In the capital city of the Great Qin Kingdom, Xiancheng, nestled within a somewhat secluded alley, stood a rather dilapidated shop.
Above the shop's entrance hung a wooden plaque bearing the three large characters "Wan Gui Lou."
This small shop had been situated there for several years, primarily engaging in the collection and trading of information.
Concurrently, it also served as an underground assassin organization, specializing in taking payment to resolve troubles for others.
Within the cultivation world, such organizations were not uncommon, varying in strength.
More powerful factions could extend their reach into every corner of the cultivation world.
Weaker ones could only peddle hearsay and valueless news, barely scraping by on a few spirit stones.
Although the Wan Gui Lou had been established for a short time, it had accomplished a great deal in just a few years, gaining considerable renown and receiving widespread praise from industry insiders.
The Wan Gui Lou's establishment in Xiancheng, besides its excellent business capabilities, had another significant characteristic.
That was the fact that its owner was a ghost cultivator, and all the members working within the Wan Gui Lou were also ghost cultivators.
The owner of the Wan Gui Lou was Xiao Fei's second elder sister, Xiao Lan.
Not long after Xiao Fei went missing, Xiao Lan left the Dan Xin Sect and traveled extensively, searching for any news of him.
However, after searching for a year or two with no news, she realized that relying solely on herself, it might take an eternity to find Xiao Fei.
Therefore, after careful consideration, she founded the Wan Gui Lou.
As she herself was a ghost cultivator, she recruited employees who were also ghost cultivators. Being of the same kind, their living habits and interests were quite similar.
Her establishment primarily dealt in information gathering, with the secondary objective of finding Xiao Fei.
To broaden their sources of income, the Wan Gui Lou also took on assassination jobs.
Ghost cultivators possessed certain natural advantages in gathering information and carrying out assassinations.
Consequently, since its establishment, the Wan Gui Lou had maintained a very good reputation in this line of work.
The Wan Gui Lou had only two floors above ground, used for receiving clients and handling official business.
However, below ground, the Wan Gui Lou had excavated ten levels of basement, serving as offices and dormitories for the numerous ghost cultivators.
For ghost cultivators, the areas below ground were the most ideal living environments.
Today, Xiao Lan was sleeping in a coffin within a secret chamber on the tenth basement level, enjoying the chilling cold of the depths, feeling extremely comfortable.
At that moment, a dark shadow materialized outside the secret chamber and bowed respectfully to Xiao Lan.
"Reporting to the楼主!"
"What is it?"
Xiao Lan slightly opened her eyes, feeling a touch of annoyance. Being asked for reports on trivial matters all day was becoming increasingly bothersome.
"Reporting to the楼主, we have just received news. Information regarding that alchemy genius from the Dan Xin Sect has been found."
"What?"
Xiao Lan leaped out of the coffin, her emotions appearing very agitated.
"According to secret intelligence, that alchemy genius named Xiao Fei voluntarily left the Lu Kingdom back then. Cultivators from the Lu Kingdom, as well as the demon race, have been searching for him.
Later, he finally appeared in the East Sea and was found by cultivators from the Lu Kingdom..."
This ghost cultivator briefly recounted the intelligence to Xiao Lan and then presented a jade slip containing all the information related to Xiao Fei.
Xiao Lan took the jade slip, read through it, and then crushed it into powder.
According to the information within, Xiao Fei had fled to the East Sea and lived in seclusion because he was being pursued by a powerful demon.
For many years, the demon race had never given up searching for Xiao Fei's whereabouts.
However, the situation was somewhat different now. Xiao Fei was now protected by a Nascent Soul stage cultivator at all times.
Xiao Lan pondered for a while. Now that she had found Xiao Fei, she could finally relax.
However, she did not intend to go find Xiao Fei immediately.
She had already decided that from now on, her Wan Gui Lou would eliminate hidden enemies for Xiao Fei from the shadows.
From this day forward, she would become Xiao Fei's shadow.
First among them were the demon race, who had always sought to deal with Xiao Fei. The Wan Gui Lou had an intelligence advantage, and she also had an assassin organization, which could even engage in "black-eat-black" operations, assassinating hidden enemies.
"Pass down my order: identify all members of the demon race who are hostile to Xiao Fei, and then eliminate them on the spot."
Xiao Lan commanded loudly, and immediately many dark figures flickered into existence. They bowed respectfully and then turned to depart.
These ghost cultivators were subordinates recruited by Xiao Lan over the years.
It was unclear how Xiao Lan managed it, but she had gained the unwavering loyalty of these ghost cultivators.
Upon receiving Xiao Lan's orders, the group of ghost cultivators immediately roamed various regions. Whenever traces of the demon race were found, they would be discovered and eliminated.
These ghost cultivators, lurking in every dark corner, understood the news about the demon race better than human forces.
...
While Xiao Lan was fully engaged in clearing potential enemies for Xiao Fei, Xiao Fei himself was completely unaware.
Ever since he obtained the cultivation technique "Ding Shen Jue," he had been diligently studying it.
The cultivation technique in this jade slip was still significantly inferior to the three treasures that had caused decades of turmoil in the cultivation world previously.
Xiao Fei speculated that the quality and quantity of the items obtained should be related to the corpses he had sacrificed.
However, to exchange for treasures of the level of spiritual artifacts, one would likely need to cause widespread devastation throughout the cultivation world.
Xiao Fei currently lacked such power and ambition; he preferred to focus on the present.
He had been studying the "Ding Shen Jue" for a considerable time and was now preparing to cultivate it.
When cultivating this technique, the stronger one's spiritual sense, the greater the advantage. Xiao Fei's spiritual sense was naturally quite decent.
Furthermore, after condensing the Ding Shen rune, it needed to be constantly nurtured by spiritual sense. The longer it was nurtured, the greater its power would become.
On this day, Xiao Fei had completed all preparations and even drank a cup of Shen Yun Tea.
At this moment, his spiritual sense began to condense within his sea of consciousness along a complex path.
This method consumed a great deal of spiritual sense. For every tiny stroke he condensed, he had to pause, drink a cup of Shen Yun Tea to recover his spiritual sense, and then rest for a day before proceeding to the next step.
...
Time flew by, and three years passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day, a massive rune floated before Xiao Fei.
Every line of this rune was composed of a vast amount of spiritual sense, and looking at it, one could become lost in its depths.
This was the Ding Shen rune he had spent three years condensing.
He was unsure of its exact power, but according to the descriptions in the cultivation technique's jade slip, this divine ability should be very potent, at least capable of immobilizing cultivators of the same rank without issue.
To test the power of the Ding Shen rune, he specifically summoned Fei Yu back.
Fei Yu, upon being summoned, rushed back excitedly, thinking his master had some new good things for him.
However, as soon as he flew into the cave dwelling, he was struck on the forehead by a rune from Xiao Fei, and then he lost consciousness...