Demon Flesh

"Big news?"

Lin Nan knew Liu Feng's family belonged to the Far Army Escort Bureau. Their ability to gather information was first-rate; when it came to gossip about the female disciples who had entered alongside them, Liu Feng was more practiced than he was with martial arts moves.

"Hehe..."

Liu Feng swept his gaze around before lowering his voice and beginning his tale.

"The first big thing is that I heard the younger brother of Tu Kui, Hall Master of the Blood Blade Sect's Execution Hall, got taken out. He died horribly—the corpse stank so badly in the room it was unbearable. Tu Kui's been shouting that he'll tear the killer into ten thousand pieces. I heard everyone in that area is on edge..."

"What?! Who would dare be so bold? That's utterly heartless!"

Lin Nan immediately "turned pale in shock."

"The second big thing is that there've been quite a few cases of women disappearing in the eastern part of the outer city. A lot of maids—and even young ladies—from merchant families there have vanished. Yesterday, I even heard from my father that a female Blood and Qi Realm martial artist from Gale Martial Hall disappeared under strange circumstances."

"Women going missing?"

Lin Nan frowned. This had nothing to do with him.

"Could some evil entity have slipped in?"

"Impossible. Those merchant households have hired plenty of jade talismans. How could ordinary evil entities get in?" Liu Feng shook his head.

"I'd rather believe it's some flower-plucking bandit."

"Damn flower-plucking bandit!"

"As for the third big thing..." Liu Feng lowered his voice and gave a mysterious smile. "Your lord here has fallen in love."

"Who fell victim to your poisonous hands?" Lin Nan was speechless.

"Xiao Ruo! She entered with us!" Liu Feng said smugly.

Just then, a sweet voice called from outside the door.

"Brother Feng, want to go out and enjoy the spring?"

"Coming!"

Liu Feng answered, then turned back and patted Lin Nan's shoulder with earnest gravity.

"I'm going on a date. If you ask me, why the hell are you still practicing martial arts? Life is short—enjoy it while you can!"

"No, we're not the same." Lin Nan shook his head.

Liu Feng rolled his eyes, got up, and left.

Black Dragon Outer City, south side.

Inside a residence.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

"Stop hitting me! Please, stop hitting me! I swear, I really didn't kill Scar Lord!"

A man covered in blood was pierced through both shoulder blades by iron hooks and hung in the middle of the courtyard like a ragged piece of clothing.

Before him, a group of men in black wielded whips, lashing his body again and again, tearing bloody welts across his flesh.

The entire courtyard echoed with the man's heart-rending screams.

"Reporting to Master Kui, this bastard has a hard mouth. He still refuses to confess to plotting against Scar Lord," one underling reported with clasped fists.

"Such a hard mouth? Then kill him and feed him to the dogs."

Tu Kui reclined halfway in a grandmaster rocking chair. He held a small booklet in his left hand and a brush in his right, neatly crossing out a name from the register.

A long list of names was written on the paper. Several lines from the bottom, Lin Nan's name was plainly among them.

"Go. The next one."

By the time he returned to the tile-roofed house, it was already evening.

Lin Nan reached into his robes and took out several silver ingots he had kept on him. They were the remaining money he had taken from Scar Lord.

To his surprise, Scar Lord had carried at least five taels of loose silver, along with a pile of copper coins.

That sum was enough for an ordinary family in the Tile-House District on the south side to live on for more than a year.

That brat must have spent his days squeezing the common folk dry. He hadn't died unjustly.

"Good thing I'm here in the south side, ridding the people of evil."

"Blood and Qi Soup has become less effective on me. It's probably an issue with my bones and physique—I was born with slow absorption of Blood and Qi."

Poor scholars, rich martial artists. In truth, martial arts training was a contest of resources and natural talent.

Over the past month or so, Lin Nan had personally seen two youths who entered with him take on assignments and return injured, all just to keep their supply of Blood and Qi Soup from running dry.

Luckily, the money from Scar Lord spared him the trouble of taking assignments anytime soon.

"If I want to improve quickly, I still need to find more things that stimulate Blood and Qi."

Tu Kui of the Blood Blade Sect's Execution Hall... third layer of the Flesh Realm... a martial arts expert...

"Quite a few people witnessed my dispute with Scar Lord that day. If the Blood Blade Sect doesn't intend to let the matter rest, they'll find their way to me sooner or later. I definitely can't stay in this tile-roofed house."

Lin Nan made his decision. He immediately pulled out a black cloth mask and covered his face, gathered every valuable thing in the house onto his person, strapped his steel saber at his left side, and prepared lime powder at his right waist.

Then he hurriedly pushed open the door and left.

The north side of the city was the most chaotic, a place where fish and dragons mingled.

Even at night, there were still many pedestrians on the streets, and many shops remained open. Foul air, the stench of blood, and all sorts of odors mingled together.

Following the information Liu Feng had given him, he wound through one crisscrossing narrow alley after another and soon found a hidden area of brick houses.

Lin Nan took another wooden token from his robes. The words "North City Market" were written on it.

North City Market was, in truth, a black market—the most secretive trading ground in the outer city.

Stalls lined the streets, displaying a dazzling array of goods. Many masked vendors shouted out their wares.

Lin Nan's gaze swiftly swept the surroundings, then suddenly stopped.

Behind one stall stood a rust-covered iron cage. Several children of seven or eight were locked inside, boys and girls alike, all huddled in the cage and trembling.

"They even sell people?"

Lin Nan's heart tightened. He did not linger, instead continuing onward.

At last, following Liu Feng's directions, he arrived before a stall.

Only a piece of blackened coarse cloth lay spread across the stall. Something bulged beneath it, as though it covered a stone.

"I'm here to buy demon flesh."

Lin Nan lowered his voice, making it hoarse.

"Fine. Let me see your token."

The stall owner was a short old man with his face hidden behind a mask.

He accepted the token and gave it a glance.

After confirming that there was no problem, he lifted one corner of the black cloth, revealing a chunk of dark-colored meat. Black-red veins ran through its fibers. When Lin Nan drew closer, he caught a strange odor.

"Demon flesh can increase a martial artist's Blood and Qi. This piece of mine is premium quality, especially good for you martial artists to nourish your bodies."

"How much?"

"Two taels of patterned silver per jin."

"So expensive?"

"How is it expensive? It's been this price for years. Don't go talking nonsense with your eyes wide open. You should know that demon flesh not only boosts Blood and Qi, but also strengthens virility, nourishes the kidneys, and has many other effects. It's a rare treasure."

The corner of Lin Nan's mouth twitched.

Those words were half true and half false, but the old man had deliberately concealed the latter half.

That was right. The most famous effect of demon flesh was its ability to increase a martial artist's Blood and Qi.

But why did martial artists in the city not use it? Because this stuff was a double-edged sword. Deep within demon flesh and blood lurked indelible yin-evil energy and residual toxins.

If ordinary martial artists ate it directly, that yin-evil energy would slowly erode their meridians, causing their Blood and Qi to decline.

Their martial path would grow narrower and narrower. In serious cases, their cultivation might even regress and their bodies collapse.

Therefore, demon flesh had to be prepared with a matching method to reduce its toxicity. Unfortunately, such methods had long been monopolized by the inner city.

"Luckily, I already had Liu Feng, that master of intelligence, look into this before coming," Lin Nan thought.

"Give me two jin to try first."

A moment later.

Lin Nan accepted the meat wrapped in oiled paper, gave a slight nod without saying anything more, and turned to merge into the dim stream of people.

Behind him, a man in black had appeared at some unknown point and silently begun following him.

Lin Nan twisted and turned through the streets before quickly entering an alley.

Suddenly.

He came to an abrupt halt. Power burst from his right wrist, and the lime powder he had long held in his palm scattered through the air!

Caught completely off guard, the man in black had not even reacted before white powder splashed into his eyes. The pain was so excruciating that he froze on the spot.

Taking advantage of that opening, Lin Nan spun around, burst out of the alley at top speed, and vanished into the deep night.

"Damn it, another fat fish got away!"

The man in black let out a furious roar.