Chapter 121: The Arrival of Shen Yu
With Dai Rui’s assistance, Song Yan went to the Merit Archives to record the merit earned from slaying the demonic cultivators. The five devils of Han Shan earned him a total of sixty-five merit points—far more than he had expected.
After all, a single Breakthrough Pill required only three hundred and sixty points.
Ordinary disciples stationed at Changping automatically received thirty points per month.
One early Qi Refining Stage demonic cultivator was worth five points, three mid-stage cultivators together were worth thirty points, and one late-stage cultivator alone was worth thirty points.
The five demonic cultivators he had just slain were equivalent to more than two months of stationed patrol duty.
“Then couldn’t I just repeat this…”
“…”
The wicked thought had barely risen before he extinguished it himself.
“No. Doing this once in a while could be chalked up to luck.”
“Boosting contributions like this every few days would inevitably raise suspicion.”
“Changping is crawling with demonic cultivators—why would no one else be able to spot them, but I could?”
“Anyone would be able to tell something was off about me.”
He immediately dismissed the notion.
This matter quickly spread among the disciples of the six sects stationed at Changping.
They said that the new Senior Brother Song from Team A-1 had encountered five Demon Seed Sect demonic cultivators in just a few months at Changping.
And he had slain every single one, earning a great deal of merit.
Some envied him, some were jealous, and some were curious.
Of course, some also scoffed.
They believed that although he had earned merit, the situation showed that Changping was actually far more chaotic than anyone had imagined, and disciples on regular patrol would be in even greater danger.
For some, securely obtaining the resources they needed was the best outcome.
Discussion of this matter quickly blew over.
However, this incident had served as a fuse.
The elders of the six sects took it very seriously and comprehensively strengthened disciple patrols throughout Changping.
Places that had previously been considered relatively safe, with few demonic cultivator sightings, also had their guard increased.
For regular patrol disciples, this made little difference.
However, many interior disciples who had rarely left their quarters now occasionally had to participate in patrol missions.
Among them was Cheng Yu.
The disparity in treatment between interior and regular patrol disciples had already bred discontent among many.
Now, with the undercurrents of this situation, many elders—for various reasons and interests—raised objections at the council meetings.
Due to manpower shortages, even cultivators like Cheng Yu who had powerful backers were now required to have fixed monthly patrol assignments.
And so, another two months passed.
Yangwu Courtyard.
Song Yan sat in his room, slowly circulating his cultivation technique, refining spiritual energy.
Threads of spiritual energy transformed into pure spiritual power, flowing through his meridians.
The spiritual power ultimately converged into his Dantian sea of qi, settling into calm.
An hour later, he slowly opened his tranquil eyes, a glint of sharpness gradually fading from their depths.
His gaze fell upon a small bottle of pills.
His daily cultivation in Changping had become barely passable now.
The reason was precisely this unique bottle of pills before him.
Yellow Springs Dark Pills.
These pills could not enhance spiritual energy, nor could they assist in breaking through bottlenecks.
They held no special effects for increasing spiritual power.
Yet in a place like Changping, everyone kept some on hand.
Besides a bottle he had purchased at Cold Mountain Market, he had also found some in the five demonic cultivators’ cosmos bags.
Enough to last a long while.
The Yellow Springs Dark Pills served no other purpose but one.
They could automatically filter the impurities from the local spiritual energy for a period of time.
Cultivating here was entirely different from cultivating in a sect cave dwelling.
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 refinement process.
The impurities within the spiritual energy were simply too numerous. If not stripped away and refined, they would accumulate in the body, causing hidden injuries and latent toxins. With these pills in hand, he no longer needed to devote mental effort to such concerns.
“Truly remarkable…”
He had never seen these pills recorded in any alchemy text before—perhaps his knowledge was simply too limited.
He put away the pills.
Song Yan stood, temporarily halted the formation array, opened the door, and stepped outside.
His destination was the Spirit Display Stele outside the Merit Archives.
The six sects’ leadership in Changping posted all important arrangements on the Spirit Display Stele.
In addition, all team and squad mission assignments and schedules could be found there.
This was the directive the six sects’ elders had issued to ensure fairness.
Several disciples gathered around the Spirit Display Stele.
Most had neutral expressions, though some sighed and groaned.
“Ah… why do I have to go on patrol again this month?!”
One disciple wailed. From his dao robe, he appeared to be an outer disciple of Hanging Sword Mountain.
“You should be grateful—it’s already not bad.”
His companion beside him offered comfort: “Senior Brother Wang from the Lingfu Sect next door used to have a cushy assignment in Gamma Team Three. Now he’s been scheduled for three patrols a month.”
He patted the other on the shoulder.
“If you want to blame someone, blame that damn Song Yan from the Eastern Abyss Sect.”
“Hey, keep your voice down.”
Song Yan felt no ripple of emotion.
He had long since heard the discussions many disciples from the six sects were having about him.
It was also easy to guess who was fanning the flames behind the scenes.
It was nothing more than those so-called young masters like Cheng Yu, who had originally only needed to hide safely in the city to cultivate.
Fortunately, Song Yan cared nothing at all about what others said about him.
He only cared about how to make the person called Cheng Yu silently vanish from this world.
“Twenty-ninth, Cao Yuan Township…”
His eyes swept across the Spirit Display Stele, searching.
Finally, in a very remote corner, he found Cheng Yu’s name.
He let out a cold laugh.
These so-called cultivators with powerful backers—even when assigned patrol missions, their postings were placed at the most marginal, most concealed locations.
If any oversight occurred, it would be easy to manage, and no one would pay attention.
He recorded the mission information related to Cheng Yu, lingered a moment longer, then slowly turned and left.
The area around the Merit Archives was a hotbed of information.
Many pieces of information that were not secret yet hard to come by through ordinary means could be gathered here.
For example, Song Yan overheard a piece of news from the idle chatter of nearby Profound Abyss Sect disciples.
Although this news was not exactly good 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 previous Profound Abyss Sect resident elder.
“…”
Song Yan was all too familiar with this person, Shen Yu.
Among the other members of the Profound Abyss Sect, including Shen Huai, none actually had any major enmity with him.
But this Shen Yu had genuinely suffered a great loss at the Eastern Abyss Sect because of Song Yan.
It was hard to guarantee that this person would not seek revenge at the first opportunity.
With their own elder stationed there, the other party naturally would not act openly. But if they made some arrangements in the shadows…
An elder, and a late Foundation Establishment elder at that.
Their influence was hundreds of times greater than that of a nobody like Cheng Yu!
However, Song Yan did not feel particularly anxious.
After all, there were more important matters to attend to at the moment.