After the discussion concluded, everyone prepared to leave.

Li Miaozhen asked suspiciously: “You won’t come back again, will you?”

“Of course not, of course not…” everyone waved their hands repeatedly: “We’re not that bored. Earlier we were just concerned about your situation.”

Li Miaozhen looked left and right, still not quite trusting the moral character of the Heaven and Earth Society members, and said: “You all go first, I’ll leave last.”

Xu Qi’an nodded while saying: “Miaozhen, I’ll supervise for you. I’ll leave with them together.”

*You’re the least trustworthy of all…* Li Miaozhen said flatly: “Thank you for your trouble, Silver Badge Xu.”

Xu Qi’an’s body expanded, transforming into a “shadow curtain” that shrouded everyone, wrapping up Orange Cat, Asura, and the others before vanishing from the room.

Li Miaozhen didn’t leave, sitting at the table to drink a cup of tea. Seeing that no one returned, she finally left with peace of mind.

About half a quarter hour after she left, from the darkness under the table, a large mass of “shadow” expanded, and the original group returned.

Guardian Yuan stared in amazement.

Xu Qi’an rubbed his hands: “Quick, tell us, what was Miaozhen thinking when she entered the demonic state?”

“Yes, yes, I’m quite curious what Flying Swallow Heroine was thinking after becoming demonic,” Miao Youfang chimed in.

The big shots once again silently stared at Guardian Yuan, giving wordless pressure.

As expected… Guardian Yuan sighed, then reached out and pulled out another sachet, opening it under everyone’s rigid gazes.

A wisp of green smoke rose, taking the form of Susu.

Susu glared at the people in the room, letting out Li Miaozhen’s roar: “Get the hell out!”

Controlling spirits was a common Daoist technique—actually, Li Miaozhen had given Guardian Yuan two sachets.

Time to run… The Heaven and Earth Society members scattered in a flurry.

…

At the Xu residence.

Xu Qi’an returned to the room he shared with Lin’an. Oil lamps burned in the four corners, and a bowl of cold chicken soup sat on the desk.

Lin’an lay curled on her side under a thin blanket, her breathing deep as she was immersed in dreams.

Her face was round and soft, pleasant to pinch. Her long eyelashes were thick and slightly curled; with those flirtatious peach blossom eyes closed, she looked much more dignified.

Xu Qi’an didn’t immediately go to bed, instead walking to sit at the desk. He picked up the chicken soup and was about to take a sip when he suddenly paused, detecting several kidney-tonifying and yang-strengthening herbs in the soup.

*Is she worried I’m getting kidney deficient from too frequently plowing new fields lately?*

*Who does she think she’s looking down on…* Xu Qi’an gulped down the chicken soup.

Men never refuse such foods, even if they’re completely useless to a first-rank martial artist.

After finishing the soup, he spread out rice paper and wrote down the characteristics of Buddhist transcendent experts in detail, then dried the ink and folded it.

He then pushed open the window and calmly gazed into the night. Shortly after, a wild bird fluttered down onto the windowsill.

Xu Qi’an handed over the folded rice paper, which the bird took in its beak before fluttering away.

The bird’s destination was the Tower of Righteousness.

He planned to seek Wei Yuan’s opinion. Though the Azure Robed One was now a “weakling,” his strategies, insight, and intelligence remained. Given enough information, he could analyze and provide valuable advice.

Watching the wild bird disappear into the night, Xu Qi’an sat back at the desk to contemplate.

“First, we must rescue Divine Executioner’s head—this directly affects our side’s ability to withstand pressure when the great calamity comes. Without a half-step Martial God holding the fort, the Central Plains would be like chives, ready to be cut by either the Western Regions or the Witch God Cult.”

“Second, before the great calamity, I must raise my cultivation to half-step Martial God. Divine Executioner alone is somewhat inadequate to handle super-rank experts. So if there’s a chance, I must consume the Bodhi Tree. But this could likely provoke a crazy counterattack from the Buddhist sect.”

Previously in his judgment, the Buddhist sect might not be willing to fight to the death with Great Zhou’s transcendent experts over Divine Executioner’s head, as this would only benefit the Witch God Cult.

So they might make some compromises.

But if Great Zhou’s transcendent experts targeted the Bodhi Tree, it would likely become a fight to the death.

“If we can’t kill the Bodhi Tree this time, I’ll need to find another way. There are two paths: One, cultivate a strength-type transcendent Gu beast. Two, go to sea to find divine-demon descendants of the same domain.”

“Finally, uncover the relationship between Buddha and Divine Executioner, thoroughly understanding what secrets this super-rank expert is hiding.”

“The Buddhist sect has repeatedly bullied us, pushing too far. It’s time to collect these debts.”

His conflict with the Western Regions ran deep. It could be said that since Xu Qi’an entered the transcendent realm, every crisis he encountered involved the Buddhist sect.

This grudge must be repaid.

As for failure, he never considered it, because failure would mean death in Arantha.

In other words, if they couldn’t retrieve the Divine Executioner’s head, he would perish together with the Buddhist sect, leaving Buddha as a lone commander.

This was the confidence of a first-rank martial artist.

…

The next day at dawn, he opened his eyes, moved Lin’an’s long leg from his belly, got up, and walked to the window, opening it.

“Flutter flutter…”

A wild bird landed on the windowsill, holding in its beak rice paper folded to the size of a tofu block.

Xu Qi’an took the paper and unfolded it to read:

“At this level, strategy matters little. You’ve done well with overall planning and deployment. But have you considered using cooperation between systems to target the Buddhist sect and Witch God Cult?”

“The opponents can do the same. If the Witch God Cult and Buddhist sect exchanged one second-rank expert each, such a small adjustment could potentially affect the capital’s situation or even the battle at Arantha.”

“Saren Agu won’t risk going to the Western Regions himself, and third-rank experts have limited effect. You probably know who will go. The Buddhist sect’s third and second-rank experts are almost all gone, with only the second-rank Deliverance Arhat remaining.”

“If I remember correctly, he greatly advocates Mahayana Buddhism and wants to be the founder of Mahayana Buddhism. This person can be tempted with benefits.”

“The Witch God Cult harbors a deep hatred for Great Zhou. Without significant benefits, they absolutely won’t cooperate with Great Zhou, so don’t think about allying with Alun Agu.”

“Go west with peace of mind. I have the capital covered.”

*Sigh, though Lord Wei is now a weakling, his promises always bring inexplicable peace of mind…* Xu Qi’an let out a breath.

After a simple washing up, he shadow-jumped to Night Princess’s room.

The fox spirit sat before her dressing mirror, combing her glossy black hair. Sensing the energy barrier sealing the room, she said charmingly: “Would Princess Lin’an not mind?”

Xu Qi’an pursed his lips: “Then should I leave?”

“This servant was just saying…” Night Princess had no intention of letting him leave. She quickly swayed her little waist over, settling her round, perky bottom on his thigh while wrapping her arms around Xu Qi’an’s neck. Glancing at the water clock, she said:

“Only half an hour, okay?”

As she spoke, she knew how to entice, wiggling her buttocks to let her lover feel her fullness.

*Well, I can just do six strikes per second. Under the same time limit, speeding up the normal attacks works too…* Xu Qi’an embraced Night Princess and fell toward the bed.

Half an hour later, the morning exercise finished. After breakfast, Xu Qi’an headed to the Imperial Observatory.

He went to the seventh floor’s alchemy room looking for Song Qin, but surprisingly, Song Qin who treated the alchemy room as home wasn’t there.

“Where’s Senior Brother Song?”

Xu Qi’an asked the ritualist in the alchemy room.

“Don’t know. Senior Brother Song hasn’t come today. Strange, he usually lives in the alchemy room.”

That white-robed ritualist indicated he wasn’t clear either.

“You didn’t go look for him?” Xu Qi’an found it strange. When someone suddenly disappears unusually, isn’t that something worth being alert about?

“Looking for people wastes too much time, affecting alchemy experiments,” the ritualist answered thus.

…Xu Qi’an cupped his hands to him, then shadow-jumped to the kitchen, where he saw the food-loving Chu Caiwei.

Chu Caiwei looked bewildered: “Huh? I don’t know. Maybe Senior Brother Song went out to buy breakfast?”

*He wouldn’t spend a quarter hour going outside just for a meal…* Xu Qi’an criticized internally. He then went to see Sun Xuanji and finally learned from Senior Brother Sun—no, from Guardian Yuan—that Song Qin was in the library.

The library was on the eighth floor, collecting works on geography, feng shui, medicine, herbs, metallurgy, materials science, and more.

It was established six hundred years ago. Since the first Observatory Master, generations of Imperial Observatory ritualists had “built” this library with their knowledge.

Xu Qi’an found Song Qin at the very back of the library. Senior Brother Song sat cross-legged on the ground, surrounded by piles of books.

“Senior Brother Song, there’s something I’d like to consult you about…”

Before Xu Qi’an finished speaking, he heard Song Qin say while keeping his head down and flipping through books: “How to extract the life essence of a first-rank martial artist?”

“You already know?” Xu Qi’an was surprised, not expecting Old Song to be so efficient.

“Senior Brother Sun told me last night. It’s truly an exciting yet hair-raising difficult task.” The alchemy fanatic’s hair was messy, his dark circles deep, as he showed a perverted smile.

*Hasn’t slept all night!* Xu Qi’an pressed: “Have you found results?”

Song Qin shook his head.

“Where do the difficulties lie?” Xu Qi’an asked what he didn’t understand.

“The blood pill formation can only extract ordinary people’s life essence, which is relatively easy. But a first-rank expert’s life essence is condensed to the extreme—extracting their life essence is too difficult.”

“It’s like removing impurities from iron ore is easy, but removing impurities from refined iron is very difficult. We need to approach it from aspects like formation patterns, materials…”

Song Qin went on and on, but Xu Qi’an didn’t absorb any of it.

Song Qin licked his lips with lingering interest and commanded: “Your timing is perfect. Help me find all content related to alchemy, life, and formations. I’ll try my best to devise a method.”

Xu Qi’an didn’t waste words. He opened the window, and after a while, a dense flock of birds flew in. They shared a vision with Xu Qi’an, finding book after book in relevant fields. Soon the books piled higher than a person in front of Song Qin.

“Don’t just watch,” Song Qin looked up, saying dissatisfied:

“Young Master Xu is also a genius in alchemy, no worse than me. With our combined efforts, we can devise a method to refine a first-rank martial artist’s life essence.”

As he spoke, he showed an expectant expression, as if Xu Qi’an was an alchemy expert.

*I’m just a fraud, can’t even recite the complete periodic table…* So he pretended to be an expert, focusing on reading books.

As time ticked by second by second, Xu Qi’an suddenly asked: “Are Observatory Master’s writings here?”

“No!” Song Qin shook his head.

“Why not look at Observatory Master’s books?”

Hearing this, Song Qin snorted dismissively:

“The old man claims the biological alchemy I aspire to is an evil path. I refuse to accept that—I’ll defeat him in the field of alchemy. So I don’t read his books.”

*You don’t read them but I will…* Xu Qi’an gave some insincere praise, then asked:

“Where are Observatory Master’s writings?”

“Turn right, go straight to the end. Everything up there is Teacher Observatory Master’s writings,” Song Qin said.

Xu Qi’an followed the instructions, walking to the bookshelf. As his gaze swept across, he suddenly froze. He saw a book titled:

“Methods of Advancing to Half-step Martial God”

Xu Qi’an turned his head, silently looking at Song Qin who was immersed in his own world, single-mindedly wanting to surpass Observatory Master.

*What are you struggling so hard for?*

*Is there anything more satisfying than getting things for free?*

At the same time, an inexplicable chill rose in Xu Qi’an’s heart.

Observatory Master even knew methods of advancing to half-step Martial God…