"Elder!"
"Elder Gong!"
"Elder Gong, you're seriously injured. If you don't treat your wounds immediately, your condition will only worsen."
Several disciples of the Night Patrol Division spoke up anxiously.
Gong Chi's expression darkened as he swept a cold gaze over Mu Canglong and the others who tried to stop him. "Do you fools not understand the gravity of the situation? Compared to the death of our Peak Lord, what are my injuries worth? Follow me inside, now!"
His words were filled with anger.
If Wen Jiu didn't already know Gong Chi's true nature, he might have mistaken him for a model cultivator of Feixian Peak—a figure to look up to.
And, in fact, many disciples of Feixian Peak were moved by his words, showing him great respect. Some even began pleading with the members of the Oversight Hall, begging them to allow Elder Gong to tend to his wounds first.
But the three Overseers remained as cold as ever. The one in the lead cast an icy glance at the disciple who had spoken up, making the young man hastily step back in fear.
Then, in an even colder voice, the Overseer warned, "Anyone who dares to speak out again will be dealt with as remnants of the Bloodclad Tower!"
The chilling threat silenced the Feixian Peak disciples, leaving them too scared to even breathe too loudly. The elders and stewards had no choice but to obediently step into the main hall.
A vague sense of unease began to creep over the gathered disciples. They had heard of the Oversight Hall before, but never had they seen its enforcers in person. Now, at their first encounter, these Overseers had revealed themselves to be utterly ruthless.
And their next words only made the anxiety in the disciples' hearts grow stronger.
"From this moment on, no Feixian Peak disciple is permitted to leave the mountain. Anyone who does so without authorization will be treated as a traitor to the sect!"
With that declaration, the three Overseers entered the main hall.
The thirty golden-robed cultivators accompanying them moved to the front, beginning their interrogation of the Feixian Peak disciples one by one. Each of them held a small golden beetle-like spirit beast.
With every answer a disciple gave, the golden-robed cultivators would glance at their beetles, as if using them to verify the truth. It was clear that these creatures had some kind of lie-detecting ability, though how it worked was a mystery.
Realizing this, Wen Jiu immediately held his breath, focusing intently.
He carefully observed how the golden beetles reacted to other disciples' answers while preparing his own responses in his mind.
Soon, it was his turn.
The golden-robed cultivator in front of him asked only one question.
"Where were you before and after Peak Lord Ji's accident?"
Wen Jiu answered truthfully. "When the Peak Lord was hunting down the remnants of the Bloodclad Tower, I was with the Night Patrol Division, clearing out the Chen family. After we finished, I followed the others inside. But later, I got scared and left early. Not long after I came out, the underground cavern collapsed."
"You were scared?"
The cultivator frowned and immediately glanced at his golden beetle.
Seeing that the creature remained still, the cultivator's expression darkened with displeasure.
Clearly, he was unhappy with Wen Jiu's claim of fear.
But Wen Jiu didn't care.
Let him think whatever he wants.
As long as the beetle didn't react, that was all that mattered. And it was true—he really had been afraid. The moment he heard Gong Chi's voice, he had feared being discovered. Otherwise, he wouldn't have used his Blood Corpse Escape technique twice in a row.
The golden-robed cultivator spoke coldly. "You may go. But do not leave Feixian Peak. Be ready for questioning at any time."
"Understood. Thank you, Senior."
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Wen Jiu cupped his hands in salute, then slowly walked away from the crowd.
Before leaving, he turned back to glance at the main hall.
He hoped these Overseers from the main peak's Oversight Hall would actually find something.
Even if they didn't…
At the very least, he hoped they would stir up some trouble for a while.
After all, there was still some time before the assessment for Feixian Peak's trainee disciples.
…
Back home, Wen Jiu stood outside his door and truthfully informed Wang Nian's wife about how Wang Nian was being questioned in the main hall, so she wouldn't worry.
There was no way he was stepping inside to say it in person.
He still had boundaries.
After passing on the message, Wen Jiu went inside his own home, pushing aside the earlier events and focusing on his usual routine—drawing talismans while waiting for midnight to arrive.
Midnight came quickly.
Daily settlement began!
The moment the settlement panel appeared, Wen Jiu's eyes immediately locked onto the information about the Corpse Eye collecting blood essence.
[Through the Corpse Eye, you have absorbed a large amount of cultivator blood essence, as well as the blood essence of 50,000 mortals. Panel experience +1, Blood Essence +173, +5000, Death Energy +2000.]
But what truly made Wen Jiu's face change wasn't the 5000 Blood Essence.
Nor was it the 2000 Death Energy.
It was the fifty thousand mortals.
The remnants of the Blood-Clad Tower actually slaughtered over a hundred thousand mortals just for that pool of refined blood! What were they trying to do? A hundred thousand… That was easily the population of an entire county in the mortal realm of this world. In other words, the people of the Blood-Clad Tower had massacred an entire county just for blood.
"This..."
To be honest, Wen Jiu was shaken to his core. He was speechless for a long time.
At this moment, he truly understood why Qi Refining cultivators despised demonic cultivators of the heretical path.
Were mortal lives really as insignificant as weeds, to be harvested at will?
He instinctively glanced at his personal panel, checking his reserves of refined blood and death energy.
[Death Energy Reserve: 57+2000]
[Corpse Energy Reserve: 341]
[Cultivator's Refined Blood Reserve: 2368+5173]
His death energy reserve had reached 2057, enough for him to step directly into the third level of Qi Refining. His refined blood reserve had skyrocketed to a terrifying 7541. If he wanted to cultivate the Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body, he could likely push it straight to the fourth level, allowing his physical body to withstand spells from third-level Qi Refining cultivators head-on.
At that point, no third-level Qi Refining steward on Fei Xian Peak would be his match.
But Wen Jiu couldn't bring himself to feel happy about it. Even though he had never considered himself a good person, knowing that those five thousand refined blood reserves equated to the lives of fifty thousand mortals left him feeling unsettled.
If he were to absorb the refined blood of cultivators—even his own people—he wouldn't hesitate for a second, as long as they were already dead. There wouldn't be the slightest burden on his conscience.
But mortals?
Especially fifty thousand mortals?
That was different.
He remained silent for a long time before finally calming himself down, forcing the thoughts aside. Yet deep in his heart, he made a firm decision—once he had the strength, he would kill every last remnant of the Blood-Clad Tower he encountered, showing them no mercy.
He then shifted his focus to another update on his panel—it was about the Blood Ghoul Hand.
Previously, he had only skimmed through it, not expecting that his daily settlement panel would directly count it as his own technique.
His techniques list now had an addition—Blood Ghoul Hand.
[Technique: Blood Ghoul Hand (Beginner) (0/100)]+
He could directly enhance it using refined blood.
But when he saw the plus sign, Wen Jiu hesitated for a few moments.
He couldn't cultivate the Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body right now, nor could he afford to use his refined blood reserves to nurture the Black Ghoul.
Rather than hoarding his reserves, perhaps it would be wiser to develop a new trump card first.
The Blood Ghoul Hand seemed like a solid choice.
After all, his Corpse Eye could only be used once, and he still couldn't draw top-quality first-rank Soul Seizing Talismans.
"If I master this Blood Ghoul Hand, even if someone finds out, I can just claim it as spoils of war." Wen Jiu muttered to himself before making up his mind—he immediately started adding experience points.
In an instant, Blood Ghoul Hand advanced to the first level.
[Technique: Blood Ghoul Hand (First Level) (0/500)]+
He continued.
Blood Ghoul Hand reached the second level.
[Technique: Blood Ghoul Hand (Second Level) (0/1000)]+
And then the third.
[Technique: Blood Ghoul Hand (Third Level) (0/2000)]
Once it reached the third level, Wen Jiu chose to stop. He had already spent 1600 refined blood reserves across three consecutive advancements. Even if he wanted to push further, it wasn't possible.
Because while Blood Ghoul Hand didn't place heavy demands on body refinement in its early stages, that only applied up to the third level.
To advance to the fourth level, he would need a refined physique—otherwise, he simply wouldn't be able to withstand the backlash of the technique. It was indeed powerful, but everything had its price.
Wen Jiu glanced at his refined blood reserves.
[Cultivator's Refined Blood Reserve: 5941]
"I'll hold onto it for now. I'll decide later whether to use it on Blood Ghoul Hand or the Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body."
With that thought, his gaze shifted to his death energy reserve.
If he wanted to, he could step into the third level of Qi Refining at any time.
But right now, advancing wasn't the best choice.
"Forget it. I'll think about it later. I can break through whenever I want anyway."
With his decision made, Wen Jiu closed his personal information panel and sat cross-legged on the bed, beginning to use his Yin techniques to nurture corpse blood.
His Corpse Eye had absorbed the remains of six demonic creatures—he had no idea how much corpse blood it would produce.
Since he wasn't going to immediately advance his Qi Refining realm, his priority was nurturing the Black Ghoul, hastening its transformation into a Corpse Walker.
During this mission, he had discovered that once the Black Ghoul concealed its aura, even a fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator couldn't discern its true strength.
That was an incredibly valuable discovery.
It meant he could now cultivate the Black Ghoul in secret.
The stronger the Black Ghoul became...
The more inconspicuous it could be.
The more inconspicuous it was...
The stronger he himself would become.
Perfect!