Zhabei Wind Gazette

Xu Yi picked up a fountain pen and the document, then held it under the incandescent lamp and read its contents—

[Spiritual Fragrance Extractant Formula:

1. Green Shore River water from the river's heart (collected at midnight): Base solvent. At midnight, yin and yang alternate, and spiritual energy is most active between heaven and earth, making it the best time for extraction.

2. Chinaberry Tree sap (trees between three and four years old are best): Solubilizer and stabilizer. Chinaberry trees grow where filth and struggle coexist. Their sap can harmonize impure animal fats and remove their foul odor.

3. Ash from a temple incense burner: Catalyst. The temple's deity statue must have an [Immortal] from the Hundred Night Miasma attached to it for its incense ash to be of any use.

4. A dancing girl's tears (shed in moments of great joy or sorrow): Spiritual catalyst. They can fully activate the spiritual energy in the fragrance.

5. Newspaper ink or wanted posters bearing the raw materials' personal information: Color developer and fixative.]

[Preparation Ritual:

Marinate the ingredients until the full moon of the following month. Mix and distill them in a copper still, heating over low heat until "fish-eye bubbles" appear.

Add the Chinaberry Tree sap and the City God Temple incense ash in order, then stir clockwise thirty times.

Add the Green Shore River water and the dancing girl's tears in order, then stir counterclockwise thirty times.

Add the ink and stir until it sets into a solid.

Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.]

By the time Xu Yi finished reading, he had more or less memorized it.

"According to this Foreign Devil, if I want to climb higher on the Ascension Staircase and become a Doctor of Fragrance, I have to come up with a complete formula and use it to successfully make spiritual fragrance."

Xu Yi folded the formula and tucked it into the inner pocket of his clothes.

"This formula is clearly designed for humans... The extract made from it is meant to be used on people.

"If I don't use humans as ingredients, does that mean I can't extract spiritual fragrance?"

Humans were the most spiritually gifted of all living things. Their bodies brimmed with spiritual energy, while animals were dull-witted and lacked awakened intelligence, leaving them with far less spiritual energy. Xu Yi thought the Foreign Devil's line of reasoning was sound.

"If I can improve this formula, could I extract spiritual fragrance from animals and climb higher to become a Doctor of Fragrance?"

After listening to the Foreign Devil today, Xu Yi had gained some understanding of the Path of Fragrance, but not much.

He searched around for a while and confirmed there was nothing else of value in the office.

Xu Yi found a paper briefcase in the Foreign Devil's desk drawer, tore down the "evidence of crime" covering the walls, and stuffed it inside.

He went to the operating table and bowed his head in silence for three seconds. Then he took out three matches, struck them against the matchbox, and tossed them onto the dead woman.

"Rest in peace."

He murmured the words, then quickly left the cargo container.

As Xu Yi slipped away from the warehouse under cover of darkness, he heard shouting behind him.

Smoke soon billowed out. The warehouse was full of flammable materials, and flames burst from within, swelling in the wind until they quickly devoured the whole building.

By the time the uproar caused by the fire grew loud, Xu Yi was already far away.

Feeling the heat carried to him on the night breeze, Xu Yi didn't look back.

On his way back to the 38th Shop District—somewhere near the 28th Shop District—Xu Yi passed a newspaper office.

The office occupied a two-story corner building. The white-brick, red-tiled building had a distinctive Puxi-style foreign design, with a circular, pointed roof. It stood tucked into a street corner close to the British Concession, and its sign, gleaming with a dull metallic sheen, bore the words Zhabei Wind Gazette.

"Zhabei" lay north of the thirty-eight "shop districts" of Puxi City. Outside the city walls, it was where the factories and common people of the Chinese Settlement gathered, far from the bustling center of Puxi City.

Xu Yi had heard of this newspaper office.

When Xu Yi had first arrived in Puxi City, the Zhabei Wind Gazette had exposed some of the Green Gang's "small-time" trades, and Green Gang thugs had beaten two of its reporters badly.

Even so, the newspaper had refused to yield to the Green Gang's violence. Instead, it had continued reporting on the assault, letting the story gain momentum and ignite public outrage.

It wasn't until the Constabulary couldn't contain the public outcry and the affair reached the British Concession that the foreign officials intervened. The Green Gang finally grew afraid and chose to back down, paying compensation and settling the matter.

This newspaper had a sense of justice.

Its reporters had guts.

Xu Yi quietly climbed the three steps, opened the newspaper office door a crack, and wedged the paper briefcase containing the Foreign Devil's incriminating evidence onto the inside doorknob. Then he closed the door and slipped away.

Xu Yi didn't return to the Golden Orchid Nunnery. Instead, he went back to Lingtong Hall in the Big Factory District, behind No. 56 in the 38th Shop District.

It was late at night, but the Big Factory District was still bustling. Lingtong Hall's night-shift security team had already started its watch.

It was the first day on the job, and Jin Baogen had Xu Yi's instructions to follow, so he naturally didn't dare slack off. He'd arranged things for the other brothers and sisters during the day, and now he had to stand watch with them.

Seeing Xu Yi return, looking exhausted, Jin Baogen didn't ask questions. He ushered Xu Yi toward the security department dormitory and told one of the younger guys to buy him a late-night meal.

The security department dormitory at Lingtong Hall stood right beside the factory. The noise was terrible, so getting any decent sleep there was out of the question.

Lingtong Hall hadn't set up the place expecting the security staff to sleep there. It was simply a gesture of respect: a place for them to rest if they got tired at work or had an emergency.

Xu Yi washed his face and sat down in the dormitory. By then, the younger guy had already returned with his late-night meal—

A big bowl of Slap Wontons mixed with a secret sesame sauce, and a bowl of red bean soup.

Xu Yi hated eating here because the security dormitory reeked of sweat. His sense of smell was so sharp that, before he could even consciously register it, he had already picked out the stench of sweaty feet, body odor, and moldy socks in the corner.

It was disgusting.

But Xu Yi was starving. A whole night of activating his spiritual energy had nearly drained him. Even if he planned to use Jing Tao's soft, jade-like touch to ease his exhaustion, he still needed to eat something first, or he'd be pushing his body too far.

Once he started eating, he managed to ignore the stench.

Xu Yi ate his fill, then asked:

"Do the guys have a place to stay now?"

Jin Baogen replied:

"We rented a shared room in Fan Gua Nong, Zhabei."

Fan Gua Nong in Zhabei lay beyond the thirty-eight shop districts of Puxi City, near Baoshan County north of the city walls. It was one of the slums where people from the countryside gathered.

Fan Gua Nong was made up of thousands upon thousands of simple wooden shacks, forming a vast residential area where many outsiders lived.

Because it covered such a large area and its houses were so densely packed, conditions there were extremely unsanitary. Fan Gua Nong was a hotspot for fires and epidemics.

The upside was that the rent was cheap: just a few copper coins a month.

Fan Gua Nong was about six kilometers from the 38th Shop District, which took roughly an hour to walk.

Hearing that his men lived so far away, Xu Yi immediately frowned.