Chapter 123 - Multiform Poison Codger's Treasures
Yi Xiao was in a state of shock from beginning to end. Multiform Poison Codger's attack was too sinister and quick. She would not have been able to fend against it if it were her.
"Qin Yun, if he was assassinating me, I would already be dead." Yi Xiao said from the side.
"Combat and assassinations are completely different matters. Assassinations depend on it being a sudden attack, catching the target by surprise! Once the attack fails, nearly all hope is lost." Qin Yun waved his hand and the Multiform Poison Codger's Cosmic Bag flew over from his corpse. The umbrellas beside him flew over as well. Qin Yun attempted one umbrella after another by knocking on them and carefully studying them.
Yi Xiao looked at Multiform Poison Codger's corpse and could not help but say, "He was an ordinary old umbrella-mender a moment ago but now, he has changed so much. For his body to change so easily, he must cultivate in Dharma formulations like Physical Establishing Sage."
In the control of one's body, Physical Establishing Sage was the most impressive Dharma formulation!
"Furthermore, those who typically cultivate in the Physical Establishing Sage would focus on having a strong body! Even if their looks change, there would be very minute changes. For him to undergo such changes that even his bones, figure, and the color of his beard changes… He must have cultivated in a Physical Establishing Sage Dharma formulation that is adept at transformations." Yi Xiao was baffled. "To be a thin old man that is adept at assassination, I can only think of one person. Multiform Poison Codger."
Qin Yun took out a special umbrella he found after studying the various umbrellas and placed it in his Cosmic Bag.
"Yes, his name is Multiform Poison Codger. When he failed to assassinate me, he frantically sent me a voice transmission, saying that he was Multiform Poison Codger and was skilled in machinery arts and transformations," confirmed Qin Yun. "However, it might have been fine if he didn't say a thing. The moment he revealed his infamous name of Multiform Poison Codger, I naturally did not hesitate to kill him, considering how his hands are stained with the blood of many human lives."
"There has not been enough evidence to indict Multiform Poison Codger for his crimes but the imperial government has put up a warrant for his arrest." Yi Xiao nodded. "With his transformation arts, he has probably secretly done a lot of heinous crimes. However, because he keeps a very low profile, the imperial government has not put in the effort to apprehend him. After all, he is a mere Connate False Core realm cultivator. Capturing him would be extremely troublesome as well. The imperial government isn't willing to spend too much effort."
Qin Yun checked the Cosmic Bag and scanned it with his psyche before keeping it.
Subsequently, his sword intent enveloped Multiform Poison Codger's corpse and with a thought, the corpse instantly dissipated. Even a single drop of blood was disintegrated, leaving nothing behind.
"A sword intent domain sure is great for getting rid of evidence." Yi Xiao said with a smile.
"Unfortunately, my domain only spans sixty feet. If not, it would be more powerful." Qin Yun sighed. Sword intent would permeate the sixty-foot domain, resulting in sand or dust to become his weapon. The items on his enemy's body could be used as a weapon as well! He could even forcefully control the enemy's weapon! Of course, if the enemy was very strong, he could not control it. All he could do was weaken it.
"By the way, would that battle be discovered by the Heaven-Inspecting Mirror?" asked Yi Xiao immediately.
"No," Qin Yun shook his head. "I only augmented a piece of cloth with my sword intent. It's likely at the strength of the peak Connate True Core realm. It's still lacking greatly compared to my flying sword rainbow beam. As for his machinery skill? It's only extremely fast. Its strength is only at the Connate True Core realm. Compared to my attack with the cloth, its strength is slightly weaker."
"That's good. You should keep your sword intent domain a secret as best as you can. In that case, even if the Zhongli family tries to scheme against you, they would underestimate your strength and suffer in the end," said Yi Xiao.
"By the way, are there other cultivators or demons around?" asked Yi Xiao.
Qin Yun's Intrinsic Flying Sword appeared in his hand. Through it, he sensed his surroundings
No cultivator or demon was found upon inspection.
"There shouldn't be any. It's unheard of that Multiform Poison Codger has accomplices when he commits crimes." Qin Yun said with a laugh. "Let's go. I still need to eat my Hot Oil Noodles."
"All you know is food." Yi Xiao was rendered helpless as she accompanied Qin Yun to Cloud Restaurant.
With their casting of a Divine Concealment Spell, the passers-by around them could not remember them. They only realized that an umbrella-mending elder had suddenly disappeared beside them, as well as how an area spanning sixty feet fell into darkness. They were only feeling astounded. The few passers-by that were within sixty feet were expelled previously.
"An immortal!"
"It must be some means of immortals."
"Just now, the region turned dark."
The passers-by exclaimed one after another.
Cloud Restaurant. Seventh level.
In an exquisite room.
Qin Yun and Yi Xiao were sitting at a table as delicious food was served. A big bowl of Hot Oil Noodles was brought in front of Qin Yun.
"Sir, all the dishes have been served," a waitress said.
"Alright. All of you, leave. Without my instructions, none of you should enter," instructed Qin Yun.
"Yes." The waitresses shuffled out and closed the door to the room.
Qin Yun continued wolfing down on his Hot Oil Noodles. He had specially requested for a humongous serving. Across him, Yi Xiao laughed as she glanced at him. She was in no rush as she ate slowly. This was a habit she learned with her upbringing in the Yi family. As for Qin Yun, he grew up in a village and had roamed the world for six years. He often ate with hooligans and, with fiendish demons lurking in the world, all the hooligans did was think with their other head. As such, their eating habits were naturally a lot more unrestrained.
Qin Yun typically ate rather quickly as well.
"Alright, I'm full." After Qin Yun finished the food, he immediately went one corner and grabbed Multiform Poison Codger's Cosmic Bag to pour its contents out.
Items began to fall out one after another, forming a tiny pile.
Qin Yun directed with his mind.
Under the control of the Heaven and Earth powers, the items immediately began splitting into various categories.
"There is actually such stuff?" Yi Xiao's face blushed slightly.
In one corner, there were private items like underwear and it was easy to tell at a glance that they had been used before.
"Destroy them." Qin Yun said immediately. The intimate wear was immediately reduced to nothingness when it was enveloped by sword intent. This was much better than burning items to rid traces of items.
After splitting the items apart, he carefully looked through the loot.
As for treasure?
Compared to the items he swept off from Princess Martial Maple, Multiform Poison Codger had fewer treasures. However, it was as good as Gongye Bing's. After all, a powerful assassin would have treasures that exceeded cultivators at the same level if they could live long.
"He has a few cultivation formulations with him." Qin Yun flipped through the cultivation formulations. They were manuals made of special materials and were extremely precious. He shook his head gently. "The most powerful Qi Refinement formulation peaks at the Connate True Core realm. Perhaps, these were obtained by Multiform Poison Codger by some other means. Unfortunately, it doesn't include his Physical Establishing Sage formulation."
Yi Xiao added, "A Physical Establishing Sage formulation that allows for all sorts of transformations must be something he learned from somewhere. As for the cultivation manual… he probably doesn't have the right to carry it with him."
"But there are manuals on machinery arts and venom arts." Qin Yun flipped through them and his eyes could not help but light up.
The machinery arts recorded in the book was extremely abstruse.
"So this is called the Flying Crane Shadow." Qin Yun was holding a cylindrical item.
"This is called 'Heavenly Lightning Strike." Qin Yun took out another spherical item.
Qin Yun confirmed the names of the poisonous items one after another.
"These machinery and poisonous items are rather rare and are useful." Qin Yun said. "Yi Xiao, this Flying Crane Shadow's strength allows one to reach the peak Connate True Core realm. Do you need it?"
"No, I don't. My Lightning Dharma is even faster. Its strength is not much weaker than it is," replied Yi Xiao.
Qin Yun nodded.
"Qin Yun, with these, you probably have found quite a number of cultivation manuals, right?" said Yi Xiao with a smile.
"There are some. That water ape, Gongye Bing, and the group of people with Princess Martial Maple had cultivation manuals among their treasures. But most of them were ordinary, with a few special ones." Qin Yun smiled and said, "If I must count, I already have two cultivation formulations that can reach the Connate True Core realm. I also have books on talisman arts and even alchemy. However, they are too common and pedestrian. As for these machinery and venom arts, they are rather powerful. This Multiform Poison Codger has only mastered about seventy percent of the machinery arts. If he were to master it completely, only someone with strength at the Connate Golden Core realm would be able to withstand his attacks"
Yi Xiao chuckled. "With so many Dharma formulations, you can even establish a sect."
"That's right." Qin Yun nodded. "The Sword Immortal Legacy I obtained is a complete legacy. That senior, Daoist Chen, wished that juniors would be able to spread and flourish it. When I have sufficient strength, I will establish a sect too, a sword immortal sect! As for these manuals, I can give it to interested disciples for cultivating. My Qin family currently has some distinguished mercenaries. If they do a good job, I can also pass these formulations to them for cultivation."
Now was the period when he was improving by leaps and bounds, so he naturally lacked the time and effort to establish a sect.
To establish a sect? Leave it to the future!
The reason why factions like the Scenic Mountain Sect established good ties with Qin Yun so early on was due to the potential they saw in him. But even so, they never imagined that Qin Yun had managed to grasp sword intent through Expertise Nearing Dao in the Postnatal realm, and that he had reached the sword intent domain at the age of twenty-two.
When Multiform Poison Codger died, Myriad Temple immediately learned of it.
"Oh?"
The blood-colored flood dragon was astonished. "Multiform Poison Codger's messaging mark has dissipated. He actually failed and died? That old man's machinery arts are very powerful and he has rich experience. Although that Qin Yun is powerful, he is still young. Logically speaking, Multiform Poison Codger should have quite a fair bit of chance. But failing is quite normal too. There are always failures in assassinations."
"I have to find a more powerful assassin." The dragon did not care about Multiform Poison Codger's death. His relationship with the Myriad Temple was only a cooperation. Since he was dead, he naturally would not receive the reward of an Immortal Crystal.
It also meant that Myriad Temple did not suffer any losses. At most, it lost a partnering operative.
Myriad Temple's information network was extremely good. Its partners were spread among humans, fiendish demons, and members from the Water race. As for clients, only those with sufficient strength or status would receive their invitation. For example, Matron Le's invitation was only because she was Patriarch Zhongli's wife.