Encountering Zhang Yunlu Again

Before the era of great transformation, the Law Enforcement Hall of the Sword Sect was a department responsible for internal discipline and ensuring disciples adhered to the sect's rules.

Nowadays, it is also responsible for maintaining public order in all areas under the Sword Sect's jurisdiction, functioning much like a police station.

Incidentally, the Righteous Alliance uses this exact name for the same department within their jurisdiction.

Lin Qiuxian and the sword cultivator surnamed Feng were being held at the Law Enforcement Hall's branch in Mystic Sword City. After Li Fengping returned to the city and mailed out the samples he had obtained in the secret realm, he went directly to see him.

However, because there were so many visitors, he had to wait until late at night to finally see Lin Qiuxian—a feat only possible because the Law Enforcement Hall had very generous visiting hours.

Guided by a Golden Core disciple of the Law Enforcement Hall, he followed him to the entrance of the visitation room.

"Go on in, thirty minutes maximum."

"Thank you."

After offering his thanks, Li Fengping entered the visitation room, while the Law Enforcement Hall disciple stepped into an adjacent room to monitor the conversation.

The specially crafted glass window shimmered with the spiritual light of a formation, possessing certain anti-magic properties; its hardness was such that even a Nascent Soul practitioner would have to exert significant effort to break it.

But no one dared to try, unless they wanted to end up on the Sword Enforcement Hall's wanted list, at which point it would be a matter of life and death.

Li Fengping sat down before the window. Lin Qiuxian, on the other side, looked calm, possessing a sense of detachment as if he had seen through the vanity of the world.

Having been repeatedly mentioned on traffic safety and legal education programs for the past two days, there was no point in trying to maintain a good image. By the time he was released, everyone would likely be gone, so he had simply decided to give up.

There had been too many incidents in Mystic Sword City recently, even drawing the attention of the Sect Master, which meant that even if the Lin Family wanted to bail him out, they couldn't.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Indulge in a moment of pleasure, suffer a lifetime of pain.

Pain, such agonizing pain!

Lin Qiuxian felt he had never understood these two sentences so thoroughly before.

"Senior Brother, are you... alright?"

"Sigh~ I've just realized a few truths. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"..."

It had only been a short while, yet the high-spirited Senior Brother Lin had turned into this.

"Forget about me, tell me about yourself. You've come to see me—does this mean the mission is complete?"

"Yes, Senior Brother. I teamed up with Jiang Jing, an inner sect disciple of the Law Enforcement Hall, and an outer sect deacon of the Law Enforcement Hall named Xu Sandao to enter the secret realm this afternoon and complete the mission."

Jiang Jing... the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite recall who she was.

And this Xu Sandao?

"Interesting. A Nascent Soul sword cultivator actually goes by such a name."

"Uh, Senior Brother Sandao is actually quite a decent person. When we entered the secret realm, we accidentally triggered some Sword Qi, and he was the one who helped block it."

"Tell me the details."

In truth, Lin Qiuxian wasn't very interested, but it was boring as hell in here, so he just treated it like listening to a story.

The next morning, at Qiu Zhen, the largest shopping mall in Mystic Sword City.

From cultivation tools like magical artifacts and medicinal pills to everyday necessities, everything could be bought here.

Although the overall layout and style of the mall didn't look much different from what he remembered in his past life, the names of the various shops remained the traditional ones.

Places like Sweet Dew Pavilion, Hidden Blade Tower, Rare Treasures Studio, and so on...

Xu Xing walked through the mall, his gaze sweeping casually across his surroundings.

Since a grand-nephew was coming to visit, he planned to prepare a small gift and, while he was at it, buy some materials to upgrade the formations at his residence.

The materials he currently had on hand would be a waste to use for upgrading a small-scale formation.

Eventually, Xu Xing walked into a shop called [Mystic Moon Pavilion], which primarily sold cultivation materials such as spiritual ingredients, precious herbs, ores, and beast blood.

On the relevant sections of the Spirit Net, many people gave this shop high ratings.

As soon as he stepped inside, a beautiful saleswoman wearing a red cheongsam greeted him with a beaming smile: "Customer, is there anything you need?"

"I'd like to buy some formation materials. Any category is fine, and the grade doesn't need to be too high."

So, he was a formation master.

The hundred arts of cultivation include alchemy, artifact crafting, formations, and talismans.

With the emergence of many new professions, the profitability of the traditional hundred arts had declined, but they were still definitely better off than the average practitioner.

"For formation materials, please turn left at the front to the 'Bing' section. Would you like me to take you there?"

"No need, I can find it myself."

"Very well."

The saleswoman nodded gently, her smile remaining, and retreated to her original position. Standing in a row, every one of them possessed top-tier figures and appearances, making for a pleasing sight.

It was said that this shop used to recruit charming cultivators from the Joyous Union Sect to serve as the face of the store, and business had been booming.

However, it wasn't long before they were reported by their peers, and it just so happened that the mayor had taken office and was cracking down on the city's appearance, so those charm cultivators were fired.

Xu Xing walked inside and turned left to reach the C-tier zone.

Looking around, all kinds of spiritual materials were displayed in bright glass counters, with prices ranging from one thousand spirit coins to several hundred thousand.

It's not actually that expensive.

The purchasing power of ten spirit coins was equivalent to one standard unit of spirit stone; this classification method had been proposed by an elder of the Righteous Alliance, later refined by Saint Emperor Abyss, and finally implemented as the currency system throughout the entire Great Profound Realm.

The spiritual energy contained in one standard unit of spirit stone was equivalent to the total amount of spiritual energy an ordinary first-level Qi Refining practitioner could absorb in twenty-four hours.

Spiritual energy was purchasing power, so there was basically no possibility of counterfeiting.

Walking along the counters, Xu Xing examined the spiritual materials one by one, weeding out those with fading spiritual energy, insufficient age, or internal flaws.

"This one, this one, and that one over there—please pack them up for me."

A transparent blue crystal with white filaments growing inside, a palm-sized piece of bamboo with purple veins, and a stone with pale gold spots.

These three items were among the better ones out of the many spiritual materials.

"Certainly, guest. Please wait a moment." The salesperson behind the counter nodded slightly, and the three spiritual materials were quickly packed into exquisite wooden boxes. "Do you need a bag?"

"No need."

"Please take them." As soon as the boxes landed in Xu Xing's hand, they vanished instantly.

"That will be one hundred seventy-three thousand five hundred spirit coins in total." The salesperson took out an instrument that looked similar to the one he had seen earlier at the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.

Xu Xing took out his cyan jade token and inserted it.

Sword Sect contribution points could be used directly as spirit coins, though only within regions under the jurisdiction of the Sword Sect.

The exchange rate was 1:1000.

After completing that mission yesterday, he had received one thousand contribution points, which converted to a full one million spirit coins.

"Beep! Version too low. Please upgrade before use."

A cold, emotionless mechanical voice emanated from the instrument. The salesperson looked up, casting an embarrassed glance at Xu Xing.

"About this..."

The identity token for the Xu Sandao persona had, after all, been created before he went into seclusion, even if it only activated when the identity was in use.

However, the craftsmanship itself was many generations old; throughout the Great Reform period, the Sword Sect's identity tokens had been improved countless times.

"Then use this instead."

Xu Xing pulled out the jade token and produced a storage ring instead.

The salesperson took it and probed it with a sliver of divine sense, finding stacks of spirit stones neatly arranged inside.

Hm? Spirit stones?

She had assumed it would be spirit coins.

"Please wait a moment, I need to go consult my boss."

"Fine."

The salesperson hurried away.

It seems that after I go back this time, I need to update the identity tokens for all my personas.

Just as he was thinking this, he saw another person walk into the shop.

Oh?

It was actually that young girl, Zhang Yunlu.