Daily Intelligence: From Miner to Dao Ancestor of Alchemy and Talismans

Their eyes met briefly. Li Qinghe nodded slightly without making a sound, then straightened his face and said in a deep voice to the guards behind him, "Go in and search carefully. Don't overlook anything suspicious."

The guards rushed into the house, ransacking the place, knocking on the floor and walls, and carefully checking every corner. They searched for half an hour, but they couldn't find any clues related to the Blood Fiend Sect, not even a trace of high-level spiritual energy or the unusual aura left over from alchemy.

"Captain, there's nothing unusual inside the house; no suspicious items have been found."

Upon hearing this, Li Qinghe showed no surprise. He simply said to Xu Yuan, "The market has been quite turbulent lately. Blood Fiend Sect spies are lurking around. Stay in the courtyard and do not go out unnecessarily. If there is any unusual activity, report it to the guard team immediately."

"Yes, thank you for the reminder, Captain Li. I will keep it in mind." Xu Yuan bowed his head slightly, his tone respectful, his posture extremely humble, completely like an ordinary rogue cultivator who feared the power of the Zhao family.

Li Qinghe said no more, waved his hand, and led his guards away to the next search site. He didn't ask a single question, perfectly covering for Xu Yuan and arousing no suspicion from any of the guards.

Only after the footsteps of the guards had completely faded into the distance did Xu Yuan slowly close the courtyard gate, remove the concealment array outside the courtyard, and the respectful indifference on his face faded, replaced by a thoughtful expression.

With the Zhao family making such a huge fuss, turning the entire Qingyafang upside down, can they really catch all the inside accomplices?

As evening fell, the courtyard gate was knocked gently again. It was a message that Li Qinghe had secretly sent during the handover of guards.

The note, written in illegible handwriting, contained the core message: The entire city search has been completed, but only three spies have been captured. The remaining dozen or so have all vanished without a trace. The Zhao family head is furious and has ordered more manpower to be deployed to thoroughly search every hidden corner of the city.

Xu Yuan gripped the note tightly, his fingertips tightening slightly, a knowing glint in his eyes.

Disappeared? They've simply hidden somewhere the Zhao family guards can't find them.

He immediately thought of that abandoned cave.

There was a concealment array set up by the alchemist Qingxuan, which ordinary cultivators could not detect at all. Even if the Zhao family guards searched the entire western corner ruins, they would not be able to find the entrance to the cave. Since those inside agents knew of the existence of the cave, they must be hiding inside, using the array to cover themselves and avoid the city-wide search.

Having determined the location of the inside agent, Xu Yuan did not rush to investigate. Instead, taking advantage of the martial law, he used the steward token given to him by Li Qinghe to cautiously move around the neighborhood as an outer steward of the Zhao family, secretly observing the operation of the neighborhood's protective formation.

He stood on a high point in the courtyard, his eyes fixed on the flow of spiritual energy on the light screen. Combining this with the array formation knowledge he had learned from his inheritance, he deduced the rules of the grand array little by little.

For the entire afternoon, Xu Yuan remained motionless, silently noting the changes in the strength of the spiritual energy in the light barrier and the intervals between the operation of the array's core.

Hard work pays off.

By nightfall, he had thoroughly investigated the details of the protective array.

This grand formation appears to be incredibly sturdy, but in reality, it has been eroded by time and neglected by the Zhao family, resulting in hidden loopholes. There are three fatal weaknesses in the formation's cores, where the flow of spiritual energy will be temporarily hindered, and the defensive power will be greatly reduced.

If the Blood Fiend Sect wants to break through the protective formation, they will definitely target these three weaknesses, working together from the inside and outside to break the formation in one fell swoop.

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Xu Yuan memorized the locations of the three array gaps and the times when the spiritual energy was weak, word for word, and secretly devised a way to deal with them.

Now that he knows the Blood Fiend Sect's entire plan, has figured out the flaws in the protective array, and has found the hiding place of the inside agent, the seemingly dangerous martial law crisis has been turned into an opportunity for him to devise a plan for survival.

The market was still under martial law, and the protective light screen had not been removed. The entire Qingya Market was deathly silent, and everyone was on edge, fearing that they would be implicated in the Blood Fiend Sect's case.

Xu Yuan returned to the house, closed the doors and windows, set up the concealment barrier again, sat cross-legged, and quietly waited for midnight while stabilizing his Qi Refining Level 5 Perfection cultivation.

With all the clues he had today, he had a premonition that the system's next intelligence would be related to the core of this crisis.

As night deepened, moonlight streamed through the window paper into the room, and all was quiet.

As the clock struck midnight, the long-awaited system notification sounded in Xu Yuan's mind right on time. It wasn't as calm as usual; instead, it carried a solemn tremor.

He looked up and saw a line of glaring crimson characters slowly appear before his eyes: [Crimson Top-Tier Intelligence: Six months later, the Blood Fiend Sect Master will personally lead three late-Foundation Establishment cultivators and two hundred Qi Refining stage evil cultivators in a surprise attack on Qingya Market. The twelve spies planted within the market will precisely exploit the three major weaknesses in the market's protective array, working together from within and without. The Blood Fiend Sect's target is the ancient talisman seal in the Zhao family ancestral hall. After breaking the array, they will immediately massacre the entire market, leaving no survivors. All rogue cultivators, cultivators, and members of the Zhao family's collateral branches will be slaughtered, their blood used to refine the sect master's evil technique.]

The crimson writing lingered, and a chilling killing intent seemed to emanate from the intelligence, causing the temperature in the room to drop several degrees.

Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes, his gaze calm. He exhaled heavily, but in his heart, he had already gone through the plan several times.

Three late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, two hundred Qi Refining evil cultivators, plus twelve hidden agents—their objectives were clear, their plans meticulous, and even the timing for breaking the formation was calculated flawlessly.

Although the Zhao family appears to control Qingya Village, their control is actually weak. The protective array is merely a facade, and the strongest member of the clan is only at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, utterly incapable of withstanding such a thunderous attack. In six months, Qingya Village will be a living hell, a barren wasteland.

Either gain the strength to contend with Foundation Establishment stage cultivators within six months and withstand this catastrophe, or flee this place of turmoil as soon as possible and give up the hard-won inheritance and opportunity of alchemy.

The word "escape" never appeared in Xu Yuan's choices.

He had endured ten years of hardship and bided his time, finally seizing the opportunity to break through his cultivation. He now possessed a fragment of the Foundation Establishment Pill formula and a top-tier alchemy inheritance. If he were to flee now, all his previous plans and forbearance would be in vain. Moreover, the Blood Fiend Sect's influence was widespread in the surrounding area; even if he escaped, he might not be able to evade their pursuit.

Only by becoming stronger, by frantically increasing one's strength within six months, and by laying out layers of backup plans, can one fight for a way out of this dead end, and even seize the opportunity of the ancient talisman.

Having understood this, Xu Yuan no longer hesitated.

He reached into his storage bag, took out a porcelain bottle, and poured out three round, white, high-grade Qi-replenishing pills. As the pills entered his nose, a rich and pure medicinal power wafted over him, far surpassing that of ordinary Qi-replenishing pills.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Yuan tilted his head back and swallowed all three pills at once. The pills melted instantly in his mouth, and the warm and powerful medicinal force surged into his body through his throat, rushing wildly along his meridians.