"Sister, your little brother is already at the third level of Qi Refinement and is also a Yin Talisman Master. I can easily earn a hundred spirit stones a month." Wen Jiu kept it brief, fearing he might shock her too much. "Just use them freely. If you run out, ask me for more. But never reveal your spirit stones to anyone, not even people you trust."

  "Of course, I know that." Wen Ya nodded quickly, beaming as she stored the spirit stones in the pouch Wen Jiu handed her.

  At that moment, Wen Jiu’s thoughts drifted beyond Feixian Peak. In two or three days, the battlefield at Feixian Peak would be cleared, and by then, the entrance assessment would likely begin. Once the assessment was over, he could officially become a disciple of the main peak.

  But what exactly would the assessment entail?

  Shaking off his thoughts, Wen Jiu had dinner with his sister and the Wang couple in the evening—a small celebration for reaching the third level of Qi Refinement.

  The next day, he resumed his cultivation, diving once again into the Forsaken Deadlands. He even declined all congratulatory invitations from the various officials of Feixian Peak, including one from the Elder of the Talisman Hall.

  Notably, the apprentice and official disciples he had met at Wangshan Pavilion earlier all came to visit, with Chen Daoqing being the first.

  But when they arrived, Wen Jiu happened to be out.

  Du Feng, however, boldly extended another invitation for a small gathering. His intentions were obvious—he wanted to get closer to Wen Jiu. But Wen Jiu declined without hesitation. After all, if he had already turned down an elder, Du Feng was no exception.

  Upon arriving at the Forsaken Deadlands, Wen Jiu focused on replenishing the corpse energy expended by his Three-Fiend Walking Corpse while examining the storage pouches of the late-stage Qi Refinement old woman and Mu Yuanlong. Since both of them had been at the late stages of Qi Refinement, Wen Jiu had high expectations for what he might find.

  The moment his divine sense entered both storage pouches, he was immediately stunned by the sheer number of spirit stones.

  Mu Yuanlong’s pouch contained over three hundred mid-grade spirit stones—equivalent to more than three thousand lower-grade spirit stones.

  The old woman’s pouch had slightly fewer, but still nearly two hundred mid-grade spirit stones—about two thousand lower-grade spirit stones' worth.

  Yet the spirit stones weren’t even the most valuable items. Each pouch contained a first-tier high-grade magical artifact. Unfortunately, both artifacts had been severely damaged by Ye Chen’s Thousand-Jin Tyrant Axe and were in a near-ruined state, significantly reducing their worth.

  Wen Jiu couldn’t estimate their exact value, as his knowledge only extended to first-tier mid-grade artifacts at best.

  Besides that, there were plenty of first-tier high-grade elixirs and talismans, along with several Qi Refinement techniques and spell manuals—items of considerable worth.

  A rough estimate placed the total value of their belongings at around seven to eight thousand lower-grade spirit stones.

  Including what he had obtained from killing Gong Chi, Wen Jiu’s total wealth now exceeded ten thousand spirit stones.

  Realizing this, Wen Jiu's heart pounded uncontrollably.

  Ten thousand!

  Ten thousand spirit stones!

  Even in his wildest dreams, he had never dared to imagine such wealth.

  Night Patrol Division's ordinary disciples earned only two or three low-grade spirit stones a month, while stewards could barely make twenty or thirty. Ten thousand low-grade spirit stones—this was a fortune that an average Qi Refinement cultivator couldn’t hope to earn in a lifetime. All of this was thanks to his Three Rivers Ghost Concealment technique and the Blood Corpse Escape; otherwise, not only would he never have dreamed of making such a windfall, he wouldn’t even dare to think about it. Now, he could freely purchase demon and monster corpses to cultivate corpse blood. No longer did he need to worry about spirit stones or exhaust himself drawing talismans to earn them—which, to be fair, was utterly draining. Every time he pushed his mental energy to the limit drawing talismans, it left him even more exhausted than his previous life, where he had to wake up at six in the morning for work and only got off at ten at night. If it weren’t for his cultivation sustaining him, he would have wanted to collapse onto his bed after drawing talismans, refusing to get up even if an earthquake struck.

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  "I originally played the Blood Ink Three Thousand card just to deal with Gong Chi, but I never expected it would indirectly make me rich overnight." Wen Jiu was overjoyed. And when he thought about the three late-stage Qi Refinement souls he had acquired, he was momentarily at a loss for words.

  He first examined the old woman’s soul. Most of what he found wasn’t of much interest to him, but one thing immediately caught his attention—the Golden Cloud Valley Insect Cultivation Secret Art.

  This was a technique from the Left Path. It couldn’t help a cultivator reach Foundation Establishment, but it could nurture insects as powerful as a perfected Qi Refinement cultivator. What surprised Wen Jiu even more was that this very technique contained a method for raising Spell-Devouring Yin Insects.

  Delving deeper into the old woman’s memories, Wen Jiu suddenly understood—so the Gu Daoist had been her disciple. It was she who had taught him the method for cultivating Spell-Devouring Yin Insects. However, she herself was not a Gu Master, but rather an Insect Cultivator—a separate branch of Gu techniques.

  To be honest, this was the first time Wen Jiu had encountered or even heard of an Insect Cultivator. Despite possessing the Golden Cloud Valley Insect Cultivation Secret Art, which recorded many powerful Gu insect breeding methods, the old woman had never been interested in raising Gu insects. She simply enjoyed raising insects—purely out of personal preference.

  "I'm not picky. I just cultivate whatever is strong." Wen Jiu nodded in satisfaction, memorizing the entire Golden Cloud Valley Insect Cultivation Secret Art before ordering his Three Fiend Walking Corpses to devour the soul of the late-stage Qi Refinement man.

  However, the most valuable knowledge within the man’s memories was actually a body-refining technique he had obtained from an ancient ruin.

  Its name: Golden Body Technique.

  It was powerful.

  It allowed one's physical body to be refined into something akin to a magical artifact. However, compared to his Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body, it was lacking. Still, he could copy it and sell it for spirit stones.

  Finally, there was Mu Yuanlong’s soul. To be honest, what interested Wen Jiu most about his memories was his ghost techniques. If Ye Chen hadn’t been too strong and cleaved him with an axe before he could fully activate his ghost escape technique, Mu Yuanlong would have certainly managed to flee.

  His ghost technique was capable of concealing all traces, including corpse qi imprints—if not for Wen Jiu’s corpse spell imprint hidden within the Blood Ink Three Thousand body, there would have been no way to track him down.

  Carefully combing through his memories, Wen Jiu found the name of this technique—Yin Five Elements Ghost Art. Another top-tier Qi Refinement ghost technique obtained from an ancient ruin.

  By cultivating it, one could briefly erase all presence, achieving complete silence and invisibility—similar to Three Rivers Ghost Concealment. However, Wen Jiu wasn't particularly interested in that part. What intrigued him the most was the Ghost Nurturing Method within the Yin Five Elements Ghost Art.

  Yin Five Elements Ghost Nurturing Technique.

  Typical ghost cultivation could only raise Earth Soul Yin Ghosts. Normally, a human has three souls and seven spirits, while a ghost only retains one soul and half a spirit. However, using this technique, one could cultivate an Earth Spirit, effectively increasing the ghost’s power beyond the ordinary. Don’t underestimate this additional spirit—it made ghosts significantly stronger, allowing them to resist daylight.

  Beyond that, this technique could also cultivate Five Ghosts, corresponding to the Yin attributes of the Five Elements: Yin Metal, Yin Wood, Yin Earth, Yin Fire, and Yin Water. Though the process was extremely demanding, once the Five Ghosts reached Qi Refinement perfection and merged into one, they could even rival a Foundation Establishment cultivator—immensely powerful.

  "This Mu Yuanlong had such an incredible ghost art, yet he got killed halfway through cultivating it by Elder Ye Chen."

  While marveling at the strength of the Yin Five Elements Ghost Art, Wen Jiu once again resolved that once he reached the main peak, he should stay indoors as much as possible.

  Better to stay put and cultivate.

  Who knew what kind of people he might run into outside?

  If he ever encountered someone as powerful as Ye Chen and got instantly killed before he could even activate Blood Corpse Escape, then what?

  Setting aside these thoughts, Wen Jiu searched through the memories of all three souls for any information regarding the Tian Zuo Alliance.

  And its leader.

  To his surprise, none of them had ever seen the Tian Zuo Alliance's leader.

  No.

  Rather, no one in the entire Tian Zuo Alliance had ever seen their leader.

  However, what he did learn was that the Tian Zuo Alliance’s influence had come from beyond Dead Man’s Peak, and their purpose in the Dead Man’s Peak cultivation world was to recruit Left Path cultivators and restore the glory of the Left Path.

  This revelation also solved a previous mystery for Wen Jiu.

  Why had the Chen family allied with the Blood-Clad Tower?

  The Chen family was the former peak lord’s clan and had a deep blood feud with the Blood-Clad Tower—so why would they work together?

  Because the Tian Zuo Alliance was behind it all.

  The Chen family was actually affiliated with the Tian Zuo Alliance.

  That explained why the storage bag had a Tian Zuo Alliance token inside.

  "But seriously, using 'restoring the Left Path’s glory' as an excuse is way too far-fetched." Wen Jiu didn't buy into slogans like that at all.

  It was just like how he never believed a boss who promised pay raises for good performance.

  Just as Wen Jiu finished assessing his spoils, a disciple from the Disciplinary Hall appeared outside the field of scattered corpses.

  He had come for Wen Jiu.

  "Daoist Wen, Elder Ye wishes to see you."

  Elder Ye?

  Ye Chen!

  The elder from the main peak.

  "Why does he suddenly want to see me?"

  Wen Jiu felt a little uneasy. He wasn’t sure if Ye Chen had discovered something or if there was another reason.

  Just to be safe, Wen Jiu brought along his Three Fiend Walking Corpses.

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