Volume One, Chapter 20: Eradicate the Root!

"This thing can actually dissolve a corpse. No wonder it's called Bone-Melting Powder!" Ji Die glanced at the clothes on the ground and couldn't help but gasp in shock.

To prevent any of the powder from getting on himself, he carefully plugged the wooden stopper back into the porcelain bottle and placed it in his storage pouch. Only then did he feel relieved. He turned his gaze back to the clothes on the ground.

Now that the issue of the corpse was resolved, Ji Die remained clear-headed and didn't rush to leave. Instead, he quickly began to clean up the crime scene.

The horse-faced man's body had already evaporated, leaving only his clothes and that sword behind. Ji Die gathered them all and put them into the storage pouch. He then followed the footprints to retrieve the Spirit-Raising Fruits he had just thrown away.

He searched the area thoroughly one more time. After confirming nothing was amiss, he returned to the stone where he had lured the horse-faced man and picked up the clothes he had tossed there.

"What should I do with these things?"

By this time, most of the night had already passed. Ji Die didn't hurry back to the beast stables but stared at the horse-faced man's storage pouch, feeling troubled.

He had already checked earlier—there were over thirty spirit stones inside, but nothing else of much value.

The only good item was the sword!

But the sword was too conspicuous. He didn't know if the horse-faced man had shown it to anyone else before. Ji Die dared not take it out, and carrying it with him was dangerous.

After all, when he had taken Zhang Feng's storage pouch, that malicious woman had sensed it.

Now, he didn't dare take that risk!

So how to deal with it became a problem.

"I'll find a place to bury it. If things calm down later, I can dig it up again! I can keep the spirit stones, but the sword and the horse-faced man's storage pouch can't stay on me."

Ji Die's mind was frighteningly clear, without a trace of greed. He made his decision swiftly, buried the horse-faced man's storage pouch under a nearby pine tree, covered it with soil, made sure there were no traces, memorized the location, and hurried back to the beast stables.

Dawn had yet to break; this was the quietest part of the night. All the disciples at the stables were cultivating.

Ji Die slipped into the nearby river to bathe, making sure there were no traces of blood left on him. The icy water kept his mind sharp as he slowly reviewed the night's events.

"All the evidence has been destroyed by my own hand. In the short term, no one should discover that he's dead.

"As for whether the sect will investigate his death when they find he's missing, that has nothing to do with me. After all, there are no witnesses!"

Ji Die let out a long breath. It was already December, and he dared not linger in the river. He climbed out and changed into clean clothes.

Circulating his spiritual energy, warmth quickly returned to his body.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered someone he had overlooked!

"He Qiang and the horse-faced man are in league together. He might know the horse-faced man came looking for me tonight. This person..." Ji Die's eyes grew cold with murderous intent. This was a ticking time bomb. While he had handled everything cleanly, this person was still a potential threat.

Now that he'd already killed, he had to eliminate all loose ends!

While it was still dark, Ji Die hurried back to the beast stables and stopped outside the window of a room, ready to see if the man was asleep. Suddenly, he heard the creaking of a door.

Ji Die quickly crouched down and hid.

A figure whistling softly emerged from another room a short distance away. Without looking around, he headed toward his own quarters, as if he had gotten up in the night.

Ji Die ignored him and crouched beside the window. The window was covered with a layer of stiff paper. Through a small hole, he peered inside.

The moon had slipped behind a cloud at some point, but with a cultivator's keen eyesight, Ji Die could still make out the scene inside.

"Not here?" Ji Die's eyes widened slightly in surprise when he saw the bed was empty. He was wondering where the man could have gone when a familiar voice sounded behind him.

"He Qiang! What are you doing here so late at night..."

When there was no response, He Song walked over in confusion and was about to pat his shoulder when "He Qiang" suddenly turned around.

"You..." Seeing the youthful yet indifferent face, He Song's expression changed. He had thought it was He Qiang "watering the plants" outside his room.

He hadn't expected it to be Ji Die!

He Song didn't have time to wonder why Ji Die was here at this hour. Seeing the youth's cold expression, a sense of dread welled up in his heart. He was about to flee when Ji Die lunged at him and grabbed his throat.

In his final desperate gaze, Ji Die remained utterly calm and snapped his neck.

Having crossed the line once before, Ji Die felt nothing now.

This man had been his enemy anyway, and now, having stumbled upon his plan to silence He Qiang—though He Song knew nothing of it—Ji Die wasn't willing to leave any threats behind.

He quickly left the stables, used Bone-Melting Powder to dispose of the corpse, and returned to his room.

"That He Qiang wasn't in his room—did he sense I wanted to eliminate him, or did he just happen to go out?!" The night had been nerve-wracking. Sitting on his bed, Ji Die frowned, unable to determine the reason.

He could only wait until tomorrow to find out!

But since He Qiang wasn't around, Ji Die didn't have to worry about being watched. His mind settled, and he began refining the Spirit-Raising Fruit, preparing to break through to the fifth level of Qi Refinement as soon as possible.

Now, his spiritual energy was already double what it had been when he first broke through to the fourth level, growing to the scale of a river.

After almost half the night’s effort, his spiritual power finally reached its peak—

He could attempt to break through to the fifth level of Qi Refinement!

“Still can’t break through…” The next day, Ji Die acted as if nothing had happened, carrying a pile of tools as he walked toward compartment eleven, his brows tightly furrowed.

Last night, his cultivation had reached the peak of the fourth level, but after several attempts, he still couldn’t break through to the fifth—no matter how many Spirit-Raising Fruits he took, his spiritual energy didn’t increase at all!

Ji Die didn’t know the reason. He sighed in frustration. Was he to be stuck at the fourth level forever? That was something he absolutely could not accept!

He had to find someone to ask what was going on!

“Senior Brother Ji, isn’t today the day to bathe the black serpent again?” a disciple greeted him.

“Mm.” Ji Die answered absently and soon arrived outside compartment eleven. He opened the door and went inside.

The black serpent had already reached the fourth level of Qi Refinement, but it was still wary of him. Ji Die put down his tools and smiled, “No need to be nervous, we’re old friends by now! I don’t want to rough you up today—no need to get Senior Sister Jiang on my case again. Be good and let me clean your lair and give you a bath!”

He tossed a Spirit-Raising Fruit to the snake, who swallowed it in one gulp. Though still alert, it seemed—perhaps—to understand his words, and was less tense.

Ji Die took the opportunity to clean out the snake’s den, quickly removing its waste, and then picked up a water bucket.

However, the black serpent was very wary of him and wouldn’t let him get close, flicking its tongue and giving off dangerous signals.

After trying to communicate with it with no result, Ji Die’s face darkened.

“Feeling itchy, are you? Want another beating, is that it?!”

“And who do you think you’re going to beat?”