Ever since his fall from grace, Gu Wei had been under immense psychological pressure. To make matters worse, he had been struggling without proper food or shelter. His body was very weak, and he was no longer anywhere near his peak condition. As a result, the cat fiends were able to subdue him with ease.

"Don't bother trying to shout," Chu Qiguang said. "I've already knocked out the nearby boatmen in their sleep, so no one's going to hear you."

Gu Wei forced his eyes open. His entire face was covered in blood, and his vision was blurred, but he could just make out Chu Qiguang walking toward him.

"Y-You're colluding with fiends!" he cried in fear.

"Have you reported me to anyone?" Chu Qiguang asked.

"No, not even a single soul! I swear!" Gu Wei spluttered frantically. "Please let me go! I'll leave Azure Sun County first thing tomorrow morning, and I'll never come back!"

At the same time, Old Tu was sniffing through Gu Wei's hut. Before long, he found a letter and brought it over to Chu Qiguang.

Chu Qiguang pulled the letter out of its envelope before reading it. The letter contained all of the incriminating observations that Gu Wei had made about him over the past few days.

His eyes narrowed slightly with malice as he tore the letter to pieces and threw it into the river. Gu Wei could only watch in despair.

Before he had a chance to beg for mercy, Chu Qiguang stepped down hard onto his chest. After several heavy stomps, Gu Wei was already on the brink of death. He could only curse weakly, "The Profound Origin Dao Lord... will smite you... for colluding with fiends..."

"If the Profound Origin Dao Lord truly exists, then he would've smited you long ago!" Chu Qiguang scoffed. "Clearly, he's shirking his duties, so I'm going to do his job for him and send you to meet him."

With that, Chu Qiguang stomped on Gu Wei's chest one last time, and the man finally went still.

He wiped the blood from his shoe. The aggression in his chest quickly faded, while his mental state was rising toward a certain bottleneck.

Chu Qiguang had been cultivating his Dao arts every day. Whenever his condition flared up, he tried to resolve it himself.

Sure enough, the heavens never turned a blind eye to hardworking children, and his conscientious efforts finally paid off. At that moment, his mental state seemed to have crossed some type of threshold, reaching a new level.

I've reached the third state. From now on, I can enter a state of Concentration at will, no matter what I'm doing. My mental fortitude has been enhanced to free me from distractions, and I'm now able to memorize anything I see at a glance. On top of that, I can completely replace sleep with just two hours of daily meditation. Man, if only I had these abilities back on Earth!

Qiao Zhi immediately sensed the change in Chu Qiguang, and he turned to him with a stunned look. "Have you made another breakthrough in your Dao arts?"

Chu Qiguang nodded in confirmation, and Qiao Zhi was left speechless.

"What do we do about this guy's body?" White Rice asked.

Chu Qiguang glanced at Gu Wei's corpse, then replied, "Just throw him into the river."

Following his instructions, the cat fiends secured an iron chain. They tied one end to Gu Wei's body, while the other end was attached to a heavy rock, acting as a dead weight to ensure that Gu Wei would sink to the bottom.

As the body sank into the depths, Chu Qiguang said, "Master Qiao, from now on, have all the dog and cat fiends report to you on the streets, while I'll only meet them in the abandoned monastery or the courtyard I'm staying in. You never know where there could be prying eyes, and it's always better to be safe than sorry."

Qiao Zhi nodded in agreement.

Just then, a massive black shadow rose from the river, sending waves crashing across the surface.

Old Tu began barking nonstop at the river, while the cat fiends bared their teeth and snarled.

A sharp cry came from the shadow. It didn't sound like the cry of any animal. In fact, it didn't even sound like something from this world. In the next instant, the shadow burst through the surface, and everyone froze in fear.

The creature's body was so twisted that Chu Qiguang was struggling to find the words to describe it. Its entire body was covered in thick mucus, with stunted limbs growing at odd angles. Those limbs were covered in uneven mouths, each one oozing foul, greenish-yellow pus.

In the blink of an eye, Gu Wei's body was torn apart and devoured by the grotesque monster. After enjoying its meal, the creature sank back into the depths.

The cat fiends continued snarling, while Chu Qiguang stood there, shaken by what he had just seen.

"What the hell was that?!" he exclaimed.

"I don't know," Qiao Zhi replied, shaking his head. "I've heard that something has been drowning and eating fishermen at the pier lately. That must be it."

The creature's form was so horrifying and grotesque that no one wanted to think about it any longer. Conveniently, Gu Wei's body had been disposed of, so there was no need for them to continue staying here.

What a dangerous place this world is. I should avoid going out at night if I can, Chu Qiguang thought as he peered into the river's inky-black depths.

On the way back, all the cat fiends were all very excited. They had just helped Chu Qiguang commit a murder, and in their eyes, he now seemed like one of their own.

How did the saying go? Friends who murder together, stay together? Something along those lines.

As they moved through the night, a thought crossed Chu Qiguang’s mind, and he asked, "Master Qiao, you told me last time that Hao Xiangtong will cultivate Name and Principle, which is one of the twenty-five orthodox arts, right? Where did she get it from?"

"The Immortal Dao has already joined forces with the northwestern wolf fiends, and they offered Name and Principle and Elixir of Undying to them, both of which are among the twenty-five orthodox arts. Hao Xiangtong obtained Name and Principle after she was taken to the northwestern grasslands," Qiao Zhi explained.

"Isn't the Immortal Dao a human cult? Why did they join forces with the wolf fiends?" Chu Qiguang asked.

"They're a cult, so they don't worship the Profound Origin Dao Lord, and their teachings don't treat fiends as their enemies," Qiao Zhi explained. "The reason why they decided to ally themselves with the wolf fiends is because of a prophecy from their leader, the Heavenly Immortal Dao Master. He is said to be the second strongest clairvoyant under the heavens, and he prophesied that the fiends will defeat humanity and take over the world."

"If he's only second, then who's the strongest clairvoyant under the heavens?" Chu Qiguang asked.

"That would be the current emperor, of course," Qiao Zhi replied. "The imperial clan of the Great Han Empire is unmatched in the arts of feng shui, fortune, and clairvoyance. Out of the twenty-five orthodox arts, Five Origin Earth Song is the only one related to feng shui, and it's in the imperial clan's possession, cultivated exclusively by the emperors.

“It's said that mastery of the cultivation art allows one to see all the spirit veins under the heavens, manipulate feng shui and fortune, and even suppress the cultivation bases of others from afar."

After hearing Qiao Zhi's explanation, Chu Qiguang finally understood why concepts like feng shui and fortune were taken so seriously in the Great Han Empire. The imperial clan clearly placed great importance on feng shui and fortune, and that attitude was also reflected in the empire's people.

Chu Qiguang asked a few more questions, and just as he suspected, it was forbidden by law in the Great Han Empire to damage any spirit vein within the empire's borders, and the punishment for doing so was extremely severe.

Virtually all the famous mountains in the empire contain spirit veins, thereby making them untouchable by law. Wouldn't that heavily affect the development of the mining industry?

After returning to the courtyard, Chu Qiguang began cultivating the Yaksha King Fist Techniques, and as he did so, a faint look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

Not only does my mental state improve every time I alleviate the symptoms of my condition, my martial arts cultivation also becomes much more productive!

*** 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The next morning, Chu Qiguang had only just stepped out of his courtyard when he saw Hao Xiangtong waiting for him at the entrance of the street. The moment she spotted him, she waved at him with a bright smile.

"Ms. Hao? To what do I owe this pleasure?" Chu Qiguang asked.

"My father wants to meet you and ask you some questions," Hao Xiangtong said. "My brother has already applied for leave at Wise Hero Academy for you, so please come with me. My father said that regardless of the outcome of your meeting, he'll compensate you handsomely."