The night was at its darkest, and Wushan Village lay in peace.
Wei Fan kicked the stove fire in every direction, and the ferocious flames quickly set the entire room ablaze.
Then Wei Fan jumped out through the window, slipped into the night, and fled far away.
"Fire! Fire!"
The servants in the courtyard saw the blaze and hurriedly shouted for help.
But by then, the flames had gradually engulfed the entire house, lighting up the night sky.
Everyone began fighting the fire, and the scene descended into chaos.
From the neighboring Zhu residence, a figure also leaped over the wall and rushed over. Seeing the alchemy hut amid the raging flames, his face darkened.
The man grabbed a menial servant and demanded, "What happened?"
"Lord Zhu Chenghuan, I don't know either. I heard people shouting about a fire, so I came to put it out!" the servant said, trembling.
"Hm? You don't know?" Zhu Chenghuan's expression turned vicious.
"Spare me, my lord! I truly don't know!" the servant hastily begged.
Bang!
With a flick of his hand, Zhu Chenghuan hurled the servant straight into the flames.
Aah!!!
The servant struggled amid the fire and let out agonized screams, but the flames quickly swallowed him whole.
At the sight, the other servants and retainers all shuddered.
Zhu Chenghuan, the second young master of the Zhu family, was notorious throughout Wushan Village for his brutality. Everyone feared him as they would a tiger.
Half an hour later, the fire was extinguished.
Zhu Chenghuan stepped into the ruins and rubble, only to find the servant's corpse.
Several valuable items had also vanished.
"The alchemist escaped?" Thinking of that possibility, Zhu Chenghuan's face clouded over, as though he might fly into a towering rage at any moment.
Meanwhile, atop the southern district's city wall—
Wei Fan hid a bag of bottles and jars within a crack in the stone.
As for the alchemist's corpse, he had disposed of it cleanly with the Night Watch Team's corpse-dissolving agent, leaving not even a scrap behind.
Only Vice Captains were issued this kind of agent, and Wei Fan had only just received it.
With the fire having destroyed the traces as well, Wei Fan believed that no one would suspect him anytime soon.
The night was unusually calm. Wei Fan had originally thought there would be an invasion by monstrosities, yet nothing happened.
That abnormal calm instead made people feel uneasy.
In truth, Wei Fan had hoped for a few low-level monstrosities to appear so he could farm some energy.
About an hour and a half later, Lu Qingshan appeared atop the southern district's city wall.
After checking with a Monstrosity Detection Talisman, Lu Qingshan asked, "Wei Fan, did you see anyone suspicious leave through the southern district?"
"No." Wei Fan shook his head.
During the time he had been stationed here, he truly had not seen anyone suspicious.
"Then continue standing guard." Looking thoughtful, Lu Qingshan patted Wei Fan on the shoulder.
"Captain Lu, did something happen? I just saw a fire in the Inner Circle," Wei Fan took the chance to ask.
"It's nothing. A residence caught fire, and the alchemist inside fled," Lu Qingshan replied.
"Oh, so that's what happened." Wei Fan remained expressionless.
Lu Qingshan then left and continued his search.
Only after watching his back vanish from sight did Wei Fan reveal a faint smile.
It seemed he had handled the crime scene very well.
At present, they merely suspected that the alchemist had fled; they had not considered that he had been murdered.
Of course, the most important reason was that the alchemist himself possessed strength close to the Blood Rage Realm.
To kill him silently, one would need an expert of the Blood Rage Realm.
There were only a handful of Blood Rage Realm experts in all of Wushan Village, and none of them had any motive.
Therefore, the Zhu family believed that the alchemist had most likely fled.
"Sure enough, only powerful strength can give one a sense of security." Wei Fan gazed at the night sky, his eyes growing profound.
The night passed without incident.
At daybreak, Wei Fan returned to the garrison.
After counting the Night Watchers and confirming that none were missing, then checking them with the Monstrosity Detection Talisman and finding no problems, he dismissed them to rest.
Wei Fan returned home, ate breakfast, and went to sleep.
When he woke again, it was already afternoon.
Wei Fan steadied himself and took out the ancient book on the Human Origin Pill that he had seized.
After leafing through it for a while, he found that the ancient book mainly detailed the method for refining the Human Origin Pill.
It was a pill capable of increasing one's lifespan. It required human souls as raw materials and had only a twenty percent chance of success.
"With only a twenty percent chance, they slaughtered so many villagers. They truly deserve to die!" Wei Fan thought.
As he continued reading, Wei Fan discovered that the final pages of the ancient book actually recorded a cultivation art called the Ghost Locking Seal.
The Ghost Locking Seal used one's own blood to condense a special ghostly sigil in the palm.
By stamping the sigil onto the forehead of a dying person, one could draw out their soul and refine it into a ghost servant.
The more powerful a person had been in life, the stronger the ghost servant refined from them would be.
"So this is how the White Ghost Soul was refined!" Wei Fan raised an eyebrow, finally understanding how that alchemist had gathered souls.
With a thought, Wei Fan consumed one point of energy and successfully learned the Ghost Locking Seal.
Looking at his palm, he saw three tadpole-shaped secret patterns slowly emerge there, before gradually fading away.
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