In... instant cast?

After successfully mastering [Basic Sword Qi], Qi Yun immediately summoned the Law Technique Panel.

Amid swirling clouds, mist, and ink, the panel slowly appeared.

[Mastered Law Techniques]

[Clear Breeze Technique: auto-updating (progress 1%)]

[Basic Sword Qi: auto-updating (progress 1%)]

At the same time, a familiar stirring burst forth in Qi Yun's heart, its source pointing straight toward the Storage Bag tucked against his chest.

Or rather... the piece of [adamant metal] inside the Storage Bag!

Just as I thought!

The Law Technique Panel only refines natural spiritual treasures that match a Law Technique's Dao essence.

A sharp gleam flashed through his eyes. Qi Yun immediately took out the Storage Bag and fished out the piece of [adamant metal].

The instant the [adamant metal] touched his hand, the Law Technique Panel trembled slightly. A surging suction erupted from Qi Yun's palm, refining this natural spiritual treasure in an instant!

With the wondrous effect of refining the [adamant metal], the progress beside [Basic Sword Qi] on the Law Technique Panel began to skyrocket at a rate visible to the naked eye.

10%... 20%... 45%... 80%... 100%!

One natural spiritual treasure had filled [Basic Sword Qi]'s progress bar outright.

The [Basic Sword Qi] he had only just mastered received an update and upgrade in the blink of an eye!

[Law Technique auto-update complete. This is a minor version update. Law Technique effects adjusted as follows.]

[Basic Sword Qi: casting windup removed.]

"Casting windup removed?"

Looking at the line that had appeared on the panel, Qi Yun froze slightly, somewhat bewildered.

Casting windup?

Wasn't that... what games in my previous life called a character's preparatory movements before using a skill?

But I'm not playing a game right now.

Wait... could it mean...

Suddenly realizing something, Qi Yun looked toward the wooden table five meters away. Then, with a thought-

Hiss-

Another streak of incomparably sharp Sword Qi shot forth, carving a deep sword mark into the table in an instant.

"Holy crap, instant cast..."

Qi Yun stared in shock at the Sword Qi he had unleashed with nothing but a thought, without forming any hand seals or chanting any incantations.

No hand seals!

No incantations!

No preparation whatsoever!

Where his thoughts reached, Sword Qi sprang into being!

"So that's what removing the casting windup means...

"The technique follows the thought.

"A thought arises, and the technique manifests."

Too powerful.

Compared with [Clear Breeze Technique]'s newly added effect of turning into a clear breeze, [Basic Sword Qi]'s ability to dispense with all windup and activate with a thought was no less valuable.

Although the power of the Sword Qi itself had not increased.

The ability to unleash Sword Qi with a thought, without any preparation, was far, far stronger than a simple increase in power.

"And this is only a minor version update. What if it were a major version update..." Just thinking about it, Qi Yun could sense the limitless potential of his Law Technique Panel.

"Next, aside from honing my cultivation and breaking through as soon as possible, I need to gather more wood- and metal-element spiritual treasures.

"Fortunately, I seem to have an additional sense for these spiritual treasures now.

"As long as I get within a certain distance, I can sense them.

"With a few more updates and upgrades, even the most ordinary little Law Technique can become an earth-shaking great Divine Ability."

Silently planning his future Dao Path, Qi Yun could not help smiling.

Those two-plus years of hardship, racking his brains and treading on thin ice...

Now, at last, he had glimpsed a ray of dawn.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

The familiar procession of black carriages appeared once again before the wooden cabins in the quiet bamboo grove.

Only this time, instead of the cramped predicament of over a dozen people squeezing into one carriage, six carriages stood neatly in a row, one for each person, clearly separated.

"Hmph!" Tang Shun's face was dark as still water, his eyes covered in cobweb-like strands of blood. Clearly, he had not slept peacefully these past three days.

Over those three days, he had privately "visited" each of the other five, probing with words and scrutinizing them, trying to tease out a trace of the thief from subtle expressions and holes in their statements.

In the end, he found nothing.

Everyone flatly denied having seen any Storage Bag.

Shen Fan, in particular, had washed his hands entirely of his "failed" tracking Law Technique.

Qi Yun and that Wu Tao are both mud-legged peasants, with lousy cultivation and aptitude. Passing the trial was nothing but dogshit luck.

With their abilities and temperaments, they couldn't possibly have stolen my Storage Bag.

Although Shen Fan approached me of his own accord and offered to help, considering that utterly useless Law Technique of his, I can't rule out the possibility that he's the thief crying "stop thief."

As for the other two, Du Yunian and Sun Pingqiu, there's a fair chance it was them, too.

The ingrained thinking of a second-generation privileged scion had led Tang Shun to rule out the right answer from the outset and fix his sights firmly on Shen Fan and the other two.

After all, by normal reasoning-

Qi Yun truly was a mud-legged peasant with no backing, poor aptitude, and [Clear Breeze Technique], the simplest of the five-element Law Techniques, as his cultivated technique.

Could a nobody like that have the ability and nerve to steal a Storage Bag right under his nose?

Meanwhile, Qi Yun, who had been silently observing Tang Shun all along, took in the expression of this smiling tiger.

Clearly, Tang Shun has more or less stopped suspecting me.

But I still can't let my guard down. Who knows whether this little sneaky bastard is putting on an act.

His acting is very good indeed.

The sinister scene outside the valley cave, where Tang Shun had pretended to leave only to double back for a surprise attack, flashed through Qi Yun's mind, and he slowly shook his head inwardly.

Ah, the world grows worse by the day, and people's hearts aren't what they used to be.

He boarded his own carriage. A faint smell of leather and timber filled its interior.

An accompanying black-robed cultivator lifted the carriage curtain and handed Qi Yun a plain wooden box.

"This is an Aura-Concealing Pearl. On this journey to the Holy Sect's mountain gate, we may pass through some of the Zombie Alliance's territory.

"The Holy Sect and the Zombie Alliance have clashed frequently of late. To avoid unnecessary trouble, please keep this Aura-Concealing Pearl against your body once we enter the Zombie Alliance's territory."

Qi Yun accepted the wooden box and opened its lid.

A walnut-sized pearl, grayish-white all over, lay quietly inside.

The pearl was not solid inside. Instead, countless strands of dusky cloud and mist flowed within, endlessly entwining.

"Excuse me." Qi Yun closed the lid and looked at the black-robed cultivator outside the carriage, voicing a question that had been weighing on his mind for some time.

"There's something I've been puzzled about.

"Why do we have to pass through the Zombie Alliance's territory when traveling to and from the Holy Sect's mountain gate?

"There seemed to be a similar situation on the way here."

The black-robed cultivator fell silent for a moment, seemingly weighing his words, before saying in a low voice:

"Because the area we're currently in, including the trial valley, is nominally under the Holy Sect's jurisdiction, but is actually only an outlying 'exclave,' not part of the Holy Sect's core territory.

He paused, a barely perceptible gravity entering his voice.

"This year... it seems more important matters within the sect have occupied the higher-ups' attention, loosening their control over the borders.

"The Zombie Alliance seized the opportunity to press forward, swallowing up quite a bit of land that originally belonged to the Holy Sect.

"Our area was far from the mountain gate to begin with. Now, the Zombie Alliance's forces have cut across and severed the direct route there, which is why..."

After hearing the black-robed cultivator's explanation, Qi Yun nodded thoughtfully.

So, this Zombie Alliance...

Seems pretty strong, too.