East District.

After nearly two days of nonstop copying, Bubai finally completed a tome that would normally require a week. For his efforts, he only earned himself... a single contribution point.

Yet, he wore a satisfied smile on his face when he witnessed the rising sun once more. “Hey, hopefully my little scorpies are fine.”

They were resilient little creatures, but sometimes, death comes from their own companions.

Bubai stretched leisurely as he slowly ambled back toward the tower.

Despite the two-day marathon without sleep, he felt surprisingly well-rested, credited to the continuous consumption of his green Qi to saturate his body.

With WeiWei gone, he didn’t have to hold back on his green Qi expenditures any longer. Now, he had already successfully saturated his sixth meridian network, officially entering level eight of Qi-refinement.

Of course, this progress was primarily thanks to the residue benefit from his last crazy harvest.

Now that’s gone, the upcoming level will be back to grinding.

And despite only being a level away, it won’t be easy, particularly considering the amount of mysterious green Qi required for his unique saturation, which definitely surpasses the requirement of other normal cultivators.

Sensing the depletion of Qi in his mysterious space, which had now settled around the 80% mark, Bubai recognized the urgency to seek some good locations to use his mysterious Qi-gathering formation.

He had a new mask, and he will definitely maximize its utility.

“Of course, I still need to be cautious and can’t be too excessive.”

Obviously, night was the best time, but it wasn’t completely safe.

Most of the Foundation Establishment disciples of the inner sect had gone to the secret realm, but this didn’t mean there were none left.

For one, he wasn’t sure how many of the Law Enforcement Hall had went on the trip or if any had gone at all.

There were also the inner disciples who stayed behind for various reasons – masters of cultivator professions, prisoners… Not every disciple were willing to risk death for the glory of the sun.

Plus, his Liang face was under the spotlight now...

“Well, take it slowly. Stay low-key for a bit…”

Just when he approached his tower, Bubai spotted a familiar woman clad in black guarding in front of his tower, her attention seemingly locking onto him even before he entered her line of sight.

Well, if it isn’t Officer Ponytail.

With a flicker, she appeared a couple steps away from him, her eyes scanning him before fixating on his pant, where he hid his storage pouch.

Slowly, she unsheathed her dagger, her cool voice slicing through the air, “Two nights ago. You were not in your tower.”

Uh, straight to the point, ey? But how does she know about his absence so accurately?

Not letting the thought affect him, the composed Bubai gave her a smile, “Senior sister, I was in the Book Pavilion.”

“Why?”

“Task. Granny Shu can vouch for me.” Bubai patted his chest reassuringly.

“…” She played with the dagger in her hand, her focus shifting to his neck.

As she continued to stare at his neck, Bubai felt a slightly eerie feeling, but he stood there and maintained an unchanging smile.

In the end, with a seamless motion, she sheathed her dagger before turning around.

Her long ponytail swirled through the air, drifting slightly when she paused to issue a warning, “I’ll be watching.”

Then, in a blur, she darted away, scaling the wall and vanishing over the rooftops.

With his smile still fixed on his face, Bubai calmly proceeded towards the entrance of his tower.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Well, watch all she wants. She’ll find nothing. He’s not foolish enough to go for another trip anytime soon.

As the entrance rumbled open, he immediately noticed Xiao Lan leaning against the corridor, silently polishing the sword in her hand.

Wei Yi and Wei Er, standing by the stairs, watched her with pale expressions. Upon noticing Bubai's entry, they lowered their heads.

When the entrance sealed shut behind him, the Bubai's once-smiling expression gradually flattened.

“Okay?” Xiao Lan tilted her head inquisitively.

“No problem.” Bubai then nodded towards the twins, “What’s up?”

With a cold face, Xiao Lan sheathed her sword, “She spoke too much.”

She then turned and disappeared into the storage room, closing the door behind her.

Bubai shifted his attention to the twins.

Wei Er scooted to the side, hiding behind her sister. Composing her expression, Wei Yi began, “Master… my sister didn’t-”

“I understand.” Bubai, with an unresponsive expression, walked along the path cleared for him.

Halting in front of Wei Er, he turned and silently fixed his gaze upon her, causing her body to tremble.

After a while, his attention shifted over to Wei Yi, who met his stare with composure. “You disappoint me.”

Leaving behind the twin whose expression had subtly stagnated, Bubai climbed the stairs.

Bedroom.

Shutting the door behind him, Bubai shook his head in mild disappointment.

As his servants, they've overstepped their boundaries this time.

In eras like this, it is wrong for any serving class to snitch or divulge the itinerary of their masters to outsiders, especially to law enforcement.

It's basically biting the hand that fed them, and was widely frowned upon.

Since most serving classes don't have much rights, the typical punishment can range from whipping and flogging to death.

Administering punishment was natural, but... there was only so much he could do to them.

Spies - ones he had to tolerate.

Even if their backer had gone to the secret realm, unless he received confirmation of their backer’s death, he couldn’t casually touch their lives.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the option to only keep one because that would inevitably force the other to completely fall to the opposing side and treat him as an enemy.

Plus, this time, Wei Er’s little tricks didn’t cause him much problem because he was well-prepared. Even without Granny Shu’s backing, he could still find an excuse.

Instead, his greater concern centered on Wei Yi's concealed thoughts. She may be a mortal, but she is much more experienced than her naive sister.

It’s hard to believe a smart and composed woman like Wei Yi would fail to teach her sister what to say.

“Alas, I can’t read the minds of others. Otherwise, management would be so much easier.” Bubai lamented to himself as he walked over to his scorpion corner.

Lifting the covering cloth, he performed a thorough scan of the area to confirm no escapee before he finally squatted down beside the box.

Through the glass, he saw the container teeming with small scorpions, their translucent shells glinting as they scuttled about. Most had already completed the molting process, sporting newly hardened exoskeletons. “It’s still my little scorpies that are the best.”

They may be poisonous creatures, but they still can’t be more poisonous than the human heart.

Sliding open the lid of the vacant box, his fingertip added some water into the pan within.

Picking up a pair of chopsticks, he then opened the second lid.

With a seamless motion, he precisely clamped down on the large stinger of the mother scorpion below, lifting her into the air.

As her legs scurried and her pincers closed on empty air, he lifted her out and closed the lid with his other hand.

“Okay, be good. I need to feed your babies.” Gently stroking her with a smile, he channeled a strand of green Qi and infused it to calm her before placing her in the adjacent box, sliding the glass lid into place to ensure she couldn't scuttle out.

Setting aside the thick chopsticks, he retrieved two long, thin needles from his storage space – originally intended as hidden weapons for emergencies, but now their thin tips were repurposed for handling the delicate baby scorpions.

Turning back to the populated box, he opened it and, using the sharp needles with precision, clamped onto the slender tails of the baby scorpions. As he cautiously lifted it out, he avoided applying too much pressure to avoid damaging their stingers.

Thus, one by one, he fed the babies a strand of green Qi each before placing them into the other box with their mother, keeping a meticulous count during the process.

With the baby scorpions bunched up and scuttling everywhere, it would be nigh impossible to count them without freezing them in a still picture.

So, he adopted this trick to count them. This also allowed him to keep track of which ones had been fed, to avoid double-feeding.

His Qi may be nourishing, but if he fed too much and saturated their small bodies…

Let’s just say: he experienced the heartache of a well-fed baby scorpion falling asleep, never to awaken again, turning into food for the others and nearly inciting a war of extinction!

It appeared that his mysterious green Qi was a delicacy for them. A little wouldn't cause conflict, but an excess could lead to chaos.

Well, patience was key.

“28… same as before, minus the bunch that died in the war.”

Relocating all the scorpions to the other box, he introduced a batch of flies and left them to do their own thing.

After cleaning the vacant box, he granted darkness to the critters once more.

Heading over to the bed, Bubai routinely shook the blanket, cautiously checking just to make sure no hidden traps were laid on his bed.

Being paranoid is better than being dead.

After remaking his bed, he settled into lotus position, ready to meditate and make up some sleep.

Closing his eyes… he meditated and meditated, trying to put his mind to sleep after two days without rest, but…

“As expected, I still can’t…” A perplexed expression crossed his face as Bubai opened his eyes once more, “Strange. Why do I feel so well-rested every time I work at the Book Pavilion?”

Did he fall asleep during his copying task? He certainly had no memories of doing so…

However, Bubai soon closed his eyes once more. Well, it was a good thing… right? More time to cultivate.

Or not…

Bubai reopened his eyes when he heard the door open, resting his indifferent gaze upon the twins entering his room in their punishment outfit.

Wei Yi led Wei Er forward, and soon, both knelt not far from him and began unwrapping the whips around their chests.

Lowering her head, Wei Yi raised the whip above her head with both hands, “Master, please punish us.”

Oh, it seems a peaceful night’s rest will be far from him now.

Well, it’s not like it could hurt him… right?