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

In the torture chamber of the Zhao family's main residence, the stench of blood mixed with the chill of the torture instruments permeated the enclosed space.

Zhao Qiuyue sat upright on the pear wood chair at the head of the table. Her plain white outfit made her face look even colder. She looked down at Zhou Lin, the warehouse manager, who was chained to the rack, and tapped her fingertips lightly on the armrest.

Just half an hour ago, she led her trusted guards in a surprise attack on Zhou Lin's residence.

From the hidden compartment in the bedroom, they found not only secret correspondence between the Blood Fiend Sect and blueprints for the backup array cores of the protective formation, but also two hundred high-grade spirit stones sent by the Blood Fiend Sect. The evidence was irrefutable, with the perpetrators caught red-handed.

"Young Miss, spare me! I was bewitched! The Blood Fiend Sect forced me to this!" Zhou Lin was covered in wounds, convulsing in pain. Seeing the gleaming skinning knife beside the rack, his mental defenses completely crumbled. He cried and begged for mercy, "I'll confess everything! There are seven more spies in the market. Two are squad leaders in the guard team, one guards the city gate, and the remaining four are hiding in the market's general stores and gambling dens! I'll write down their names and hiding places. Please, Young Miss, spare my life!"

Zhao Qiuyue raised her hand, signaling the guard to hand her paper and pen. Looking at the list written by Zhou Lin's trembling hand, the coldness in her eyes intensified. Each of these seven people had access to the core defenses of the market. If it weren't for Xu Yuan's intelligence, six months later, when the Blood Fiend Sect's army pressed in, these people would launch an attack from within, and the Zhao family wouldn't even have a chance to react, only to be wiped out.

After Zhou Lin finished writing the last word, Zhao Qiuyue slowly stood up, her voice as cold as ice: "Pass on my order: the guards will split into seven groups and attack, arresting people according to the list. Any Blood Fiend Sect accomplices must be killed without exception, leave no one alive!"

"yes!"

The guards obeyed the order and, under the cover of the dark night, moved like seven sharp knives, heading straight for each of the hiding places on the list.

Overnight, the remaining agents of the Blood Fiend Sect hidden in Qingyafang were completely eradicated and wiped out, leaving not a single one behind.

As dawn broke, the morning breeze dispelled the lingering smell of blood from the market.

With the inside agent completely eliminated, the series of assassination attempts by the guards came to an abrupt end, and the guard team, which had been living in constant fear, finally regained its composure.

In addition, Li Qinghe strictly followed the three plans set by Xu Yuan to reorganize the market. Three outside cultivators formed a joint protection team, patrolled continuously for twelve hours, and offered a large reward for clues about insiders. In just a few days, Qingya Market, which was originally chaotic and filled with fear, was completely stabilized.

The four gates of the market have resumed orderly entry and exit, and shops that had been closed for many days have gradually reopened, bringing back the lively atmosphere of the main street.

The rogue cultivators in the market praised Li Qinghe for his decisive actions and effective management, and Zhao Qiuyue for her wisdom and decisiveness in eliminating internal troubles. However, no one knew that behind all of this was Xu Yuan, who was hiding in the cave of Crouching Tiger Mountain, secretly plotting and manipulating things.

Meanwhile, the mastermind behind the scenes was sitting at the stone table in the cave, flipping through a stack of secret letters that Li Qinghe had secretly sent overnight.

These were all secret correspondence between the Blood Fiend Sect and Zhou Lin and the other inside agents, which were searched from their residences. Li Qinghe dared not conceal anything and sent them all to Xu Yuan intact, without even opening the seals.

Xu Yuan opened each letter one by one, scanning the blood-red characters on them with his divine sense.

He finally figured out the real reason why the Blood Fiend Sect was so fixated on Qingya Workshop and was willing to pay any price to obtain the ancient talisman seal.

The headquarters of the Blood Fiend Sect is located in Black Wind Ridge, near Blackwater City in the Western Region. The sect leader, Blood Soul Old Monster, is a top cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage. He cultivates the top evil cultivation technique, Blood Soul Great Art, and forcibly improves his cultivation by sacrificing the souls and essence of other cultivators. In just twenty years, he has rushed from the early Foundation Establishment stage to the late Foundation Establishment stage, only one step away from the Golden Core stage.

However, the Blood Soul Technique has an extremely strong backlash, which becomes more terrifying the closer one gets to the Golden Core stage. A slight mistake can lead to the annihilation of one's soul and body, resulting in death. The Daoist essence of the pill talisman contained in the ancient talisman can completely suppress the backlash of the Blood Soul Technique and even help the Blood Soul Old Monster stabilize his Dao foundation, clearing away all obstacles to breaking through to the Golden Core stage.

This is the fundamental reason why the Blood Fiend Sect launched two surprise attacks on Qingyafang, refusing to give up even after losing Foundation Establishment cultivators.

In their eyes, the survival of Qingyafang and the life and death of the Zhao family were nothing more than stepping stones to obtaining the talisman.

As you continue scrolling down, the secret letter reveals all the details about the evil cultivator alliance six months later.

Besides the Blood Fiend Sect and the remnants of Black Wind Stronghold, there was another force far more troublesome than the Blood Fiend Sect that joined forces to massacre Qingyafang this time: Yin Wind Valley.

The Ghost-Faced Old Monster, the master of Yinfeng Valley, is also a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. His Corpse Puppet Technique is extremely evil, allowing him to control thousands of copper-skinned corpse puppets that have been tempered with thousand-year-old corpse poison.

These corpse puppets are impervious to swords and spears, unafraid of ordinary magical attacks, and immune to the spiritual energy suppression of the protective array. They are weapons specifically designed to break arrays and are the absolute main force in this bloodbath of Qingyafang.

With two late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators joining forces, plus three Foundation Establishment cultivators leading the team, the impending doom six months later is several times more dangerous than Xu Yuan had previously predicted.

Xu Yuan put down the last secret letter and tapped the stone table lightly with his fingertips. The more dangerous the situation, the more important it is to figure out every trick in the enemy's hand. This is the ironclad rule of survival he has learned from ten years of surviving.

Now that all the enemy's secrets are laid bare before him, he naturally has a way to deal with them.

He raised his hand and unleashed a burst of spiritual fire, burning all the secret letters to ashes. He even used a dust-removing talisman to clean up every last bit of ash, leaving no trace that could implicate him.

As night deepened, midnight quietly arrived.

The familiar system notification sounded in my mind right on time, accurately verifying all the contents of the secret message:

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

[Qingdao Daily: The Ghost-Faced Old Monster, the master of Yin Wind Valley, has arrived at Black Wind Ridge and met with Blood Soul Old Monster, the master of Blood Fiend Sect. They agreed to take action six months later at dawn. First, they will use corpse puppets to break the protective array of the workshop, and then they will perform a blood sacrifice on all the cultivators in the workshop to help the two of them break through to the Golden Core stage.]

The contents were exactly the same as those in the secret letter.

Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with understanding.

He completely confirmed the authenticity of the intelligence and thoroughly understood the enemy's entire plan. The deadly situation six months later was exactly as he predicted, with no blind spots in information left.

He was preparing to sit cross-legged and continue to digest the contents of the Danfu Daojing when the system in his mind suddenly sounded a notification sound again.

This is the first time he has encountered temporary intelligence that was not refreshed at midnight since he bound himself to the system.

A line of crimson characters suddenly appeared on the surface of his consciousness:

[Top-tier Crimson Intelligence: In three days, the triennial Alchemist Conference will be held in Blackwater City of the Western Territory. The champion's prize is a complete Foundation Establishment Pill formula and a second-grade superior-quality alchemy furnace. The young master of the Blood Fiend Sect will lead a team to the conference, secretly contacting surrounding evil cultivation forces to prepare for the massacre of Qingyafang six months later.]