Amid the mountains, on the banks of the Fury River:
Wu Yong, Qian Xiuyue, and the others escaped from the riverbed, their faces pale.
Over a thousand martial arts experts, several hundred New-Method Cultivators, and dozens of Old Cultivation Method cultivators had entered the river with them.
They had spent a night on the riverbed. More than half the thousand martial arts experts had been killed or wounded, and the several hundred New-Method Cultivators had also lost more than half their number.
The Old Cultivation Method cultivators had suffered fewer losses, with only two dead.
Splash!
Splash!
Handful after handful of black sinking sand piled up.
Wu Yong said happily, "Sister Hongyi, last night's haul was pretty good. A full ten percent more than last time."
Zhao Hongyi remained expressionless. "Mm."
Beside her, Qian Xiuyue's heart stirred. "Sister Hongyi, what's wrong? You don't seem very pleased."
Zhao Hongyi put the black sinking sand away in a box and sighed. "Several New-Method Cultivators from my lineage died last night."
Wu Yong frowned.
This was the Drowning Dao Lower Court. The Market Ward outside held ten million seekers of immortality.
Unaffiliated cultivators were as plentiful as hairs on an ox, and strange spirits roamed the mountains.
A few cultivators dying was perfectly normal!
"Were those cultivators important?"
Zhao Hongyi shook her head. "They were dispensable."
"But the one who killed them was an Old Cultivation Method cultivator."
At those words, Wu Yong's expression changed slightly.
He had been involved with Zhao Hongyi for quite some time. He knew she had a lineage behind her, and that the senior brother she had attached herself to might support New Method cultivation.
He also knew that New Method cultivation factions were expanding, constantly clashing with Old Cultivation Method cultivation.
If New-Method Cultivators killed other New-Method Cultivators, it did not matter.
But when Old Cultivation Method cultivators killed New Method cultivators, or vice versa, it could easily stir up waves.
Zhao Hongyi sighed. "An Old Cultivation Method cultivator from my household investigated the enemy's methods, only to be killed by the enemy's curse."
"My lineage wants me to go back and investigate."
Wu Yong smiled. "I'll go with you."
Zhao Hongyi nodded. "All right!"
"Xiuyue, stay at the manor and arrange for people to bring some martial artists up the mountain."
"All right!"
That morning, Zhao Hongyi and the others were in no mood to gather purple qi. They hurried straight back to the manor.
Qian Xiuyue handed out Green Beetles to reward the surviving martial artists.
She arranged for people to attend to the New-Method Cultivators.
Finally, she made arrangements for the Old Cultivation Method cultivators as well.
Only after finishing all that work did she discover that Zhao Hongyi and Wu Yong had left.
With Zhao Hongyi absent for once, Qian Xiuyue felt a wave of relief.
Since last year, she had grown increasingly dissatisfied with Zhao Hongyi.
For one thing, Zhao Hongyi was far too domineering. She assigned Qian Xiuyue more and more tasks, leaving her hardly any time to refine spells.
At first, she had been able to refine around two spells a month.
Now, however, she could barely refine one a month. Sometimes she could not even manage that.
The manor clearly had more and more people, and resources were being gathered faster and faster, yet her spell refinement was slowing down.
Before, she had been free to use the manor's resources to refine spells.
Now, never mind using them-she had to keep handing over all kinds of resources.
What displeased her even more was this:
She could clearly tell that Zhao Hongyi favored the New-Method Cultivators.
Every day, she had to set aside time to study various spells with the New-Method Cultivators, breaking down the Lower Court's spells and even its Fundamental Method into smaller parts so that people who did not understand a single volume of Daoist Scriptures could cultivate.
When mistakes arose, Zhao Hongyi would not reprimand the New-Method Cultivators. She would scold Qian Xiuyue and the others instead.
Zhao Hongyi herself, on the other hand, used vast quantities of resources to refine spells every day. She certainly never wasted time discussing problems with spells or the Fundamental Method with anyone.
Free time was a rare luxury.
After thinking for a moment, Qian Xiuyue contacted Wang Quan. "Are you there?"
"Are you busy?"
Wang Quan replied, "I'm here, studying Daoist Scriptures."
Qian Xiuyue said, "I haven't read Daoist Scriptures in ages!"
Wang Quan replied, "It's all right. You can take your time reading them later!"
Qian Xiuyue asked, "Are you free this afternoon?"
Wang Quan replied, "No. I still have Daoist Scriptures to read!"
Qian Xiuyue fell silent for a moment. "What about tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow morning, I'm going with some people into the deep mountains and ancient forests to find an auspicious feng shui site for a funeral."
"Oh!"
They chatted a while longer before Qian Xiuyue suddenly said, "I'm starting to regret following Zhao Hongyi."
In the Scripture Repository, Wang Quan paused. After a moment's thought, he replied, "If you regret it, come back."
"The Lower Court is vast. There's room for you to cultivate in peace."
Qian Xiuyue asked, "Are you interested in setting up a manor?"
Wang Quan replied, "No."
"Right now, I only want to study Daoist Scriptures and increase my magical power."
"Once my magical power reaches perfection, I'll think about a manor."
Qian Xiuyue replied, "Oh!"
"I'm going to study Daoist Scriptures now!"
"Mm!"
After ending her conversation with Wang Quan, Qian Xiuyue picked up a volume of Daoist Scriptures to study.
She had paid a steep price to buy this volume from the Lower Court. In the past, she had studied it every day.
Now... the scriptures were coated in dust.
She shook the Fly Whisk off the volume and began studying it earnestly.
A quarter of an hour...
An hour...
Two hours...
Qian Xiuyue was bewildered.
She discovered that she could not keep studying.
She could not quiet her mind.
Her thoughts were filled with building a manor of her own, then gathering a group of beautiful young men.
She would have the young men gather dew from the sun, moon, and dawn to brew fine wine, and harvest morning and evening clouds to weave robes of rosy light.
Every few days, she would invite a group of friends for a small gathering.
Together, they would gather moonlight and turn it into beauties who danced gracefully, conjure a moon, and ascend it to frolic with fairies.
I can't let my thoughts run wild!
Even Wang Quan is working hard. I should work hard too.
Qian Xiuyue forced herself to study the Daoist Scriptures again.
In the Scripture Repository, after ending his conversation with Qian Xiuyue, Wang Quan checked the Officiant Daoist Nun's message.
The Officiant Daoist Nun said that she had taken a large commission early that morning-a funeral.
"Normally, I'd only contact you when it was time for the burial!"
"But this time is different."
"You and the Dream Nun need to act ahead of time tomorrow."
After some consideration, Wang Quan replied to the Officiant Daoist Nun, "What do you need me to do?"
The Officiant Daoist Nun replied, "Today, study a few spells related to feng shui, earth veins, ritual protocols, and the underworld."
"Our client this time hadn't mastered even a single volume of Daoist Scriptures, but cultivated the three-thousand-volume version of the Fundamental Method."
"After death, the client will definitely become an anomaly."
Wang Quan was taken aback. "An anomaly?"
The Daoist Scriptures contained no mention of such a thing. This was the first time he had heard of it.
The Officiant Daoist Nun had investigated Wang Quan and knew he had never ventured out before, so she quickly explained:
"When you first arrived at the Lower Court, your instructors and the people who explained things to you all said you weren't allowed to learn a version of the Fundamental Method beyond your own level of Daoist Scriptures, didn't they?"
Wang Quan nodded. "That's right!"
"But... according to some friends' observations, cultivating it seems harmless. The Fundamental Method is just a little weaker, that's all."
The Officiant Daoist Nun chuckled. "How long have you been observing?"
"We've been observing for over twenty years."
Wang Quan was speechless...
"The greater the gap between the version someone cultivates and the number of Daoist Scripture volumes they've mastered, the more likely they are to become an anomaly."
"If they don't become an anomaly while alive, they certainly will after death."
"These anomalies are difficult to deal with. Only spells involving feng shui, earth veins, ritual protocols, or the underworld can kill them permanently."
"Other methods can only kill them temporarily. After a few years, the slain anomalies will come back to life."
"The household that hired us this time fears the deceased will become an anomaly, so they want us to find a feng shui site to suppress the corpse and prevent that transformation."
"We'll encounter more and more commissions like this in the future."
"So I wanted to take this opportunity to familiarize you with the work."
Wang Quan replied, "All right!"
Before you continue