Immortality by Inheriting Friends' Legacies

Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Wondrous Uses of the Divination God Treasure

At the Fenglin Town Government Office, Liao Yunfeng reported to Zheng Ming, ”My Lord, based on my analysis, the killer must be a Martial Artist above the Martial Master realm.”

Zheng Ming was puzzled. ”What makes you say that?”

”Within a hundred feet of the crime scene, I only found a single footprint suspected to belong to the killer,” Liao Yunfeng explained. ”A Martial Artist in the Martial Master realm can leap over thirty feet, and even those skilled in Body Techniques can only cover seventy or eighty feet.”

At this point, Zheng Ming understood what he was getting at. ”In that case, is this case truly as you suspect?”

Liao Yunfeng said nothing, silently agreeing.

Zheng Ming looked at Fang Xu, who was standing off to the side, and said, ”That concludes today’s questioning. You may go back for now. Do not leave Fenglin Town for the next few days. If necessary, I will summon you at any time.”

Fang Xu cupped his hands slightly in acknowledgment and took his leave.

Leaving the Government Office, Fang Xu’s face was filled with confusion. He truly hadn’t expected Wang Ergou’s death to involve a Martial Artist above the Martial Master realm! He wondered why such a powerful expert would attack an ordinary person like Wang Ergou. And then there was that corpse in Yizhuang wearing the Glowing Gold Embroidered Boots... Could the two incidents be connected?

After pondering for a moment, Fang Xu laughed at himself. This wasn’t something he needed to worry about right now. His most pressing priority was Refining Viscera and stepping into the Martial Disciple realm. Everything else was secondary.

Upon returning home, Fang Xu cut off a piece of Blood Food and tossed it into a pot to stew. Refining Viscera consumed a massive amount of Qi Blood Power. Without Blood Food to replenish it, ordinary meals simply couldn’t keep up with his body’s demands.

While the meat stewed, he retrieved *Divination God Treasure* from its hidden compartment once again. Stroking the smooth Beast Hide, Fang Xu’s eyes flickered slightly before he unrolled it.

”All living things are derived from the Dao, and the spirit is the master of the Dao...”

As the contents of the Beast Hide entered his vision, his consciousness sank back into the Realm of Inner Observation. The flesh and bones of his entire body were displayed clearly, followed by his one hundred and eight faintly glowing acupoints. However, Fang Xu was mentally prepared this time. He didn’t pay too much attention to the acupoints, instead forcefully shifting his focus to his internal organs.

Drawing on the profound mysteries of the Realm of Inner Observation, he immediately mobilized the Qi Blood Power within his body and began Refining Viscera.

The Realm of Inner Observation was a rare and wondrous state for a Martial Artist in the early stages of cultivation, somewhat similar to the sudden epiphanies described in the novels of his past life. With a single epiphany, one’s cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds, achieving Great Success in divine martial arts. While the effects of the Realm of Inner Observation weren’t quite that exaggerated, it still yielded twice the results with half the effort when it came to Refining Viscera.

After cultivating in this state for a short time, he could already feel the subtle changes in his internal organs. The results were far superior to when he had relied on mere feeling to Refine Viscera earlier that day.

GRUMBLE!

GRUMBLE!

After only cultivating for a brief moment, Fang Xu felt a wave of dizziness, and his stomach rumbled like a beating drum.

Cultivating from the daytime into the evening had already exhausted most of his Blood Qi Power. Before he could even eat, Liao Yunfeng had invited him to the Government Office to assist with the investigation. Afterward, he had followed them all the way to the foot of Tilan Mountain. With all this running around, he hadn’t even had a sip of water. He was now unbearably hungry.

Awakening from his meditative state and guessing the Blood Food should be fully cooked, Fang Xu got up, went to the kitchen, and devoured the entire pot. With his Qi Blood Power replenished, he returned to his room and resumed cultivating with the help of *Divination God Treasure*.

Time flew by in a flash, and two days passed.

Over the course of these two days, he had surprisingly consumed the entire fifty pounds of Blood Food that Zhang Mingliang had sent him. Refining Viscera drained far more Qi Blood Power than he had imagined.

Helpless, Fang Xu had no choice but to head out onto the streets of Fenglin Town to purchase more Blood Food. As soon as he arrived at the Zhang family’s Blood Food Shop, he spotted Zhang Mingliang standing off to the side, furiously chewing out two shop assistants.

”Fang, here to buy Blood Food?” the shopkeeper asked with a smile upon seeing him.

Fang Xu nodded. He pulled twenty taels of silver from his robes, handed it to the shopkeeper, and said, ”Give me a hundred pounds of Blood Food.”

The shopkeeper accepted the silver, verified the amount, and immediately instructed the assistants nearby to prepare the order.

”What’s wrong with Young Master Zhang?” Fang Xu asked casually, looking at the mercilessly scolded assistants.

The old shopkeeper shot a glance at Zhang Mingliang and lowered his voice. ”The Second Young Master failed to break through to the Martial Disciple realm. He suspects there’s a problem with the Blood Food from the past couple of days, so...”

Hearing this, Fang Xu’s expression turned a bit odd. This was truly a case of a bad workman blaming his tools. Breaking through to the Martial Disciple realm and Opening Acupoints Divine Treasures depended on one’s day-to-day accumulation; Qi Blood Pills and Blood Food were merely supplementary aids.

It was said that some Cultivators with sufficient accumulation could easily open their Acupoints Divine Treasures during a breakthrough without needing Qi Blood Pills or Blood Food at all. Zhang Mingliang must have neglected his daily training, leading to insufficient accumulation and impossibly rigid acupoint barriers, which caused his failure. And yet, he was blaming the Blood Food prepared by the two assistants.

”Fang, your Blood Food is ready.” The two assistants carried over the hundred pounds of ferocious beast Blood Food and set it down in front of him. ”Should we deliver this to your home for you?”

Fang Xu waved them off. Lifting the hundred pounds of Blood Food effortlessly by hand, he left the Blood Food Shop. Having reached the Refining Viscera Realm, his physical strength was far greater than that of an ordinary person. A hundred pounds was nothing to him.

Carrying the Blood Food back home, Fang Xu checked the ”Friends List” deep within his sea of consciousness on a strange impulse, only to freeze in surprise. He realized that among his five ”friends,” the percentage behind the names of Zhang Mingliang and his two lackeys had actually dropped from 15% to 10%!

What did this mean?

Fang Xu was deeply puzzled. The system hadn’t provided any explanation for this, so he had no idea what these percentages actually represented. Unable to make sense of it, he could only suppress his doubts and begin stewing his meat and cultivating as usual.

At the Zhang family estate in Fenglin Town, Zhang Mingliang had just returned home after venting his frustrations at the Blood Food Shop. He was just about to find some blind servant to take the rest of his anger out on when he ran head-on into a thin-faced old man with a greying beard.

”Master Gu,” Zhang Mingliang greeted respectfully with a bow.

The old man gave a slight nod. Staring at Zhang Mingliang, he frowned and asked, ”Second Young Master, have you encountered anything unusual lately?”

Zhang Mingliang paused, then shook his head. ”Master Gu, what’s wrong?”

The old man before him was not a Martial Artist, but rather a rare Feng Shui Master. Feng Shui Masters in this world possessed true, practical skills. Not only were they proficient in the Path of Feng Shui, but they could also divine fortunes, tell good omens from bad, and help people seek good fortune and avoid disaster. They were extremely capable.

The land where the Land God Temple sat was a treasured piece of Feng Shui land divined by this Master Gu. That was exactly why the Zhang Family had formed the plan to tear down the Land God Temple and build commercial shops in its place.

”Second Young Master, your luck has been poor recently. You should go out as little as possible to prevent impending disaster,” Master Gu said, his expression grave.

Poor luck? Zhang Mingliang was momentarily stunned, but then he laughed. ”I knew it wasn’t my fault that I couldn’t break through to the Martial Disciple realm... Turns out it was just bad luck. Master Gu, could you read my fortune again? When will my luck turn so I can try breaking through again?”

Master Gu shook his head slightly. ”A person’s luck is constantly shifting. Second Young Master, just remember to stay indoors as much as possible for now and focus on cultivating your mind and character.”

With that, he turned and left.

Zhang Mingliang’s eyes flickered. Seemingly taking the old man’s words lightly, he headed straight for his own quarters.