The next day, Lü Yang waited in his cave mansion from morning until night.
No one came—no patrols, no questioning, not even the slightest sign that someone was looking into the deaths.
He even began to wonder whether those three men in black had truly been disciples of the Stain Sect at all.
Lü Yang sighed again. He wouldn't doubt that the sect, with all disciples' Life Lamps, had discovered the deaths, but it seemed "disciples killing each other" was an unspoken tradition. As long as it didn't become widely known, no one would bother to investigate.
After all, the Sect is full of schemes and dark secrets.
When someone dies, it could be for silence, for profit, or because they learned something they shouldn't have… and what if someone really did uncover something?
So it's better not to check.
"No wonder it's the Stain Sect...."
After sighing, Lü Yang relaxed, beginning to collect the spoils.
First was the disciple token, and to Lü Yang's shock, the tokens contained a total of 400 Contribution Points, an amount exceeding reason.
"Seems like they're seasoned offenders."
Lü Yang frowned tightly, and after searching thoroughly, besides some miscellaneous items, he was only intrigued by a booklet titled "Qi Concealing Technique" .
After all, in Lü Yang's view, these black-clad men were very skilled at concealing True Qi. If it weren't for his cultivation breakthrough, which qualitatively enhanced his Qi and Spiritual Sense, he wouldn't have discovered their infiltration. This showed the might of this "Qi Concealing Technique," truly a trump card.
"More importantly, this technique is written a booklet, which means it's not from the Stain Sect, for Stain Sect techniques are only recorded on the disciple tokens."
"Hence, there's no worry about the sect having a method to crack it."
"Their deaths could not have come at a more fitting time, bringing me precisely what I sought."
Thinking of this, Lü Yang respectfully laid the three bodies to rest, burying them in a pit, offering them some peace.
Suddenly a thought struck him:
"This 'Qi Concealing Technique' is so intricate and not taught by the sect, where did they get it? Could there be a greater fortune behind it?"
All at once, Lü Yang's mind became greedy.
Yet soon he restrained his greed, his eyes returning to calm: "Not in a rush, not in a rush, these three... perhaps we can be friends next life."
There will be opportunities!
After helping the three to rest in peace, Lü Yang took out his disciple token to check the materials Yun Miaqing had told him were needed for refining the Sword Pill.
"To refine a Sword Pill, one must first gather three taels of Gold Essence, three taels of Jade Marrow, two taels of Cinnabar, and two taels of Sword Qi, totaling ten taels. These materials are then heated with True Fire and quenched with Divine Water, purifying the dross before being slowly refined through the Sword Technique Secret Method, harmonizing with the refiner's spiritual power and Qi until a Sword Pill is finally born."
Lü Yang recalled the method to refine a Sword Pill while going through the list of items.
The more he looked, the darker his expression became.
"Gold Essence, Jade Marrow, Cinnabar, Sword Qi, all priced at 100 Contribution Points per tael, Divine Water 500 Contribution Points per gourd, True Fire 500 Contribution Points per instance....."
"2000 Contribution Points in total!?"
Lü Yang grit his teeth; he heard from Yun Miaqing that disciples of the Celestial Sword Pavilion would receive a Sword Pill gifted by their mentors upon breaking through Qi Refining.
Yet in the Stain Sect, it costs 2000 Contribution Points?
An ordinary disciple would have to go without food or drink and work like a slave for the sect for twenty years to possibly gather such points!
Damned Stain Sect!
Such sky-high price instantly extinguished Lü Yang's joy of having made a small fortune, making him realize again his impoverished reality.
"In that case, 400 Contribution Points are somewhat useless."
According to Lü Yang's plan, when his next life began, he'd choose cultivation, so whatever he got this life can't be brought forward.
Hence, whatever good things he bought with those 400 Contribution Points are meaningless to him.
As for cultivation, mid phase of Qi Refining is distinctly different from the early phase, even using all 400 points couldn't push him to the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining.
"Seems I can only exchange them for cultivation techniques."
After all, compared to artifacts, cultivation techniques and abilities, as knowledge, can be taken to the next life. Thinking this, Lü Yang immediately left the cave mansion heading to the Library Pavilion.
"Hey, it's you, kid?"
The old man at the Library Pavilion's entrance surprisingly remembered Lü Yang, showing a look of amazement: "Are you here... to exchange for a cultivation technique again? Seems you've struck rich."
"Thanks to your kind words, senior brother."
Lü Yang cupped his hands to him, and then confidently walked into the Library Pavilion for a powerful technique, specifically for life-or-death fights.
Very quickly, Lü Yang locked onto his target.
"Life-taking Spell: 300 Contribution Points."
"This ability is quite unique, somewhat resembling the Buddhist Sect's silent meditation. The cultivator must nurture a strand of killing aura within the chest and temper it day and night with Qi, until it becomes life-bound and fused with their being."
"Normally, it remains dormant, and one can speak and act as usual. But the moment it is activated, the cultivator opens their mouth and utters a single word—"Kill!" Instantly, boundless killing aura erupts, carried on the very essence of their life, capable of shaking the enemy's soul. However, once this breath is unleashed, the cultivator's own life is exhausted as well, making it a technique of mutual destruction."
"Not bad, it can kill others and oneself, perfect for me!"
Holding the Centome, Lü Yang feared not death, but the inability to die—for the Centome could not be activated at will, only upon his death.
Thus, he desperately needed a Technique for self-termination.
After the purchase, Lü Yang immediately sat cross-legged, starting to comprehend it.
"The Life-taking Spell gathers a breath within the chest—the core of the technique lies in this killing aura. The purer and more refined the killing aura, the greater the destructive force when the Life-taking Spell erupts."
"It is said that the killing intent of Heaven can move stars and shift constellations; the killing intent of Earth can awaken dragons and rouse serpents; the killing intent of Man can overturn Heaven and Earth. Thus, Heaven's killing intent is rare, Earth's is scarce, but Human killing intent is everywhere—and the killing aura nurtured through weaponry ranks among the highest."
Within the Library Pavilion, Lü Yang began the process to refine the killing aura.
"Luckily, the materials are readily available....."
The so-called Human's killing breath mostly comes from weapons used by those harboring killing aura. Perfectly coincidentally, he still retained the weapons held by the three black-clad men.
Lü Yang extracted the killing aura directly from them, bit by bit incorporating it into his body.
Suddenly, Lü Yang felt as if a thousand knives were carving his bones and flesh, excruciatingly painful, but he kept his lips tightly shut, not daring to open his mouth.
Because at this crucial moment of refining, once opened, the breath disperses, leading to instant death!
After a long time, Lü Yang finally felt the killing breath in his chest stabilize, completely connected with his True Qi, ready to erupt at his will.
"I can't fathom how powerful it is...."
Thinking this, Lü Yang's face revealed a hint of expectation, deciding he would definitely use the Life-taking Spell once this life before dying to see its power.
Upon returning to the Library Pavilion's entrance, Lü Yang unexpectedly found the old man swearing.
"What a dog-gone luck...."
The old man clutched the disciple token with shaking, heavily wrinkled hands and a twisted old face, unclear what emotion he was in.
Lü Yang approached out of curiosity: "Senior brother? What happened?"
"What happened?" The old man, hearing this, widened his eyes with anger, threw the disciple token heavily onto the ground, sneering: "It's spread everywhere; take a look yourself."
Before the speech ended, the old man lay back on the rocking chair, sulking quietly.
Lü Yang looked confused until he opened his own disciple token, seeing the recent news, finally understanding what was going on.
"The Merit Pool grand prize finally has a winner!"
"The Colorful Merit Fish was drawn by a new disciple, Xiao Shiye, with the Perfected Person awarding him ten billion points publicly. After receiving the prize, Xiao Shiye secluded himself away!"