Master of Strange Dao

"Are you sure?"

"Not sure, but according to the travelogues I've read, that's what they say. If he's dead, he won't come after you for revenge. If he's not, he'll owe you a favor."

"That No. 6, can you answer him?"

"I can, but I don't want to answer. And don't bother with him either. Have you ever thought, what if it's a sea demon from the East Sea trying to stir up trouble?"

Yu Ziqing was taken aback, he indeed hadn't considered this possibility.

He just felt that Peeling, the big boss, had a substantial deterrent effect on the demons of the East Sea.

With this in mind, what if it was the Demon Clan from the East Sea, trying to figure out whether Peeling, the big boss, was in the area, and preparing to cause a major incident?

His vigilance against the Alien Clan was indeed lacking, perhaps because the Alien Clans he had encountered were not all bad.

"Let's go, let's head back first."

After leaving the Seventh Floor, Yu Ziqing calculated the time; it would be another month before the next filth bucket was delivered. He closed the store immediately, took his people back home for intensive training and cultivation. With the filth bucket coming, he no longer cared about the paltry earnings from the store, deciding to focus on high-end services in the future.

Upon reaching the village and seeing the village chief with his usual old and decrepit appearance, leaning on a walking stick, Yu Ziqing understood what Yang had meant.

This indicated that the village chief could now perfectly control his own power, achieving flawless restraint.

Like Er Han, with a body like sinewy muscle, steaming even in bitter cold, he might look strong, but this is exactly the sort of hard-knock life typical in the eyes of outside cultivators.

When the village chief saw Yu Ziqing return, he showed a benevolent and kindly expression, throwing a withered leaf into the air. As the leaf fell halfway, his hand suddenly blurred into a series of afterimages.

In the brief span of a moment or two, the village chief withdrew his hand, and the leaf continued to slowly fall.

When it landed, Yu Ziqing looked down and was almost blinded by what he saw.

The village chief had somehow "shown off" on a palm-sized withered leaf by inscribing it with over three hundred characters.

And yet, the leaf hadn't broken apart.

Honestly, Yu Ziqing was dumbfounded; he had no idea how the village chief had managed to do that.

"Ziqing, what do you think? I think I'm handling the control pretty well now, right?"

"Heh... yeah, pretty good, really good," Yu Ziqing replied, his smile a bit forced.

"I heard you say before that opening orifices is also useful. I'm thinking about trying it, see if I can start cultivation anew. Yang said I don't need to dissolve my cultivation to retrain."

Yu Ziqing looked towards Yang, and Yang nodded.

"The first three tiers of cultivation, even if surpassed, actually continue into the subsequent phases of cultivation. Body Cultivation becomes even easier."

"It might be a problem for others, but for the village chief with this terrifying control, there shouldn't be any issue."

Yu Ziqing understood; others might run into trouble, but with the village chief's terrifying control, there definitely wouldn't be a problem.

"Then, village chief, just take it easy. You're the pillar of our village; we can't afford any mishaps."

"How about this, village chief, could you write a few more times?"

"Again?"

Though he said this, the village chief easily picked up a book, and on a stone wall, he wrote thousands of characters several times over.

The handwriting had undergone a significant change, totally restrained and subtly sharp, yet seeming to possess an immensely powerful force that was hidden but not articulated.

Yu Ziqing committed all these characters to memory.

Each character was written several times, with slight differences between each iteration, all part of his library of characters to use for leaving messages in the future.

As the village chief grew stronger, naturally, an update was necessary.

Returning to his own room, Yu Ziqing took out the Seventh Floor ring, entered it, and using the new library of characters, left a message for No. 4.

Yang didn't want to interact with others and even provided a solution, which obviously meant Yu Ziqing would show off.

If he didn't want to speak, he would act like No. 6 and not say anything at all.

"Conceal your power, close your eyes, and walk straight ahead. If you don't die, you can make it out."

After thinking it over, Yu Ziqing left another message.

"Believe it or not, it's up to you."

"If you survive, remember you owe me a piece of information."

Not long after Yu Ziqing left, No. 4, who received the message notification, rushed into the Seventh Floor.

Upon seeing the message, he paused, then immediately replied with "Okay."

...

In a world that seemed to swirl with golden auroras, a young man bathed in divine light and with a small bell hanging above his head, struggled to stand firm against the golden light of the place.

His previously closed eyes suddenly opened, and after looking at the Seventh Floor ring on his hand, he had a strange expression.

But considering the environment around him and recalling the message "Believe it or not, it's up to you," he started to believe in it somewhat.

After pondering for a moment, he slowly reined in his power, closed his eyes, and relied solely on the power of his Magical Treasure for defense.

The divine light slowly dimmed, and it was then that the golden brilliance that seemed like a great river was revealed to be countless metallic particles finer than fine sand, forming a raging sandstorm that continuously struck around.

A moment later, a fine, persistent clang of gold and iron filled the air.

The power of the small bell was quickly depleted and it fell into the young man's arms.

His Magic Robe was then activated, resisting the golden sandstorm from outside.

He struggled forward through the storm, and when his Magic Robe was reduced to tatters, a necklace on his neck activated.

So he kept moving forward, and just as the necklace was about to exhaust its energy, the surrounding noise suddenly ceased, and the pressure disappeared as well.

He opened his eyes, naked, and looked back to see the swirling golden sandstorm stretching for tens of miles behind him, like a giant wall or a mountain, standing there.

And everything that the naked eye could see seemed twisted by the immense Yuan Magnetic Power, appearing only a step away, yet seemingly in two different worlds.

"Uh, actually made it out, this new No. 7 has something," he said.

He took out the Seventh Floor ring again to leave a message for No. 7.

"I owe you an information, when you need something, just leave a message."

Shortly after he left the message, Yu Ziqing replied to him.

"In the southern part of Dazhen, adjacent to the Hengduan Mountains, there's a place called Sorrow Mountain that contains a very intact Grotto Heaven. Do you know any information about this Grotto Heaven?"

Yu Ziqing thought that someone like No. 4, who undoubtedly came from a prestigious background and could recklessly blunder around without dying, might know something.

Moreover, judging by the content on the forum wall, it seemed that this type of news was right up No. 4's alley.