An Unexpected Gain!

Hearing Dongfang Yueming's undisguised "request," the old man burst out laughing instead of getting angry, a hint of teasing in his laughter:

"You brat, you're a clever one! You even know to take this chance to ask me for benefits!"

His smile vanished, and he shook his head. "Unfortunately, cultivation techniques... I don't have any!"

"Huh? You don't?" Dongfang Yueming was bitterly disappointed, his face falling at once. After all that, was this old geezer trying to catch a white wolf barehanded? He wanted Dongfang Yueming to risk his life without even paying a deposit?

Seeing the disappointment written all over Dongfang Yueming's face, the old man gave an amused smile. He flipped his wrist, and a sheathed saber appeared out of thin air in his palm!

The saber's scabbard was plain and ancient-looking, a dark silver without any fancy decorations, yet it radiated the sharpness and weathered air of a weapon that had seen countless battlefields.

"I may not have a cultivation technique," the old man said, handing the saber to Dongfang Yueming, "but this saber was my companion when I fought across the land in my youth. I no longer have any use for it, so I'll give it to you. I hope it can regain its former edge in your hands!"

Dongfang Yueming took the saber instinctively.

It felt slightly heavy in his hand, and a cold sensation that felt exceptionally right ran through him at once! It was as if the saber had been born to belong to him!

Clang!

He couldn't help drawing the saber from its sheath!

A blade gleamed, clear and cold as autumn water! Long and narrow, thin as a cicada's wing, it radiated astonishing chill and unmatched sharpness! Faint traces of blood still lingered on the blade, telling of its glorious past, when it had drunk blood countless times!

What a saber!

Dongfang Yueming's eyes lit up at once! He could clearly feel that this saber's quality far surpassed his old E-rank piece of junk! It was more than a single grade above even Scorpion's poisoned dagger!

"This saber is called Light Snow," the old man said, a trace of nostalgia in his eyes as he gazed at the familiar blade. "It accompanied me in slaying countless powerful foes back then, and it has drunk the blood of ferocious beasts as well. By today's ratings, it should qualify as... quasi-A-rank."

"Quasi-A-rank?!"

Dongfang Yueming's heart shook!

An A-rank weapon! That was a divine weapon wielded by experts of the Qi Refining Realm! Worth a fortune, yet impossible to buy even with money!

Though Light Snow was only quasi-A-rank, it was still unquestionably a top-tier divine weapon that Body Tempering Realm martial artists dreamed of possessing!

He hadn't expected that when this old geezer finally made a move, he would bring out such a treasure!

But...

Dongfang Yueming stroked the cold blade, still unwilling to give up, and muttered, "It's a good saber... but I still think... a cultivation technique would be more practical..."

Amused by his persistence, the old man glared at him. "You brat, you really are insatiable!"

He shook his head and pointed toward the outside of the city, his tone becoming meaningful:

"Cultivation techniques, resources, tempering... everything you want can be found in one place-the Beast Defense Frontier!"

"The Beast Defense Frontier?" Dongfang Yueming looked bewildered. That was the front line where the dynasty held back the endless hordes of ferocious beasts, a place fraught with danger where nine died for every one who survived! Could he find cultivation techniques there?

"That's right." The old man nodded, a complicated glint flashing through his eyes. "It is hell, and it is also heaven. It is a graveyard that buries geniuses, and a furnace that forges experts!"

"There, military merit can be exchanged for anything! Including top-tier cultivation techniques that aren't circulated outside! The prerequisite is... that you live long enough to earn sufficient military merit!"

With that, the old man said no more. His figure flickered like a ghost, and he melted soundlessly into the night, as if he had never appeared.

Dongfang Yueming was left standing alone, holding the cold-radiating Light Snow, lost in thought.

The Beast Defense Frontier...

It did sound like a place full of opportunities, but also of dangers lurking on every side.

"Reach the Marrow Cleansing Realm within half a year..." He weighed the saber in his hand, recalling the old man's solemn charge and his vague remarks about the Shi Family's "special illness."

He sighed helplessly. Though he felt as if he had been dragged into some kind of trouble...

The image of Little Stone involuntarily surfaced in his mind: the little girl with pigtails who always followed behind him, speaking in a babyish voice.

And compared with Senior Shi Qing just now, who was as massive as a bear, yet had a complicated look in her eyes...

"No way... Could that 'accelerated aging' disease be real? Then wouldn't Little Stone... soon turn into... an old lady?!"

At the thought of that possibility, Dongfang Yueming shuddered!

"No, no! That absolutely won't do!"

Although "Great General of the Harem" had been a joke back then, the thought that the little girl, as delicate as carved jade, might rapidly wither away left him feeling strangely upset.

"Fine, fine!" He tightened his grip on Light Snow, a flash of determination in his eyes. "Whatever that old geezer's purpose is, for Little Stone's sake... I'll help!"

Half a year! The Marrow Cleansing Realm!

The Beast Defense Frontier!

He was doing it!