Anti-fraud manual for the cultivation world

The corpse puppet following behind Li Gu was none other than Zhou Shijie.

He was more familiar with Li Gu than the Ouyang brothers, so Hua Qianfang arranged for him to keep an eye on the Jiangzhou government office, which was the most suspicious.

Zhou Shijie dragged the heavy corpse, limping along behind Li Gu step by step, his eyes filled with hatred.

He ended up in this predicament entirely because of Li Gu. Now, his mind is filled with nothing but hatred; he has no other emotions. He only wants to kill Li Gu with his own hands so that he can breathe his last.

Ah! No, he's already dead.

The two people in charge of "managing" Zhou Shijie were genuine disciples of the Demonic Sect. Unlike the livestock in Flower Valley, they had formally become disciples of the Demonic Sect. Both of them had reached the 8th level of Qi Refining in the [Shared Path Demonic Scripture], and they had also practiced various external martial arts.

Swords, fists, palms, hidden weapons, and lightness skills are all top-tier external martial arts of the Demonic Sect. They share the same origin and lineage as the [Common Path Demonic Scripture], complementing each other and allowing them to unleash their maximum power.

Unlike the internal strength and swordsmanship of Li Gu and his companions, they were completely mismatched.

Logically speaking, these two disciples of the Demonic Sect should have been able to easily defeat Li Gu and his group of four, even though they were fighting four against one.

Hua Qianfang couldn't find any possibility of them losing, which is why he assigned them to be in charge of this matter.

Zhou Shijie said in a fawning tone, "Senior brothers... after we deal with Li Gu and the others, could I join the Demonic Sect as a corpse puppet? To be honest, I have admired the Demonic Sect since I was a child and have always wanted to become a disciple of the Demonic Sect."

The two demonic disciples sneered inwardly: You, a mere livestock, and a dead one at that, what are you dreaming about? Maintaining the corpse puppet's movements requires many materials, and these materials are not cheap. How could Master possibly leave you behind?

But since there's still a use for him now, the two just sneered and didn't bother to say anything.

One of the disciples seemed to remember something: "Right, send out a paper crane to inform the hall master that we have found Li Gu."

He took out a paper crane made of folded talisman from his pocket and whispered to the paper crane, "Inform the hall master that we have found the person and are currently heading towards Jintang Gate."

As soon as I let go, the paper crane flapped its wings and took flight...

The three continued forward, following Li Gu.

Unbeknownst to them, Zhang Yi and Zheng Xiaodong, standing at a street corner far behind them, had already locked their gazes on the paper crane that had just taken flight.

Zheng Xiaodong was getting anxious. If they didn't shoot this thing down, they would all be doomed.

But Zhang Yi remained calm, keeping a close eye on the paper crane and trying to determine its movement.

Just as the three people in front turned a corner, Zhang Yi immediately pulled out an iron ruler and shot it at the paper crane as a hidden weapon.

"puff!"

The iron ruler struck the paper crane accurately; the iron hit the paper, but there was no sound.

The paper crane fell limply, unnoticed by the three people in front of it.

Zhang Yi rushed to the spot where the iron ruler had landed, reached out and caught it in mid-air to prevent it from making a loud noise when it hit the ground. Only after he had put the iron ruler away did the paper crane slowly float down.

Zhang Yi held the paper crane in his hand, pulled Zheng Xiaodong along, and continued to follow from a distance.

----

After passing through the Golden Soup Gate, Li Gu arrived at "Looking for Son Slope".

Strictly speaking, we're already outside the city, but the area within several miles of Jiangzhou City is a no-go zone for divine sense, so there's no need to worry about being spied on by others using divine sense here.

He walked across a barren slope, pretended to look at a solitary grave, and then turned around to see two disciples of the Demonic Sect and Zhou Shijie standing in front of him.

Zhou Shijie spoke first, his tone filled with deep hatred: "Li Gu, don't think you can fool me just because you've put on a fake beard. Even if you turn to ashes, I'll still recognize you."

Li Gu feigned a hint of panic: "Ah? You... Second Senior Brother? What happened to you?"

Zhou Shijie chuckled cacklingly: "I came back from hell... Ouch..."

Before he could finish speaking, a disciple of the Demonic Sect kicked Zhou Shijie several meters away. Zhou's face slammed into a grave, tearing off a large chunk of his already rotting flesh and exposing purple, decaying flesh.

The demonic sect disciple scoffed, "A dead man still spouting so much nonsense!"

He turned to Li Gu, his face cold and stern: "Damn beast, you've made us search everywhere! Where are the other three?"

Li Gu asked in a panic, "You are... Hua Qianfang's people?"

The demonic sect disciple sneered, "Now I'm asking you a question: Where are the other three hiding?"

Li Gu didn't answer, but pretended to be startled, assuming the starting stance of the [Hidden Flower Movement Technique]...

The demonic sect disciple who had asked the question remained standing, while the other one swayed and instantly appeared behind Li Gu, his movements so swift and unpredictable that it was impossible to keep up: "Don't try to show off your pathetic lightness skill in front of us. What you've learned is a common, low-class martial arts technique called 'Eight Steps to Catch the Cicada,' which even a dog wouldn't want to learn. Our technique, on the other hand, is the true lightness skill of the demonic sect, 'Wandering with All Souls.' You have absolutely no chance of escaping."

Li Gu gritted his teeth: "Why, why do they have to treat us like this?"

The demonic sect disciple sneered, "Do pigs in a sty ask why humans treat them this way?"

Another disciple from the Outer Demonic Sect laughed and said, "Stop wasting time talking to him, let's do it. The Hall Master said that we can absorb the livestock we catch. This is a free Qi Refining Level 6 cultivation. Let's each absorb half and get one step closer to Foundation Establishment."

The disciple who had spoken earlier said, "What's the panic! Don't kill them. We need to force them to reveal the whereabouts of the other three."

Li Gu angrily said, "I'll fight you to the death."

He raised his fist and threw a punch without any strategy.

There's no need for acting; he doesn't know any boxing techniques, except for basic martial arts.

The punch was full of openings, which the two demonic sect disciples found amusing. The demonic sect disciple standing in front of Li Gu used half of a palm technique and easily grabbed Li Gu's wrist with a "snap".

Li Gu used only the spiritual energy of the sixth level of Qi Refining to pretend to struggle, but he couldn't break free at all.

Another disciple from the Demonic Sect behind him also made a move, grabbing Li Gu's shoulder.

The two of them almost simultaneously used the "Absorb" technique from the [Common Path Demonic Codex], intending to first absorb all of Li Gu's cultivation before interrogating him about the whereabouts of the other three people.

Just when they thought they had succeeded, Li Gu suddenly flipped his wrist and grabbed their wrists instead.

"what?"

The two demonic disciples were greatly surprised: How can this guy still move when we've managed to subdue him with our combined power?

Just as they thought of this, they felt the weak spiritual energy of the sixth level of Qi Refining on Li Gu suddenly surge, instantly increasing to a level that they could not match.

The two were taken aback and quickly tried to break free.

But it was too late. Li Gu gripped their wrists tightly, and his Foundation Establishment cultivation entered their bodies along the meridians of their wrists, instantly defeating their Qi Refining Level 8 cultivation.

Both sides have learned the "Common Path Demonic Codex" and want to devour each other. At this point, it's a matter of who is the big fish and who is the small fish.

Clearly, Li Gu was a big fish; his cultivation level opened its blood-red maw, greedily biting at the two demonic sect disciples.