Chapter 155: Redemption

Qiu Shiyan and Bai Taoru waited outside the temple, glancing inside from time to time.

Bai Taoru was even pacing back and forth.

It was not until Fang Yue came out with Niu Chumin and Song Ping'er that Qiu Shiyan and Bai Taoru breathed a sigh of relief.

The remaining matters were left to Yang Zhiwei to handle.

Upon hearing that unorthodox practitioners had appeared in White Horse Temple, Yang Zhiwei instructed the guards to keep a strict watch on the other monks within the temple while dispatching messengers to inform her father, Prefect Yang.

To the authorities, unorthodox and heretical practitioners were equivalent to ghosts and demons, and often posed an even greater hazard.

……

Upon returning to the martial arts hall, Fang Yue and Qiu Shiyan discussed the matter of reopening the hall and taking in disciples.

Fang Yue had previously promised Qiu Shiyan that once he entered the Xiantian realm, he would anchor the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall for a period of time.

Leveraging the renown of a Xiantian master, he would help the martial arts hall recruit disciples.

Later, after Fang Yue broke through to the Xiantian realm, it coincided with the period when rumors regarding the "Martial Saint Manual" were spreading wildly, and the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall became implicated as well.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, the announcement of Fang Yue becoming a Xiantian master was temporarily withheld.

Now, with the Martial Saint Manual having surfaced in Yannan Prefecture, martial artists from both distant provinces and local areas were flocking toward Yannan Prefecture.

The petty rumors concerning the potential presence of the Martial Saint Manual in the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall naturally collapsed of their own accord.

Fang Yue intended to stay at the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall for a while to advance his martial realm to the late Xiantian stage, and thus planned to fulfill his original promise.

……

"Let's hold off a bit longer."

When Fang Yue asked for her opinion, Qiu Shiyan replied thus.

Sitting opposite each other, Qiu Shiyan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a reminiscent expression resting on her face as she said, "This Fengyang Martial Arts Hall was actually managed by my mother back in the day, while my father was merely a hands-off boss.

My mother was exceptionally gifted in business, so the martial arts hall possessed numerous properties under its name.

With my father's reputation combined with my mother's managerial talent, the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall flourished back then, renowned far and near.

I have painstakingly struggled to maintain the martial arts hall all this time because it was my mother's painstaking effort.

Yet by now, I have also come to terms with it. My mother has passed away, and my father has become the way he is; whether this martial arts hall can be sustained is no longer all that important.

Without a major sect supporting it from behind, even if the martial arts hall experiences a temporary resurgence due to your presence, it would merely be an illusion."

Fang Yue asked, "Then what are your plans?"

Qiu Shiyan looked somewhat bewildered as she answered, "I do not know either. I originally intended to find a picturesque place with mountains and clear waters to take my father to recuperate.

Yet my father refuses to leave the martial arts hall and is only willing to stay here.

Therefore, I shall maintain the martial arts hall for the time being, but as for accepting disciples, I will leave that to fate."

……

More than ten days later, Fang Yue arrived once again at the White Cloud Palace outside White Cloud City.

Having handed over the grievances and malice of heaven and earth collected within the Purple Jade Gourd, Fang Yue was rewarded with over four hundred points of merit.

"Treasures, manuals, talismans, pills, and the like—while treasures and talismans can enhance combat prowess, most are consumables and not worth it. What I currently lack are cultivation manuals and medicinal pills."

Inside the main hall of the White Cloud Palace, Fang Yue sat cross-legged before a wooden table, holding a white jade slip in his hand as he reviewed the various redeemable items listed upon it.

Having undergone two missions and slain several ghosts and spirits—including those at the centennial fierce ghost level—he had accumulated over five hundred points of merit.

General patrons of the White Cloud Palace could usually only slay one or two ghosts and spirits per mission.

Additionally, regarding his report on the three-headed snake corpse at Anyin Village, the higher authorities had already resolved the issue and directly awarded Fang Yue over six hundred points of merit.

Fang Yue now possessed a total of over a thousand points of merit, making him quite wealthy.

Yet a thousand-odd points of merit were still somewhat lacking relative to the items Fang Yue wished to redeem.

Thus, he had to make choices and compromises; treasures and talismans were temporarily excluded, as he did not lack trump cards or methods.

Although one could never have too many trump cards and means, there was no helping it when merit points fell short.

"The priority is to redeem a Xiantian inner cultivation mental method to serve as a supplement to the *Longfeng Art*, achieving the effect of drawing inferences about other cases from one instance."

Fang Yue possessed the divine ability of deduction; if he had several more Xiantian cultivation techniques as reference, he could deduce the Xiantian realm to absolute perfection.

Scanning the list of Xiantian inner cultivation methods, the cheapest required upwards of three hundred merit points, while the most expensive reached a staggering three thousand five hundred merit points.

"An ordinary ghost at the early centennial fierce ghost level is worth roughly one hundred merit points. That means this most expensive Xiantian inner cultivation method is equivalent in value to thirty-five ordinary ghosts at the early centennial fierce ghost level, or thirty-five ordinary monsters at the early centennial demon level."

Fang Yue specifically queried information regarding that Xiantian inner cultivation method valued at three thousand five hundred merit points.

"The *Myriad Phenomena Art*, an inner cultivation method of the Myriad Phenomena Sect from three thousand years ago, rumored to have been comprehended by the sect's founder from an incomplete ancient body-refining technique.

When practiced to a profound realm, one can summon martial dao dharma avatars..."

Fang Yue's attention paused on the words "ancient body-refining technique."

In this world, there had previously existed the Three Realms: the Heavenly Realm, the Earthly Realm, and the Human Realm.

Later, due to unknown reasons, the Heavenly Realm and the Earthly Realm completely perished, leaving behind only an incomplete Human Realm.

During the ancient times, before the destruction of the Three Realms, what kind of magnificent scenery must it have been? It inspired boundless imagination.

"Rumor has it that members of the aristocratic families claim to be descendants of heavenly gods, and the spiritual blood inherited within their bodies is divine blood."

Fang Yue developed an interest in this *Myriad Phenomena Art*, but lacking sufficient merit for the moment, he could only let it go.

"It is a pity that the Myriad Phenomena Sect vanished long ago; otherwise, I would have liked to go and check whether any incomplete ancient body-refining techniques still exist within their sect."

Fang Yue sighed inwardly. The appearance of a sect's cultivation manuals and secret texts on this exchange list basically signified that the corresponding sect had already perished.

"The *Clear Dew Art*, valued at five hundred merit points. This shall be the one."

Fang Yue chose to redeem the *Clear Dew Art*. Once the merit points were deducted, the contents of the cultivation technique immediately surfaced in his mind.

"Next are the spell manuals. Those that can be directly cultivated to the Pill Condensation realm require too many merit points and cannot be redeemed.

Since my merit points are not abundant at present, I will first redeem the portion that can be cultivated to the Foundation Establishment stage.

The *Taiyi Unifying Breath Technique* has a total value of seven thousand merit points, while the Foundation Establishment portion alone is worth one thousand merit points.

Forget it, I shall just redeem the Qi Guiding portion instead; that is worth two hundred merit points."

Fang Yue had set his sights on a spell cultivation mental method named the *Taiyi Unifying Breath Technique*, which could be cultivated all the way to the Pill Condensation realm.

He had initially wanted to directly redeem up to the Foundation Establishment portion, only to discover that this mental method was rather expensive, requiring a full thousand points just for the Foundation Establishment stage.

Lacking sufficient merit, Fang Yue could only settle for redeeming the Qi Guiding portion first, intending to familiarize himself with the spells while leaving the other parts for a future exchange.

"Finally, medicinal pills. I have no need for pills meant for cultivation. What I require are pills capable of rapidly replenishing Xiantian true qi."

Fang Yue searched through the list of medicinal pills. Such pills could enhance his combat endurance.

Especially under extreme circumstances, such as the previous encounter with the Yin-walking female when he was dragged into the grey-white ancient city, where there was no heaven and earth spiritual qi to replenish Xiantian true qi.

At times like that, pills capable of replenishing Xiantian true qi would come in extremely handy.

Fang Yue quickly selected a type of pill called the "Qi-Replenishing Pill," redeeming a single bottle containing a total of ten pills.

Each pill was valued at twelve merit points, bringing the total value to one hundred and twenty merit points.

"With around four hundred merit points remaining, I shall redeem yet another Xiantian inner cultivation mental method."