Chapter 451: Identity
From the storage rings, Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan discovered the identities of the four corpses.
The first was Zhou Man; a clansman of the Zhou family and an elder of the Tianxuan sect.
Like most of his clansmen, Zhou Man was a talisman master and based on the talismans found in one of the storage rings, he was already a peak-stage, level eight, talisman master.
Excluding Zhou Man, the other corpses were Lin Yun, Wang Gang, and Zhang Chao.
Lin Yun was a level eight formation master and Wang Gang was a marital artist. That said, both were casual cultivators and often took spirit stones to eliminate trouble for others.
Finally, Zhang Chao was a level eight poison master and his identity was the youngest son of an elder of the first branch of the Ten Evils sect.
"Zhang Chao’s identity is a bit troubling." Shen Xu said and subconsciously frowned.
He and Zhen Yuan were not afraid of poison.
However, he was worried that their actions would implicate innocent people and he didn’t want that on his conscience.
"Poison masters are troublesome to deal with." Zhen Yuan agreed.
After compiling the loot and discarding what they didn’t want, the two found three billion spirit stones, four hundred level seven and eight talismans, talisman materials including talisman liquid and talisman papers, ten level eight formation disks, formation materials, five level seven monster corpses, pills, weapons, poison powders, poisonous weeds, and a level eight blue vine flower.
Blue vine flower was the main material for the blue vine pill; a level eight pill that allowed a Mahayana realm cultivator to advance a small realm.
Unfortunately, the blue vine flower was extremely poisonous and consequently, the blue vine pill. Because of this, the pill was only useful to poison masters or cultivators whose bodies were immune to poisons.
"It seems Zhang Chao was getting ready to advance." Shen Xu deduced.
After all, the blue vine flower and two billion spirit stones were found in the man’s storage ring.
"His things are ours now." Zhen Yuan said and Shen Xu nodded before speaking.
"We don’t need the blue vine flower to advance. What do you think we should do with it? Sell it?" He asked but Zhen Yuan shook his head.
"Let’s throw it in the pure poison and pure light water." He suggested and the double sighed.
"I almost forgot about that." He muttered.
The pure poison and pure light water was a precious heaven and earth treasure.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t separate the pure light from the pure poison hence the liquid couldn’t be used for detoxification.
"There is no hurry." Zhen Yuan said, rubbing the double’s hair.
"I know but it’s a little frustrating to know that we have a powerful detoxifying liquid but can’t use it." Shen Xu said.
"We already have vitality wood and I am confident we will eventually find yang wood and yin wood. When we do, you can refine the three woods gourd required to separate the mixture."
"This matter will probably have to wait until after we ascend." The double said.
After all, in addition to the three woods, refining the gourd required a level eleven fire and a strange rune that Zhen Yuan couldn’t draw for the time being.
.....
While Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan were checking their loot, a male and female cultivator sat in a cabin; both with gloomy expressions.
"The second brother’s death is inseparable from Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan." The female cultivator said and angrily hit the table.
"Mmh." The male calmly nodded but a trace of killing intent flashed in his eyes.
The female cultivator was Zhou Miao and the male was Zhou San; both members of the Zhou family and elders of the Tianxuan sect.
Unlike Bai Meng and other elders, Zhou Miao and Zhou San knew that Zhou Man had gone to find Zhen Yuan the day he disappeared.
Knowing this, they were relatively certain that Zhen Yuan and Shen Xu had killed Zhou Man and covered up the incident.
"Fourth brother, we can’t let the second brother die in vain. We should report Zhen Yuan and Shen Xu." Zhou Miao said and Zhou San rolled his eyes.
"Report them...., do you dare?" The man asked and Zhou Miao was about to nod but suddenly thought of something.
’Fourth brother is right. We can’t report this matter.’ She thought.
First, Zhou Man, a sect elder, had tried to assassinate a favoured disciple and failed. If this matter was discovered, the sect would never let them go and the Zhou family would have to pay a heavy price to avoid punishment.
Second, their Zhou family had colluded with a poison master from the Ten Evils sect.
Although prominent families often cooperated with evil cultivators, this matter could not be put on the table for fear of attracting public criticism.
"Are we really going to swallow this loss?" Zhou Miao asked, her face coloured with unwillingness.
"How is that possible?" Zhou San sneered and Zhou Miao immediately peppered up.
"Does the fourth brother have a plan?" She asked and Zhou San nodded.
"Our Zhou family can’t lose this face but we are not the only wronged parties." He said and Zhou Miao tilted her head with a thoughtful expression.
"You mean..." She started and her brother nodded.
"We will let the Ten Evils sect deal with Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan."
"What about the talisman inheritance?" Zhou Miao asked, unwilling to give up the superior inheritance that they had finally discovered.
"Everything depends on cooperation." Zhou San said and quickly continued.
"We will find the opportunity and Zhang Chao’s family will carry out the assassination. Whatever we get will be divided between our two families but the talisman inheritance must be left for our Zhou family."
"Will the Zhang family agree?" Zhou Miao asked and Zhou San nodded.
"The Zhang family cultivators are poison masters and will likely be more interested in Shen Xu’s alchemy inheritance. They will not covet our talisman inheritance if we don’t covet their alchemy inheritance."
Zhou Miao nodded when she heard this.
After that, Zhou San messaged the family patriarch and asked him to negotiate with the Zhang family.