Junior sister, I really need to control you

In the capital city, in front of the Jade Fragrance Pavilion.

This is a guesthouse with only four floors. It looks simple and unpretentious from the outside, but it is very spacious.

However, when Li Yinsheng probed the interior with his divine sense, he found it to be luxuriously decorated, surpassing the mansions of many high-ranking officials and nobles. The people drinking and staying there were all cultivators, and most of them had quite good cultivation levels.

"Senior, this Jade Fragrance Pavilion was built by a senior with profound cultivation. It is usually a place for independent cultivators from the vicinity of the capital to exchange ideas."

"Now that the exchange meeting is underway, cultivators from all sides are gathering, so not only have prices skyrocketed, but they also have to consider a person's cultivation level and background before they will be accepted."

"Only some prominent rogue cultivators or members of small sects are allowed to stay here."

Changchunzi said, "I am somewhat respected among independent cultivators and have some connections with the manager of this building."

As he spoke, he flashed his name tag on his waist badge to the servant at the door, who promptly invited the three of them inside.

Li Yinsheng's gaze swept across the room, which was also very spacious, with long and square tables arranged in a staggered manner, and almost every table was occupied by guests.

A dozen or so brightly dressed, beautiful women moved among the tables, serving the guests delicious food and wine.

These women were not cultivators, but had practiced mortal martial arts, yet their movements were graceful and agile.

However, the servant boy greeting guests at the door was indeed a genuine cultivator, albeit one with meager cultivation.

Mu Xiaoyu looked up, somewhat curiously at the wine list hanging on the wall.

"Senior brother, may I order some wine to try?" Mu Xiaoyu asked, tugging at Li Yinsheng's sleeve. "I've never had wine before."

She wasn't particularly fond of alcohol, but seeing it today piqued her curiosity, and she wanted to know if it tasted good.

“Although this place is a gathering place for cultivators, most of the wine is ordinary wine and not edible,” Li Yinsheng said casually. “If you are curious, I will buy you some better wine to try when we get back.”

"Mm!" Mu Xiaoyu nodded, quite satisfied. "Thank you, Senior Brother!"

She was satisfied, but some people were not.

"Oh, this guest seems to be a seasoned wine connoisseur, quite discerning indeed. None of the sixty-eight kinds of fine wines in my Jade Fragrance Pavilion can meet your standards?"

A soft, charming voice came from behind the counter, and a mature and elegant female cultivator who looked to be in her early thirties stepped out and looked at Li Yinsheng, who had caused the disturbance.

Immediately, a bright light appeared before my eyes.

The menacing aura between his brows, as if to say "Let me see who's causing trouble," vanished instantly.

She swayed her hips and walked quickly over. Although she bowed to Changchunzi, her gaze never left Li Yinsheng.

"It's been a long time, Daoist Changchunzi," she said with a smile, still holding a jade pen for bookkeeping. "Are this handsome fellow Daoist and this lovely young fellow Daoist your juniors?"

Changchunzi shuddered, shaking his head so hard that his beard bounced up.

"Manager Yu, please don't talk nonsense! This is Senior Li, who is interested in the exchange meeting. I'm here to act as his guide!"

Manager Yu was taken aback; Changchunzi's expression didn't seem to be joking.

But she really couldn't imagine that Changchunzi, who was quite prominent among the rogue cultivators, would be so humble towards such a young cultivator.

Changchunzi cautiously gave Li Yinsheng an inquiring look, and after Li Yinsheng nodded, he took two steps closer to Manager Yu and lowered his voice.

"Manager Yu, you should be more respectful to this Senior Li. He is... a master from the mountain, whose cultivation surpasses mine tenfold!"

On the mountain?

Manager Yu savored the words for a moment before realizing what they meant. Startled, he quickly bowed to Li Yinsheng.

"This junior, Yu Ningxiang, was just speaking without thinking and offended you greatly. All expenses for the three of you today will be charged to Ningxiang. I hope you will forgive me."

Li Yinsheng shook his head slightly and said, "It's alright, ignorance is no excuse."

Yu Ningxiang stood up, her face respectful but not flustered.

As the manager of this Jade Fragrance Pavilion, she had also received some cultivators from the Hundred Thousand Mountains, so she was considered to have seen the world.

However, most of them were disciples who had returned to the mortal world to visit their relatives. Although their cultivation was high, it was not to an exaggerated degree.

The person in front of him is someone who can make Changchunzi so respectful and fearful, and even say that his cultivation is ten times better than mine. His cultivation must be quite good in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, right?

……

After booking three superior rooms, which would remain until the end of the exchange meeting, Li Yinsheng went to his own room.

Then he took out the three ginseng roots that Mu Xiaoyu had bought and carefully examined them with his divine sense.

This item is currently the biggest clue about the tribulations of cultivation, and it should not be ignored.

A moment later, his brows furrowed slightly.

It's rather strange. Although the residual blood and evil energy is very weak, upon closer inspection, it is extremely complex and deeply permeated.

It could even be said that the medicinal power within it was completely integrated with the mixed blood and evil energy, as if this blood and evil energy accompanied it throughout its growth, providing it with nourishment.

As for the bloodthirsty aura itself...

Li Yinsheng was not surprised that it contained human blood and qi.

To his surprise, only half of the blood energy was human, while the other half was the blood energy of demons.

Moreover, the blood energy of these demons is the source of the chaos, because it is not the blood energy of one or two demons, but a chaotic mixture of the blood and evil energy of countless demons.

This is very strange.

He had heard of using the essence and blood of mortals to cultivate medicinal herbs; many evil cultivators had done similar things, and Taoist temples would kill such evil cultivators on the spot.

Using the blood of demons to cultivate medicinal herbs is not taboo, but herbs cultivated in this way have a much more mixed medicinal potency than normal herbs, and their value is greatly reduced.

This ginseng, apart from having an extremely faint aura of bloodlust, was almost as potent as a genuine century-old ginseng.

Could it be because both the essence of mortals and the blood of demons were used at the same time?

But why would someone go to such great lengths to cultivate this thing? Is it just to make some money selling medicinal herbs?

Although this reason is tempting enough for some evil cultivators with low cultivation levels.

But the one who triggered the tribulation of cultivation last time was Chongyun, this unorthodox Taoist master.

Which real person would be interested in the money from selling a century-old ginseng?

Moreover, he had already roughly explored the entire capital city with his divine sense along the way.

Although the capital of the Dayong Dynasty was much larger than that of the ancient dynasties in his previous life, there were no obvious problems or places filled with blood and evil spirits.

There were too many things he couldn't understand, so Li Yinsheng felt he still had to go to that Yiqi Gate to look for clues.

I just need to bring my junior sister with me tomorrow, so she can have a chance to shine.

After all, it has already been proven that the rewards for the tribulation of cultivation ultimately depend on the junior sister's performance.

Previously on Bamboo Forest Peak, his junior sister's cultivation was too weak to do anything, so he only let her collect the head of an insect.

They didn't even leave Chongyun's head for their junior sister.

After all, given her cultivation level at the time, she couldn't possibly unleash any threatening spells.

However, things are different now.

She has been cultivating for over thirty years, and is only one step away from the sixth level of the Qingxuan True Scripture. She also has body cultivation, two high-grade magic weapons, and a complete set of sword techniques.

If we really want to compare, some stewards in ordinary Taoist temples who don't have high enough cultivation levels or specialize in combat might not be much stronger than my junior sister in terms of fighting ability.

Of course, Qi Jiushan, a deacon of the Demon-Slaying Hall responsible for slaying demons and monsters, is far superior to his junior sister in terms of raw strength.

The premise is that she does not use the Three Yang Spiritual Fire.

Although Li Yinsheng trained her to cultivate the Three Yang Spiritual Fire mainly for weapon crafting, this does not mean that the Three Yang Spiritual Fire is not good at combat.

After being nourished by more than a dozen fire seeds, the junior sister's Three Yang Spiritual Fire was even able to smelt the main materials of some high-grade magic weapons.

Although it can only refine high-grade materials, it is not enough to directly melt and damage a high-grade magic weapon that has already been formed.

However, if the fire is aimed directly at the cultivator himself, the level of threat is a different story.

After all, while there are many stewards with high-grade magical artifacts, there are very few stewards with high-grade defensive magical artifacts.

If Junior Sister were to unleash the full power of her current Three Yang Spiritual Flame, Qi Jiushan would probably have to avoid its sharp edge.

However, since her cultivation level is still shallow, if she were to unleash the full power of the spiritual fire, the force would be too great, not only placing an extremely heavy burden on her, but also potentially burning her meridians.

Therefore, the Three Yang Spiritual Fire is not a means that can be used at will like the Cold Bright Sword and sword techniques; it can only be considered a trump card.

Taking all of this into account, among cultivators below the True Person level, my junior sister can actually be considered a minor expert.

Perhaps we can let my junior sister show more of her talents tomorrow?

Just as he was pondering, Mu Xiaoyu came and knocked on the door: "Knock knock knock! Senior brother, are you there?"

"Come in," Li Yinsheng said.

Mu Xiaoyu rushed in, closed the door, looked at the ginseng in Li Yinsheng's hand, pinched her nose, but still leaned over with a face full of curiosity.

"Senior brother, have you found anything wrong with this ginseng? Why does it smell so strongly of blood..." Mu Xiaoyu asked.

She was so curious that she couldn't help but ask her senior brother after staying in her room for a short while.

However, for Li Yinsheng, her arrival was just in time.

Li Yinsheng said solemnly, "Junior sister, I suspect that these ginsengs are related to evil cultivators."

Mu Xiaoyu's eyes widened immediately.

……

That night.

After seeing his junior sister off, Li Yinsheng's soul left his body and quietly circled around the capital of Dayong, setting up a hidden array.

Although he didn't find any obvious problems in the capital, he felt that there must be something wrong with the capital.

After all, as mentioned in the text, this tribulation originated from a gathering of independent cultivators in the capital of the Dayong Dynasty.

So no matter what, it's always the right thing to surround the capital first.

Of course, the independent cultivators active in the capital are not only distributed within the city. In particular, some small sects or cultivation families would find it inconvenient to live directly in the bustling capital.

Therefore, these small sects or cultivation families would place their mountain gates or clan territories in the desolate wilderness near the capital.

For cultivators, this is not much different from living directly in the capital, and they don't have to worry about hiding their identities.

So what he actually needed to control was not just the capital city, but a large area surrounding it.

Even if he were to set up a temporary formation, it would still take him some time to enclose such a large area by himself.