yet no one had died? Leaving everything else aside, how were they maintaining their livelihood?

Food and daily necessities—especially food. Those in the Qi Refining Stage could not practice Grain Avoidance, and here, they could only buy things with spirit stones.

Without wages or extra income, logically speaking, several of them should have starved to death long ago.

But now he understood completely. These people had been forced to eat Rotten Owls!

"That's right! Maggots are only fit to eat carrion!"

He Bo immediately felt relieved and refreshed. Looking at Du En's face again, he no longer thought it was calm and tranquil like an ancient well. Instead, it looked numb and unfeeling, as though he had long since become expressionless.

Moreover, his aura was faint and indistinct, clearly the result of the hidden attack He Bo had planted earlier!

Thus, He Bo was extremely pleased. He did not look any closer, finding this place utterly disgusting, and hurriedly turned to leave.

Du En did not notice the Corpse Affairs Steward's secret surveillance, but he had actually taken precautions against it.

The spreading stench was one of them.

At the same time, his Breath Concealing Technique had already reached the Proficient Level.

Practicing ten times each day, its lingering effect was just enough to cover the entire day. He could also make slight adjustments to the details, making himself appear before anyone deliberately observing him as though he had suffered a hidden injury that had yet to heal—so lifelike that it was impossible to distinguish from reality.

Once the large owl began simmering, Du En went to take a bath and wash his clothes.

When he returned after finishing the chores, the others were gathered around the stove, their faces beginning to flush with warmth.

Compared to before, they clearly recovered much faster.

As soon as they saw Du En approaching, they naturally rose and moved aside. Then they filed past him and began lining up to bathe.

"Old Ning, how's your body?"

At that moment, Du En asked Ning Caize.

"Cough, cough... Fine!"

As usual, he still coughed easily, but it was much better than before. The coughing was far less violent. Especially in this wretched weather, the sinister energy had not worsened or flared up after infiltrating his body, and even he could not help clicking his tongue in wonder.

Clearly, during this period, through everyone's combined efforts, unceasing hard work, and some guidance from Du En, their spirit-food cooking had finally crossed the threshold. They could now prepare a barely qualified stewed owl.

Although the taste was still terrible and extremely unpleasant, as long as it was genuinely effective, that was no problem at all!

As Ning Caize ate, not only did the recent lingering damage begin to ease, even his old underlying illness began to improve. Recently, the color in his face had visibly grown better.

If this continued, sooner or later, it would be completely resolved!

It was not only him. The others were changing as well.

Of course, their changes were not great. Even with the help of spirit food, breaking through in cultivation was still measured in decades, calculated on the scale of ten or twenty years.

Even so, this was already a qualitative leap!

After asking his question, Du En returned to the stove. He watched the heat and added medicinal ingredients, while silently pondering.

"Things have been calm lately, but summer is about to arrive. The rain is growing more frequent and heavier. If a typhoon passes through this year, the impact clearly won't be small."

Aside from natural weather factors, there were naturally also factors arising from people.

"The Blood Eagle Gang has been quite honest lately. For now, there's no need to worry too much about them. But as for the Evil Cultivators, there's no way to know what they're up to, so I can't let my guard down."

"And Steward He Bo needs to be guarded against as well..."

Du En now reviewed the situation every day, making sure he had overlooked nothing.

Please follow for more chapters! Please bookmark!