The news that Xu Yuan, the Third Young Master, was setting out on a journey of worldly travels seemed to have spread through the Chancellor's Manor's inner decision-making circle.
Even though he was far away in Jingjiang Prefecture City, tens of thousands of li from the Imperial Capital, Xu Yuan still received a number of farewell gifts.
For instance, an entire crate of military-grade Inedia Pills, a cloth pouch filled with pre-mixed assorted poisons, and a spiritual beast egg that displayed no signs of life whatsoever...
Well... in short, most of them were quite bizarre.
Still, Xu Yuan didn't pay it much mind.
He knew very well that, given his past "glorious deeds," not everyone in the Chancellor's Manor was fond of this playboy of theirs.
Many sent gifts purely out of respect for his old man, or for colleagues like Lou Ji and Hua Hong.
Yet compared to those outsiders, the gifts sent by close elders like Lou Ji were far better.
Take Hua Hong, for example.
This fabulously wealthy president of the Tian'an Chamber of Commerce, the old steward who had served his mother all her life, the Prime Minister's most trusted confidant, and a peerless Second Rank Origin Realm expert had not been stingy about this either; he had sent a full one thousand taels of pure silver right to him.
Waking up to it gave Xu Yuan a good laugh.
The old moneygrubber had probably realized that sending banknotes would look like too little, so under cover of night, he had men haul two chests of solid silver right to Xu Yuan's courtyard gate.
Of course, while some were eccentric, others were dependable.
Like Auntie Lou Ji,
or his maternal uncle, Sword Saint Feng Jiuxuan.
Auntie Lou Ji had Ying'er deliver two tokens to him. If anything came up during his travels across the world, he could present these tokens at the Wind Listening Tower or the Sword Whisper Pavilion.
The Wind Listening Tower was an intelligence-brokering organization.
The Sword Whisper Pavilion was an assassin organization—it seemed Ying'er had originally come from there.
Feng Jiuxuan had someone deliver a sword named Qingyu, which was perfect for learning the story protagonist's Sweeping Blade.
And finally, his eldest brother, Xu Changge...
Before leaving, Xu Changge had asked him what he wanted.
Xu Yuan had naturally asked to learn his Karma Strike.
The moment the word "Karma" slipped past his lips, Xu Changge flatly refused him.
Just as Xu Yuan was about to ask why, his elder brother's gaze shifted, taking on an eager, itching-for-a-fight look.
Had Ran Qingmo not been present at the time,
Xu Yuan suspected this prick of a brother wouldn't just refuse to teach him, but would have beaten him up before leaving.
Though his plan to learn Karma Strike died in the womb, it left Xu Yuan with a faint suspicion.
If it could be taught, his eldest brother would never have reacted so strongly.
Perhaps the reason Xu Changge grew weaker in the later stages of the plot was precisely due to cultivating that sword technique...
Time passed quickly. In the days leading up to his departure, besides receiving gifts every day, Xu Yuan never neglected his daily cultivation.
After Ran Qingmo had slept on the floor for ten days, he naturally broke through to Seventh Rank Meridian Tempering without a hitch.
Breaking through realms as effortlessly as drinking water really felt quite wonderful.
It was just a pity that the pressing deadline left him no more time for such leisurely cultivation.
And over those ten days, Ran Qingmo had been cultivating constantly alongside him.
This block of ice seemed to truly enjoy this mindless lifestyle, just holing up quietly in the room each day to cultivate.
Of course, the price was staggering.
About a fifth of the Source Crystal he had previously given her had been consumed by the ice block.
She was practically a gold-swallowing beast.
And after Ran Qingmo had slept on the floor for twenty days, Xu Changge took his leave.
He had stayed behind because of the soul ring; once the secret realms and cultivation techniques disclosed by the Saint's remnant soul were verified to be genuine, he naturally had no reason to linger any longer.
Ambushing and slaying the story protagonist had yielded far more for the Chancellor's Manor than anticipated.
They had eliminated the Burial Village remnant, planted a hidden chess piece, captured a Second Rank Origin Realm expert alive, and received a Saint's remnant soul as an added bonus.
Furthermore, the secret realms revealed by the Saint were all extremely valuable resource realms.
Over the past several decades, the Chancellor's Manor's various industries had essentially formed a closed loop.
When others entered a secret realm, they could at most take away the very best treasures, and even then, constrained by their cultivation, they had to tread with utmost caution.
The Chancellor's Manor was completely different.
With a complete industrial supply chain, every usable cultivation resource in a realm—ores, herbs, demonic beasts, and the like—could be transported wherever needed, swiftly processed, and consumed to strengthen their faction.
One could say they had won across the board.
Thus, Xu Yuan felt no guilt whatsoever in demanding three more Source Crystals from his elder brother.
Ran Qingmo's cultivation speed was simply too fast, after all.
And so, on the very afternoon Xu Changge departed for the capital, Xu Yuan packed his bags and left Jingjiang Prefecture City alongside Ran Qingmo, bidding farewell to the place where he had spent several months.
Another morning arrived.
His habitual internal clock stirred Xu Yuan awake, but the sight meeting his eyes was no longer the familiar bed canopy of days past.
Dazed for a moment, yesterday's memories flooded his mind like a tide.
Xu Yuan then realized that he had already left Jingjiang Prefecture and was currently riding an RV—ahem, a carriage—toward the "demonic beast breeding base" deep in the mountains outside Jiuyuan City, where something left behind by Xu Changge awaited him.
Supposedly, it was a treasure capable of restoring the soul power of that Saint's remnant soul, "Mr. Luo."
Turning his gaze, he saw Ran Qingmo's flawless profile.
The RV—cough, the carriage's interior wasn't large, under ten square meters. Rectangular in shape, the layout was compact yet remarkably elegant.
A large bed, two futons, a tea tray set, and a guqin.
Ran Qingmo was still seated upright, legs crossed, cultivating on the other side of the large bed.
Given the constraints of the carriage's interior, the large bed served as both sleeping couch and seating area.
Before Xu Yuan went to sleep last night, Ran Qingmo had already been sitting there cultivating. Since he hadn't told her to get down, she had simply remained on the bed, meditating through the entire night.
Seeming to sense his gaze, Ran Qingmo opened her eyes.
"You're awake?"
"Yeah."
Xu Yuan slowly sat up, still somewhat drowsy. Seeing how Ran Qingmo remained full of energy despite not having slept a wink all night, he let out a long breath.
He somewhat envied Ran Qingmo's constitution that required no rest.
Upon reaching Fourth Rank Body Integration, the physical enhancements brought by cultivation would merge completely into the flesh, allowing the physical vessel to return to the ordinary.
Of course, this "return to the ordinary" did not mean one's constitution became like a mortal's, but rather that unless Source Qi or intent-soul conducted an in-depth probe, other means could hardly distinguish them from an ordinary mortal.
Aside from this, a Fourth Rank cultivator was already an immortal in the eyes of mortals.
No need for food, no need for sleep, no further worry about meridian damage during cultivation—they could retreat deep into the mountains like immortals and cultivate in secluded meditation for decades on end.
The sky was dim and hazy. The slightly chilly winter morning breeze drifted in through the carriage's lattice window, drawing Xu Yuan from his thoughts.
He instinctively lifted the quilt to get out of bed, but paused.
A morning breeze stirred the tall woods, so to speak—and given the tent he was pitching, getting straight out of bed wouldn't be very decent.
Ran Qingmo paid no mind to his slightly odd hesitation, only saying softly,
"Xu Yuan, I think we're almost there."
Xu Yuan blinked in surprise, then drew back the window curtain and looked outside.
Outside, the flame-hoofed carriage was traveling along a hidden forest path. On either side stretched an endless, shadowy forest, without the slightest trace of any man-made structures.
Puzzlement touched his eyes, but before he could voice a question—
"Kid, it's an illusory formation. The entrance is a hundred meters ahead on this path. Take out that token your brother gave you."
A low voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
Xu Yuan started, then immediately retrieved a bauhinia token from his Sumeru ring.
A hundred meters passed in the blink of an eye.
*Hummmm—*
A drawn-out hum suddenly sounded in Xu Yuan's ears. As the sound faded, it seemed they had already passed through some formation.
When Xu Yuan gathered his focus and looked outside once more, everything around them had completely transformed.
The shadowy sea of trees from moments before was gone, replaced by an enormous sinkhole a hundred meters away.
The sinkhole was circular, easily thousands of zhang across. Gazing straight ahead, one could hardly see its far edge. The carriage carrying the three of them looked like a minuscule ant perched at the edge of this gargantuan abyss!
What was even more chilling was that an unsettling, bizarre black mist was endlessly billowing out from within the abyss.
Fortunately, a formation seemed to have been erected over the chasm; whenever the black mist rose, a fiery-red barrier flared to life, keeping it from spilling outward.
Xu Yuan stared at the black mist for several breaths before murmuring,
"This mist..."
Ran Qingmo's delicate brows furrowed slightly, but she said nothing.
The Saint's remnant soul fell silent for a moment before letting out an almost wistful breath:
"This should be ghost mist."
Chapter 93