Food Immortal Master

"Huh? B-but..." The girl sat dazed in the street, still trying to say something, when her collar tightened and a powerful arm dragged her away.

Shang Lang looked back to see the shopkeeper sprawled on the ground, staring blankly at the dog's body in his hand, bristling with vicious bone spikes.

Shang Lang gave an embarrassed grin. "Just think of it as a dream."

True qi surged from his hand into the dog's mouth, putting an end to the creature's life.

He tossed it to the ground and picked up the object it had been carrying. In his hand lay a carved wooden bead the size of a walnut.

"What is this?" Shang Lang asked the shopkeeper.

"A Yellowwood Dragon-Phoenix Bead. An ornament."

Shang Lang held it up to the light. The carving was passable, but hardly exquisite, and its polished surface lacked clarity and luster.

He squeezed hard enough to crack it open. Inside was nothing but wood, with nothing unusual about it.

Zheng Zhao, meanwhile, arrived at the old river channel.

There were quite a few homes here, but they stood in orderly rows, with little cover in the lanes. He leaped onto tall trees and rooftops. People came and went, but he saw nothing unusual.

Could it be inside one of the homes?

But if something strange happened at home, how could the family fail to notice?

Zheng Zhao leaped down, caught hold of a passerby, and showed his badge. "Which household here has few people?"

"Few people? Whole families live here. None of the households are small." The passerby looked puzzled. "What are you asking, officer?"

Zheng Zhao frowned. "At this hour, which house would have only one or two people inside?"

The passerby thought for a moment. "Well... ah! I know. Are you looking for the Zhao Family Manor, officer? The whole family moved to the prefectural city. They only left old Uncle Lin to look after the place."

"Which one?"

"The biggest..."

Before he finished speaking, Zheng Zhao sprang into the air and sailed straight toward the mansion.

The passerby felt as though a huge kite had been yanked away right before his eyes. Startled, he stepped back, and when he turned his head, that "kite" was already in the sky.

"Good heavens..." The passerby was dumbstruck.

Zheng Zhao landed on the roof of the Zhao Family Manor. Its gray walls and black eaves did look grander than those of the other homes. It was a residence with three successive courtyards, silent and deserted, though there were clear signs of regular cleaning.

Zheng Zhao listened intently. Faint sounds from one room reached his ears. He drifted lightly down outside it, poked a hole through the paper window, and peered inside.

The room was filled with books. A stooped old man walked stiffly back and forth between the shelves. As he turned, a pair of blue eyes flashed into view.

Zheng Zhao gestured for his companion to wait, then slipped soundlessly into the room alone.

Like a ghost, he followed step by step behind the old man until the man stopped before a bookshelf.

Zheng Zhao looked up. At the top of the shelf was the large character for "martial."

The old man pulled out a book, completing his mission.

The "dragon flesh," no longer hiding itself, began spreading its infection without restraint. The old man's face instantly twisted into a savage visage, scales and horns beginning to grow.

But the transformation lasted only a second. With a clatter, its cleanly severed head fell to the floor.

Zheng Zhao caught the book. The words on its cover read A Brief Discussion of Sublime Martial Arts.

He flipped it open. It was true to its title: some half-baked amateur had dumped every "powerful martial art" he had ever heard of into it. Its arrangement was a complete jumble, comparing internal cultivation arts with sword techniques and listing Kunlun alongside bandit strongholds. Most descriptions were distorted, their sources nothing more than fanciful street-corner tales.

Zheng Zhao leafed through it. Finding no hidden compartment or anything of the sort, he tucked it into his robe and headed straight back to the County Office.

Wang Yunzhang, meanwhile, arrived at the Big Willow Tree.

It was a place where nearby residents often sat to rest. Three or four old men were lounging there in conversation, and the moment he arrived, he spotted his target-the man was running headlong down the street.

He sent his companion ahead to clear the way so no civilians would be caught up in it, while he trailed behind to see where it was going.

But the farther they went, the stranger things became.

First, it had been running for far too long. Second, if it kept heading this way, wouldn't it end up back at the County Office?

Just then, two figures appeared ahead, one in blue-green and one in white. He did not know what Xing Zhi and Xu Weizhou had discussed, but it seemed that Ming Qitian and Xu Weizhou had ultimately been chosen to leave town together and confront the enemy.

His companion, who had been clearing the way, was already explaining the situation to them. Wang Yunzhang was about to hurry forward when the creature suddenly charged, leaping straight at Ming Qitian!

Xu Weizhou slapped it to the ground. With the body pinned beneath his foot, its transformation visibly began.

Wang Yunzhang hurried over. Looking at Ming Qitian with a mixture of unease and puzzlement, he rubbed his hands together. "Well... Bright Sword Master, I'm afraid we'll have to trouble you to return to the County Office..."

Before Ming Qitian could speak, Xu Weizhou's face darkened.

Ming Qitian nodded. Xing Zhi had already told her they might ask her to take something away, so she turned back at once.

Xu Weizhou turned with her. Wang Yunzhang paused in surprise. "Assistant Prefect Xu, you don't need to go back."

Xu Weizhou stopped, his face darkening further.

Chapter 71: The Manuscript

Inside the County Office, Xing Zhi looked at what had been placed before her: a wooden bead, a book... and Ming Qitian.

What could she make of this?

She recalled Black Chi's instructions. "Once He touches a certain number of related objects, He can pinpoint the target directly. We, however, have to deduce it with our minds-that might be slower than Him, but it could also be faster."

A book about martial arts seemed to have some connection to Ming Qitian, but Xing Zhi leafed through it and found no martial arts from Cloud Lang Mountain.

That was only natural. Although the booklet even recorded "wondrous arts and supreme scriptures"-without being able to list their names, merely boasting about them as a general category-that was because they ranked among the "five great opportunities to ascend to heaven" in the tales of the martial world.

Cloud Lang Mountain, however, had few disciples, and they tended to remain apart from worldly affairs. Only people of considerable standing would know anything of its true nature.

As she thought, another possibility suddenly occurred to her. Could... the thing the Immortal Lord wanted to destroy be Ming Qitian herself?

Although she did not yet know the Supreme One True Dragon Immortal Lord's level, surely no one would doubt that Ming Qitian might one day be capable of threatening him.

She recalled another question she had asked. "Can they only find related objects? Is it possible for them to find the thing itself directly?"

"It's possible." Black Chi's calm voice seemed to sound beside her ear.

"A wooden bead, a book, and Ming Qitian," the black cat murmured on his shoulder.

"What?" Pei Ye asked.

"Information from the three hosts," the black cat said. "Those are the three things they each locked onto."

"What connection is there between those three things?"

"It isn't that they're connected to one another. Each points toward that thing on a different level," the black cat said. "The bead, for example, might mean the thing is wooden, or spherical..."

"Hmm... a spherical martial art connected to Ming Qitian?"

"...Let's find some more clues." The black cat sighed softly. "Keep close behind it for now-it turned that way. What is that place?"

"The Martial Arts Hall."

Pei Ye quickened his steps, and the familiar courtyard came into view.

A clamor rose from within as children of all ages cheered.

"Master Huang! Master Huang's here! Sit properly!"

Amid a clatter, the children sat up straight. An old man in his fifties, dressed in martial attire, slowly emerged while fastening his belt.

On that rainstorm night at the County Office, three instructors from the Martial Arts Hall had been summoned. Not one had returned.

Old and injured, Master Huang had once been the least busy instructor at the Martial Arts Hall. Now he had become its main pillar, teaching four classes a day.

"Has anyone been slacking off?" he asked gruffly.

"No!"

"Zhao Feihu was slacking off!"

"Bullshit!"

"He was! He spent half an hour taking a shit!"

"Zhao Feihu, do you have that much shit in you?" Master Huang asked expressionlessly.

The children burst into laughter. Zhao Feihu stood with his face flushed red, hanging his head without a word.

"I'll let you off this once. Don't do it again!" Master Huang said sternly. "Sit down."

Pei Ye had never seen this side of him. Presumably, with the stricter instructors dead, he had no choice but to take on their role.

Master Huang slowly sat down and said in a measured voice, "Today, we'll cover the twentieth installment of Broken Chivalrous Bones."

The words had barely left his mouth, and the children had not yet begun to cheer, when someone entered through the gate, his face hidden beneath a straw hat.

Master Huang frowned and craned his neck to look for a moment, vaguely recognizing the figure. "Is that... Brother Zhengguang? What brings you here?"

But the man simply walked straight inside, passing the apprentices and then Master Huang as he headed toward the room.

The flash of eerie blue beneath the straw hat made Master Huang's heart tighten. He was about to reach out and grab the man when someone behind him caught his wrist first.

Startled, Master Huang turned. A boy's face, both familiar and unfamiliar, appeared behind him, with a graceful black cat perched on his shoulder.

"L-little Pei?!" Master Huang exclaimed in astonishment.

Pei Ye nodded, pointed at the old farmer who had gone inside, and raised a finger. "Shh."

The black cat leaped lightly from his shoulder and followed the old farmer inside.

Master Huang stared at him blankly. Pei Ye smiled. "Master Huang, it's official County Office business. It'll be over in a moment."

Master Huang nodded with only a hazy understanding. Astonishingly, he really did stop paying attention to what was happening inside. Taking hold of Pei Ye, he addressed the children craning their necks to look. "None of you recognize him anymore. This was once the most gifted apprentice in our school."

The children wore the same half-comprehending expressions Master Huang had worn a moment earlier.

Master Huang added, "He's Pei Ye."

A roar of startled cries erupted, and the Martial Arts Hall filled with noise. The boys who had returned had already recounted countless times who had killed that villain in the Seventh Growth realm a few days earlier.

Looking at their excited, admiring faces, Pei Ye felt a little dazed-the feeling came from the conflict between being the phoenix's tail and the chicken's head.