Within the room.
Li Yi sat upright on his bed, holding the Treasure Seal in his hand, his deanor peaceful, with a smile that was not quite a smile. Although he was in darkness, his body shone like a bright lamp, radiating a faint light. This light, coming from within, made him resemble a Buddha within a temple, as if he had descended to this world solely to save all beings.
The White Bone Temple Cultivation Skill had continued throughout the entire night.
It wasn’t until eight in the morning that Li Yi slowly opened his eyes, awakening from his cultivation.
The light around his body receded, and the peaceful expression vanished. The Buddha that seed to have descended to the world instantly disappeared, revealing the mortal flesh of Li Yi.
"Not bad, this ti during cultivation, the residual thoughts in the Sword Coin didn’t cause any trouble, and after using the White Bone Temple Cultivation Skill, the rate of body transformation and evolution is very fast, with significant cultivation effects," Li Yi stated as he stood up. He moved his body a bit and felt a surge of energetic vitality, as if there was an inexhaustible force within him.
Moreover, a layer of old skin had peeled off his body.
After this layer shed, Li Yi’s skin beca flawless and more radiant, and his sensitivity to the external world grew stronger—not as dull as before. The slightest breeze could be felt on his skin, and these sensations, fed back to his body, allowed Li Yi to imdiately understand his surroundings.
This was actually a sign that his inspiration was awakening.
However, Li Yi was still in the process of evolving in this direction and had not fully reached the standard of unlocking inspiration. True cultivators of inspiration can perceive the humidity of the surrounding air, changes in air currents, the intensity of light, and even slight temperature variations with their eyes closed. Moreover, with this collected information, inspirations realm cultivators could directly sense objects around them.
Even without the use of their eyes, they could ’see’ everything around them.
"A layer of skin sheds each day? The evolution of this body is swift. The White Bone Temple Cultivation Skill, along with the broken Sword Coin’s energy supply, makes this combination allow , a newbie who hasn’t been cultivating for long, to swiftly catch up with those who stepped into cultivation early. I believe it won’t take long for to surpass many," Li Yi said as he peeled off a layer of old skin with his hand and compared it to yesterday’s.
The layer that had shed today was noticeably thinner and had fewer impurities.
At this rate, he would no longer experience such shedding after, at most, five more tis.
He drank a cup of Golden Nutrient Liquid, replenishing the consumption of the night.
Li Yi left the room, ready to take a bath in the bathroom and clean his body.
However, as soon as he opened the door and stepped out of his room, he froze.
He blinked, wondering if he had seen wrong or if his ability as a Spirit dium had strengthened again, allowing him to see sothing deeper.
Why would there be a spear in his living room?
No mistake.
Li Yi indeed saw a spear, akin to those used by ancient soldiers, floating in the middle of his living room. However, this spear was different from ordinary ones. On the shaft of the spear, there were two small holes on either side, through which a thin iron chain was threaded, each end of the chain tethered to a bronze figurine, entirely nude.
One figurine wore an expression of pain and a twisted visage as if undergoing severe torture.
The other’s expression was sinister; despite being pierced by the iron chain, it was grinning, utterly mad.
Both figurines were lifelike, resembling miniature living beings, which unnerved the onlooker.
"It seems I’ve seen this spear sowhere before..." Li Yi stared at the illusory spear floating in mid-air, unable to help but muse.
A feeling of déjà vu.
He had a good mory, but could not recall where he had seen it, and needed to think back.
A little while later.
Li Yi rembered.
"Ghost Street, on that dangerous strip of Ghost Street, I’ve seen this kind of spear. It’s the weapon wielded by ghost soldiers that wander Ghost Street. I’ve only seen it once or twice, which is why it looks familiar... But why would a weapon from the ghost soldiers of Ghost Street appear in my ho? This place is the old city district, not a dangerous zone."
Li Yi recalled certain events. "Could it be related to that particular incident?"
His eyes glanced at his room.
Before leaving Ghost Street, not only had Li Yi bought a Coffin Ganoderma for his master, but he also purchased two Mud Horses.
One Mud Horse was used up upon leaving Ghost Street and was completely destroyed; however, the other was intact and currently placed in his room, along with a leather hood to cover the head and conceal the scent of the living.
To purchase the Coffin Ganoderma and Mud Horses, Li Yi had drawn promissories from the stall owner three tis, spending eighty years of his life span.
The stall owner ntioned that after seven days, a Debt-collecting Ghost would co to collect the debt, and if the collection failed, a ghost soldier would follow. If the ghost soldier failed, a Yin General would co next...
Counting the days.
More than seven days had passed since Li Yi left Ghost Street, aning the Debt-collecting Ghost had already visited. For so unknown reason, the collection had failed. Thus, this ti, a ghost soldier ca, but it seed that they too t their demise. If not, he should have heard sothing the previous night and lost his eighty years of life span.
Everything was quiet and peaceful, but the ghost soldier’s weapon, the spear, had been left in the living room. Did this an that even the ghost soldiers had failed at collecting debts?
"Is the Earth Prison truly so evil that even ghost soldiers are dood upon arrival?"
Li Yi looked at the ethereal spear and began to ponder, "However, the determination of a ghost soldier to make it all the way to my house before eting its end is certainly impressive. But from another perspective, since the ghost soldier managed to enter my house from a dangerous area, what if a more powerful Yin General cos—wouldn’t I be in danger then?"
With this thought,
Li Yi felt that his path to default on the debt was a long one and not as simple as he had imagined.
But thinking about the ti,
it would be at least a month or two before a Yin General would co to collect debts. By that ti, Li Yi would likely have entered the inspiration realm, and perhaps he could put up a fight against the Yin General then.
Subsequently,
Li Yi walked towards the ethereal spear. He attempted to grab the weapon with his hand to see if he could use it against a possible future threat from a Yin General.
Sothing bizarre happened.
Li Yi’s hand easily passed through the ethereal spear as if it didn’t exist in reality. It was as though the spear was rely a projection from an unknown place, visible only with difficulty to Cultivators, who were not entitled to possess it.
"Really can’t touch it."
He waved his hand back and forth several tis but still couldn’t make contact.
After trying a few tis, Li Yi finally gave up.
However, out of curiosity, he still picked up his phone to search for the mysteries of this spear and to see if any other Cultivators had shared similar experiences online.
After searching for a long while, Li Yi found nothing. However, he did co across information about weapons similar to this spear.
"This spear is known as the Hanging Man Spear, a ceremonial weapon used in ancient sacrifices, usually for burying with the dead. It’s a type of Netherworld Artifact."
"It makes sense for ghost soldiers to use Netherworld Artifacts."
"But why is it called the Hanging Man Spear? That na is really discordant."
"First there was Mud Horse, and now Hanging... Spear, how did a fine young man like get mixed up with such unreliable stuff?"
Li Yi sighed and stopped researching the spear.
Since the spear couldn’t be moved, he left it at ho. After all, ordinary people couldn’t see it—only Cultivators who had opened their Spirit dium abilities could. And since he was about to move, no Cultivator would bother coming to his house to see this Hanging... Spear, no, just a spear.
Just as he was about to put his phone away, he suddenly received several ssages.
One was a bank notification, informing him that forty million had been deposited into his account.
Another ssage was from Wang Jian, telling Li Yi that the Peace Finance Building had been transferred to his na, and he could go to receive it at any ti. The related docunts and proofs were kept in the investigation bureau, and Li Yi could go pick them up whenever he had ti.
"The investigation bureau really works efficiently," Li Yi mused internally. "Since the rewards for the last mission were distributed so quickly, I should also move up my moving plans. It’s not suitable to continue living here—a place with no sense of security, never knowing what might co knocking next ti."
He then looked up a phone number.
It was given to him by the investigator Zheng Gong previously at the training base.
Soon, the call connected.
"Hello, who is this?" The voice of a woman ca from the other side.
"I’m Li Yi, referred by Zheng Gong," Li Yi started.
Upon hearing Li Yi’s na, the woman’s voice on the other end imdiately ward up, "Oh, Mr. Li, Zheng Gong has specifically ntioned you to before. Are you looking to renovate the Peace Finance Building?"
"Yes," said Li Yi. "I would like to move in as soon as possible. How soon can you get it done?"
"Mr. Li might not be very familiar with the renovation process. May I ask if you have so free ti soon? I’d like to et in person to better understand so of your needs," the woman replied.
"Is it that complicated? Alright then, let’s et in front of the Peace Finance Building. We can solve any issues together. I am a Cultivator, and I don’t have much ti to waste on these trivial matters," Li Yi said.
"No problem, see you in an hour," said the woman on the phone. "By the way, I haven’t introduced myself—I am Zheng Lan."
"Okay, great," Li Yi said and hung up the call.
Afterward, he went to take a shower in the bathroom and packed up a few things before setting off.
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