Chapter 978: Thousand Faces

"Who?" the thick-browed Taoist suddenly spun around, looking in the direction of the voice.

A figure slowly emerged. Seeing that he was quite young, the thick-browed Taoist couldn't help but sigh in relief. He had thought he'd been discovered by an expert, but how powerful could someone be at that age?

Staring at the numbers "333" on the ground, Zu An calmly remarked, "A clumsy attempt to frame someone."

A realization dawned on the thick-browed Taoist. "You're Number 333?"

No wonder he had felt a strange familiarity with the other's voice and build moments ago. So it was him.

"That's right," Zu An said, seeing no need to conceal it now. "Since you're committing crimes under my name, shouldn't you share some of the spoils?"

The thick-browed Taoist laughed heartily. "How much is your reputation worth? Who would bother using it? You're just a scapegoat for me."

As he spoke, he launched a palm strike at the other's vital point. Since he had been seen, eliminating the witness was a must.

He had witnessed the man bidding at the Carefree Pavilion earlier, where he had offered nearly three million taels but failed to secure the item. This indicated he likely had around three million taels on him and was clearly from a wealthy family. It seemed fate was smiling upon him, delivering such a plump target today. The two resources he'd stolen today would probably be enough for him to break through to the Grandmaster level.

To his surprise, his vision blurred, and the other person's figure had already appeared in a different location.

"You truly are ruthless, resorting to lethal force at the slightest disagreement." Zu An's brows furrowed. Anyone else would likely have fallen victim to his deadly attack just now.

The thick-browed Taoist was somewhat surprised, clearly not expecting the other to evade him. "No wonder you dared to challenge the Sun family earlier; you rely on such peculiar movement techniques. What a pity, though, that cultivation cannot be achieved through trickery. Without actual cultivation, mere movement techniques are ultimately castles in the air."

As he finished speaking, his speed surged dramatically, instantly appearing before Zu An. Simultaneously, black energy emerged from his palms, spreading around his opponent.

He was confident that by making the surrounding air as viscous as water, the other's movement techniques, no matter how exquisite, would be useless.

Yet, the other person showed none of the expected panic, standing there without dodging. "What makes you so confident I'll dodge?"

With that, he simply raised his palm to meet the attack.

The thick-browed Taoist frowned. Years of experience in the jianghu subtly told him something was off, yet from every perspective, the other person couldn't possibly be his match.

And he even dared to meet his palm strike?

Even experts of the same cultivation level wouldn't dare to confront his palm strike, as they could easily have their cultivation absorbed. This guy was practically inviting death.

A sinister grin flashed across his face as he swung his palm, gripping towards the opponent. He intended to drain him dry in an instant!

The two palms met, and the black energy from his hand enveloped the other.

"Absorb!"

"Huh?"

The thick-browed Taoist's smile quickly froze. He found that no matter how he channeled his power, he couldn't absorb even a trace of the other's cultivation.

He didn't understand what was happening, but he finally realized something was terribly wrong and quickly leaped backward, attempting to create distance.

Unfortunately, it was too late. His hand seemed glued in place, unable to move even an inch.

At this moment, the young man opposite him showed a simple, guileless smile. "Is this what you mean by 'absorbing'?"

No sooner had he spoken than a black hole-like object appeared in his palm. The thick-browed Taoist immediately felt his entire cultivation rush out of him like water from a breached dam. He had never absorbed anyone this quickly before!

Terrified, he struggled desperately, but he couldn't move an inch. At first, he cursed, but then his curses turned into pleas for mercy, and soon his voice faded away.

Even in death, he couldn't comprehend why a person so young had a higher cultivation than him, and why the cultivation method used by the other was significantly more profound and superior than his own—no, it was a difference as vast as heaven and earth, leaving him utterly incapable of resistance.

Shaking off the thick-browed Taoist, whose face was now withered, Zu An's brows furrowed.

He felt his cultivation surging powerfully within him. Previously, he was around the eighth rank of the ninth grade, but now, having absorbed the thick-browed Taoist's cultivation, he had unmistakably reached the peak of the ninth grade, just one step away from becoming a Grandmaster.

However, at this moment, he felt a violent and bloody aura filling his body. He understood that this was a result of the thick-browed Taoist's years of slaughtering and plundering other cultivators.

No wonder Queen Sister had warned him not to use the Gluttonous Sky Swallowing Art to boost his cultivation before reaching the Grandmaster level. Cultivation absorbed this way was indeed impure and chaotic, requiring significant effort to refine it anew.

More importantly, some of the accumulated resentment, killing intent, and other negative emotions from the thick-browed Taoist's victims over the years had also entered his body. This was truly harmful and useless for refining his spirit.

However, he didn't have time to ponder this further. The animal sentinels he had placed on the periphery had already detected a group of people rapidly approaching his location.

He grabbed the thick-browed Taoist's corpse and left the area.

Not long after he left, a contingent of people arrived at the scene.

The most striking feature of the middle-aged man leading them was his triangular eyes, identical to Sun Ji's. It was clear at a glance that they were father and son.

A shrewd glint flickered in his eyes, as if he were constantly plotting something.

From afar, he saw the situation in the clearing and was greatly alarmed, leaping directly over. "Ji'er!"

A wail and a roar echoed throughout the forest.

Soon, his subordinates arrived one after another. They were also shocked to see the horrific scene of complete annihilation. How many years had it been since anyone dared to provoke them?

And to lay hands on the young master—this was a situation of unending conflict!

Soon, someone investigating the scene reported, "Prime Minister, Mr. Yang left a clue before he died."

This triangular-eyed middle-aged man was naturally Sun Xun, the Prime Minister of Yan.

He went to Yang Long's side, staring at the numbers "333" written beneath his hand, his face darkening. "What does this mean?"

"It could be a guest number from Carefree Pavilion. The young master just came from there," one of his capable subordinates quickly analyzed.

Sun Xun's face hardened with frost. "Let's go to Carefree Pavilion!"

Although the location of Carefree Pavilion was mysterious, that was only true for ordinary guests. For those like them, who were the true controllers of Yi Commandery, how could they not know where Carefree Pavilion was?

It was just that Carefree Pavilion usually maintained good relations with the upper echelons and offered generous tributes, so these powerful figures had turned a blind eye. But now that his son had been killed, how could he possibly tolerate it any longer?

Meanwhile, Zu An returned to his room. Daji, who had been in a state of alert under the covers, relaxed her attacking stance upon seeing him.

Seeing this, Zu An couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "Do you truly not have a soul?"

Unfortunately, the other party remained like a robot, silently watching him without any response.

Helpless, Zu An took out the storage bag he had found on the thick-browed Taoist. As for the body, he had already disposed of it casually along the way.

In this era of cultivation, a simple "ice and fire double heaven" technique would leave not even ashes.

Upon seeing the jade pendant, Zu An finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Purple Frost Divine Milk that Queen Sister needed had finally been located.

He placed the jade pendant in his palm, observing it. The patterns on it were very strange, seemingly like an abstract map. But if it was a map, with Carefree Pavilion's capabilities, why would they have been unable to decipher it all this time?

After pondering for a long time without any clue, he put the jade pendant away and then examined the other items.

"Oh, the Immortal Slaying Flying Dagger!" This was an unexpected bonus. The Immortal Slaying Flying Dagger had been acquired by Sun Ji, then stolen by the thick-browed Taoist, and now, by a stroke of luck, it had fallen into his hands.

He now had five of them. He wondered if they would be as powerful as legends claimed once he collected all nine.

Next, he searched the storage bag for a long time, but unfortunately, he couldn't find what he was looking for.

"These two combined don't even have a single tael? What paupers!" Zu An couldn't help but complain.

Previously, in the capital, with living expenses and cultivation resources covered by the imperial court, he hadn't thought much of it. The wealth he'd acquired in Brightmoon City had even made him secretly feel like a rich man.

But after recently experiencing the auction, he finally realized how poor he was. The expenses on the path of cultivation were simply a bottomless pit.

At this point, he also realized that Sun Ji had just spent a fortune to acquire the Immortal Slaying Flying Dagger and the Purple Frost Divine Milk jade pendant from Carefree Pavilion, so he naturally wouldn't have any money left on him.

For rogue cultivators like the thick-browed Taoist, their usual business was murder and robbery. Any money they acquired would have long been converted into resources and used up. His trip to Carefree Pavilion this time had likely depleted his remaining funds, clearly indicating he was there to find a "fat sheep."

"Bad luck!" He did find some pills, weapons, and other items in the storage bag. While these might be considered minor treasures in the jianghu, for someone who had come from the imperial palace, he truly looked down on such shoddy goods.

"Huh, what's this?" Zu An suddenly discovered a yellowish booklet. He could immediately sense its antiquity just by looking at it.

"A Thousand Faces?" Seeing the characters on the first page, Zu An immediately knew this item was extraordinary. The material looked like ancient paper that would crumble at a touch, yet holding it, he realized it wasn't ordinary paper but a special material impervious to water and fire.