Setting Off

On the official road of Yunguang Prefecture, a luxurious carriage drawn by two horses rolled along slowly. An elderly man drove at the front, with a teenage boy sitting beside him.

Inside the lavish carriage, a somewhat older youth had drawn back the window curtain and was admiring the scenery passing by.

They were precisely the three of Bi Changsheng's group after leaving Lin'an City. After bringing the turmoil in Lin'an City to an end, Bi Changsheng rested for two days before deciding to depart.

During those two days of rest, Bi Changsheng took stock of his gains from that day. Naturally, the treasuries of Lin'an City's three major powers contained no heavenly treasures or earthly rarities; otherwise, they would not have remained in a tiny county town like Lin'an City to develop.

The main spoils were silver notes, silver, some precious medicinal herbs, and pills. Bi Changsheng did not carefully calculate the herbs and pills, but he estimated their value at over three hundred thousand taels.

As for the silver and silver notes, they totaled more than eight hundred and thirty-six thousand taels. Adding in his previous savings, Bi Changsheng now had over one million three hundred and twenty thousand taels of silver alone.

It might have seemed like a great deal, but this sum only existed because Bi Changsheng had plundered the accumulated wealth of Lin'an City's three major powers over many years.

As for why Bi Changsheng had casually collected the three factions' Scripture Pavilions, it was merely to broaden his horizons and deepen his attainments in martial arts.

What Bi Changsheng truly valued was the underground palace inheritance Fu Ziping and the others had mentioned. From Fu Ziping's account, Bi Changsheng learned that the Storage Ring had been left behind by Cen Xiuqi, a Grandmaster from a hundred years ago.

Setting aside everything else, that Storage Ring alone was priceless. Within it lay a cultivation method inheritance that led directly to the Condensing Gang Realm—the "Evergreen Skill"—an exceptionally precious Condensing Gang Pill, and, most importantly to Bi Changsheng, a complete inheritance of medicine and alchemy.

The Alchemy Legacy in particular occupied an important place in Bi Changsheng's plans for his future cultivation.

During that time, Fu Ziping and the others came to visit, asking for Bi Changsheng's opinion on how Lin'an City should be handled. Bi Changsheng had no desire whatsoever to involve himself in such trifling matters, so he told them to deal with it themselves.

Fu Ziping and the others had already sent word to their sect. They would not leave until their sect and the imperial court had dispatched people to take over.

What Bi Changsheng did not know was that once the news from Fu Ziping and the others reached the Divine Fist Sect, the events of Lin'an City also spread throughout Ningyun Prefecture.

Ximen Xue, the formidable swordsman capable of slaying a late-stage True Qi Realm expert with a single sword stroke, became famous across Ningyun Prefecture through the Lin'an City incident. As time passed, there were even signs of his fame spreading into other prefectures.

Bi Changsheng had decided to leave Lin'an City because, after experiencing this turmoil, his prudent principles told him it was best to stay far away from Jin'an Prefecture, this land of disputes.

The other reason was to raise his strength more quickly. Lin'an City was a small county town with limited resources, and given Bi Changsheng's current Cultivation Level, there were already few resources in the entire city that could aid his cultivation.

There were also the limitations of cultivation methods. Although he had just obtained the Evergreen Skill, which led directly to the Condensing Gang Realm, Bi Changsheng could not increase his Cultivation Level by practicing ordinary cultivation methods due to his constitution.

The forbidden art known as the Body Burning Art could only support his cultivation up to the Qi and Blood Realm. This was an inherent limitation of the technique itself. No matter how many times he used Life-Spending Cultivation, the Body Burning Art could not allow him to break through into the True Qi Realm; it could only make his accumulated qi and blood more profound.

Unless Bi Changsheng could directly comprehend the fundamental principles behind such forbidden arts, only then might he be able to cast off the limitations of the cultivation method itself.

Among the books in the County Office's Scripture Pavilion, Bi Changsheng had also discovered a forbidden art similar to the Body Burning Art, but its effects were not even comparable to the Body Burning Art. By reading all manner of miscellaneous books, Bi Changsheng discovered that the most renowned and effective forbidden art of this kind was the Yellow Heaven Cult's "Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Law."

Naturally, Bi Changsheng set his sights on this forbidden art. However, with his current strength, it was unlikely that he could obtain the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Law directly from the Yellow Heaven Cult. After all, it was a relatively precious cultivation method even within the Yellow Heaven Cult, and only a small number of people could practice it.

Yet the Yellow Heaven Cult was not the only channel through which one could obtain the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Law. Another route was the Demon Extermination Society, one of the ten major powers.

Speaking of this, one had to mention the Demon Extermination Society's founder and current president, Ying Tianqing. In his youth, Ying Tianqing had unexpectedly fallen in love with the Yellow Heaven Cult's last Saintess. In the end, the Yellow Heaven Cult tore the lovers apart with a cruel blow—not only causing the last Saintess's death, but also leading the Yellow Heaven Cult to abolish the position of Saintess from that day onward.

After his beloved was killed by the Yellow Heaven Cult, Ying Tianqing strove to rise through hardship. Not only did he swiftly attain peerless cultivation, but he also developed the Demon Extermination Society, which he had founded to oppose the Yellow Heaven Cult, into a colossal force.

Within the Demon Extermination Society were quite a few Yellow Heaven Cult cultivation methods that its last Saintess had taught Ying Tianqing, among them the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Law.

Moreover, unlike other powers, aside from its headquarters in Chuanshan Prefecture, the Demon Extermination Society also established branches in places where the Yellow Heaven Cult frequently operated. One such branch stood in Ningyun City, the prefectural capital of Ningyun Prefecture.

The purpose of Bi Changsheng's journey was to head to Ningyun City, the prefectural capital of Ningyun Prefecture, and then join the Demon Extermination Society in pursuit of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Law.

Since they were in no hurry, Bi Changsheng had deliberately told Uncle Fu to travel slowly, allowing him to properly take in the scenery of this other world along the way. Uncle Fu felt somewhat melancholy about leaving Lin'an City, for it was a place where he had spent most of his life.

But now that the Bi Family's great vengeance had been avenged, Uncle Fu devoted himself wholly to Bi Changsheng. Wherever Bi Changsheng went, he would naturally follow.

Liu Zhengqing, on the other hand, possessed a youth's temperament. Not only was he not sad, he was instead filled with curiosity about the outside world.

"Young Master, we're about to turn onto another road. It may get bumpy from here on."

After traveling for a while, Uncle Fu spoke to Bi Changsheng inside the carriage when they reached a fork in the road. The official road led directly to Yunguang Prefecture's capital, so to avoid taking a detour, they needed to turn onto a smaller path for part of the journey.

The small path was not as level as the official road and was rather rugged, which was why Uncle Fu had specifically warned Bi Changsheng.

"Mm, it's fine."

Bi Changsheng answered lightly and continued looking out the window.

"Robbery!"

"Hand over all the money and valuables you have!"

Not long after they entered the small path, three burly men wielding blades leaped out from the forests on both sides of the road and blocked Bi Changsheng's way. Seeing the luxurious carriage carrying Bi Changsheng's group of three, greed gleamed in all their eyes. In their view, this was a rare fat sheep.

"Zhengqing, I'll leave this one to you again."

The three men were clearly ordinary people. Bi Changsheng could not even be bothered to pay them attention and directly handed them over to Liu Zhengqing. This was not the first group of bandits they had encountered since setting out. Whenever they had run into bandits before, Bi Changsheng had likewise made Liu Zhengqing deal with them, using the opportunity to temper his practical combat ability.

After more than half a month of cultivation, Liu Zhengqing had successfully broken through to the late stage of the Skin Refining Realm, thanks to his own talent and Bi Changsheng's unlimited supply of secret medicines.

In any case, with Bi Changsheng's current wealth, the cultivation expenses of a Skin Refining Realm practitioner like Liu Zhengqing did not even amount to a drop in the bucket.

"Yes, Young Master."

Upon receiving Bi Changsheng's order, Liu Zhengqing leaped straight from the carriage and charged toward the three bandits. His Six Harmonies Fist flowed with force and flair. Before the blades in the three bandits' hands could so much as touch Liu Zhengqing, he had cleanly dealt with them in a few punches.

Seeing how shabby they were, he did not even bother searching their bodies. Liu Zhengqing simply tossed them into the forest beside the road, then returned to the carriage and continued onward.