Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

Chen Li came out of Lin Qing’s courtyard with murderous intent in his chest unabated, and without touching the ground, he headed straight for another monk surnamed Huang.

The courtyard gate was tightly shut, shrouded in formations, and it was unknown whether he had already left.

He lingered around nearby for most of the day but did not see the other party emerge. As the sun climbed higher and more pedestrians appeared on the streets, he considered the crowd’s prying eyes and decided to temporarily give up, planning to find another opportunity.

As he turned to walk back home, he noticed that the cultivator surnamed Xiao’s wife was there again. She paced back and forth in front of Lin Qing’s courtyard door, her face anxious and worried.

Chen Li took a glance and then withdrew his gaze, preparing to open his formation.

When the young and beautiful widow saw Chen Li lived next door, she quickly came over and gave a light bow, "Fellow Daoist, greetings. Since you live here, you must be acquainted with Lin Qing. Do you know where he has gone? Even the formation is withdrawn."

She was extremely beautiful, her fair and bright face also carried a hint of sorrow.

It was obvious she did not recognize him, and she might not have even heard others mention him.

"I really don’t know, but since the formation is withdrawn, he must have gone far away on some matter. I haven’t lived here for long and haven’t interacted much with Fellow Daoist Lin. You can try asking someone else!"

Hearing that Lin Qing might have gone far away, the beautiful widow turned pale, her hands tightly clutching at her dress hem as she asked anxiously a few more questions, and even inquired whether he had seen her husband, Xiao Changyi, today.

"...I truly haven’t seen your husband... But if you describe what he looks like, I can let him know to find you when I see him."

...

Chen Li managed to get rid of her after a few perfunctory replies.

Watching her graceful figure departing, Chen Li’s expression was complicated.

Just seeing the beauty’s furrowed brows and sad expression made him unable to suppress a feeling of pity.

Not to mention the cruelty of destroying such beauty!

She was already a widow...

"It’s best to deal with that monk surnamed Huang first!" Chen Li gathered his scattered thoughts, opened the formation of his house, and stepped inside.

...

In the afternoon.

Chen Li sat in a medicinal bath, the water steaming and emitting high heat.

It was unclear whether it was due to the medicinal soak or the intrinsic effect of the "Immortal Muscles Jade Bones Skill," but his skin had become increasingly fair over the years, resembling a finely carved piece of jade, alongside an increase in overall appearance and temperament.

He looked like a celestial being, ethereal and refined.

Of course, Chen Li was completely indifferent to this.

It just made it harder to keep a low profile.

Walking on the street would always attract some female gazes.

He opened his attribute panel:

"Immortal Muscles Jade Bones Skill Grandmaster: 2300/3200"

"Just one more year of practice, and this technique can reach max level," Chen Li mused in his heart, "Once the technique is maxed out and reaches its pinnacle, the achievement of Immortal Muscles, Jade Bones, and robust organs will be harmonious; innate strength will arise naturally, and my power will leap forward."

"I just don’t know if a Divine Skill will emerge like when I maxed out the Longevity Skill."

Chen Li closed the attribute panel.

With a "swoosh" sound of water.

Chen Li gently slapped the edge of the tub and lightly jumped out.

He then stepped into another tub of clear water.

After rinsing off the residue of the medicinal water on his body, he finally got out.

Bai Wei, standing by with a towel, immediately blushed and stepped forward to carefully dry Chen Li’s body, assisted him in dressing, and arranged his hair bun. In earlier years Chen Li was not accustomed to being served in such a way, but it had become the norm for him now.

In the afternoons of summertime, cicadas chirped loudly, carried on the breeze.

After his bath, Chen Li dragged a chair to sit under the big tree in the courtyard and began to inventory the spoils of the past few days.

Dark Light Sword: A flying sword from Xiao Changyi, suspected to be a second-order top-grade.

This flying sword was made of a black crystal, semi-translucent, reflecting a mesmerizing halo in the sunlight, sharp and compelling. It was unclear whether it was a natural mineral or derived from a high-order demon beast.

Its speed was like lightning, akin to a shadowy flash.

Chen Li had handled two top-grade, second-order flying swords before, and currently, he had one from Ji Kai, the Green Shadow Sword, but none compared to this one, although it did use up more spiritual power. If he used it with all his might, his spiritual power would be drained in just a few moments, given his early fourth level of Foundation Establishment.

If it truly was a second-order top-grade, its value would probably not be much less than a third-order low-grade Evil-Slaying Sword!

"These late Foundation Establishment cultivators, they really are wealthy, what a pity, all that’s left is this flying sword."

Thinking about this, Chen Li still felt a heart-piercing pain.

Next, it was time to inventory the items obtained from Lin Qing.

They were found to be quite rich as well.

In terms of spirit stones alone, there were 85 top-grade Spirit Stones.

A set of second-order middle-grade array "Green Yuan Avoiding Disaster Array," which was one grade higher than the Yin Yang Five Elements Gathering Spirit Array that Chen Li was using in his residence,

Two Magic Artifacts:

One was a second-order top-grade "Golden Rhino Spike," shaped like a cone, golden in color, with fine scales on its surface. Its speed was not very strong, slightly slower than the Green Shadow Sword, but it was heavy and powerful, with a penetrating attack of gold attribute, especially effective against defenses like water shields,

The other was a second-order middle-grade flying sword.

Guessing it was Lin Qing’s backup Magic Artifact, Chen Li did not go into details.

Five Transmission Jade Slips, unfortunately, none of them interested Chen Li.

Common secret techniques like these were no longer appealing to him.

He had the entire library of the Returning True Sect in his storage bag; such materials were available in abundance.

Beyond that, there were miscellaneous items like pills and talismans. All told, the total value was nearly two hundred top-grade Spirit Stones.

"Deserving of someone who has raided several marketplaces of the Returning True Sect, truly wealthy..."

Chen Li put all the items back into his storage bag, and he began to look forward to encountering the cultivator surnamed Huang.

...

Nearly a day had passed, and Xiao Changyi’s death seemed to have caused little disturbance.

Around dinner time, Chen Li decided to take a casual stroll and went to check out the scene, discovering that the ruins had been mostly cleared by the house owner. The originally collapsed buildings were being reconstructed, and not a single member of the fire cloud sect could be seen on site.

"What happened here? What went on?" Chen Li stopped a qi cultivation cultivator who was watching the excitement and asked with feigned curiosity.

"Senior is unaware, a fierce battle occurred here last night, and these people were unfortunate to be affected by it. Luckily, there were no casualties or injuries!" said the qi cultivation cultivator respectfully.

"I see!"

Chen Li asked a few more questions discreetly and gained quite a bit of information.

The enforcers of the fire cloud sect did come by last night but left shortly after.

This was not unexpected for Chen Li.

The fire cloud sect’s management of Red Pillar City was quite lenient, which was the norm in this world, whether it was for the Longevity Sect or the Returning True Sect. Such common murder cases, if not caught in the act, generally remained unresolved, and the victims could only consider themselves unlucky.

As for investigations and solving cases, like mobilizing a vast amount of manpower and treating it as a major case like in Chen Li’s past life, that was simply a pipe dream.

Unless you killed someone important!

ps: I need to get myself together this month!