Hello, goodbye

Two days later.

Qingping City.

Quiet Room.

Qi Yuan was surrounded by a brilliant glow as a surging wave of spiritual energy spread out, impacting all directions and causing the room, reinforced by layers of Formations, to vibrate and rustle.

After a long time, he finally completely stabilized the boiling mana after his Breakthrough and slowly woke up from his cultivation.

Under internal inspection, the Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul within his body had become even more pure and condensed. Divine intent swirled around it, and rays of light flowed, faintly emitting a terrifying aura that made one's heart palpitate.

Late Nascent Soul Stage!

Feeling the powerful energy within his body, Qi Yuan exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, a joyful smile appearing on his face.

In just half a year, his cultivation had skyrocketed from the Early Nascent Soul Stage all the way to the Late Nascent Soul Stage. Such speed was unprecedented; if word got out, it would surely shock many Cultivators.

One must know that when he was in the Foundation Establishment Realm, it took him a full year to go from the Early Foundation Establishment to the Late Foundation Establishment, and that was already the standard for a top-tier Genius.

Breakthroughs in the Nascent Soul Realm were originally much more difficult than in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Even so, his Breakthrough speed was more than twice as fast, which could absolutely be called a miracle.

Furthermore, the accumulation of spiritual energy required for a Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul to advance far exceeds that of a normal Nascent Soul. To achieve this, the difficulty is even higher!

"As expected, even if the System is a retarded thing, it's still better than having no System at all."

Qi Yuan murmured softly, his expression somewhat complex. "If not for the System's help, relying solely on myself, I would probably have only just condensed my Nascent Soul by now."

After sighing for a moment, his brow furrowed, and a look of contemplation appeared in his eyes.

"At this current cultivation speed, in three months at most, I'll be able to reach the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm and start working on Soul Transformation matters."

"However, there's currently no sign of the Heavenly Dao Qi needed for a perfect Breakthrough. Instead of passively waiting for the System to issue a task involving Heavenly Dao Qi, I might as well try to find it myself."

"Before looking for someone to refine the creation mending heaven pill, it's best to first take that item from the Killing Life Daoist, lest someone else beats me to it."

"According to the memories gained from Soul Searching, the Killing Life Daoist set up many powerful measures in his Immortal Cave to prevent his nest from being raided. It would indeed be a bit dangerous to go alone, but fortunately, I have two 'enthusiastic' people to help me."

"The only thing that needs to be completed in the short term is this new task issued by the System..."

Thinking of this, Qi Yuan steadied his mind slightly and, with an odd expression, called up the System's task interface:

"New Main Quest Issued: You have gone through countless hardships to avenge the blood feud of the Qi family's extermination, and you were heavily injured by the murderer. After healing your wounds, you deeply felt your cultivation was insufficient, so you resolutely canceled your trip to the Linglong Holy Land and continued to search for opportunities outside."

"In a market, you heard that in Qingping City, anomalies have been soaring into the sky for several consecutive days without dissipating, as if a treasure is about to be born. You decided to go and investigate."

"When you arrive, you find that Qingping City is already bustling with excitement. Thousands of Loose Cultivators with the same idea as you are gathering here from all directions, searching for the exotic treasure in the city day and night."

"However, looking at the increasingly fanatical treasure-hunting crowd around you, you vaguely realize that this matter is not simple..."

"Quest Objective: Please arrive at Qingping City before sunset today and survive the upcoming events."

"Additional Reward Condition: Please take various measures to increase the number of survivors as much as possible."

"Quest Difficulty: Four Stars (Hard)"

"Quest Reward: 1,500 Counterattack Points, 20 top-grade Foundation Cultivation Pills, talent [Pretending to be a Pig to Eat the Tiger] upgraded to [True: Pretending to be a Pig to Eat the Tiger] (After this talent is activated, the Host can actively hide their cultivation and Spiritual Root Aptitude; no existence within the scope of the Heavenly Dao can see through it)."

"Additional Quest Reward: Because of you, for every Cultivator who survives, you will receive an extra reward of 5 Counterattack Points. For every Mortal who survives, you will receive an extra reward of 1 counterattack point."

Looking at these few lines of bright small characters, Qi Yuan fell into deep thought.

The System's hint was already very obvious; this city-wide treasure-hunting carnival in Qingping City was clearly a long-premeditated conspiracy.

Qingping City was just a remote small city. To call it a city was an overstatement; it was actually just a small town with a population of less than twenty thousand.

Even more interestingly, it was tens of thousands of miles away from the nearest cultivation Sect, and that Sect's strength was even inferior to Falling Cloud Valley—it could be called the small fry among small fry.

Even if there were rumors of a treasure being born, the vast majority of Cultivators who had rushed over in the past two days were Loose Cultivators. There weren't even many Disciples from decent small or medium-sized Schools.

With all these suspicious signs overlapping, Qi Yuan had pretty much guessed seventy or eighty percent of the cause and effect of the entire event.

It was likely that some Evil Cultivator was 'chumming the water' here, using the rumor of an impending exotic treasure to attract some outside Cultivators to gather here.

As for the specific purpose, it was nothing more than two possibilities: either for a blood sacrifice or for plunder. Perhaps both.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Qi Yuan narrowed his eyes, and a cold smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

This Evil Cultivator only dared to strike at such a small city; his appetite was pitifully small, and his strength surely wasn't anything great. Otherwise, he could have refined all the immortals and Mortals in the city to dross with a flick of his finger; there would be no need for such trouble.

As for the additional rewards, with him, the Dao Child of Tai Xuan, present, no one in this city would die except for the mastermind behind the scenes.

With tens of thousands of Counterattack Points easily coming in, the mastermind was simply a 'Wealth-sending boy'... Having made up his mind, he didn't delay at all, immediately stood up, and walked out of the room.

A short while later.

As evening approached, the streets were still crowded with people. From time to time, various colored Escape lights flashed across the sky, creating a scene of immense noise and bustling prosperity.

Slowly, the originally clear sky began to dim. Dark black clouds covered most of the sky, and the world became gloomy and obscure as cold winds rose from all sides.

Passersby stopped one after another, looking up at the suddenly changing sky with expressions of doubt appearing on their faces.

"Why did it get so dark? It's not going to rain, is it?"

"How did the weather change just like that? It shouldn't be..."

"Could it be that the treasure has been born?"

...The next moment.

Swish, swish, swish!

Accompanied by the sounds of discussion, dozens of gray Formation Qi columns soared into the sky, like a giant hand covering the heavens, quickly enveloping the entire small city.

At this moment, even Mortals without any cultivation could feel a thick, ominous aura lingering in their hearts.

Suddenly, a sinister voice resounded over Qingping City, evil and cold, as if coming from the Nine Serenities of the Yellow Springs.

"Don't struggle anymore. The Ten Directions Soul-Snatching Formation is complete. You all have no way to escape. You'd better obediently enter my myriad souls banner and become ghost soldiers under my command!"

As the voice fell, a Demonic Cultivator wearing a black robe and hood floated from a distance, stepping on turbid air. His appearance was gaunt, and his entire body was emitting wisps of cold, poisonous black mist. He was actually an Early Nascent Soul Stage Demonic Cultivator.

In his hand, he held a small black banner filled with ghostly Qi. As he waved it, it kicked up gusts of sinister wind and tragic mist... "It's over! It really is the Ten Directions Soul-Snatching Formation!"

"Hiss... I didn't expect a Nascent Soul level Evil Cultivator to appear here. We're dead for sure this time!"

"Spare my life—I don't want to die yet, I beg Senior to spare my life!"

Countless people ran around in panic, only to be firmly trapped in the city by the Formation. Crying, begging for mercy, screaming... all sorts of wailing mixed together, creating a sense of apocalyptic despair.

However, just then, a clear voice suddenly came from within the city:

"So that 'Wealth-sending boy' was you... Hello, and goodbye!"

"What?"

Before the Demonic Cultivator could even react, he was torn apart by a brilliant sword light, turning into minced meat flying all over the sky.