"Insufficient data. Unable to determine."
Xiao Yi's answer was concise and to the point. Recently, most of what Duke had absorbed from his reading had been related to card-making, Card Master techniques, or deciphering the secrets of rings.
He had rarely touched on the subjects of the qi sea and blood sea.
"Looks like I'll have to find some books related to the blood sea and qi sea over the next few days and expand Xiao Yi's database. As for Card Master knowledge, what I have for now is enough."
When it came to Card Master techniques, his brain had already learned them, but his hands had declared themselves utterly helpless.
He struggled through until two in the morning. At that hour, Snakehead Town had no nightlife, and everyone should have been fast asleep. Duke carefully pushed open the back door, hoisted the snakeskin sack onto his shoulder, and slipped outside.
He didn't dare take the main streets, sticking to the cramped alleys instead.
Fortunately, he had lived in Snakehead Town since childhood and knew every twist and turn like the back of his hand. Thus, he nervously took detours, stopping and starting as he avoided every route that might expose him.
It was both thrilling and exhausting.
It took him a full half hour to sneak out to the outskirts of town. Taking advantage of the pitch-black night, he crossed the farmland and sprinted into the wilderness.
One hand gripped the mouth of the sack to keep the snakeskin sack steady on his shoulder, while the other held the Desert Eagle pistol, ready to fire at any Spirit Beast that might ambush him.
Firing a gun at night might alarm the night guards.
But that was still better than being eaten by a Spirit Beast.
When he judged that he had gone far enough, Duke found a hollow among the bushes and tossed Robney's corpse inside. He took away the sack and rope.
"Mr. Robney, you brought me such a huge mess. Even though the Long-Haired Mongoose cub was payment... Anyway, after you've been gnawed on by wild beasts, if I get the chance, I'll do what I can to help your son Royce..." Duke muttered a few words, then slipped out of the bushes. He threw the snakeskin sack and rope into another hollow.
Then he sprinted back toward the farmland, cautiously avoiding any possible patrol routes before sneaking back into town.
He stopped and started along the way, but made it safely home.
"Whew!"
Duke locked the door and collapsed onto the floor.
His clothes were soaked through with sweat. The nerves that had been wound taut throughout the entire process of disposing of the corpse finally relaxed at that moment.
Only after quite some time had passed did he recover a little strength. He changed clothes, took a shower, and lay down on the bed. Then he looked at the Long-Haired Mongoose cub in the cardboard box beside his bed.
Everything felt like a dream.
He got up at daybreak.
With dark circles under his eyes, Duke went out to buy breakfast and picked up some powdered milk from a shop along the way.
He watched carefully as he traveled and saw no sign of a search nearby. It seemed Robney's death had not alerted the Black Snake Family or its outer organization, the Poison Fang Gang.
It was also possible that the Black Snake Family had gone to hunt the 2-Ring Spirit Beast, the Long-Haired Mongoose, decided they had already obtained the spoils, and no longer cared about Robney.
In any case, the lack of movement was good news for Duke.
"Sigh. If I'd known this would happen, I never should've taken Robney's business. I've saddled myself with a huge mess I can't shake!"
He had never considered reporting it to the authorities or handing over the Long-Haired Mongoose cub, because neither option could prevent trouble. The Black Snake Family had ambushed an outsider who had come to hunt lawfully. If word got out, it would be a devastating blow to the Black Snake Family's reputation.
So even if Duke honestly confessed everything, he would still be silenced in the end.
Compared with damage to the family's reputation, what did killing a few nobodies matter?
After buying the powdered milk, he returned home and fed a little milk to the Long-Haired Mongoose cub, which still had not opened its eyes. The little creature was only the size of his palm, yet it drank an entire bowl before becoming full. Once it had eaten its fill, it continued sleeping soundly.
Duke was somewhat uneasy about leaving it beside his bed.
After thinking it over, he opened the room's suspended ceiling, placed the box above it, and closed the ceiling again.
That way, even if someone came to search the place, they would not find anything unusual.
For the rest of the day, Duke remained on tenterhooks. Every so often, he went outside to observe the surroundings and check whether anyone suspicious had appeared near his home.
At other times, he returned to his room to check on the soundly sleeping Long-Haired Mongoose cub.
Fortunately, Xiao Yi continued helping him run Field Meditation on autopilot. Otherwise, relying on himself today, he probably would not even have been able to calm his mind enough to practice the meditation technique.
Three difficult days passed like this.
No trouble came knocking. Duke gradually relaxed, no longer spending all day trembling with fear that the Black Snake Family and Poison Fang Gang would come looking for him.
"Boss Little Duke, Spirit Society is holding a public lecture tomorrow." Card Master Murav reminded him as he left work.
"Okay, I know."
Spirit Society's public lectures were the only way for Spiritual Apprentices without a formal inheritance to obtain cultivation-related knowledge. Practically everyone attended on time.
Duke was no exception.
The next day, after feeding the Long-Haired Mongoose cub and putting the box back above the suspended ceiling, he gave Sally a few instructions and hurried to Spirit Society in the center of town.
He ran into Best as soon as he entered.
The two had nothing to say to each other. They each snorted and went inside, looking for seats far away from the other.
The teacher giving today's public lecture was not an Arcane Mage, but a 1-Ring Great Knight named Owen. Duke had seen him before. He was one of the Great Knights who rode along on the Black Beetle Car.
To ensure the safety of the route, every car had a 1-Ring Great Knight riding along, serving as something akin to an airborne marshal or train guard.
As for Spirit Society inviting a 1-Ring Great Knight to give a lecture, that was not unusual. After all, the blood sea and qi sea were both branches of the spirit sea, and their cultivation methods shared certain similarities.
"I'm very happy to be teaching everyone today. I know absolutely nothing about the spirit sea, so I can only talk about blood sea cultivation. Consider it an opportunity to broaden your horizons." Owen's tone was extremely playful, entirely lacking the bearing of a 1-Ring Great Knight. "As everyone knows, blood sea cultivation requires the Blood Sea Cultivation method. By refining the spirituality in nourishing food, one strengthens one's own battle aura..."
The Blood Sea Cultivation method was somewhat similar to the hard-body training techniques from martial arts stories.
The blood sea could not directly absorb Free-floating Spirituality from the outside world, so practitioners relied on eating large quantities of spirituality-rich food to replenish themselves. They then tempered their bodies, refining the spirituality from the food into battle aura.
The battle aura circulated endlessly along the body's cells and meridians, flowing on and on without cease.
"Knights have many limitations. For example, I advanced to become a 1-Ring Great Knight at the age of twenty-three. I'm thirty-seven now, and I'm still a 1-Ring Great Knight. My battle aura has been refined to perfection, and my contracted partner, a 1-Ring Swift Black Panther, has trained bitterly alongside me, but the 2nd ring remains as distant as ever. So a knight's only advantage lies in the 0-ring stage."
Owen spoke eloquently from the podium.
"Everyone seated here is a 0-ring Spiritual Apprentice. Most of you have little combat power, unless you fight with Arcane Cards. But a 0-ring Knight can already project battle aura outward. With several people working together, hunting a 1-Ring Spirit Beast isn't difficult. As long as you find a good partner and borrow its strength after forming a contract, advancing to become a 1-Ring Great Knight is easy."
"But becoming a 1-Ring Arcane Mage is as difficult as ascending to heaven."
"That is determined by the nature of the blood sea. The blood sea is located in the heart. Once you open it, you can pump blood through your heart every day to improve your physical constitution. You can even form a resonance between your heart and a Contracted Spirit Beast, borrowing the Spirit Beast's power for your own use... However, I've heard that Arcane Mages who open both the spirit sea and blood sea can even refine the blood sea into an Arcane Artifact..."
"Isn't that amazing? An Arcane Mage can actually refine the blood sea into an Arcane Artifact!" Owen sighed repeatedly.
Duke, seated below the stage, suddenly brightened. "Xiao Yi, Arcane Mages can refine the blood sea into an Arcane Artifact. Tell me, if the two of us work together, can we find the blood sea and open it?"
Before you continue