On the moonlit island, Wuhua's voice drifted over gently.
"Not long ago, the Heavenly Oversight Bureau in Maple Forest Province acquired an extremely important Bizarre Item."
A Bizarre Item?
When those two words appeared, Shen Bai's eyes lit up slightly.
He had discovered that ever since gaining the Cheat System, he seemed to have developed an occupational disease.
Whenever he heard terms like Bizarre Item or Killing Intent, he would feel differently.
Wuhua did not notice Shen Bai's abnormality. Thinking Shen Bai was merely surprised by the news, he nodded. "That's right. It is said that this Bizarre Item's ability lies in movement techniques, but not long ago, it was stolen."
Shen Bai rubbed his chin and pondered. "Anyone capable of stealing a Bizarre Item from the Heavenly Oversight Bureau has some real skills."
The Heavenly Oversight Bureau was the violent arm of the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.
Although the Great Zhou Dynasty was in turmoil now, it had not fallen in the end.
A starved camel was still bigger than a horse; no ordinary force would dare court disaster.
Now that the Bizarre Item had been stolen, it would already be fortunate if the Heavenly Oversight Bureau did not mobilize in full force.
Whoever had managed to steal it was certainly no ordinary person.
Wuhua nodded. "The only ones capable of stealing something from the Heavenly Oversight Bureau are the Thieves' Gate."
"What kind of force is the Thieves' Gate?" Shen Bai asked.
Wuhua explained, "The Thieves' Gate seeks to steal every object beneath heaven. It is a force deeply despised by countless others."
"The ancestral graves of quite a few factions have been picked clean by the Thieves' Gate. They are practically cursed by everyone."
"After discovering the Bizarre Item had been stolen, the Heavenly Oversight Bureau sealed off all of Maple Forest Province and began searching place by place."
"Every county is being searched now. This humble monk estimates Ascending Cloud County is no exception."
Shen Bai thought about it and said, "But what does this have to do with me?"
What the Thieves' Gate did was the Thieves' Gate's business.
He was merely a pawnbroker and had nothing to do with the whole affair. Shen Bai did not think this matter would land on his head.
Wuhua pressed his palms together. "Benefactor, all things are possible in this world. This humble monk merely wished to mention it to you. If you truly happen to encounter it, you must be cautious above all else."
By this point, Shen Bai more or less understood.
Wuhua meant well.
After all, the theft of a Bizarre Item was a major matter. Wuhua was worried Shen Bai would be caught up in it while in Ascending Cloud County, so he had warned him beforehand to let him prepare.
"Don't worry. It'll be fine," Shen Bai said.
Right now, he only wanted to return and grind proficiency, first bringing the Heart-Cleansing Incantation through its qualitative change, then appraising the Glowing Buddha Beads Wuhua had given him.
As for everything else, Shen Bai treated it as nothing more than a spectacle.
The matter of the locust tree had been resolved. Shen Bai and Wuhua did not intend to linger, and once again took the wooden raft away from the island.
On the way back, they passed through Huaixi Village again.
When they had come, Shen Bai had not concerned himself with that mad middle-aged man. After all, they had been going into battle.
On the way back, Wuhua wanted to take the middle-aged man away and find someone in the county town to settle him properly.
Shen Bai did not refuse.
But when the two returned, the middle-aged man had already collapsed on the ground.
The middle-aged man clutched a stone in his hand. Before him lay a corpse battered into a bloody pulp.
Wuhua stepped forward to inspect the corpse and sighed. "He died from exhaustion, but his face is peaceful. Perhaps he has already avenged the disciples of Hundred Healers Valley."
Shen Bai looked at the corpse the middle-aged man had smashed so badly on the ground and nodded. "Living was a kind of suffering. Being able to leave peacefully, with the resentment in his heart dispelled, is also a good thing."
The two worked together and buried the middle-aged man as well.
After the burial, Wuhua recited a scripture for guiding the dead onward before the two prepared to leave.
As for the villagers' corpses, they did not deserve it. They deserved only to lie exposed in this wilderness.
"After returning, this humble monk must report the matter to the county yamen."
Wuhua said, "Benefactor lives in seclusion in Ascending Cloud County. You likely do not wish to reveal your identity, do you?"
What had happened this time was a major matter. Xuanxin Temple was on good terms with the Great Zhou Dynasty, so Wuhua had to follow procedure.
Shen Bai nodded. "If it's convenient, you can take all the credit yourself."
Wuhua smiled. "Benefactor, if word of this major event reached the outside world, it would surely shake all of Maple Forest Province. Yet you would rather conceal your name and hide your identity. This humble monk cannot compare."
Shen Bai waved his hand. "I simply don't want to."
Fame meant a whole lot of trouble would come knocking.
Shen Bai still had so many things to grind. He did not have the time for that.
The two did not linger any longer and left Huaixi Village.
Ascending Cloud County.
By the time they reached the county town, it was already the latter half of the night. A hazy brightness had appeared in the eastern sky, and daylight was not far away.
After entering the city, the two went their separate ways. Wuhua headed for the county yamen, while Shen Bai returned to the pawnshop.
Lighting an oil lamp, Shen Bai poured himself a cup of tea and drank it. A line of mist appeared before his eyes.
The mist curled and swayed, continuously gathering in the air until it finally condensed into a line of text.
Heart-Cleansing Incantation lv.2 (Heart-Cleansing +2, Calm Nature +2): 1000/1000 ... Glowing Buddha Beads Appraisal Progress: 0% One wisp of Killing Intent can rapidly complete the appraisal Killing Intent: Two wisps ...
This trip had yielded Shen Bai quite a harvest.
Two whole wisps of Killing Intent had made Shen Bai, who had already used up all his Killing Intent, rich again.
Shen Bai's plan was simple: raise the Heart-Cleansing Incantation to its third-level qualitative change, then use the remaining wisp of Killing Intent to appraise the Glowing Buddha Beads.
Having decided, Shen Bai did not dawdle. After a brief thought, he used the Killing Intent.
Before his eyes, the Killing Intent vanished.
The words for the Heart-Cleansing Incantation twisted, brimming with an ancient and mysterious aura.
A moment later, new text appeared before Shen Bai.
Profound Heart Incantation lv.3 (Heart-Cleansing +4, Calm Nature +4, Empowerment +4): 0/5000
Shen Bai felt a mysterious phantom emerge within his mind.
The phantom sat cross-legged amid the clouds, surrounded and wrapped by countless white clouds, making it seem all the more detached from the mortal world.
A faint, indistinct voice carried from around the phantom.
Invisible words rose and fell, and the surrounding clouds scattered because of them.
Countless evil and filthy things retreated three paces at the sight of those words, turning to ash amid miserable howls.
A moment later, everything vanished, as though it had never appeared.
"Profound Heart empowers; evil is slain and retreats."
Shen Bai opened his eyes, a trace of excitement in them.
"Good stuff, good stuff!"
After its qualitative change into the Profound Heart Incantation, Shen Bai would leave aside for now the fact that its original attributes had doubled. The newly appeared attribute was an exceptionally powerful one.
Empowerment, as its name implied, allowed the Profound Heart Incantation to be bestowed upon divine abilities.
The divine abilities it empowered would gain multiplied growth.
And the specific multiplier was that +4 afterward.
Shen Bai drew a deep breath and circulated the qi within his body.
The next moment, Shen Bai wielded the Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist in his left hand and the Blood Sword Dance in his right, while the white light of the Jade Evil Body rose from his body.
The various divine abilities, their effects dazzling to the eye, made Shen Bai look utterly terrifying.
None of those were the main point. The most important thing was that Shen Bai slowly opened his mouth...
Ancient words spilled from his mouth. The next moment, every divine ability began to change.
Before you continue