Chapter 120: Shen Yu Arrives
With Dai Rui’s assistance, Song Yan went to the Merit Records Office to log the merit points for slaying the demonic cultivators. The five Hanshan demons earned him a total of sixty-five merit points—more than he had expected.
After all, a Breakthrough Pill only required three hundred and sixty merit points to redeem.
An ordinary disciple stationed in Changping automatically received thirty points per month.
One early Qi Refining demonic cultivator counted as five points, three mid Qi Refining cultivators together counted as thirty points, and one late Qi Refining cultivator counted as thirty points.
The five demonic cultivators he had just slain were worth more than two months of stationing duty.
“Then couldn’t I just repeat this…”
“…”
This wicked thought was extinguished the moment it arose.
“No. If it only happened once in a while, I could chalk it up to luck.”
“If I suddenly started accumulating merit at this rate, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.”
“Changping is crawling with demonic cultivators. Why is it that no one else can find them, but I can?”
“Anyone would be able to tell something was off about me.”
He immediately dismissed the notion.
The news quickly spread among the six sects’ disciples stationed in Changping.
They said that the new Senior Brother Song from Team A-1 had encountered five Demon Seed Sect demonic cultivators before even being in Changping for a few months.
And he had slain every one of them, earning a hefty amount of merit points.
Some envied him, some were jealous, and some were curious.
Of course, some scoffed.
They believed that although he had gained merit points, from a broader perspective, Changping was actually far more chaotic than everyone had imagined, and disciples on regular patrol duty would be even more endangered.
For some, safely obtaining the resources they needed was the best outcome.
The discussion about this matter itself quickly faded.
However, this event acted like a fuse.
The six sects’ elders took it very seriously and comprehensively strengthened disciple patrols throughout Changping.
Places that had previously been considered not too dangerous and where demonic cultivators rarely appeared were also placed under heightened alert.
For those on regular patrol duty, there was no real change.
But many internal logistics disciples, who had previously seldom left the main buildings, now needed to occasionally participate in patrol missions.
Among them was Cheng Yu.
The disparity in treatment between internal logistics and regular patrol had already made many people discontented.
Now, with the undercurrents of this situation, many elders—for various reasons and interests—seized the opportunity to raise objections at the council meeting.
Due to personnel shortages, even cultivators like Cheng Yu who had connections above still needed to have fixed monthly patrol assignments.
And so, another two months passed.
Yangwu Courtyard.
Inside his room, Song Yan slowly circulated his cultivation technique, refining spiritual energy.
Threads of spiritual energy transformed into pure spiritual power, flowing through his meridians.
Finally, the spiritual power merged into the Dantian’s qi sea, settling into calm.
An hour later, he slowly opened his tranquil eyes, and a faint glint of sharpness gradually faded from their depths.
His gaze fell on a small bottle of pills.
His daily cultivation in Changping had become barely adequate now.
The reason was precisely this unique pill in front of him.
Yellow Springs Dark Pill.
This pill could not increase spiritual power, nor could it assist in breaking through bottlenecks.
It had no special effects for enhancing spiritual energy whatsoever.
Yet in a place like Changping, everyone kept some on hand.
Besides the bottle he had bought at the Cold Mountain Market, he had also found some in the five demonic cultivators’ Cosmos Bags.
Enough to last a long time.
The Yellow Springs Dark Pill had no other function—it did only one thing.
It could automatically filter out the impurities in the local spiritual energy for a period of time.
Cultivating here was completely different from cultivating in a sect’s cave dwelling.
Back at the sect, one only needed to consider how to increase the density of spiritual energy and absorb it quickly.
But here, the most troublesome part was actually the refining process.
The impurities and contaminants in the spiritual energy were truly numerous. If they weren’t stripped away and refined, they would accumulate in the body and cause hidden injuries and latent toxins. With this pill in hand, there was no longer a need to devote mental energy to these concerns.
“Truly remarkable…”
He had never seen this pill described in any alchemy text before. Perhaps his knowledge was still too limited.
He put the pills away.
Song Yan rose to his feet, temporarily paused his formation array, opened the door, and stepped outside.
His destination was the Spirit Display Stele outside the Records Tower.
The six sects’ leadership in Changping posted all important arrangements and matters on the Spirit Display Stele for public notice.
In addition, all team and squad task assignments and arrangements could be seen on it as well.
This was an instruction from the six sects’ elders to ensure fairness.
Several disciples were gathered around the Spirit Display Stele.
Most of them had neutral expressions, though some sighed and groaned.
“Ugh… why do I have to go on patrol duty again this month?!”
One disciple wailed. From his Daoist robes, he appeared to be an outer disciple of Hanging Sword Mountain.
“You should be grateful—you’re already doing fine.”
His companion beside him consoled him. “Senior Brother Wang from the neighboring Lingfu Sect, who was originally assigned to the cushy post of Team Gamma-Three, now has three patrols scheduled per month.”
He patted the other on the shoulder.
“If you want to blame someone, blame that so-called Song Yan from Eastern Abyss Sect.”
“Hey, keep your voice down.”
Song Yan felt no stirring of emotion in his heart.
He had long heard the discussions about him among many of the six sects’ disciples.
It was easy to guess who was fanning the flames behind the scenes.
It was nothing more than those so-called privileged young masters like Cheng Yu, who had originally only needed to hide safely within the city walls to cultivate.
Fortunately, Song Yan cared not at all about what others said about him.
All he cared about was how to make the person called Cheng Yu quietly disappear from this world.
“Twenty-nine, Caoyuan Township…”
His eyes scanned and searched across the Spirit Display Stele.
Finally, in a very remote corner, he found Cheng Yu’s name.
He let out a cold laugh.
These so-called cultivators with connections—even their patrol duty assignments were posted in the most peripheral, most inconspicuous spots.
If there were any oversights, it would be very convenient to handle, as no one would pay attention.
He noted down the task information related to Cheng Yu and lingered a moment longer before slowly turning to leave.
The area near the Records Tower had access to much information.
Many pieces of information that were not classified secrets but were ordinarily difficult to obtain could be overheard here.
For example, Song Yan heard a piece of news from the casual chatter of nearby Profound Abyss Sect disciples.
Although this news could not be considered a good thing for him.
Profound Abyss Sect’s External Affairs Elder, Shen Yu, had just broken through to late Foundation Establishment.
And he would be arriving in Changping in a few days to replace the original Profound Abyss Sect elder stationed there.
“…”
Song Yan was all too familiar with the name Shen Yu.
Among the other members of Profound Abyss Sect, including Shen Huai, none actually had a significant enmity with him.
But this Shen Yu had genuinely suffered a major setback at Eastern Abyss Sect because of Song Yan.
There was no guarantee that this person wouldn’t seek an opportunity for revenge.
With his own sect’s elder stationed there, Shen Yu naturally wouldn’t make any overt moves on the surface—but if he arranged things quietly from the shadows…
An elder, and particularly a late Foundation Establishment elder…
His influence was a hundred times greater than someone like Cheng Yu, who was nothing but a stray cat or dog!
But Song Yan didn’t feel particularly panicked.
After all, there was a more important matter to attend to at the moment.