This was an extremely peculiar building.

It seemed not to belong to this world, as if it had been summoned from another dimension.

The building's overall design was unique, filled with an aura of mystery and terror.

It stood in the most inconspicuous corner of Dead Spirit City, as if to hide its existence, preventing people from discovering it.

Myriad overlapping streets and alleys concealed it tightly; only those intimately familiar with Dead Spirit City could find its trace.

Standing in a corner of an alley, hands tucked into his sleeves, Qi Xiu quietly observed the mysterious building that greatly resembled a ritual altar.

Through the Observing Qi Skill, at the top of the building, a massive black banner hundreds of meters tall fluttered wildly in the wind, beckoning black tornado-like storms out of the void with every sway.

Within this storm, countless expressionless, ashen-faced lost souls were twirling.

They wore different attire and were of varying ages, instinctively resisting the sweep of the black storm but powerless to break free.

They could only allow themselves to be drawn into Dead Spirit City, becoming souls wandering aimlessly through the streets, constantly driven on.

Watching this great banner, Qi Xiu's mind wavered.

An inexplicable urge made him want to rush over right now, to smash the altar, cut down the long banner, and grant these souls their freedom.

He suppressed this mysterious urge within his heart.

Qi Xiu traced it back to its origin, wanting to uncover the source of this impulse.

"So that's it..."

Vaguely sensing the reason for his impulse, Qi Xiu rubbed the Flood Dragon Pool Ring on his thumb, and his eyes slowly narrowed.

「...」

In the blink of an eye, the group from Yunti Peak had been lurking in Dead Spirit City for fifteen days.

There were now only seven days left until the grand wedding of the Fourth Princess of Yin Tian Nation.

And Third Senior Brother Li Jun, responsible for infiltrating the Youming Royal Mansion to find Ge Ping's whereabouts, finally brought back good news.

"Found him."

As his ashen pallor gradually faded to a normal complexion, Li Jun's dull eyes brightened.

"Fifth Brother is indeed detained deep within the Youming Royal Mansion. This Fourth Princess of Yin Tian Nation is deeply favored by the King of Yin Tian Nation, and her private courtyard is adjacent to the King's inner residence. However, this young woman has a morbidly rebellious nature and dislikes being too close to her father. There's another private courtyard on the far north side of the Youming Royal Mansion. Fifth Brother is locked underground there, with at least five layers of formations surrounding it. Without the specific method, entry is impossible. Aside from that young woman, there's only one Blood-Stained Realm maidservant attending her. But the internal security of the entire Youming Royal Mansion is extremely strict; any living being entering must pass through six checkpoints. Unless it's a ghost, going there is suicide. Furthermore, there's a Grand Bewildering Soul Formation within the mansion. Every quarter of an hour, the paths inside change—upending directions, confusing left and right. Anyone without a passage token who enters will become completely lost and then captured alive. In short, sneaking in to rescue him before the grand wedding is impossible."

Exhaling a frosty breath, Li Jun's paper-pale face finally regained some color. Although he still looked sickly, it was far better than his previous ghost-like appearance.

To infiltrate the Youming Royal Mansion, he had forcefully suppressed his human blood, transforming into a ghostly form, which allowed him to enter successfully. However, he couldn't maintain this secret technique indefinitely. If he lost control of the ghost blood, he would never revert to his living form.

"As expected, our only slight chance is on the day of the grand wedding."

Silently crossing out a line on a leather scroll, Nangong Qingqiu raised her gaze to Wei Wujie and Qi Xiu.

"I've surveyed the Demonic Evil Cultivators in the city. Besides a small fraction invited by the King of Yin Tian Nation to attend the ceremony, the vast majority are here to freeload, all for that Tai Sui meat. They're all at the Dao-Entering Realm; I haven't seen a single one at the Blood-Stained Realm. I reckon those Blood-Stained Realm demonic cultivators invited by the King of Yin Tian Nation are likely staying inside the Youming Royal Mansion. Oh, speaking of Tai Sui meat, I had an unexpected windfall these past few days."

Raising his eyebrows, Wei Wujie flipped his palm, producing an oil-paper package tied with a red string.

Undoing the red string, he lifted the oil paper.

A palm-sized piece of pale white, fatty meat appeared before the Yunti Peak group. It constantly sprouted fleshy tendrils, its surface covered in fine villi, and it possessed crystalline patterns.

"Is this... Tai Sui meat?" Nangong Qingqiu asked, furrowing her brows as she looked at the white fatty meat in Wei Wujie's hand.

"Yeah, that's right. Talk about luck! Two days ago, I was strolling outside and happened upon two cooks from the Youming Royal Mansion. My initial plan was to follow them and scout the mansion's layout. I didn't expect these two ghostly cooks to be stealing from their own larder; they'd pilfered a piece of Tai Sui meat and were planning to sneak out and share it. So, I relieved them of it to see if we could make some use of it."

"You didn't leave any traces, did you?" Nangong Qingqiu reminded him.

"Rest assured. With my sixty-year-cultivated Confounding Heart Technique, never mind two little Dao-Entering Realm ghosts; even an old Blood-Stained Realm ghost wouldn't detect a thing," Wei Wujie stated with unwavering confidence. This was his bread and butter, after all, something he handled with utmost ease.

"Is this the Tai Sui meat?"

Approaching, Qi Xiu looked at the eerily quivering mass of fat in Wei Wujie's hand, and records concerning Tai Sui meat he had once read surfaced in his mind.

Tai Sui meat.

An oddity of ancient times, it was an extraneous growth shed from the body of the Tai Sui god. Though seemingly useless, the Tai Sui god was an Ancient God from Outside the Domain; even a single strand of its hair possessed boundless Divine Power.

For every liang of Tai Sui meat consumed by a living being, their lifespan could be extended by ten years, and their youth preserved for ten years.

However, consuming too much would lead to "Tai Sui Entanglement."

One's fortune would plummet, and their fate would turn adverse.

Moreover, since Tai Sui meat was an extraneous growth from the Tai Sui god's body, ingestion carried a risk of inducing self-mutation.

"Tai Sui meat is only effective on living beings. The King of Yin Tian Nation achieved the Dao as a Fierce Ghost, so Tai Sui meat is useless to him. That's why he's so generous as to offer it at his daughter's wedding banquet," Li Jun added quietly, stepping closer.

"Wait, there's a record in one of our sect's secret manuals, the 'Annotated Collection of Ancient Domains.' Tai Sui meat must not be consumed simultaneously with Greedy Wolf Blood, Broken Army Bone, or Seven Kills Tendon. Otherwise, baleful qi will rush to the brain, transforming the consumer into a Wrath Demon."

As these words left his lips, Qi Xiu looked up at his senior sister and two senior brothers.

Wei Wujie: "Huh?"

Li Jun: "What?"

Only Nangong Qingqiu nodded her head in agreement and added, "Indeed, there is such a record. The Tai Sui god is a deity from Outside the Domain and also a god of balefulness. Greedy Wolf, Broken Army, and Seven Kills are also extremely baleful deities. Tai Sui meat, being a superfluous growth shed from the Tai Sui god, naturally carries a baleful aura. If consumed with those three substances, the clash of baleful energies will evolve into wrathful venom, turning the consumer into a Wrath Demon that knows only slaughter and persecution!"

Quietly watching the two 'scholars' discuss, Wei Wujie placed the Tai Sui meat on the table and gestured to Li Jun. "Let's just find a cool spot and stay out of their hair."

"If, on the wedding day, we can get the Demonic Evil Cultivators in the city to consume the Tai Sui meat while simultaneously ingesting another baleful substance, then the 'demons wreaking havoc across the city' part of our plan will be complete," Qi Xiu said.

"That's easier said than done. Firstly, baleful items like Greedy Wolf Blood, Broken Army Bone, and Seven Kills Tendon are as rare as Tai Sui meat. With the wedding only seven days away, we simply don't have time to find them," Nangong Qingqiu countered, shaking her head.

Qi Xiu's idea was sound, but they lacked the material conditions to implement it.

"Senior Sister, have you heard of Langtu Wine?"

Another term popped out of Qi Xiu's mouth, prompting Wei Wujie and Li Jun to silently inch further away.

"The secret medicinal wine of the Northwestern Daliang Wolf Cavalry? What about it?" Nangong Qingqiu, being well-versed, replied instinctively, but her expression quickly changed to one of surprise. "Don't tell me you have some?"

THUD!

Qi Xiu retrieved a sheepskin wine flask from his Flood Dragon Pool Ring and said, "Actually, Langtu Wine isn't truly a secret. The Daliang Wolf Cavalry shares the recipe with friends they acknowledge. This wine is a must-drink for the Daliang Wolf Cavalry before every campaign. Just one sip, and baleful qi surges through the entire body. The circulation speed of Gang Qi becomes several times faster than usual! When they charge, they are fearless! Langtu Wine is brewed from seventy-seven types of ferocious medicinal ingredients. Perhaps in other aspects, it's far inferior to Greedy Wolf Blood, Broken Army Bone, or Seven Kills Tendon. But in terms of sheer ferocious qi, this Langtu Wine should be no less potent."

During a past Shenxiao Sect assessment, Yan Baizhe of the Daliang Wolf Cavalry, to thank Qi Xiu for saving his life and imparting techniques, had shared the Langtu Wine recipe and some secret wolf cavalry skills with him. Qi Xiu, however, was not a drinker; after brewing a few flasks to try his hand, he had set them aside, never expecting they would prove useful today.

"Gang Qi circulation several times faster! What a treasure!" Wei Wujie exclaimed, picking up the sheepskin wine flask, flicking open the cap, and taking a sniff.

The fiery alcoholic aroma that hit his face was like a volcanic eruption. It was as if the flask contained not wine, but boiling magma.

"If we took this stuff back to the sect to sell, it would definitely fetch a good price," Wei Wujie said with a laugh.

"You're getting ahead of yourself. Langtu Wine, though good, cannot be consumed regularly by ordinary people. The manifold increase in Gang Qi circulation speed places an irreversible burden on the meridians. Long-term consumption will inevitably lead to ruptured meridians and chaotic Gang Qi flow, turning one into a cripple. Only those with iron-like constitutions, like the Daliang Wolf Cavalry, can withstand the vigor of this medicinal wine."

Nangong Qingqiu shot Wei Wujie a look and said, "With this Langtu Wine, the method you just mentioned is indeed worth a try. However, I'm afraid this one flask is far from enough."

"I'll figure out how to get more Langtu Wine. But for the remaining part of this plan, I'll need Eldest Senior Brother and Third Senior Brother to help me."

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