Tingting's Request

Qiusheng had just entered the quiet room and was about to ask something when Uncle Nine raised a hand to stop him, cutting him off.

"Qiusheng, come here. The manuals for all the techniques you asked for are right here. Pick whichever one you like and take it."

After that, Uncle Nine didn't give him a chance to say anything. He turned and left.

"Hm?"

Watching Uncle Nine's reaction, Qiusheng instinctively felt there was something fishy about the ban on the two top techniques of their lineage.

Then, recalling what Uncle Nine had said earlier about Heavenly Master cultivation, a suspicion gradually formed in his mind.

Still, this wasn't the time for him to concern himself with that. Just as Uncle Nine had said, he wasn't strong enough yet.

If things really were as he suspected, and Maoshan had been forced to cripple one of its own arms by someone else, then whoever could pressure their lineage had to be a colossal force.

After all, Maoshan might have fallen into decline and produced few experts at the Heavenly Master level, but it was still an ancient Daoist sect. It wasn't a place some ordinary nobody could threaten at will.

Qiusheng shook his head, clearing all those wild thoughts from his mind, and began carefully searching through the manuals his master had brought out.

After flipping through a few, Qiusheng frowned.

The levels of these Five Elements techniques were astonishingly low. The strongest was called the Blazing Sun Art, and all it could do was conjure a fireball about the size of a wagon wheel.

On top of that, the flames were merely ordinary fire. If they hit a vengeful spirit or a fierce ghost, they'd probably only be good for giving it a sauna.

"Ugh, what a rip-off."

Qiusheng sighed to himself, then began studying the manuals in front of him, one by one.

After spending the entire day at it, he finally finished going through every technique manual in Uncle Nine's quiet room.

His attribute list had gained eighteen techniques in all.

Five of those eighteen were Five Elements evasion techniques. The rest were mostly weak attack techniques, so there was no need to go into them one by one.

"Phew!"

He let out a long breath and glanced at the 580 Exorcism Points he had left. His heart sank with helplessness.

There was nothing he could do. His goal was to awaken the Five Elements Spirit Body, so he had to learn every technique related to the Five Elements.

This time, just to learn all eighteen Five Elements techniques he had found, he had spent 180 Exorcism Points. That left him with only this much.

"Forget it. If I've spent a lot of Exorcism Points, so be it. I'll think of it as learning more spells and becoming well-rounded."

As he reassured himself, Qiusheng looked at his attribute list again.

Without hesitation, he poured all 580 of his remaining Exorcism Points into a metal-element technique called the Geng Metal Art.

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You spent 20 Exorcism Points to raise the Geng Metal Art to the initial stage."

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You spent 40 Exorcism Points to raise the Geng Metal Art to the middle stage."

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You spent 80 Exorcism Points to raise the Geng Metal Art to the advanced stage."

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You spent 160 Exorcism Points to raise the Geng Metal Art to the great perfection stage."

After spending a full 300 Exorcism Points, Qiusheng finally heard the system notification he knew so well.

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You have cultivated the Geng Metal Art to the great perfection stage. Your affinity for metal-element energy has increased."

"Nice!"

Qiusheng shouted excitedly amid the stream of system notifications.

Then he poured all the Exorcism Points he had saved into another metal-element spell, Golden Light Evasion. After raising it to the advanced stage, he had used up nearly all his Exorcism Points.

"Character: Qiusheng (inner disciple of the Maoshan Sect).

Spirit Body: Earth Spirit Body.

Cultivation: Human Master (late stage) (to break through, must awaken the Five Elements Spirit Body).

Exorcism Points: 120.

Daoist Arts: Talisman Drawing+ (advanced), Shangqing Dongxuan Record+ (intermediate), Maoshan Basic Martial Arts (advanced), Palm Thunder (advanced), Lightning Bolt Fist (great perfection), Feng Shui Geomancy (beginner)+, God-Inviting Technique (initial)+, Geng Metal Art (great perfection), Golden Light Evasion (advanced)...

Lifespan: 62+)."

Looking at his attribute list, Qiusheng rose from his seat, satisfied, and left the quiet room.

It was already evening. He hadn't eaten all day, and he was ravenous, so he had no choice but to head for the kitchen.

As luck would have it, just as he stepped inside, he saw Ren Tingting carrying a bowl of hot food and hurrying out.

"Oh! Brother Sheng, you're out! I was just about to bring you some food. You haven't eaten all day."

Seeing how sweet Tingting looked, Qiusheng smiled.

"Hehe, Tingting, thanks."

"It's no trouble, Brother Sheng."

Seeing his little girlfriend blush again, Qiusheng shook his head.

He led her to the main hall of the Public Mortuary. They chatted as he ate.

"Brother Sheng, Uncle Nine told me that tomorrow night you and Wencai are going to take Taoist Four Eyes back. You'll be gone for a long time, right?"

"Mm, Tingting. I'll be away for a while. The earliest I'll be back is in a few months."

Hearing Ren Tingting's question, Qiusheng nodded.

"Can I go with you?"

"No!"

Tingting looked so pitiful that anyone would feel sorry for her, but Qiusheng refused without hesitation.

This wasn't something to joke about. They weren't going on a sightseeing trip.

For one thing, they'd need to drive the corpse all the way to his junior uncle's place, traveling at night and resting during the day.

And once they got there, they'd most likely encounter the Royal Zombie. He absolutely couldn't take Tingting along and put her in danger.

"Tingting, the road is just too dangerous."

"Besides, there are still plenty of things waiting for you to handle in Ren Family Town. How can you just leave everything behind and come with me?"

Ren Tingting's eyes filled with tears after he turned her down so firmly. Qiusheng could only speak gently.

"Tingting, I promise I'll take care of everything on my plate as quickly as I can and try to get back early, all right?"

Hearing Qiusheng's promise, Tingting was still reluctant, but in the end she nodded.

"Mm, Brother Sheng. I understand. I'll wait for you to come back in Ren Family Town."

"But you have to promise me one thing."

"What is it? Go ahead."

Looking at Ren Tingting, who was pouting and still clearly reluctant, Qiusheng asked.

"I want Uncle Nine to teach me cultivation. If you can get him to take me as his disciple, I'll wait for you here in Ren Family Town."