The air in the quiet chamber seemed to have solidified. Lu Ze maintained the Earth Shaman hand seal.
His consciousness traveled north along the Myriad Medicine Pavilion, finally settling deep within the Wolf Head Mercenary Group's compound. The scorching heat of the fire attribute and the sharpness of metal gradually grew clearer in his perception.
It was a miniature mineral vein, primarily composed of crimson flame crystal copper, a fire-attribute ore commonly used to forge Yellow Tier weapons.
Yet in the deepest part of the vein, a fingernail-sized drop of dark red, viscous liquid clung to the rock wall, slowly dripping down-fire spirit marrow, the essence nurtured over a century within a crimson flame crystal copper vein under conditions of extreme fire.
A single drop of fire spirit marrow was enough to let a fire-attribute Dou Zhe directly condense liquid Dou Qi, or even touch the threshold of Dou Shi.
To the Mittel Auction House, this thing was valuable enough to buy all the shops in a small city!
The chamber's stone door slowly opened, and the night wind rushed in, carrying the chill of autumn rain.
Lu Ze raised his hand. The cold, clammy sensation from deep within the mineral vein still lingered at his fingertips.
The crimson flame crystal copper vein beneath the Wolf Head Mercenary Group and that drop of fire spirit marrow were undoubtedly genuine treasures.
But he did not set out immediately. Before he could raid the treasury, he had to ensure that nothing happened to the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.
After observing for the past few days, he had determined that the man watching the Myriad Medicine Pavilion was one of Mu Li's skilled subordinates: Bloody Hand Zhao Tu, a Nine-Star Dou Zhe-the blind man selling sweet potatoes at the street corner.
Zhao Tu specialized in poison and assassination. Once Lu Ze left, Zhao Tu would either secretly follow him, exposing his movements, or exploit his absence to attack the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.
Unless he pulled out this nail, he could not leave the Myriad Medicine Pavilion to raid Mu Li's treasury with peace of mind.
Lu Ze wiped the water stains from his cuffs and turned toward the medicine storeroom in the rear courtyard.
Cloying sweetness mingled with pungent bitterness inside the storeroom. Thick gauze covered Xiao Yi Xian's face, leaving only her clear eyes exposed.
Holding a small silver knife, she carefully removed the necrotic tissue beside a frost venom python's venom gland.
"The juice of purple-leaf half-demon grass is too concentrated. If we mix it directly, it'll evaporate instantly."
She did not look up, her voice somewhat muffled through the gauze.
"So we have to neutralize it with frost venom python venom, then add three mace of deadwood ash to lock the poison into the liquid."
A drop of deep blue venom fell into the emerald-green juice. The boiling liquid instantly subsided, turning into a pool of viscous, purplish-black paste that gave off an extremely faint sweet scent resembling rotten apples.
"What's this?"
Lu Ze sat beside the table, his gaze falling on the paste.
Xiao Yi Xian put down the silver knife and removed her gloves.
"This is the deadly poison I developed. Although it can't dissolve Dou Qi or killing intent, once inhaled or touched, it will cause a slight delay in the circulation of Dou Qi."
She paused, her eyes growing somewhat grave.
"And for a Dou Zhe, half a breath means life or death."
Lu Ze nodded slightly, agreeing with Xiao Yi Xian.
"Help me make it into smoke bombs, the kind I can carry and crush whenever I need them. About three."
"All right."
Xiao Yi Xian nodded and turned to fetch wax pellets.
After quite a while, Lu Ze took the three black wax pellets she handed him and weighed them between his fingertips.
"Intelligence came in saying Mu Li went to Crimson Flame Valley to look for medicinal ingredients to advance."
???
Mu Li left?
Lu Ze pondered for a moment. Did he leave in the original story? Could this be the butterfly effect?
Never mind. Whether he's gone or not, I need to kill Zhao Tu!
Mu Li had sent Zhao Tu to probe the Myriad Medicine Pavilion's foundations at the lowest possible cost.
As long as Zhao Tu lived, the Myriad Medicine Pavilion would forever remain on the back foot, under surveillance.
Killing Zhao Tu was not merely about pulling out a nail, but also about creating an information gap.
To make Mu Li wary of the "expert" behind the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.
Night fell, and the autumn rain continued unabated.
The bluestone-paved roads of Qingshan Town gleamed under the rain, reflecting the dim lights along the streets.
Lu Ze wore a short gray tunic of coarse cloth and straw sandals. In his hand was a battered bamboo basket containing a few bunches of wild greens still coated in mud.
He let the icy rain drip from the brim of his bamboo hat.
[Do Not Investigate Me].
The artistic conception of Withered Mulberry Leaves quietly bloomed in the depths of his soul.
His body temperature began to drop. His breathing synchronized with the sound of droplets striking the bluestone paving, and his Dou Qi fluctuations were completely erased. Even the rainwater on him seemed to lose its temperature.
The suppression imposed by cultivation realms was still far too powerful.
For a Four-Star Dou Zhe to kill a peak Nine-Star Dou Zhe in a direct clash would mean nine chances of death and one of survival.
Besides, too much commotion would inevitably draw the Wolf Head Mercenary Group's attention.
Only by relying on this conceptual-level concealment to erase the gap in perception brought about by their realms could he have a chance to create an opening.
Deep in a dark alley, a blind man in an old cloak huddled in a corner, holding half a cold roasted sweet potato.
His arm hung unnaturally, his right hand hidden inside his sleeve.
Zhao Tu's eyelid suddenly twitched. His perception registered no disturbance; the three approaching figures ahead had presences as deathly still as withered wood.
"Ordinary people?"
Zhao Tu frowned.
"No!" The instincts honed by years of walking a tightrope made every hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
Seven steps.
Six steps.
When only five steps remained between them, Lu Ze stopped.
"Got a light?"
Lu Ze raised his head, revealing a dull-looking face smeared with muddy water beneath his bamboo hat.
His voice was hoarse.
A word burst from Zhao Tu's throat:
"Scram!"
The fingertips of his right hand, inside his sleeve, had already gripped a fine needle coated in deep blue venom.
Lu Ze sighed. The next instant, his left hand abruptly crushed a black wax pellet inside his sleeve.
Pop! With an extremely faint, muffled sound, thick purplish-gray smoke burst through the narrow alley.
That rotten-apple sweetness mingled with the raw smell of rainwater and rushed straight at Zhao Tu's face.
"Poison!"
Zhao Tu reacted extremely quickly. The Dou Qi inside him suddenly erupted, and an ocher Dou Qi Gauze Robe instantly covered his entire body, keeping the poison out.
His left hand slammed against the ground, and his entire body shot backward like an arrow loosed from its string.
At the same time, he flicked his right hand, sending three poisoned needles toward Lu Ze's face in a triangular formation.
A Nine-Star Dou Zhe's attacks were vicious and lethal.
Lu Ze stamped his right foot into the muddy water, tilting his body left at an angle that utterly defied common sense and narrowly avoiding two poisoned needles.
The third grazed the rim of his ear as it flew past, drawing a thin line of blood.
Knee Slash. Lu Ze abruptly clawed at empty air with his left hand.
A blended yet tenacious suction force appeared out of nowhere, catching a loose bluestone slab beneath Zhao Tu's feet. The slab flipped up and smashed toward his calf.
Zhao Tu snorted coldly. His Dou Qi Gauze Robe took the slab's impact head-on, but his movement faltered slightly as a result.
Now!
Xiao Yi Xian's poison followed the slight breeze stirred by his backward flight and seeped into the gaps in his Dou Qi Gauze Robe.
Zhao Tu suddenly felt a tiny hitch in the circulation of the Dou Qi within his dantian, as though sand had seeped into it.
"You're courting death!" Killing intent surged in Zhao Tu's eyes. Rather than retreat, he advanced, drawing a pitch-black short blade from his sleeve with his right hand and using his momentum to thrust straight at Lu Ze's throat.
A deep blue sheen glimmered on the short blade. Clearly, it too carried a deadly poison.
Lu Ze swiftly gripped the Emerald Water Sword in his right hand and held it horizontally across his chest, sheath and all.
Clang!
The short blade slashed across the sheath, and a force that could topple mountains and overturn seas surged along the sword into Lu Ze's arm.
The webbing between Lu Ze's thumb and forefinger split instantly, blood spraying as the tremendous force blasted him backward.
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