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

Killing Zhang Kui would merely eliminate an immediate threat.

The greatest benefit would be to use this incident to completely control Li Qinghe, making him my visible hand and eyes, so that I could have complete control over the movements of Qingya Fang and the actions of the Zhao family.

As for Zhang Kui, who ran away?

He's nothing but a clown.

Even if he escaped with the blueprints for the array's core, Xu Yuan already knew all the plans: the surprise attack three months later, the massacre six months later. Whether he ran or not wouldn't change anything.

As night deepened, midnight quietly arrived.

Xu Yuan sat cross-legged on the couch, and the familiar system notification sounded in his mind right on time.

[Ding! Today's intelligence has been updated.]

[Qingdao Daily: Zhang Kui did not go far; he is hiding in Black Wind Valley outside the market. He has already joined up with the Black Wind Stronghold's raiders and took with him the original blueprints for the protective array's core.]

Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

Sure enough, he didn't go far; he went to Black Wind Valley instead.

The news of Zhang Kui's treasonous escape exploded like a thunderclap in Qingyafang at dawn.

In less than a night, news of the deputy captain of the guard team colluding with the Blood Fiend Sect and selling the blueprints for the protective array spread throughout the streets and alleys of the market. The rogue cultivators were all on edge, and the streets were filled with whispers and murmurs. Everyone was cursing Zhang Kui for betraying his own side and selling the entire Qingya Market to the evil cultivators. After all, the protective array was the market's only shield; the leak of the array's core blueprints was tantamount to everyone standing naked before the Blood Fiend Sect's butcher's knife.

The Zhao family was furious. Zhao Qiuyue directly ordered Li Qinghe, who had just taken over the guard team, to conduct a city-wide search for Zhang Kui's remaining associates. Anyone involved with Zhang Kui was to be arrested first and interrogated later, with the principle of "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

Li Qinghe was worried about not having a chance to completely eliminate Zhang Kui's power. Holding the token, he led his elite guards and rushed into Zuixianlou immediately.

At that time, Zhou Chengxian was embracing two female cultivators, getting completely drunk in a private room.

Relying on his close relationship with Zhang Kui, even after Zhang Kui fled, he continued to boast to others about his friendship with the deputy captain, claiming that once things calmed down, he could rise to prominence with Zhang Kui.

Before he could even put down his wine glass, the guards kicked open the door to the private room, pinned him to the ground without a word, and pressed a cold blade against his neck.

Zhou Chengxian instantly sobered up, terrified out of his wits, and cried out for justice, but the guards ignored him and dragged him directly into the Zhao family prison.

As soon as the instruments of torture were laid out in the prison, Zhou Chengxian, that spineless coward, completely broke down.

Before any torture could be carried out, he spilled the beans about his plan to use Zhang Kui to kill Xu Yuan and get fifty spirit stones as a reward. He even revealed the bits and pieces of information Zhang Kui had casually mentioned while drinking, such as the location of the Blood Fiend Sect's meeting point and the number of inside agents, all in the hopes of being spared his life.

But he forgot that the Zhao family hated people who were associated with the Blood Fiend Sect the most.

Even if he wasn't involved in the core plot of colluding with the enemy, his actions of currying favor with insiders and framing his comrades were enough to make him pay the price.

In the end, the Zhao family spared his life, but destroyed his dantian, cut off his path to immortality, and expelled him from Qingya Fang along with Liu Yue'er, who had also clung to Zhou Chengxian and participated in the framing, forbidding them from ever setting foot there again.

Zhou Chengxian, who once enjoyed immense prestige thanks to the inheritance of the Spirit Wine and bossed Xu Yuan around in the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, became a cripple with a shattered dantian overnight.

When he and Liu Yue'er were thrown out of the market gate by the guards, they were pelted with stones and rotten vegetable leaves by the rogue cultivators who hated the Bloodthirsty Fiend Sect. The two were ragged and covered in dust, like two stray dogs. They didn't even dare to look back and disappeared into the mountains in a sorry state.

From beginning to end, Xu Yuan never showed his face, never said a word, and never even expressed any attitude.

The two people who had caused him countless troubles and were determined to kill him simply disappeared from his world without leaving a trace of their karma on him.

Around noon, Qian Shi rushed into the courtyard in a panic, recounting the fate of Zhou Chengxian and Liu Yue'er in detail, his face filled with disbelief: "Brother Xu, you didn't see it! Zhou Chengxian's dantian was destroyed, and he was crying his eyes out. Liu Yue'er was also kicked out along with him! They deserved it! They mocked you so much back then, and now they've gotten their comeuppance!"

Xu Yuan was sitting at the stone table, holding a newly printed list of informants. Upon hearing this, he merely raised his eyes slightly, poured Qian Shi a cup of cold tea, and spoke calmly as if discussing a trivial matter: "As expected. They curried favor with the powerful and clung to evil cultivators; this is their own fate."

"But...but aren't you surprised at all?" Qian Shi held his teacup, looking completely bewildered. "I thought you'd at least feel relieved to hear this news."

"What's there to be relieved about?" Xu Yuan put down his pen and paper, tapping his fingertips lightly on the stone table. "Zhou Chengxian is nothing but a clown. Even if we deal with him, the real threat is still there. Go back and focus on your cultivation. Keep the talismans I gave you close to your body and don't wander around. The market won't be peaceful in the coming days."

Although Qian Shi still couldn't quite understand why Xu Yuan remained so calm from beginning to end, he nodded heavily, clutched the high-grade Yuan Qi powder that Xu Yuan had given him earlier, and obediently went back.

The courtyard returned to silence. Xu Yuan looked at the names of the spies copied on the paper, names he had pried out of the two spies, and his eyes were clear.

He had long anticipated the fate of Zhou Chengxian and Liu Yue'er. With Zhang Kui's downfall, the first to be purged would inevitably be these petty opportunists; he wouldn't even need to lift a finger.

What he needs to worry about now is Zhang Kui, who is hiding in the shadows, and the Blood Fiend Sect, which is eyeing him covetously from behind.

As night deepened, patrols in the market became several times stricter than usual. Every fifteen minutes, a group of guards would pass by the alley entrance, the sound of armor plates clashing clearly audible in the quiet night.

Xu Yuan sat cross-legged on the couch, his eyes slightly closed, quietly waiting for midnight. He had a premonition that today's intelligence would definitely concern Zhang Kui's whereabouts and the Blood Fiend Sect's next move.

As the clock hands just passed midnight, the familiar system notification sounded in my mind right on time.

[Ding! Today's intelligence has been updated.]

[Qingdao Daily: Before fleeing, Zhang Kui hid the Blood Fiend Sect's complete contact code, the remaining list of insiders, and a detailed plan for a three-month raid in a pile of rocks at the entrance to Black Wind Valley. He sealed the contents in an iron box wrapped in oilcloth, intending to hand it over to his Blood Fiend Sect contact in three days.]

Xu Yuan suddenly opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them.

It’s not a waste of time to break through the iron shoes.

Just when he was worried about not being able to figure out the details of the remaining inside agents and the complete plan of the Blood Fiend Sect's surprise attack, Zhang Kui delivered everything to him.