"Of course." Xu Ya smiled and nodded, then continued, "One of them was Yan Zhuo, the former vice president of the Black Mountain County Branch of the Qianfeng Merchant Association. He passed away thirty years ago."
"The other is Wang Kui, the current head of the Wang Family, one of Black Mountain County's great clans."
"And the last is Du Guinian, the current magistrate of Black Mountain County."
Lu Yang was rather surprised.
"The magistrate cultivates this Gui Yuan Technique too?"
Xu Ya replied, "Back when Magistrate Du was a penniless nobody with no support, this Gui Yuan Technique was what enabled him to rise. But after he broke through to the Xiantian Realm, he switched to another technique long ago."
Only then did Lu Yang remember hearing Constable Yan Liu mention this before.
The Wang Family, too, had only risen to prominence in Black Mountain County within the last twenty years.
And before that, he had heard that Wang Kui was merely a rogue martial artist who wandered the mountains and hunted demons wherever he went, with no notable background.
From the looks of it, though cultivating the Gui Yuan Technique was perilous and difficult, anyone who mastered it truly possessed formidable strength.
At least within Black Mountain County, it seemed fair to call it invincible among those of the same rank.
Seeing Lu Yang ponder, Xu Ya didn't rush him to decide, nor did she exaggerate the benefits of the Gui Yuan Technique.
After laying out the pros and cons, she simply stood there and waited for him to make up his mind.
Whether to buy it or not was entirely up to Lu Yang.
Lu Yang didn't keep her waiting long. A few breaths later, he made his decision.
"I'll take the Gui Yuan Technique." Twelve Silver Notes worth one hundred taels each were laid out neatly on the table.
"Thank you for your patronage."
After a brief exchange, Lu Yang tucked away the rubbing of the Gui Yuan Technique and left the Qianfeng Merchant Association.
He'd arrived a wealthy man with 1,200 taels in Silver Notes. Now he left with nothing to his name, barely enough money for a meal.
As he lamented how quickly silver disappeared, Lu Yang decided that from now on, he'd stay away from the Qianfeng Merchant Association unless he had a good reason to go.
There were too many fine things there. Seeing them all and being unable to afford them was truly miserable.
Back at his lodgings, Lu Yang took out the rubbing and began cultivating, following the meridian routes recorded within.
The entire process went smoothly. After the wisp of qi in his body opened the first meridian route, it seemed to grow richer and purer.
Even his mind grew calmer as he circulated his energy.
After a night of seated cultivation, he rose at dawn without a trace of fatigue, feeling refreshed instead.
Lu Yang stood up straight, a smile curling at his lips.
"No wonder this technique is said to be at least Black-grade, high-tier, even in its most basic complete form. 'Vast and majestic, upright and harmonious'—it truly lives up to those eight words."
But Lu Yang knew that so far, he had only circulated his qi along the meridian routes recorded in the technique.
In other words, he had only reached the entry level.
To master it completely, he still needed to use a secret method to guide demonic qi into his body, temper his blood and qi, and open his major apertures.
The process was like dancing on the edge of a blade—perilous in the extreme.
It was rare for a technique whose qi was so upright and harmonious to have a cultivation process as treacherous as walking a tightrope.
But none of that mattered to Lu Yang.
With the system at his side, as long as he had enough Experience Points, he could ensure his breakthroughs went smoothly, without the slightest danger.
So while the Gui Yuan Technique was extremely perilous for others, with the slightest misstep liable to kill or cripple them, none of those dangers applied to him.
The only trouble was that he needed a sufficient supply of demonic qi to cultivate the technique.
Clearly, whether to cultivate the technique or improve his realm, he couldn't stop hunting demons anytime soon.
After breakfast, Lu Yang checked in at the Constable Office, then took off his saber and changed into a comfortable outfit. He walked through the streets and lanes until he reached Black Stone Alley.
As usual, a row of ragged beggars squatted at the alley's entrance, begging for alms.
Looking in from the entrance, it seemed the entire alley was shrouded in a gloomy mist, impossible to see through.
"Sir, spare a little!"
Seven or eight beggars swarmed around him, tugging at his trouser legs and holding out their broken bowls as they begged for money.
Smack!
Lu Yang slapped one of the beggars on the back of the head and chided him with a laugh, "You dare pick my pocket? Sheng San, it's been half a month. You've gotten bold, haven't you?"
At the sound of Lu Yang's voice, the beggar jolted, and the broken silver clutched in his hand clattered to the ground.
He'd just stolen it from Lu Yang's money pouch while the other beggars were tugging at him.
It was a common trick among the kidnappers and thieves of Black Mountain County.
The ones before him were already the more "honest" sort. At most, they stole money; they wouldn't stoop to anything even more vile.
That was just how things were. As a constable, Lu Yang had dealt with these snakes and rats plenty of times in the past.
"Good heavens, Brother Yang! What a terrible misunderstanding!"
"How come you came out today without your armor or your saber?"
"I heard you got promoted a few days ago. Congratulations, congratulations!"
Grinning from ear to ear, Sheng San picked up the handful of broken silver from the ground and respectfully returned it to Lu Yang.
"Heh."
"Save the blarney."
Lu Yang said with a half-smile, "Under the Great Jun Legal Code, I can take you all in right now for stealing someone else's property."
"Hehehe, don't do that!"
Sheng San laughed. "If you need something, just tell your brothers and we'll take care of it. Would I ever turn down a favor for you, Brother Yang? Don't keep threatening us with the law. Just thinking about going to the Constable Office makes my knees buckle."
Lu Yang smiled, took off his money pouch, and waved it in front of Sheng San.
"I do have a small job for you. If you handle it well, all this silver is yours. If you don't, then it's the usual: we'll meet at the Constable Office."
Sheng San snatched the pouch and stared at the gleaming silver inside, his grin stretching from ear to ear.
"You're too kind, Brother Yang! Far too kind!"
"Tell me, what's the job? If it's something I can do, I won't refuse!" Sheng San straightened up and thumped his chest as he promised.
Lu Yang stepped closer and whispered in his ear, "Here's the thing..."
Sheng San froze for a moment, then nodded. "Don't worry. Leave it to me."
Seven or eight days passed in peace.
Lu Yang spent most of each day cultivating in his room. Every so often, he went out to personally investigate what the great clans were up to.
As for his cultivation, once he had opened the most basic meridian routes, his progress with the Gui Yuan Technique hit a bottleneck.
The qi inside him grew at a snail's pace, even slower than before he began cultivating the Gui Yuan Technique.
Lu Yang knew this was because he hadn't used the secret method to guide demonic qi into his body and stimulate his major apertures.
Everything seemed normal with the great clans as well. None of the many businesses under their names showed any unusual activity.
Early on the ninth day, just after the curfew ended, Sheng San hurried to Lu Yang's door.
"Brother Yang, I've got news." The beggar lifted his arm and roughly wiped the sweat from his brow. Making himself at home, he picked up the teapot from Lu Yang's table and took a long drink straight from the spout.
Lu Yang looked at the now filthy teapot and sighed helplessly. "Go on. What happened?"
Sheng San hurriedly said, "It's the Wang Family. They seem to be planning to transport a shipment outside the city soon."
As he spoke, he instinctively lowered his voice.
"That shipment is a little suspicious..."
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