"No. I have to finish the new cultivation art as soon as possible."
"And get everything I need for cultivation."
"My merit points really don't go very far."
Frowning, he hurried back to the All-Under-Heaven Escort Agency.
As soon as he returned to his little courtyard, someone knocked at the door.
"Brother Qin, I found everything you wanted."
Li Qing's eyes lit up, and he quickly opened the door.
Wang Kuohai had dark circles under his eyes and looked utterly haggard. He clearly hadn't been sleeping well lately.
He held a box in his hands. His eyes bloodshot, he said, "Mr. Qin, I've gotten all five of the century-old spirit herbs you asked for."
Li Qing looked surprised. "That fast?"
"I pawned everything valuable my family owned."
"I scraped together forty thousand taels of silver and finally managed to get these."
Li Qing's brow twitched. He looked at Wang Kuohai's determined expression and gave a slight nod.
"Good. Come in."
The two entered the courtyard, and Li Qing took out the Black Water Profound Yin Art.
"This cultivation art is called the Black Water Profound Yin Art. At its peak, it can take you into Foundation Establishment."
"It was passed down from the Daoist Sect. Though it's only a small offshoot, it's still an orthodox Daoist cultivation art."
"But cultivating this art comes with a taboo."
"Once you begin cultivating it, you must never have relations with women or men for the rest of your life."
"If you break that taboo, you'll turn into an Anomaly and become something no longer human."
"All cultivation arts in this world come at a price."
"I'm telling you this in advance, all right?"
Hearing about such a bizarre price, Wang Kuohai froze for a moment.
But when he thought of that mysterious world of Dao Lineages, his heart burned with excitement.
"It's fine. As long as I can cultivate, I don't mind avoiding women."
Li Qing nodded slightly. "Good."
They exchanged the goods and money.
The box held five century-old spirit herbs, each carefully sealed and exuding a faint medicinal fragrance. They had all been properly preserved.
After inspecting them briefly, Li Qing put them away.
"Four more to go. Maybe this is a way forward."
"Trading cultivation arts for treasures."
Wang Kuohai left Li Qing's courtyard, the scripture in hand, brimming with excitement.
Watching him go, Li Qing shook his head slightly.
"Hope you don't regret it later. This path isn't easy."
Late that night, Li Qing was silently circulating his essence.
Cultivation required persistence. Though Essence Stones could rapidly boost his progress, he couldn't rely solely on external aids. After all, such things were hard to come by.
Rumble!
Suddenly, a violent explosion sounded in the distance.
The noise jolted Li Qing out of his cultivation.
He bolted from the courtyard, planted a foot on the ground, and sprang onto the roof.
Looking into the distance, he saw a blazing red glow, with silver Radiance flashing through it.
Two figures clashed amid the light, magical Radiance flaring as it dyed the sky beyond the city red and silver.
But the Radiance lasted only a short while. Then everything fell silent, as if nothing had happened.
The sight made Li Qing's heart pound.
"What's going on? The Refugee Camp? Where is it?"
"No. I need to go to the Demon Extermination Hall and find out what's happening."
He slipped away from the All-Under-Heaven Escort Agency without a moment's delay.
Within a few breaths of his departure, a dense surge of essence suddenly rose from the direction of the All-Under-Heaven Escort Agency.
Li Qing turned to look. Blood-red essence blanketed the sky above the All-Under-Heaven Escort Agency.
He sucked in a sharp breath. That was the sign of a great many lives falling, their essence dispersing into the air.
Someone was slaughtering their way through the All-Under-Heaven Escort Agency.
A chill ran from his head to his feet. "Did they come to kill me?"
"Someone leaked my information. The Blood Demon Sect has an inside man in the Demon Extermination Hall. Who is it?"
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind before he finally settled on one person.
His expression darkened, and he sighed softly. "What a pity about the All-Under-Heaven Escort Agency. Wang Kuohai was a decent fellow."
He turned and quietly made his way to the Demon Extermination Hall.
He'd be in greater danger out in the open. Inside the Demon Extermination Hall, no one would dare make a move.
After a few quick bursts of movement, he arrived at the Demon Extermination Hall.
It was just as crowded here, with many cultivators from the hall having returned.
In the crowd, he spotted Wen Taiquan.
Wen Taiquan's eyes lit up as soon as he saw him. "Brother Qin, you're here!"
"What happened?" Li Qing asked, his expression grave.
"There are members of the Blood Demon Sect hiding in the Refugee Camp."
"They deliberately incited the bloody clashes."
"Someone couldn't resist absorbing essence and exposed his tracks to you."
"After discussing it, the higher-ups sent people from the Demon Extermination Hall, the Garrison, and the prefect's office to search for Blood Demon Sect cultivators together."
"They must have started fighting over there. As for the exact outcome, we'll have to wait a while to find out."
Li Qing's expression shifted several times. He nodded slightly. "I hope everything goes smoothly."
He turned his gaze toward the southern horizon, where there no longer seemed to be any sign of a disturbance.
But Li Qing's expression was dark as water.
By dawn, the news had finally reached everyone.
A Blood Demon Sect True Disciple called Young Master Blood Spirit, along with three outer disciples, had appeared in the Refugee Camp. They seemed to have been plotting something.
The True Disciple had been besieged by Wang Jie, the Garrison Commander-in-Chief; Huang Tairen, the Jade City commander of the Demon Extermination Hall; and the constable Fei Yangming. In the end, he was defeated and fled.
The three outer disciples had been slain on the spot.
The news caused an uproar.
A True Disciple was a master of the True Method Realm, a force to be reckoned with in Jade City.
In all of Jade City, only Huang Tairen, the commander of the Demon Extermination Hall, and the prefect were True Method Realm cultivators.
Everyone was abuzz with discussion. Wen Taiquan brought Li Qing to the Mission Hall at once to collect his two merit rewards.
One was for burying the bodies, and the other was for discovering an important lead. Together, they were worth twenty merit points.
Li Qing went straight to Elder Fang's Treasury Hall and spent his merit points on four new cultivation arts.
Elder Fang looked at Li Qing, utterly baffled.
"Kid Qin, why do you keep buying these cultivation arts?"
"I'm warning you: don't try cultivating multiple arts. It'll get you killed."
"As for the path of cultivation, either the arts must share the same lineage, or they must complement one another and strike a balance."
"Cultivating a jumble of different arts is a road to ruin."
"Since ancient times, plenty of people have tried cultivating many different arts, embracing a hundred schools to forge their own path."
"But in the end, they all undergo Aberration and turn into monsters."
"Don't you dare cultivate them. It'd be a real shame to lose a sensible junior like you."
Hearing Elder Fang's warning, Li Qing broke into a radiant smile.
"Hahaha, don't worry. I really am only using these arts for reference."
"It's just a little hobby of mine."
Elder Fang shook his head helplessly. "Sign the Secret Pact."
Li Qing nodded and signed his name to the contract.
Early the next morning, Li Qing received his new cultivation art.
The new cultivation art had once again brought about a dramatic change in the information on the Jade Tablet.
He glanced at the changes on the Jade Tablet, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Now I can finally cultivate."