Encountering Thieves, Blades Gleaming

"Twenty-seven days left..."

It's the sixth day of the sixth month!

Every morning when I wake up, it feels like someone is loudly reminding me. So annoying.

What's even more annoying is that it's raining today.

The rain pours down from the sky, and everyone in the city is annoyed.

Because of the rain, the Rainy Night Devil appears, dragging people into the water to silently devour them.

Although the official propaganda states that the Rainy Night Devil only appears by the water at night, everyone knows in reality that one should avoid the water's edge even during the day.

Rivers, lakes, stone bridges – all must be avoided from a distance.

This rain is particularly heavy, like a torrential downpour, pitter-patter.

Luo Zhou thought for a moment, deciding not to go to the Daoist Academy today.

He'll cultivate at home!

Students of Xianya Hall have this privilege.

He has three Dragon-Slaying Thrusts, which should be enough. Making too many would make them difficult to preserve over time.

Based on the timing, Lu Yue should be able to find new prey these past couple of days and go out hunting!

He began to cultivate, first practicing Green Profound, then Purple Heavens, then Brown Scale, then White Yang, then Black Nether, and then re-practicing Green Profound...

Three hundred and sixty forms, practiced repeatedly!

When he was tired from cultivating, Luo Zhou sat down and began to reminisce.

Recalling the memories of the five Woodworm Devils, with their memories, he knew almost everything about Green Ridge City.

Green Ridge City is guarded by a Dao Foundation City Lord, with twelve constables, fifty constables' assistants, and hundreds of idle hands under his command.

In reality, the number of constables' assistants isn't that high. Green Ridge City has a local population of 200,000, with 100,000 permanent residents from outside, and thousands of people flowing through daily.

Besides the constables' assistants, there's the Marine Guard camp of 500 men in the east of the city and the Fire Raven Army of 800 men in the west. This is the true military might of Green Ridge City.

Among the constables in the city are Yan Ruoyi, Chi Yu, Wang Ying, Li Haitian, Wu Lihui...

Luo Zhou had a feeling that the 13th of the Month Devil was likely among them.

This is because the 13th of the Month Devil is definitely at the Qi Refining stage, and these twelve constables are also at the Qi Refining stage.

However, trying to find the 13th of the Month Devil among them would be a fool's errand.

Luo Zhou dared not follow them. These constables possess various Spiritual Power detection abilities, making them professionals. Following them would immediately lead to discovery, a sure path to death.

When he killed Gu Shanhe, Luo Zhou didn't even dare to touch his clothes, let alone take his storage bag.

The memories of the five Woodworm Devils repeatedly emphasized to stay far away from these constables.

However, it wasn't entirely hopeless.

Luo Zhou had an intuition that the Wang Family members had an unusual bloodline. When the ninth night arrives, the seventh-day soul-returning night, perhaps he could uncover the 13th of the Month Devil's secret from the Wang Family's Dead Spirits.

But he would need to prepare some spiritual incense and talismans for sacrificial soul summoning.

By evening, the rain finally stopped.

Some of the low-lying streets and alleys in the city had already accumulated knee-deep water.

Ping'an Quarter is located in a higher part of the city, so there was no flooding.

Luo Zhou thought for a moment, quietly got up, and headed towards the Wang Family again.

To investigate further!

However, upon trying to infiltrate the Wang Family, Luo Zhou frowned. The Wang Family had completely turned into a construction site.

Liu Jinpeng had beaten up the bald old Wang's relative and inherited the Wang Family's property.

These past few days, rumors were flying around the neighborhood.

They said Liu Sanmei married the bald old Wang purely for his family fortune.

They said Liu Sanmei and Liu Jinpeng weren't siblings at all but husband and wife, and the child Liu Sanmei gave birth to was also Liu Jinpeng's.

Luo Zhou didn't believe it at all. The Wang Family's so-called fortune was only a few taels of silver.

It wasn't worth Liu Jinpeng paying such a high price.

Giving away his wife for fun?

But tonight, as he infiltrated, Luo Zhou noticed something was amiss.

The outside of the Wang Family's house looked normal, but the inside had been ransacked. It didn't look like a resident's renovation but as if they were searching for something.

And in the middle of the night, someone was digging three feet deep inside the house, secretly excavating.

Luo Zhou infiltrated and investigated. This Liu Jinpeng was definitely suspicious, and perhaps those rumors weren't baseless.

He quietly left and went home to rest.

The angrier you are, the calmer you must be; the sadder you are, the louder you must laugh!

On the seventh day of the sixth month, just as Luo Zhou had predicted, Lu Yue discovered a new Crocodile Dragon.

Commander Cheng Wanli came to inform Luo Zhou.

Luo Zhou immediately stopped the commander.

"Commander, do me a favor. A friend of mine has passed away. Please buy me some spirit incense and talismans for summoning souls."

Cheng Wanli frowned. "These spirit incense and talismans aren't cheap, they start at spirit stones."

One spirit stone is a thousand Broken Spirits.

Luo Zhou gritted his teeth. "I have thirteen thousand Broken Spirits on me."

That's thirteen spirit stones!

Cheng Wanli said, "Alright, when we get back this time, I'll take you to the spirit market. But they are really not cheap. Think carefully, we traded our lives for these Broken Spirits. Is it worth it?"

There are twenty-six days left. He must kill the four great parasitic cultivators. If he couldn't, Luo Zhou had a hunch that perhaps death would be a good thing.

"It's worth it!"

"Okay, tomorrow we return from hunting dragons, and I'll take you to the spirit market to buy goods."

The two made an agreement.

On the eighth day of the sixth month, everyone went out to hunt dragons again.

This time, they went a hundred miles away!

The heavy rain of the past two days had caused the Crocodile Dragons to re-divide their hunting grounds.

Familiar with the route, the group set off.

Luo Zhou changed his equipment, carrying two Eyebrow-Level Staffs and a short knife. His Binh Tie spear was replaced with a seasoned copper staff.

It was five feet long, with a copper knob the size of a fist at the head. The entire staff weighed thirty-four pounds.

Now with Nine Bulls' Strength, his power was ten thousand jin. He had switched to a heavier weapon.

Cheng Yubo was in charge of logistics and prepared weapons for Luo Zhou without spending much silver.

Along the way, Lu Yue continued to check for any trackers.

Ten horses, repeatedly changing mounts, they arrived at the Crocodile Dragons' location.

Everything went smoothly. Luo Zhou quietly found a Crocodile Dragon.

However, this new hunting ground for the Crocodile Dragons had no Dead Spirits, and naturally, there were no rewards for punishing evil and rewarding good.

Luo Zhou made his move. This time, it was easier than before. The range of Dragon-Slaying Thrust had expanded, making it even safer.

He killed the Crocodile Dragon and made the seven-orifice curse mark!

Luo Zhou noticed that this Crocodile Dragon was covered in bite marks, indicating it had been driven out of its original hunting grounds.

Life was hard, not just for humans, but even for beasts like Crocodile Dragons, survival was difficult.

Everyone got busy, loading the cargo, disguising it, and driving the carts back.

After passing the Black Pine Forest ahead, less than twenty miles away, they returned to Green Ridge City.

Suddenly, Zhang Chuan shouted, "The wind is tight!"

Hearing this, everyone was startled. This was the code for danger.

They immediately stopped their advance and cautiously prepared for battle.

Cheng Wanli looked into the distance and shouted:

"Which friend is on the road? What's the beef? Blocking the way, setting up a formation…"

Before he could finish his talk of the martial world, a shriek came from the forest opposite them.

All ten yellow-maned horses collapsed, cutting off the Dragon Fang Troop's escape route.

Without a sound, over twenty masked figures in black robes rushed out from the forest.

Zhang Chuan roared and drew his bow, shooting an arrow!

The arrow was like lightning, piercing the head of the foremost masked figure, killing him on the spot.

But the enemy seemed indifferent to the death of their comrade and continued to advance silently, a dark mass.

It was chilling, terrifying, and made one feel powerless.

Zhang Chuan continued to draw his bow. This was where his value was demonstrated.

With the twang of the bowstring, another enemy fell.

The fourth person hit by an arrow cried out in pain, immediately breaking the enemy's silent killing formation.

Zhang Chuan laughed heartily, dropped his bow and arrows, grabbed a sledgehammer in his left hand and a battle saber in his right, and charged into the enemy ranks.

Lu Yue and Cheng Yubo, each wielding their weapons, guarded the cart.

Luo Zhou raised his seasoned copper staff, gasping for energy.

Commander Cheng Wanli vanished, but they all knew he had gone to find the opposing leader, a sorcerer.

A single sound could make all the yellow-maned horses collapse; a silent killing formation could be set up. Their leader had to be a sorcerer.

Zhang Chuan charged into the enemy ranks, moving with blinding speed. His saber swung, severing heads; his hammer fell, brains splattering.

Every time they hunted dragons, he barely did anything, just lending a hand, seemingly without value.

At this moment, he was completely worth the Broken Spirit he was allocated!

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