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"What's going on? Why did it suddenly get so cold?"

The instant that thought rose in his mind, Qian Qi suddenly felt the world spin around him.

The scenery before his eyes spun, flipped, and finally settled on an incredibly familiar headless corpse, a warm fountain of blood gushing wildly from its severed neck.

Huh? This person looks so familiar... isn't that me?

So I'm dead...

Thud!

The headless corpse fell onto its back, its glaring crimson blood mingling with the sand beneath it.

Qi Yun bent down and deftly searched the waist of the still-warm corpse, untying the bloodstained Storage Bag with practiced ease.

This was a good habit he had developed in the [Mirage Thousand-Faced Realm].

Although most Outer Mansion disciples were so poor their pockets jingled with nothing but air.

There were still a few misers with modest savings, hoarding Sacred Yuan to buy something expensive.

Pulling open the man's Storage Bag, Qi Yun narrowed his eyes and peered inside.

Three pieces of Sacred Yuan, a pile of worthless mundane belongings, and...

Looking at the little erotic picture book in his hand, its illustrations exquisitely detailed and masterfully drawn, Qi Yun snorted coldly:

"Hmph! Instead of cultivating properly, you spent all day looking at this stuff. You deserved to die.

Confiscated!"

With a solemn expression, Qi Yun stuffed the little picture book and Sacred Yuan into his own Storage Bag, then put away the Tracking Compass on the ground as well.

Lowering his eyes to survey the corpse on the ground and the figures in the distance who were visibly beginning to panic, Qi Yun smiled gently as Sword Qi surged within his sleeves:

"Next, it'll be my turn to catch you."

Knock, knock, knock-

Knuckles tapped against the wooden desk with measured force, the sound startling awake the [Ninefold Hall] gatekeeping disciple, who had been dozing with his head propped on his arm.

"Who is it?"

Opening his eyes impatiently, the gatekeeping disciple looked up to see a familiar face smiling at him from the doorway. The mask was already gone, and those eyes, with their sharply defined blacks and whites, made his heart tremble for no clear reason.

"Hey, you..."

Seeing Qi Yun, the gatekeeping disciple instinctively looked beside him. When he saw that Qi Yun stood alone at the entrance, his heart lurched.

Wu Tianming and the others all went down?

They couldn't win eight against one?

Qi Yun took in every bit of the gatekeeping disciple's reaction. Coupled with Wu Tianming's confession before his death, it confirmed who had sold information on his whereabouts.

Interesting. Quite a sharp eye, recognizing me even with a mask on. Was it something else about me? Looks like I'll have to be more careful from now on.

As for this man...

Although he very much wanted to act, killing this man in full public view.

Would be tantamount to slapping the Holy Sect directly in the face.

"You're quite impressive. Clever and quick-witted. You've got a head for business.

I'll remember you."

Patting the gatekeeping disciple lightly on the shoulder, Qi Yun gave him a meaningful look, then turned and left.

His back was almost soaked in cold sweat. Only when Qi Yun's retreating figure had completely disappeared did the gatekeeping disciple dare fully release the breath caught in his throat.

Only at that moment did he suddenly realize.

Perhaps they had all underestimated Qi Yun before.

With neither roots nor backing, he had led them to naively believe that he must have become this year's Human Origin Champion through tricks and shortcuts.

But now it seemed...

This champion's strength was far more terrifying than they had imagined!

Returning to his own detached house and private courtyard, Qi Yun relaxed considerably in the relatively safe surroundings, a faint trace of weariness appearing on his face.

He came to the water vat in the courtyard and rolled up his sleeves, revealing his blood-covered hands.

As he washed the blood from his hands and watched the clear water in the vat gradually turn red, Qi Yun's gaze remained clear and calm.

Once upon a time, that little cultivator had been chased all over the place by a black-robed menial servant.

Now, he too had become the current champion among the Wuji Sacred Sect's Outer Mansion disciples.

Even if that champion title was rather watered down.

"Phew..." Shaking the droplets from his hands, Qi Yun turned and sat in a nearby wicker chair. He gently exhaled a stale breath and took the heavy Storage Bag from his robes.

Turning the tables and killing Wu Tianming and his seven companions.

Had almost filled his Storage Bag.

Although these eight had been mediocre in strength, poor in brains, and slow to react, their wealth was unexpectedly substantial.

Wu Tianming in particular had over two hundred pieces of Sacred Yuan in his Storage Bag alone, along with three bottles of unidentified pills, a scroll containing a True Qi cultivation method, and three spiritual objects.

These things, however, did not particularly catch Qi Yun's attention.

What truly made him feel this trip had been worthwhile was an egg!

He took the enormous egg, roughly the size of a washbasin, out of the Storage Bag.

Crimson cloud-pattern talisman markings resembling burning flames grew naturally across its shell. These cloud patterns were still drifting and changing extremely slowly, and the egg was scalding to the touch. Qi Yun carefully set it on the table.

This egg was called: Southern Mulberry.

It was a genuine exotic beast egg.

He had once read about it in a book titled "Records of a Hundred Insights into All Things."

[The Mountain of Scorching Flames abounds in red copper above and cinnabar below.

There is a bird there, shaped like a pheasant but larger, its whole body green as newly sprouted mulberry leaves, its beak like crimson crystal, its eyes like molten gold.

Its name is Southern Mulberry, and its cry calls its own name.

Its mouth spews dark flames, ink-black in color, which burn whatever they touch and blaze more fiercely upon meeting water.

Violent in nature, it often travels amid shadow and gloom, and especially delights in eating human brains, savoring them as sweet wine.]

"Once fully grown, the Southern Mulberry Bird develops four wings on its back. Its combat strength rivals a cultivator at Qi Refining Great Perfection, only a hair's breadth away from a Foundation Establishment True Person.

I never expected an ordinary Outer Mansion disciple to have such a precious treasure."

Looking at the Southern Mulberry Bird egg on the table, Qi Yun rested his chin in one hand.

This exotic beast egg was indeed a treasure.

At the same time, though, it was a chicken rib.

Raising an exotic beast required enormous, sustained expenditure.

Never mind an Outer Mansion disciple like him—even the personal disciples of those Foundation Establishment True Persons in the inner residence might not have the money or patience.

This was also why the Outer Mansion disciple who had obtained this exotic beast egg had never hatched it.

Hatch it, and he could not afford to raise it.

Sell it, and he could not bear to part with it. After all, this was an extraordinary beast that could rival Qi Refining Great Perfection once fully grown.

If he really had the chance to raise it successfully, it would be equivalent to gaining a loyal mount at Qi Refining Great Perfection, something no amount of Sacred Yuan could buy.

Tasteless to eat, yet a pity to throw away.

And so this exotic beast egg had remained in his Storage Bag, until Qi Yun ultimately reaped the benefit.

"Unfortunately, I don't like raising birds."

After only a moment's hesitation, Qi Yun decisively reached out, seized the exotic beast egg, and refined it in an instant!

To him, the value of any potential treasure that could not immediately be converted into strength was greatly diminished.

It was far more satisfying to simply refine it and fill the progress bar.

And at the very instant the exotic beast egg was refined by the Law Technique Panel.

Two lines of text flashed before Qi Yun's eyes in succession.

[Law Technique automatic update complete. This is a minor version update. Law Technique effects have been adjusted as follows!]

[Law Technique automatic update complete. This is a minor version update. Law Technique effects have been adjusted as follows!]

"Hm?"

Qi Yun froze abruptly, a trace of astonishment flashing through his eyes.

Two Law Techniques... updated at once?