Longevity starts from having a daughter in old age

Snow!

Fluttering snowflakes fell from the sky, bringing a touch of romance to this cold world.

Xu Mu followed the crowd down from the flying boat, raising his head to gaze at the sky, staring for a moment.

“Another year has passed!”

With a sigh in his heart, he stepped into a nearby alley.

When he emerged from the alley, he appeared entirely different.

Pale in complexion, unsteady on his feet, his aura only remaining at the early stage of Qi Cultivation.

Having refined his body to the level of enlightenment, his disguise was incredibly misleading, enough to fool even Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators unless they had special techniques to see through it.

He blended into the crowd, quickly disappearing without a trace.

After altering his appearance numerous times, Xu Mu had toured all the known residences of White River City’s cultivators.

As expected, many people had mysteriously vanished.

Predictably, most would not meet a good ending!

At the dwelling of one such person, he discovered several Qi Cultivation Late Stage cultivators with suspicious movements. Through tracking, he found that they went into the Luo Family Residence.

From then on, Xu Mu held no luck in his heart.

Cui Ling Market

Phoenix Heart Street

“Dao friend, these are the things you asked for last time!”

In the remote alley full of snow, a hunchback old man handed over a small, black-booklet to Xu Mu with a flattering smile.

“Thank you!”

Xu Mu took the booklet, handing the old man a dozen lower-grade Spirit Stones.

This was the agreed price.

Delight bloomed across the old man’s face as he securely stashed the Spirit Stones, he couldn’t help but ask, “What are you going to do with this information, Dao friend?”

Xu Mu gave the old man a meaningful look, lightly saying,

“There are some things it’s better you don’t know.”

“Huh?”

The old man froze, but quickly understood.

“Right, right, I don’t know anything, I know nothing!”

After speaking, the hunchbacked old man turned and hurriedly departed.

Xu Mu opened the booklet, it was filled with portraits, with only names and identities written beneath.

“Luo Hun, Luo Family Head!”

“Luo Zhong, Luo Family’s Chief Steward!”

“Lu Mengyao, Luo Family Mistress!”

“Unfortunately, there are no portraits of the Luo Family’s Patriarch!”

After memorizing all the people in the booklet, Xu Mu conjured a flame in his hand, reducing it to ashes in an instant.

II

Hm?”

A faint, peculiar scent wafted out from the ashes.

It was the scent of some kind of tracking powder!

“People are always insatiable!”

Xu Mu sighed, disappearing into thin air.

The hunched back old man hobbled through the crowded street, entering an abandoned hut. When he emerged, he was transformed into a middle-aged man with a hint of ferocity.

Swaggering, he headed in the direction of the Luo Family.

“That man had me inquire about the Luo Family’s affairs, surely he has some untold secret! Luckily, I know someone from the Luo Family. If I pass this information to them, I might receive a reward. If I add my hidden move to the mix, I might even have the chance to join the Luo family!”

“I can then live a life of luxury, no longer having to be a poor, Loose Cultivator anymore!”

Gazing at the Luo Family’s luxurious residence in the distance, the middle-aged man had already started dreaming of a better future.

Suddenly, a wave of invisible force struck him from behind.

Thunk!

The force instantly penetrated his heart.

His strength seemed to drain out from his body.

His head froze, his mouth was silent, and his eyes were filled with terror. He stumbled forward and fell into a layer of snow on the ground.

“What? What just happened?”

The passersby were taken aback, having no clue why the man suddenly fell.

They all hastily backed away, fearing they might be involved in trouble.

Not a single person was willing to lend a hand.

Some cultivators, fearful of possible troubles, hastily left the scene, while others who were brave enough stood and watched the whole spectacle unfold.

Soon, patrol guards in green armor rushed over.

One of them squatted to inspect the body.

“His heart meridians are shattered from the inside. Looks like he messed up while cultivating! Such an unfortunate guy!”

The guard who was inspecting shook his head, pocketed the middle-aged man’s storage bag, then put the corpse into a special bag, preparing to dispose it somewhere else.

The death of a low-level loose cultivator wasn’t significant enough to alarm the upper ranks.

“I didn’t expect such a wonderful aspect from the body refinement method, quite an unexpected surprise!”

Xu Mu, who was always under the cover of invisibility, quietly watched everything unfold on the street.

The person who just made the move was, of course, him.

Utilizing his control over force, with no use of any magic or spiritual power, he effortlessly killed a Qi Cultivation Early Stage cultivator.

After his invisibility technique broke through the grandmaster level, no matter what methods Xu Mu used, the invisibility effect wouldn’t easily dispel.

That was why Xu Mu dared to act brazenly on a public street.

Moreover, the duration of invisibility significantly increased, reaching an impressively long time span of an hour.

Due to his grandmaster level invisibility technique, this operation would be much easier.

After eliminating that insignificant threat, Xu Mu once again applied the invisibility technique and confidently entered the Luo Family’s manor.

Of course, he didn’t foolishly head into those heavily guarded areas. He merely wandered around the outskirts, examining every spot within his reach.

Employing his ability to conceal his aura, he remained undetected.

“Lucky I gained the ability to perform empty sky flight, otherwise the snow on the ground would have posed a real problem!”

Gazing at the increasingly thick snow on the ground, Xu Mu breathed a sigh of relief.

After two days of investigation, Xu Mu decided to make his move that afternoon.

The reason he didn’t choose night-time was that the possibility of being discovered was higher due to the activation of various formations for protection during the night.

“Father, there are a total of 154 loose cultivators from White River Marketplace in the city and now only a dozen or so are left unaccounted for. What should we do next?” Luo Hun respectfully asked Luo Lie, who was seated next to him.

“Contact the managing family of Liyang City, let them look into the situation of the White River City loose cultivators! And remember, first send a generous gift!” Luo Lie ordered nonchalantly.

“I understand, Father! But, are we going to act within the city?”

Although their family had cultivators proficient in assassination, acting in Liyang City was still quite risky.

If they were investigated by the Liyang Sect, even if they had the protection of a Golden Pill Elder, they would undoubtedly face dire consequences.

“No need! Just have the city’s management family find a reason to detain them. When the time comes, I will interrogate them myself!”

Given Luo Lie’s methods, if he personally conducted the interrogation, even if they didn’t die, they would likely end up imbeciles.

But turning them into imbeciles was different from killing them. A small price was enough to resolve it smoothly.

“I understand, Father! I’ll get it done right away!”

Luo Hun bowed, then retreated and left.

Luo Lie opened his eyes and got up, heading towards his cultivation room.

The cultivation room was located underground. Its walls were made of thick Xuan Iron and decorated with intricate defensive arrays. Once all of them were activated, they could withstand a few attacks from ordinary Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators.

However, Luo Lie was still unsatisfied with his cultivation room.

But given their limited time in the marketplace, they had to make do. They would build a more secure cultivation room when they had the time and resources.

Luo Lie activated all the arrays, sat cross-legged on the cushion, started to circulate the Lu Ling Jue and refined the Soul Power he ingested not long ago.

Meanwhile, outside…

In a loft not far from Luo Lie’s cultivation room, Xu Mu knocked out one of Luo Hun’s concubines. He then took out the Concealment Array given by Lan Shijin and set up six layers of it.

“Now that I’ve set up these, the spiritual power fluctuations caused by me forming compressed fireballs shouldn’t be detected by anyone, right?”