Maybe I Should Just Die

That night, the stars and moon lay sleepless.

It was already late by the time Qi Dian finished giving his statement. Rather than return to the main city, he found a hotel in City Seven to rest for the night.

Since childhood, he had been proud and ambitious. His ideal was to become a renowned swordsman of his age, championing justice and slaying demons. After joining Riverside Gate, he had always been one of the better disciples.

He had been proud and ambitious since childhood, dreaming of becoming a renowned swordsman who upheld justice, slew monsters, and vanquished demons. After joining the Riverside Gate, he had always stood out among his fellow disciples.

And with people praising disciples of immortal sects wherever they went, he had genuinely begun to believe he might become one of the great prodigies.

But Northern Sky Province was known as a desert for cultivation. There were so few immortal sects that he rarely had opportunities to spar with talented people his own age.

Next year's Youth Cultivators' Assembly was the stage he had long looked forward to proving himself on. All he had to do was defeat the other contenders in the City Heroes' Battle, and he could represent Jiangcheng City against prodigies from across the land.

He was confident he was as good as anyone!

Today had actually been his first solo mission. His sect wanted to give him some practical combat experience, assuming a shabby cemetery in a satellite city wouldn't harbor any powerful evil entities.

They had never imagined this.

He had set out on his first venture brimming with pride, only to nearly lose his life against a demonic cultivator.

And he had needed Yue Wen, an independent cultivator his own age, to save him.

Sigh.

Losing to a demonic cultivator didn't really bother him. Who knew how many years that man had cultivated? And even then, he was only in the late Unity Realm. Demonic methods inherently burned through a person's potential in exchange for fighting power.

It was perfectly normal for orthodox cultivators in the lower three realms to lose to demonic cultivators.

But Yue Wen had neither resources nor backing, yet surpassed him in both cultivation and combat ability... He was even miles better-looking.

Even a little place like Jiangcheng City had someone his age who could outclass him so completely.

Qi Dian couldn't help doubting himself.

Was my talent really nothing special?

Qi Dian wallowed in dejection for quite a while.

After some time, he silently began comforting himself.

The methods used by independent cultivators varied wildly in quality. Perhaps Yue Wen practiced something that offered rapid progress and tremendous fighting power in the lower three realms.

His master had said there were plenty of extreme methods that started strong but weakened later. Many independent cultivators never planned for the long term to begin with. The Riverside Gate's methods, on the other hand, emphasized steady foundations and strength in the later stages.

With enough comprehension to reach the middle three realms, he would truly shine.

That's right.

Qi Dian rallied. His comprehension was the best in the sect! Divine abilities and spells that took other disciples three days to learn took him only one. Cultivation methods that took others a month took him only a week.

Breaking through to the Astral Realm was a sure thing.

As long as he kept making steady progress, he would be in the fourth realm by the time the Youth Cultivators' Assembly began. He could definitely become Jiangcheng City's representative!

As the sages of the cultivation world had said, it wasn't who started strong that mattered, but who finished strong.

Excited by the thought, he immediately wanted to open the sect's scripture library and continue studying spells. But once he opened it, he spotted Yue Wen's study record. A little while earlier, Yue Wen had spent just twenty minutes studying.

There was no way he could have fully comprehended them.

Although the Thunderclap Art and Flash Technique were only minor divine abilities, Riverside Gate disciples generally needed several days to learn them. Even Qi Dian himself had spent over ten hours mastering them completely.

"Brother Yue is too considerate," Qi Dian murmured. "He probably only studied for such a short time because he didn't want to spend my money."

Although Yue Wen had shaken Qi Dian's confidence, Qi Dian wasn't jealous of him for being stronger. Besides, Yue Wen had saved his life. He felt nothing but gratitude.

So he made a point of sending Yue Wen a message.

[Young Hero Qi Roams the World with His Sword: "Brother Yue, feel free to study the visualization diagrams for those two divine abilities as much as you like. Don't worry about the fees. Our sect's pricing is very reasonable."]

[AAA Proprietor of the Yue Family Cultivation Office: Thanks, Brother Qi. I've already finished learning them.]

[Young Hero Qi Roams the World with His Sword: Oh.]

Putting away his phone, Qi Dian tilted his head back and stared silently at the ceiling for a while. A moment later, he murmured to himself again.

"Maybe I should just die."

Yue Wen had no idea how much damage his casual reply had done to Young Hero Qi's psyche.

After just a few hours of sleep, he woke refreshed in the morning light. Once he had washed up, there was still a little time before opening, so he went over his current cultivation methods upstairs.

First was the Wandering Dragon Hand, the first method he had practiced. It ranked among the very best Martial Arts Techniques, encompassing footwork and unarmed combat. Flexible and endlessly adaptable, it offered an answer to any Martial Arts Technique he might face at close range.

Next was the lethal Sword-Controlling Technique. It was fast and powerful, with its only possible weakness being a lack of variety. He could buy some advanced sword arts later.

For now, those two alone were enough to let him cruise through the lower three realms.

Then there were the Thunderclap Art and Flash Technique he had learned last night.

Yue Wen gently clenched his fist. Rolling thunder rumbled from his palm, as though he held a thundercloud in his grasp.

After dispersing the thunder, he snapped his fingers. A speck of starlight flew from his fingertip and burst with a pop into dazzling white radiance that filled the entire room.

Ideas had come to him as soon as he saw these two spells last night. They might be minor divine abilities, but they could prove extremely useful in certain situations.

For instance, if he suddenly cast the Flash Technique in a confined space like this, even a cultivator would see nothing but white and be unable to see for some time. Cultivators could lock onto someone's aura with their spiritual sense, but caught off guard, they certainly wouldn't react that quickly.

He could seize that opening and strike, driving his sword straight through their heart!

And the booming Thunderclap Art could unsettle the mind while also masking all sorts of sounds. Used well, it could be just as crucial.

Using these two techniques purely to show off would be a waste.

The divine abilities and exotic arts he bought from Da Long were high-quality but expensive, so he couldn't buy them casually. These minor divine abilities were exactly what he lacked. And asking Qi Dian for these two wouldn't make him wince at the cost.

He had gained something while keeping that favor intact.

If he had demanded a large sum or a treasure as payment for saving Qi Dian's life, Qi Dian might have given it to him, but the favor would have been spent.

Yue Wen had a clear plan in mind.

Aside from those, there were the two visualization diagrams Da Long had imprinted in his mind, which he had yet to master.

The Curse-Breaking Method for that demonic hide was more complicated than he had imagined. When he tried visualizing it, he instantly felt as though he had fallen into a blood-filled cavern in the demon realm. Thick, foul-smelling purple blood surrounded him, and demonic shadows filled every inch of the world.

Fully comprehending it might take several more days.

Sometimes, comprehension wasn't the only factor. Compatibility between a visualization diagram and the person studying it mattered too. This Curse-Breaking Method belonged to the dark and evil demonic path, so Yue Wen needed to put more effort into understanding it.

Give him some bright, dashing spells instead, and he would surely learn them with ease.

The other diagram was the Astral Realm section of the True Dragon Method.

No wonder Astral Realm methods were expensive. Their complexity was on an entirely different level from methods for the lower three realms.

If the Flash Technique's visualization diagram was an elementary school textbook, then the Astral Realm section of the True Dragon Method was an unabridged edition of The Plum in the Golden Vase. Not only did it contain vastly more information, it was all written in classical language.

Breaking through to the Astral Realm meant refining one's own astral energy, and each cultivation method produced a different kind.

The astral energy refined through the True Dragon Method was called "Chaos Dragon Astral Force."

As the saying went, great fire forged astral energy. To refine it through Astral Refining, one first had to ignite a spiritual flame in the sea of qi. That was why breaking through to the Astral Realm required materials.

Cultivating Chaos Dragon Astral Force required "Purple Jade Branch," "Blazing Flame Powder," "Grand Unity Mystic Blazing Cinnabar," and "Dragon-Breath Flame Seed."

Every one of them was rare and expensive.

At that moment, Yue Wen was immensely grateful he had obtained this method ahead of time on an installment plan. Otherwise, if he had waited until he saved enough Evil-Suppressing Money before starting to gather these materials, who knew how long his breakthrough would take?

He did a quick search on the Cultivation Chat forum. Price wasn't even the biggest problem. The real issue was that most of these materials were nowhere to be found on the market.

It looked like he would have to keep an eye out and gather them gradually.

Fortunately, he was only in the late third realm and still needed time to reach its peak, so he had time to prepare.

For now, he just had to run his office well. The money would come, and so would the Evil-Suppressing Money!

On that same fresh, clear morning.

Zhao Xing'er boarded a bus in a white blouse and a long gray skirt. Her face, brighter than the sunshine, leaned against the window, drawing glances from passing pedestrians.

Once seated, she took out her phone and sent a message. "Bestie, I'm about to start my first day at work! I'm kind of excited!"

The reply came instantly. "You've got this, bestie! Here's my wish for you: make your dreams happen!"

"Thank you!" Zhao Xing'er typed rapidly. "I'll work hard to slay monsters, vanquish demons, and make a name for myself! I'll build something great here in Jiangcheng City! Starting today, I'm going to..."