What He Gained

Chen Lingxi withdrew her gaze, no longer looking at the suddenly deceased Yang Zhuri.

He walked up to the boy, squatted down, and extended his right hand.

He placed his palm on the gruesome wound on the boy's neck, spiritual energy flowing within his palm, and a hazy blue light seeped from the edge of his palm, seeping into the wound in strands.

The severed blood vessels, muscles, and skin were temporarily sealed by this spiritual energy, and the bleeding stopped.

He then took out another pill and put it into the boy's mouth.

This medicine is for stopping bleeding and treating injuries; he bought it from the Benevolence Hall for emergencies.

The boy's lips moved slightly, emitting a very faint hissing sound, as if he were panting heavily, or as if he was trying his best to breathe in this regained life.

The girl stared blankly at everything, her eyes filled with both the terror of witnessing murder and a glimmer of hope.

Though the vitality was extremely faint, it truly shone brightly.

After Chen Lingxi, she put the ghost mask back on and stood up.

Moonlight fell on the ghost's face, and the patterns on its blue face and fangs gleamed with a cold, eerie light in the night.

He told the girl, "Don't run around, wait here."

Having said that, he strode towards the main hall of Clear River Estate.

He was gone for a long time.

The girl curled up beside her brother, remaining motionless.

She listened to the wind, the gentle lapping of the pool against the stone platform, and the flickering flame of the bronze lamp.

The sounds were exactly the same as before, but the courtyard seemed to have completely changed.

"I don't have to die," the girl murmured to herself.

After an unknown amount of time, the masked man in black returned.

He strode from the direction of the main hall to the two men, and then, from who knows where, took out two sets of gray cloth short clothes that servants usually wore and placed them on the stone slab.

"Change into it," Chen Lingxi said, her voice coming from behind the mask.

Chen Lingxi led the two out of Clear River Estate.

He grabbed them by the back of their collars, one in each hand, and with a leap, he lightly touched the courtyard wall with his toes, and like a night bird, he silently flew over the wall and landed on the riverbank outside.

The chestnut horse was still tied to the hitching post outside the gate, its hooves pawing at the frozen ground, snorting and puffing out two puffs of white breath.

Chen Lingxi untied the reins of the horse, helped the brother and sister onto the horse, then mounted himself and flicked the reins.

The horse neighed loudly, its four hooves thrashing about.

The wind howls, and the horses' hooves clatter.

Fortunately, Clear River Estate was located in a secluded spot outside the city, so there was no need to hide from anything.

The girl was sandwiched between Chen Lingxi and her brother, her hands gripping the horse's mane tightly.

She didn't speak a word the whole way, only occasionally glancing sideways at the ghostly face behind her out of the corner of her eye.

The demon's face flickered in and out of the moonlight, the shadows of its fangs cast on its jaw, making it look like a real evil spirit.

But she wasn't afraid.

"I think this is probably what the gods worshipped in temples look like."

As she was thinking this, a sudden sharp pain shot through her mind, and she remembered something.

Tears welled in the girl's eyes, and she sobbed, "My benefactor... we also have a younger sister..."

Before Chen Lingxi could speak, the young man suddenly interrupted her.

He spoke weakly to Chen Lingxi, "My benefactor, yesterday my second sister and I were tied up, and I saw with my own eyes my younger sister being thrown to her death by that old servant... so I won't trouble you any further!"

The boy's voice trembled, breaking into broken sentences.

Chen Lingxi silent as his horse galloped along, eventually reaching the ferry crossing Yuan River Prefecture.

Chen Lingxi found a merchant ship that was about to head north, found the captain, and without saying a word, took out a few silver notes from his pocket and placed them in the captain's palm.

The boat captain was a burly man with a full beard. He had been dozing off at the bow of the boat, and when Chen Lingxi woke him up, he was still very impatient. But when he saw the silver note in his palm, his eyes almost popped out.

"Please speak freely, sir!"

Chen Lingxi said, "Take them to Celebration Prefecture, find them a place to stay, and the rest is yours."

The boat captain readily agreed.

Chen Lingxi stared at him intently. "I will personally go to Celebration Prefecture to see them in two months. If they are in trouble... your ship will not escape."

He suddenly flicked his finger, and a stream of Qi and Blood flew out, falling into the water. A short while later, a fish floated to the surface.

The boat captain swallowed hard.

The ship then sailed away, heading north.

The ship sailed further and further away.

The girl stood at the stern of the boat, clutching an old cotton-padded coat that the boat's steward had given her, watching the dark figure on the shore gradually shrink.

The dark figure stood on the stone steps of the ferry crossing, the sunlight illuminating his calm eyes.

The boy pulled the girl to kneel on the deck of the boat, and kowtowed towards the receding shadowy figure on the shore.

Chen Lingxi stood on the stone steps of the ferry, watching the boat gradually disappear into the depths of the river mist.

The wind swept down from the Yuan River, and the river mist rose from the water, layer upon layer, enveloping the distant fishing lights, the nearby reeds, and the frozen, hardened earth underfoot in a hazy, white expanse.

His face was expressionless; he looked at it for a moment, then turned around and strode into the city.

Rescuing people can indeed pose risks.

Killing Yang Zhuri will be investigated by the Crown Sun-Holding General's Estate, and the officials of Yuan River Prefecture and even Capital Prefecture will not let it go.

If we're talking about potential risks, we could have done a much better job of eliminating them.

After killing the brother and sister and throwing their bodies into the river, there were no survivors and no way to pursue the matter.

But Chen Lingxi still saved them.

He recalled the girl curled up on the stone slab, clutching her brother's clothes with one hand and covering her mouth with the other, yet still casting a worried look at him.

He recalled squatting in the snow in the back garden of the Baosu Marquis Residence, brushing aside the layer of snow that had covered him for who knows how many days, and seeing the white calyx stubbornly holding up the flower bud.

The wind and snow were fierce, but Bai'e did not die; he never died.

They did not die.

"What is the point of spiritual practice if one cannot act according to one's heart?"

"And..."

As Chen Lingxi walked, he sensed the spiritual energy flowing in his own Qi Sea.

After Fourth Floor of Qi Circulation, the spiritual Qi transforms into spiritual liquid and resides in the Qi Sea, its total amount being far more abundant than that of the third level.

The Spiritual Qi contained in each drop of the spiritual liquid is extremely rich.

"It possesses the Azure Edge Method, the Concealed Edge Method, the Dragon Roar Technique, the Purple True Treasure Aura, and the Gold-Slaughtering Saber."

He silently calculated in his mind.

"To instantly kill a martial artist like Yang Zhuri, who has reached the Golden Body Great Accomplishment, I don't even need to use my Qi and Blood cultivation. As for the old servant in silver armor, it would only take a flick of his finger."

The entire guards of the mansion could be wiped out in less than a quarter of an hour.

"With such cultivation, most of the time, it's enough to protect oneself... even... to act according to one's will."

He pondered in his heart, but his steps were not slow as he headed towards the government office.

After completing all these tasks, only an hour had passed.

The government office remains unchanged.

The gate is adorned with vermilion nails, and two stone lions stand before it, their eyes wide with fury, their paws pressing down on an embroidered ball and a cub.

Chen Lingxi stepped forward and gave her name and information about her status as a slave.

The old official made a mark on the register, didn't even lift his eyelids, and waved him away.

He returned to the Baosu Marquis Residence.

The two guards at the gate were leaning against the gatepost, chatting and laughing quietly. When they saw him return, they only glanced at him and then ignored him.

He walked through the covered corridor, around the moon gate, and returned to the servants' quarters.

The Mohe Flower is still placed in the small celadon vase on the windowsill.

"This Mohe Flower seems to be withering soon."

Chen Lingxi continued as before, arranging flowers and circulating Qi and Blood, Sight-Roaming the Lin Suri.

"Not here."

He withdrew his Sight-Roaming, his brow furrowing slightly.

These days, Lin Suri has indeed been leaving the mansion more often than usual, and is frequently not at home.

Upon reaching the Fourth Floor of Qi Circulation Hall, Chen Lingxi Divine Chamber encompassed an area of four thousand feet in both directions, yet he could no longer sense Lin Suri's presence.

"He doesn't seem to be in Yuan River Prefecture; I wonder where he's gone."

After a moment's thought, Chen Lingxi suppressed these thoughts for the time being.

As night deepened, he silently left through the West Courtyard and sped off towards the Yuan River City.

The night was dark and the fields outside the city were frozen solid. The wheat seedlings had long since withered and turned yellow, lying prostrate on the ridges of earth, covered with a thin layer of frost.

He headed west, with Inlaid Gold Mountain appearing and disappearing in the night.

Chen Lingxi up the mountain and arrived at that protruding cliff again.

He lightly touched the cliff face with his toes, and his body rose more than three zhang (approximately 10 meters) into the air, landing on a hidden stone platform in the middle of the cliff. He pushed aside the old vines at the edge of the stone platform, revealing a cave.

This cave is naturally formed, with an extremely narrow entrance, barely wide enough for one person to squeeze in sideways. Inside, however, Cave Heaven. The cave is about ten feet square, with a dry bluestone floor and several clusters of grayish-white stalactites growing on the cave walls. High up, there is a very thin crack in the stone, through which moonlight leaks down, casting a small patch of silvery-white light into the cave.

This was a place he had discovered during his two months of cultivation; it was extremely well-hidden.

Chen Lingxi sat down cross-legged in the center of the cave.

He first took out the two large packages from his Universe Bag and checked the contents one by one.

Gold ingots, silver ingots, and silver notes were all Yang Zhuri's hidden treasures in a secret room in the Clear River Estate.

"The silver notes alone amount to approximately three thousand taels."

In addition, there were many antique jade artifacts, two bottles of elixirs, more than ten jade pendants of excellent quality, and even a small box of gold leaves that had been collected from an unknown source.

Yang Zhuri stayed in Yuan River Prefecture for a short time, yet his personal wealth was already quite substantial.

Chen Lingxi sorted these items and put them into his Universe Bag, then took out two more items from the bag.

A longbow, a feathered arrow.

Today, while searching through the Clear River Estate, Chen Lingxi noticed that Yang Zhuri had been carefully hanging these two items in the East Hall, and she immediately recognized their extraordinary nature.

"Longbow, feathered arrows."

Chen Lingxi took the longbow in his hand. The bow was extremely heavy, several times heavier than an ordinary iron-framed bow. He wondered what material it was made of.

The bow is dark blue all over, with faint wood grain patterns flowing through it. The bowstring is made of an unknown material; it is a translucent silver color, as thin as a hair. When you gently pluck it with your fingertip, it produces a buzzing sound that lingers for a long time.

"Good."

Chen Lingxi placed the longbow on his lap and then picked up the feathered arrow.

With the arrow in hand, his expression shifted slightly, revealing a hint of surprise.

"This arrow is even more precious."

When Chen Lingxi infused a wisp of spiritual energy into it, the dull gray arrow fletching suddenly lit up.

A very faint blue light emanated from the arrow fletching, spreading along the shaft to the tip, illuminating the entire arrow.

The tip of the arrow emitted a flickering blue light and a faint hissing sound, like a serpent awakened, waiting to devour its prey.

Chen Lingxi's pupils narrowed slightly.

"Just as I thought," he murmured to himself.

This arrow is no ordinary object.

It is not just an ordinary weapon, but a spiritual weapon that has undergone some kind of refinement.

"Yang Zhuri actually possesses such a treasure."

After a moment's thought, Chen Lingxi had already formed a guess in her mind.

Yang Zhuri must have entered the Beast-Fighting Palace and killed many beasts with extraordinary martial arts skills.

He used the spiritual energy of Ying Chi to sacrifice to the palace, and the Cauldron Artifact Fortune fell upon this feathered arrow.

"If I could use this arrow, it would definitely become my trump card, and Yang Zhuri wouldn't be able to utilize it at all."

Having made up his mind, Chen Lingxi no longer delayed.

He channeled his spiritual energy into a finer, denser stream, injecting it into the arrow and placing it on the magic array within the arrow.

The spiritual energy traced the past inch by inch.

The patterns gradually connected in his mind to form a complete magic array, and he discovered the array's patterns, barriers, and nodes.

"Once you are completely familiar with the operation of the magic array, you can control this arrow as easily as your own arm... no, this is a Spiritual Arrow."

Chen Lingxi the entire night refining the Spiritual Arrow until dawn. He finally mastered it. Even without drawing a bow, the arrow could be controlled with the slightest movement of his spiritual energy, moving freely across the three-zhang-wide Void.

The bluish light of the arrow tip swept past, whistling through the air with a sharp, chilling sound.

Chen Lingxi, a slight smile appearing on her lips.

"With this Spiritual Arrow, combined with the Azure Edge Method, and even the Purple True Treasure Aura... its power would be immeasurable in a single strike."

He put the Spiritual Arrow into his Universe Bag, and then took out the stone shaped like a throwing knife from the bag.

After climbing to the Fourth Floor of Qi Circulation, he had already looked at it many times.

The stone felt cool to the touch and had a faint, deep sheen.

He probed the stone with his spiritual energy. Wherever the spiritual energy passed, dense patterns appeared inside the stone, layer upon layer, many times more complex than the magic array in the Spiritual Arrow.

Those lines extended deep into the stone, and his spiritual energy could not reach their end.

Chen Lingxi withdrew her spiritual energy and looked down at the stone in her palm, a hint of anticipation appearing in her eyes.

"I've actually found a treasure." He thought to himself, "With my current cultivation level, I have no way of controlling this treasure."

"If I were to reach the fifth or even Qi Circulation Sixth Floor of Qi Circulation Fifth Floor, I wonder if I could control this stone treasure shaped like a flying knife?"

Chen Lingxi a deep breath.

As the morning sun began to shine in the distance, Chen Lingxi got up and returned to her residence.