One Basket Short of Success
"Perhaps," Song Wen murmured, his tone tinged with conjecture, "Zhu Jiao died at the hands of Demon Beast?"
"Demon Beast?" Jing Kai looked thoughtful. "To kill Zhu Jiao, it must be a peak first-tier, or even second-tier, Demon Beast. There couldn't possibly be such a powerful Demon Beast near Shanfu City."
"If Bloodthirsty Bees can travel thousands of miles to come to Shanfu City to suck human blood, who knows what flying Demon Beast might happen to be passing through Shanfu City?"
Song Wen deliberately attributed Zhu Jiao's death to Demon Beast.
This was because, just now, the Shadow Gu discovered that Yuan Qing had not left, but had quietly followed him to a dense forest more than twenty miles away.
Yuan Qing is Peak Golden Core Stage cultivator, and his Divine Sense can perceive a range of thirty-two miles.
Song Wen only has the cultivation level of the Golden Core Early Stage. The perception range of a cultivator at the Golden Core Early Stage is eight li.
There is a huge difference in the range of Divine Sense perception between the two.
Therefore, Yuan Qing dared to hide in the shadows without any restraint, secretly spying on Song Wen and the other man, without worrying at all about being discovered by Song Wen.
Song Wen was unaware of Yuan Qing's intentions in monitoring the two of them. However, he knew that Shanfu City was a dangerous place and not a place to stay for long.
So he deliberately linked Zhu Jiao's death to the Demon Beast, hoping to return to Shepherd Mountain as soon as possible.
Jing Kai hesitated for a moment and said, "To draw such a hasty conclusion might not be a good way to explain things to the Bamboo Sound Pavilion."
"Zhu Jiao has been dead for seven days, and all traces have long since vanished. Whether he died at the hands of Demon Beast or someone else, it's difficult to find any clues. Staying here is a waste of our energy. I plan to return to Shepherd Mountain first. What are your plans, young friend?"
Jing Kai hesitated for a moment, then said, "I will remain in the Cold Mountain Kingdom to temporarily assume Zhu Jiao's duties. The capital of the Cold Mountain Kingdom has just been attacked by Bloodthirsty Bees, and I am worried that trouble may arise."
Song Wen nodded. "Very well. Then, young friend Jing, please be vigilant. In case of any unexpected situations, you can use the <Starline Formation> to send a message to me."
As soon as he finished speaking, Song Wen urged the spaceship forward and headed into the sky.
"This Extreme Yin is quite a remarkable person."
Yuan Qing gazed at the spaceships flying overhead and murmured to himself.
Now that the 'Extreme Yin' has left, things will be much easier.
As for Jing Kai, Yuan Qing didn't take him seriously at all.
Yuan Qing concealed his presence and quietly arrived at the palace, sneaking into Cui Zaishi's study.
When Cui Zaishi saw Yuan Qing suddenly appear, he was briefly surprised, but his expression became extremely respectful.
"Greetings, Immortal! Are you the newly arrived Shepherd?"
Yuan Qing's lips curled into a disdainful smile. "I'm not some lowly sheep herder."
Upon hearing Cui Zaishi's eyes widened suddenly, filled with shock.
From the other party's contemptuous tone, it's easy to see that they didn't take the Qi Refining Stage sheep hunter seriously at all.
This indicates that the other party is at least Foundation Establishment cultivator, or even a legendary Golden Core cultivator.
Such a powerful cultivator suddenly coming to find me is definitely not a good thing.
"May I ask... May I ask what brings you here, venerable immortal?"
Excessive tension and fear caused Cui Zaishi he spoke.
"Hand over the Demon Soul Token," Yuan Qing said calmly.
"Demon Soul Token?" Cui Zaishi looked bewildered. "Your Excellency, I have never heard of a 'Demon Soul Token'."
Yuan Qing's expression hardened, and his voice turned somewhat cold.
"You don't know about the Demon Soul Token?"
Cui Zaishi said, "This lowly person would never dare to deceive the Immortal."
"Whether you're lying or not, I can find out with just one question."
Yuan Qing instantly moved in front of Cui Zaishi and placed one hand on his head.
Cui Zaishi felt a surge of powerful spiritual energy rush into his mind, like a raging torrent, engulfing his consciousness.
A moment later, Yuan Qing released Cui Zaishi.
He muttered to himself, "It seems he truly doesn't know about the Demon Soul Token; it should be in the hands of his father, Demon Soul Token Cui Shi."
Yuan Qing frowned slightly. In Cui Zaishi's memory, Cui Shi had already left Shanfu City a few days ago, intending to escape Sheep Island.
However, Yuan Qing did not know the specific route Cui Shi took to escape from Sheep Island.
It's unclear whether the soul search failed to retrieve this part of the memory, or whether Cui Shi simply didn't tell Cui Zaishi.
Yuan Qing's gaze fell on Cui Zaishi.
The latter, having been forcibly subjected to a soul search, collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Yuan Qing twitched his fingers slightly, and a gash suddenly appeared in Cui Zaishi's chest, with scarlet blood slowly gushing out.
As the blood accumulated, it quickly condensed into a fist-sized ball of blood in the air.
As Yuan Qing continuously formed hand Method Formula, the blood sphere changed shape in the air, eventually outlining a strange rune.
The runes emitted bursts of red light, and one by one, illusory blood-red runes gradually solidified.
Half an hour later, dozens of rune phantoms condensed in the air.
Each illusory rune represents a blood relative of Cui Zaishi.
"Go!"
Yuan Qing uttered a soft sound.
The illusory runes flew out in all directions, sweeping towards various corners of the royal palace. One of the runes flew straight out of the palace and headed towards the east coast.
Yuan Qing took out a soul banner and imprisoned Cui Zaishi's soul.
Then, he put Cui Zaishi's body into his storage ring, turned around and left the palace, chasing after the blood-red runes.
Yuan Qing acted with exceptional caution, leaving no trace whatsoever.
No one noticed anything amiss during what happened in the Imperial Study, including the guards outside and Jing Kai, who was severely interrogating the Empress and Jing Kai in the inner palace.
Cui Shi was in a wooden boat, which was floating on the vast sea.
His face was filled with excitement and nervousness, because in front of him lay a wall of fog that stretched as far as the eye could see.
He knew that once he passed through this wall of fog, he would be free.
From a two-legged sheep being domesticated to a real person, a person who can act according to their own will, a person who doesn't have to worry about being harvested like livestock at any time.
From then on, birds could fly freely in the sky, and fish could leap freely in the sea!
Cui Shi touched the jade pendant at his waist, which was the pass to the maze he obtained after killing Zhu Jiao.
He rowed hard, the boat accelerated, and rushed towards the wall of fog.
Just as the bow of the wooden boat had pierced the wall of mist, it suddenly stopped.
A figure flashed across the bow of the ship.
Yuan Qing's figure suddenly appeared.
"You're quite the escape artist!" Yuan Qing said with a smile.
Cui Shi's eyes suddenly widened, his face filled with panic and terror.
He mistook Yuan Qing for the person guarding the formation and hurriedly said so.
"Senior, please spare my life!"
Yuan Qing seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world, his face beaming with a smile full of mockery and sarcasm.
"A way out? When have you ever had a real way out? Everything your Cui Family discovered in the tomb was nothing more than a carefully orchestrated scheme by me."