Song and Jin Cease Hostilities, Progress in [Vein-Seizing]; The Ruins' Key, Piecing Together the Truth

Lin Changheng returned to the Spirit Wine Tower he had visited before. It was still bustling, with little change in the flow of customers.

Yet he saw none of the familiar faces from his previous visit.

Rogue cultivators were highly transient, after all, and their mortality rate was extremely high. Sharing drinks and laughter today, only to find someone's head severed from their body tomorrow, was nothing unusual.

"Waiter, bring me your finest spirit wine again, along with my usual dishes. Do you still remember them?"

Lin Changheng was led to a square table whose previous guests had just left. He sat down and gave his order.

"Rest assured, Senior Li. For a valued customer like you, I'd remember every detail even if my head fell off. I guarantee the wine and dishes will be exactly right."

The waiter clearly remembered this generous regular. He attentively wiped the already-clean tabletop several more times and grinned.

"Mm." Lin Changheng asked casually, "Have Fellow Daoists Zhao and Qian, who shared my table before, visited recently?"

"Senior Zhao hasn't come in for over half a year. As for Senior Qian, I haven't seen him in a month."

The waiter thought carefully for a moment before giving his earnest answer.

"All right, off you go. Bring my wine and food quickly!"

Lin Changheng waved him away.

"Of course! Just a moment, please."

Ignoring the waiter as he hurried off to work, Lin Changheng swept an apparently casual glance over the tower's patrons. In truth, his invisible, intangible divine sense had already spread silently outward, flowing like spilled mercury as he listened in on the entire room.

At the same time, he used [Dual-Purpose Mind], sinking part of his awareness into his body to inspect the increasingly profound, dusky-golden flame seed in his lower abdominal