The three little ones left quite happily.
...
Yue Wen let them go not because he was afraid of his knees cracking... though maybe he was a little afraid.
The main reason was that he quickly realized they neither had the guts to do evil in a human city, nor the wits to lie to him.
They were nothing more than a few pitiful little demons living in the city's shadows.
The Wilderness was dangerous for them, and the city was dangerous too. Only that cult leader could temporarily keep them safe, so they had no choice but to obey orders.
But before they left, Yue Wen had warned them that regardless of what plans their Meow Meow Cult had, they were absolutely not to come cause trouble at the eastern cemetery again for these next two days.
After those two days passed, the matter would have nothing to do with him.
Based on his impression of these three little ones, Yue Wen felt their cult leader probably wasn't necessarily a bad person either... would a truly bad person adopt a few useless stray cats?
After that, he continued happily farming lantern monsters until dawn.
Early in the morning, Old Man Huang rode his little yellow e-scooter putt-putt-putting to the cemetery again. Seeing those several chiseled-out pits, the old man stared blankly for a while.
“Last night a few demons came to make trouble. The battle was rather intense,” Yue Wen said. “Fortunately, I drove them all away single-handedly.”
“Huh?” Old Man Huang said in surprise. “Demons have never come to the eastern cemetery before!”
“I don’t know what happened either.” Yue Wen reminded him, “But after I leave, you’d best pay attention to your safety too. If there’s any abnormal noise, report it to the Supernatural Management Bureau early. Don’t rashly go check it out.”
“I know that.” Old Man Huang chuckled. “Normally when it gets late, I just focus on reading in my room. Whatever noise there is outside, I don’t go out.”
Yue Wen glanced at the bookshelf over there and couldn’t help reminding him, “Take care of your body.”
Old Man Huang came to relieve him, so it was time to go back. He’d been busy for most of the night, clearing more than half the lantern monsters. One more night should about do it.
If not for the three little ones causing trouble, he might have finished the job in one night.
But the three little ones had also provided him with information about a mysterious magical artifact, so it wasn’t a wasted night. It was just that Vermilion Bird Peak was indeed somewhat dangerous. He planned to wait until he broke through to the Gang Realm before exploring the Wilderness.
Cultivators had nine realms in total. The lower three realms were the Outer Realm, the Inner Realm, and the Unity Realm.
These three realms involved external training of the bones, sinews, and skin, then internal training of true qi, and finally the unity of essence, qi, and spirit. When the unity of essence, qi, and spirit reached a certain level, one could undergo great fire to refine Gang, catalyzing Gang Qi that combined with the primal spirits of heaven and earth. This was the Gang Realm.
The threshold of the Gang Realm blocked at least seventy percent of cultivators; it could be called a chasm.
Only after leaving the lower three realms could one be considered a true expert, able to walk the Wilderness with relative confidence.
With his current strength, entering the Wilderness was still too risky.
Returning to the agency, there were still no commissions.
Yue Wen went straight up to the small bed on the second floor, preparing to sleep for a while. Although cultivators who reached the Unity Realm could replenish their spirit through cultivation, theoretically achieving a state without need for sleep or rest.
However, ample sleep could still nurture one’s spirit, just like adding oil to a lamp. Unless in extreme circumstances, there was no need to burn that oil.
Of course, cultivators had one necessary step before bed—playing on their phones.
He opened his phone and clicked into an app called Xiu Chat. First he opened the search bar and typed in “Meow Meow Cult.”
Zero results.
Xiu Chat had started as a forum, its full name being “Cultivation Chat Room.” It later developed into a massive community used by all cultivators, covering industry news, trading information, chatting, making friends, same-city class bookings, and other comprehensive content.
If you couldn’t find this organization even on Xiu Chat, then it was either an extremely mysterious, deeply hidden major power, or a completely unknown, nameless small fry.
Yue Wen felt this Meow Meow Cult was most likely the latter.
After the unsuccessful search, he casually browsed the trending news on Xiu Chat.
...
The top headline was that Venerable Muyang of the Ancient Immortal Sect Taiji Bahuang Sect had broken into the Whale-Devouring Demon Sea and returned carrying half a dragon corpse!
The locations with the highest danger level within the Wilderness were designated as “Forbidden Zones.” Among the many forbidden zones in the world, there were a few that, although extremely dangerous and virtually death traps, contained vast amounts of immortal treasures, causing countless cultivators to still rush forward in waves to explore them.
These were the four great “Immortal Treasure Forbidden Lands.”
The Whale-Devouring Demon Sea ranked among them.
It was a storm that rampaged across the four seas like a ghost. Once it appeared, whether giant whales or mountain demons, no matter how large, they would be sucked into the vortex with no chance of survival. Among the four great Immortal Treasure Forbidden Lands, it was the one with the lowest survival rate.
And Venerable Muyang not only managed to escape from it but could also bring back a priceless, massive half dragon corpse—it was simply astounding.
Someone had happened to capture a photo of him carrying the dragon across the sea. Although his face couldn’t be seen clearly, the scene of that ancient skeleton blotting out the sky and covering the earth was shocking even through a screen.
Some people speculated that there were countless strange treasures in the Immortal Treasure Forbidden Lands; since he could return alive, his gains might far exceed this.
Below this explosive news were some insider rumors of unknown authenticity. The hottest comment was:
[Innate Sphincter Sacred Body Aspires to Snap the Golden-Hooped Rod: I have a friend who’s an inner disciple of Taiji Bahuang Sect. He said the reason Venerable Muyang is parading the dragon corpse through the city is because there’s a massive treasure that can’t be stored in a storage artifact, so he had to hide it inside the dragon corpse to cover it up. As for what it is, he’ll only tell me tonight when I go to his room…]
There were many replies waiting below this comment. Many people were urging him—an entire night had passed, so why hadn’t he come out to leak the info yet?
Yue Wen looked at this absurd username, thinking that what this person said might not necessarily be reliable.
In second place was a Jianghu kill order issued by another Ancient Immortal Sect, Tianyou Dimu Cult. The one being hunted was named Gu Nanchao.
This name was known by everyone in the cultivation world.
Immortal Nanchao, the world’s number one divine thief.
The treasures he had stolen were countless. Among his victims were quite a few top immortal sects. The consequence was that he carried at least several dozen Jianghu kill orders from large and small immortal sects.
But forget catching Gu Nanchao—not even a single frontal photo of him had ever leaked.
Even the Supernatural Management Bureau had conducted large-scale arrests against him, but still failed completely. The final conclusion was that his cultivation was top-tier and he possessed some kind of immortal artifact, making him extremely difficult to capture.
Now he had provoked Tianyou Dimu Cult again. Who knew what invaluable treasure he had stolen this time.
The third-ranking hot topic was probably a paid promotion. It was a missing person notice posted by the Zhao Family of Tianfu.
But it wasn’t asking Xiu Chat users to help find someone. Rather, the Zhao Family’s eldest daughter had run away from home, and no one could contact her. The Zhao Family head publicly posted a message apologizing to his daughter, hoping she would come home soon.
As a famous cultivation family in the Tianfu region, the Zhao Family held very high prestige in the Southwest cultivation world. Who would have thought such a large clan couldn’t even handle parenting issues?
The hot comments below showed not a trace of sympathy or help; they were all shameless netizens stirring up trouble.
[Rainy Night Where Ex-Boyfriend Battled Five Dark-Skinned Men to Refine Gang: Father! If big sister really won’t come home, then I’m willing to support you in your old age!]
...
Yue Wen smiled as he read, then scrolled through more news. Feeling sufficiently drowsy, he turned off his phone to prepare for supplementary sleep.
Who knew that at this moment, a knocking sound came from outside.
“Why come at this time?” he muttered. He put his clothes back on, got up, and quickly went downstairs while calling out, “Coming, who is it?”
Just as he reached the stairway landing, his expression turned from cloudy to sunny.
Standing at the door was a young woman wearing a thin, white, form-fitting dress.
Her figure was tall and well-proportioned, around 1.75 meters. Her black hair was slightly pinned up and sleekly tied behind her. Her face was fair and clear, as if veiled in a soft light. Her brows and eyes were gentle, her beautiful pupils clear, and she wore a faint smile.
The long dress paired with a cardigan, her hands lightly clasped behind her—standing there, she was like a pure, elegant white flower.
“Hello.” Seeing Yue Wen come downstairs, the young woman pushed the door open, nodded lightly, and asked softly, “Is this place hiring an assistant? I’ve come to apply.”
Good morning.