Whoosh!
It was not until this moment that Zhou Changwang finally relaxed completely, breathing heavily, and turned his gaze to the person who had taken action earlier.
"It's you."
Zhou Changwang looked at the figure of the person who intervened, his face full of surprise.
This person was surprisingly his neighbor at his rented place, Qian Xiaoyue, an alchemy apprentice under an alchemy master in the Hexagonal Pavilion.
"Are you alright?"
Qian Xiaoyue glanced at him with concern.
"I'm fine.
Just now, thank you.
If it weren't for you, I would have truly been in danger."
At this moment, Zhou Changwang recalled, still feeling a lingering fear.
Just now, although he had promptly used the Geng Metal Finger to slay the sword-wielding martial artist, another person was already very close to him, and his Spiritual Hoe had even broken. If it hadn't been for Qian Xiaoyue's sudden intervention with a spell that slowed that person down, he might not have been able to avoid the opponent's furious counterattack.
Not to mention the final moment when he pierced the opponent's head with another Geng Metal Finger.
"I just felt a bit scared, and also a bit reluctant..."
Qian Xiaoyue spoke softly, looking at the two black-clothed individuals lying on the ground, her eyes showing a complex expression.
"A bit scared? Reluctant?"
Zhou Changwang was startled, then quickly glanced at the two corpses on the ground and hurriedly said, "This isn't a place to stay long. Let's go back first."
Even though he said this, he still rushed forward and began searching the corpses of the two.
He didn't care what he found; anything he could retrieve, he threw into his own bag, not even sparing the weapons of the two.
Then, as if he remembered something, he pulled off the masks of the two.
When he looked carefully, it was a man and a woman. The woman was around thirty years old, and despite her pallor in death, she had a beautiful appearance, a rare beauty. The man looked around forty, with graying temples, thick eyebrows, and a sinister expression.
"These... how could it be them?"
When Zhou Changwang saw the faces of the two, he was shocked.
He actually knew them.
They were a pair of martial artist spouses.
They lived in the same area not far away, even living next to Qian Xiaoyue.
In other words, they were also neighbors.
"How could they..."
Zhou Changwang felt a chill in his heart. He never expected that the Tribulation Cultivator was right beside him.
Meanwhile, Qian Xiaoyue, who had put away her earlier complex expression, approached and sprinkled a bit of powder on the wounds of both individuals.
In an instant, the corpses of the two rapidly decomposed, becoming unrecognizable.
"This is Corpse Rot Powder."
Qian Xiaoyue explained briefly, then said, "Let's go."
Zhou Changwang nodded hurriedly, then swiftly headed towards their residence with her.
This place wasn't far from where they lived, and soon they arrived at their place of residence.
Seeing Qian Xiaoyue walk directly to her room, Zhou Changwang stepped forward quickly and asked, "Fellow Daoist Qian, what was that spell you used just now?"
"Slowdown Technique!"
Qian Xiaoyue responded with a word.
"I noticed just now... you seemed to know something?"
Zhou Changwang was not stupid. Earlier, he was just in a panic and didn't have time to think carefully.
Now, as they walked back, he immediately noticed something was wrong.
Especially Qian Xiaoyue's expression and her previous answers suggested that things were not as simple as they seemed.
"Come inside and let's talk."
Qian Xiaoyue glanced at Zhou Changwang, gesturing slightly.
Then she entered her room directly.
Zhou Changwang hesitated slightly but followed her in. However, before entering, he quickly took out a pill bottle from his bosom, poured out a Spirit Pill, and swallowed it in one gulp.
This Spirit Pill was a Primordial Qi Pill given to him by Xu Zhong earlier. Originally there were five, and he had used four to restore his Spiritual Power while getting rid of pests, leaving only this one.
He needed this Primordial Qi Pill to restore the Spiritual Power within him.
Not only because the fierce battle just now significantly depleted his Spiritual Power.
But also because he was wary of everyone at this moment, even though Qian Xiaoyue had helped him in a critical moment earlier.
He didn't want to escape a tiger's den only to fall into a wolf's lair.
With the Primordial Qi Pill in his belly, his Spiritual Power began to circulate spontaneously, quickly absorbing the Spiritual Qi provided by the pill.
Soon, he felt the Primordial Qi Pill taking effect, and the depleted Spiritual Power within him was swiftly restored with the Spirit Pill entering his stomach.
Only then did he relax slightly.
But he still didn't feel secure enough; what if?
What if she genuinely had ill intentions, capturing and torturing him, or perhaps she admired his looks... Thus, he quickly tore a piece of cloth from his clothes and casually tossed it at Qian Xiaoyue's doorway.
He needed to leave a clue.
If the worst happened, others could suspect Qian Xiaoyue through the fragment of his clothing.
Only then did he truly follow her into the room.
Fortunately, Qian Xiaoyue seemed unaware of Zhou Changwang's actions. Once inside, she immediately lit an oil lamp and gestured, "Sit wherever you like."
Zhou Changwang nodded, his eyes scanning everything in the room.
Like his own room, it had a table, a chair, a bed, a cabinet, but with some minor decorations, making it look much tidier. However, what caught his attention was the pile of Golden Ears Spirit Leaf and Root-Forming Grass beside the cabinet. He knew these two types of Spiritual Materials were some of the basic materials for making Talisman Paper.
Recalling yesterday's scene at the Independent Cultivator Marketplace where he saw her setting up a stall, he felt a sense of relief.
It seemed those Talisman Papers were indeed made by Qian Xiaoyue herself.
"Fang Yu and Zhao Xifeng moved next door to me a year ago."
Qian Xiaoyue began to speak.
Zhou Changwang was taken aback and realized she was referring to the couple who had just attacked him.
"They claimed to be from Zhenlai Country. At first, they were very friendly to me, especially Zhao Xifeng, who often brought homemade snacks to me, and I got familiar with her pretty soon."
Qian Xiaoyue continued, her eyes once again filled with a complex expression as she continued, "But by chance, I discovered that every once in a while, they would go out at night dressed in black. Sometimes they returned quickly, other times it was late at night, and each time they returned, they would have more or less something new on them... That's when I guessed they were probably the rumored Tribulation Cultivators."
Zhou Changwang nodded.
Tribulation Cultivators did not necessarily mean their opponent was an Immortal Cultivator. Some Innate Powerhouses among mortals, with considerable preparation, could also ambush and kill Low-Tier Cultivators at the Early Stage of Qi Cultivation.
For instance, this time, if Zhou Changwang hadn't cultivated the Geng Metal Finger to the Small Success Stage, allowing him to cast it amidst fierce movement, with a casting time of only three breaths, he would probably have struggled to escape the meticulously planned assassination attempt by these two.
And on the outskirts of Fengming Dock Marketplace, low-tier cultivators like him without a Magical Artifact are not rare, and some are even weaker than him.