Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Actually, I’m a Cook

Less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea had passed between the start of the assassination attempt on Zou Feng and his successful counter-kill.

Meanwhile, everyone else was busy fighting the fire, so no one came to this remote corner of the warehouse.

This meant Zou Feng still had plenty of time to stage the scene.

The main reason he had turned the tables so easily was that his opponents had been operating on bad intel.

After all, no one knew that his greatest trump card was the Five Poison Skill.

And of course, that was a trump card he needed to keep up his sleeve.

A moment later, his sinister smile faded, and Zou Feng immediately dragged the two assassins’ bodies to new positions.

He had to create a different narrative.

Namely, that he had been ambushed, pushed to his absolute limit, and sustained grievous injuries, only barely managing to kill his assailants by a stroke of luck.

He finally unleashed his Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm, repeatedly striking the assassins’ corpses to conceal the fact that they had been poisoned.

Soon, the two assassins were roasted to a state of crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. The aroma was simply indescribable.

It was no exaggeration to say the air was filled with the rich smell of cooked meat.

It couldn’t be helped. Zou Feng’s Cultivation of the Black Tortoise Sea-Suppressing Force involved soaking in so many medicinal baths that he himself was practically marinated through and through. Even his Inner Qi had taken on a spice-like quality.

So, although Zou Feng hadn’t intended to barbecue them, he had inadvertently revealed his hidden talent as a chef.

Fortunately, it made for an excellent disguise.

The high heat had caused most of the poison to evaporate.

To be on the safe side, Zou Feng then took Hawk Nose’s crescent scimitar and hacked at the bodies a few more times.

Only after he was done did he realize what he’d done. ’Isn’t this the same as carving the meat after it’s been roasted?’

’The next step would be plating it…’

’Whatever. As long as it hides the fact that I killed them easily with poison, it’s fine.’

Now for the final step.

Zou Feng had to be ruthless with himself. He needed to look “severely injured.”

Creating this effect wasn’t difficult for him.

The Qi Dispersing Pill he carried could temporarily scatter most of his Inner Qi, leaving the rest in a state of extreme turmoil.

And the Burning Vein Pill, used for cultivating the Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm, would create the appearance that he had forcefully circulated his Inner Qi by burning his own meridians.

Then, he would use One-Eared’s brass knuckles and Hawk Nose’s crescent scimitar to inflict a few nasty wounds on himself.

This was no big deal either; the Tribulation-Indestructible Body used torture as a method of Cultivation.

Inflicting these wounds on himself was practically a form of Cultivation.

He would look gravely wounded, but the pain would be borne almost entirely by Qian Kun.

His preparations complete, Zou Feng immediately collapsed to the ground and yelled weakly, “Help! Assassins!”

By now, the fire—which was never meant to burn down the entire warehouse—had mostly been extinguished.

Thus, it wasn’t long before a gang member discovered the situation over where Zou Feng was.

However, this gang member hadn’t found him because of his “weak” cries for help.

He had smelled the rich, meaty aroma and simply followed his nose…

“Ah, Zou Incense Master! What… what happened to you!?”

“And this roast… BLECH—”

After all, it was dark out and the fire was extinguished. The gang member couldn’t see clearly at first and actually thought the blaze had roasted something delicious.

Soon, nearly every member of the Black Flood Dragon Gang in the warehouse district had gathered at the scene.

Zhao Tianhu, Liu Chun, and the others frantically pulled out all sorts of wound salves, applying medicine and bandages to Zou Feng.

“Incense Master, you have to be okay!”

“How could this happen? Why would assassins come here…?”

Throughout it all, Zou Feng maintained a pathetic state, his breathing as faint as a silk thread, looking as if he could succumb to his grievous wounds at any second.

Ma Pingchuan, for his part, was practically frantic with anxiety.

Staring at the two fragrantly roasted corpses, Ma Pingchuan cursed furiously in his mind.

’Useless trash! They talked such a big game, saying that a Tribulation-Indestructible Body at Minor Success was nothing, that using a Spiritual Artifact against him would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut…’

’And in the end, it was two against one, and they still got killed! So damn useless and stupid!’

’But I have to admit, they really do smell delicious!’

Then he looked at Zou Feng. The man clearly looked like he was on his last breath, yet he stubbornly refused to die.

Ma Pingchuan was itching to deliver the finishing blow himself, but there were too many people around.

Besides, Zou Feng’s trusted men, along with the five newcomers recently sent by Wang Xingjian, were now clearly on their guard against him.

’Forget it. No need to take the risk.’

’The assassins are dead. There’s no risk of being exposed.’

’From the looks of it, even if Zou Feng survives, he’ll be half-crippled.’

’It’ll probably take him months just to recover.’

’Once the heat is off, how hard could it be to kill a wounded cripple?’

With this in mind, Ma Pingchuan suppressed the urge to risk it all.

This decision temporarily saved his life.

If he had tried to deliver the killing blow, he would have discovered that Zou Feng was still capable of a final burst of energy and could have “fought him to the death.”

「Before dawn, Chen Jingsheng and Wang Xingjian arrived in a hurry.」

“Brother, are you all right!?” Wang Xingjian looked furious. “Once I find out who did this, I’ll skin them alive!”

Chen Jingsheng, however, first glanced at Zou Feng, who lay on the bed wrapped up like a mummy, then asked without turning his head, “What have you found?”

The subordinate behind him was clearly an expert in autopsies.

At the question, the man bowed. “The two men weren’t carrying anything on them. The Government Office sent someone to take a look, and we can basically confirm they aren’t from Yuan Guang County.”

“Also… Zou Incense Master’s Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm is truly formidable. It’s been several hours, yet the two bodies still have such a rich, meaty aroma…”

Chen Jingsheng shot him a glare. “Cut the useless chatter!”

“Hall Master, please calm yourself. What I meant to say is that the meaty aroma is masking other scents on the bodies…”

“However, after careful examination, I was still able to detect two scents distinct from the cooked meat!”

Lying in bed, Zou Feng naturally heard this as well.

’Holy hell, he can still pick up other scents? I thought only the Spirit Beasts raised by the Government Office had noses that good. How can this guy’s nose compete with a Spirit Beast?’

“Continue,” Chen Jingsheng urged.

“One of the scents is something I’ve never encountered before, so I can’t say for sure. But the other is one I have smelled before—a unique type of sandalwood!”

“Sandalwood?”

“Yes. If my nose doesn’t deceive me, that type of sandalwood is almost exclusively found on disciples of the Ten Directions Sect.”

Upon hearing the three words “Ten Directions Sect,” everyone present frowned in unison.

If the assailants had been common assassins-for-hire, things would have been relatively simple; they would just need to investigate who was pulling the strings.

But with the Ten Directions Sect involved, the matter became far more complex.

After a moment’s thought, Wang Xingjian hurriedly asked, “Brother, have you ever offended someone from the Ten Directions Sect?”

Zou Feng swallowed with “difficulty” before giving a bitter smile. “Brother Wang… you know my past. I was just a Household Slave in the Yang Mansion. To offend the Ten Directions Sect… I never even had the opportunity…”

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