A sleepless night.
Early the next morning, Chen Lin got up early, preparing to go to the market to buy Materials, but before he could leave, a knock came from his door.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, it's me, Zhao Zhengyuan."
Why was the other party here again?
Chen Lin was a little confused, but he still walked over and opened the door.
"Zhao Daoyou, is there something you need so early?"
The door opened, and Chen Lin greeted the other party to come in.
"Sigh, don't even mention it. I drank too much last night and actually forgot about the important matter."
Zhao Zhengyuan shook the snow off his hat and said in a deep voice, "It's about the time we were possessed last time."
Immediately, he squinted his eyes and sneered, "But don't worry, I, Zhao, will handle things. There's nothing in Kaiyuan City that I, Zhao, can't handle!"
Chen Lin likewise squinted his eyes and sneered in return, then lowered his head, remaining silent.
The matter that had been weighing on his mind surfaced.
The original owner's death was not a normal death.
A month ago, the original owner and a few companions went to the wilderness to collect Materials. After returning, he became muddle-headed and then died inexplicably, leading to Chen Lin's Transmigration and possession of his body.
Of course, in the eyes of outsiders, he had only been sick for a few days before recovering completely.
However, all the companions who went with him had also died one after another, leaving only this Zhao Zhengyuan.
So, in fact, only he survived, which was why Chen Lin was wary of him.
As for the matter of squinting eyes, sneering, and red fine lines, he had long ignored it. Everyone in the city was the same, and he couldn't guard against it even if he wanted to.
Except for when the red lines appeared at midnight, he dared not go out. At other times, he lived as if it were a normal world.
"What, have you found anything?"
Chen Lin also wanted to know what exactly happened that time, looking at the other party with an inquiring gaze.
The change in squinting eyes and sneering was only momentary. At this moment, Zhao Zhengyuan had returned to normal. He shook his head and said, "It's not that I found something, but that someone else had an accident, and their state is exactly the same as ours back then!"
"What?"
Chen Lin was startled.
"Someone else had an accident? Who is it, and what is their Cultivation?"
Zhao Zhengyuan's expression was a little grim: "This time, there are quite a few people, more than a dozen in total, with the highest being Qi Cultivation Late Stage, and among them are also Five Great Families Cultivators."
Immediately, he squinted his eyes and sneered, "The Five Great Families are nothing! With me, Old Zhao, you can rest assured!"
"So many people, and from the Five Great Families?"
Chen Lin's expression changed.
The Five Great Families refer to the Five Great Families in the city that have Foundation Establishment cultivators, and they are the actual controllers of this city.
"Exactly. And these people also fell ill after returning from the wilderness. If they all die again, we two will probably be investigated."
Zhao Zhengyuan's tone was somewhat heavy.
This was precisely what Chen Lin was worried about.
Those people before them were all Qi Refining Early Stage Loose Cultivators, and no one cared if they died or not.
Now that Qi Cultivation Late Stage Cultivators have experienced an abnormality, and there are Family Cultivators involved, it will definitely be taken seriously, and an investigation is probably inevitable.
He wasn't afraid of anything else, but he was afraid that his identity as a Transmigrator would be discovered, or that the fact that he was different from the people here would be found out. That would be the end of him.
Although the Cultivators here were all like puppets, they still acted according to normal behavior. Even if he was somewhat special, he was still just a lowest-level laborer Cultivator.
"An investigation is an investigation. Is it not allowed to not die?"
He was uneasy, but Chen Lin acted as if he didn't care.
Zhao Zhengyuan sighed and said, "That's easy to say, but I'm afraid some people will take advantage of the situation and deliberately make things difficult for us. We'll have to shell out a lot of Spirit Stones again."
Chen Lin's expression also darkened.
Such a thing was almost certain.
Normally, those administrators would try to squeeze every last drop out of them. If they used the investigation of evil as an excuse, they would definitely not stop until they had drained them dry.
Without Spirit Stones, he wouldn't be able to quickly improve his Cultivation, which would interfere with his plan to escape.
"Then what do you plan to do, leave here?"
Chen Lin looked at the other party, probing.
If he could organize a group of people to leave together, even if their Cultivation was weaker, there would still be a glimmer of hope.
He didn't want to stay in this strange place for another moment.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Zhengyuan shook his head repeatedly.
"Leave? What a joke. This heavy snow is so abnormal, I don't want to go out of the city to die. Besides, we haven't done anything wrong. If we run away, we'll be seen as having problems. Isn't that just asking for death?"
Immediately, the other party's demeanor changed, and he squinted his eyes and sneered, "How could I, Zhao Zhengyuan, do such a thing as a stray dog!"
Chen Lin nodded helplessly.
The other party couldn't sense the abnormality here, so his way of thinking couldn't be the same as Chen Lin's. Their goals couldn't align.
"Sigh, let's just take it one step at a time. If it's a blessing, it's not a disaster; if it's a disaster, it can't be avoided. We'll have to lose some money to avoid disaster eventually. Who told us our Cultivation is Low Grade and we don't have any backing!"
Chen Lin shrugged.
Zhao Zhengyuan showed an expression of deep agreement.
The two discussed for a while longer but couldn't come up with any good solutions. They could only pray that more of the people who had accidents this time would survive, preferably none of them would die.
If that were the case, it would mean the problem wasn't big, and it wouldn't alarm the Five Great Families.
After all, their Foundation Establishment powerhouses had gone missing, so they probably didn't have the leisure to deal with such minor matters right now.
After Zhao Zhengyuan left.
Chen Lin sat on the stool, frowning in thought.
Placing hope on others was truly inadvisable. He had to quickly raise his Cultivation.
Qi Refining Early Stage was too weak, not even as good as powerful Martial Artists. He still had to rely on Talismans to cast Spells.
Upon reaching Qi Refining Middle Stage, he would not only be able to Cultivate Spells but also use Magical Artifacts. Only then could he be considered a true Cultivator.
Once he had a certain degree of self-preservation, he would quickly leave this strange city. He didn't want to be with a group of people who squinted their eyes and sneered every day.
After thinking for a while.
He got up and left the room, braving the snow straight to the market.
The streets were cold and quiet, with only a few figures occasionally appearing, all in a hurry, with an air of