Xu Yuan's Way Out

After digesting the news Rong Ling had brought, Xu Yuan had one final question: Zhu Zihua's storage pouch.

Rong Ling glanced at it and said, "Leave it to me."

Xu Yuan thought it over, then handed it over as instructed. Rong Ling swept her divine sense through its contents and nodded in satisfaction.

"One magic sword, one small storage pouch, one Horse Talisman, and all these pills. They're worth four hundred low-grade spirit stones."

The black crow's crimson pupils shifted, as though she were calculating an account. Only after a while did she speak.

"Handling these things for you takes quite a toll on my mind, and I'll have to make several trips to the market. The pills and magic sword will also need buyers. All things considered, I'll take fifty percent as a handling fee."

Xu Yuan nodded. Though his heart inevitably ached a little, it truly was better to let Rong Ling handle this storage pouch.

The Hidden Moon Sect had a rule: when disciples traveled together and one of them died, the deceased's possessions belonged to whoever brought them back.

In other words, with Zhu Zihua dead, his belongings should have gone to Xu Yuan. That was sect law. But if he encountered someone stronger, how would he dare refuse to hand them over?

If he gave the items to Rong Ling, then should Sister Zhu come to claim them, he would at least have an explanation.

"Alright. I'll give you the spirit stones later. Do you have anything else to do this time?"

Having gained something, Rong Ling seemed quite pleased, even taking the leisure to ask Xu Yuan.

As it happened, Xu Yuan really did have a need.

After some thought, he asked Rong Ling whether there was another way for him to earn Merit, since he needed a great deal of it but was currently unable to leave the mountain.

"You want Merit?" The black crow Rong Ling gave Xu Yuan a look, then seemed to realize something. "Ah, with your mixed spiritual roots, if you wish to break through to the middle stage of Qi Refinement, you truly ought to exchange for a more powerful cultivation method. Is that what you need?"

Xu Yuan did not answer, merely cupping his hands toward her.

"That is somewhat troublesome." The black crow's gaze seemed to weigh something before she glanced at Xu Yuan again. "Your cultivation is still lacking, but your body cultivation appears rather decent. If it's Merit you want, I do have a path for you."

"I ask Senior Rong Ling to enlighten me."

Xu Yuan bowed.

"Do you know that our sect has a grand protective formation?"

Seeing Xu Yuan shake his head, the black crow possessed by Rong Ling continued, "This grand protective formation is called the Yin Death Yang Life Turning Wheel Formation. When the previous sect master founded the sect, it was laid down by relying on two places, one of life and one of death."

"Life and death turn in a cycle, enduring forever without extinguishing. Once this formation is activated, even a true Golden Core cultivator would need to spend considerable effort breaking it without a fine magic treasure."

After introducing her sect's grand formation, Rong Ling finally revealed her plan.

"Such a powerful formation naturally requires regular maintenance. While its major workings are overseen by the sect's two elders, some minor issues still need disciples of the mountain gate to tend to them."

"So?"

"So the path I'm pointing you toward is the Lost Soul Cave, the land of death in the sect's grand formation. Stand watch there for three months, and you can earn two hundred and fifty Merit."

"Two hundred and fifty Merit?"

Xu Yuan's eyes lit up. On his way back, he had looked over the exchange list for outer sect disciples outside the Merit Hall. A Qi Refinement perfection demon beast called the Redwater Mystic Serpent required only three hundred Merit and one hundred low-grade spirit stones in exchange for its heart's blood.

Three months was a little long, but if he had to wait painstakingly for Merit Hall assignments outside, it might take him half a year or even longer to accumulate that many contribution points.

After all, those assignments were not always available, nor could they always be snatched up when they were.

Joy rose in his heart, but Xu Yuan still had doubts. "May I ask, Senior, if this assignment offers such excellent value, is it very difficult to obtain?"

"Hmph, don't you know who I am?" The black crow gave a cold laugh, then continued, "It's only because you've been fairly diligent this time, and you truly have a need but cannot conveniently leave the mountain. Otherwise, I'd have wanted to give this assignment to someone else."

"Xu Yuan thanks you, Senior."

Xu Yuan bowed gratefully. The black crow turned slightly aside, as if somewhat embarrassed. "Ahem... very well, I'll be going first. After some time, I'll bring you the assignment token and the spirit stones together. For these next few days, you can hang my token outside your door. Once that little slut sees it, she probably won't make things difficult for you."

"Alright." Xu Yuan maintained his bow and nodded. Then, with the storage pouch hanging around her neck, the black crow flew away.

Before leaving, she even sighed.

"Ah, there truly aren't many inner sect disciples in this Hidden Moon Immortal Sect as kind and amiable as I am."

In the past, Xu Yuan would inevitably have scoffed at those words. But after spending some time in the Hidden Moon Sect, he found that they were not entirely wrong. Someone like Rong Ling was already considered a good person within the Hidden Moon Sect.

With the great matter weighing on his heart resolved, Xu Yuan suddenly seemed to have plenty of free time.

He had prepared roughly enough spirit stones for the materials needed to add an entry. As for the remaining heart's blood, he would need to wait a while longer. That could not be rushed; he had to proceed gradually.

Rising to his feet, Xu Yuan resumed cultivating the Little Blue Mountain Essence-to-Qi Art.

Feeling the solid reassurance of each thread of spiritual qi steadily increasing, he ate a piece of dried meat he had saved from some days ago.

After chewing through half of it, Xu Yuan suddenly felt something strange. Why did swallowing this piece of meat seem to have so little effect this time?

He took out the meat to inspect it. The entry had not changed, but after eating another half, he found that although it still increased his qi and blood slightly, the effect was weaker than before.

Unable to make sense of it, Xu Yuan could only guess that the dried meat had been away from him for some time, or that he himself had gone too far away from it, causing the added entry to begin losing its effect.

"So it seems that adding entries cannot be applied to everything. First, naturally occurring objects of heaven and earth cannot have entries added, such as ores and spirit fruits. Second, cultivation methods and secret arts cannot have entries added. And now, I've discovered that there is also a time limit."

Having figured out a few things, some thoughts Xu Yuan had once entertained quietly faded away. At the same time, he was glad that he had never sold any pills or food with added entries to others.

He made another trip to the market and bought fresh dried meat. After adding an entry to it, he experienced a completely different effect, confirming his guess.

"Before I gain further control over this ability, I'd better not reveal it lightly before others."

The next day, Xu Yuan took his goods to the market to ask around about prices. The pills fetched roughly seventy percent of their original value, while the magical artifacts only went for sixty percent.

That price was slightly lower than what he could get from setting up a stall, but the latter wasted far too much time. Xu Yuan would be heading to Lost Soul Cave in a few days and had no mind to hawk wares, so after comparing the offers of several shops, he sold everything off.

As for the magical artifacts, since there was only one shop dealing in them, there was nothing much to choose from. He directly sold Nan Yun's magic sword for thirty-two low-grade spirit stones.

After selling the magic sword, he casually asked whether they had any damaged magical artifacts for sale. The answer was that all damaged artifacts had been sent to the Inner Mountain Artifact Institute to be reforged in the furnace.

Xu Yuan felt somewhat regretful. He had originally wanted to pick out a protective artifact, but it seemed that would have to wait until later.

As for setting up a stall to collect damaged artifacts, that would draw far too much attention, so he did not dare entertain the idea.

By this point, all his gains—aside from the storage bag he kept for himself, as well as the yin jade and the copper corpse's brain marrow—had been exchanged for spirit stones. Including what had yet to be entered into the accounts, his savings totaled five hundred and eleven low-grade spirit stones, with an additional seventy-six spirit crystals.