Moonlight!

One chest of gold bars, two chests of silver ingots, and another two chests of jewels and brocades... all of them valuables.

Among them was the face-sized Western Regions yellow jade Ji Xuanyuan had mentioned!

It was clear that Ji Xuanyuan was a generous, forthright man. Even as an imperial prince, producing so much at once could not have been easy.

"Lan'er, with all this gold, silver, and treasure, we won't be able to spend it all in a lifetime! What's so great about being a gray-robed agent of the Shadow Pivot Court? Since you love martial arts, Mother can send you to Great Azure Mountain to study under the Heavenreach Sect. Wouldn't that be far better?"

Xiao Jinlan nodded eagerly, joy blooming in her heart. "Your daughter will obey Mother's arrangements!"

Throughout the Nine Provinces and Four Seas, there were two places of learning that held the greatest allure for all martial artists. One was the Imperial Martial Academy under Great Liang's Armament Hall; the other was the Heavenreach Sect of Great Azure Mountain, the foremost martial sect in the martial world.

The Imperial Martial Academy had exceedingly stringent admission requirements, and without a powerful backer, one could not enter at all.

Back then, Father Xiao had wanted to use his connections as a gold-medal instructor of the Armament Hall to get Xiao Fan enrolled. As expected, he had not even managed to touch the threshold.

By comparison, the Heavenreach Sect of Great Azure Mountain had a much lower barrier for entry. So long as one possessed outstanding martial aptitude and greased a few palms with gold and silver, there was still hope!

"My child has made something of herself!"

Erya wept with joy. Even Xiao Jinlan had to admit it—one job, and she had settled the entire family's expenses for the rest of their lives.

In the side courtyard, Xiao Fan lowered himself into a steaming bath barrel. His body and mind relaxed at last—what bliss!

It had been two months since he escaped death on Golden Glow Mountain. For safety's sake, they had not dared take the official roads along the way, instead winding through mountains and waters in bitter hardship. By now, every inch of him had practically been pickled through.

Tonight, he could finally enjoy a comfortable hot bath.

Illusory words surfaced before his eyes...

[Cultivation: Martial Path Qi Refinement Realm—Perfected: 182/100]

[Misfortune Toxin Value: 42/100]

His cultivation remained at the perfected Qi Refinement Realm, and after the Misfortune Toxin Value was cleared, it no longer transformed into cultivation points.

In other words, over these past two months, all the Misfortune Toxin Value reset each day had gone to waste. It felt as though he had missed out on several hundred million...

At the same time, he had gained a deeper understanding of the hidden rules of the [Misfortune Toxin Value System].

That was, once one's extraordinary realm fell into a bottleneck and could not break through, cultivation points could no longer increase. Even clearing the Misfortune Toxin Value would not convert it into cultivation.

"Why did Dad have to be out of the capital at a time like this? When will I ever break through to the eighth rank...?"

Xiao Fan sighed to himself... Breaking through a martial rank was difficult and dangerous; Zhang Bin was a living example.

To be safe, Xiao Fan decided it would be best to wait until his old man returned and could guide him one-on-one.

As for his martial-genius elder sister, he truly did not dare count on her. He was afraid she would take the opportunity to give him a good beating...

"Ah... forget it. I'll rest for a few days first."

At this moment, Xiao Fan only wanted to soak comfortably in hot water, wash away all his exhaustion, and cast every worry to the back of his mind for now.

He raised his head toward the night sky. A familiar pale-white "curtain" shimmered faintly in and out of sight overhead.

That was the Sacred Fire formation protecting the capital. Every night, the pure white flame of the Sacred Fire Altar would ignite, and the Astronomical Bureau's formation would activate along with it.

Under the formation's effect, the afterglow of the pure white Sacred Fire formed a faint, pale-white canopy that enveloped the entire capital.

The days of walking on eggshells had finally given him a chance to catch his breath. The capital was the headquarters of both the Great Liang Astronomical Bureau and the Sacred Fire Sect; Night Erosion could not possibly occur here.

Xiao Fan's body and mind finally relaxed completely, and for a time, he sank into memories of the past...

Before transmigrating, he had just joined an AI company in Jinghai City, Eastern Great Nation, as an algorithm engineer.

His salary and benefits already surpassed those of many peers. It was not exactly the pinnacle of life, but his life had at least gotten onto the right track.

As for his family, though his parents were getting on in years, they remained fairly healthy, and their household was harmonious.

In his limited life, he could scarcely see any earth-shattering changes awaiting him. Most likely, he would simply live an ordinary, unremarkable life from then on.

Some people said he had been born lucky, but Xiao Fan did not think so. All the luck of his first twenty-odd years had been thoroughly buried beneath a mud truck.

It truly bore out that classic saying: "Every gift bestowed by fate has long had its price secretly marked."

Fortunately, even after transmigrating here, he still had a fairly happy family. Not only were both his parents alive, but he also had two sisters.

As time passed, faced with the cruel reality that he could never return, he could only gradually blend into life here and accept this new family.

Because of Night Erosion, out-of-town assignments in this world were highly sought after and paid quickly. But that money was earned with one's head hanging from one's belt—it was blood money bought with one's life.

In recent years, Night Erosion had been occurring more and more frequently, making out-of-town assignments ever more dangerous. No matter how much money one earned, it was useless without a life left to spend it.

Autumn had already arrived, and the nights were growing longer by the day. Once deep winter came, the work of the Shadow Pivot Court's gray-robed agents would become even harder.

At that thought, Xiao Fan could not help sighing. "The work of a gray-robed agent in the Shadow Pivot Court is far too dangerous. I need to find a steady job with decent pay."

"Tomorrow, I need to deliver death notices to the families of the ten escort masters who died tragically this time... Ah, how am I supposed to face them? What a headache!"

He had only just managed to relax when his worries came flooding back again.

Just as he soaked in the bath barrel and pondered how to settle the deceased men's families, a pearly-white object abruptly appeared beside the tub.

"Eh? How did this thing end up here?"

Xiao Fan looked puzzled as he picked up the gleaming white jade pendant Ji Xuanyuan had given him and examined it.

This jade pendant was called a Life Jade. He had originally intended to return it to Ji Xuanyuan, but who knew the young master would stuff it back into Xiao Fan's hands and refuse to let him decline.

Ji Xuanyuan's reason was that the Life Jade contained a special formation from the Bureau of Celestial Observation, allowing it to sense Ji Xuanyuan's life force within a certain range.

Once the gleaming white radiance within the pendant dimmed, it meant Ji Xuanyuan's life force was weakening.

He wanted Xiao Fan to keep the pendant so that if he truly encountered danger, Xiao Fan would be able to discover it in time.

"The young master really does trust me." Xiao Fan looked at the pendant's soft, full radiance. It seemed the young master was not in any danger at the moment.

Strange... I clearly put it over there. Aiming at the head of the bed, he casually tossed the Life Jade, landing it precisely beside the pillow.

Yet the moment he turned back around, something bizarre happened...

The gleaming white Life Jade had somehow returned to the side of the bath barrel!

"Holy shit!"

Xiao Fan instinctively shouted. The steaming bath barrel abruptly seemed to turn icy cold, sending a chill down his spine and breaking him out in cold sweat.

"Is this some kind of haunting? Brother, don't pull this crap on me!"

Although martial artists possessed a righteous aura capable of intimidating evil entities and keeping ghosts at bay, that effect only came after reaching the seventh-rank Spirit Tempering Realm. His current ninth rank was nowhere near enough.

He warily stared at the gleaming white Life Jade lying quietly on the table, then turned to look toward the head of the bed. Sure enough... the jade pendant by the pillow was gone.

Perhaps it was merely his eyes playing tricks on him, but from the night sky that had been thick with dark clouds, a thread of bright moonlight actually seeped down!

Everyone knew... this world had no moon!

Every hair on Xiao Fan's body stood on end. Slowly, he raised his head and followed the moonlight back in the opposite direction...

There, amid layer upon layer of clouds, hung an actual crescent moon!

"This really is haunted..."

The instant his gaze settled upon the crescent moon, his Evil Toxin Value suddenly began to soar.

...+3...+8...+10...

By the time he tried to look away, it was already too late.

His body seemed filled with lead, utterly unable to move. He could not even shift his eyeballs in the slightest.

Then, fine cracks began to appear in the curtain formed by the afterglow of the sacred fire, directly opposite the crescent moon.

Pitch-black, viscous liquid seeped out from the cracks and spread, dissolving a hole through the curtain.

Almost at the same time, Xiao Fan's vision distorted. The sky turned blood-red, and he saw the crescent moon hanging high in the sky gradually becoming full...

The center of that crescent seemed to be missing a piece, like a slice of watermelon that had been bitten into.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but this so-called moon... looked... like an eye opening!

In the blink of an eye... Evil Toxin Value, 89...109...120...150...

Xiao Fan fell into utter despair. His mind went blank. He only felt the flesh all over his body tearing apart as golden scales rapidly grew from within him. He was about to mutate!

Can't move... can't even blink... I'm dead... I'm really dead this time...