Peerless Martial Art?

"Account books... Could they all be looking for the account books?"

Mo Chen's heart stirred, and his thoughts suddenly became clear.

He had thought of the key to this matter.

The theft of a hundred-odd taels of silver was nothing more than an ordinary theft case.

But if the account books had been stolen, that magistrate definitely would not be able to sleep soundly.

"Could Liu Yuan be connected to Magistrate Yu's affair?"

With that thought in mind.

Mo Chen sprang up and hurried straight to the servants' dormitory.

The sky was still dim and gray. The servants had not yet finished work, and there was no one in the dormitory.

Mo Chen shut the door, leaned against the wall beside it, and took out the two account books from his inventory to examine them.

"This one records some human trafficking deals between Magistrate Yu, Blackwind Stronghold, and brothels in the prefectural city. Wait..."

Mo Chen's pupils suddenly contracted as he stared in shock at a familiar shop name.

"Ancient Moon Pavilion?! How is that possible? Master Lu was involved in human trafficking too?"

Ancient Moon Pavilion was Lu Residence's antique and jade shop, and its owner was Master Lu, Lu Qingshan.

Lu Qingshan was well-known. Everyone in Yunyi County knew that he was kindhearted, devoted to Buddhism, and generous.

He even distributed porridge outside the city every year, helping refugees and beggars.

Yet now, a shop belonging to Lu Residence had appeared in this account book.

Mo Chen felt as though everything he knew had been smashed to pieces.

"You really can't judge a person by their face!"

Mo Chen clenched his fist, contempt and mockery flashing through his eyes.

At that moment, the entire Lu family became beasts feeding on human blood in his eyes.

After roughly reading through the first account book, Mo Chen picked up the second and began flipping through it.

However, the moment he opened the second account book, he froze.

"No writing?"

The second account book had clearly been kept together with the first because it was valuable.

Yet when he opened it, there was not a single character on its pages.

"That can't be right! How can there be no writing?"

Mo Chen was puzzled. Refusing to believe it, he flipped through several more pages. Even after turning over the entire booklet, he did not find so much as a single word.

"Could they have taken the wrong one..."

Mo Chen secretly furrowed his brow in speculation, but something still felt strange.

Since this account book had been kept together with the first, it could not possibly have no value at all.

Besides, when that thief stole it, had he really just grabbed it and run without even looking?

"Could there be some trick hidden here?"

Thinking of the espionage dramas from Earth in his previous life, Mo Chen's heart stirred. He found some water and sprinkled it over the pages.

A moment passed.

The paper remained blank, and no writing appeared.

He then set the oil lamp on the floor, lit it with a fire starter, and held the pages over it, heating them back and forth.

Suddenly, specks of brown writing appeared.

"There's something!" Mo Chen's eyes lit up. He had not expected his guess to be correct.

The second account book was actually an encrypted document.

As the pages heated up, brown characters emerged across every blank sheet in the entire booklet.

The characters were a scorched yellow-brown, like traces left behind when some liquid was singed by flame.

By the firelight, Mo Chen carefully examined the tiny characters, each no larger than grains of rice.

The moment he read them, his breathing stopped and his eyes went wide.

"Incense Apotheosis Great Law?"

A martial arts manual!

No, it should not be called a martial arts manual, because its contents described a method of tempering one's divine soul with the power of incense offerings, ultimately allowing the divine soul to leave the flesh and achieve an Yin Spirit.

Mo Chen's hands trembled, and he nearly dropped the booklet into the fire.

"This isn't some heretical cult technique, is it?"

Then, a line of small writing on the booklet instantly drew his attention.

"Incense Apotheosis Great Law, one of the four supreme-grade martial arts of the Great Qi Kingdom Protectorate Divine Hall. Upon reaching the third level, one's divine soul can leave the body and take an enemy's head from a thousand li away."

Mo Chen sucked in a cold breath and stared wide-eyed.

One of the four supreme-grade martial arts of the Great Qi Kingdom Protectorate Divine Hall?!

He had never expected that after killing the black-clad thief, he would obtain such a supreme-grade martial art.

Moreover, this martial art did not require internal energy cultivation. Even ordinary people could practically begin learning it.

One only needed to continuously gather incense offerings to cultivate it.

"How could Great Qi Kingdom's supreme-grade martial art be in Magistrate Yu's hands?"

Yunyi County was not merely a tiny county within Great Mystic; even within the Martial Suppression Office's territory, it was insignificant.

No matter how hard Mo Chen thought, he could not understand how Magistrate Yu had obtained a Great Qi secret manual.

"Could it be... Magistrate Yu and the others are connected to the Great Qi Dynasty?"

The thought shocked even Mo Chen himself.

This was practically treason—secretly colluding with the Great Qi Dynasty behind Great Mystic's back.

Mo Chen opened the system panel.

Sure enough, he saw the name Incense Apotheosis Great Law in the martial arts section.

[Supreme-grade · Incomplete · Incense Apotheosis Great Law (Not Yet Initiated)]

"Incomplete?" Mo Chen's thoughts turned, and he quickly understood what it meant.

The fact that a supreme-grade martial art from Great Qi's Protectorate Divine Hall had appeared in the hands of a minor magistrate in Great Mystic was already extremely bizarre.

He would never believe that one of the Protectorate Divine Hall's four supreme techniques could circulate so easily.

"What major secret is hidden behind this?"

Mo Chen frowned in thought, unsure whether this matter was a blessing or a curse for him.

At first, he had only wanted to kill the black-clad thief and get some silver to cultivate martial arts.

Later, he discovered that the thief's bundle contained evidence of Magistrate Yu colluding with bandits to traffic people.

And now, well, he had uncovered an even bigger bombshell!

Damn it, Magistrate Yu was actually suspected of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country.

Mo Chen felt that this small incident of killing a thief was becoming increasingly uncontrollable.

Now, there were even faint signs that he was being dragged into it.

"No! I absolutely can't get dragged in. I can't bear the grave crime of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country!"

Mo Chen blew out the oil lamp, put away the account books and the secret manual with a heavy heart, and stood up.

At present, he had no one to rely on.

He could only rely on himself.

Trapped within Lu Residence, this manor that devoured people, it seemed that the only path open to him was to increase his strength.

Otherwise, there were hidden martial arts experts within the residence like Steward Liu and Feng Niang.

And outside, Magistrate Yu, Constable Xu, and that woman in black were watching him.

Mo Chen felt terribly insecure.

He had the sense of danger that he could be captured and controlled at any moment.

"I need to raise my cultivation as quickly as possible!"

Mo Chen walked over to the communal bed and was just about to sit cross-legged and enter the martial training ground to cultivate.

When the dormitory door was pushed open from outside.

Immediately afterward, a sinister-looking middle-aged man entered with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Mo Chen!"

Mo Chen's heart tightened as he looked at the newcomer.

Liu Yuan?!

Why was he here?

Mo Chen's eyes flickered as he respectfully cupped his fist. "Greetings, Steward Liu!"

"Mo Chen, you've hidden yourself well, haven't you?"

Liu Yuan narrowed his eyes and stared at Mo Chen like a venomous snake, carefully sizing him up from top to bottom and side to side.

Mo Chen glanced at him and replied without changing expression, "Steward Liu, I don't understand what you mean. What do you mean, I've hidden myself deeply?"

Liu Yuan sneered twice. "Someone wants to see you. Come with me!"

With that, he turned and walked out of the servants' quarters.

Mo Chen hesitated for a moment. Then, remembering that he could enter the martial training ground to raise his cultivation at any time, he relaxed and followed after him.