Su Que took Luo You away, delving into the shadows cast by the urban architecture, darting through alleys until finally setting him down in a desolate corner.
Once settled, he immediately began searching Luo You's body.
First, he discovered two fifty-tael silver ingots and two hundred-tael silver notes in the outer garments.
Then, he reached into Luo You's inner clothing.
Close to Luo You's skin, he found a piece of yellowed xuan paper and a worn piece of parchment.
Su Que spread open and examined the two sheets of paper.
The yellowed paper detailed the method for creating a medicinal powder called "Yang-Raising Powder."
The worn parchment depicted the cultivation method for the "Profound Yin Finger."
"It seems Luo You feared leaving these items at his residence would lead to theft, so he kept them on his person."
"This truly saves me some trouble!"
Su Que secretly rejoiced.
However, he still decided not to kill Luo You.
He slapped Luo You on the shoulder, injecting a stream of Marriage Robe Divine Skill True Qi.
The True Qi surged through his limbs, instantly severing the meridians in his arms and legs.
Luo You jolted awake, wincing from the pain.
Su Que wasted no words, pressing his hand to Luo You's head:
"If you don't want to die, answer my questions!"
Upon waking, Luo You's first instinct was to channel Profound Yin True Qi to attack Su Que.
Yet he quickly realized that as the Profound Yin True Qi rose from his dantian and moved towards his right shoulder, it dissipated entirely.
With horror, he found all the meridians in his limbs were severed.
This utterly spelled the end of his martial arts path!
"Answer your nonsense, just kill me!"
Luo You became overwhelmed with anguish; at just twenty-eight years old, a promising Three Blood Martial Artist, his future had seemed bright.
Suddenly reduced to a cripple, he couldn't accept it!
Su Que offered no words, directly flooding Luo You's body with Marriage Robe Divine Skill True Qi.
At once, the True Qi rampaged inside Luo You.
Luo You felt unbearably numb, itchy, and sore, a sensation far worse than death.
"Hero… Hero… please stop!"
Tormented by the True Qi, he drooled and sweated profusely, hastily begging for mercy:
"What… do you want to ask… I'll answer!"
Su Que thus withdrew the Marriage Robe Divine Skill True Qi.
"What is Bai Wuji's strength?"
"Five Blood Refining Viscera Martial Artist."
"How can I find him?"
"Make a mark on the city wall; his envoy will come to contact you."
The responses matched what Jing Sha had mentioned.
Bang!
After pondering for a moment and finding no further questions, Su Que suddenly struck down with a fist, shattering Luo You's skull, causing blood and brain matter to splatter.
Having flung aside the filth blocked by True Qi from his fist, Su Que departed with the secret manual, medicinal formula, and silver coins.
...
Inside Jing Sha's mansion, the White Lotus Sect members witnessed Luo You being abducted and plunged into chaos.
Jing Sha's deputy, the strongest among this group, also the most authoritative, gathered himself then hurriedly led several sect members to report the situation to their Hall Master, Jing Sha.
After the deputy and others called out outside Jing Sha's courtyard without receiving an answer, they exchanged looks.
The deputy, gritting his teeth, decided to defy Jing Sha's orders by leading other sect members into the courtyard for a look.
Thus, they entered, and rounding the flora and trees, instantly laid eyes on three deceased White Lotus Sect henchmen within.
A few steps further, they saw Jing Sha dead inside the training room.
"The Hall Master has been killed!"
Confronted with the ghastly sight of Jing Sha's shattered skull, they couldn't help but be stunned.
"Who could crush Hall Master Jing's skull with a single punch?"
They looked at each other in bewilderment.
Jing Sha, a Three Blood Martial Artist, killed by a single punch. This underscored the killer's cruelty and power.
"Could… could it be that mysterious figure?"
The deputy and others suddenly recalled the mysterious figure rumoured within the White Lotus Sect, who first killed the medicine-bearing henchman and later targetted Fan Wuyang.
"Could the one who abducted Hall Master Luo be that mysterious figure?"
"Wouldn't the mysterious figure, having killed Hall Master Jing, also kill Hall Master Luo?"
The sect members speculated.
The deputy's eyes widened, quickly directing the rest:
"You, contact the Altar Master."
The Altar Master, Bai Wuji, was their leader in Jade Water City.
"You all, lead more people to search for Hall Master Luo."
The sect members, taking orders, left.
...
At an unobtrusive section of Jade Water City's western wall, the sect member tasked with contacting Bai Wuji used a pebble to scribble a few crooked lines.
To outsiders, these seemed mere childish scrawls, yet to the sect members, they were recognized as messaging symbols within their sect.
...
About half an hour later, several sect members finally discovered Luo You's corpse in an isolated corner and carried it back to the mansion.
Upon seeing Luo You's death, matching Jing Sha's condition exactly, the deputy and other sect members flinched.
His death mirrored Jing Sha's exactly, killed by a shattered skull.
Furthermore, observing their clothes, aside from the bloodstains from broken skulls, showed no signs of struggle.
This clearly showed the mysterious figure's overwhelming strength, leaving Jing Sha and Luo You defenseless, both killed in one blow.
The sect members, gazing at the two corpses, exchanged glances, instantly shrouded in an intense atmosphere of fear.
Both Hall Masters perished without a sound.
None of them knew whether someday they too would face the mysterious figure's wrath.
Routinely killing to assert dominance intended to place opponents and civilians in such a terror-filled atmosphere.
Yet to their dismay, they found themselves enveloped in the same dread.
...
Bai Wuji was an apparition of an immortal, middle-aged Daoist.
His abode, a villa outside Jade Water City.
Daily, just before the morning sun rose, he would awaken naturally.
Wearing a simple white robe, bare-footed, ascending to the villa's highest tower, he sat facing the luminous eastern horizon.
As the sun rose, he practiced Inner Strength.
With the cultivation of the "Minor Self-Damage Technique," his internal practice exchanged meridian damage for rapid progress and great power.
Though not matching the force and progress of the "Marriage Robe Divine Skill," at least the "Minor Self-Damage Technique" required no dispersal.
Moreover, years of practice yielded methodologies reducing and remedying physical harm inflicted by this technique.
For instance, cultivating upon sunrise lessened the bodily toll of this internal skill.
A product of the Daoist Sect, his expertise in alchemy led him to develop an elixir that accelerated cultivation growth while mending the meridian damage caused by Minor Self-Damage Technique.
Once the sun fully ascended and its light bathed the earth, a series of footsteps echoed from behind.
Bai Wuji, aware the envoy had come to report, gradually ceased cultivation, asking: "What is the matter?"
"Altar Master, there's a mark on the city wall, suggesting something major occurred at Jing Sha's base!" the envoy reported.
"Head over there to have a look," Bai Wuji instructed.