Cultivation Kill

The next morning.

Shen Zige heard the hooded man say that after successfully condensing her spirit, her personal information on her smartwatch would change, so she hurriedly called it out to check.

The scrolling display above shows:

Planet or continent: Wenxing.

Country of origin: Bamboo Country.

Gender: Type 1.

Age: Seventeen.

Company code: 91.

Cultivation level: First level of Spirit Condensation.

Company Position: Contestant in the Secret Realm

Company points: zero.

“My name isn’t on it,” Shen Zige said. “This smartwatch scans our bodies and quantifies them into data; there’s absolutely no privacy!”

"I'm already being kind to let you live, and you still want privacy." The hooded man sneered. "In the cultivation world, you can change your name at will, but you can only have one code name. Even if I say my surname is Long and my given name is Aotian, you can't travel back to Earth to check my household registration and ID card."

Shen Zige would bet all the spirit stones she had on her that the hooded man's real name was definitely not Long Aotian!

"Where should we go next?" Shen Zige said. "One person's plan is short-sighted, but three people's plans are long-sighted. Let's work together to figure out the next course of action."

“They need to avoid the government and the search party, so their lodgings will definitely not be too close to the main road.” The hooded man said, taking out a map of the area around the arena from his pocket. He used a red pen to draw several long circles along the road and crossed them out. “These locations can be ruled out first.”

"Are you Doraemon?" Qin Jie said, "You have everything in your arms."

“Be prepared.”

“The central part of the forest can also be ruled out,” Shen Zige said. “I speculate that the six of them lived not too far from a water source.”

The hooded man agreed, adding, "Let's assume their place is within an hour's walk of a water source." He then drew three circles, "These three places all have water sources, and with the water source as the center, draw a circle with a radius of seven kilometers."

“The area is still too large,” Qin Jie said. “The third circle you drew partially overlaps with the main road, so we can exclude that circle.”

"The first circle the hooded man drew crosses two mountain ranges, and your geomantic map shows very dangerous markings on the mountains," Shen Zige said, pointing to the first circle. "We can rule that out, leaving only the second one, near West Wind Lake!"

The three had little information and relied entirely on deduction to guess the whereabouts of the six scammers. However, they had no other choice but to trust the three's reasoning.

"Let's roast the wild beast that the hooded man killed last night and fill our stomachs before we set off!" Although Shen Zige wasn't hungry, Qin Jie was still human and needed to eat.

Half an hour later, the three got up and headed to West Wind Lake.

The journey was not short; after two hours of walking, the three of them finally saw the wide lake in front of them.

A lake breeze blew, ruffling Qin Jie's long hair, and Shen Zige could see from the side that there were still traces of tears in the corners of her eyes.

"If I'm not mistaken, they should be in the West Wind Valley on the right side of the lake," the hooded man said. "Qin Jie, what are you going to do after you find your sister? She can't get into the city."

"Can you protect my sister to another city?" Qin Jie pleaded with the hooded man. "Just tell me how much money you want, and I'll definitely pay you back when I earn it. Trust me!"

“We’re friends, money isn’t important,” the hooded man said. “The question is, can your sister trust me?”

Qin Jing had already been instilled with the idea by Shen Zige that the hooded man was a bad guy and a liar.

"It's too early to talk about these things now," Shen Zige said. "We haven't even found the person yet. Even if we're very confident, we still need to consider what to do if we can't find them."

As the three entered West Wind Valley, they saw a pile of burnt ash on the ground ahead.

“Look, someone must have been here.” Shen Zige walked over and poked the pile of ash with her finger. “It’s still warm. They just left not long ago.”

The three quickened their pace and chased after him.

About five minutes later, the three heard arguing ahead, so they slowed down and secretly observed what was going on.

"Your sister doesn't seem to be here."

Shen Zige and his two companions peeked through the bushes and discovered that there were only four people in front of them, the four men wanted by the bulletin board.

“I told you long ago, they’re just a burden. We should have just killed them. You didn’t listen. Now they’ve escaped. If they report us to the authorities and betray us, you’ll be the one who bears the brunt of the blame!” A burly man in a vest shouted at another pale-faced man with a middle parting.

“That man with the middle parting is a high-ranking member of the student council at my sister’s school,” Qin Jie said. “His name is Zhang Kun, and my sister has a crush on him.”

The other two men, their hair disheveled like straw, stood to the side with the burly man, their eyes fixed on Zhang Kun with hostility.

“Even if they escape, it’s fine. All the money you’ve swindled is with you. If they escape, we can get a bigger share,” said Zhang Kun with the middle parting. “Besides, they can’t report to the authorities. In the eyes of the Jingji City authorities, they are in cahoots with us. Entering the city is like walking into a trap.”

"The Night Whisper flowers are almost ripe," Zhang Kun said. "Without two more people to help with the harvest, the yield will be less."

Upon hearing this, the hooded man stopped the two who were about to go over and whispered, "It's no use catching them now. At most, we'll get some spirit stones that we tricked. We'll go over and catch them all after they've finished picking the Night Whisper Flowers."

“A spirit stone?” Qin Jie said, “One spirit stone is equal to one hundred taels of silver, which is equal to ten thousand copper coins, and is equivalent to the annual income of an ordinary person in the Bamboo Kingdom.”

“I’ve read the encyclopedia of spiritual plants. Night Whisper Flower can enhance spiritual power, and each plant is worth at least a thousand spirit stones. It’s priceless!” the hooded man said. “How did they find the Night Whisper Flower? We secretly followed them, got the Night Whisper Flower, and then went to find your sister. Your sister has already escaped, so she should be safe now.”

"Alright, you guys go. I'm not strong enough to help, I'll only be a burden. I'll go find my sister." Qin Jie knew her place; she couldn't help, and the Night Whisper Flower was not something she could covet.

“It will be very dangerous if you don’t come with us,” Shen Zige said.

“It’s not dangerous. I’ll go back the way I came to search,” Qin Jie said. “It’s daytime now, and we haven’t encountered any wild animals on the way.”

“Then take this dagger.” The hooded man handed Qin Jie the dagger he used to kill wild animals. “You search for people near West Wind Lake. Don’t go too far. After we get the Night Whisper Flower, we’ll come back to find you.”

The four members of the fraudster organization ahead had already set off, and Shen Zige, without having time to say anything more, hurriedly followed.

Qin Jie gripped the dagger, remaining where she was, watching Shen Zige's departing figure, before resolutely turning back.

The four-person scammers seem to have a map showing the location of Night Whisper Flower, and they keep turning left and right in West Wind Valley...

ten minutes later.

"Damn it, the four of them have disappeared!" The hooded man looked around but couldn't see the four con artists.

The two were afraid of being discovered, so they didn't dare to follow too closely, but unexpectedly they lost them!

"Does this mean there are hidden caves or legendary barriers nearby?" Shen Zige reasoned. "Another possibility is that the other party realized they were being followed and ran for their life when they were out of our sight."

“It’s unlikely he’ll run away. I’ll hear the noise.” The hooded man said as he walked, and the scene ahead came into view. “Hmm—you’re right. Look, there’s a big banyan tree over there. There seems to be a hole under the banyan tree. Four people can easily crawl in at the same time.”

Shen Zige also saw it; it was an exceptionally thick banyan tree with towering branches and leaves.

“Night Whisper Flower prefers darkness and dampness,” the hooded man said. “It emits a delicate fragrance the moment it matures, and ordinary people who smell it will be momentarily disoriented, so there must be a passageway under the tree hole.”

"I hope there aren't any forks in the passageway, otherwise people might get lost," Shen Zige said.