Chapter 293: 269 Formulation Part 1

At the base of the cliff, sunlight scattered in spots, the rustling of leaves could be heard.

Zhang Rongfang’s figure flickered left and right, each evasion seeming like a coordinated drama with his opponent.

His figure was always positioned perfectly in the gaps of the elder’s attacks and defense.

No matter how he struck, the elder’s Crescent Shovel always missed Zhang Rongfang by just a tiny bit.

Countless streams of qi and blood flowed, accompanied by silver lines, changing on his body.

In Zhang Rongfang’s vision, the changes in the qi and blood on the opponent’s body were different from normal people.

Ordinary people only had qi and blood flowing, but on this elder, there were some additional silver lines.

’That must be the Spiritual Veins….’ he thought to himself knowingly.

Suddenly, he recalled a piece of common medical knowledge.

’The meridians and collaterals, meridians being the main trunk, and collaterals being the network. And Spiritual Veins….could it replace the collaterals in the meridians?’

“Boy! Fighting with me and still dare to be distracted!?”

The elder was at the brink of rage, his Crescent Shovel striking continuously like a storm, almost producing afterimages.

But unfortunately, his movements seemed completely predicted, unable to touch Zhang Rongfang at all.

Bang!

Suddenly, there was a dull sound as the Crescent Shovel smashed through a small tree, sending bark flying, a flurry of leaves falling.

The elder let out a roar, his skin reddening rapidly, swelling slightly, the Crescent Shovel in his hand becoming steadier and slower.

“Falling New Leaves!!”

With a roar, the Crescent Shovel in his hand suddenly burst forth with speed much faster than before, striking toward Zhang Rongfang.

This time, the Crescent Shovel didn’t move in a straight line but along a strange, twisted arc, making it impossible to predict where it would hit.

Unfortunately, all of this was meaningless to Zhang Rongfang at this moment.

He suddenly flipped upwards, leaping two meters into the air, just managing to evade the entire attack path of the Crescent Shovel’s transformations.

By now, he had almost fully understood the shallow qi and blood changes of the Spiritual Veins.

He had no great interest in the elder anymore.

Gently landing behind the elder, he swiftly struck, his right claw lightning-fast, hitting a qi and blood node on the elder’s back.

Bang!

This move hit directly in the center of the back.

The massive force was accompanied by a unique sense of powerlessness and numbness, instantly spreading throughout the elder’s body.

The strength he was summoning to turn around was completely dispersed by this blow.

“Again.”

Unyielding, he pushed himself to the Extreme State, igniting and unleashing the Limit-Breaking Skill again.

“Sea Dragon Head!”

The Crescent Shovel brought up a cloud of soil and rocks, with a special roar like a beast resounding in mid-air.

This time the burst of power surpassed the previous one by nearly half.

Swish!

But unfortunately, this strike also missed.

“That’s about enough.” By now, Zhang Rongfang had seen all the various manifestations of the Spiritual Veins under dim light vision.

He had a rough understanding of his opponent’s strength.

Immediately, he raised his right arm, swiftly advancing forward, tapping several times with his fingers.

Bang.

The Crescent Shovel fell to the ground, the elder’s entire body weak and feeble, collapsing onto his knees.

“The last one.” When he heard Zhang Rongfang’s words, a sharp pain hit his forehead.

Everything plunged into darkness.

The elder’s body slumped to the ground, while Zhang Rongfang stood to the side, quietly observing the change in the opponent.

Soon, the elder slowly opened his eyes, standing up from the ground, fully restored.

“What a pity…” Zhang Rongfang struck again like lightning, without holding back this time.

Another move struck the elder’s forehead, leaving him powerless to resist, plunging him back into darkness once more.

“Confirmed that this Acupoint Skill works on Spiritual Veins too, but still couldn’t discern the fundamental reason for their resurrection….”

Zhang Rongfang sighed softly, lifted the elder’s body, took off his money pouch, and threw it far into the distance.

The body soared high, like a broken sack, quickly flying dozens of meters, then landing with a thud on a big tree branch, unable to move.

He picked up the Crescent Shovel again and also threw it in the same direction.

He didn’t have the time to slowly exhaust the man here, although the elder hailed from the Thousand Stone Sect, his skill was merely barely Super Grade. In all honesty, he probably couldn’t even defeat the Sea Dragon Super Grade he encountered in Wushan Prefecture back then.

Moreover, the strength he displayed this time didn’t exceed the limits of his identity as Zhang Ying.

So there’s nothing to worry about.

After handling matters, Zhang Rongfang turned back towards the Celestial Extreme Cave cliff to continue waiting for reinforcements.

Meanwhile, he also gained new insights regarding how to apply the Acupoint Skill….

On the other side, Nuban returned overnight to Cituogang Port, heading straight to Agarwood Palace.

Within Agarwood Palace, Sun Chaoyue was now in charge of daily affairs.

Upon receiving Nuban’s report and confirming the token Zhang Rongfang gave as proof, she immediately took ten or so Daoists from Agarwood Palace, loaded a pill furnace, medicinal herbs, firewood, and charcoal onto an ox cart, and hurried towards the Celestial Extreme Cave.

Chen Han didn’t leave, remaining to guard the palace.

The last incident left him feeling uneasy as if someone intended to harm Agarwood Palace.

Regarding Daoist, he roughly understood that Daoist’s current strength was formidable, only slightly inferior to his own. Behind him were two Spiritual Veins guardians from Snow Rainbow Pavilion, so there was no need for concern.

But here at Agarwood Palace, besides him, there were no other Super Grade masters.

Super Grades weren’t as common as cabbages, even though Cituogang is Great Spirit’s largest port, connecting hundreds of countries.

Yet Super Grades were still extremely rare.

Just like the Wushan Prefecture Daoist once belonged to, the entire Wushan Prefecture, on the surface, had only two Super Grades.

In comparison, Cituogang, on the surface, has no more than five Super Grades.

But in the shadows…. with various great powers coming and going, undercurrents swirling, it was unclear.

Fortunately, contrary to his expectations, after Sun Chaoyue left, nothing happened for several days.

Agarwood Palace gradually returned to its usual peace.

“What?”

With a bang, the wooden chair was knocked over by Chen Han.

He looked solemnly at the official bringing the news in front of him.

“The person who died was the young master of the Linlang Association?”

“Yes, it was. The Prefect’s intention is that this matter should be reported to a higher level of the Great Dao Teaching as soon as possible to avoid any unexpected trouble.” The official bowed respectfully.

“I understand.” Chen Han waved his hand, “You may leave now.”

“Yes.”

The official left the hall.

Chen Han kept recalling the scene at that time; the more he thought about it, the more something seemed off.

“It seems… someone deliberately wants to create chaos and take advantage of the situation…” Although he’s not good at scheming, he could see that someone was intentionally stirring trouble.

How could the dignified young master of the Linlang Association enter the Agarwood Palace alone at night, killing several people, and finally not resisting much before being killed by me?

“Someone, come!” Chen Han suddenly exclaimed.

“Here.” A Daoist entered the room.

“Prepare the carriage and horses, I want to…..” Chen Han’s voice suddenly stopped, and he hesitated.

“Never mind, there’s no need. You can go.” He changed his mind.

This kind of thing, which he’s not good at, would best be left to Daoist Zhang Ying when he returns.

No matter what, he just needed to maintain his hold on Agarwood Palace, responding to changes by staying unchanged.

Immediately, he quickly drafted a letter, heading to the correspondence room to send it out. First, to report to the higher-level Dao Palace.

*

*

*

Time passed.

The assassination of the young master of the Linlang Association, with the body found in Agarwood Palace, quickly spread throughout Citong.

The ordinary public wasn’t very aware, but those with a bit of insight had all heard about it.

After all, the prefectural yamen was the source of all the forces gathering to inquire about news; it was like a sieve that leaked most things, known throughout the city.

But what was strange was that Agarwood Palace had no higher-ups to explain, merely sending messages that decisions would be made upon Daoist Zhang Ying’s return.

This inevitably made people feel that the attitude of Agarwood Palace was somewhat aloof and heartless.

And just then, the envoy from the Linlang Association, sent to ask questions, mysteriously disappeared on the way.

This was in line with the attitude of Agarwood Palace.

Immediately, most people naturally had new associations.

Rumor had it that someone had witnessed the people from the Linlang Association being intercepted and killed on the sea route.

The interceptors were wearing the outfits of the Great Dao Teaching from Agarwood Palace.

People then recalled the incident with Princess Yongxiang earlier and how even the princess was gone while Daoist Zhang Ying remained unscathed.

This solidified the belief that this affair was orchestrated by Agarwood Palace.

Because of a grudge over a shipload of medicinal herbs, they acted to kill the young master of Linlang Island, and subsequently also eliminated the envoy sent by Linlang Island to confront them…

Even the people in the government almost believed it was all intentionally done by Agarwood Palace.

And then at this moment.

In the harbor, on an ordinary-looking large ship.

A man was wielding a brush, writing character after character in high spirits on white paper.

’The essence lasts forever, the sky eagle breaches the clouds.’

Words soon appeared on the white paper.

The man put down the brush, looking at the characters on the table with satisfaction.

“Seems like my brushwork has improved.” He chuckled.

“Young Master is increasingly displaying the style of a master.” A woman behind him complimented.

“I think so too.” The man nodded, “Has there been any change at Agarwood Palace?”

“Not yet, they’re probably just waiting for Daoist Zhang Ying to return before making plans.” The woman replied.

“Quite clever. If Chen Han strikes first, it would make things easier for us. Capturing him would force Zhang Ying to act, but this one’s rather steady.” The man nodded.

“Young Master? Why don’t we just go in and take him? After all, Agarwood Palace doesn’t have any experts.” The woman asked doubtfully.

“Snow Rainbow Pavilion and Sensing Sect are watching him, it’s not that there are no experts, but that you can’t see them.” The man smiled and shook his head.

“My aim is to see what powers Zhang Ying has outside of Snow Rainbow Pavilion. This person is not so simple…haven’t you tried once before and still failed?” he explained.

“Young Master, the Linlang Association can’t hold back anymore. Even if they sense something is amiss, they must send experts to Agarwood Palace, or they’ll surely lose their prestige, and they won’t be able to suppress the other pirates, which would result in the collapse of the entire Linlang Island.” The woman was unwilling to mention the last assassination attempt, still holding a grudge over the death of the Commandery Princess.

“No rush; there will probably be another test. This time, I’m relying on your versatile actions.” The man smiled.

“It was just a little spark, not much effort.” The woman responded.

In fact, they had acted twice. Once to frame Chen Han and blame Agarwood Palace.

Another time to disguise as Agarwood Palace members and intercept the Linlang Island envoy on the way.

These matters were nothing to them.

“This front is merely incidental; you’ll have to keep a close watch. My main focus is still on absorbing the Jin family fleet here.” The man continued.

Now, the Thousand Teachings Alliance had continuously absorbed several large and small fleets.

With the actions of the Sensing Sect attracting outside attention.

They could fully plan the entire Citong within five years, completing the interior layout of the teaching.

“Han Jia understands.” The woman nodded.

“Understood, then you may go, keep a constant eye. Leave no loose ends.” The man ordered.

“Yes.” The woman bowed, excused herself, and left.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep