Chapter 23: Have You Ever Heard of Zhou Wuqing?

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Yiyuan Power Plant is located in the outskirts of Liangzhou City.

This power plant was established in the early years of the founding of the nation and has been generating power on this land for decades. It was decommissioned five years ago. Now, the abandoned plant lies desolate; the worn-out units are covered in thick dust, and the entire site resembles a giant black-and-white photograph from a bygone era.

According to intelligence, a month ago, five cultists briefly took refuge here. The next day, they left and sought out Zhou Qing, only to be eliminated by the Five Company Elite.

Originally, this case was closed with the deaths of the five cultists. However, after negotiations with Zhou Qing, the investigation was reopened, with the first step being a thorough review of the cultists’ movements.

Accompanying Qin Jiajia were three veteran officers: two men and one woman. One man had a crew cut, the other sported a beard, while the woman had a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth.

These three had worked together for many years. On the way here, they chatted animatedly; once at the site, they swiftly divided tasks and began searching in a coordinated manner. Qin Jiajia, as a newcomer, couldn’t integrate fully and could only assist from the sidelines.

After completing the negotiation with Zhou Qing, the department arranged a dedicated instructor for her, teaching her basic cultivation methods such as Qi Refining and Spirit Power Control.

With this knowledge, although she lacked concrete combat strength, she could barely manage to lead Qi into her body and transform it into power, thus able to use some of the simplest spiritual tools.

Qin Jiajia paced around the power plant, holding a yellow talisman—a low-level spirit-seeking talisman with a ten-meter effective range, one of the most common tools for supernatural investigations.

Having just begun learning Qi Refining, she was not yet proficient. Even controlling such a basic talisman was challenging; after barely half a lap, she was drenched in sweat.

Wiping the beads of sweat from her brow and about to continue, she suddenly noticed something unusual in a corner.

A few withered flowers.

The flowers appeared dead for some time—the stamens as fragile as corn husks, most petals fallen, barely recognizable as peach blossoms.

The power plant’s surroundings were barren; within ten miles, trees were rare. Where had these peach blossoms come from?

“Xiao Qin, what did you find?”

The three veteran officers noticed her movement and gathered around, soon spotting the anomaly. The bearded man knelt down and carefully tapped near the flowers with the spirit-seeking talisman—no reaction.

“No spiritual energy response,” he said, shaking his head, then rising. “The petals have dried on the ground; these flowers must have fallen at least a month ago. Even if there was spiritual energy, it should have dissipated by now.”

Though a little disappointing, it was still a find. The officers expertly photographed the scene, bagged the samples, and prepared to take them back for further analysis.

This was a minor incident. Afterward, the four spent two to three hours searching the plant without any further discoveries. As the sun began to wane in the west, they packed up to leave.

“Surprisingly, the best find was by little Qin,” the crew-cut man praised on the way out. “Good eye—she’s got the makings of a fine officer.”

“Not really...” Qin Jiajia scratched her head. “That flower has nothing to do with the supernatural, right?”

“No spiritual reaction doesn’t mean no connection,” the woman with the beauty mark said. “There are no flowering peach trees nearby. Those flowers couldn’t have drifted here by chance—they must have been brought in by someone. If we track down where the peach trees are, maybe we can trace their movements.”

“Sounds like detective work,” Qin Jiajia remarked.

“Exactly,” the bearded man chuckled. “This power plant is a haunted house; we’re here to investigate suspects—only, the suspect is probably a cultivator.”

His laughter abruptly ceased; his next words caught in his throat. The expressions of the other two officers shifted simultaneously.

The atmosphere thickened. Qin Jiajia was puzzled, about to ask something, when she felt a sudden heat at her waist. The spirit-seeking talisman in her pocket vibrated violently.

This meant a strong spiritual energy reaction was within ten meters!

“Get back!!!” the crew-cut man shouted.

Suddenly, the shattering sound of a silver bottle exploding echoed through the plant. The glass window above them shattered without warning, raining down shards. Amidst the cascade, a white figure descended from above!

The chaotic footsteps blended into a blur. The bearded man and the crew-cut man retreated swiftly, loading their guns in a single breath. The beauty mark woman lunged forward, shoulder-butting Qin Jiajia and hurling her several meters away.

In a flash, Qin Jiajia recalled a phrase she once read online.

Houses of violent deaths often rent for cheap—not because they are haunted or have bad feng shui—

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—but because the murderer is likely to return!

Gunfire erupted continuously; shards of glass still falling were pulverized by the blasts. Bullets streaked toward the target, but the white figure moved like a phantom. In fractions of a second, the approaching bullets seemed to bend mid-air, deflecting as if disturbed by an invisible magnetic field, grazing past and leaving smoking holes in the wall behind.

“Spirit power shield... a Foundation Establishment cultivator!”

Seeing this strange scene, the three officers were shocked but never ceased their actions.

The bearded man and crew-cut man maintained gunfire to restrain the opponent, while the beauty mark woman dropped her firearm and swiftly drew a talisman. Spirit light flickered on the paper, ready to unleash a spell.

Cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above can form protective shields by projecting spirit power to defend against light weapons. They had arrived in haste, equipped only with small pistols and no spiritual bullet rounds specialized against cultivators, so they relied on spells.

But the opponent had no intention of letting them use that chance.

A breeze stirred, carrying a faint scent of blossoms through the plant. Though fragrant and refreshing, the three officers stiffened, as if frozen in place. With a gentle flick of the cultivator’s sleeve, the three figures collapsed to the ground. The talisman she had just drawn floated down and turned to ash within breaths.

All this happened in less than ten seconds. When Qin Jiajia recovered from her shock, none of the three officers were standing.

The fallen officers were still breathing, but the Foundation Establishment cultivator made no move to finish them off. Instead, his gaze shifted to Qin Jiajia in the corner.

He wanted a live capture?

Only then did Qin Jiajia realize she needed to flee. Before she could move, the white figure blurred before her eyes and appeared right in front of her!

The faint flower fragrance filled her nostrils. Her vision blurred; the factory and figure twisted and warped into an idyllic pastoral scene.

The land was flat and open, houses orderly, with fertile fields, clear ponds, mulberry, and bamboo groves.

Her body stiffened; her pupils dilated and then lost all sensation within moments.

In the unseen reality, the white-clad figure’s lips curled slightly as he reached out, as if to drag her into an endless dream.

Boom—

Blazing light seared her eyes. The utopian scene shattered instantly.

Before losing consciousness, she saw a crimson-gold flame soaring before her, radiating immense power, engulfing the white figure and bathing the entire space in roaring fire.

...

At the chessboard, Zhou Qing’s fingers paused over the pieces.

Had the true fire left in Qin Jiajia been triggered?

According to his setup, the spell only activates when attacked by a malicious enemy. The young girl had joined the Sanitation Bureau as a cultivator only a few days ago, and she was already facing danger?

Next time he met her, he would ask about it.

“Xiao Zhou, your turn.”

Grandpa Wu pressed a move eagerly from across the board. He glanced over the chessboard; his piece floated down lightly, capturing an opponent’s pawn.

“Captured.”

...

Half an hour later, Lv Zhenhai arrived at Yiyuan Power Plant.

The once desolate abandoned plant was now crowded with Sanitation Bureau vehicles, filling the air with honking and chatter. Inside the plant shed, white smoke billowed like the scene of an accident.

“We reviewed surveillance footage. Half an hour ago, there was a violent spiritual energy reaction here, accompanied by an unexplained fire in the plant area,” the officer relaying information said. “At the time, four of our bureau’s officers were present. They are all under Director Li Yulan and came here on a mission.”

“When we arrived, the four were unconscious. Checks showed no other injuries, only slight interference to their souls. Medical staff are currently providing emergency care.”

“On a mission?” Lv Zhenhai turned. “What mission?”

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“It was a request from an ancient cultivator named Zhou Qing to trace the whereabouts of several cultists who appeared two months ago...”

The officer briefly summarized the situation. Lv Zhenhai listened, frowning more deeply. “...Zhou Qing?”

“Oh, he apparently has another name,” the officer thought for a moment. “Director Li’s investigation found he used an alias before, probably called… Zhou Fan?”

Lv Zhenhai’s words caught in his throat.

Zhou Fan—he had some impression of that name. Half a month ago, Li Yulan reported a case involving a suspected ancient cultivator from the Five Barbarians period. At that time, he was fully focused on Peach Blossom Spring and hadn’t paid much attention.

Now this name suddenly connected to Peach Blossom Spring members, intertwining two seemingly unrelated events.

“Did you find a Foundation Establishment cultivator from Peach Blossom Spring who escaped nearby?” Jiang Ruifeng asked, standing beside Lv Zhenhai. They had arrived together and went straight to the point.

“Yes, but not exactly a find...”

The officer hesitated, pointing to the smoking site. “The scene is right there. Please, senior, come have a look...”

Led by the officer, Lv Zhenhai and Jiang Ruifeng entered the still smoky plant. A crowd had gathered around a white chalk outline marking a body.

More precisely, it could no longer be called a body, just a black ash silhouette on the ground. Tiny crimson-gold sparks flickered in the ashes, still warm.

“What is this...” Even Lv Zhenhai couldn’t hide his horror.

“That’s the Peach Blossom Spring member,” the officer confirmed. “Though all bodily information is gone, monitoring and the scene make it clear.”

Lv Zhenhai pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling his brain throb from the overwhelming influx of information.

A month ago, an ancient cultivator was attacked by unknown forces. Several officers came to investigate the power plant where the attackers had once stayed, unexpectedly encountering a Peach Blossom Spring remnant.

Even a child could tell this wasn’t a coincidence—the remnant had definitely come with a purpose. Though the exact target was unknown, it was certainly related to the attackers who had come here before.

In other words, those cultists from a month ago likely belonged to Peach Blossom Spring!

Adding this information transforms the case from “several cultists killed by Zhou Qing” into “several cultivators sent by Peach Blossom Spring to find an ancient cultivator who appeared a thousand years ago, and were killed.”

As the saying goes, no one knocks on a door without reason—either old ties or old grudges. This situation hardly looked like the former.

If it was old grudges... what kind of person must the enemy be, to be sought by a supernatural organization with a thousand-year history that once influenced half of Central Plains?

Lv Zhenhai stared at the pile of ash, a chill creeping into his fingertips.

He had already gauged the skill level of that team of officers: three novices in Qi Refining, and one not even qualified as a Qi Refiner. Such a team should stand no chance against a Foundation Establishment cultivator, much less defeat them.

Yet, the result was near flawless survival for the officers, while the Foundation Establishment cultivator from Peach Blossom Spring was utterly reduced to ash. The method of destruction was so terrifying that even Jiang Ruifeng, a Golden Core stage cultivator, paled in comparison.

A wave of dread surged through him. He hadn’t felt such fear in years, as if he had missed some immense secret.

Zhou Qing, Zhou Fan—who exactly was that person?

“Director Lv, who set the fire?”

Jiang Ruifeng’s voice interrupted his rapid thoughts. Turning, Lv Zhenhai saw the steward staring blankly at the sparks in the ash, his expression unprecedentedly strange.

“This fire technique... I recognize it. It belongs to that senior.”

He turned to look Lv Zhenhai straight in the eye.

“Director Lv, have you ever heard of the name ‘Zhou Wuqing’?”

PS: After discussion with the editor, the new book update time has been adjusted to 12:05 AM daily. This update is for January 6.