Eight Immortals of the Upper Grotto

As dusk settles, night falls quickly in Nanyang. The lingering heat of the day has not yet dissipated, instead forming a thick, sticky layer of moisture that envelops the body.

"The Primordial Spirit departed from its body and went to Mount Hua; upon its return, the physical body had turned to smoke. The soul was resurrected as a starving corpse, missing a leg; with iron crutch and disheveled hair, it became Loose Immortal."

The lame man ahead walked with a limp, occasionally taking out his wine flask, taking a sip, and then continuing forward.

Meanwhile, Xu Zhi'an and Hong Shuwei quietly followed from a distance.

In fact, the two siblings have been following each other ever since they left the port.

After leaving the Port Surumai, the surrounding area suddenly transforms into the local rainforest climate, with miasma in front and weasels behind, and only dirt roads are passable.

However, after walking only a few miles, the environment improved again. The concrete road meandered and twisted, with a warm grayish-white luster. The road surface was so clean that you could hardly see a single fallen leaf, as if it had just been swept.

Neat rows of shrubs lined both sides of the road. The shrubs were trimmed into meticulously sculpted spheres, exuding an indescribable sense of order and refinement. Various flowers and plants dotted the shrubs, including purplish-red bougainvillea, golden marigolds, and a few tropical orchids whose names I did not know.

This is also the style of Nanyang Chinese businessmen. These people do not live with the locals, and they generally do not live in the city, but instead open villas in the mountains.

However, the difference between Nanyang Asia and Middle Earth is that the closer you are to the deep mountains and forests, the more concentrated the Spiritual Qi becomes, and the more rampant the weeds and trees grow.

So don't be fooled by the fact that it's just a garden on the mountain. If you want to live in such a garden, the surrounding area for dozens of miles must be maintained regularly. Otherwise, some strange snakes, insects, and rodents from the rainforest will come out. They are extremely poisonous, and a bite can be fatal.

Whether or not a business owns a garden is also a standard for measuring the financial strength of local Chinese businessmen. A garden of this caliber would require several hundred people to manage.

It is said that the most prominent wealthy merchants in Nanyang even leased an entire mountain to build a garden.

And coincidentally, the Hong Household, to which Hong Shuwei belonged, was a wealthy merchant family of that caliber.

The maintenance of the infrastructure in this area is also the responsibility of Zheng Family Garden itself.

The lame man went in the direction of Zheng Family Garden.

"Senior brother, what exactly happened?" Hong Shuwei couldn't hold back any longer and asked.

This time, Xu Zhi'an didn't keep her in suspense but patiently explained.

"Over the past two weeks, I've noticed that we're not the only ones paying attention to Zheng Family Garden. However, most of them, like us, are either overt or covert sentries, at most making contact with people on the outskirts of Zheng Family Garden to buy some intelligence. But these past few days, I've noticed that someone has been checking out the outer perimeter of Zheng Family Garden every night. I reckon they're preparing to make a move."

Hong Shuwei looked at the other person in surprise. So, Senior Brother, you go out to scout locations every night? You didn't even take me with you on this trip.

Xu Zhi'an noticed the other person's expression and explained, "I have the Realm of Subtlety, which allows me to shield my own aura. Your martial arts level is not high enough. If you follow me, not only will you not be able to keep up with anyone, but we might also be discovered. You know, these Nanyang armed forces love to smuggle second-hand weapons from Heavenly Gate, such as those Divine Sense radars and demon-catching radars. They will definitely check very strictly on their own territory."

"We're here to help catch thieves, not to be thieves ourselves."

Hong Shuwei finally understood.

"So, senior brother, as soon as these people make a move, we'll immediately capture them and bring them to Zheng Family Garden to claim credit and rewards. That Martial Hall Master is responsible for protecting Zheng Family Garden, so he'll definitely show up, and we'll be able to strike up a conversation then."

That's what I mean. Do you understand now?

"Senior brother's insight is brilliant!"

After their conversation, the two continued to follow the lame man. During this time, Xu Zhi'an seemed to sense something, but he wasn't sure.

Unexpectedly, the lame man in front of them seemed to have no intention of concealing his identity.

He swaggered down the street.

Strangely, there wasn't a single person in sight on this main road leading directly to Zheng Family Garden.

Now, not only Xu Zhi'an sensed something was wrong, but even Hong Shuwei felt something was amiss.

Halfway there, the lame man opposite stopped.

Just when the two thought they had been discovered, another poem was recited.

"The paper donkey is folded and put away, I sit back and look back at the world's flow. The sound of the fisherman's drum awakens me from my dusty dream, I will not follow the emperor to seek immortality."

The next moment, an old Daoist priest appeared, riding upside down on the back of a donkey, his head bobbing up and down. Even more strangely, the one reciting the poem was the donkey beneath him, and this donkey was white.

"Singing and dancing through the bustling market, I make my home a basket of spring colors. Drunk, I ride the clouds to the vast sea, letting fallen petals drift with the waves to the ends of the earth."

Accompanied by a crisp sound, a boy in blue suddenly appeared, smiling and bowing to the two of them.

"Brother Li, Brother Zhang."

"Brother Lan, are you also going to pick up Brother Lü today?"

"That's natural."

"Very good, very good," the donkey said in human language.

"Let's go together, let's go together," the lame man continued.

The three of them traveled together, still swaggering towards Zheng Family Garden.

"Senior brother, something feels increasingly off," Hong Shuwei taken aback.

"Something's not right," Xu Zhi'an frowned. Whether it was his Divine Sense or his martial arts perception, these three were all ordinary people with no cultivation whatsoever.

But he hadn't even noticed the blue-clad boy who had suddenly appeared.

"Alright, junior sister, you take the back path to Zheng Family Garden and inform that Martial Hall Master directly. I'll stop them."

"Be careful, senior."

Hong Shuwei didn't waste any words, her figure darting directly into the rainforest. Xu Zhi'an took a step, and a three-inch-thick layer appeared on the ground beneath his foot.

Footprint.

Don't assume that martial artists don't use sneak attacks; in fact, they are masters of sneak attacks.

Moreover, when they launch a surprise attack, they go all out.

Xu Zhi'an transformed his soft palm into steel, unleashing his trump card, the Gang Current Rends the Void. Streams of acquired Postnatal Gang Qi, painstakingly collected, tore through the air, heading straight for the "crippled man."

Xu Zhi'an had observed for a while. The blue-clad boy was ghostly, and the one riding the donkey was very strange, making it hard to distinguish between the man and the donkey. Only the lame man looked like a normal person at least.

When this disciple of the Nanyang Chinese Affairs General Company made his move, the ground within a radius of a hundred feet cracked inch by inch, instantly turning the surrounding matter into powder.

Earth Star has no gale layer, only an atmosphere, and there is no such thing as "Innate Gang Qi". Even this Postnatal Gang Qi is the result of more than ten years of hard work, risking the Seaquake, diving into the underwater currents, waiting for several huge currents to collide, and the underwater Spiritual Qi was stimulated and exploded, thus evolving into acquired Postnatal Gang Qi.

Those were all collected bit by bit.

Over the years, he has only collected three of them, and the first one he used was the thickest one.

This was indeed a killing move he had accumulated over many years. His Gang Qi spread inch by inch, seemingly slow but actually fast, and finally converged on the cripple's body. Without any resistance, it directly ignited most of his body on the spot, turning it into a rain of blood.

Xu Zhi'an.

Ever since his exceptionally talented senior brother got into trouble, Master Hong's teaching style began to take a strange turn. He pursued the complete destruction of people's bodies, and if a body could be dismembered, he would never leave a complete corpse.

This led the younger generation of the Nanyang Chinese Affairs to become increasingly brutal.

Xu Zhi'an also deeply inherited the True Disciple of Master Hong.

That very moment saved his life.

The next moment, countless bloody nerve threads suddenly gushed out from the cripple's still relatively intact leg.

Xu Zhi'an's pupils suddenly widened, and he opened his mouth, unleashing another burst of acquired Postnatal Gang Qi that struck the needle-like threads. At the same time, his figure staggered backward, the remaining Gang Qi swirling around him.

"Those nerve threads that just shot out actually produced Sword Qi Thunder Sound." If it weren't for his ability to perceive his own fortune after entering the microscopic realm, he would have lost half his life just now.

In the howling wind, he seemed to hear the lame man's loud laughter.

"Nerves connect the crippled body, iron crutches replace the feet. The gourd does not store the elixir of immortality, but a bag of signals ferries one across the dusty ruins."

How did the Heavenly Blood Python become familiar with this monster?

Could it be that monsters possess some kind of special attraction?

A strange thought flashed through Xu Zhi'an's mind.

Hong Shuwei, who had just stormed into Zheng Family Garden, also heard the loud noise coming from not far away, and her expression changed drastically.

"I am Hong Shuwei from the Nanyang Chinese Affairs General Company. I need to see your Martial Hall Master; someone is plotting against him!"

Above a covered bridge and lotus pond, she saw a woman in red feeding the fish. Feeding fish so late at night?

Before she could think, she grabbed the other person's hand. It was cold and slippery, and the palm strength she had honed from gripping iron filings found nothing.

"Shh~ Don't disturb what's under the pond," Liuniang said with a smile. For some reason, her beautiful face had a sinister quality to it when she smiled.

Hong Shuwei for a moment, then quickly said, "Quick, take me to see the Heavenly Blood Python. Someone is trying to harm him; they're outside."

"With such a commotion, it would be hard for the master not to know," Liuniang said with a smile. "As for the enemy you mentioned, it should be this one."

Hong Shuwei turned her head, only to find that the person standing on the lotus pond, wading through the water, was none other than the blue-clad youth she had just seen.

The blue-clad youth's delicate features swayed in the moonlight as he smiled at the two women. For some reason, the sinister look on his face bore a resemblance to that of Liuniang.

"I am Lan Caihe. May I ask if you two know where our Fellow Daoist Lü Pure Yang, one of the Eight Immortals of the Upper Grotto, is now?"

"There is no one with the surname Lü in our Zheng Family Garden. However, if you want to find my master, that won't work. My master has already gone to bed."

"It's alright, I'll wake him up."

Looking down, Liuniang discovered that the pond water had turned to blood, and at the same time, lotus flowers were visible to the naked eye in this month.

It blossomed.

"The veins sprout tender shoots, flesh and blood fragrant; the blood lotus bursts forth from its scabbard, blazing brightly. With a clapper's sound, life surges forth; seeds scatter and spread across the fields with the tide."

As soon Lan Caihe finished speaking, countless blood lotuses shot out from the bottom of the pool, opening their blood-red maws and lunging at the two of them.