25: Unraveling the mystery

It didn't take Lu Ming long to pay his rent and return to the Cultivation room.

This time, besides Cultivating the Turtle Breath Qi Concealing Art, he also needed to Cultivate the Blood Burning Escape Technique.

With the Blood Burning Secret Technique as a foundation, Cultivating it shouldn't be too difficult.

As for the remaining two Spells, Yin Thunder Palm and Three Yin Nether Fire, he would practice them if he had time, whenever the Opportunity arose.

...

Outside the 'Xianke Lai' Inn.

On the second floor of the 'Zuixianju' Restaurant.

A pale-faced old man sat by the window on the second floor, his expression gloomy, his eyes constantly darting towards a certain guest room in the inn.

"Old Man Yang, he probably won't be leaving," a Beautiful Woman across from the old man with the surname Yang said in a soft, sweet voice.

The Beautiful Woman wore a translucent purple cheongsam, her tightly wrapped figure plump and rounded, with a hint of snow-white skin peeking out from her chest.

However, she now wore a veil, covering most of her face, revealing only her eyes.

And those foxy eyes, which were originally captivating, now showed faint wrinkles at the corners, greatly diminishing her alluring charm.

The old man with the surname Yang seemed unfazed by the beautiful sight before him, his eyes still fixed on the inn opposite.

After a moment, a hoarse voice emerged.

"Fellow Daoist Yu, put away your charm Spell. This old man is just a pile of old bones now, and I have no interest in you!"

The Beautiful Woman, finding herself rebuffed, was not embarrassed. She withdrew her charm Spell and continued, saying,

"That person will probably only leave when the next black market opens, and we can't act in the market. Continuing to wait like this is meaningless!"

The old man with the surname Yang turned his head to look at the Beautiful Woman, his tone inexplicable as he said,

"So, aren't you curious how he did it at all?"

The Beautiful Woman fell silent. She gently touched the wrinkles at the corner of her eye with her slender finger, her expression fluctuating.

The old man with the surname Yang didn't wait for her answer and continued,

"This old man doesn't have many years left to live. I was originally doing these dirty deeds to accumulate resources for my descendants.

But now I've seen new hope. Taking someone's Lifespan from a distance, this method is simply too enticing..."

"How can you be sure it's him? What if it's a coincidence, and we're mistaken? Wouldn't that be a wasted effort!" the Beautiful Woman said in a cold tone.

"If I hadn't met Fellow Daoist Yu, I would also think it was a coincidence, but..." The old man with the surname Yang didn't finish his sentence; his thoughts returned to ten days ago.

It was just an ordinary day, an ordinary black market transaction. He sold a Demonic Path Cultivation Technique that had been gathering dust for a long time to a black-robed, straw-hatted person.

The matter should have ended there, but greed arose in him.

That Cultivator bought a Demonic Path Cultivation Technique for two hundred Spirit Stones, which made him target this 'fat sheep'.

He practiced a spiritual eye Spell and confirmed that the other party was indeed a Qi Refining fifth-layer Cultivator, with no hidden Cultivation.

As long as they left the black market, with his Qi Refining seventh-layer strength, he could easily deal with the other party.

So, he secretly left a bit of 'spirit luring incense' scent on the other party to track them.

spirit luring incense is not a method from the Immortal Realm; it is a mundane item. When lit, it is colorless, odorless, and has no Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

Cultivators rely most on their spiritual sense, so it would not attract the other party's attention.

This method had been tried and true throughout his half-lifetime of Cultivation, and this time was no exception; the other party did not notice.

He followed quietly all the way and saw the other party buy many things, which further confirmed that the other party was wealthy.

Then he followed them all the way to the inn. Although he was a bit annoyed by the other party's dawdling, he was very patient and decided to wait until he left the black market before making his move.

But the unexpected happened then: he sensed his vital blood rapidly draining away, as if being swallowed by an invisible giant mouth.

At that moment, he panicked. Although he didn't have many years left to live, he didn't want to die so inexplicably.

However, as time passed, although the strength of that blood-sucking Qi was not high, it was continuous, and he gradually despaired.

He originally wanted to quietly wait for death, but thinking of dying so meaninglessly, he was very unwilling.

So he made up his mind to finish this job, to accumulate some resources for his descendants before he died.

It was then that he noticed Yu Xia, who was looking for beauty-enhancing pills everywhere.

The other party was a well-known female Cultivator in the black market. When he was young, he had even patronized her business, so they knew each other well and were naturally familiar.

After some questioning, he was shocked to find that the other party was experiencing the same situation as him, even more obviously.

Looking at the wrinkles at the corners of Yu Xia's eyes, he, being an old fox, immediately thought of many things.

Since this wasn't a situation that only one person experienced, it was very likely caused by human intervention.

So he began to look around the black market for anyone else experiencing the same condition as him.

And he really found a few.

There was Fellow Daoist Shen, whom he had seen setting up a stall, and a pair of bandit Cultivator father and son who frequently roamed this area.

They all exhibited strange phenomena.

Cultivators have strong memories. He began to recall recent events, investigating little by little, and eventually, they all pointed to one person.

That was the black-robed person who bought his Spell!

He had seen the black-robed person make several transactions while following him, and most of those people, including Yu Xia, had experienced this phenomenon.

At this, his dead heart began to stir.

This kind of method was unheard of; Gu techniques simply couldn't achieve such a degree.

Moreover, without any apparent reason, at least on the surface, with no grudges, how could someone do something so harmful to others and not beneficial to themselves?

Unless, he profited from doing such things!

He had a bold guess, a guess that made him tremble all over.

That was...

Lifespan extraction!

And the other party's behavior of collecting Demonic Path Cultivation Techniques seemed to further corroborate this guess.

He didn't have many years left to live, but precisely because of this, the older he got, the more he feared death. But if he could obtain this ability...

How could immortality still be a mere delusion!

Greedy desire became uncontrollable; he must obtain this Opportunity!

In his opinion, this was a Heaven-Defying Opportunity to change fate. Even if his guess was wrong, what was Cultivation if he didn't give it a try!

He began to quietly wait for the other party to leave, but at this time, Yu Xia came to him.

Although he didn't want to share this Heaven-Defying Opportunity, some of his previous actions had still aroused Yu Xia's suspicion.

However, after much deliberation, he still revealed the matter.

The reason was simple: he was already old, and coupled with the loss of vital blood, his strength was far from what it used to be.

He worried he couldn't handle it alone, preferring to share a piece of the pie rather than fail!

Moreover, Yu Xia was only at the Qi Refining sixth-layer, so she wouldn't pose too much of a threat to him.

Although Yu Xia was half-skeptical, she still decided to participate.

However, Yu Xia didn't understand the full story, which made her, who was getting older day by day, increasingly impatient.

"You wait yourself. If there's any news, transmit it to me!"

With that, Yu Xia left in a hurry. She still needed to continue searching for beauty-enhancing pills, having heard there was a recent underground trade fair.

She wanted to try her luck; she didn't want to wait here with an old man!

Watching Yu Xia's retreating figure, a hint of ruthlessness flashed in Yang Hong's eyes.

If he wasn't unsure, he wouldn't have brought this foolish woman along.

But once everything was settled, he would also have to find a way to get rid of this woman...