"Assassins?"
"Miss, are there really assassin organizations here in Yuan Guang County?" Zou Feng asked curiously.
Bian Yixia shook her head. "Not really, but a great reward will always find brave men. If the pay is high enough, even a few Ninth Grade Martial Artists might team up and take the risk to try and assassinate you."
"Besides, you know about the Ghost Market. Occasionally, some reckless hothead from out of town will take a job. I’ve even been the target of a few assassination attempts myself."
Zou Feng knew this well.
He had once deliberately revealed he was a Poison Cultivator so that people in the Ghost Market wouldn’t dare to provoke him.
And indeed, while no one dared to cross him, he did attract a lot of middlemen who wanted him to take on assassination jobs.
After all, Poison Cultivators had a significant advantage when it came to assassinations.
’If the Mountain and River Association already sees me as a thorn in their side that must be removed and has issued a contract for my assassination, then I really need to be more careful.’
On the surface, he was just a newcomer who had recently advanced to the Eighth Grade.
Even though he had put that old geezer Wu Chen in his place during their duel, he hadn’t wanted to attract too much attention, so he had put on a show, exchanging over twenty moves before achieving a "narrow victory" by a single strike.
But assassination was a completely different beast from a one-on-one duel.
That was why Bian Yixia had just said that if the reward was high enough, even a few Ninth Grade Martial Artists would dare to team up and risk taking the job.
’Fortunately, if anyone actually accepts a contract to assassinate me, their name will immediately appear on the List of Gods, so it’s not a big problem.’
’At worst, I’ll just stay on the Dragon Gate Boat for a while and claim to be in seclusion or something.’
’Once I’ve more or less "trampled" these assassins on the list, I might even be able to bait a few of them into a trap.’
The best part was that Zou Feng could roughly gauge an assassin’s strength by observing the change in the brightness of their name on the list after he transferred the side effects to them.
’So, as long as I can confirm there are no Seventh Grade Experts among the assassins, I can actually try to give them an opening on purpose and let these guys come throw their lives away...’
"We’re hunting Demon Beasts tonight. You in?" Bian Yixia invited him again.
Zou Feng was surprised. "Again? Are there really that many Demon Beasts suddenly appearing on Qifeng Mountain?"
"How should I know if there are more? But we have to go try our luck!"
"Miss, I’ve never heard of Demon Beasts appearing so frequently on Qifeng Mountain before. It couldn’t be the Ten Directions Sect stirring up trouble, could it...?"
Bian Yixia waved her hand dismissively. "A few Demon Beasts won’t amount to much. I wish this would happen more often. If I could eat wild Demon Beast Meat for every meal, I’d reach the Gang Qi Realm sooner or later!"
"Alright, just tell me if you’re going or not!"
Zou Feng gave an embarrassed smile. "This subordinate feels like he’s about to have a breakthrough in a Cultivation Skill, so I’d like to enter seclusion to stabilize it..."
"You coward!" Bian Yixia cursed with a laugh, but she didn’t press him any further.
For Zou Feng, hunting Demon Beasts, at least for now, really wasn’t worth it.
It wasn’t that he looked down on the value of Demon Beasts, but on a group mission like that, even a successful hunt would be the result of a team effort. He wouldn’t be able to keep the spoils for himself.
If he couldn’t have it all, the portioned-out rewards were highly questionable.
’In short, hunting beasts is worse than hunting men...’
And with that, Zou Feng began his feigned seclusion.
When Chen Jingsheng heard he was in seclusion, he temporarily stopped trying to discuss the duel with him. After all, increasing one’s strength in seclusion was more important.
But just two days later, five new names appeared on the List of Gods.
Zou Feng immediately began a tentative "training session" on each of them.
He discovered that none of the five were very durable; they were clearly just at the Entering Grade level.
Even if he set up a trap to kill these hotheads, he wouldn’t get much out of it, so Zou Feng wasn’t even interested in baiting them.
So, he simply used his haphazardly practiced Great Compassion Hand, transferred the side effects, and sent the five of them on their way.
It was worth noting that because he had previously used Su Changqing to bear the burden when practicing his haphazard Great Compassion Hand, he hadn’t realized just how terrifying the side effects were.
Now that he was using a few assassins who had just reached the Ninth Grade to take the brunt of it, he immediately felt that the Cultivation Skill’s side effects were horrifying.
Of the five assassins, three didn’t even last a day!
The most durable one only held on for three days.
’Basically, one practice session equals one death.’
’No matter how green they were, they were still Ninth Grade Martial Artists. This means that my haphazardly practiced version of the skill is far more sinister than the normal Great Compassion Hand...’
This further illustrated why one shouldn’t practice Cultivation Skills recklessly.
Practicing a Cultivation Skill normally already carried the risk of something going wrong. Practicing it haphazardly was truly no different from suicide.
On another note, his plan to fuse the Chaos Finger with his haphazardly practiced Great Compassion Hand was proceeding quite smoothly.
Although the name of the fused skill hadn’t appeared on his panel yet, Zou Feng could feel that the fusion was about to succeed.
This was exactly as he had expected. After all, the Poison of Confusion corresponded to one of the seven deadly sins.
Seeing that success was just around the corner, Zou Feng decided to turn his feigned seclusion into a real one.
After all, once this Cultivation Skill was successfully fused, he would have a much better chance in the duel for the Immortal Treasure.
As he had thought before, Zou Feng wasn’t worried about whether he could win the duel.
His biggest worry was whether he could actually secure the Immortal Treasure after winning.
The Heart Demon Poison Oath alone wasn’t really that reliable.
’The real trouble will definitely begin after I win the duel...’
However, although Zou Feng was in seclusion, it wasn’t a death-seclusion; he still came out for air from time to time.
More than ten days passed, and as expected, the situation outside was in constant flux, with all sorts of explosive news breaking.
As the turmoil surrounding the Ten Directions Sect gradually calmed down, the Celestial Essence Sword Sect was no longer forcing the major local factions to continue searching for its remnants.
As a result, the Mountain and River Association’s provocations and tests against the Black Flood Dragon Gang gradually escalated, even leading to several small-scale skirmishes.
One of these incidents occurred during a Demon Beast hunt on Qifeng Mountain.
The Mountain and River Association, imitating the Celestial Essence Sword Sect, insisted that the Demon Beast cornered by the Black Flood Dragon Gang was one they had discovered first.
Bian Yixia didn’t stand for it.
When the Celestial Essence Sword Sect said something like that, everyone could only meekly agree. But when the Mountain and River Association tried the same tactic, it was met with a heavy-handed response.
In short, after several clashes, both sides suffered losses, but because the Black Flood Dragon Gang was weaker overall, their losses were considerably greater.
But this was normal. Not only was the Black Flood Dragon Gang’s Gang Leader absent, but the remaining experts in the gang, aside from Bian Yixia, all had their own agendas and were just going through the motions.
The Vice Gang Leader, Xiang Kang, had nearly died from his last injury. Even after recovering, he had lost his Heart Qi and rarely made public appearances anymore.
Chen Jingsheng had indeed recruited a Seventh Grade Expert to reinforce the Black Flood Dragon Gang, but for the sake of the Immortal Treasure duel, he had not yet made this public.
Furthermore, worried about getting injured before the duel, Chen Jingsheng was also faking illnesses and injuries to avoid participating in frontline skirmishes.
The Sixth Young Master, Song Sixing, was an outstanding Eighth Grade Martial Artist with considerable strength, but his relationship with Bian Yixia had dropped to a freezing point ever since his failed marriage proposal.
Who knew what that guy was thinking, but in any case, he was also unconcerned with the trouble caused by the Mountain and River Association and was just phoning it in.
Zou Feng, on the other hand, although seemingly in seclusion and not providing any immediate help to the Black Flood Dragon Gang, had actually contributed a great deal.
Wu Chen and the others from the Mountain and River Association who wanted him dead, as well as the assassins who had accepted the contract, had all died sudden, bizarre deaths.
And after Wu Chen, a veteran Eighth Grade Martial Artist from the Mountain and River Association, and two other Eighth Grade members close to him all died abruptly, the Mountain and River Association immediately quieted down significantly.
After all, for three Eighth Grade Martial Artists to drop dead for no discernible reason, combined with the bizarre state of their bodies, was enough to cast a shadow over the hearts of the Mountain and River Association’s upper echelon.
’Brother Ji, the new big shots came one after another and now they’re all gone. Looks like I’ll have to trouble you again!’
On this day, seeing Wu Chen’s name disappear from the list, Zou Feng could only sigh and have Ji Changsheng take his place again.
He had been in seclusion for nearly a month, trying to fuse the Chaos Finger with his haphazardly practiced Great Compassion Hand.
To achieve this goal, three "big shots" from the Mountain and River Association, plus the assassins who had taken the contract—more than ten people in total—had sacrificed their lives.
Zou Feng now had a profound understanding of the saying, "A single general’s success is built on the bones of ten thousand."
’Your deaths were not in vain. Today should be the day...’
"Chaos Finger (Refined Skill), Progress: 20%"
"Great Compassion Hand (Integration and Mastery), Progress: 52%"
Although he could still see their progress, the display for these two Cultivation Skills on his panel had become blurry.
It was a sign that they were about to fuse.
Next, Zou Feng focused his mind and entered a state of Cultivation.
In his room, the statue of the Ten Directions Divine King still stood, surrounded by portraits of beautiful women corresponding to the seven deadly sins.
By now, Zou Feng had become increasingly proficient with the Visualization Cultivation Skill.
It took him only a few breaths to completely enter a state of Visualization, his facial expression constantly shifting through the seven deadly sins.
Within a short time, the seven expressions flickered across his face, none of them deliberately feigned.
The scene was as bizarre as it could possibly be.
And in Zou Feng’s spiritual world, the Ten Directions Divine King Dharma Aspect was also shifting through seven different expressions.
But the one that appeared most often was, naturally, the lust brought on by the Poison of Confusion.
After a period of Visualization, Zou Feng began to circulate the already chaotic Great Compassion Palm Skill, once again entering his haphazard practice mode.
During this Cultivation session, even with the side effects being transferred, Zou Feng still felt as if he were soaring freely through the sky, his soul on the verge of leaving his body.
’It’s hard to imagine what kind of exaggerated side effects Ji Changsheng is suffering right now...’
Zou Feng was now incredibly grateful that he had provoked those people from the Mountain and River Association beforehand.
Otherwise, relying on just Ji Changsheng and Li Li, he could never have hoped to fuse these two Cultivation Skills.
After a full hour of this torment, Zou Feng finally felt the solid sensation of his soul returning to his body.
At the same time, he discovered that his Inner Qi was now coated with a faint, dark golden light?
It wasn’t obvious and could only be seen up close, but it definitely contained a golden glow.
The next moment, Zou Feng eagerly opened his panel.
"Great Universal Hand (Refined Skill), Progress: 5%"
’Huh? So the new Cultivation Skill formed by fusing the Refined Skill-level Chaos Finger with my haphazardly practiced Great Compassion Hand is actually called the Great Universal Hand?’
’I originally thought that after fusing the two skills, it would turn into something named "Great Compassion Great Mercy Seven Emotions Six Desires Palm" or the like.’
’But that doesn’t matter. If it can give my Inner Qi a golden sheen, does that mean if I keep practicing, I’ll really be able to grant my opponents Universal Relief amidst a great golden light...?’