Was it really you?

Inside Li Yang's cave abode on Crane-Cry Peak.

"That old bastard changed his tune today. He actually gave me a seven-pattern Foundation Establishment Pill!"

Li Yang opened the storage pouch Lu Feng had given him. Inside a jade bottle lay a pill bearing seven distinct pill patterns.

Pills were ranked from first to ninth grade, corresponding to the nine major cultivation realms of this world.

Their quality was further divided according to the number of pill patterns, from one to ten.

For a direct disciple on the fringes like him, all the wealth he had saved so far could only buy a five-pattern pill.

He uncorked the bottle, and the rich fragrance refreshed his heart and soul.

At its scent, even Li Yang's dantian stirred, desperately yearning for Foundation Establishment.

"What's this?"

The storage ring Lu Feng had given him contained three things.

Besides the seven-pattern Foundation Establishment Pill, there was a jade slip and a sword talisman.

"Looks like Master plans to focus on training me. Never thought I'd get to enjoy the perks of a second-generation cultivator someday.

"This sword talisman conceals its edge, but I can feel the terrifying aura within. If activated at close range, even a Golden Core cultivator would die!"

Li Yang then took out the jade slip, praying it contained no sword techniques or sword arts.

He had no interest in those flashy tricks. All he pursued was a one-hit kill in the fiercest life-or-death combat.

Fortunately, it contained a recorded voice message:

"Demons have recently been lurking in Yongning Commandery within the Great Qian Dynasty, waiting for an opportunity to act. They appear to be plotting something. Once you achieve Foundation Establishment, set out immediately with your third senior sister to investigate. Slay any demons you encounter on the spot!"

Li Yang was somewhat disappointed.

This was worse than a secret sword art. At least that could have fetched a good price.

"Forget it. He's already given me a seven-pattern Foundation Establishment Pill. I shouldn't ask for too much."

Li Yang put everything away.

He opened Shen Lou'er's storage ring and took out a large number of spirit stones.

He had to admit that sweet-talking cultivators who knew how to act spoiled always had more resources. The key was being good-looking.

Li Yang loved killing these pampered junior sisters most of all. They really dropped a wealth of resources.

He promptly set up a Spirit-Gathering Array, and the spirit stones turned into piles of ash.

His cultivation naturally advanced from the ninth level of Qi Refining to perfected Qi Refining, leaving him only a single step away from Foundation Establishment.

Compared to the vast majority of rogue cultivators, Li Yang actually cultivated fairly quickly.

Countless cultivators had no hope of achieving Foundation Establishment in their entire lives, wasting away their allotted century.

"I've reached perfected Qi Refining, and I've already converted the gaseous spiritual energy inside me into liquid. I wonder what sort of foundation platform I'll form."

Besides, Li Yang felt that if he rounded perfected Qi Refining up, it was practically Foundation Establishment. There was no real difference, so killing a first-level Foundation Establishment cultivator hardly counted as fighting above his realm.

Li Yang stood up, intending to take a walk outside.

"I'll check out Yongning Commandery first. Maybe once I've killed to my heart's content, Foundation Establishment will come as naturally as water flowing into a channel."

Li Yang was not someone who tied himself in knots. He had a way to vent his negative emotions-killing people.

He stepped out through the entrance of his cave abode.

"Third senior sister?"

Li Yang was somewhat surprised. He had not expected her to already be waiting outside his abode.

She was a tall beauty in a plain white dress, with a gentle, jade-like grace somewhat similar to Saintess Su Yao's.

But she had a little more playfulness about her.

"You haven't started your breakthrough yet?" his third senior sister asked.

Li Yang nodded.

He was not close to his third senior sister.

To be precise, he was not close to any of his senior brothers or sisters.

Still, he remembered that the last time he saw this third senior sister, her cultivation aura seemed to exceed the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Li Yang did not dwell on it.

They took Mysterious Heaven City's teleportation array to a cultivation city near Yongning Commandery.

On their way to Yongning Commandery, Ning Xinyao could no longer suppress her burning curiosity:

"Ninth junior brother, come on, tell your senior sister. Was the mysterious chivalrous cultivator who killed Junior Sister Shen really you?"

Li Yang looked at her calmly.

"No."

"Really?" His third senior sister looked thoroughly suspicious.

"Shen Lou'er's father is the Six Desires Demon Venerable. Would a little nobody like me, with no backing, dare kill her? Do I have a death wish?

"Senior sister, you know me. I'm the biggest coward there is."

"True." His third senior sister also felt that Li Yang lacked the nerve.

After all, nobodies like Li Yang walked on thin ice wherever they went.

"All right~ I thought I'd have to see you in a new light."

Now that Ning Xinyao had opened the floodgates of conversation, she asked conspiratorially:

"Then you must have done something outstanding lately, right? Otherwise, why would Master have you come to Yongning Commandery with me?"

The moment Li Yang heard that, he knew this journey to slay demons and uphold the righteous path was not so simple. There was probably some benefit involved.

"How so?"

"Well, I certainly can't tell you. If I told you outright, it would change the nature of things. Work it out yourself."

As it turned out, Li Yang really did not ask any further.

He simply was not someone who liked trouble.

"You really aren't going to ask?!"

Ning Xinyao could barely stand it.

She had been waiting for Li Yang to eagerly beg her to tell him.

"Not interested. Don't want to know." Li Yang did not even lift his eyelids.

He sat cross-legged on the flying boat's deck, cultivating and reinforcing his foundation again and again.

This sounded troublesome, and he did not want to get involved.

He would just dutifully slay demons and uphold the righteous path.

But his refusal to take the bait provoked Ning Xinyao:

"Aren't you curious why powerful cultivators at Golden Core and above haven't dared approach Yongning Commandery lately?"

"No."

"Aren't you curious why Master specifically sent me to accompany you?"

"No."

"Aren't you curious what benefits you'll receive if you perform well on this trip?"

"No."

Ning Xinyao could not take it anymore and reached out to twist Li Yang's ear.

But she forced herself to stop, giving an angry huff.

"Fine, don't be curious! I don't want to tell you anyway! If you miss out on this opportunity yourself, you'll have plenty to regret!"

Li Yang only knew that this third senior sister came from the Ning Lineage, an ancient immortal lineage.

But he truly could not imagine what this mission had to do with the Ning Lineage.

Nor did he want to know at all.

He had only one goal-to kill to his heart's content, then achieve Foundation Establishment in one fell swoop.

Several days later.

Before they even approached Yongning Commandery, Li Yang keenly detected wisps of demonic energy drifting between heaven and earth, along with a sinister, resentful aura that stirred an instinctive unease.

He was all too familiar with it. Demons were undoubtedly wreaking havoc.

"I'm going to take care of something."

He affixed a sword-control talisman to his flying sword and immediately rode it away.