Chapter 18: Narrowly Avoiding Death Flag

"Okay, you can go now," the elder composed himself. He decided to go back and check Qing Chen's background first, to know whether he was affiliated with any Clan or was a loose cultivator.

Qing Chen was confused, but then clarity returned to his eyes when he thought that the elder was surely waiting for the destined person, and he was not one. So he automatically backed away.

Should I check what his real cultivation is?

Qing Chen was tempted for a second, but he did not use Harmony Detector. Right now, he did not know much about the cultivation realms above the Nascent Soul Realm. If the elder turned out to be of a much higher realm, then he would be unable to differentiate just how many realms he was away from reaching the same level as that of the elder.

"Thanks, Elder." Qing Chen cupped his hands and walked out.

"Strange child," the elder, Fu Min, glanced at the back of Qing Chen and said, "I definitely felt some response from the scroll."

Could he be wrong?

Fu Min looked around him and saw that there were many disciples around this area; it might not have been that child.

"Are you ready? That person’s disciple has come out." A person standing in casual outer sect disciple robes was standing at a stall far away in the corner of the Celestial Archive. His eyes first glanced at Qing Chen, then at his accomplice who was standing a little closer to Qing Chen.

Hmm... I know, that person also said with his eyes.

Qing Chen looked around him. This place was filled with cultivators going in and out of the Celestial Archive.

I feel like some eyes are watching me.

Qing Chen was a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator at the peak of it. On top of it, his soul was able to sense any ill intentions that were directed at him.

He did not alert the enemy. He showed and acted like he did not sense anything. He continued walking.

"Follow him, don't let him return to the Herbs Valley." The people who were scattered around the Celestial Archive stopped what they were doing.

Thud!

Qing Chen collided with a random outer sect disciple.

Before Qing Chen could say anything, the guy openly took away the pouch hanging on his waist and ran away with it.

"Hey! Stop!" Qing Chen acted according to their wishes and shouted like a normal person would when faced with theft in broad daylight.

Qing Chen ran behind the disciple who had collided and stolen his pouch filled with the remaining spiritual stones.

Pant! Pant!

Qing Chen, as a second-layer Energy Refinement cultivator, was just a little better than mortals, and after running for so long, he had arrived at a dead end. The thief was standing a little away from him with his back facing towards him.

Qing Chen saw that, one by one, shadows appeared behind him, stopping the sunlight from lighting up the dead end.

Killing within the sect would attract too much attention.

Qing Chen rubbed his chin, not caring about the cultivators behind him.

"Any one of us would have been enough to end his pitiful life. I think the Lord has become a little too cautious after his defeat..."

"Agh!" The person who was just talking had his head exploded on the spot.

"Do not insult my Lord," the person who had killed that guy said with a fanatical look in his eyes as he eyed others in his team.

Qing Chen shivered, seeing that these guys were not even merciful to their own colleagues. Truly a group of terrorists.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Peng Qiang, go and finish him." Hou Zexi ordered a member of his team, while Hou Zexi and others walked away with Fan Xue's dead body in their arms. This Fan Xue also had a family. They could at least deliver his body to them.

Peng Qiang was a second-layer Foundation Building Realm cultivator. A cultivator like Qing Chen, even if a hundred attacked Peng Qiang at the same time, he would be unfazed and wipe them out like killing a fly.

A few minutes later.

[+10 Harmony Points]

"Hey Peng Qiang, if you are done, come out now. Don't torture the dead body, you pervert." Hou Zexi and other members returned to check after Fan Xue's matter had been completed.

They were not alarmed when Peng Qiang did not return immediately after killing Qing Chen because they were aware of his perverse tendencies.

"Peng Qiang."

They shouted again, but no response came. There was only complete darkness in the dead end where they had trapped Qing Chen.

They looked into the darkness, but this darkness felt different. It felt like the darkness was also looking back at them. And for some reason, they were unable to look past this dark fog.

Hou Zexi seemed to sense something felt off. He was about to shout at the others to turn back and run, but the fog devoured them.

Aaaa! My Lord, save meee!

[+10 Harmony Points]

[+30 Harmony Points]

Tsk! Qing Chen clicked his tongue when the person furthest from him succeeded in shouting out loud.

I should have isolated this area with my divine sense... Well, it’s not like I am a professional killer.

Qing Chen had used the Eclipsing Shadows Technique and Azure Sky's Final Resurgence to cover the area around him in pitch-black fog. Unfortunately, the Eclipsing Shadows Technique was only usable to hide in the shadows or create pitch-black fog to hide his identity.

After his work was done, Qing Chen retrieved all the fog back inside his body. Just when he was about to go back to the Herbs Valley, there were no dead bodies strewn around him. He had already buried them using Verdant Soul Manifestation, and only some drops of blood remained. In place of the dead bodies, a flower had bloomed, completely blood red in color, looking extremely eerie and ominous.

"Stop right there."

Qing Chen's steps halted, and he looked up and saw that some disciples were flying in the air on their swords.

Looking at the symbol on their robes, they were from the law enforcement hall.

Think of the devil, and the devil is here.

Qing Chen was now having a headache. He should have killed them more quickly. Now, he could not even run away.

They came down from the air. Only three people had arrived, with one female and two males. The female looked like a senior law enforcement officer.

"We heard a cry for help just now. Do you know anything?"

"No, I also just arrived to see what had happened."

The female officer looked at the bag in Qing Chen's hand that had the clothes he had just purchased.

"Then did you run all the way from the shop where you bought these clothes to this dead end?"

She again gazed at Qing Chen.

"I was on my way back to the Herbs Valley."

Suddenly she came close to Qing Chen and sniffed.

"Senior..." A flustered sound came out of Qing Chen. He had never been so close to the opposite gender, except for his mother and sister in his past life.

"Don't you smell that?" She looked at Qing Chen, who had a lost expression, then at the two lower male officers behind her.

"Yes, Senior. It smells like fresh blood," one of the male officers said with a sly smile on his lips, like they had labeled Qing Chen already as the perpetrator.

The female officer also had a smile on her lips.

"How would I know, Senior? I am just a servant in the Herbs Valley. I have never even killed an ant; how would I know the smell of blood?"

"Oh~" The female officer again came close to Qing Chen. "Then how do you explain this drop of blood on your collar?"

The female officer's finger brushed past his collar, and then she showed Qing Chen a tiny drop of red blood on her finger.

"It might have fallen on me at some point, when I was unaware." Qing Chen's calm expression did not falter.

Now, it was the law enforcement officers' turn to be surprised. This guy was too calm that it gave them chills. Even innocent people became afraid when they saw them, and now this person, who called himself a servant but was dressed better than most outer sect disciples, and even when all three of them had surrounded him, did not even have a frown.

This made them more wary of this person's real background.

"You can go now. And we apologize for the trouble," the male officer said.

The senior female officer glared at the male officer, but he said with his eyes that he had a reason for doing this.

"Okay, thank you, Senior. I hope we do not meet again." Qing Chen first glanced at each person's expression, then slipped away confidently.

"Explain!" The senior female officer pushed the male officer against the wall of the dead end.

"Senior, I did this to save you and myself."

"..."

The male officer looked up and saw that she wanted to hear more, so he continued. "Senior, you saw how calm and composed he was, right? And there are only two reasons someone can be so calm during such situations. I have been working in the law enforcement hall for a decade now and know from experience, but you have only just arrived a month ago."

"First, he might be related to some big clan in the sect or have support from some elder in the sect. Second, he might be hiding his real strength and did not care about us. And let me add, we have no proof against him."

"I believe the first reason, as he is too young to be stronger than Senior here."

The other male officer, who had been like an extra this whole time, spoke in support from the sidelines.

"Proof! I will find one. We already have two pieces of evidence. One is this drop of blood; the other is that he was here at the crime scene faster than our flying swords."

The female officer, Chang Xinyue, said to the other male officers and also made a promise to herself. Could the background of the person behind that servant be bigger than hers? Her team members were unaware of her real background because she wished to be low-key. But to bring justice to whoever was killed here today, she would do anything in her power.

She did not even think for a second that Qing Chen might have been the victim.