I tamed beasts and achieved immortality in the world of cultivation.

Half Moon Lake, second floor quiet room.

The calming incense smoke rose gently, filling the room with tranquility.

Chen Qing sat cross-legged on a futon, with three storage bags in front of him. Two of them were dusty and belonged to the two cultivators at the sixth level of Qi Refining, while the other one, which was of slightly better quality, belonged to the middle-aged man at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Qingtian, Danyu, and Yinyue stood beside Chen Qing, all looking at the three storage bags, feeling as if they were scratching lottery tickets.

Chen Qing smiled, took the two storage bags with the sixth level of Qi Refining, probed them with his spiritual sense, and dumped out all the contents at once.

"Splash—"

Spirit stones, jade bottles, magical artifacts, talismans, secret manuals... were piled up haphazardly all over the floor of the meditation room.

Chen Qing lowered his head to count.

The spirit stones were first gathered together: two, five, ten... Chen Qing scanned them with his spiritual sense, and there were two hundred and thirty-six stones.

"good."

Chen Qing nodded and picked up the five bottles of pills again.

The jade bottle felt slightly cool to the touch, and a faint scent of blood clung to its surface. Upon uncorking it, a pungent, bloody odor wafted out, mixed with a hint of medicinal fragrance—a rather strange smell.

Chen Qing frowned and put the stopper back in.

He didn't know much about demonic pills, but he was certain that he would never dare to touch pills tainted with blood.

"We don't need it, let's sell it."

Chen Qing put the five bottles of pills aside and picked up the three magical artifacts.

A short sword, an iron fan, and a pair of bronze maces were all mid-grade first-tier items, but their quality varied. The short sword, in particular, had a faint blood-red glow flowing over its blade, clearly indicating that it was a demonic artifact.

"I don't need it, I'll sell it."

Chen Qing placed the three magical artifacts next to the pills, and then picked up the dozen or so talismans.

This one works.

Fourteen talismans, eight of which are offensive, four of which are defensive, and two of which are speed talismans. Most of them are of mid-grade first rank, with two approaching high-grade first rank. Although they all carry a faint blood aura, when it comes to talismans, who cares whether they are made by the righteous or the demonic path?

"Keep this one."

Chen Qing put the talisman into his storage bag separately, and then flipped through the few secret manuals and jade slips.

A quick scan with his spiritual sense revealed that they were all demonic techniques and spells, of low rank and commonplace in the Canglan Domain, utterly useless to him.

"Sell, sell, sell!"

Chen Qing gathered these items together and then picked up the last storage bag—the one belonging to the middle-aged man at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Upon probing with his spiritual sense, Chen Qing was slightly taken aback.

The contents of this storage bag were far less than he had expected.

"Splash—"

The contents were emptied out, revealing only two jade slips, a secret manual, two talismans, and one hundred and eighty-seven spirit stones.

Chen Qing frowned.

A dignified seventh-level Qi Refining cultivator, yet his wealth is less than those two sixth-level Qi Refining cultivators?

Chen Qing then took out the blood-red longsword from his storage bag: "A first-grade high-level magic weapon, plus these..."

A moment later, he suddenly realized.

After chasing for more than an hour, the middle-aged man spat out his blood and essence four or five times, and threw out talismans as if they were free. The silver talisman alone was quite valuable, and he had probably consumed almost all the pills.

It's already pretty good that these are left.

Chen Qing shook his head, no longer dwelling on it, and picked up the manual to start reading.

The cover has three large, dark red characters: "Blood Fiend Technique".

Opening the title page and glancing at it briefly, I saw that this was a cultivation technique that could be practiced up to the Foundation Establishment stage. It involved absorbing the blood and evil energy of heaven and earth into the body to temper the physical form, and its power was considerable, but it required the essence and blood of living beings as a catalyst...

Chen Qing only read half of it before closing it.

Demonic cultivation techniques? For a righteous disciple like him to cultivate such things is practically asking for trouble.

"What a pity."

Chen Qing shook his head, put down the Blood Fiend Technique, and picked up the two jade slips.

The first jade slip contains a blood-path technique, which is paired with the Blood Fiend Technique, but it is also useless.

The second jade slip...

Chen Qing probed with his spiritual sense, and after a moment, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

The jade slip contained the secret blood escape technique used by that middle-aged man—its full name was "Burning Blood Escape Technique".

It doesn't require demonic techniques or specific spiritual attributes; any cultivator can use it. The price is burning one's essence and blood in exchange for a short-term surge in speed.

Use this when you can't catch someone, and use this when you can't escape.

Who doesn't want more life-saving items?

"This is good."

Chen Qing carefully put the jade away, intending to study it in detail when he had time.

After taking inventory of everything, Chen Qing sat cross-legged on the ground and silently did some mental calculations.

Three storage bags, containing a total of 423 spirit stones.

The three first-tier mid-grade magic weapons, plus that first-tier high-grade blood-red longsword, should be enough to sell for three or four hundred spirit stones on the black market.

Five bottles of pills—though I don't know exactly what they are—are pills used by cultivators at the sixth level of Qi Refining. Five bottles would cost between two and three hundred spirit stones.

As for those few unusable manuals, jade slips, and the "Blood Fiend Technique," it's not easy to sell them. If they run into people from other sects, it will be difficult to handle. It's better to keep them and sell them in other black markets far away from Qian Kingdom later.

All of this adds up...

Around one thousand spirit stones.

Chen Qing took a deep breath, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

After buying the Azure Wind Boat last time, he still had more than 600 spirit stones left. With these, he now has more than 1,600 spirit stones.

We are now less than 400 spirit stones short of the 2,000 spirit stones needed for Qian Youfu's path.

"No wonder so many people like becoming a traitorous cultivator," Chen Qing muttered to himself, a hint of emotion flashing in his eyes. "This is a lucrative opportunity."

Qingtian squatted on the table, turned a page of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," and a thought came to him: "I have observed that when Cao Cao raised his army, he also robbed the rich to help the poor. Chen Qing, you can now be considered a powerful figure in your own right."

"I'm acting on behalf of Heaven," Chen Qingyi corrected him righteously.

Silver Moon lay beside his legs, tilted her head and glanced at him, letting out a soft "woof," though it was unclear whether she understood.

Danyu stood by the window, glanced at him indifferently with a hint of disdain, and continued preening her feathers.

Chen Qing remained unmoved, carefully gathering the items on the ground one by one. He straightened his expression, walked to the window, stood with his hands behind his back, and his tone suddenly became righteous and awe-inspiring:

"As the garrison commander of Lin Yuan County under the Lingyun Sect, it is my duty to serve the sect and protect the peace of this region. These cultivators, under my rule, are so rampant, burning, killing, looting, and committing all sorts of atrocities. It's simply outrageous!"

His gaze was piercing, his voice booming, as if declaring to heaven and earth:

"Today, I, Chen Qing, act on behalf of Heaven, slaying demons and eliminating evil, and confiscating these ill-gotten gains. This is perfectly justified and righteous! If any villains dare to offend Lin Yuan again, I will make sure they never return!"

His words were powerful and righteous.

The claws that were flipping through the book froze in mid-air. It raised its head, its golden-brown eyes staring blankly at Chen Qing, its small mouth slightly open, with an expression that said, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Dan Yu stopped preening her feathers, stared at Chen Qing with her black bean-like eyes for a couple of moments, then silently turned her head away and covered her face with her wings.

Silver Moon lay at Chen Qing's feet, tilted her head to look at Qingtian, then at Danyu. Although she didn't quite understand what had happened, she still stretched out her little paws to cover her eyes.

The three spirit beasts moved in unison.

Chen Qing maintained that upright and dignified posture, his lips twitching slightly.

"...What kind of reaction is this?"

Qingtian closed "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," and a faint thought came from within: "Chen Qing, I think you're even better at making polite conversation than Cao Cao."

Niwa's cool voice followed immediately: "Where's your face?"

Silver Moon let out a soft "woof," her voice sweet and gentle: "Chen Qing... is so strange."

Chen Qing: "…………"

He coughed lightly, withdrew from his stance, and sat back down on the prayer mat as if nothing had happened.

"Alright, alright, let's start cultivating."

In the quiet room, the wisps of calming incense smoke rose gently, enveloping the man and his three beasts in tranquility.

[New book recommendation period, please vote, fellow readers!]