Xiao Fei, along with two other Golden Core stage cultivators, successfully killed a demon after a coordinated attack, all without alerting the Xiancheng authorities.
The trio searched the demon's hiding place and meticulously erased all traces of their battle before quietly departing.
The Xiancheng authorities were generally indifferent to cases of sudden cultivator disappearances; a report would at most be filed away.
After committing murder in broad daylight, the three acted as if nothing had happened, continuing to reside in their original courtyard and going about their daily lives.
Apart from cultivation, Huang Feifei remained responsible for gathering intelligence, while Xiao Fei occasionally ventured out to sell spiritual pills and elixirs.
Zhu Yu, on the other hand, continued to dress flamboyantly and roam outside, sometimes even staying out all night.
It seemed he had completely let himself go.
Once a rather upright young man, his handsomeness and the constant temptations that came with it, especially when his looks could also earn him a living, had led him astray.
One day, Xiao Fei entered his spatial dimension and refined two more batches of pills. He could now refine second-tier pills almost without thinking, easily producing mid-grade and high-grade pills.
Even in the prosperous Great Qin Kingdom, these mid-grade and high-grade second-tier pills were highly sought-after goods.
Xiao Fei had calculated that selling spiritual herbs after refining them into pills yielded a much higher added value compared to selling them directly.
Spiritual herbs worth a single spirit stone could fetch at least two spirit stones when refined into pills.
With Xiao Fei's alchemy skills, considering the pill formation rate and the output of mid-grade and high-grade pills, the value could be multiplied by at least ten times.
He had depleted all his spirit stones during his breakthrough to the Golden Core stage and now needed to acquire some to further accelerate the flow of time in his spatial dimension.
After finishing the pills, he contentedly stored away three high-grade pills and six mid-grade pills.
At that moment, he suddenly discovered a small black dot within his body.
The body he inhabited within the spatial dimension was composed solely of his primordial spirit, lacking a physical form.
Currently, within his chest cavity, there was a black dot, smaller than a sesame seed, which would be difficult to notice if one wasn't paying attention.
He tried to reach into his chest cavity to touch it, but his fingers passed through the small dot, unable to make contact.
After several failed attempts, he realized this small black dot, like his body within the dimension, was not physical.
He had no idea what it was, but he was certain it hadn't been there before. It must have appeared recently and attached itself to his primordial spirit.
A thorough scan of his entire body revealed no other abnormalities.
A sense of foreboding arose in Xiao Fei's heart, but he was powerless against the black dot.
When he left the spatial dimension and returned to his physical body, everything felt normal, with no discomfort, and he couldn't detect the presence of the small black dot.
Unable to find any clues, he had to put the matter aside for the time being.
In the following days, he checked for the small black dot within his body every time he entered the spatial dimension.
The results only made him more anxious and uneasy; the black dot was gradually growing larger. Although it had only increased by a minuscule amount, who knew what the future held.
Recently, Xiao Fei had been visiting various places in the city every day, especially bookstores, browsing through almost all of them in search of information related to the black dot.
However, the reality was disappointing. While the cultivation world of Great Qin was far more developed than that of Lu Kingdom, the resources available in these bookstores, though perhaps decent for rogue cultivators, were still vastly inferior to the library of the Danxin Sect.
It was akin to a beggar in a large city still being inferior to a wealthy landowner in the countryside.
Despite the allure of Qin, he had no connections there and could only access the lowest strata of society.
His own sect was far superior, with a master, Nascent Soul cultivators to consult, and a library accumulated over tens of thousands of years.
Just as he was contemplating returning to the Danxin Sect, Huang Feifei brought back some news.
"Young Master, our plan has succeeded!"
Huang Feifei exclaimed with great joy as soon as she returned home.
"We just received news that the Great General of Qin personally went to Eagle Mountain Kingdom and discovered that the White Bone Sect was colluding with foreign demons, attempting to open a passage to the demonic realm.
Many of their disciples were possessed by demon seeds and have been wiped out by the Great General.
Furthermore, a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Heavenly Demon Sect attempted to prevent the Great General from investigating the Demon Sealing Cave within their sect, and was killed on the spot by the Great General!"
Huang Feifei's voice trembled with excitement as she spoke. Their initial progress had been very unfavorable, and they had almost given up hope.
It was only after Xiao Fei's intervention, coupled with some fortunate coincidences, that the Great General of Qin was actually persuaded to personally visit Eagle Mountain Kingdom.
The Great General's combat prowess lived up to expectations, directly eradicating the White Bone Sect and then proceeding to wreak havoc on the Heavenly Demon Sect.
At this moment, the three inside the room were filled with gratitude for this invaluable external aid.
Eagle Mountain Kingdom suffered heavy losses due to the Great General's actions, and two mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators died. Compared to the cultivation world of Lu Kingdom, they no longer held an advantage.
The cultivation world of Lu Kingdom was saved!
"I plan to return to the Danxin Sect. What about you two?" With the mission accomplished, Xiao Fei was more eager to return.
"I'm going back too!"
Although Huang Feifei was usually a decisive and ruthless individual, she became indecisive whenever she was with Xiao Fei, immediately stating her intention to return with him.
Zhu Yu felt a pang of annoyance, thinking this foolish woman had no foresight.
However, recalling the news he had received earlier about Ancestor Shangguan being severely injured and having an arm severed by an evil cultivator, he felt a great concern.
"I will also return to the sect."
With their opinions aligned, the three set off for Lu Kingdom that very day.
After several months, the trio once again set foot on the land of Lu Kingdom.
...
The Great General of Qin had returned to Qin several months ago. The leg he had lost had begun to regrow, and in another year or two, he would have a new leg.
For cultivators of his caliber, losing a leg was merely a flesh wound, not a significant matter.
What truly worried him was the demon seed, as fragile as a speck of dust. Demon seeds were extremely delicate; even Qi Refining cultivators could easily kill them.
However, their most terrifying aspect was their parasitic ability. Once inside the body, they fused with the cultivator's soul.
At that point, unless the cultivator was killed, the demon seed could not be eradicated.
He didn't know if the demon seed still remained within him. For the past several months, this matter had weighed heavily on his mind, yet he couldn't let anyone know.
The cultivation world generally dealt with cultivators possessed by demon seeds by immediately eliminating them.
Although a small minority might possess special constitutions that allowed them to kill the demon seeds within their bodies, who had the patience to slowly contend with it?
There was no concept of humanitarianism in the cultivation world; actions were simple, direct, and goal-oriented.
One day, after considerable effort, the Great General managed to secretly acquire a magical artifact capable of detecting demon seeds.
This artifact could not only detect demon seeds wandering in the air but also locate those parasitizing cultivators.
In a secret chamber within the Great General's mansion, a jade plate was placed on a table. The Great General nervously placed his hand on the jade plate.
Soon, the jade plate began to glow intensely red!
"Ah!"
The Great General roared in anger and smashed the jade plate to the ground, shattering it into pieces.
In his entire life, he had never felt such despair!