Bamboo Mound

Immediately, Director Li muttered to himself, "The murderous aura is quite strong; it must have caused a lot of trouble before it was arrested."

"In that case, it's a good deal for you to proceed with the fetal heart rate assessment on your own."

"Hmm... Since it has the appearance of a Xuanwu, let's send it back to the Spirit Gathering Realm and make it a contracted spirit beast. As for whether it can successfully advance, that depends on its actions after the contract."

After saying that, he leaped down from the back of the Xuan Shui Turtle and came to Ning Chang's side.

"A complete Spiny Armored Water Turtle and a Spiny Water Serpent, including parts of their bodies such as the Spiny Armored Water Turtle's shell, the Spiny Water Serpent's teeth and bones, or the flesh and blood of other strange beasts—do you wish to keep any of them?"

"Of course, we won't dismantle these two beasts directly. Instead, we'll take out materials of similar strength from our inventory and give them to you along with the merit points later."

"Just one tortoise shell will do." Ning Chang had already decided what materials he wanted to keep.

"The shell of the Spiked Water Turtle? I wonder if you want a shell from the seventh level of the Spirit Platform realm, or are you interested in exchanging for a higher-level one?"

"Are there even higher levels?" Ning Chang was taken aback. If there was a Fetal Heart Realm, then he would have to consider whether to use all the merit points he had exchanged for the tortoise and snake to exchange for that Fetal Heart Realm tortoise shell.

As for the Transformation Realm, he didn't think that the four sects could produce any materials from high-level beasts in the Fetal Heart Realm!

After all, the alien beast embryos already possess consciousness, meaning they can communicate, so their value far exceeds that of those scattered materials!

Unless the four sects are even more cruel, they can isolate a few high-level beasts, imprison them to obtain materials, and then use secret methods to heal them, and so on.

"The highest-grade Spiny Water Turtle currently in storage has a shell that is at the sixth rank of the Fetal Heart level. It can be exchanged by consuming 90% of the merit points obtained from exchanging these two exotic beasts."

"Of course, there are also materials for the first to fifth levels of the Fetal Heart Realm, and the prices are also arranged in a tiered manner."

Director Li seemed to need no calculations and directly quoted a rough price.

"Then let's switch to the sixth-level fetal heart." Seeing that he had enough merit points, Ning Chang directly chose the highest-level tortoise shell.

Since it's for crafting armor, the higher the grade, the better, especially since I don't have any other materials I need to exchange for at the moment.

Upon hearing this, Director Li nodded and said, "Alright, give me your identity jade token, and I'll go and retrieve the shell of the sixth-tier Spiny Armored Mystic Water Turtle from the warehouse. I'll also transfer the remaining merit points into your identity jade token."

At this point, Ning Chang also became interested, but he still hoped that the dry-faced director wouldn't make too much of a move, so as not to cause too much trouble.

But when he took out the jade pendant, he still saw that classic gesture.

Upon seeing the jade tablet, Director Li's expression instantly changed. He immediately knelt on one knee, bowed his head, and clasped his hands in greeting, saying:

"Disciple Li Jian greets... Elder! I was unaware of your presence and was therefore impolite. I hope you will forgive me!"

He showed no contempt, nor did he dare to doubt the authenticity of the jade pendants. The appearance of the jade pendants representing the four sects could be imitated, but the hidden charm on them could only be added by the corresponding departments of each sect!

He paused for a moment, simply because the jade tablet Ning Chang had taken out indicated that Liu Yun was stronger than an ordinary elder, but weaker than a sect leader. Since Medicine King Valley did not distinguish between elders and sect leaders, he thought for a moment and decided to still use the term elder.

Moreover, even if Ning Chang only has the cultivation level of the sixth level of the Spirit Platform, or in other words, whoever takes out the Elder's Jade Token must be treated as an Elder!

After all, investigating the counterfeiting and theft of identity jade pendants was not his responsibility; that was the job of the department in charge of jade pendant circulation. Before that, these disciples had to treat the jade pendants according to their identities. If they were genuine, they would have fulfilled their duty of courtesy; if they were fake, the material losses would be returned later.

At this moment, although all the disciples had been driven away, many people were secretly watching this side while they were moving around. Although Li Jian's words were not loud, how could they escape the ears of all the cultivators?

Naturally, the whole story was heard, causing quite a stir.

It's just a bit smaller and more orderly than when the two strange beasts first appeared.

"Meet the elder!"

The previously noisy crowd fell silent for a moment, then knelt down on one knee in unison, imitating Li Jian's actions and shouting.

Seeing that some people in the exchange hall behind him were also approaching, Ning Chang quickly gestured for them to stand up, which stopped the disciples in the hall from walking.

"Director Li, please continue. Just stick to the price we agreed on earlier."

Li Jian quickly nodded, "Um... Elder, please just call me Li Jian... I'll be right back, please wait a moment, Elder."

After saying that, she turned around and was about to leave when she heard a delicate shout coming from the entrance of the square.

"Director Li, please wait!"

Although the words were meant as a request, the tone was like a command.

For a moment, Li Jian frowned, stopped, and turned his head, while Ning Chang also looked to the side in confusion.

Surrounded by several outer disciples, a youthful-looking woman dressed in the robes of an inner disciple walked slowly and deliberately.

"Disciple Liu Ruyan greets Director Li."

“Liu Ruyan? That name… I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before…” Ning Chang pondered for a while, but couldn’t come up with anything.

She walked up to Li Jian, shoving aside the several obsequious outer disciples around her. She first bowed to Li Jian, then pointed at Ning Chang and said:

"Does the director assume the jade pendant in this person's hand is genuine without any investigation?"

"An elder? In our Medicine King Valley, which elder doesn't inform the sect when they are promoted? Every single disciple here today, has ever seen this person before?"

"You're trying to infiltrate my Medicine King Valley with a fake identity jade token? What are your intentions?!"

She changed the subject and shouted at Ning Chang.

Upon hearing her words, the disciples who had stopped to watch again began to discuss animatedly.

"I don't think I've ever seen it before."

"A sixth-level Spirit Platform cultivator suddenly appeared? When did he enter the inner sect?"

"Have you seen him in the last two Inner Sect Competitions?"

"A Xuan Shui Snake and a Spiked Xuan Shui Turtle, both at the sixth level of the Spiritual Platform realm and at the seventh level, without any injuries..."

......

"quiet!"

Li Jian suddenly shouted, then looked at Liu Ruyan with a cold face, "Are you questioning my vision?"

To everyone's surprise, Liu Ruyan seemed to have been prepared all along, and immediately bowed her head again, saying, "This disciple dares not, but..."

It's unclear where she got her confidence from, but despite her trembling voice and limited cultivation to the first level of the Spirit Platform realm, Ning Chang didn't detect any fear in her voice when facing Li Jian.

She had barely begun to speak when Li Jian interrupted her again, saying, "Fine, judging from your appearance, you just joined the household registration department yesterday and haven't learned the relevant knowledge yet."