Yang Wenqing forcefully suppressed the joy in his heart. Feeling the speed at which his Qi Sea absorbed spiritual energy, his consciousness flashed through the Golden Core World, and a plan formed in his mind.
This cultivator's skeleton gathered Qi even faster than the Spirit-Gathering Formation in the branch office's training room. Its flaw was that the spiritual energy it gathered was extremely crude, but Yang Wenqing had the Golden Core World and could completely ignore that drawback. With it, he would not need to practice boxing to draw spiritual energy into his body for cultivation.
Perhaps the two years he had originally planned could be shortened to several months—or even just one month.
"Wen Qing, cultivation cannot be rushed!" Li Ming warned. He had noticed the light in Yang Wenqing's eyes. He had seen that light far too many times and knew what Yang Wenqing was thinking.
"That's right, Wen Qing. You're still young," Zhou Kun urged as well. "If you use it for cultivation without being careful, it could damage your Spirit Veins. One misstep, and you might completely lose the possibility of advancing to the Qi Refining Stage."
"How much is this thing worth?" Yang Wenqing asked.
"I don't know, but it probably isn't worth much," Li Ming replied. "It is completely useless to most low-level cultivators. Once they reach the Qi Refining Stage, they no longer use it. Its greatest use is being purchased by some research institute and taken away for strange experiments."
After speaking, he paused, stared at Yang Wenqing, and added, "You should know that Spirit-Gathering Formations suitable for our stage are very complicated to set up. Our Spirit Veins are too fragile. Even wealthy young masters usually would not cultivate through spirit gathering at this stage."
Yang Wenqing fell silent for several seconds. Meeting Li Ming's gaze, he said, "Thank you for the warning, Brother Ming. I just want to try it. Before we sell it, let me use it to cultivate for a while. How about it?"
Li Ming and Zhou Kun exchanged a glance. Both of them wanted to refuse. It was not because they feared Yang Wenqing would keep it all for himself, but because they feared he would overdo his cultivation and permanently damage his Spirit Veins.
"I can't give you an answer. I'll tell the captain and let him speak with you."
Li Ming gave his answer, then continued, "For now, put it away. We need to destroy these buildings and clear away those corpses."
"No problem!" Yang Wenqing nodded. He wrapped that section of spine in a clean piece of oilcloth and placed it inside his tactical backpack.
Afterward, the three of them dragged the monster corpses scattered across the clearing into a single pile.
The hides, claws, bones, and flesh containing traces of spiritual energy from these monsters were all materials of some value to the City Defense Bureau and certain merchant associations. Specialized militia would come later to handle and register them in greater detail.
Li Ming pulled a pale yellow talisman from the inner layer of his talisman folder. After activating it, it immediately formed a breeze carrying a fresh scent. Centered on the pile of corpses, the breeze spread outward in all directions, disrupting and dispersing the heavy stench of blood.
Then Yang Wenqing's three-man team continued advancing south.
Perhaps because of the wolf demon tribe's presence, the demons and sprites in the surrounding area had already been absorbed or driven away. During the following sweep, they encountered only a few insignificant wild beasts and scattered sprites, which they dealt with effortlessly.
At around three in the afternoon, they reached the boundary of their designated area and left a marker before returning to camp along their original route.
By the time they returned, the setting sun had already dyed the horizon red. The members of the other squads were also returning one after another, and the camp was clearly busier than it had been yesterday.
Yang Wenqing had just returned to the camp quarters and set down his equipment when Captain Xiao Liang walked over.
"Li Ming already told me." Xiao Liang got straight to the point and looked at Yang Wenqing. "Are you sure you want to take this risk?"
"Captain, I understand the risks involved." Yang Wenqing's tone was sincere. "I'll be extremely careful. The moment I feel any discomfort in my Spirit Veins, I'll stop. I know my limits. I won't gamble with my own future."
Xiao Liang stared at Yang Wenqing for several seconds, while Yang Wenqing's gaze remained clear and resolute.
"Fine. Since you insist, do as you said. Remember, act within your limits."
"Thank you, Captain!"
Gratitude appeared on Yang Wenqing's face.
However, though Xiao Liang agreed on the surface, he secretly decided that over the next two days, he would use this opportunity in the field to keep a closer watch on Yang Wenqing's condition. If anything seemed wrong, he would immediately intervene by force.
Not long after Xiao Liang left, Ye Yong came running over to call Yang Wenqing to dinner.
After dinner, the camp gradually quieted down. Most of the team members hurried to rest and recover the physical strength and energy spent during the day. Only the patrolling militia walked back and forth along the edge of the fence.
In a relatively secluded corner, Yang Wenqing first practiced the boxing forms of the Qi-Drawing Art three times as usual, adjusting himself to peak condition before sitting cross-legged and picking up the spine wrapped in oilcloth.
In only a moment, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth seemed to be drawn by an invisible force field, rapidly converging. Yang Wenqing immediately guided the gathered spiritual energy into his body with all his strength.
The spiritual energy forcibly gathered in this way would flood into his Spirit Veins before Yang Wenqing's narrow Qi Sea could refine it.
Therefore, Yang Wenqing directly entered the Golden Core World and used its power to refine the spiritual energy, then guided it through his Spirit Veins in a Greater Celestial Circuit.
Yet despite this, he still saw tiny cracks appear in his Spirit Veins. They had been caused by the circulation being too fast. Yang Wenqing did not stop. He gritted his teeth and continued maintaining his cultivation, because at that moment, he could clearly sense his Spirit Veins slowly expanding.
But as time passed, the burden on his Spirit Veins grew heavier and heavier. Tearing pain spread from his limbs and bones, warning Yang Wenqing that his body had nearly reached its limit. Yet only when he felt that his Spirit Veins were about to buckle under the strain and his foundation was about to be affected did he decisively cut off the spiritual energy connection to the spine.
At that moment, the Qi Sea within him was already brimming to the point of overflowing, far more effective than several days of arduous cultivation. But the price was that his Spirit Veins were covered in tiny wounds, along with the burning, stinging pain those wounds brought.
Yang Wenqing did not dare delay. He immediately calmed his mind and circulated the Basic Qi Refining method with all his strength, drawing upon the pure spiritual energy overflowing in his Qi Sea to repair his damaged Spirit Veins.
By the time he had roughly repaired his main Spirit Veins, he discovered that the sky had become completely dark.
He exhaled a breath of turbid air and felt the fullness of his Qi Sea, his heart filled with the satisfaction of harvest. Then he noticed that not far away, Captain Xiao Liang sat cross-legged beside a supply crate. He appeared to be meditating with his eyes closed, but his position happened to allow the corner where Yang Wenqing had cultivated to remain within the edge of his vision.
Yang Wenqing immediately understood. The captain had feared that he would overdo his cultivation and was standing guard for him.
Early the next morning, when the sky was barely light, a sharp assembly whistle rang through the camp.
All patrol members swiftly dressed and jogged to the center of camp to form ranks. Director Wang Ren stood at the front, his expression even more solemn than yesterday.
"After yesterday's initial sweep, the threats on the outskirts have basically been eliminated." Wang Ren's voice carried through the camp. "Today, the six patrol teams will converge and advance simultaneously into the depths of the forest in a fan formation. Our objective is to clear out every large-scale demon gathering in this area and completely sweep away all hidden dangers..."
Over the next three days, the clearing operation unfolded in full.
Director Wang Ren personally oversaw the command as the six patrol teams steadily advanced deeper into the forest. Several Demon Race gathering points they encountered were reduced to ruins amid bursts of gunfire. Wang Ren and the six captains did not even have a chance to act.
At five every afternoon, the teams returned on schedule to the forward stronghold temporarily established by the militia to rest. Whenever that happened, Yang Wenqing would find a secluded place to cultivate with the aid of the spine, while Captain Xiao Liang would always happen to be meditating or handling work not far away.
It was worth mentioning that another gathering point later yielded a cultivator's skeleton, but it consisted of only two ribs that were nearly weathered away.
Three days later, the main threats within Forest No. 13 had basically been wiped out, and long-term Monitoring Formations and simple strongholds had been established at several key locations.
Thus, the main force began returning to Thousand Reef County.
As the end of the year approached, the county town grew thick with the flavor of the New Year, but the Public Security Office did not relax its work. During the Spring Festival in particular, more manpower was needed to maintain order.
As a newcomer, Yang Wenqing was assigned consecutive duty shifts.
Perhaps because it was the Spring Festival, the captain had received no news from the buyer he had contacted to purchase the spine.
Throughout the entire first lunar month, Yang Wenqing passed his days on duty, patrol, and cultivation. Whenever he returned to the dormitory, he would take out the spine and cultivate with the Golden Core World's assistance.
Such days continued until one night near the end of the first lunar month, when the chill of winter had yet to fade. As Yang Wenqing finished his cultivation as usual, he suddenly felt something stir within him.
He immediately settled his thoughts and used the Golden Core World to observe the Spirit Veins within his body...
He saw that his Qi Sea, already filled to its utmost limit, had reached a certain critical point. His Spirit Veins throughout his body also transmitted a strange sense of saturation and throbbing, as though some kind of shackles were about to shatter.
Yang Wenqing abruptly opened his eyes, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and muttered, "Faster than I expected. With the spiritual energy I've refined in my Qi Sea now, there's a good chance I won't even need the Dragon Ginseng Pill to advance to the Qi Refining Stage!"
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