Chapter 127: Chapter 127: Arriving in Droves

The cave residence on Immortal Peach Mountain.

"Possession?"

When Li Ping heard Gumu Sheng say that the child he’d brought from Teng Feng Village was suspected of having been possessed, he couldn’t help but look surprised.

He hadn’t expected that under the rule of the Righteous Dao, in a place like the Immortal City, a Cultivator would actually perform Possession—and on someone connected to him, of all people.

But on second thought, it didn’t seem all that surprising.

After all, when Cultivators fought Demon Beasts in the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, a single careless mistake could lead to their Dharma Body being damaged.

Once their injuries became too severe, if they didn’t want to die, their only choice was Possession.

However, the Divine Souls of Qi Refining Cultivators were fragile. Barring certain special circumstances, they were incapable of leaving their bodies to perform Possession.

Generally, only Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage or higher could successfully have their Divine Soul leave their body to perform Possession.

...

Listening to Gumu Sheng’s account, Li Ping’s first instinct was to stay out of it. At the end of the day, this boy named ’He Yunyi’ had nothing to do with him.

Why should he risk offending a Cultivator of the same rank by getting involved?

"Big Brother, what should we do?" Gumu Sheng asked for Li Ping’s opinion after finishing his report.

Li Ping shook his head. "Possession is a major taboo in the Cultivation Realm. I say we report this directly to the Immortal City. They will surely handle it appropriately."

Hearing Li Ping’s decision, Gumu Sheng nodded in agreement. "You’re right, Big Brother. The one who performed the Possession might even be one of the Immortal City’s own people. It’s best to let them handle such a troublesome matter themselves."

With that, he turned to leave.

But just then, Bai Lin walked in, leading an anxious-looking Ji Shu Xuan.

The moment he saw Li Ping, Ji Shu Xuan cried out urgently, "Senior, Hengchuan is in danger! I beg you, please save him!"

"What happened? What’s wrong with Hengchuan?" Seeing his frantic expression, Li Ping’s heart sank.

Ji Shu Xuan took a breath before explaining what had happened.

It turned out that after visiting Li Ping a short while ago, he had been placated by Yan Hengchuan’s excuses and didn’t insist on telling Li Ping about the suspected criminal hiding in the inn.

Afterward, the two went their separate ways.

But after returning to his brewery, Ji Shu Xuan couldn’t stop worrying about Yan Hengchuan.

So, after thinking it over, he decided to go to the inn to check on Yan Hengchuan.

When he got there, however, he discovered the entire inn had become a river of blood, with bodies strewn across the floor!

The sight made his heart turn to ice. Fortunately, after a thorough search, he didn’t find Yan Hengchuan among the corpses.

He figured Yan Hengchuan had either escaped and was hiding somewhere waiting for rescue, or he had been taken hostage.

Unable to sit still, he had rushed to Immortal Peach Mountain to ask Li Ping for help.

...

After listening to Ji Shu Xuan’s story, Li Ping’s expression instantly darkened.

He could ignore others, but Yan Hengchuan was his Third Senior Brother’s grandson. Their relationship was anything but ordinary.

Moreover, it was only because of his personal guarantee that his Third Senior Brother had agreed to let Yan Hengchuan come to the Immortal City to cultivate.

If something happened to Yan Hengchuan in the Immortal City, right under his nose...

He would truly have no face to see his Third Senior Brother again!

Agitated, Li Ping suddenly had a thought. He looked at Ji Shu Xuan and asked, "What’s the name of the inn where Hengchuan was apprenticing?"

Ji Shu Xuan answered honestly, "Cloud Inn!"

Li Ping’s gaze then shifted to Gumu Sheng, who gave a wry smile and nodded. "You guessed right, Big Brother. Cloud Inn is exactly where I sent He Yunyi to cultivate. It seems he was alerted, and he’s fled the Immortal City after the murders."

Hearing this, Li Ping’s expression grew even darker.

It would be fine if Yan Hengchuan had escaped and was just hiding. But if the possessor had taken him out of the Immortal City as a hostage, things would be much more troublesome.

The world outside the Immortal City was vast and mostly uninhabited. If the culprit simply found a random mountain to hide on, where would he even begin to look?

Even with his Divine Sense—fifty percent stronger than that of an Early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator—his detection range was only a hundred and fifty zhang in radius.

...

At this moment, Gumu Sheng began to analyze in a low voice, "Big Brother, once a Cultivator’s Divine Soul leaves the body, it loses its physical protection. Exposed to the wind and sun, it won’t take long for it to dissipate into nothingness."

Li Ping’s interest was piqued. He glanced at Gumu Sheng, his eyes signaling for him to continue.

"So... I suspect the possessor’s original body should be somewhere not far from Teng Feng Village." Gumu Sheng frowned, recalling the scene from years ago when he brought He Yunyi to the Immortal City. "When I first brought him here, he wasn’t carrying a Storage Bag or any Spiritual Objects. After leaving the Immortal City, isn’t it possible he would go back to retrieve his Storage Bag?"

Li Ping felt Gumu Sheng’s analysis was very reasonable.

Of course, the main reason was that he had no other leads. It was a desperate gamble, but he had to try.

Without much hesitation, he looked at the two of them. "You’re both involved with this possessor, so for your own safety, stay here on Immortal Peach Mountain and don’t leave. I’ll go to Teng Feng Village to investigate the situation!"

"Yes, Senior!" Ji Shu Xuan quickly agreed.

Gumu Sheng hesitated for a moment before nodding decisively. "Alright, Big Brother."

He then gave Li Ping detailed directions to Teng Feng Village. To prevent Li Ping from getting lost, he even drew a simple map on the spot and handed it over as he spoke.

"Good." Taking the map, Li Ping wasted no words, immediately summoning his Escape Light and flying out of the city.

Worried sick about Yan Hengchuan and leaving in a hurry, he didn’t notice the hesitation in Gumu Sheng’s eyes.

Gumu Sheng, in truth, had wanted to go with Li Ping to investigate the situation at Teng Feng Village.

After all, there was likely a Storage Bag from a Foundation Establishment Cultivator hidden there, containing the entirety of their life’s fortune.

How could he not be tempted by such a windfall?

However, considering his own safety and his Big Brother’s orders, he gave up the idea of following him out of the city.

’Knowing Big Brother’s character, if he finds the Storage Bag, he’ll probably give me a share,’ he hoped silently.

...

Liu Wusheng and Miaorou had been spending their days in the city, using various methods to search for traces of the person Yan Liming had possessed.

Of course, it was mainly Miaorou doing the work.

After all, before backstabbing Yan Liming to gain merit and return to the Qi Kingdom with Mr. Yan, Miaorou had spent decades in the Immortal City as the Shopkeeper of the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, accumulating a deep network of contacts.

Now, with her demonic sect identity still unexposed, this network had become very useful.

The two of them were focused on tracing the flow of certain unique resources required for Yan Liming’s primary Cultivation Technique, the Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations Scripture.

If Yan Liming had given up his Dharma Body and chosen Possession, his Cultivation would have returned to zero, and he would need to slowly cultivate it all back.

During this rebuilding process, continuing to practice the Cultivation Technique he had already thoroughly mastered was obviously the best choice!

Therefore, as long as they found traces of someone purchasing these unique resources, they could follow the trail and track down Yan Liming.

Initially, Miaorou hadn’t held out much hope for this approach.

For one, after the Possession, Yan Liming might not have come to the Immortal City to cultivate. If he had possessed a member of some Cultivation Clan, he would have simply stayed on the clan’s Spiritual Land to practice.

For another, even if Yan Liming was in the Immortal City, the city’s population was huge and diverse. Her network couldn’t possibly cover every single channel of trade, so it was very likely she would miss any purchase he made.

But who would have thought that after some investigation, she would actually find traces of someone purchasing those exact resources.

Considering she had betrayed Yan Liming, if he managed to regain his strength, he would definitely come after her first. At that point, she would likely wish she were dead.

Miaorou eagerly dragged Liu Wusheng to the Cloud Inn. She smiled and said, "That old scoundrel Yan Liming is disguised as a waiter in this inn. He thought that as a mere Qi Refining Stage Cultivator, no one would notice him secretly buying a few small things in the market. But as it happens, the stall owner who sold him those resources likes to relax at the Cloud Inn in his spare time. He recognized him instantly when he was buying the materials."

"The waiter here, He Yunyi, arrived at the inn about four years ago, which lines up with the time that old fiend was besieged and forced to flee. It’s highly likely he’s the one the old fiend possessed." She looked at Liu Wusheng. "You go on in and catch up with your master. I’ll wait for you out here."

Hearing this, Liu Wusheng didn’t enter the inn. Instead, a chilling smile spread across his face. "Mistress, you’re not planning any funny business, are you? I think we should go see Master together. After you, Mistress."

It wasn’t that Liu Wusheng was worried Miaorou would flee after he entered the inn.

What he was truly worried about was that even though his master had been forced into Possession due to heavy injuries, there was no guarantee he didn’t still have some life-saving treasure capable of harming a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

If he brought Miaorou in with him, he could use her as a shield in case of danger.

"Hmph!" Miaorou saw through his plan. With a cold snort, she had no choice but to push open the inn’s doors and step inside first.

And then, she froze.

A moment later, noticing no sound from within, a wary Liu Wusheng also entered.

Staring at the bodies covering the floor, the two couldn’t help but look at each other, the same thought flashing through both their minds: ’That wily old fox!’

...

Before anyone could discover the scene inside the inn, the two slipped away unnoticed. Then, the same idea occurred to them: start from the location where He Yunyi was possessed.

Of course, they didn’t know that when Yan Liming performed the Possession, he had been unable to take his Storage Bag with him.

They simply hoped that by following this lead, they could uncover more information about Yan Liming and find his escape destination.

Soon, using Miaorou’s channels, they found the location of the village where He Yunyi was born.

While they were looking up the information, when Liu Wusheng wasn’t paying attention, Miaorou secretly spread the news that ’Yan Liming had possessed He Yunyi, committed murder, and fled’.

Liu Wusheng wanted to get his hands on Yan Liming’s Storage Bag, so he didn’t want to alert the Immortal City officials.

But Miaorou was different. While she also wanted Yan Liming’s Storage Bag, what she wanted even more was for Yan Liming to be dead for good!

Only if Yan Liming was truly and completely dead would he be unable to seek revenge on her.

She didn’t mind leaking the information to the Immortal City. As long as Yan Liming ended up dead, she didn’t care who killed him!

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