Cultivating in Different Professions

Chapter 149: Chapter 114: Blood Exchange Technique

Making the Taiping Bureau White Clothes hunt down first-rank demonic beasts, which were equivalent to the Blood Transformation Realm—Su Mu could only say, ’Well played!’

With Su Mu’s current strength, he stood a chance against a weaker first-rank demonic beast.

But it wasn’t like there were hordes of weaker first-rank demonic beasts just waiting for him to kill. Who could guarantee that every demonic beast he encountered would be first-rank?

If he went out of the city to hunt demonic beasts, what he ran into would be entirely up to luck. With bad luck, it was even possible to encounter a second-rank one.

The Taiping Bureau did occasionally post missions, which would indicate the demonic beasts’ likely power level.

Su Mu had been observing for several days but had yet to find a suitable mission.

There were no promising leads from the Taiping Bureau, and as for that good girl Luo Anning, he had no idea where she’d gone. He hadn’t seen her in a long time; he rather missed her.

Su Mu looked up at the bright moon hanging in the sky, his thoughts wandering. ’The Hu Family should have a Blood Exchange Technique... Maybe I can find a way to get my hands on it?’

Su Mu couldn’t help but shake his head, wondering where that thought had even come from.

Petty squabbles were one thing, but getting his hands on the Hu Family’s Blood Exchange Technique would only be possible if the family itself was annihilated. And as for annihilating the Hu Family... their Blood Transformation Realm experts were no mere decorations.

His Indestructible Golden Body, in its current state, couldn’t possibly withstand the attacks of several Blood Transformation Realm experts.

’I’ll just have to wait for Luo Anning to return, or for a suitable mission to pop up at the Taiping Bureau. It shouldn’t take too long.’

Several more days passed in a flash. While Su Mu continued his search for a Blood Exchange Technique, he began practicing the second saber art of the Gen Mountain lineage: the Mountain-Splitting Saber Technique.

Just as he was achieving Perfection in the Mountain-Splitting Saber Technique, the East City Bureau suddenly received an order from the Inner City.

"The Fragrance Sect?"

Su Mu’s expression grew pensive as he looked at the document in his hands.

The name Fragrance Sect was not unfamiliar to him. When he first arrived in the East City District, he had investigated its two major factions. The Ronghua Association was made up of gentry and wealthy merchants, while the other, the Qingcha Sect, consisted mainly of lower-class laborers.

According to the information Zheng Wang had dug up at the time, the Qingcha Sect’s Leader, Shi Ziran, had once been a member of the Fragrance Sect.

However, the Qingcha Sect had later become exceptionally cooperative with the East City Bureau and showed no outward signs of wrongdoing in their daily affairs, so Su Mu had never taken action against them.

Later, Zhou Yin, the Vice Sect Leader of the Qingcha Sect, had even come to the Government Office specifically to explain that while their Sect Leader had a history with the Fragrance Sect, he had since reformed and now had no ties to them whatsoever.

Otherwise, Wuling City would not have tolerated his presence.

"Yes, Sir. The Inner City received intelligence that a group of Fragrance Sect remnants are hiding outside the eastern suburbs. They want our East City Bureau to dispatch men to annihilate them."

Yu Xiujiang reported.

"There are plenty of Fragrance Sect remnants. As I recall, didn’t the Imperial Court issue a decree that as long as a former member didn’t participate in the rebellion, their past transgressions would be pardoned?"

Su Mu mused aloud.

Back when the Fragrance Sect stirred up their rebellion, they amassed a following of several million people, a large portion of whom were merely deluded and deceived.

The Da Xuan Dynasty couldn’t possibly kill all of them. So, in a move to sow division within the Fragrance Sect, it issued a decree: as long as they reformed, the Imperial Court would let bygones be bygones.

Indeed, many experts left the Fragrance Sect because of that decree. The Imperial Court was true to its word; not only were their crimes absolved, but some were even given official positions.

People like Shi Ziran, despite their background with the Fragrance Sect, are still active in the open. The Imperial Court hasn’t hunted them all down to the last man.

"These are different. These Fragrance Sect remnants are the stubborn, die-hard kind."

Yu Xiujiang continued, "I had an acquaintance in the Inner City make some inquiries. It’s said that the remnants discovered this time were the direct followers of the Fragrance Sect’s Saintess from back then. And they supposedly know the location of the great treasure hoard the sect hid before its downfall!"

When the Fragrance Sect rebelled, at its peak it swept across several major provinces, plundering countless rare and precious treasures along the way.

Later, when the Fragrance Sect was crushed by the Da Xuan Dynasty, its Sect Leader, Saintess, and other leaders were all killed in battle, but that massive treasure hoard was never found.

Rumor has it the Fragrance Sect hid the treasure in an extremely secret location, hoping to one day use it to stage a comeback.

For years, both the Government Office and the Martial Artists of the Jianghu have been searching for the Fragrance Sect’s treasure, but no one has ever found it.

This piqued Su Mu’s interest. He didn’t much care about gold and silver; as the East City Bureau Captain, getting silver was a simple matter for him.

"Three years as an ’honest’ Prefect nets you a hundred thousand Snowflake Silver." That saying held true in any world.

His rank of Captain, while not as high as a Prefect, was comparable to a County Magistrate.

But the Fragrance Sect’s treasure wasn’t just gold and jewels. The reason they were able to cause such a massive upheaval back then was due to their martial might.

Since the treasure was meant to fund a comeback, it was bound to contain things like secret martial arts manuals, Cultivation Elixirs, and Divine Weapons.

’If I can find those, I’ll definitely get a Blood Exchange Technique.’

’Just when I was stressing about finding a Blood Exchange Technique, a solution presents itself.’

"Are there any experts among these Fragrance Sect remnants?"

Su Mu looked up at Yu Xiujiang and asked.

"There shouldn’t be any major experts. Otherwise, the Inner City wouldn’t have tasked only our East City Bureau with this,"

Yu Xiujiang said, sounding uncertain.

Su Mu nodded. He still had a doubt in his mind. This matter involved the Fragrance Sect’s treasure, an issue of concern to the entire Da Xuan Dynasty.

The value of that treasure was said to be comparable to the Da Xuan Dynasty’s entire annual tax revenue!

For a matter of this magnitude, why wouldn’t the Inner City just send its own experts to wipe them out in one go?

Why make the East City Bureau handle it?

The East City Bureau’s strength was far inferior to the Inner City’s. If something went wrong and those Fragrance Sect remnants escaped, wouldn’t the regret be immense?

Su Mu admitted he might be thinking too cynically, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.

He voiced this doubt, hoping Yu Xiujiang could help him analyze the situation.

Although Yu Xiujiang’s martial prowess was lacking, he was a scholar, and his kind excelled at deciphering hidden motives and schemes.

"I’ve already asked about that,"

Yu Xiujiang said with complete confidence. "Anything involving the Fragrance Sect is hardly something our little East City Bureau can handle, right?

That’s why I made a special trip to the Inner City to ask several of my old, familiar friends about it.

It’s basically this: for one thing, the Inner City has dispatched most of its personnel recently, so there’s no one suitable available to act. For another, the intelligence they received suggests these Fragrance Sect remnants aren’t particularly strong. The Inner City doesn’t really believe they hold the clues to the treasure; they just think it’s a remote possibility."

"So they want the East City Bureau to be the vanguard?"

Su Mu mused, "What happened in the Inner City? Why are they so short on manpower?"

He suddenly recalled that Luo Anning hadn’t been seen for a long time. Lin Qi Huan was completely missing. Even the Taiping Bureau Governor, Zhao Poni, had vanished without a trace.

’Could this be related to what Yu Xiujiang was talking about?’

Yu Xiujiang shook his head. "I really don’t know about that. My old friends don’t hold very high positions, so they don’t know the specifics. All they know is that many experts from the Inner City have recently left the city."

He lowered his voice to a whisper. "This shouldn’t be spread around. Wuling City is actually quite vulnerable right now. If someone with malicious intent were to find out, the city would be in deep trouble."

Su Mu nodded, setting the matter aside for the moment and turning his attention back to the document in his hand.

It was an official document stamped with the City Lord’s Seal. No matter what, the East City Bureau had to carry out the order.

"Yu Sicheng, go and fetch Chen Song and Zheng Wang. Since these are Fragrance Sect remnants—die-hards, at that—who have appeared in the East City District’s territory, we might as well take care of them."

Su Mu said slowly after a moment of thought.

With his current strength, even if he ran into a Blood Transformation Realm expert, he could still escape even if he couldn’t win. In theory, there shouldn’t be any real danger.

After all, it was only the eastern suburbs. If something unexpected happened, he could retreat to the city in time and call for aid from the City Defense Army or even the Inner City.

And if, by some chance, these Fragrance Sect remnants really did have clues about the treasure... well, that would be a massive windfall.

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