The hour of Yin.
Gusu City, the night patrol's station.
An architectural complex that spanned dozens of acres, with the tallest building having five stories.
The five-story structure was dominated by red and black colors, with a helmet-shaped roof covered in golden-colored glazed tiles, and on each side to the east and west, stood a statue of a Xiezhi.
Inside the fourth floor at this moment.
"Can't find it!?"
Xu Qian exclaimed in astonishment.
"Yes, using the Thousand-mile Sky Patrol Device, I've traced back the origin of that Transformation Fruit, but found nothing,"
said Li Mi, pointing at the golden copper vase beside him.
The Thousand-mile Sky Patrol Device is one of the representative magic artifacts of the Great Xia Dynasty.
It is also an essential "divine instrument" for investigation in every night patrol station.
County cities are equipped with the Thousand-mile Sky Patrol Device, the capitals of each state have the Ten Thousand Miles Sky Patrol Instrument, and it is said that in Shangjing City, the capital of Great Xia, there are three Sky Patrol Instruments that can cover a range of a hundred thousand miles.
This magic artifact is cast from fine bronze, seven feet in diameter, resembling a tilting vase; it has a tray on top, engraved with secret scripts.
Surrounding it are eight Xiezhi, each holding a Spiritual Pearl in their mouths, underpinned by a Yin Yang Eight Diagrams Plate.
Each time it's used, one only needs to place the item to be traced on the tray above, stimulate it with a spell, and the corresponding Xiezhi will spit out the pearl from its mouth.
Then, by observing where the Spiritual Pearl lands on the Yin Yang Eight Diagrams Plate, one can pinpoint the search radius to within ten kilometers.
Xu Qian looked at the Thousand-mile Sky Patrol Device placed in the center of the main hall, feeling that his chance for promotion had flown away again.
"But Mr. Li, I personally saw that the Transformation Fruit was indeed extracted from the body of a mystical creature! Could it be that this device is broken?"
He had always been skeptical about this furnace, especially after knowing how perfunctorily named this magic artifact was; it seemed unreliable no matter how he looked at it.
"Your brain is what's broken, this furnace... this device can't possibly be broken!"
Li Mi snapped back irritably, then chuckled, "The Transformation Fruit has been sealed with a prohibition, most likely bait specifically designed by the Demon Sect to fish for people. However... it's just not clear who is fishing for whom yet."
After speaking, Li Mi gently flipped the scroll in his hand.
The entire person vanished from the main hall.
Xu Qian, staring at where his superior had just disappeared, was stunned and muttered to himself,
"Is this the Confucian Skill, 'A Step Away, A World Apart'?"
"Come outside the station."
Li Mi's voice suddenly rang in his ear.
...
Outside the night patrol's station.
In a certain narrow alley.
A white-robed cultist fiercely slapped Zhu Laosi several times.
Then, ignoring the astonished looks from the grey-robed Cultivators around him, he prepared to retreat.
He had cast the bait to fish, only to end up luring the night patrol's station into the fray, wasn't this like an old woman heading to the privy to find death?
Just as he turned to leave, he saw a middle-aged man in a blue official uniform with a dignified face,
holding a scroll, who had appeared behind them without their knowledge.
"The bigger the storm, the pricier the fish," the middle-aged man said with a smile.
Gusu City is adjacent to the East Sea.
This is a common saying among the nearby fishermen.
"But if the storm is too fierce, the fishermen might also be dragged under by the fish,"
continued the middle-aged man, still smiling while holding the scroll.
Fourth Grade night patrolman Li Mi!
One of the current strongest beings in Gusu City, a top expert in the Void Refinement Realm!
The white-robed cultist had seen Li Mi. As an envoy of the Demon Sect in Gusu City, he made an effort to obtain portraits of any Cultivator in the city with a higher realm than his own,
mainly out of fear of accidentally encountering an existence that he couldn't provoke.
And now, he found himself cornered in an alley by one of the most unprovokable existences in the city.
It was like he had cast bait to catch a carp, but ended up hooking a great white shark.
So, was this a sign from the heavens that he should surrender?
It must be!
With that thought, the white-robed cultist knelt without a second's hesitation.
"Mr. Li, I...￥% am reporting...%￥#&...￥%... a bastard named &% Zhou."
That son of a bitch Hall Master Zou!
Not only did he implant a Gu Worm in their body, but he also placed a prohibition in their Sea of Consciousness!
This was the last thought of the white-robed follower before losing consciousness.
Li Mi watched with a growing smile as the cultivator wearing a Shura mask and clad in white robes suddenly knelt before him.
Then.
He could no longer smile.
The white-robed follower hadn't said two sentences before black blood began to flow from all seven orifices, and soon after, he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
Those grey-robed cultivators behind the white-robed follower also began to bleed from their seven orifices after his death, falling to the ground one after another, devoid of all vitality.
It seemed their Life Souls were bound together with the white-robed cultivator's Life Soul.
Poor Mr. Li had used his Close Horizon to catch people, only to hear two phrases.
One was "Mr. Li," and the other was "son of a bitch."
The local Demon Sect really had no manners at all.
How could they curse in the streets before dying, and even do it while kneeling at that?
"Mr. Li?"
Xu Qian's voice came from the mouth of the alley; from the moment he heard the message to descending the stairs to find this alley, only a moment had passed.
He held a long knife and looked around, peeking his head out.
He saw Li Mi standing in the depths of the alley, with a ground full of cultivator corpses in front of him.
All of them had seven orifices from which blood flowed.
Scary!
From this angle, his superior looked just like a villain.
"Sir, what is this?"
Xu Qian asked softly.
"Ah, don't be scared, these cultivators were just cannon fodder who had strayed into the Demon Sect. That they managed to cling to life for so many years, they truly were cunning and venomous. It was an oversight on my part," Li Mi sighed profoundly and instructed Xu Qian to have people clear the bodies from the alley.
With a flip of a page, he disappeared into the alley again.
Xu Qian was completely baffled. What was going on?
Collecting corpses twice in one day.
At this rate, he'd soon transform from a night watchman of Great Xia into Great Xia's corpse collector.
Wait, that's not right.
Didn't Mr. Li say he'd tell him about the Yuhua Temple incident when he got back?
...
Gusu City, East Market Street, underground
Hall Master Zou was conversing with Hall Master Xia.
Master Huang had still not shown himself, probably still tending the fields.
"Do you know why the Third Elder suddenly stopped coming?"
Hall Master Zou's voice was cold and rough, resembling the sound of two pieces of withered wood rubbing against each other.
"The Third Elder came here to meet with that Medicine King Valley fellow named Yao. Who knew that lunatic Yao would suddenly decide to go and break the peculiar Formation on Lezi Mountain? Now that he's dead, the Third Elder naturally won't come," said Hall Master Xia, her voice still sickly sweet. As someone who had long resided in the Yingchun House within the city, she was somewhat more informed.
"That man Yao is dead?"
Hall Master Zou expressed surprise. He had spent years underground cultivating the Withered Wood Skill, and the outside world's news mainly came through the transmission of his white-robed followers.
"Dead. I heard that a youngster from the Zhao family in the city died there too. Apparently, nobody knows how, but the rogue Formation on Lezi Mountain exploded," Hall Master Xia said, her comely face reddening slightly, indicating she had heard of the infamous reputation of that rogue Formation.
Important intelligence like this, and his subordinates didn't report it! Hall Master Zou was considering how to properly punish them next time when his expression suddenly changed.
"What happened?" Hall Master Xia inquired, sensing something was amiss.
"Hmm, a trifling matter. A prohibition I left in the Sea of Consciousness of a follower has been triggered," Hall Master Zou said nonchalantly.
Hall Master Xia looked at the man in front of her with a black complexion, who hardly seemed alive, wearing a black robe.
She hesitated before saying, "If I remember correctly, you only had one white-robed follower left, right?"
"..."
A silence filled the underground chamber.