Tying Up Loose Ends

This was the first time Shen Mu had killed someone, but he felt no psychological discomfort at all.

Shen Mu knew full well that if the Martial Dao Tree hadn't sped up his cultivation, he might have been the one lying there with his head on the ground.

He rested for a full incense stick's time before finally recovering some strength.

He walked over. Zhou Xuan's eyes were still wide open, his face filled with disbelief.

"Zhou Xuan dared to come after me mainly because he coveted the silver I had. He definitely won't tell anyone else about this."

"Now that Zhou Xuan is dead, if I tell Hong Jingcheng, he'll inevitably learn that I have a Boiling Blood Second Layer cultivation. That would be bad for me..."

"Earlier, when Hong Jingcheng gathered the Guardians to discuss matters, they met at Zhou Xuan's Bamboo Shed. That shows Hong Jingcheng and Zhou Xuan probably had a more than ordinary relationship."

"Taking all these things together, I can't tell Hong Jingcheng about this."

"The best way is to make it look like Zhou Xuan disappeared by accident. As long as no one finds his body, there'll only be a fifty percent chance that people above will guess he's dead!"

"Even if they're certain Zhou Xuan is dead, they won't suspect me."

"Because in outsiders' eyes, I only have a First Stage Boiling Blood cultivation. There's no way I could have killed Zhou Xuan."

"That's an information gap. Even if people are sent to investigate, they absolutely won't suspect me..."

Shen Mu's thoughts raced as he considered how to tie up the loose ends.

As for the blood outside his Bamboo Shed, in an age without DNA testing, a few buckets of water would be enough to wash away every trace.

The hard part was dealing with Zhou Xuan's corpse!

He had two options: bury it in the Origin Mulberry Field, or throw it straight into the river nearby and let the current carry it away.

It was the season when Origin Mulberry Fruits ripened. Shen Mu knew he didn't have the time to dig a pit and bury the body.

With that in mind, Shen Mu made up his mind.

First, he carefully searched Zhou Xuan's corpse and found a purse and a jade bottle.

Shen Mu weighed the purse in his hand. It contained about fifty taels of silver.

Then he pulled the stopper from the jade bottle and tipped it over. Four scarlet pills, each about the size of a thumb, fell into his palm.

"Could these be Blood Qi Pills?"

Shen Mu's heart stirred.

Blood Qi Pills were another way for those in the Body Tempering Stage to increase their blood qi.

Each Blood Qi Pill was worth five taels of silver and provided about as much blood qi as a catty of beast meat.

The difference between Blood Qi Pills and beast meat was that, once swallowed, a pill could be converted into blood qi to nourish the body in just one day. Beast meat, on the other hand, took several days to digest.

Four Blood Qi Pills were worth twenty taels of silver.

"Truly, horses grow fat on wild grass, and people grow rich on unexpected windfalls."

Shen Mu sighed, put the Blood Qi Pills back in the jade bottle, and tucked it into his shirt.

This time, the other man had tried to steal a chicken only to lose his rice. He'd not only lost his life, but also contributed seventy taels of silver to Shen Mu.

He searched the corpse again, confirmed there were no other valuables, then lifted Zhou Xuan's body and head and headed for the river nearby.

He tied several rocks to the corpse and sank it straight into the river. Then Shen Mu made several more trips back and forth, bringing water from the river to wash all the blood off the ground outside the Bamboo Shed.

When he'd finished, Shen Mu took out his oil lamp and checked several times. Only after confirming there wasn't a trace of blood left nearby did he finally relax.

It was nearly dawn. Sitting atop the Bamboo Shed and gazing at the stars in the night sky, Shen Mu couldn't help feeling conflicted.

Ever since he'd decided to take up martial arts, he'd understood that the path would be drenched in blood and turmoil. He just hadn't expected that his first time killing someone would happen like this.

Because his cultivation was weak, the other man had harbored boundless malice toward him.

Perhaps, beneath this very night sky, similar things were unfolding in different places.

But how many people managed to turn the tables and kill those who did evil?

This lesson also served as a warning to Shen Mu. When the stakes were high enough, someone who'd been laughing and chatting with you by day might turn into a vengeful ghost coming to claim your life by night.

Even if you had no grudge or conflict with each other, if killing you brought the other person enough profit, they would still raise a butcher's knife against you.

In his previous life, the law had imposed restraints. But in this world, the law of the jungle was laid bare for all to see.

Even the imperial court exerted little control over martial artists...

"Phew..."

Shen Mu let out a long breath, sleepiness crept over him, and he drifted into a deep sleep.

Over the next few days, Shen Mu went about his routine as usual, practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique by day while watching for any stirrings that might follow Zhou Xuan's death.

To Shen Mu's surprise, Zhou Xuan's disappearance stirred no ripples at all.

It wasn't until five days later that Hong Jingcheng came to see him.

"Brother Hong, what brings you here?"

Shen Mu stopped practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique and asked with a smile.

Hong Jingcheng got straight to the point. "Brother Shen, have you seen Zhou Xuan these past few days?"

"Zhou Xuan?"

Shen Mu furrowed his brows and thought for a moment before saying, "I did see him once, about five or six days ago. He was searching all over Emerald Cloud Valley for the Three-Tailed Demon Fox with a group of people..."

Hong Jingcheng already knew this from asking around. He continued, "Other than five or six days ago, have you seen him at any other time?"

"No, I haven't."

Shen Mu shook his head, then asked, "By the way, what happened to Brother Zhou?"

Hong Jingcheng's expression was grim. "Zhou Xuan has disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

Shen Mu's eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "What happened? How could a grown man just disappear without a trace? Could he have gone home?"

Shen Mu felt his acting deserved a perfect score. Even an award-winning actor couldn't have done better.

"I went to his home to look for him. He wasn't there either."

Hong Jingcheng shook his head.

Even Wei Bo, who was responsible for keeping watch over everyone entering and leaving the valley, said he hadn't seen Zhou Xuan leave Emerald Cloud Valley in the past few days.

How could a grown man simply vanish from Emerald Cloud Valley without a trace?

Hong Jingcheng had already guessed that Zhou Xuan had probably met with misfortune.

But Emerald Cloud Valley wasn't that big. Even if Zhou Xuan was dead, how had the other person gotten rid of the body?

Hong Jingcheng couldn't help taking a long look at Shen Mu, trying to find a clue in his expression.

What outsiders didn't know was that Zhou Xuan was his cousin, his aunt's only son.

After they'd divided up the silver from capturing the Origin Cicada, Zhou Xuan had secretly asked him whether they should make a move and take the silver Shen Mu had.

Hong Jingcheng, who had just earned nearly a thousand taels of silver, naturally hadn't cared about Shen Mu's small stash. He'd even warned Zhou Xuan not to do such a thing.

If the silver in Shen Mu's hands was stolen and word got out, the other Guardians would surely suspect him.

After all, only he and the Guardians under his command knew that Shen Mu had this much silver.

So whoever had secretly made a move would have to be one of them.

Shen Mu had worked so hard and ended up with nothing. Would he get so angry that he'd expose the Origin Cicada's secret to the higher-ups in the Firewood Gang?

By then, once they learned that Origin Cicadas could serve as cultivation resources for martial artists who had reached the ranks, the higher-ups would surely pay attention to the matter. How would they keep making money off the Origin Cicadas after that?

Hong Jingcheng would never do something so shortsighted. Besides, he'd already earned more than enough.

Could Zhou Xuan's disappearance have something to do with Shen Mu?

But the moment the thought crossed his mind, Hong Jingcheng looked at Shen Mu's startled, confused expression and shook his head.

Zhou Xuan had been at the peak of Boiling Blood Second Layer, and his Army-Breaking Saber Technique was almost at the entry level.

Dealing with Shen Mu, who was only at First Stage Boiling Blood, should have been a piece of cake for him.

"I'll go ask the others. You keep practicing."

After saying this, Hong Jingcheng followed the path between the fields toward the Bamboo Shed of the next Guardian.

Watching Hong Jingcheng's rapidly receding figure, Shen Mu's gaze turned inscrutable.

From the way Hong Jingcheng had looked him over just now, Shen Mu could guess that Hong Jingcheng knew Zhou Xuan had considered making a move against him.

But the difference in their apparent cultivation levels was too great for Hong Jingcheng to believe that he'd killed Zhou Xuan.

"Hong Jingcheng has a Boiling Blood Seventh Layer cultivation. As my cultivation rises, he may well start suspecting me again over Zhou Xuan's disappearance."

"In this world, nobody needs evidence. Suspicion alone is enough to make him act."

Shen Mu turned his gaze away and threw himself back into practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique.