Tier 4

The main building. Yaoguang returned once more. Step by step, he climbed all the way to the top floor of the nine-story building. Just as he reached the landing, an argument broke out above. Immediately after, a gunshot rang out. *Bang!* The argument ended. Moments later, a man in his forties wearing glasses rushed out carrying a briefcase. The instant he stepped through the door, he found himself staring down the barrel of Yaoguang's raised gun. Without hesitation, the man set the briefcase down, dutifully dropped his handgun, and raised both hands. "Everything inside is the cash and goods President Xu stockpiled over this past month. It hasn't been turned in yet. There's over three million in cash alone..." As he spoke, he hastily added, "I mean Star Coins! Counting the other valuables, the total value inside the case exceeds four million." Star Coins. The currency of the Crimson Star Empire. It was also the dominant global currency. In this world, there was no such thing as a single superpower and multiple strong nations—only a bipolar contest for hegemony. Aside from the rising powerhouse Xuelong and the reigning global hegemon, Crimson Star, no other nation carried any weight. At best, some nations served as pawns in their struggle, while others failed to draw even a flicker of interest. Four million Crimson Star Coins, converted into Dayu currency at current exchange rates, amounted to forty million. "It's all yours now..." the man said, keeping his hands raised as he took cautious steps backward. Yet in the next second... Gunfire erupted. *Bang! Bang! Bang!* Several blossoms of blood bloomed across the man's chest. Eyes reddened with hatred and unwillingness, he collapsed to the floor. Yaoguang's expression remained tranquil. He had spotted this man earlier while infiltrating the park; he was indeed one of the senior executives here. And given what went on in this park... Even if every last executive were put to death, not a single one would be innocent. He picked up the briefcase. Glancing into the luxurious office the man had just fled, he saw it had clearly been ransacked. A corpse lay on the floor inside—evidently the loser of the argument just moments ago. Yaoguang withdrew his gaze and spoke softly, "Vengeance served. The deal is complete." Afterward, he stripped off his bloodstained outer clothes, picked up the case, and headed downstairs. Seeing that the danger had passed, he no longer remained fully armed. He discarded the firearms, melted into the fleeing crowd, and left Qingyu Industrial Park behind. Less than half an hour after his departure, dozens of armed pickup trucks mounted with machine guns, alongside a handful of infantry fighting vehicles, rolled into the compound to conduct a rapid "counter-terrorism" drill. Further in the distance, Feiyu police cruisers wailed as their sirens split the air. By then, however, Yaoguang had already reached the outskirts of Guangming City. His walking pace appeared leisurely, yet in half an hour he had covered five or six kilometers. Upon reaching the outskirts of Guangming City, he caught a ride directly toward the cross-border checkpoint. Only when he arrived at the checkpoint did something cross his mind. He hadn't left through official channels in the first place. Right then, a pleasantly surprised call sounded nearby: "Young Master Su!" Immediately after, Zhang Qing was seen hurriedly stuffing two half-eaten steamed buns into a plastic bag, tossing them aside, wiping his greasy hands on his trousers, and rushing over. Seeing him, Yaoguang felt a touch of surprise. "Is Young Master Su's... business finished?" Zhang Qing asked, uncertain whether it was appropriate to pry. "Yes," Yaoguang replied. "Let's head back." "Right away! This way, Young Master Su," Zhang Qing said eagerly. Shortly after, the two crossed the border and returned to Zhang Qing's sedan on the other side. "Take me to the hotel," Yaoguang instructed. A moment later, something else came to mind, and he added, "Then take me back to Tianjian Workshop." "Young Master Su is fond of swords? Looking to buy a weapon?" Zhang Qing offered helpfully. "I actually made some inquiries recently. The Mijade Gallery over at Yulong International has a world-famous sword in its collection called Chengying. Supposedly it's a thousand-year-old blade dating back to the Lost Era. What's truly astonishing is that modern alloy weapons forged with contemporary technology can't even scratch a sword cast a millennium ago. Would Young Master Su care to take a look?" "A famous sword?" Yaoguang murmured the term. Martial arts had flourished in this world since antiquity. Accordingly, divine weapons and legendary blades occupied substantial space in history. Many such masterworks were praised in folklore with earth-shattering hyperbole, credited with the power to level cities and topple kingdoms. Under such circumstances, talk of "famous swords" was by no means mere rumor; there was an exacting classification system behind it. Above famous swords lay precious swords and divine swords. Such legendary armaments commanded staggering sums—hundreds of millions, billions, or even tens of billions. By comparison, famous swords were slightly more accessible. Prices started in the tens of millions. Those of exceptional renown could still fetch hundreds of millions. "An ancient sword, is it?" Yaoguang pondered for a moment, then said, "Let's go have a look." "Understood!" Zhang Qing set the car in motion. Yaoguang leaned back in the rear seat and closed his eyes, appearing to rest. Seeing this, Zhang Qing eased off the gas and turned on some gentle, soothing music. In truth, Yaoguang had immersed his consciousness into the tree-like search engine within his mental world. Several new notifications had refreshed on it. One recorded the slaying of a mid-tier Tier 3 Horned Demon, and two recorded high-tier Tier 3 Horned Demons. In addition... [Transaction revenue: 46.88 million. The Tier 1 Merchant branch receives growth nourishment... Growth halted as the main trunk absorbs all nourishment.] Yaoguang focused squarely on this message. Nutrients from 46.88 million in revenue surpassed even the reward for slaying a high-tier Tier 3 Horned Demon. His detour to the main building had not been in vain. *The growth of Merchant experience depends not only on transactional revenue, but also on the costs invested. My costs this time... the labor cost of a Grandmaster, plus the material cost of a sword worth five hundred thousand, yielding a return several times over...* Calculating this far, Yaoguang felt a twinge of regret. Under the Merchant's calculation model, the labor cost of a Grandmaster was simply too high. Moreover, as his cultivation advanced, that labor cost would only continue to climb. Unless he could earn money while lying flat, then... even forty-six million in revenue could hardly rival the returns from hunting demons. *Combining the nourishment from Merchant with that of demon hunting...* Yaoguang shifted his focus to the Martial Artist branch. The next instant, nourishment from both branches channeled in simultaneously. The branch representing Martial Artist surged with vigorous growth, driving the ancient tree to break past the four-meter threshold and climb steadily to 4.1 meters, 4.2 meters... Only at 4.3 meters did the growth finally taper off. As the Martial Artist branch grew and underwent its metamorphosis, a flood of knowledge surged into Yaoguang's mind. This time, the insights were no longer confined to Grandmasters; they centered entirely on Martial Saints! What was a Martial Saint?! Cleansing marrow and exchanging blood—that was a Martial Saint! Once a practitioner completed this stage of cultivation, they transcended ordinary human limits. They could achieve feats deemed impossible even at the pinnacle of human potential. Strength, speed, resilience, and organ durability would all ascend into an entirely new realm. Furthermore... While the knowledge in his mind initially detailed efficient methods for marrow cleansing and blood exchange, the later insights conveyed by the ancient tree even touched upon nourishing the spirit with qi. Since antiquity, the martial arts world held a saying: *Train the sinews, bones, and skin outwardly; cultivate a single breath inwardly.* Martial cultivation trained a person's essence and qi—that was to say, the physical form and vital blood. Before the Grandmaster realm, one built up the physical body. At the Martial Saint realm, one tempered vital blood. Yet Daoist doctrine taught that the human body possessed three treasures: essence, qi, and spirit. Only when all three united could true human evolution be spurred forward. The path of a Martial Saint had begun touching upon this concept as well. It reached toward that ethereal realm of "spirit." Nourishing the spirit with qi. If one succeeded in spirit cultivation, not only would their mind remain perpetually sharp and their reflexes far swifter, but their sensory perception would also expand, even giving rise to wondrous phenomena unimaginable to ordinary mortals. If marrow cleansing and blood exchange, no matter how deeply trained, still yielded physical strikes within the grasp of human comprehension, then once spirit cultivation reached full mastery... what it manifested would appear to ordinary mortals as supernatural arts beyond the explanation of science. *Nourishing the spirit,* Yaoguang thought to himself. Was this the key to unlocking the realm beyond Martial Saint? Unfortunately... his Tier 4 Martial Saint branch had only just sprouted and had yet to blossom. Translated into progress, it sat at roughly thirty percent at best, naturally precluding him from receiving deeper knowledge on spirit cultivation. To master the subtle wonders of the spirit, he would likely need to advance his Martial Saint progress past seventy percent. *Soon,* Yaoguang told himself. At the same time, he cast his gaze in a certain direction. Yulong International. Over there... another demon remained! *Ring, ring, ring!* Right then, Yaoguang's phone began to ring. He glanced down... It was from Lin Xiaowei? An inspector from the Yunmeng City special task force? Unsure of her intent, he pondered for a moment before answering. The moment the call connected, Lin Xiaowei's voice came through: "Where are you in Shanlong City right now? I think it's time we met."