According to Qiao Zhi, cultists of Shenxian Dao committed crimes across Lingzhou, spreading the Elixir of Immortality to create living corpses. And they did not operate alone, but in groups.
Near Qingyang County, there indeed used to be one of their strongholds called Shiyan Village, though the Qingyang County Daoist monastery had later sent men to wipe it out.
Chu Qiguang said, "Shiyan Village? It's not too far from the county seat."
So Chu Qiguang dispatched the cat monsters out of the city, sending them toward Shiyan Village per Qiao Zhi's directions to seek out members of Shenxian Dao.
During this period, the cat monsters had eaten and lived alongside Chu Qiguang and Qiao Zhi. Not only did they undergo daily ideological reformation, but Chu Qiguang also subjected them to an alternating regimen of punishments and feedings.
With Chu Qiguang's methods, he had long since broken them into complete obedience, making this the perfect moment to deploy them for gathering intelligence.
Chu Qiguang had immense confidence in the stealth and scouting capabilities of these cat monsters.
Meanwhile, he settled his mind and continued his prior plan, methodically purchasing pills and practicing martial arts, refusing to let the recent turmoil hinder the rise of his strength.
Chu Qiguang first took three hundred taels of silver to the Daoist monastery, paying Daoist Fayuan 280 taels for seven Ear-Opening Pills.
Upon returning home, he rested for a short while to relax his mind and body before taking an Ear-Opening Pill for the first time under Qiao Zhi's watchful eye to cultivate.
After swallowing the Ear-Opening Pill, Chu Qiguang felt a warm current surge straight into his head. The world before his eyes seemed to transform entirely as his surroundings instantly grew clamorous.
A barrage of distinct sounds washed over him... the sound of Chen Gang practicing his punches, the rushing wind stirred by every strike, the patter of steps every time the cat monsters darted about...
"A bit loud."
Chu Qiguang covered his ears, slightly unused to the sensory overload. Once he acclimated, he focused his attention back on his own body, immediately sensing that his perception of his physical form far exceeded anything before. Heartbeats, breathing, blood flow, bodily vibrations—he could perceive them all with effortless clarity.
Chu Qiguang then stood motionless in place and began executing a set of the Dragon Subduing Art newly taught to him by Qiao Zhi.
This Dragon Subduing Art likened the qi and blood flowing throughout the body to a great dragon. Through all manner of minute techniques, one trained until finally subduing this great internal dragon, attaining the realm of Qi Coursing through the Four Extremities, where one could actively circulate qi and blood.
As his muscles twisted and flexed inch by inch, Chu Qiguang listened intently to the sounds within his body, refining his physical sensitivity bit by bit.
However, this heightened sensation did not last long. After the time it took an incense stick to burn, he felt his hearing rapidly fade back to normal levels.
Chu Qiguang wore a look of lingering desire and promptly popped another Ear-Opening Pill.
Qiao Zhi warned from the side, "Two or three a day at most! If you feel dizzy, stop taking them. Beware of pill poison seeping into your brain."
Yet Chu Qiguang continued tossing them back one after another, resuming cultivation after each pill. He swallowed all seven pills until none were left, yet remained full of vigor without the slightest sign of abnormality, let alone any sensation of pill poison entering his body. Qiao Zhi watched in stunned disbelief.
"What the meow is this? Are you seriously immune to pill poison?"
"You... how is that possible?"
Qiao Zhi circled Chu Qiguang with wide eyes, pressing his paw pads against Chu Qiguang's body from time to time to inspect his condition.
Yet no matter how one looked at him, Chu Qiguang was in radiant health without a trace of irregularity. The pill poison that ordinary Daoists feared like a tiger showed no sign of taking effect inside him.
Qiao Zhi was so astonished that he ceased speaking human speech altogether, circling Chu Qiguang while letting out a stream of frantic meows.
Neither the martial arts nor Daoist cultivation talent Chu Qiguang had demonstrated previously had shocked him this much, but this pill-chugging talent genuinely frightened him.
Qiao Zhi finally marveled, "Immune to pill poison... doesn't that mean you can down pills whenever you want to cultivate? If you popped twenty or thirty pills a day right now, wouldn't you break into the third stage in ten days or half a month?"
He then warned, "If you step into the third stage that fast, you must never let anyone find out! You have to wait three or four months before revealing it. After all, reaching the third stage in three to four months can still be called God-given genius, but reaching the third stage in half a month is an outright monster."
Chu Qiguang sighed. "Martial training has become more efficient, but my silver will run short again."
A question also began to stir in Chu Qiguang's mind: 'My talents... my transmigration... my immunity to pill poison... what is really going on? What does all this have to do with the Secret Register of the Purple Mansion?'
Unfortunately, Chu Qiguang had searched the Hao family's archives for a long time without finding a single clue regarding the Secret Register of the Purple Mansion.
Over the next two days, Chu Qiguang blew through the better part of the two thousand taels of silver he had earned, spending it all on Ear-Opening Pills for his cultivation.
This extravagant method of cultivation caused Chu Qiguang's progress to soar. Remaining in a prolonged state of super-hearing propelled him even faster than Qiao Zhi had imagined; he completed the section of Qi Coursing through the Four Extremities from fingers to fingernails, allowing him to directly sense the circulation of qi and blood at his fingertips.
Chu Qiguang sighed inwardly. 'Qi Coursing through the Four Extremities... that's a quarter done, but my silver is all spent. If I want to make a rapid push to the third stage, I'll need at least another six thousand taels.'
The thought made Chu Qiguang feel truly destitute.
During those two days, the Wu and Hao families searched the entire county non-stop, nearly turning the place upside down, yet failed to uncover any trace of the Shenxian Dao heretic. They were on the verge of despair over ever catching the culprit.
Following the Demon Suppression Bureau's arrival, everyone who had led the unrest in the demon soldier pay case was arrested and interrogated, instantly quieting the county down. Meanwhile, Magistrate He pressed forward with land surveying, throwing the Wu and Hao families into utter turmoil.
That afternoon, upon returning from Yinglue Academy, Chu Qiguang saw Baimi sprawled in the courtyard looking utterly exhausted.
The moment Baimi saw Chu Qiguang, he stood up and said, "Mister Chu, mission accomplished! We finally found those heretics."
Chu Qiguang's eyes lit up. He walked over immediately, scooped up Baimi, and stroked his fur. "Good work. What's the situation over there now?"
...
Shiyan Village, Qingyang County.
Shiyan Village lay tucked amid steep, towering mountains. Arable land was scarce, and most villagers survived by hunting and weaving cloth, making it one of the poorest rural settlements in Qingyang County.
On this night, at the foot of Mount Qingshui behind Shiyan Village, within woods that reeked of rot, the village's poorest, weakest, and most downtrodden inhabitants were gathered together.
They huddled around a bonfire, yearning and fanaticism etched upon their faces.
Amidst the murmurs of the night wind, a hideous-looking old man muttered continuously.
Faintly, the old man's whispers could be heard: "...You all know what the Qingyang County Daoist monastery is like! Not a single tribute of ours is missed year after year, yet Lingzhou suffers endless droughts. Has the Dao Lord ever bestowed a blessing upon us?"
"Corrupt officials have ruined how many families, forcing them to ruin and death—has the Dao Lord ever manifested his power?"
"You're all too poor to put food on the table—what good is the Dao Lord?"
"In a few days, those dog Daoists will come again to collect tributes! We can barely feed ourselves, yet we must still offer tribute to the Dao Lord?"
The old man grew increasingly agitated as he spoke, his voice rising into a raspy cry: "The heavens are blind, and the Dao Lord is useless! Better to turn to Shenxian Dao—immortality for all, living immortals in this mortal world!"
Chapter 81