Chapter 67: Gains

Chen Lingxi withdrew his gaze, no longer looking at Yang Zhuri's lifeless body.

He walked over to the boy, crouched down, and reached out his right hand.

He pressed his palm against the grisly wound on the boy's neck. Spiritual qi circulated in his palm, and a hazy cyan light seeped from the edges of his hand, threading into the gash.

The severed blood vessels, muscle, and skin were temporarily sealed beneath the qi, stopping the bleeding.

He took out a pill and placed it in the boy's mouth.

It was a blood-stopping and healing pill he had bought from Jiren Hall for emergencies.

The boy's lips twitched, letting out faint hisses as if he were panting heavily, desperately breathing in this recovered lease on life.

The girl stared at all this in a daze. Her eyes held the lingering terror of witnessing a murder, yet they seemed to hold a newfound glimmer of life.

Though faint, that glimmer shone with undeniable reality.

Having done this, Chen Lingxi pulled his Ghost Face Mask back into place and stood up.

Moonlight spilled across the mask, its green-faced, fanged visage gleaming with an eerie cold light in the dark.

"Do not wander off," he told the girl. "Wait here."

With that, he strode toward the main hall of Qingjiang Villa.

He was gone for a long time.

The girl remained curled up motionless beside her brother.

She listened to the wind, the water gently lapping against the stone terrace, and the flutter of the bronze lamp's flame.

The sounds were exactly as they had been moments ago, yet the entire courtyard seemed to have completely changed.

"We don't have to die," she muttered.

An unknown amount of time passed before the masked man in black returned.

He strode over from the main hall and set two sets of gray servant tunics on the stone slab, though she did not know where he had gotten them.

"Change into these," Chen Lingxi said, his voice carrying from behind the mask.

Chen Lingxi led the siblings out of Qingjiang Villa.

Grabbing them by the back of their collars, one in each hand, he vaulted upward. His toes lightly tapped the courtyard wall, and he swept silently over it like a night bird, landing on the riverbank outside.

The chestnut steed was still tied to the hitching post outside the gate. It pawed at the frozen earth and snorted, blowing two streams of white steam from its nose.

Chen Lingxi untied the reins and helped the brother and sister onto its back before swinging himself up and flicking the reins.

The steed let out a long neigh and broke into a gallop.

The wind whipped past as hooves drummed against the ground.

Fortunately, Qingjiang Villa was situated in a remote area outside the city, so there was no need to hide from anyone.

Sandwiched between Chen Lingxi and her brother, the girl gripped the horse's mane tightly.

She did not speak during the ride. Occasionally, she would steal a glance from the corner of her eye at the Ghost Face Mask behind her.

The mask flickered in the moonlight, the shadows of its fangs casting across its jaw like a true demon.

Yet she felt no fear.

The immortals worshipped in temples must look just like this, she thought. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced her mind as she remembered something.

Tears spilled from her eyes. "Benefactor—" she sobbed. "We have another little sister—"

Before Chen Lingxi could reply, the boy suddenly interrupted her.

His voice was weak as he spoke softly to Chen Lingxi, "Benefactor, when my second sister and I were tied up yesterday, I saw with my own eyes... our little sister was dashed to death by that Old Servant... We need not trouble you further!"

The boy's voice trembled, breaking off intermittently.

Chen Lingxi fell silent. The horse galloped on, carrying them all the way to a ferry crossing outside Yuanjiang Prefecture.

He found a merchant ship preparing to head north and tracked down its captain. Without a word, he pulled several banknotes from his robe and pressed them into the man's palm.

The captain was a burly man with a face full of whiskers. He had been dozing on the bow and looked utterly impatient when Chen Lingxi woke him, but the moment he saw the banknotes, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Whatever you need, my lord, just name it!"

"Take them to Chaoqing Prefecture and find them a place to settle down," Chen Lingxi said. "Keep whatever is left."

The captain nodded profusely.

Chen Lingxi stared at him. "In two months, I will go to Chaoqing Prefecture in person to check on them. If anything happens to them—your ship won't be able to escape."

He flicked his finger. A streak of qi and blood shot out and struck the water. A moment later, a dead fish floated to the surface.

The captain gulped.

The ship departed soon after, sailing north.

It drifted further and further away.

Standing at the stern, wrapped in an old padded coat given to her by the ship's steward, the girl watched the dark silhouette on the shore grow smaller.

The figure stood on the stone steps of the crossing, the daylight revealing his calm, quiet eyes.

The boy pulled his sister down, and they knelt on the deck, kowtowing once toward that receding shadow on the shore.

Chen Lingxi stood on the stone steps, watching the ship slowly melt into the deep river mist.

The wind blew off the Yuanjiang, and mist rose from the water in thick layers. It swallowed the distant fishing lights, the nearby reeds, and the frozen dirt beneath his feet, wrapping them all in a vast, hazy whiteness.

His face remained expressionless. After watching for a moment, he turned and strode back toward the city.

Saving them was a risk, undoubtedly.

With Yang Zhuri dead, the Crown Prince's faction would investigate, the Sun-Holding General's Manor would investigate, and the local officials of Yuanjiang Prefecture—and even Jingji Province—would not let the matter rest.

If he wanted to eliminate all risks, he could have handled it much more cleanly.

He could have killed the siblings and sunk their bodies in the river. With no survivors, no one could trace it back to him.

Yet Chen Lingxi had still saved them.

He remembered the girl huddled on the stone slab, one hand clutching her brother's tunic, the other covering her mouth, yet still looking at him with concern.

He also thought of when he had crouched in the snow in the Baosu Marquis Residence's back garden, brushing away the frost of countless days to find that stubbornly blooming white calyx.

The snow and wind were brutal, but the white calyx had not died, and neither had he.

And neither had they.

If I cannot act in accordance with my heart, what is the point of cultivation?

Besides—

As Chen Lingxi walked, he sensed the qi circulating within his Qi Sea.

After reaching the Qi Circulation 4th Floor, his qi had liquefied and pooled in his Qi Sea, its total volume boundlessly deeper than when he was on the 3rd floor.

Every drop of that liquid qi contained an incredibly dense amount of spiritual energy.

I have the Cyan Edge Method, the Concealed Edge Method, the Dragon Roar Technique, and the Purple True Precious Qi, not to mention the Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber, he calculated silently.

To instantly kill a martial artist at Golden Body Great Completion like Yang Zhuri, I didn't even need to draw on my physical qi and blood cultivation. Dealing with the likes of that silver-armored Old Servant took merely a flick of my fingers.

I could slaughter the manor's entire guard detail in less than half a quarter-hour.

With this level of cultivation, I am more than capable of protecting myself in most situations—and even acting as my heart desires.

Even as he pondered, his pace never slowed. He headed in the direction of the government office.

Handling all of these matters had taken barely a single shichen.

The government office was exactly as he had left it.

Its crimson doors were studded with bronze, and the two stone lions out front glared fiercely, their paws resting on a silk ball and a cub.

Chen Lingxi stepped forward and reported his name and the location of his servant registration.

An old clerk made a checkmark in a ledger and waved him away without so much as lifting his eyelids.

He returned to the Baosu Marquis Residence.

Two guards were leaning against the gatepost, chatting in low voices. When they saw him approach, they merely glanced at him before ignoring him.

He crossed the covered corridor, bypassed the moon gate, and returned to the servant quarters.

The Mohe Flower was still sitting in the Small Celadon Vase on his windowsill.

This Mohe Flower looks like it's about to wither, he thought.

Just as before, Chen Lingxi arranged the flower and circulated his qi and blood, then cast his Vision Wander to look for Lin Suri.

He's not here.

He withdrew his Vision Wander, his brow furrowing slightly.

Lately, Lin Suri had been leaving the manor far more often than usual. He was frequently absent.

Having stepped onto the Qi Circulation 4th Floor, the range of Chen Lingxi's Divine Chamber now covered four thousand zhang in every direction, yet he still could not sense Lin Suri's presence.

He doesn't seem to be in Yuanjiang Prefecture at all. I wonder where he went.

After a moment of thought, Chen Lingxi suppressed the question for now.

He waited until the dead of night before slipping silently out through the West Courtyard's side door and speeding out of Yuanjiang City.

Under the vast, dark sky, the fields outside the city were frozen solid. The wheat seedlings had long since withered yellow, clinging to the earthen ridges beneath a thin layer of frost.

He headed west until Cuojin Mountain loomed faintly in the darkness.

Chen Lingxi scaled the mountain and arrived once more at the protruding cliff face.

He tapped his toe lightly against the stone and vaulted more than three zhang into the air, landing on a hidden stone ledge midway up the cliff. Brushing aside the ancient vines at the edge of the terrace, he revealed a cave.

The cave was a natural formation. Its entrance was so narrow that a person could only barely squeeze through sideways, but the interior was surprisingly spacious. It was roughly one square zhang in size, with dry bluestone for a floor. Clusters of pale gray stalactites clung to the walls, and a tiny fissure high above allowed moonlight to leak through, casting a small silver-white patch of light onto the ground.

He had discovered this extremely well-hidden spot during his cultivation two months ago.

Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged in the center of the cave.

He began by pulling the two large bundles from his Cosmos Bag and taking inventory of their contents.

Gold ingots, silver ingots, and banknotes—all of it liquid wealth that Yang Zhuri had hoarded in Qingjiang Villa's secret room.

There are over three thousand liang in banknotes alone.

Aside from that, there were various antiques and jade artifacts, two bottles of pills, over a dozen jade pendants of exquisite quality, and even a small box of gold leaves scavenged from who knew where.

Yang Zhuri had not lived in Yuanjiang Prefecture for long, yet the portable wealth he carried was already this staggering.

Chen Lingxi sorted the items and stored them away in his Cosmos Bag before taking out two specific objects.

A longbow, and a feathered arrow.

While he had been scavenging Qingjiang Villa earlier today, he found these two items mounted with great care in the eastern hall. With a single glance, Chen Lingxi could tell they were extraordinary.

A longbow, and an arrow.

Chen Lingxi weighed the longbow in his hands. It was incredibly heavy, easily several times denser than a standard iron-core bow, and it was impossible to tell what material it was forged from.

The body of the bow was a dark, solid azure with a faint woodgrain pattern rippling across its surface. The bowstring was made of some unknown substance—translucent silver and thin as a strand of hair, yet when he plucked it lightly with his thumb, it released a thrumming vibration that lingered in the air.

Excellent.

He rested the bow across his lap and picked up the arrow.

The moment his fingers closed around the shaft, his expression shifted, revealing a trace of surprise.

This arrow is even more precious.

When Chen Lingxi injected a sliver of spiritual qi into it, the dull gray fletching suddenly lit up.

A faint layer of azure light blossomed from the feathers, creeping down the shaft all the way to the arrowhead until the entire projectile glowed brilliantly.

The tip pulsed with an azure gleam, emitting a barely audible hiss like a newly awakened spirit snake waiting for the chance to strike.

Chen Lingxi's pupils constricted slightly.

Just as I thought, he murmured inwardly.

This arrow was far from an ordinary weapon.

It was not a mortal armament at all, but a spirit weapon that had undergone some form of refinement.

To think Yang Zhuri had such a treasure in his hands.

On second thought, Chen Lingxi already had a guess.

Yang Zhuri must have also entered the Beast-Fighting Palace and slain many beast fighters with extraordinary martial cultivation.

By sacrificing Ying Chi's spiritual qi to the palace, the Cauldron Vessel opportunity he exchanged it for must have been this very arrow.

If I can wield this arrow, it will definitely become one of my trump cards. Yang Zhuri wasn't able to draw out its true potential at all.

With his mind made up, Chen Lingxi wasted no more time.

He channeled his qi with even greater precision, threading it into the arrow and pressing it against the formation arrays inscribed within.

His spiritual qi traced the patterns inch by inch.

The lines slowly connected in his mind, mapping out a complete spell formation. He probed every stroke, bottleneck, and node of the array.

Once I am completely familiar with how the formation operates, I can command this arrow as easily as my own arm—no, this is a spirit arrow.

Chen Lingxi spent the entire night refining it. Just as dawn was about to break, he finally took control of the spirit arrow. Even without nocking it to a bow, a mere stir of his spiritual qi was enough to command the projectile. It flew through the air as intuitively as a limb, darting freely through the void within a three-zhang radius.

The azure gleam at the tip swept past with a shrill whistle, its sharpness enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Cradling the faintly glowing arrow in his hands, a slight smile touched the corners of Chen Lingxi's lips.

With this spirit arrow, combined with the Cyan Edge Method, or even the Purple True Precious Qi—I can only imagine how devastating a single strike will be.

He stored the spirit arrow back into his Cosmos Bag and withdrew the stone shaped like a throwing knife.

Since breaking through to the Qi Circulation 4th Floor, he had examined it many times.

The stone was ice-cold to the touch, gleaming with a deep, murky luster.

He probed it with his qi. Wherever his spiritual energy passed, densely packed lines surfaced within the stone, overlapping in layers that were countless times more intricate than the formation inside the spirit arrow.

The lines extended deep into the core of the stone. His qi couldn't even reach the end of them.

Chen Lingxi withdrew his qi and looked down at the stone in his palm, a measure of anticipation rising in his eyes.

To think I scavenged such a treasure, he said to himself. With my current cultivation, there is no way for me to control it.

If I can step onto the Qi Circulation 5th Floor, or even the 6th Floor, I wonder if I will be able to command this knife-shaped stone?

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath.

In the distance, the rising sun began to shed its morning light. Chen Lingxi stood up and returned to the manor.