Chapter 93: Five Blessings City

Rest assured. With me here, you will be fine.

Li Kantian felt that although Qingxi had climbed to second place on the merit board by resorting to underhanded tricks, his attitude toward others seemed rather decent. For that reason, he developed a certain fondness for him.

If he had known that the only reason Qingxi had not refused to join his squad was because Linfeng happened to be there, he would likely have been mortified.

"The message has been delivered. Tomorrow at first light, assemble before the sect hall."

Li Kantian nodded to Qingxi, then leaped away in a few swift bounds until he vanished without a trace.

Linfeng looked at the large bundle Qingxi was carrying and asked curiously, "Brother Qingxi, what's in that load on your back?"

"Come with me and you'll know."

Qingxi let go of the dragon-horse's ear, hoisted the bundle, and walked with Linfeng toward the mission hall.

Because it was night, there was only one disciple on watch.

When Qingxi emptied out a great quantity of sharp claws, single horns, and hard shells taken from human-rank demon beasts from the bundle, the night watchman stared in astonishment, eyes wide.

"Senior Brother, how many merit points are these things worth?"

"On... one thousand!"

The disciple swallowed hard, his face full of envy.

When Qingxi produced his disciple token, the man looked at the more than twenty thousand points displayed upon it and was stunned all over again.

Only after Qingxi and Linfeng had gone far away did the disciple finally come to himself.

"So it was him—Qingxi, second on the merit board!"

...

At that moment, Qingxi walked along with a smile on his face.

Those demon beast materials had all been picked up as spoils in the Land of Ancient Luo.

Though the blood energy and origin power within the carcasses had long since been devoured clean, the remaining claws, scales, horns, and other materials still held some value.

The materials from more than a hundred human-rank demon beasts were exchanged for a total of ten thousand merit points.

Afterward, Qingxi took Linfeng to the Merit Hall and spent over ten thousand points on a large supply of necessities for travel, before returning to their residence.

The next morning, the two arrived as promised at the sect hall.

Behind them followed the sleep-eyed Dragon Horse and the Little Vajra Ape.

"At last, you've come. Everyone is finally here."

Li Kantian wore a white robe, a long sword on his back, and the hair at his temples stirred lightly in the morning breeze, giving him an air of elegant ease.

Many of the female disciples were dazzled, nearly writing the words "I adore him" and "I'm infatuated" across their faces.

"It... it's you!"

A frightened cry rang out from the crowd.

Qingxi turned toward the voice, and a smile rose at once to his lips. "Oh? So it's Senior Brother Zhou. Has your weakness been cured?"

The speaker was none other than Zhou Yuanlong, who had also been assigned to Li Kantian's squad.

"I... I don't have any weakness!"

Zhou Yuanlong drew himself up proudly, but when he felt the strange looks cast his way, he quickly shrank back into the crowd, unwilling to meet Qingxi.

At the same time, he trembled all over, inwardly cursing his own misfortune for being assigned to the same group as Qingxi.

Among the crowd, Qingxi also spotted Wan Hu.

As for the several inner sect disciples among the top ten who had once declared they would challenge him, none were in this team.

Qingxi did not dwell on it, and instead studied the others in the squad.

There were fifteen people in all. Li Kantian had the highest cultivation, only one step away from entering the mid-stage of the Innate Realm.

The others were all in the Qi Refining Realm, the lowest being Linfeng, at the twentieth level of Qi Refining.

After careful consideration, the sect master, Qiu Mingzi, had not sent every Qi Refining disciple. Instead, he had dispatched only those inner sect disciples whose cultivation had reached the twentieth level of Qi Refining or above.

As for outer sect disciples below that standard, even if they went along, they would be of no help.

Qingxi did not release the aura of the Innate Realm, so the others all took him to be a Qi Refining Realm cultivator at the Great Perfection.

"Set out!"

As the squad leader, Li Kantian waved a hand and took the lead.

Very soon, the group rode swift horses down the mountain at high speed, raising billowing dust behind them.

Along the way, everyone kept glancing back at Qingxi, who sat astride the dragon-horse barely half a man high, and the sight was strangely amusing.

More comical still was the dragon-horse, which ran with its tongue hanging out, as though it might collapse from exhaustion at any moment.

"Senior Brother Qingxi, your little steed really is working hard. Would you like to ride with your elder sister instead?"

A young woman at the thirtieth level of Qi Refining slowed her pace and shot Qingxi a coy look.

Before Qingxi could answer, the dragon-horse shot the female disciple a contemptuous glare and grumbled, "What do you know? To carry my master on his way is a blessing earned over three lifetimes."

"Oh my, the little horse can speak!"

"A monster!"

The female disciple was so frightened that she toppled from her saddle.

Fortunately, her cultivation was not low, and she was unharmed.

"A spirit beast?"

When the others heard the dragon-horse speak, they all looked toward Qingxi, unable to conceal the envy in their eyes.

"What incredible luck!"

At the very front, Li Kantian turned back to look at Qingxi, who appeared entirely at ease, and his heart was full of envy.

Not long afterward, the group reached Five Blessings City, three hundred li from the Spirit Origin Sect.

Among the eastern territories of Cloud River Prefecture, this city ranked among the top ten large cities, with a population exceeding five hundred thousand.

Its strongest expert was the city lord, Du Liang, whose cultivation was at the late stage of the Innate Realm.

When Qingxi and the others arrived before the city, City Lord Du Liang immediately came out with his men to welcome them.

Although Du Liang's cultivation was higher than Li Kantian's, he knew that Li Kantian was a near-genius of the Spirit Origin Sect, with future prospects of breaking into the Spirit Vein Realm. He did not dare to be negligent.

However, when Du Liang saw Qingxi sitting upon the dragon-horse's back, the corner of his mouth twitched faintly, and he inwardly wondered why the Spirit Origin Sect had even brought an outer sect disciple along.

And to ride such a tiny horse at that? How shabby.

Qingxi was still dressed in the outer sect disciple robe he had received at his registration.

Though his current cultivation was already sufficient to make him a true disciple, in truth he had not even been formally certified as an inner sect disciple yet.

This was not because he did not wish to be, but simply because he had forgotten all about it.

Thinking of the heavenly demonic fiends soon to descend, City Lord Du Liang could only shake his head helplessly, inwardly concluding that he would have to place all his hopes on the near-genius Li Kantian this time.

As for Qingxi in his outer sect robe, and the seemingly youthful, stout Linfeng, Du Liang regarded them as little mascots meant to ease the tension.

Under Du Liang's watchful sendoff, Qingxi's group entered the city.

Standing behind Du Liang, a young man in armor with an imposing bearing suddenly fixed his gaze on Qingxi and exclaimed, "It's him!"

Du Liang was taken aback. "My son, you know that outer sect disciple?"

"Outer sect disciple?"

The armored youth looked utterly incredulous, then shook his head. "Father, don't be deceived by appearances. That man is no outer sect disciple at all. He is the near-genius who rose to prominence at this year's Heroes Gathering!"

"What did you say?"

Du Liang was stunned by his son Du Kang's words.

As a great expert at the late stage of the Innate Realm, Du Liang's family was considered a distinguished and powerful house in the eastern territories. His son, Du Kang, had happened to take part in this year's Heroes Gathering and had left with a deep impression of Qingxi.

After returning to Five Blessings City, he immediately recounted all that he had seen and heard.

Upon learning that the Spirit Origin Sect had produced another near-genius, Du Liang could not help but marvel at the sect's strength.

Yet he never expected that the outer sect disciple he had just mistaken for a mere mascot was in fact the very near-genius who had left the other great Qi Refining Realm prodigies speechless.

Du Liang opened his mouth, for a moment unsure of what to say.