Ascending to Immortality by Slaying Spirits

Chapter 75 - False Information
Inside the dark dungeon, screams of agony rose and fell, while Xiang Lingchen sat expressionless in his chair.

A man with a somewhat sinister face carefully walked up to Xiang Lingchen and whispered, "Sir, we've tested them all. They're all ordinary people, and even if they are cultivators, there's nothing suspicious about them."

"Are you sure you've tried everything?" Xiang Lingchen glanced at the man sideways.

"Yes." The man nodded, then felt Xiang Lingchen's gaze grow even colder, and he knew that Xiang Lingchen was not satisfied with this answer.

The man immediately said, "Sir, I think there's one more place we've overlooked."

"Speak," Xiang Lingchen said indifferently.

The man took out the copied list: "The brothers only arrested those who are still alive, but those who are dead may not really be dead."

Looking at the list, Xiang Lingchen nodded slightly: "Then investigate for me. Zhiwen, you are in charge of investigating this matter."

Xiang Zhiwen nodded: "Yes, Father."

"Zhiwu, think about it again with me, what else could we have missed?" Xiang Lingchen said.

Xiang Zhiwu knew this was a test and dared not be negligent. After thinking for a while, he said, "Father, the county annals only record people of commoner origin, but some people are not recorded."

"Hmm?" Xiang Lingchen hesitated for a moment. "You mean those servants?"

"Yes." Xiang Zhiwu nodded.

Once a servant signs a contract of servitude, he becomes part of the master's household. He can't even be called a person; he can only be called a commodity. And the commodities produced by these commodities naturally won't be registered in the county annals.

"Then Zhiwu, you'll be in charge of investigating," Xiang Lingchen said. "Don't hold back."

"Yes." Xiang Zhiwu clasped his hands in a fist salute.

On the other side, Xiang Zhiwen's subordinate, holding the list, asked, "Young Master, where should we start?"

"Start investigating from the year of Xinmao!" Xiang Zhiwen glanced at the list and made a sweeping gesture. "Remember, get to the bottom of it!"

And his stroke happened to start from under the name Lin Le.

In Xiang Zhiwen's view, someone born in the year of Guimao is only fourteen years old now. It would be good enough if they could become a martial arts master, let alone a cultivator.

"Yes, sir." The men acknowledged the order.

Late at night, after finishing his soul-refining cultivation, Lin Le used his transformation technique to leave and headed towards a courtyard.

In a study, Liu Yonghuai was reading when he suddenly looked up and saw a black cat standing at the window.

Liu Yonghuai reached out and pressed the talisman next to him. Ordinary stray cats wouldn't dare to enter a room where someone was still inside.

"Uncle Liu, don't be nervous, it's me," the black cat said, his voice slightly hoarse.

Liu Yonghuai was taken aback, then tentatively asked, "Ah Le?"

The black cat nodded, then deactivated the transformation spell, turning into a handsome young man standing by the window.

Upon seeing this, Liu Yonghuai immediately stood up, glanced outside, and then closed the windows and doors tightly. He turned to Lin Le and asked, "What brings you here?"

"I think you're good at reading these things, so I wanted to ask you for some advice." Lin Le took out a book and handed it to Liu Yonghuai.

Liu Yonghuai took it, glanced at it a few times, and a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes: "How did you get the secret report from the government office?"

Lin Le smiled but did not answer.

Seeing Lin Le's calm smile, Liu Yonghuai roughly understood what was going on and sighed, "Wait a moment, I'll write down a mnemonic for you. Once you memorize it, you'll be able to decipher it."

"Thank you, Uncle Liu," Lin Le said.

"We're family, no need to thank me." Liu Yonghuai waved his hand, then returned to his desk, wrote several hundred words on a piece of paper, and handed it to Lin Le.

"Be careful. Wei Zhenshan has backups of his intelligence. If the intelligence is stolen, he'll definitely move some things, and he might even use that to set a trap to arrest you," Liu Yonghuai warned Lin Le. Lin Le put away the paper and nodded, "I understand, Uncle Liu. I'll be leaving now."

"Be careful on the road," Liu Yonghuai said.

"Hmm." With that, Lin Le transformed back into a black cat and leaped out of the window.

Watching the black cats leap and disappear into the night, Liu Yonghuai's expression was complicated: "Brother Chang'an, you have indeed raised a good child, but this drastic change in temperament, I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse."

Shaking his head, Liu Yonghuai prepared to continue reading, only to find a pill bottle had appeared on the table.

"You do know your manners." Liu Yonghuai chuckled, opened the elixir bottle, glanced inside, and then his eyes widened in surprise. It contained five rare Yellow Sprout Elixirs with elixir patterns.

In the Lin family courtyard, Lin Le read the intelligence he had gathered from the paper. After he finished reading, he burned the papers to save space.

After reading the intelligence, Lin Le tapped his thigh with his fingers, pondering how to utilize it.

An idea came to them quickly.

The next day at noon, Lin Le quietly slipped out of Danxia Pavilion.

Upon arriving at a liquor stall, Lin Le transformed into the man he had seen the day before, sitting at the stall entrance: "Someone, bring me a bowl of Daughter's Red wine, fill it seven-tenths full."

A waiter immediately came forward: "Is there anything else, sir?"

"A plate of peanuts, a plate of mutton." Lin Le took out two chopsticks and rubbed them together.

The waiter's eyes immediately changed: "How many portions of peanuts, how many ounces of mutton?"

"Six parts peanuts, one ounce of mutton." Lin Le tapped the meat with his chopsticks. "I want yellow mutton, the tougher kind."

"Understood, please wait a moment, sir." The waiter stepped aside and quickly brought Lin Le more wine and dishes.

Lin Le began to eat slowly.

He was just exchanging coded messages. "Daughter's Red Wine, seven-tenths full" meant he was Wei Zhenshan's man. The way he rubbed his chopsticks together indicated that he was going to do a robbery and murder.

The peanuts (60%) indicate that the target's highest combat strength is a cultivator at the sixth level of the cultivation realm; the mutton (one ounce) indicates one day later; the yellow mutton indicates the north; and the older the meat, the more likely the target is to be traveling the most frequently used trade route.

After finishing his meal, Lin Le left the silver coins behind.

The waiter went to tidy up, and when he saw the wet stains on the table that vaguely formed the character "向" (xiang), he looked surprised and quickly tidied up and left.

Soon after, a pigeon flew out of the tavern and headed straight out of the city.

Shuangtou Mountain is famous for having two peaks. To save time and effort, one must pass through the valley between the two peaks, which has attracted many bandits.

Now, this place is occupied by a band of mountain bandits known as the Tiger Head Thieves.

A bandit took the note tied to a pigeon, glanced at its color, and immediately ran towards a large hall.

"Tiger Head, there's a message from inside the city." The bandit knelt on one knee and respectfully handed the note to a burly man with both hands.

This is Shao Hu, the leader of the Tiger Head Bandits.

Shao Hu picked up the note, unfolded it, glanced at it, and then raised his eyebrows, because the letter instructed him to take action against the Xiang family.

"That Wei guy has finally done something courageous." Shao Hu laughed, subconsciously touching the missing little finger on his right hand, a fierce glint appearing in his eyes.

He remembered clearly that he had chopped off that thumb himself in the early hours of the morning.

"Brothers, we've got a big job! Get to work!" Shao Hu shouted.

"Oh!" the bandits shouted in unison.

(End of this chapter)