Tower. Entrance.

  "Fairy brother really likes demolishing the bridge after crossing. Humph!"

  Shu Ling’s moon-lit face was eclipsed by an unhappy pout.

  Wearing a blend of rue and affection on his face, Bubai drew her closer, hugging her waist and coaxing, "It's not that I don't want to spend more time with fairy. I really have something else to do tonight."

  Shu Ling rolled her eyes, giving him a gre sharp as the glint of stars. "Isn't it just spending time with your Xiao Ai inside?"

  Sensing Xiao Lan waiting in the lounge upstairs like a distant storm cloud, Bubai didn’t deny it, instead choosing to divert the big missus at hand.

  "Okay, okay, be good. I already promised to spend time with fairy tomorrow night, didn’t I?"

  Shu Ling's eyes shone like moonlight. She poked his face pyfully. "Hum, at least you have a conscience under that mask of yours."

  Before Bubai could react further, she quickly stole a peck from his lips and popped out of existence, leaving behind some shimmering starlight and a final echoing reminder.

  "Remember! Tomorrow night. Moon Viewing Terrace. This fairy won’t leave without seeing you!"

  “Moon viewing huh?” Touching his lips, Bubai looked up at the dark skies that hinted at a chance of snow.

  Hey… it wouldn’t be the same moon viewing that could be enjoyed in the dungeons, right? Ahem.

  Bubai turned around, taking the jade slip from the key slot.

  One moon was sent away. Now, time to take care of the other moon in his heart.

  Of course, there would be nothing ambiguous happening. After all, his waist was still sore from all the workout he had…

  Ahem. Bending over so many times to pack and unpack items really worked out his waist! That’s the only thing that happened. Really!

  Ahem. It didn’t matter what shady deals happened. What mattered was that...

  "It all paid off."

  Bubai checked his storage space.

  Heaps and heaps of bottles, vials, jade boxes, gourds, and various other containers - all now beled with elegant silver script.

  Yes, that’s right! Everything had been appraised! Better yet, it wasn’t just basic identification of the items stored, but even the various special containers were noted!

  Such as...

  Sunfire Jade Box: A jade box that absorbs sunlight to maintain a constant internal temperature. Ideal for storing spiritual herbs and elixirs that require warm conditions. Do not store votile poisons.

  Millennial Ice Jade Box: Counterpart of Ice Jade Vials. Ideal for storing votile spiritual herbs and elixirs requiring cold conditions.

  There were other basic containers, but these two were the rather uncommon containers for spiritual pnt. Treasures on their own right, amongst many.

  Of course, no treasure, big or small, could escape the book fairy’s all-knowing appraisal.

  Her sea of knowledge was truly a boundless abyss, deeper and more profound than his own database - a mere puddle built from all the rooms he had ever visited.

  There were many treasures he could barely recognize based on their image recorded in his memory, but the fairy nailed them all!

  Although he had never caught wind of her fame, the fairy truly lived up to her self-procimed title as a top appraiser.

  Thanks to her, what Bubai had initially estimated would take days or even weeks was accomplished in only a single night!

  Now, Bubai can say: he doesn’t have a grandpa in a ring, but... he has found a living and breathing fairy godmother! Hugging her smooth thigh really brought so much benefits to him!

  Best of all, most of his ill-gotten wealth no longer has to stay unutilized!

  "With this, the supplies I can put to use on stage will be more than enough."

  Rexing his shoulders as if a great weight had lifted, Bubai allowed a smile to spread across his face.

  Entering the lounge, Bubai spotted Xiao Lan waiting at the dining table.

  With her usual expression that was as inscrutable as the distant horizons of an ancient tundra, she invited him over, "I warmed up the rice and stirred up a dish of veggies."

  Taking his pce at the table with a warm, appreciative smile, Bubai took note of the single additional pte at the center of the table.

  It was a humble assortment of wrinkled spring lettuce, interspersed with flecks of getinous grass.

  These were just some of the low-grade preserved herbs he salvaged from his newly acquired loot. It could’ve been sold, but… life wasn’t all about the money.

  Picking up his chopsticks, Bubai grabbed a bite.

  “Mmm…” The fresh minty taste mingled with the crunch of the lettuce, which seemed to be sautéed with a pinch of crushed spicy herbal powder.

  A delightful interpy of fvor, enough to satisfy his usual bnd taste buds.

  “Xiao Lan, your cooking skills are really refreshing. The man who marries you must be the luckiest soul alive.”

  Xiao Lan’s chopsticks paused, her face stoic as a winter’s frost. “I don’t cook for others.”

  “Then…” Bubai cheekily smiled back, “I must be the luckiest man alive.”

  Like a machine, Xiao Lan went back into motion, her frozen poker face still not thawing a single bit.

  But when she lifted her bowl up to eat a bite of rice, her obscured purplish lips curved almost imperceptibly.

  Seeing Xiao Lan quietly eating while showing no other reactions, Bubai went back to eating.

  After a few bites, he offhandedly mentioned, "I have to step out for a bit soon. When I return, I’ll take you to pick up a good sword."

  Xiao Lan’s cool gaze flicked over to him. "Not urgent. Bde. Talisman. Enough."

  "Xiao Lan, I’m not afraid of fighting head-on, but I worry about unscrupulous rascals taking advantage of you behind my back again. So, it’s best that you can defend yourself. A sword is your forte. We can afford this much, so just listen to me, alright?"

  Bubai looked over with eyes holding a shadow of concern. Their gazes intersected only for a moment before her eyes darted away from his like a timid rabbit. "En. Listen to you."

  Bubai’s smile brightened and he added a generous helping of veggies into her bowl.

  "Eat more. It’s good for clearing some toxin and nourishing your body. We still have a lot of practicing and tests to do ter."

  Xiao Lan bowed her head demurely and murmured, "En."

  Outer District. Twelfth District.

  The faint gray light of impending dawn shrouded the maze of dipidated, yellowed shacks.

  Most of these shacks lining the streets were ghostly empty, save for some that could stand the distasteful stench carried by the breeze to this area.

  Wandering here was an unkempt man with a thick, scraggly beard, his eyes ping ponging back and forth to the occasional eyes secretly watching him from the darkened holes of the nearby residences.

  This man… was obviously Bubai. His face naturally belonged to one of those gangsters, just with a heavy touch up.

  As for why he is running about out here…

  Bubai hurried forward, crossing the final stretch of the pathway and arriving at at rge sand pit.

  The moment he neared, his mouth could already taste the repulsive smell coming from the pit. This was a foul stench, not one of death, but...

  Stopping at the edge of the pit, Bubai peered down into the inky darkness.

  His keen eyes adjusted quickly, making out the bck and brown sludge that formed a grotesque hill in the pit dug in the sand.

  Ah… this was the cesspit—the end of the world for backwards pces bereft of sewers.

  Even for a cultivation sect like this one, it can’t do without this “holy ground”.

  After all, a rge popution had to have somewhere to dump what they shed with their still-mortal bodies.

  Compared to the inner districts, the outer sect wasn't exactly known for its cleanliness, but the disciples still can’t just dump their excrement out the window.

  This demonic sect might overlook many things, but there were still basic sect rules to maintain hygiene.

  Disciples were expected to dispose of their waste properly, and the few cesspits in the outer districts were the usual go-to dumpsters.

  Of course, what Bubai came here to dispose of wasn’t just simple waste…

  Like a sketchy robber, both divine sense and eyes checked the area, making sure no one was around before he hopped down into the mess.

  The nding was light as a feather, but Bubai can immediately feel the revolting squish beneath, as if his feet would just sink into the quagmire if he fell any harder...

  Ew. Just ew. This was definitely not a pce anyone would wanna fall... unless they want a free facial mask.

  Ignoring the discomforting feeling of standing on squishy, uneven ground, Bubai pulled out a shovel from his storage and began shoveling away…

  Merlin’s beard… it was an unholy feast for his eyes. Every single scoop of it.

  Fortunately, he can shut off his sense of smell temporarily. Otherwise… hehe.

  Soon, a deep, wide hole was dug in the soft, sticky hill, revealing the darker yers underneath.

  With a wave of his gloved hand, a handful of charred corpses fell out from nowhere and into the hole with a muted thud.

  After the ghastly, unrecognizable sins of unspoken disasters found their pce in the filthy hole, Bubai quickly shoveled the nearby fertilizer to give them a proper burial...

  “Yes, yes, rest in peace. Don’t come back to find Grandpa Fang...”

  Finishing up, Bubai patted the “soil” to pack it tighter and make it less conspicuous.

  “That’s the st of them. Hopefully, this should keep them out of sight for a while…”

  Of course, out of sight or not didn’t really matter.

  Paper can’t wrap up fire. Sooner or ter, the dead will crawl out from their grave to seek justice.

  But that’s for the future.

  Right now, what truly mattered was that this operation achieved one of his goals: freeing up his storage space!

  Yes, his storage space had expanded, but he can’t just hoard every corpse he came across.

  The decaying bodies would only stink up his space and they might even contaminate his other precious treasures.

  This was a world of cultivation with all sorts of weird supernatural problems. Corpses are one of many.

  Once enough dead corpses are amassed, they could breed camities and bring disasters!

  The most common of these being the birth of an evil spirit!

  The st thing Bubai needed was for his storage space to become an evil spirit spawning ground.

  With that in mind, it was best to clear his corpse inventory whenever he can and only keep the important bodies that can’t be wantonly tossed.

  Hence this trip.

  Storing away his shovel, Bubai took a final look around. “Well, offsie daisies.”

  Channeling Qi to his feet, Bubai skimmed across the squelchy carpet like a stone skipping across water… soon leaping out from the pit.

  After rubbing his soiled boots against the sand a few times to get off as much of the filth as possible, Bubai hopped out of them and sent them to the junk corner of his storage space.

  Temporarily keep them there until they get washed ter.

  Slipping on a clean pair of old sandals, Bubai walked away, ready to go enjoy something more pleasant...

  But it seemed his luck might be running out because he didn’t walk far when a gruff voice transmission boomed in his ears, stopping him in his tracks. "You there! Freeze!"

  No way! Was he discovered?!