The news that Su Changqing would likely be alone tonight left Zou Feng restless for a long time.
He was mostly absent-minded for the rest of what Bian Yixia said, giving her only half-hearted replies.
His mind raced. ’Should I just take this opportunity and get rid of Su Changqing as soon as possible?’
Continuing to rely on his botched practice of the Great Compassion Hand would probably weaken Su Changqing enough for him to be finished off in no time.
But that would still take time, and there was no guarantee that after Su Changqing noticed his body getting worse, he wouldn’t suddenly get the idea to make a list of "100 things to do before I die," with one of them being to kill his love rival.
What if he had extremely close sworn brothers or a godfather in the Sect who might ask him about any unfulfilled last wishes...
Of course, the chances of that were low, but it wasn’t entirely impossible.
However, those reasons alone weren’t enough to make Zou Feng willing to take the risk of an assassination.
The main reason was that he coveted the things Su Changqing had on him.
Especially the Nine Yang Profound Qi Pills. As an Elite Disciple of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect stationed in Yuan Guang County, Su Changqing definitely had more in stock.
Zou Feng was truly green with envy over that stuff.
After all, that was an Elixir that could help him complete the accumulation needed to go from Eighth Grade to Seventh Grade much faster.
And it wasn’t just for preparing to advance to Seventh Grade; it also had significant, undeniable benefits for advancing to the Gang Qi Realm in the future.
In fact, a key part of transforming Inner Qi into Gang Qi was turning quantity into quality...
After seeing Bian Yixia off, Zou Feng thought alone in his room for a while longer.
He opened the List of Gods. Su Changqing’s name on it was already quite dim.
Zou Feng had some experience with this now. He knew very well that when a name on the list grew this dim, the person could exert 30 percent of their full strength at best.
A Seventh Grade who could only exert 30 percent of their strength... even without a sneak attack, in a direct confrontation, Zou Feng was very confident he could take him down in a short time.
’Then... I’ll do it!’
’The Ten Directions Sect is definitely plotting something big; I have to be on guard.’
’And I need to be ready for the unexpected in the fight for the Immortal Treasure.’
’So if I miss such a great opportunity, I’ll only get more furious and regretful the more I think about it later.’
’In any case, I have to go take a look and see if this is really a prime opportunity. If it seems too risky, I can just turn tail and run!’
’I don’t even have to personally investigate the situation near Su Changqing’s residence...’
At this thought, Zou Feng walked to the window and began to hum a little tune.
The tune was from a song he had really liked in his past life, "Rainbow Little White Horse."
His voice didn’t seem loud, but because it was enhanced with Inner Qi, it could travel a great distance.
This wasn’t the first time Zou Feng had hummed this tune. Next door, Liu Chun, Xiong Datian, and the others, caught up in the mood, even started swaying to the rhythm in their respective rooms.
Before he had even finished humming the tune, an unusual disturbance came from the river water below Zou Feng’s room.
A moment later, a strange insect the size of an adult’s palm shot out from the river’s surface and quickly flew into Zou Feng’s room through the window.
It was none other than Xiaolv, the Gu Insect Zou Feng had raised but hadn’t had the heart to immediately use for Refinement.
Because it had always been allowed to roam free, it had eaten who-knows-how-many good things in the Jiayue River. Although its venom hadn’t grown much stronger, its Spiritual Wisdom was getting higher and higher.
Although it certainly couldn’t speak, it had no problem understanding some of Zou Feng’s simple commands.
And Xiaolv was Zou Feng’s greatest asset for assassinating Su Changqing.
It could first help him scout out the situation, and then he could decide whether or not to make a move.
If it discovered another Seventh Grade Disciple in the Celestial Essence Sword Sect’s stronghold, or if there were any powerful Restrictions set up nearby, then there was nothing more to say—he would immediately crawl back to bed.
At dusk, Bian Yixia led her men and marched aggressively toward Qifeng Mountain.
Zhao Tianhu, Xiong Datian, and Liu Chun all wanted to try their luck, so after asking Zou Feng for permission, they went along.
This was very normal. If they could hunt a Demon Beast, even just by providing support from the sidelines and helping with the encirclement, it would still count as a contribution, and they could at least get a small piece of the meat.
Wild Demon Beasts were significantly more nourishing than domesticated Spirit Beasts.
This wasn’t some arcane theory; wild Demon Beasts could eat more good things in the wild, so their nutritional value was naturally higher.
However, for Zou Feng, Su Changqing was now the target he was most eager to hunt.
Zou Feng meditated until the dead of night, when almost everyone was asleep, before slowly opening his eyes.
Xiaolv was perched on his shoulder, dozing as well.
"Let’s go. Today, I’ll let you have a taste of a Celestial Essence Sword Sect Elite Disciple!"
Normally, Zou Feng strictly forbade Xiaolv from biting anyone, but Su Changqing was his mortal enemy, so that was a different matter.
Besides, although Xiaolv had a certain instinct to recognize its master since it was a Gu Insect raised by Zou Feng himself, that was on the premise that it knew Zou Feng could give it plenty of good things.
Zou Feng was well aware of the principle that you can’t make a horse run without feeding it, so he would occasionally give Xiaolv some Elixirs.
In fact, since Su Changqing was affected by the side effects of the botched Great Compassion Hand practice, he himself could be considered a poisonous substance. Letting Xiaolv take a few bites might even lead to a pleasant surprise.
After waking Xiaolv, Zou Feng nimbly leaped out of the window.
The sound he made upon hitting the river water was basically equivalent to a small pebble dropping into it.
With the Dragon Gate Boat mostly empty, it naturally didn’t attract any attention.
When Zou Feng surfaced again, he had swum underwater from the confluence of the Jiayue River and East River Port all the way to the vicinity of the shantytown.
This was also the place where he had previously laid in wait to fish out the remnants of the Ten Directions Sect.
’It’s been so long. Surely there isn’t someone on the shore waiting to fish me out in return?’
Once ashore, with the richness of his Inner Qi, he only needed a few breaths’ time to dry himself off.
Then, just as before, he disguised himself as a dark, grimy porter before heading into Yuan Guang County Town.
Single porters would occasionally patronize some cheap brothels at night, so Zou Feng wasn’t worried at all that he would stand out too much.
As for the Celestial Essence Sword Sect’s stronghold within Yuan Guang County Town...
It was no secret at all. You could ask any random person on the street, and they would most likely know.
After all, among all the powers in Yuan Guang County Town, including the remnants of the Ten Directions Sect, who would dare to proactively seek trouble with these Elite Disciples of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect?
It was worth mentioning that because they had help from the local forces of Yuan Guang County, or rather, people acting as Scouts and cannon fodder, the Celestial Essence Sword Sect’s casualties in the fight against the Ten Directions Sect remnants had been negligible so far.
Of the five Seventh Grade Elite Disciples stationed here, not one had fallen. Only a few of the dozen or so Eighth Grade disciples had sustained minor injuries.
So, this group from the Celestial Essence Sword Sect had suffered virtually no setbacks since arriving in Yuan Guang City.
The biggest setback was probably Su Changqing wanting to take Bian Yixia as a concubine, only to be rejected...
In short, they just casually threw around some money and Elixirs, and the local forces would help with the dirty work. They were only responsible for landing the finishing blow or making a decisive move when they encountered a Seventh Grade Martial Artist from the Ten Directions Sect.
It was precisely because the disciples of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect had had it so easy so far, coupled with their inherent arrogance, that they wouldn’t be overly vigilant in a place like Yuan Guang County Town.
Zou Feng had considered this as well, which was why the more he thought about it, the more he believed he could pull this off.
Soon, he arrived near a large courtyard named "Rain Listening Pavilion."
This place was originally the private teahouse of a wealthy merchant in Yuan Guang County Town, used for entertaining friends and discussing business.
Since the environment was very elegant and suited the aesthetic sensibilities of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect’s Elite Disciples, they simply bought the place to use as their stronghold.
In truth, the wealthy merchant wasn’t short on money and was unwilling to sell, but looking at the increasingly "amicable" gazes of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect disciples, how could he dare to say no...
When Renowned and Righteous Sects and Demon Sects threw their weight around to bully people, the only difference, most of the time, was whether or not they bothered to pretend otherwise.
At this moment, Zou Feng was carrying a bottle of fine wine and, looking completely drunk, he approached the courtyard wall of the Rain Listening Pavilion.
He appeared to be drunk, swaying and stumbling, but he was actually cultivating the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step, trying to make the already weakened Su Changqing fall into a deeper sleep.
Seeing that the time was right, Zou Feng had Xiaolv fly over the courtyard wall to scout the situation for him.
Not long after, Xiaolv returned safely.
This made Zou Feng breathe a slight sigh of relief. Xiaolv’s return meant there were no particularly powerful Restrictions in the Rain Listening Pavilion.
However, Xiaolv couldn’t speak. Zou Feng had to ask questions, and it would express "yes" or "no" by flapping its wings or staying still.
"There are still four people inside?"
Zou Feng frowned but wasn’t surprised.
After all, with Su Changqing now suffering from a "strange illness," the other Celestial Essence Sword Sect disciples, no matter how careless, shouldn’t have left him here all alone.
The key question was, besides Su Changqing, what were the Realms of the three who stayed behind?
As long as no Seventh Grade Disciples had stayed behind, it still wouldn’t be a big problem.
Although Xiaolv couldn’t answer such a complex question, the fact that it had returned unharmed already indicated that the remaining three were most likely not Seventh Grade.
Zou Feng had heard people talk about how the disciples of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect seemed glamorous, but in reality, the internal competition was intense.
Especially with so many big shots in the Sect, where even the Gang Qi Realm was commonplace, every Seventh Grade Elite Disciple was deeply obsessed with advancing to the Gang Qi Realm.
After all, regardless of whether you were Ninth Grade or Seventh Grade, in these Major Sects, you were collectively known as a Lower Grade Martial Artist...
One could only imagine how grating the term "Lower Grade" was to the prodigies of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect, who were so obsessed with their image.
Therefore, when faced with an opportunity to hunt a Demon Beast, it was natural that they wouldn’t want to miss it.
Thus, Zou Feng hesitated no longer. After taking a deep breath, he vaulted over the courtyard wall.
But before he could land silently, Zou Feng sensed something was wrong.
The reason was simple: it was currently summer, yet not a single chirp of an insect could be heard in the entire courtyard.
’I can’t land!’
Zou Feng made a quick judgment. Mid-air, he forcibly changed his posture and lightly pushed off the courtyard wall with his feet.
Using that force, he managed to skim over to the rockery in the courtyard’s pond.
Although he wasn’t sure if he was just shadowboxing with the air, it was never wrong to be cautious.
After all, one of the reasons Xiaolv hadn’t been discovered was likely because it had flown in to investigate.
A summer night with not even a single crawling insect on the ground most likely meant there was a problem.