Chapter 120: The Arrival of Shen Yu

With the assistance of Dai Rui, Song Yan went to the Merit and Confidentiality Department to record the merits earned from slaying the demonic cultivators.

The Five Devils of Cold Mountain yielded a total of sixty-five merit points—an unexpectedly high amount. One must consider that a single Breakthrough Pill costs only three hundred and sixty points. Ordinary disciples stationed in Changping are automatically credited with thirty points per month. A demonic cultivator at the early stage of Qi Refining counts for five points, three at the middle stage total thirty points, and a single late-stage Qi Refining cultivator is worth thirty points. The five demonic cultivators he had just slain were worth more than two months of stationing duties.

"Could one simply repeat this process..."

This wicked thought had barely surfaced before he stifled it himself.

"No, this was a stroke of luck that happened once. If I were to keep increasing my contributions like this every few days, it would inevitably invite suspicion. Changping is crawling with demonic cultivators; why should I be the only one able to detect them when others cannot? Anyone could see there is something wrong with me."

He promptly dismissed the idea.

News of this event quickly spread among the disciples of the Six Sects stationed in Changping. They spoke of the new Brother Song from the first squad of the A-rank division, who had encountered five demonic cultivators of the Demonic Path within only a few months of arriving at Changping, slaying them all one by one and gaining a handsome amount of merit.

Some were envious, some were jealous, and others were curious. Of course, there were also those who sneered, believing that while he had gained merit, the situation showed that Changping was actually far more chaotic than everyone had imagined, and that the stationed patrol disciples were in even greater danger. For some, securing the resources they needed safely and steadily was the best outcome.

Discussions about the incident itself soon faded. However, the event acted like a fuse. The elders of the Six Sects took it very seriously and comprehensively reinforced the patrol duties for disciples across all areas of Changping. Even places that were originally considered less dangerous and rarely frequented by demonic cultivators were placed under tighter security. For the regular patrol disciples, this meant little change, but many internal administrative disciples who rarely ventured out now occasionally needed to participate in patrol missions. Among them was Cheng Yu.

The disparity in treatment between administrative staff and active patrol disciples had long caused dissatisfaction for many. In the current climate of undercurrents, many elders, for their own varied reasons and interests, took advantage of the situation to raise objections during the council meetings. Due to the strain on manpower, even cultivators like Cheng Yu, who had powerful connections, were now required to fulfill fixed monthly patrol duties.

Two more months passed.

In the Yangwu Courtyard, Song Yan was slowly circulating his cultivation technique, refining spiritual energy. Wisps of spiritual energy transformed into pure power, flowing through his meridians.

Eventually, the energy flowed into his dantian and returned to a state of calm. An hour later, he slowly opened his tranquil eyes, a flash of sharpness within them gradually fading. His gaze fell upon a small bottle of pills.

His daily cultivation in Changping had become barely manageable, and the reason was this unique bottle of pills: the Yellow Springs Meditation Pill.

This pill neither increases spiritual energy nor assists in breaking through bottlenecks; it has no special effects for boosting power. Yet, in Changping, everyone keeps a supply of them. Beyond the bottle he had purchased at the Cold Mountain Market, he had also found some in the storage bags of the five demonic cultivators. It was enough to last for a long time.

The Yellow Springs Meditation Pill has no other purpose but one: it can automatically filter out the impurities within the spiritual energy of this region for a period of time. Practicing here is completely different from practicing in a sect’s mountain cavern. Back at the sect, one only needs to consider how to increase the density of spiritual energy and absorb it rapidly. Here, however, the most troublesome part is the refining process. The impurities in the spiritual energy are significant; if not stripped away, they risk accumulating as internal injuries or latent toxins within the body. With this pill, he no longer needed to worry about such things.

"Truly miraculous..."

He had never seen this pill in any alchemical texts; perhaps his own knowledge was still too limited.

He put the pill away, stood up, halted the array, opened the door, and stepped out. His destination was the Spirit Manifestation Stele outside the Confidentiality Pavilion.

The leaders of the Six Sects in Changping would post arrangements for important matters on this stele. Beyond that, the task assignments and schedules for all groups and squads could also be seen there. This was a directive issued by the elders of the Six Sects in the interest of fairness.

A crowd of disciples had gathered in front of the Spirit Manifestation Stele. Most wore indifferent expressions, though some were sighing and lamenting.

"Ah... why do I have to go on patrol duty again this month!"

One disciple wailed; judging by his robes, he was an outer sect disciple of the Hanging Sword Mountain.

"Be content, it’s already not bad," his companion comforted him. "Brother Wang of the neighboring Spirit Talisman Sect, who originally had a cushy job in the third squad of the C-rank division, has now been scheduled for three patrols this month."

He patted his companion on the shoulder. "If you want to blame someone, blame that bastard Song Yan from the Dongyuan Sect."

"Shh, keep your voice down."

Song Yan felt no ripples in his heart. He had long heard the discussions about him among the disciples of the Six Sects. It was easy enough to guess who was fanning the flames behind his back—it was none other than those "princelings" of the immortal sects like Cheng Yu, who had originally only needed to hide safely within the county town to cultivate.

Fortunately, Song Yan did not care in the slightest about what others thought of him. He cared only about how to make someone named Cheng Yu disappear from this world without a trace.

"Twenty-nine, Caoyuan Village..."

His eyes swept across the Spirit Manifestation Stele, searching. Finally, in a very remote corner, he found Cheng Yu's name. He sneered. These so-called well-connected cultivators even had their patrol assignments posted in the most obscure and hidden corners. If there were any "oversights," it would be very easy to handle without anyone paying attention.

After recording the task information regarding Cheng Yu, Song Yan lingered for a moment before slowly turning to leave.

The area around the Confidentiality Department was a hub for news. Many pieces of information that were not classified but otherwise difficult to obtain could be overheard here. For instance, Song Yan picked up a piece of news from the idle chatter of nearby Xuanyuan Sect disciples. Although this news could hardly be called good for him:

The Xuanyuan Sect’s external affairs elder, Shen Yu, had just broken through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment. Furthermore, he was coming to Changping in a few days to take over the post of the resident elder for the Xuanyuan Sect.

Song Yan was all too familiar with Shen Yu. The other members of the Xuanyuan Sect, including Shen Huai, did not actually hold any deep-seated grudges against him. But this Shen Yu had suffered a humiliating defeat at the Dongyuan Sect specifically because of Song Yan. It was hard to guarantee that this man would not seize the opportunity to retaliate. With an elder of his own sect in charge, the man naturally wouldn't make a move in the open, but if he were to make arrangements in the shadows...

An elder, especially one at the late stage of the Foundation Establishment realm, had power a hundred times greater than a nobody like Cheng Yu!

However, Song Yan did not panic. After all, there were more important things to do right now.