Vampire Cultivation Notes

Chapter 176 The atmosphere in this Demonic Sect Ruins is quite nice.

Delving into the best of Xianxia novels,

"Who's stirring up trouble? Who's stirring up the waves?"

"It's most likely not me."

With a desolate figure, Li Jieqing walked into the capital and disappeared. When he reappeared, he had already found out the original owner's exact address.

Li Jieqing pushed open the door and entered the small courtyard under the corridor near the back gate of the Yu Mansion on Ningrongfang Back Street.

Bluestone steps and compacted loess paving the ground create a tranquil atmosphere.

Upon entering the small courtyard, Li Jieqing looked around and nodded from time to time.

What a pathetic, impoverished family! A dignified Qi Refining Level 6 expert and weapon refiner, yet they don't even have two protective formations at home. What's the difference between that and sleeping naked on the street?

Living here makes me feel so unsafe, no wonder the original owner got poisoned.

Li Jieqing observed the layout of the courtyard, then moved to the workshop in the courtyard. He saw that in the square blue stone room, there were many common and inexpensive refining materials on the shelves, and a fire pool in the center, which emitted a stream of earth fire that never went out.

Li Jieqing probed with his divine sense and sensed that the earth fire was drawn from the Yu family's Duke's mansion and rose to this place.

The most precious thing about this small, dilapidated place is this fire pit.

Li Jieqing himself had never used such a fine thing.

"Those who die violently from poisoning are either victims of passion or murder. The Bai family caravan found out that the original owner was alone. Looking at this weapon-forging manual, I only see a craftsman who is engrossed in forging. Therefore, a crime of passion is ruled out."

"If it was a malicious murder, then the poisoner must be someone with similar interests. The original owner either made enemies by selling magical artifacts, or the other members of the Yu family were envious and had their eyes on this fire pool. Or, if it wasn't for the fire pool, it was still a matter of resource allocation within the Yu family."

Li Jieqing stood by the fire pit and, after a moment's thought, had already gained some insights.

Let's see who comes to find the original owner first after he appears in the capital. The first one to come will probably be related to the murderer.

He will then resolve the issue quietly and silently, eliminating the hidden danger, and incidentally, he can also enhance his experience in the Blood Absorption and Qi Transformation technique.

However, I'll pass on the idea of ​​taking the initiative.

Li Jieqing closed the gates of the courtyard tightly and hung a sign indicating that the area was closed to the public outside.

Without the original owner's memories, his sudden appearance in front of others could easily arouse suspicion and expose the flaws in his disguise.

According to Li Jieqing's plan, since the current head of the Yu family is about to die, it would be best for him to continue to use this new identity as a member of the Yu family, and then, through a series of disguised cultivation practices, successfully break through to the Foundation Establishment stage and take over the Yu family after several decades, becoming the head of this cultivation family.

The head of the Yu family is a Duke of the Imperial Court. By using this stepping stone, he can not only get close to the royal family and peek into the secrets of the founding emperor a thousand years ago, but also gain a better understanding of the rules of the Blood Heart Cave Heaven. At the same time, he can also legitimately communicate with other Foundation Establishment cultivators in the court, broaden his horizons, and avoid cultivating in isolation.

Furthermore, they could even leverage the power of the imperial court to search for evil energy cultivation within the Blood Heart Cave, as well as to find Fairy Shecai and Baowu, among others, which brought them many benefits.

"The rest are fine, but it seems we don't need to search for Bao Wu and Bao Zhang anymore...?"

Li Jieqing pushed open the door to the original master bedroom, waved his hand to wipe away the dust with his magic, and found a place to sit down.

During the month or so that he set foot in the East, although he lay in bed pretending to be unconscious the whole time, he still heard about the new national advisor of the imperial court.

More than a decade ago, the Xue family of the capital encountered a pair of people in distress in the demon realm. After bringing them back and introducing them to the imperial court, the royal family solemnly appointed one of them as the new national advisor.

These words sounded exactly like those of Bao Wu and Bao Zhang.

It seems that these two brothers survived their battle with Fairy Shecai and the three-headed demon and managed to escape all the way here.

People used to say that Qi was incompetent.

But judging from the results, the fact that these two were able to escape here and become national advisors is actually quite an achievement.

"Truly the high-profile style of the Upper Sect. Ashamed to hide behind the scenes, they openly appear in front of everyone. Very good. They deserve to be schemed against by me again."

"but……"

Inside the bedroom, Li Jieqing pondered for a moment, then shook his head slightly.

He still doesn't know how many of the Seven True Ones have entered. If there are still people hiding in the shadows, it would be very inappropriate to take the bait so rashly.

We need to test the waters slowly, just as we planned before. We should spend a few decades getting by and gradually rise through the ranks of the court officials. Once we have a clear understanding of the situation, it won't be too late to take action.

"—Seventh Brother!"

Suddenly, a series of loud banging sounds came from outside the door.

A loud voice howled outside, the sound carrying through the courtyard and reaching Li Jieqing's ears in the bedroom.

"Seventh Brother! You've finally returned with the message! What happened that took you so long to show up?!"

"They're here."

Li Jieqing, looking weak and sickly, touched his forehead and came to open the door.

He wanted to see who the first person to come to his door came from.

Also, was the original owner of this body supposed to have died while delivering a message?

……

……

Two months later.

Bai Family Chamber of Commerce.

Holding five water-dividing flags in his hands, Li Jieqing walked into the Chamber of Commerce and began searching for people to sell his wares.

"Did you refine all of these?"

Bai Ningxue first carefully examined Li Jieqing for a while, and then she started to examine the water-dividing flags to distinguish their quality.

After two months apart, Bai Ningxue's newly launched antidote pills had resulted in a huge loss, so she naturally wanted to take a closer look at Li Jieqing, the person involved.

At this moment, Li Jieqing's face no longer showed any signs of illness; he simply stood in the Chamber of Commerce hall with a smile in his eyes, neither humble nor arrogant.

"These were all made by me. Please examine them, Chief, and give me a price."

Li Jieqing gathered one sleeve with his other hand and held up five water-dividing flags upright in his palm, rotating them as he displayed them. The flags emitted a spiritual light, allowing others to freely examine the magical artifacts and restrictions within them.

In addition to forging raw materials and making artifact blanks, weapon crafting also requires learning and mastering various restriction books. Restrictions must be added to the artifact blanks in accordance with their materials during the crafting process in order to ultimately form a complete artifact.

Li Jieqing had been practicing alchemy for many years. In his view, the restrictions on magical artifacts were not much different from the patterns on pills used in alchemy; both were external methods added by cultivators. However, the patterns on pills mainly constructed the self-circulation of pills, transforming the acquired into the innate, while the restrictions on magical artifacts were more about amplifying the power of the artifact itself, assisting cultivators in casting spells.

With the aid of his divine sense, Li Jieqing had been trying to repair the jade bracelet and the black iron chain in Black Mountain for over ten years.

Although nothing was repaired in the end, I still gained experience in weapon crafting.

After two months of careful study, he directly crafted a mid-grade magic weapon, demonstrating his superior cultivation abilities.

Of the five water-dividing flags here, only one is the original owner's stock; the other four were made using the same method as the original owner's jade-returning mythical beast.

With this similar weapon-forging skill, this new identity is becoming increasingly confirmed.

"How is it, Chief? Is it to your liking?" Li Jieqing asked somewhat embarrassedly.

The original owner spent most of his time at home refining weapons around the fire pit and rarely spoke to anyone, hence this reaction.

"Hmm...it's alright."

Bai Ningxue withdrew her gaze from secretly observing Li Jieqing's expression and nodded, saying, "Let's talk at the counter."

……

"Tongtian River is nearby, and the water-dividing flags in the capital sell well year-round. Mid-grade ones are sufficient. The four here are all of good quality, so I'll take them all for 180 spirit stones each. The only problem is that the other one is a bit inferior. Taking it up there might damage the reputation of the merchant guild. Either I'll buy it at a discounted price of 150 spirit stones and put it on the counter at a discount, or you can take it with you."

Li Jieqing: "..."

They said they'd take you to the counter, but it was just for negotiating the price.

Li Jieqing followed Bai Ningxue to the side hall and sat down. He briefly mentioned the original owner's disdain and took out the water-dividing flag that had been rejected.

"Then I won't sell this one. I'll take it back and continue to study it, to see if I can make some improvements."

Li Jieqing put away the original owner's Water Dividing Flag. Bai Ningxue had no doubt that the five Water Dividing Flags were not made by the same person, so this trip was worthwhile.

He didn't want to re-establish too much contact with the original owner's previous connections, lest he say something wrong and arouse suspicion by meeting too many of the original owner's acquaintances. Therefore, he preferred to use the guise of repaying a debt of gratitude to directly interact more with the Bai family.

"The remaining four water-dividing flags have been sold. I would appreciate it if the leader could ask someone from the merchant guild to come and set up a protective formation for my home."

"A proper magic array isn't cheap," Bai Ningxue said.

"A cheaper one, a small one will do," Li Jieqing said. "My home isn't very big, and I heard that the chief's merchant guild sells a magic array for 550 spirit stones, so I'll choose that one. The rest of the spirit stones are just to repay the chief for saving my life."

"Why would I ask you to repay my life-saving grace?" Bai Ningxue couldn't help but smile. After thinking for a moment and noticing nothing major had happened in the Yu family recently, she immediately slammed her hand on the table and said, "I'll send someone over right away to make the arrangements. You won't be shortchanged on any spirit stones, so don't worry!"

"Then thank you very much, Chief. Without the magic array, I really feel less safe," Li Jieqing said.

Upon hearing this, Bai Ningxue recalled Li Jieqing's initial motivation for purchasing the protective array after nearly dying from poisoning, and softened her tone, saying, "If you have any more magical artifacts to sell in the future, just come and find me as long as I'm in the capital."

As she spoke, Bai Ningxue tossed over a communication jade talisman.

"Thank you so much."

Li Jieqing reached out and accepted it, his face filled with solemn gratitude.

I was wrong before. The atmosphere in the cultivation world of the Eastern Lands is nowhere near as chaotic as that of Xiaoxin Island.

The Demonic Sect's ruins are even more orderly than the Upper Sect's territory. Where can we go to reason with them?

"May I ask, Chief, I've noticed that many chambers of commerce in the capital have been sending people westward in recent years, and even your family has returned from the west. Why is that?"

After the transaction was completed, Li Jieqing came out of the side hall and thought of inquiring about the matter.

During the two months in the capital, this matter was rather suspicious, and it was also related to the original owner of the body.

Bai Ningxue immediately laughed and said, "You're a member of the Yu family, and someone who's been to the West, yet you didn't know?"

Li Jieqing said without changing his expression, "I drift along with the tide in the Yu family, as light as a willow catkin. Last time, I was just ordered to make contact with relatives in other places. I really don't know the details."

Li Jieqing had already inquired about the other matters at the Yu family's place.

Li Jieqing had already inquired about the other matters at the Yu family's place.

The original owner was assigned a mission by the Yu family's Duke's Mansion to deliver a message to the west and also to personally find some materials to forge weapons. However, he died after delivering the message, and the real culprit is still unknown.

It's one thing to go to the original owner's place, but with so many forces heading west from the capital of the Eastern Lands, they might run into his territory in the Black Mountain.