Overseas Divine Skill: Playing the Pig to Eat the Tiger

Almost forgot the Mortal's greatest skill—his masterful disguise arts, so exquisite they seemed crafted by heaven itself. Unless one brought a Corpse King to lock onto him by aura, there was simply no way to catch him.

He truly didn't need to follow the merchant caravan; in fact, if he were alone, Black Robe might never find him in a lifetime.

Hanyu was now troubled—should he go with the caravan or not?

Until the Mortal said he was heading south, which settled the dilemma.

"Originally, if not for that Hidden Moon Peak business, Cousin and I had agreed to go south together to find Yixian and the other one. Now that Cousin can't go, I'll go alone."

The Mortal sighed helplessly.

Hanyu sighed too. That was heading in opposite directions—he was going north, the Mortal was going south. Definitely different paths.

The Mortal smiled. "No matter. Another day, I'll ask Cousin if he can forge some treasure for mutual communication, so everyone can stay in touch whenever something comes up."

Hanyu thought it over and couldn't help laughing. "You're giving him an impossible task."

The more the Mortal thought about it, the more amusing it seemed. He decided right then to hand this problem to him before leaving tomorrow, so he wouldn't go home and get bored into illness.

"I'll give you something!"

As for Hanyu, the Mortal smiled and pulled something from his bosom...

The next day, a long line of carts laden with various goods slowly left Shuzhou City. A heavily bearded man glanced back at the city gates a few times, then turned and left without looking back.

This was naturally the caravan Su Wanjun had mentioned, and a real one at that. The bearded man seemed utterly ordinary within the group, pulling an oxcart alongside the others, and silently staying to one side during rest breaks.

Last night, what the Mortal had given him was a face mask as thin as a cicada's wing, perfectly fitting Hanyu's face shape. Once applied, it instantly became a different face.

Hanyu had tried it on the spot. The moment he put it on, his face first felt a cool sensation, then he sensed the mask conforming to his skin. After a moment, he looked in the mirror and was stunned.

The mirror showed a completely different face, with no trace of disguise visible.

"Tomorrow, wear this when you blend into the caravan—it'll be safer."

The Mortal smiled.

Later, perhaps still uneasy, before Hanyu left, the Mortal did some last-minute adjustments, resulting in the current bearded look.

Hanyu was deeply moved and said, "In the future, if I get good pills, I'll give you one."

The Mortal was so frightened he fled on the spot.

Now the caravan had been traveling half a day, and no one in it had shown anything unusual. But to be safe, Hanyu still wore the bearded face, revealing nothing special.

It was now a mid-journey rest. Hanyu couldn't resist pulling out a thin book to flip through—another gift from the Mortal, who had called it a priceless secret manual, a must-have for every overseas cultivator.

At first, Hanyu found it hard to connect "priceless" with "must-have for everyone," until he opened it for the first time and saw the author's name was "Priceless." Then he understood.

Truly profound. The first page taught you not to use your real name when doing business.

It was just the title that was peculiar: "How to Act Like a Pig to Eat a Tiger."

The content explained in detail various methods for making oneself look like a weakling in different environments, how to appear easy to bully, and then how to ambush someone at the critical moment.

After his first read, Hanyu felt quite sorry for the Mortal. Had the overseas environment really driven people to this?

His mind couldn't help conjuring a scene: two pigs that looked like weaklings bumping into each other, then both kneeling and apologizing like utter cowards, finally baring their fangs at the same time...

That image was more twisted than the Hungry Ghost Diagram.

After reading it several more times, he began to gradually accept it...

Hah—ptoo!

A jarring sound suddenly rang in his mind, startling Hanyu.

He quickly searched through his mind, but aside from the Extreme Misfortune Pill with six days left, he couldn't find any other pill.

"Haha! The bottle just burped, and it scared you that much."

The little Artifact Spirit mercilessly mocked him.

"It's digesting last night's energy right now and has no time for you."

Hanyu scowled and withdrew from his mind. Just then, a whistle sounded, and the caravan leader shouted loudly, "Time to move on."

Shuzhou City.

A troop of several dozen people entered the city in grand style, led by a man past fifty, with wrinkled skin and white hair. Qiu Susu's figure was conspicuously among them. If Lu Dayou had been there, he would have recognized this as the extremely rude elder of the Tianshui Sect.

But even his rudeness was selective. Once inside the city, under his command, the group dared not act too arrogantly, dispersing quietly in all directions.

After searching for about half a day, they regrouped and shook their heads.

The elder could only take Qiu Susu alone to privately visit Su Wanjun, then state their purpose, asking if any Medicine Master had come through.

He appeared quite restrained, after all, a twenty-five-year-old Insight Seeker was enough to make him cautious, let alone Su Wanjun backing the Star Moon Pavilion's reputation.

"I haven't seen any Medicine Master enter the city. What did this person look like?"

Su Wanjun asked.

Qiu Susu stepped forward and softly described Hanyu's appearance.

Cousin had been listlessly returning from outside, but perked up at the words "Medicine Master." Then, hearing Qiu Susu's description, wasn't that Hanyu!

Before Su Wanjun could speak, he hurried over and said, "I've seen this man. Two days ago, I was out sightseeing and happened to run into him."

The elder's face lit up with joy as he pressed on, "Where is he?"

The Cousin pretended to recall, speaking haltingly, "At the time, there was a man named Bao with him, who was quite ingratiating. In conversation, he mentioned wanting to invite him to the Zhu You Sect in the Southern Border."

"Did he go?"

The elder's expression immediately tensed—if he had gone, making another trip to the Southern Border would be utterly exhausting.

The Cousin shook his head apologetically. "Why would I have cared about that back then? If that fellow calling himself Bao hadn't later said he wanted to invite this person to be an elder at the Zhu You Sect, I wouldn't have paid it any mind. After all, inviting someone back to be an elder is quite unusual, isn't it?"

Not unusual at all. The elder's face darkened. He hadn't expected the Zhu You Sect to have taken notice of the Little Alchemist too. If they were offering such terms, it was hard to say the Little Alchemist wouldn't be swayed.

Then, forcing a smile, he thanked the Cousin, offered parting words to Su Wanjun, and hurried out of the residence with Qiu Susu.

The disciples were waiting outside. Once they were out, the elder said in a low voice, "To the Zhu You Sect in the Southern Border."

"Why did you lie to him?"

After they left, Su Wanjun couldn't help but roll her eyes at the Cousin.

The Cousin let out a disdainful cold laugh. "A whole troop like that doesn't look like they're searching for someone—it looks like they're looking for trouble. Would I let the Alchemist suffer?"

Naturally, this earned him another round of eye-rolling.

Hah~ ptoo~

This time, the bottle was serious.

Two days had passed since then. A massive merchant convoy queued up under the inspection of the Prefectural Guard before slowly entering Tianning Prefecture.

He knew the north was vast, but he hadn't imagined the distance between northern prefectures could take two full days of travel.

After the convoy found an inn to lodge at, Hanyu slipped away, found a secluded corner to remove his beard, and took on the appearance of yet another robust young man.

It was at this moment that the bottle acted up again.

Pure Yang Qi Fragrance Pill: The user gains a Pure Yang Meridian Body. Side effect: The body's emitted fragrance attracts the same sex and repels the opposite sex.

Tsk!

The bottle's bottom line had sunk even lower today.

"Come at me all you want—I have the Overseas Divine Skill to protect me."

Hanyu patted the thin book in his arms and calmly merged into the crowd on the street...

Bai Jingliang listlessly leaned against the railing, watching the endless stream of people on the main road below.

The second floor of the Joyous Guest House was bustling with noise, yet it couldn't disturb his daze in the slightest.

On the wine table, a lavish spread of dishes remained untouched. Beside him sat a man in his twenties, with a delicate face but an overly feminine aura.

The man chattered on and on, but Bai Jingliang acted as if he hadn't heard a word, still quietly resting his head.

The man must have noticed. He leaned over, reached out, and pulled a wad of cotton from Bai Jingliang's ear, sighing. "Brother Liang, ever since you came back from the south, why have you picked up this strange habit of stuffing cotton in your ears every day?"

Bai Jingliang just smiled weakly. "Shaoyang, what were you saying just now?"

Yin Shaoyang sighed again and was about to repeat himself when Bai Jingliang's slumped body suddenly straightened. He rubbed his eyes, a look of surprise on his face.

"Shaoyang, you head back first. Something's come up suddenly—I'll take care of it."

With that, without waiting for a reaction, Bai Jingliang grabbed the railing and jumped down...

The Pure Yang Qi Fragrance Pill was refined for book friend Liu Hanlu. If you have similar alchemical needs, you can seek her out in the book's brainstorming thread for a private commission.