A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

Zhou Langchen didn't even glance at them.

He simply straightened his collar, which had been ruffled by the strong wind, then looked up at the old monks who were frozen in place like clay or wooden sculptures, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"That's more like it."

He nodded, his tone carrying the satisfaction of an elder praising a younger person:

"Much more obedient than that old dog-man."

"That old dog, on the surface, looks like a coward, with its tail between its legs and its neck tucked in, like a stray dog."

"But if you let your guard down even a little, his little schemes will start working like crazy, and all he'll be thinking about is how to pounce on you and bite off the fattest piece of roasted chicken."

"You guys are more polite than him."

As Zhou Langchen spoke, he slowly turned around, reached out, and pushed open the dilapidated wooden door.

Outside the door, the young monk who had come to deliver the message was anxiously peering around.

Hearing the door open, he subconsciously looked up and saw "Master Zhenqing" walking out with a peaceful expression.

"The true...Master Zhenqing?"

The young monk was stunned, his mind a little confused.

What happened?

Wasn't Master Zhenqing skinned alive? How come he's standing here perfectly fine again?

He subconsciously craned his neck and glanced into the meditation room.

Several senior monks, all of whom seemed to be frozen in place, stood motionless in the room, their faces and heads covered in sweat, their expressions contorted, as if they were enduring immense pain.

Huh? Wait a minute! What's that person over there, covered in blood and skinned?!

The young monk's mind went completely blank with a "buzz".

Zhou Langchen walked up to him, rummaged through his own body, and pulled off a still warm, neatly folded human skin, which he gently placed in his arms.

"Here, little monk, return this to your Master Zhenqing."

He was handing over a used handkerchief, as if to himself:

"I just borrowed it from him to study the pattern. Please tell him thank you for me, and return it to him intact after I'm done using it."

The young monk instinctively took the human skin, feeling its smooth, warm texture. He looked down and saw—

An empty human skin was laid out in his hand!

Those empty eye sockets seemed to be staring at him silently!

That slightly open mouth seemed to be telling a story!

"ah--!!!"

The young monk let out a scream that was not human and soared straight into the sky!

With a roll of his eyes and a kick of his legs, he fell straight backward with a "thud," his dizziness coming on so quickly and decisively, without any buffer.

Zhou Langchen looked at the little monk lying on the ground, shrugged, and muttered:

"Young people these days have such poor mental fortitude. Back when Ji Zuodao was learning his skills, he slept with human skin every day and even blew up balloons with it, yet he never had nightmares."

After saying that, he put his hands behind his back, hummed an unknown tune, and disappeared into the shadows where the moonlight and ruins intertwined.

Inside the meditation room, the terrifying pressure receded like a tide.

Zhenjing and several other old monks, as if exhausted, collapsed to the ground one after another with a "thump, thump".

He was panting heavily, his whole body soaked in cold sweat, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

Their eyes were filled with horror, fear, and a hint of bewilderment at surviving a catastrophe.

"Then... what level of cultivation is that?"

Zhenjing's voice was dry and hoarse, as if her throat had been sanded.

"Three calamities? Five tribulations?"

"It can't be... freedom, can it?"

"His things...were taken from me..."

The old monk Zhenying was still naked, his body covered in blood and gore.

His voice was even hoarser and emptier than Zhenjing's, carrying a deep-seated weariness and despair.

"Those secret runes of the 'Feeding Magic'... our Jinshan Temple... our last chance to rise again... is gone..."

He slowly closed his eyes, and two lines of bloody tears slid down his cheeks.

"Could things get any worse than this?"

He muttered to himself, as if asking someone else, or perhaps asking the myriad gods and Buddhas in the sky.

As if in response to his question.

In the distance, a young monk's heart-wrenching, tearful cry suddenly rang out:

"Something terrible has happened!!! Grandmaster! Elders! Something terrible has happened!!"

"Another gust of evil wind just swept through!! It...it took all...all of the supplies you took out earlier, Elder!!!"

They didn't leave us a single bag of rice!!!

"puff--!!!"

The old monk Zhenying suddenly opened his eyes, felt a sweet taste in his throat, and a mouthful of scalding blood mixed with fragments of internal organs gushed out like a fountain!

He swayed, then fell flat on his back.

Eyes wide open, staring at the roofless night sky, as if asking:

God, are you fucking messing with me?

Zhou Langchen sat on the cloud with his legs crossed, seemingly unaffected, listening to the wailing and lamenting sounds coming from Jinshan Temple below.

His lips slowly parted to reveal a wicked, smoky smile.

That smile, how to describe it, was like a weasel that had stolen a whole roast chicken, squatting on the wall, licking its paws with relish, savoring the rich, oily aroma.

He looked down at the large pile of supplies floating beside him—

Rice, flour, cooking oil, medicine, gauze, and bundles of banknotes were piled up like small mountains, gleaming enticingly in the moonlight.

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

Zhou Langchen smacked his lips, a satisfied look on his face.

"Those young guys from Bureau 749 are still too inexperienced. They're so impulsive and careless, they're only focused on chasing those bandits, but they're putting on quite a show."

"But all these precious resources that could rebuild Jinshan Temple were overlooked? Heh, isn't that just letting me, the carefree old man, benefit!"

With a smug wave of his hand, he prepared to stuff all the supplies into his storage space.

then.

"Um?"

Zhou Langchen suddenly looked up.

Just now, Venus, the planet of war and warfare, seemed to flash very slightly in the night sky.

The light was faint and fleeting; he wouldn't have noticed it at all if he hadn't been keeping a close eye on the sky.

Zhou Langchen's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

He lowered his head again.

Half of the supplies that looked like a small mountain next to it were gone.

They were perfectly aligned, as if cleaved in two by an invisible knife.

The other half has vanished without a trace, completely disappeared, as if it had never existed.

"Holy crap?"

Zhou Langchen's eyes widened, and he stood there stunned for a full three seconds.

He squinted and stared at Venus for a long time before letting out a long sigh.

That sigh, so full of twists and turns, was filled with helplessness towards fate and compromise with reality.

"Never mind..."

He waved his hand, his face saying, "I'm a magnanimous man, I won't hold it against you."

"At least they left me half. I'm content, I'm content."

"These days, there's really no way for unorthodox cultivators to survive. They work hard to pull off a heist, only to have it intercepted halfway through."

"Damn, are all people with the surname Zhang exceptionally powerful? That Zhang Tianshi from Longhu Mountain is, and this Zhang Yucheng is too..."

"Should I change my surname too? How about Zhang Langchen? It sounds pretty good, doesn't it?"

He pondered it seriously for two seconds, then shook his head, banishing the unreliable idea from his mind.

He looked down again at the human skin he had just peeled off the old monk Zhenying.

On the inside of the human skin, the twisted and profound dark red runes shimmered with a dark luster under the moonlight, wriggling slightly as if they were alive.

As Zhou Langchen looked at the runes, his usually carefree smile faded slightly, replaced by a complex sense of emotion.

"We can't compare to the younger generation, nor can we compare to the predecessors."

He sighed.

"Old Shen racked his brains until he was almost bald, and all he came up with was a method to make inner demons be born in his mind ahead of time."

"We have to be careful not to mess up that brat Ji Zuodao's mind."

"But this 'Feeding Magic' is quite something... It can directly create a physical body for the inner demon, allowing it to roam freely in the human world, lively and energetic. It can even deceive the heavens, making it impossible for the Heavenly Dao to distinguish which is the inner demon and which is the original self."

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

He paused, as if he had thought of something, and a hint of regret flashed in his eyes.

"That kid Ji Zhengdao is lucky. With that brat's help, he's found a new path and doesn't have to resort to such crooked ways anymore. Otherwise..."

"This method is quite suitable for paving the way for that brat."

He was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

"Enough, enough. The path we old folks paved for that brat wasn't any worse. Everyone has their own destiny; we can't force it."

After saying that, he no longer hesitated.

A faint blue flame silently rose from his palm.

The flames were not scorching hot; instead, they carried a chilling aura that seemed capable of freezing the soul.

It gently licked the human skin, which, as if encountering its nemesis, quickly curled up, charred, and turned to ashes.

A night breeze blew by.

It swirled up that wisp of eerie blue flame and those tiny, black ashes, flying higher and higher, farther and farther, until finally dissipating into the vast night without leaving a trace.

"Alright, the tail is all swept clean."

Zhou Langchen clapped his hands, as if he had just finished a trivial matter.

His carefree smile returned, even brighter than before.

"Time to get down to business."

"Should we go to Red Romance today, or to Heaven on Earth?"

He thought for a moment, then raised his hand and wiped his face.

That face, as if by magic, blurred for a moment and then transformed into the dignified and compassionate appearance of Faming!

Even the ordination scars on his bald head were exactly the same!

Zhou Langchen, wearing Faming's face, moved his facial muscles and revealed a standard, Faming-style, compassionate smile.

Then, he chuckled and muttered to himself:

"Hmm, I remember the tip said the police were going to raid Red Romance tonight to crack down on prostitution and illegal publications..."

"That's perfect."

He rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining like light bulbs.

"Let's go to Red Romance first and get a freebie! Then we'll go to Heaven on Earth, hang our tents at Jinshan Temple, perfect!"