It can be affirmed that the intelligence Tanaka Maruko obtained was entirely truthful; Sakai Kazuo placed absolute trust in her.
He had never imagined that the root cause of his daughter Xiangzi settling in Zhuxi Village stemmed from Matsuki Chiyoko.
Without her interference, the subsequent string of events would not have unfolded.
The question remained: how could the master female cultivator Konoe Mieko have disappeared in Zhuxi Village?
Could this be Cheng Xiaofan's doing?
If that were the case, he would have to revise his planned actions.
"Maruko, make arrangements for me immediately. I wish to pay my respects to the elder Miyazaki Tainoya!" Sakai Kazuo said with a dark, somber expression.
Upon hearing this, Tanaka Maruko was slightly startled. "Sakai-kun, Miyazaki Tainoya is a member of the Blood Demon Sect. He's not someone to be trifled with!"
Sakai Kazuo's face darkened, and he chuckled coldly. "Maruko, I have no intention of provoking such a devil. I merely wish to use money to buy his favor and have him undertake a task for me!"
"I believe he would be the best candidate to deal with Cheng Xiaofan!"
...
Ring ring ring!
Around one in the afternoon that day, Cheng Xiaofan was taking a nap in his bamboo villa by White Python Lake when the urgent ringing of his mobile phone woke him.
He rubbed his eyes and reached for his phone on the bedside cabinet, noticing it was Shen Ruobing's number.
"Ruobing, is something wrong?" Cheng Xiaofan asked, his heart pounding.
He estimated that Shen Ruobing and the others should be close to returning to C City by this time.
He worried if Shen Lixia might have set a trap for her on the way back.
A gentle voice came from the phone. "Master Cheng, I have arrived home in C City, and all is well!"
"I'm just calling to let you know I'm safe!"
Shen Ruobing had heard from her grandfather when she was young about reclusive masters in the cultivation world who could predict fortune and misfortune by reading a person's face.
Cheng Xiaofan had given her the protective amulet he had originally intended for Bai Yiling, which meant he must have predicted danger for her on this trip back to C City.
Therefore, upon her safe return, Shen Ruobing called to report it.
"Oh, that's good to hear," Cheng Xiaofan replied.
However, Cheng Xiaofan knew all too well that the danger around Shen Ruobing had not yet passed. "Ruobing, I have a premonition that someone might try to harm you. You should hire more bodyguards to stay by your side, just in case."
"Master, I know you are an exceptional master. Can you predict who this person trying to harm me might be?" Shen Ruobing asked tentatively.
Cheng Xiaofan's tone grew grave. "If I'm not mistaken, the person who wishes to harm you is likely one of your most trusted relatives!"
"In your mind, this person is no longer in C City. However, I predict he might be lurking near you!"
Shen Ruobing was utterly shocked.
A master!
He truly is a master!
The person who wants to harm me is my second uncle, the one I usually trust the most.
Master Cheng's prediction is incredibly accurate!
"Master, thank you for the warning. I will be careful!"
At this moment, Shen Ruobing felt nothing but immense admiration and inexpressible gratitude towards Cheng Xiaofan.
After a slight hesitation, she continued, "Master, when I returned to C City this time, I hid a secret manual passed down in my Shen family inside a pillowcase in the White Python Lake villa. I hope you can keep it safe for me."
"Alright, I understand," Cheng Xiaofan replied.
After hanging up the phone, Cheng Xiaofan immediately went to the bedroom where Shen Ruobing and Bai Yiling had slept the previous night. Inside a pillowcase, he indeed found the yellow silk cloth.
Out of curiosity, Cheng Xiaofan unfolded the yellow silk.
At a glance, it depicted thirty-six bridal beds, each adorned with intricate talismans. It would be baffling to anyone else.
However, Cheng Xiaofan's evolved eyes could not only see through things but also comprehend the designed talismans.
In essence, these talismans were akin to a code. Only by deciphering this code could the method of crafting these thirty-six bridal beds be understood.
It turned out there were thirty-six different ways to construct these bridal beds, with each method having three variations, totaling one hundred and eight forms, equivalent to one hundred and eight types of beds.
The complexity arose from the fact that the secret manual of thirty-six bridal bed designs invented by Shen Yanwang secretly incorporated principles of Yin and Yang and the five elements.
At the time, when people ordered a bridal bed from Shen Yanwang, they had to provide the birthdates and horoscopes of the couple, along with two drops of their blood.
Shen Yanwang would then analyze and calculate their physical health and fertility based on this information and blood.
Like a doctor prescribing medicine, he would then craft a bridal bed suitable for the couple's sleep.
Just as objects have myriad appearances and flowers have countless colors, so too did the creation of bridal beds depend on the individual.
Furthermore, the greatest benefit of these bridal beds was their ability to bring peak marital bliss to newlyweds. Regardless of the couple's age, they not only caused no harm to the body but also enhanced physical fitness.
Such bridal beds would undoubtedly be sought after by young people, and even older individuals would find them highly alluring.
Cheng Xiaofan studied the diagram for a considerable time before grasping its general outline, sighing inwardly.
He never would have imagined that crafting bridal beds could be so intricate, transforming a carpenter into a renowned physician who roamed the martial world.
How were ordinary doctors supposed to make a living?
However, this also demonstrated the remarkable achievements Shen Yanwang had attained in the art of craftsmanship.
Regrettably, like the renowned painter Wu Daozhi of his era, none of Shen Yanwang's crafted bridal beds had survived.
Precisely because of this, once these bridal beds were developed, they would undoubtedly astonish the world.
No wonder Shen Lixia was willing to harm his own niece to obtain this secret manual. The market potential of these bridal beds was immense.
Even if Shen Lixia couldn't develop these bridal beds himself, selling this secret manual on the martial arts trading market would fetch an unimaginable sky-high price.
Subsequently, Cheng Xiaofan folded the secret manual and casually stored it in his spatial dimension.
C City.
After her call with Cheng Xiaofan, Shen Ruobing immediately hired over a dozen bodyguards, both overt and covert, to stay by her side.
As Cheng Xiaofan had predicted, Shen Lixia had indeed not left C City. He was hiding in a hotel directly opposite the Shen family's villa estate.
This hotel was Shen Lixia's private property, managed by one of his mistresses. Almost no one in the Shen family knew that this hotel, not far from the main gate, was owned by Shen Lixia.
At this moment, Shen Lixia was lying on a bed in a secret room within the hotel, his mind filled with the gruesome image of Ye Kezi's death.
His entire head bore five holes.
It was evident that they were gouged by the claws of a strange beast.
What kind of monster could inflict damage on the physical body through spiritual attacks?