Chapter 74: Instructor Lingxiu

“How could it be you, Instructor Lingxiu?”

When Elder Zhong Yue saw that familiar face, an extremely strange silence fell over the void. After what felt like an eternity, a trembling voice finally broke the stillness. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes, his voice harsh, filled with emotion that seemed a mixture of anger and indignation as he demanded an answer.

“Could it possibly be me?”

“Ha, why wouldn’t it be me? Just because I was the only one in this academy with a conscience…”

Hearing Elder Zhong Yue’s demand, Instructor Lingxiu let out a shrill laugh like a night owl. Her laughter carried a hint of madness. Not only was her laughter wild, she herself seemed to have gone insane. Or perhaps, having shed her facade before the crowd, she had no more need for concealment. Amidst her mad laughter, cultivation power surged violently within her, causing spots of blood mist to burst forth from her body…

“So what if I refined a Human Elixir?”

“So what if I unleashed this Plague Qi?”

“I’m still far better than you hypocrites! At least I don’t repay kindness with betrayal!”

Using the force of her self-inflicted injury, the invisible bonds holding her, placed by the Academy Dean, melted away like snow encountering boiling water.

The moment she regained her freedom, she twisted her body like a spinning top. A stream of green shadows emerged rapidly from her, thin strands that shot violently through the dark night towards the surrounding Mentors and Instructors, carrying a wave of nauseating stench.

“She’s making a desperate strike!”

The Instructors shouted, hastily retreating. The scene instantly descended into chaos.

Only Academy Dean Gongyang Yanqing and Elder Zhong Yue held their ground. The Dean frowned slightly. The tall green sheep beneath him opened its mouth, reached out, and caught one of the green shadows, biting it in two. It was a bizarre, foot-long snake, entirely green. Elder Zhong Yue, meanwhile, lowered his head with a sigh. The sound of a sword rang beside him as it flew and swept rapidly in all directions, continuous sizzles filling the air, cleaving countless bizarre snakes apart.

Instructor Lingxiu’s witchcraft and gu methods were truly formidable. Anyone who witnessed it would not dare underestimate her.

However, witchcraft and gu ultimately were not suited for frontal combat, especially facing the Academy Dean and Elder Zhong Yue, whose cultivation clearly surpassed hers. Unleashed now, her gu sorcery tactics were nothing more than a death throe!

Almost instantly, she was suppressed and captured. It happened in the blink of an eye.

By this time, more and more Qi Refiners had arrived at the scene. Some silently stood guard around, while others hurried towards the Charity Manor, seemingly intending to first seal the Human Elixir whose brilliant light was fading. Observing the surrounding gazes—some shocked, some confused, some silently watching—and the utterly out-of-control situation, a terrifying glint of desperate resolve flashed in Instructor Lingxiu’s eyes…

“Helping you… one last time…”

She let out a piercing shriek. Suddenly, her hand snatched at something. From a hidden small bag at her waist, a black object flew out.

Someone looked closely and saw it was a thumb-sized beetle…

This beetle, once out of the bag, flew straight into her open mouth. She clamped her teeth down on it, chewing vigorously. Black liquid splattered. Instantly, a strange, ghastly blue color suffused her face, making her resemble an evil spirit.

“No! That’s the Southern Border Ghost Demon Gu… Retreat, NOW!”

Watching Lingxiu’s actions, someone recognized what it was. Shocked, they yelled a warning.

But as the shout echoed, Instructor Lingxiu was already laughing manically. Within her laughter, her entire physical body suddenly exploded!

Countless fragments of flesh and bone flew violently in all directions. Mid-air, they transformed into numerous bizarre, grotesque fleshy worms, headless and limbless, only sporting immense, ferocious mouths at one end, twitching meaty wings. They surged viciously towards everything around.

Instantly, chaos engulfed the vicinity of the Charity Manor.

Amidst this turmoil, Instructor Lingxiu’s last sound gradually faded, seeming like laughter, and then almost like weeping…

…

The chaos was quickly suppressed.

Though formidable, the demonic gu technique Instructor Lingxiu had unleashed with her dying breath consumed itself rapidly. Under the suppression of the Academy Dean, the City Governor – two great masters – and the Academy’s Elder Mentors, these demonic gu insects soon perished, plummeting to the ground, lifeless.

She had sacrificed her life, but failed to harm a single person; it had only created chaos…

Even now, looking at the strange pieces of minced flesh scattered on the ground, everyone felt a suffocating depression.

Everyone harbored an incredibly bizarre feeling inside. Who would have imagined that barely after the Human Elixir case was cracked, where a Southern Mountains Demon had taken the blame, now it was happening all over again? And who could have possibly guessed that the ultimate culprit behind this vile, sinister Human Elixir scheme, sought and investigated through twists and turns, would turn out to be… an Instructor from the very White Xiang Academy that symbolized the world’s boundless righteous spirit?

For a while, who could accept this result?

“Take her remains, and that Human Elixir, back to the academy. Verify her identity, then we will decide what to do!”

In the heavy silence, after a long moment of contemplation, it was Academy Head Gongyang Yanqing who spoke softly, his voice low, awakening the crowd.

No matter what, Instructor Lingxiu had revealed her true face before everyone. This matter could not be covered up. So, for now, the only course was to bring this instructor and the evidence—the Human Elixir—back, investigate thoroughly, and then proceed. Some, thinking deeper, realized that with the Human Elixir affair now implicating an academy instructor, they had to guard against the City Governor’s side harboring any sinister intentions to challenge the academy.

There had always been a subtle, distinct line between the academy and the City Governor’s forces.

Fortunately, this time, it was academy disciples who discovered the incident, and the Academy Dean was the first to arrive. So, handling this was naturally their domain.

The academy instructors present understood instinctively what needed to be done. Several academy instructors quickly hurried into the Charity Manor. However, moments later, they rushed back out, their expressions a mixture of shock and fury: “That Human Elixir… It’s gone!”

“Huh?”

That single utterance stunned everyone. Utter bewilderment swept through them, disbelief written on every face.

Earlier, a radiant brilliance had pierced the void, visible for miles around. That was irrefutable proof, the proof that a Human Elixir had been successfully refined.

How could it possibly vanish now?

Academy Head Gongyang Yanqing remained expressionless. He snapped his eyes open wide, a sharp gleam within them scanning all directions, as if trying to spot some clue.

But when his sweeping gaze returned, calmness now replaced by a flicker of panic, his features clouded with shock and doubt, he uttered: “Who stole the Human Elixir?”

…

The Human Elixir… stolen?

This news spread like wildfire, igniting gasps of shock and angry shouts.

A White Xiang Academy instructor being caught red-handed refining a Human Elixir was already a disgraceful scandal utterly unacceptable!

And now, right under everyone’s noses, someone had managed to steal the Elixir… What level of audacity was that?

“Seal Willow Lake City! Order Formation Masters to deduce! Instruct Alchemists to track its aura! Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but find that thief!”

The furious voice of the City Governor roared out shortly after, brimming with boundless rage.

In an instant, numerous Mentor Instructors scrambled into action. Some rushed to seal the outer roads; others began to utilize various means to investigate and probe.

With the Divine Generals moving into action under the cover of night, countless others hiding in the shadows observing the situation were startled. Trembling with fear, they hastily withdrew, terrified of being discovered lingering here—impossible to explain clearly.

The earlier burst of brilliance from the Human Elixir had attracted far too many peering eyes, contributing mightily to the prevailing chaos, making the thief hard to track.

…

“Let’s go!”

At that very moment, Fang Cun was seated inside a carriage among the surrounding crowd. Tucked under his arm was the Old Umbrella. Inside the Umbrella, he could sense the presence of that Human Elixir.

The moment he saw Lingxiu appear, he had made his decision. He retrieved the Human Elixir and concealed it inside the Old Umbrella. Then, silently, he met up with Xiao Qingliu and entered the carriage.

He understood this Human Elixir had an eerie aura; its brilliance wouldn’t fade naturally. If an ordinary person held it, even if they fled dozens of miles away, they would shine like a candle in the dark under the sensory exploration of a Great Qi Refiner—utterly impossible to hide.

But he was different. He could hide the Human Elixir inside the Umbrella.

Had he summoned the Celestial Merit Record now, he would have seen his own Merit steadily diminishing.

One… two… three… four… five…

The longer he kept the Human Elixir hidden inside his Umbrella, the more Merit he consumed.

Once his Merit was exhausted, the Human Elixir could no longer be concealed.

But as long as Merit remained, no one would find it.

That was precisely why he had needed to open the Umbrella when he entered the Charity Manor earlier!

Whether or not someone was secretly watching him, trying to deduce his actions through some mystical means, opening the Umbrella shielded him.

The only real risk had been when, preparing to leave the Charity Manor, he turned back to steal the Elixir.

That could have exposed him!

Yet, he had chosen to do it anyway.

Seeing Instructor Lingxiu appear was what spurred this decision…

How could Lingxiu be the one refining the Human Elixir?

How could it be this old Instructor? This woman who once wanted to take him as her direct disciple? Even now, he couldn’t tell whether she harbored good or ill intentions towards him. Fang Cun’s feelings were exceptionally complex. He had wanted so badly to expose the Human Fiend behind the Human Elixirs, yet the one ultimately exposed… was someone close to him. This suddenly stirred a strange, indescribable turmoil within him…

First, unwillingness. Second, disbelief!

There were too many suspicious aspects. Fang Cun could instantly think of at least ten glaring questions.

Therefore, he made the snap decision to remove the Human Elixir.

And if taking the Elixir had been an instinctual choice prompted by sudden inkling, then seeing Instructor Lingxiu die before him fully confirmed that those earlier instincts had been correct…

Because the Celestial Merit Record—there was absolutely no change.

Whether it was Instructor Lingxiu revealing her true nature, or her death right now… no corresponding Merit descended.

The Human Fiend was still at large!

…

The carriage clip-clopped steadily through the night, gradually approaching Willow Lake City.

Fang Cun sat in silence, quietly reviewing the chain of events.

Earlier, when Meng Zhixue and the others were trapped in the Demon Valley of the Southern Mountains, they mentioned afterwards that there should have been two people on the dais within the formation.

That meant there had always been more than one person involved in the Human Elixir refinement.

Furthermore, between these two, perhaps Instructor Lingxiu was just a secondary player in the scheme. Seeing everything exposed, she chose the desperate act of fighting to the death. It didn’t seem unlikely that she was trying to shoulder the blame entirely, protecting the true Human Fiend…

Who was worth such sacrifice?

The Academy Head who had arrived immediately? The City Governor’s forces who arrived belatedly?

Where exactly was the real Human Fiend hiding?

Slowly lowering his gaze to the Old Umbrella tucked under his arm, Fang Cun’s brow furrowed with chilling resolve.

Whoever it is… doesn’t matter!

Now that the Human Elixir is in my hands, the initiative lies in mine.

I can play a good game with you!