Under the faint rays of dusk, Zhuo Fan was venturing alone through the city. He seemed to be at ease, but his mind was hard at work. He was spreading his soul to his surroundings for detection purposes.
Yet, after such a long time, no expert appeared in sight.
"Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Maybe my cover isn't blown."
Zhuo Fan whispered. As he strolled around, he ended up around a street with run-down buildings.
This place housed people like Zhuo Fan, those from third-rate clans.
"Hey, this is my area, take your things out of here!"
"Cut the crap, I came first. What's yours? Get lost!"
"Kid, you dare talk back to this young master? Do you know who I am?"
"Humph, why would anyone care? If you think you're so great then how did you end up here?"
These events played out everywhere, the third rate clans claiming a new dwelling as theirs. This was a place where the weak were despised. Yet, ironically, even these weaklings, who were discarded in this dump, fought among each other.
"Humph, what a pathetic bunch. This is why third rate clans can't amount to anything and deserves to be in the slums."
Zhuo Fan spoke in a harsh voice, no longer paying them any heed.
He walked further in and found the shabby buildings on both sides have already been taken.
Everyone eyed him with open hostility, afraid he'd want to fight them over their lodgings.
[This seemed like a common occurrence here.] Zhuo Fan scoffed, his every action was only to further his own goals. Fighting over a house disgraceful to him.
Unfortunately, he found no place vacant as he wandered around. [Do I need to fight for a bed? It is much better to take the sky as my roof.]
Zhuo Fan suddenly halted. His eyes watched the house before him with skepticism, then he looked at the people around oddly.
At the end of this row of shabby houses, there was one building that looked to be in better shape, yet no one lived in it.
With how rowdy the crowd was before, now, there was no sign of anyone around.
Frowning, he turned to the people fighting in doubt, "Why are you foolishly fighting? Can't you see that empty house?"
"Humph, you're the fool! If you want to die, go right ahead!" Someone was quick to snap in derision.
Zhuo Fan was baffled. But one man was kind enough to advise, "Brother, you can stay at my house if you'd like. I will make room for you, but you mustn't step foot in that one."
"Why?"
Sighing, the man explained, "You are new here so you don't know. The owner is a scourge woman, her body riddled with disease. Many have disregarded this warning and chose to live there. Even though they stayed far away from her, in the back of the house, they all died three days later."
"Yeah, not even beggars would stay there. And because of lack of space in the Drifting Flowers City as the Hundred Pill Meeting approaches, we were sent to this dump! Goddamit, isn't Drifting Flowers Edifice the ruler here? Why don't they just take out this scourged woman once and for all?"
Zhuo Fan snorted inside.
If that woman was disease ridden, he had to see it first hand for himself. [You all are standing outside yapping on and on. None of you dare to take action and still want to send someone else in to kill her.]
It was obvious who were the true scourges.
Ignoring the senseless chatter, Zhuo Fan was walking straight to it under everyone's gaze.
"Brother, do you have a death wish?"
"My life is boundless!" Zhuo Fan waved him off.
Whether plagued or poisoned, while other people heed it in anxiety, he was worriless. Demon Transformation Art could absorb anything in this world, even this disease!
The closer he got to this plagued district, the colder it became. This made Zhuo Fan frown.
He found no plague here, but abnormal changes that could only come about from an array.
"Who's there?"
Zhuo Fan followed the shout to see a girl before a broken-down house in rough linen staring at him.
The girl may be dressed in coarse linen, hiding her form and face, but her pure eyes caught Zhuo Fan off guard.
He swore he never saw such mesmerizing eyes in his life.
"What beautiful eyes!" Zhuo Fan admired.
The girl's cheeks turned a tint rosier. Her eyes lowered a bit but still had the same coldness, "Who are you? Who told you you can come in?"
"Uhm, I am Nightrain City's Song Yu, arriving here for the Hundred Pill Meeting. Because of my third rate clan's status, I can only stay here!" Zhuo Fan cupped his hands, smiling like a gentleman.
The girl frowned, her tone harsh, "Then stay in another house, aren't you afraid of death by coming here?"
"I believe death is unimportant. I saw how selfish and despicable the people here are acting and couldn't recognize such men as my neighbors. I would rather choose death in this peaceful place!"
"Stop lying, think I'd believe you're sophistry?" She huffed.
Helpless, Zhuo Fan made a heartbroken face, "Lady, I'll be honest. All the people before are stronger than me and I can't beat them. If you throw me out, I will die at their hands!"
To such a sound argument, the lady nodded, believing it somewhat. But Zhuo Fan switched tones way too fast, which caught her off guard and caused her to be suspicious. Her tone grew colder as she asked, "You're afraid of being beaten to death, but not afraid of me? Do you know who I am?"
"I do, of course I do!"
Zhuo Fan bobbed his head, "I heard them say there is a scourge woman here, that must mean you. But I would rather get diseased than die beaten. As they say, a flower should be allowed to roam free… "
"Quiet, don't try to play smart with me!"
The lady snapped, her eyes darting around in thought. She pointed her white finger to a broken house, "Sleep there, but you are to never wander outside at night, or you will die."
"Yes, lady, I promise!" Zhuo Fan nodded and when he looked up, she was gone.
He narrowed his eyes and his revering gaze now turned to one of coldness.
[I couldn't see through her cultivation. Did she reach the Radiant Stage? Or maybe she's a common person? But how can a common person hold such a tone before a Bone Tempering expert?]
[Humph, how amusing!]
Zhuo Fan's mouth perked up into a grin and entered his house, [You must be up to something since you forbid me from going out at night. Then I will do just that and find out what you're hiding!]
Zhuo Fan went to meditate.
Time trickled by and the night cast a cloak of darkness over the slums.
A sudden ripple came from the slums, followed by a sharp decrease in temperature. Zhuo Fan shivered and muttered, "I was right, it is an array."
His hand flashed and revealed a small bottle. It contained the same pill he used in Allbeast Mountain Range, an Energy Concealing Pill!
Whoosh!
Zhuo Fan flicked it into the air and a flash of red came from his body and swallowed it.
The ethereal Blood Infant made Zhuo Fan give off a wicked smile. Not even a Radiant Stage could find it now that it ate that pill.
"Go!"
Blood Infant went through the walls and flew deeper into the slums, reaching the furthest area.
That place was in ruins, ruins that formed an odd array. The lady sat upright in its center, deep in meditation. The bright moonlight, with its extreme coldness, entered inside the array then her body, while the rest chilled the slums.
With each ray of power from the moonlight she absorbed, her body grew a sheen layer of ice. Then, a green flash from her forehead pierced through the ice and slowly faded away.
Each time that happened, the lady's eyelids trembled, as if in great pain!
"3rd-grade array, A Moon Array!"
Zhuo Fan sighed and withdrew the Blood Infant.
He now understood why the previous people died. He thought it was because of the scourge woman's vile conduct or her disease. But after he saw it, he knew that it was neither of those. She was only treating herself.
The ignorant people approached her and the moonlight's yin energy ravaged through their meridians and that damage eventually killed them.
Moon Array allowed one to absorb the moon's yin and cultivate, but spending too much time in it would throw one's inner balance out of whack. Yet, this scourge woman had no intention of cultivating, she was just using the moon's yin to suppress the poison inside her.
Unfortunately, this was not without side effects. As yin gathered inside, her meridians would start to deteriorate and one day, she would become a cripple. The more she tried to contain the poison, the more violent it would be when she couldn't hold it in check any longer.
It could even take her life.
Such a scene caused even the great demon cultivator, Zhuo Fan to feel pity for the lady. Just what poison was so deadly that needed such an extreme method to suppress it?