Circulation

"After I told Liang Chi I was from the Clearwater Sect, Liang Chi agreed."

The richly dressed shopkeeper nodded with a smile.

Compared to Liang Chi, Xu Fan was of little importance.

Their talents were as different as clouds and mud.

According to his investigation, the two had practiced martial arts for roughly the same length of time, yet their strength was worlds apart.

One was still going around in circles in the Qi and Blood Realm, while the other had already completed his second blood exchange.

The difference was clear at a glance!

"Very good."

The woman in the green dress smiled and nodded. She rose, looked outside, and said calmly:

"Now we just have to wait for Lin Chu to lure Jiang Yunhe out."

A hundred-household commander had personally intervened, and Lin Chu had disappeared without a trace, his corpse nowhere to be found. Given how the Northern Pacification Office operated, it had to have been deliberate.

They had made a weaker practitioner of the Wedding Robe Divine Art into a target for another practitioner of the art.

"Miss, it's been a whole month. Will Jiang Yunhe really show up?"

The richly dressed shopkeeper was somewhat hesitant.

Some time ago, Jiang Yunhe had caused a huge stir. The moment he appeared, he had been an expert who had undergone eight blood exchanges, and even the Northern Pacification Office had come away empty-handed several times.

But Jiang Yunhe had no regard for his own life. To break through to the grandmaster realm, he had ambushed and killed Elder Wang's son, a True Disciple of the Clearwater Sect, and stolen the Emperor Flow Serum.

Elder Wang had personally gone after him, but he had still escaped. Elder Wang had, however, gravely wounded Jiang Yunhe with Martial Dao True Intention, and Jiang Yunhe had gone completely into hiding.

Now the Northern Pacification Office and the Clearwater Sect had sealed off all of Yin Mountain Prefecture and even Qingzhou. Jiang Yunhe could not possibly escape.

He was probably hiding somewhere right now.

"At least a ninety-eight percent chance."

The woman in the green dress smiled and nodded, utterly confident in her judgment.

"When practitioners of the Wedding Robe Divine Art devour one another, not only is it easier for them to break through, but their injuries also heal faster."

"It's a martial art for raising gu. The other practitioners are destined to become nourishment for the stronger ones."

"Jiang Yunhe was gravely wounded by Martial Dao True Intention. It will be hard for him to recover without devouring a great deal of Qi and Blood."

"Unless he's willing to use the Emperor Flow Serum to heal his injuries, but that would cost him his chance to become an Innate Grandmaster in a short time."

"All of Qingzhou is under martial law now, and Jiang Yunhe wouldn't dare act rashly, so his best choice is someone who also practices the Wedding Robe Divine Art."

"Jiang Yunhe has already undergone eight blood exchanges and obtained the Emperor Flow Serum. He won't be content to remain in the Blood Exchange Realm for long."

"And if he wants to get away, he'll need at least the strength of a grandmaster to have a chance. He doesn't have many choices, or much time."

Time was not on Jiang Yunhe's side.

Presumably, Jiang Yunhe himself understood that too.

Ambushing and killing a True Disciple of the Clearwater Sect was a grave matter that had brought shame upon the hegemon of an entire province. They would certainly do everything in their power to wipe him out.

Jiang Yunhe could hide now because the sect master was in seclusion and the Northern Pacification Office's pacification commissioner was not in the Lingnan Circuit.

Once a Great Grandmaster of that caliber made a move, there would be nowhere to hide without an equivalent level of cultivation.

So Jiang Yunhe was surely even more pressed for time.

"I see."

Only then did the richly dressed shopkeeper understand. He also realized why his young mistress had stayed.

"Once Jiang Yunhe reveals himself, you can kill him yourself, miss, and obtain the Emperor Flow Serum!"

At first, he had thought she had stayed for Liang Chi. Now it seemed he had been shortsighted.

His young mistress was resolute of heart. How could she be ensnared by matters of love?

"I've completed my ninth blood exchange and mastered Jade Water True Intention. I can break through to the innate realm at any time."

"But breaking through with only one kind of Martial Dao True Intention would be far too ordinary. It would be hard to contend with true heaven's chosen. The Emperor Flow Serum can let me master a second kind."

The woman in the green dress spoke calmly, but flames seemed to burn in her eyes. She clearly did not regard ordinary Innate Grandmasters as worthy of her attention.

The richly dressed shopkeeper's face lit up with excitement, and he immediately bowed before her.

"One day, miss, you will surely surpass the sect master. This old servant will be waiting for that day!"

The blazing sun was like fire.

In the reeds, Xu Fan slowly opened his eyes, sensing the Law Power circulating through his body, flowing through every part of him in an endless stream.

"Finally... I've formed the Circulation Wheel!"

He casually formed hand seals, and the Golden Light Technique transformed more smoothly than before, taking the shape of sabers, spears, swords, and halberds.

"With my current cultivation, I only need to circulate my Law Power to launch myself into the air and propel myself along, just as if I had practiced a lightness Movement Method."

"With the Golden Light Technique added to that, I should be able to hold my own against those blood exchange martial artists."

From what he knew, blood exchange martial artists were still tapping into their own potential. Their physical strength was astonishing, and combined with their martial arts' killing moves, they were immensely powerful.

But he did not seem to have seen any martial artists who also practiced a lightness Movement Method. They all specialized in their own cultivation methods and martial arts.

It was also possible they simply had not obtained a lightness Movement Method and relied instead on their own explosive power over short bursts.

"I'll keep lying low a while longer. Once I've cultivated the Jade Capital Wheel and gained spiritual sense, I can shed my lowborn status."

Xu Fan let out a breath. He was in no hurry.

He was still a long way from the late stage of Qi Refining, so he could wait before asking around for news of the Emperor Flow Serum.

Fetal Breathing cultivators lived to a hundred and twenty, and he was not yet eighteen. He could well afford to wait.

"I might as well go to the fish market and buy some white rice and meat. I'm getting sick of eating nothing but treasure fish."

Xu Fan got up and poled his boat along. He soon reached the fish market dock and paid three large coins.

He openly carried his bamboo basket to the fish market.

Inside was a Silver Moon Rainbow Trout he had set aside especially.

It weighed five or six jin. Even after handing over a seventy-percent cut, he would have enough.

A crowd had gathered at the entrance to the fish market. Someone was tied to a post beside the notice board.

An old man who had already breathed his last.

"Old Man Huang?"

Xu Fan's body jolted, and his gaze fell on the welts left by a whipping.

They were a shocking sight. The blood had dried, leaving scar after scar.

"Listen up! If you dare sell treasure fish to those outsiders on the sly, this is what happens to you!"

Li Tieyi had been demoted to an overseer and was furious.

When he caught someone selling treasure fish on the sly to those who had come to buy them, he killed the chicken to warn the monkeys.

"Any treasure fish you catch can only be sold to the fish market. You are absolutely forbidden to sell them to anyone else in private!"

"This dog didn't know enough to be grateful and wouldn't follow the fish market's rules. Death was his only road!"

The other fishermen were too frightened to make a sound. Only after Li Tieyi left did they dare whisper among themselves.

"Old Man Huang was careful all his life. He hardly ever went into the deep water, so how did he dare do this?"

"Wasn't it because he wanted to shed his lowborn status and buy a house in the city?"

"The fish market takes seventy percent now. Even though there are more treasure fish these days, there's still not much money left in our hands."

"But I heard those buyers pay the fish market ten taels per jin for treasure fish!"

"I think Old Man Huang knew that, and that's why he took the risk. Even five taels per jin would have made it worthwhile!"

The others all shook their heads and sighed. Some also had shifting expressions; the difference in price really was too great.

"Father!"

Old Man Huang's two sons came running from their black-awning boat, crying out, and fell to their knees before the post.

But neither dared take the corpse down.

Without the fish market's approval, even his own sons could only watch helplessly as their father's corpse hung there.

He spent decades guarding his life. Why did he dare take a risk when he was old?

Xu Fan shook his head inwardly.

Old Man Huang had been acquainted with his parents and was one of the few fishermen who had lived to fifty.

On the lake, fishermen were exposed to wind and sun, and the damp was heavy. Over the years, illness and pain would inevitably plague them.

Even if they were not devoured by strange beasts, many died of illness in their thirties or forties. When they fell ill, they simply had to endure it, and if they could not, they died.

We knew each other, and one day I'll avenge you.

After saying those words silently, he picked up his bamboo basket and entered the fish market.

Old Man Huang's death could not make him expose himself completely. Given time, matters would work themselves out.

Ever since his memories had awakened, he had always known what he wanted and what he should do.