Master of Strange Dao

True Name: An Yue, considering he's not on his first visit to Jinlan Village and has an official status in Daqian, it's highly likely that's his real name.

Identity: Unknown.

Background: Unknown.

Cultivation Dharma Method: Unknown.

Strengths and trump cards: Unknown.

Yu Ziqing pulled out the list, glanced at it, and gave up right away.

This was why, despite having a seemingly powerful cheat at first glance, he seldom chose it as his first option in daily life.

An Yue would leave in a few days. In a secluded place like Jinlan Village, where no one knew An Yue particularly well, Yu Ziqing stood no chance of digging up enough essential information to make a decisive trigger within a few days.

And in the event of a frontal confrontation, he had no ability to resist at all.

When Old Yang heard that someone from Daqian had come early for trade, he decisively decided not to leave his underground burrow for the next few days. Though it was a necessary precaution, Yu Ziqing felt that it was very likely to do with Old Yang.

Ever since An Yue arrived, Yu Ziqing and Er Han's daily routine of practicing boxing in the back mountain had been tacitly cancelled, with neither mentioning it again.

An Yue wandered around all day like a street urchin, either sitting on the hillside looking down or strolling through the village, gradually expanding his strolling range. He'd even made it to the entrance of the burrows once.

Otherwise, he'd spend his days chatting up the villagers with no particular agenda.

Three days passed, everything seemed calm and no accidents occurred.

On the fourth day, just as everyone was about to finish breakfast and go to work, Yu Ziqing, who was behind the large pot serving food, keenly noticed that An Yue greeted every single person he encountered along the way.

The village wasn't large and Yu Ziqing hadn't counted the population, but he had a rough idea based on how many people came for meals each day.

A bit over a month ago, there were just over three hundred people in the village, and then the sheep flock replenished by a hundred more.

As the head chef, serving food every day, he dared not claim to know every person, but An Yue seemed to have remembered everyone's names after just three days, and he could chat with them about something they found interesting.

Yu Ziqing didn't dare keep his gaze on An Yue. While serving the food, he just kept sweeping his peripheral vision over.

A slightly more powerful cultivator could sense when they were being watched by others.

After everyone had gotten their share of food, An Yue sat down like the others with a bowl in hand, eating heartily. Today, he had even changed his clothes; the eye-catching vermilion cloak was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a dark outfit with a hint of green. He wore no adornments, and at first glance, it seemed like he was truly blending into the village.

Yu Ziqing silently calculated in his heart.

During the time people queued for food, An Yue had actually greeted eighty-eight people, of which only twenty-eight were original inhabitants of the village, the remaining sixty were all new arrivals from little over a month ago.

He exchanged no more than two sentences with each of the original twenty-eight villagers.

With the newcomers, the most he spoke to one person was a full eight sentences.

With the original and new villagers intermingled and in large numbers, coupled with the mealtime rush, aside from Yu Ziqing, who was constantly facing the crowd in the role of a cafeteria auntie, people focused on their food and wouldn't notice these things.

People can lie, but the statistics won't.

If An Yue had not done this intentionally, Yu Ziqing would tear off his head and kick it around like a ball right there and then.

Er Han mentioned that this wasn't An Yue's first time in Jinlan Village. The likelihood of him alone plotting against the village seemed small.

The possibility he was here for Old Yang was now at least fifty percent.

Today he had already greeted sixty new villagers, and now the spot he chose to squat was right on Yu Ziqing's inevitable path back to his burrow.

Yu Ziqing knew the guy would definitely greet him soon.

If An Yue spoke no more than three sentences and didn't digress to topics outside the village, well and good. But if he did, and the conversation drifted to matters beyond the village, the likelihood of him being here for Old Yang would rise to seventy percent.

When everyone had their food and some had even finished eating and carried their tools down to the mines, Yu Ziqing finally got a chance to scoop up a bowl for himself.

He walked back with the wooden bowl, intentionally taking the path behind An Yue.

An Yue, however, turned around ahead of him and naturally waved a greeting.

"Brother Yu, you've worked hard. Such impressive culinary skills! With these skills, you could open a grand tavern in the Imperial City of Daqian."

"You flatter me, truly, it's all hit or miss. The ingredients are good; anyone could do it," Yu Ziqing recalled Er Han's natural, harmless, and sincere smile, and imitated it.

Seven parts simple-hearted, two parts bashful, and a hidden pride from the compliment.

Yu Ziqing graded himself a nine out of ten; his imitation was quite good.

Yu Ziqing responded, but his footsteps didn't stop, clearly showing no interest in continuing the conversation with An Yue.

However, An Yue acted as if he didn't notice and naturally continued the talk.

"I heard Brother Yu used to be a chef. Where did you learn such culinary skills? I've traveled far and wide, but the way you prepare the food here is unlike anything I've seen, yet it's exceptionally tasty."

"I'm no chef. I just learned some country-style cooking from a village cook. I've been bragging without thought, can't believe someone took it seriously."

"No, that must be true. I heard that Brother Yu was captured by the shepherd and escaped suffering thanks to his cooking skills." An Yue paused, then, with a slightly embarrassed tone, took out a recipe book from his sleeve: "To be honest, I love good food and cook privately. I want to learn your skills, Brother Yu. It's difficult for me to say, but I have here a recipe book compiled by famous chefs of Daqian, which I'd like to present to you, hoping you could teach me."

Yu Ziqing took a moment to think. This persona of his, that of someone who loved studying recipes... had he ever maintained that in front of others since arriving in Jinlan Village?

When had this guy learned so much about him?

All the new villagers had turned into sheep before, each of them dazed and confused. Even Old Yang barely managed to keep his own consciousness, and even he had been affected when they reached the locust forest.

As for the others, they must know very little.

If one had to say, perhaps it was the last few who turned into sheep that might know a bit more, but what they knew was basically unimportant and not worth hiding.

No.

Among them, someone knew that Yu Ziqing had an old sheep.

The old villagers wouldn't blab, but among the new villagers, it was likely that someone... there must have been someone who talked too much.

Otherwise, An Yue wouldn't know so much.

As thoughts raced through his mind, Yu Ziqing slightly widened his eyes, focusing on that recipe book before he smiled somewhat sheepishly.

"It's just learning a dish, it's not some...that thing, why return the recipe book? Fine, I'll teach you when I have some free time."

An Yue's lips curled up slightly, and without further ado, she stuffed the recipe book into Yu Ziqing's arms.

"Brother Yu, don't be polite. It's just a recipe book, it's not worth much."

Yu Ziqing chuckled merrily, evidently pleased, although his happiness had nothing to do with her; he was quite happy to have a new book. In Jinlan Village, you couldn't even find a single book, so Yu Ziqing had nothing to wreak havoc with.

However, to An Yue, this smile looked like something else, and he took the opportunity to continue.

"If Brother Yu's skills weren't good, how would he have escaped from those Qian Nan Barbarian shepherds' hands? Those guys got what they deserved; they all died."

"Yeah, they all died, died a dreadful death."

"What? Did Brother Yu witness it?"

"I saw it, just as we reached Jinlan Village, they wanted to turn me into a sheep too, and then..."

"What happened then?" An Yue probed leisurely, looking like he was waiting for Yu Ziqing to continue the story.

Yu Ziqing recalled the scene, reliving the feeling that surged through him with the emergence of his power.

"And then, there was this very fiery person, who followed another equally fiery person, and with a single move, they killed them all. They didn't stand a chance. Anyway, he was very powerful. Standing there, I didn't feel cold anymore."

An Yue observed Yu Ziqing's expressions, catching the look of reminiscence, and said with a smile.

"They had it coming. If they were in Daqian, they would've died eight hundred times over. What happened after that?"

"After that? I don't know, I didn't even get to see his face. I just suddenly felt cold again, and then I was the only one standing there."

"That's a real pity, at least you survived."

"Pity though, a lot of people died. The old ones, after arriving here, none of them made it. They had been tormented by Evil Skill for too long. But at least, before they died, they turned back into humans and got a proper burial. Sigh..."

"Wilderness calamities are beyond control..."

Sighing, Yu Ziqing bid farewell to An Yue and carried the wooden bowl back to his burrow.

He handed the wooden bowl to the old sheep for it to eat first, then spoke to himself.

"Pretty troublesome, and willing to go to great lengths, humbling himself to check one by one. However, I've pointed him in a direction; if he goes there, he's almost certainly coming for you.

So, I'm saying, you should have taught me some self-defense tricks earlier. Right now, I've only prepared ten pounds of sedative; my methods are too limited and not necessarily effective.

But, old sheep, if it really is you he's after, do you think there's a chance he's not coming to kill you?"

"No chance," the old sheep said calmly, showing no signs of nervousness. "I don't know him, so if he's looking for me, it's definitely to kill me."

"Forget it, I can't rely on you. I've just made a new acquaintance with a hungry ghost, and we get along quite well. I'll ask if he can pull in some people, better safe than sorry."

...

Night fell, clouds obscured the moon, and it was so dark one couldn't see their hand in front of their face.

The people of Jinlan Village had all gone to rest.

An Yue silently emerged from his burrow dressed in dark green, blending completely into the night like a stealthy cat, quietly heading toward the mountains behind the village.

Reaching the mountains, he found a large graveyard. A glint in his eyes, he quickly discerned which were old graves and which were recent.

He approached one grave, sword in hand, and with a gentle slice, the top of the grave split open, the break so clean that not a clod of earth fell.

He glanced at the person in the grave, an old man with graying hair, whose body hadn't decomposed much due to the cold.

Shaking his head, he waved his hand, causing the top of the grave to close slowly, making everything look as it had before.

For over two hours, he not only checked every new grave but, to be cautious, even the older-looking ones, personally confirming the identity of the person inside each before An Yue shook his head and sighed.

"It seems there really is no sign. Well, those above didn't have much hope in this lead anyway. I'm just..."

...

While An Yue took advantage of the night to sneak off to the mountains, Yu Ziqing also left his burrow to relieve himself.

He glanced in the direction of An Yue's burrow. The hillside was peaceful, no one in sight, only the sound of snoring here and there.

It seemed that An Yue was resting, too.

But Yu Ziqing knew that he had gone out.

Because Er Han, that wretched youngster, persistently nagged, forcing An Yue into a position where he couldn't complain about the poor conditions, nor could he force himself to sleep amidst sheep droppings. As a result, An Yue never actually rested in his burrow.