Witch, don't do anything reckless!

Footsteps sounded from outside the alley, and soon several figures from the Tianxuan Division rushed in. The leader was a middle-aged man of about forty years old. His expression was solemn as he looked around and quickly spotted Li Chuqiu in the alley.

"Brother Lu!"

Li Chuqiu sheathed his sword and stepped forward.

The middle-aged man who arrived was named Lu Xiao, and he was Li Chuqiu's direct superior.

Several years ago, Li Chuqiu saved Madam Lu Xiao's life. When Li Chuqiu joined the Tianxuan Division, he had helped her a great deal. In recent years, the Tianxuan Division had also taken good care of Li Chuqiu.

The two had a good personal relationship.

Looking around at the corpses and traces, Lu Xiao's expression turned grim: "What on earth happened?!"

Li Chuqiu briefly explained what had happened, omitting the existence of the Blood Demon as instructed by the Deputy Commander Liu, only saying that a demon had appeared, in order to avoid causing panic.

Lu Xiao was terrified after hearing this. Today was the wedding day of Prince Jing's mansion, and a demon had appeared in his territory, involving human lives. This was no small matter.

Fortunately, he learned that both Deputy Commander Liu and Lord Xu were present, preventing the monster from escaping, which brought him a sigh of relief.

But his expression remained grave. Three lives had been lost in his territory, and he owed his superiors an explanation. Lu Xiao immediately ordered his subordinates to clean up the scene and search the surrounding area to prevent any other demons from lurking.

On the other side, Li Chuqiu began to complain: "Brother Lu, you don't know, I almost lost my life in a bloody battle with that monster just now. That monster's strength is unfathomable. I only survived thanks to the 'Qi Condensation Pill,' and even then, I was injured. You see, this counts as a work-related injury. Shouldn't the 'Qi Condensation Pill' be reimbursed...?"

"You're dreaming! Do you think Qi Condensation Pills are as common as cabbages?"

Lu Xiao knew exactly what Li Chuqiu was thinking, and said irritably, "I don't have any on me right now. I'll report it for you later, but I can't guarantee it will be approved."

Although Qi Condensation Pills cannot be used by cultivators, there are not many cultivators in the Tianxuan Division; most are ordinary people. Therefore, Qi Condensation Pills are extremely scarce and sought after within the Tianxuan Division.

There's only one quota for a constable like Li Chuqiu per year, and unless you make a great contribution, you basically have no chance of getting one.

"Thank you very much, Brother Lu!"

Having received the answer he wanted, Li Chuqiu left satisfied, citing a work injury as the reason.

Leave early and go home!

Li Chuqiu lived in a small courtyard house with three bedrooms in the western residential area of ​​the city. The house was not big, but it was not cheap in Yuhua City where land was extremely valuable. It was one of the few valuable things his cheap old man left him.

I ran into an acquaintance right at my doorstep when I got home.

"Second Aunt?"

A woman dressed as a peasant woman, about forty years old, stood at the door of the house. She was dressed simply, but her demeanor and eyes revealed a quality that was somewhat incongruous with her appearance. One could vaguely tell that she had been a beauty in her youth.

When she saw Li Chuqiu, a smile immediately appeared on her face: "Chuqiu, you're back so early today?"

Li Chuqiu nodded slightly: "Second Aunt, what brings you here? Is there something you need?"

"It's been a while since I've seen you. Your second uncle misses you a lot. It just so happens that your aunt slaughtered a chicken today. Why don't you come over to your aunt's house for dinner tonight? Let's all get together as a family." Aunt warmly invited.

"I'm afraid it won't work today. We're very busy with the wedding at Prince Jing's residence, and I'm afraid we won't have time," Li Chuqiu politely declined.

"Is that so..."

The woman at the door looked somewhat disappointed, as if she had thought of something and hesitated to speak. Seeing this, Li Chuqiu understood: "Does Second Aunt have something to say to me?"

"Yes, there are some things..."

Second Aunt looked at Li Chuqiu and sighed softly, "Well, Second Aunt came to see you today because there is something I need to discuss..."

"It's not like Shuci was chosen by an immortal from Linglong Palace half a year ago and taken there for cultivation. As you know, cultivators are said to be pure of heart and have few desires, and cannot have too many romantic relationships, so..."

Li Chuqiu naturally understood her second aunt's purpose, and interrupted her before she could finish speaking: "Second Aunt, I understand what you mean. Don't worry, I've always regarded Shuci as a younger sister. Now that she has joined Linglong Palace, I'm genuinely happy for her."

"real?!"

Hearing Li Chuqiu's words, her second aunt's eyes lit up noticeably: "You, you really think so?"

"Of course." Li Chuqiu nodded: "In my heart, I have always regarded Shuci as my own younger sister."

"Then I'm relieved!"

Auntie breathed a long sigh of relief, as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. When she looked at Li Chuqiu again, her eyes were noticeably kinder and gentler.

Seemingly feeling somewhat guilty about this, her second aunt said again, "Don't worry, Chuqiu, I'll definitely find you a good marriage. I promise you won't be wronged."

"Thank you for your concern, Auntie, but I'm still young and there's no rush... Oh, right, I have some things to do later, so I won't keep you any longer."

After seeing her second aunt off, Li Chuqiu pushed open the courtyard gate, walked into the courtyard, closed the gate, and remained calm.

Li Chuqiu had expected that his second aunt would come looking for him.

His father had saved his second uncle's family's life years ago, and his second aunt had indeed said she would marry Shu Ci to Li Chuqiu. Although it was only a verbal promise, it was still a promise. Now that she wanted to go back on her word, she should confirm it in person to be at ease.

Therefore, after Lin Shuci became a disciple of Linglong Palace, Second Aunt revealed her intention to break off the engagement in her words and actions.

However, this matter was ultimately not honorable and somewhat embarrassing to talk about. Therefore, Li Chuqiu did not want to put his second aunt in a difficult position and took the initiative to distance himself from her.

In this way, everyone is happy!

Although his second aunt was somewhat materialistic and had a tendency to look down on others, she wasn't a bad person after all, and hadn't treated Li Chuqiu badly over the years.

For Li Chuqiu, this was probably the best possible outcome.

After all, he was just an ordinary person!

"Meow~"

Just then, a soft meow came from the courtyard, interrupting Li Chuqiu's thoughts.

In her line of sight, a fat cat with pure white fur appeared. Its snow-white fur and a pair of heterochromatic black eyes were lying in a corner under the eaves. When it saw Li Chuqiu return, it lazily meowed.

"You're sleeping soundly!"

Li Chuqiu stepped forward, picked up the snow-white cat, and stroked it vigorously twice. The white cat, disturbed from its peaceful dream, meowed a couple of times in dissatisfaction.

Then, as if it had discovered something, it sniffed at Li Chuqiu and raised its head to look at him.

"We ran into a powerful demon and almost lost our lives. You heartless little thing, how dare you sleep in there instead of helping us?"

The white cat meowed, sounding aggrieved and dissatisfied, as if to say, "What's it to you, meow? I can't beat you anyway."

"Alright, wake up, I'll cook you some meat!"

Upon hearing that there was meat to eat, the white cat immediately perked up, jumped off Li Chuqiu's arms, and darted into the kitchen next door.

After changing her clothes in her room, Li Chuqiu went into the kitchen, washed her hands, and started cooking.

Half an hour later, a person and a cat were there, with three dishes and a soup. They also cooked a large piece of meat for the white cat next to them. The cat was lying on the table eating, its mouth dripping with oil, completely unseemly.

After eating and drinking its fill, the white cat squatted on the railing under the eaves, leisurely licking its paws. Li Chuqiu sat on the steps under the eaves, gazing up at the beautiful sunset as evening approached and the afterglow painted half the sky red.

"So beautiful!"

Li Chuqiu sighed. The white cat under the eaves glanced at him, already used to this childish human's sudden sentiments.

After admiring the sunset for a while, Li Chuqiu finally composed herself, grabbed the horizontal sword from the eaves frame, got up, and went into the courtyard to practice her swordsmanship.

He has maintained this habit for many years.

Although Li Chuqiu's entry into the Tianxuan Division was somewhat suspected of being through back channels, one thing is undeniable: those who can join the Tianxuan Division are at least martial artists above the ninth realm.

In the world today, there are nine realms in the classification of martial arts cultivation, and these nine realms are further divided into the upper three realms, the middle three realms, and the lower three realms.

Although the Ninth Realm serves as the entry point to the lower three realms and is the lowest threshold for the Heavenly Profound Division, it is certainly not considered weak. Any martial artist who can reach this realm can be considered a master in their own right.

Three years ago, Li Chuqiu, with the strength of just entering the ninth realm, successfully joined the Tianxuan Division.

Reaching the ninth realm at less than fifteen years old truly makes him a child prodigy!

This is why Xu Jinghong thinks highly of Li Chuqiu; in a sense, Li Chuqiu can indeed be considered a martial arts genius.

But he is only a martial arts genius!

Because he cannot open his "sea of ​​consciousness," he is destined to be unable to enter the middle three realms. This is why the blood demon looked down on Li Chuqiu so much when he saw that Li Chuqiu was only at the lower three realms.

It may seem like there's only one major difference between them, but the gap is like an insurmountable chasm, seemingly insurmountable.

Only by absorbing enough spiritual energy from heaven and earth to temper one's body, opening up the "sea of ​​consciousness," and stepping into the middle three realms can one truly undergo a complete transformation!

Li Chuqiu started practicing martial arts at a very young age. His alcoholic father didn't leave behind much; besides this three-bedroom house, there was only an unknown body tempering manual.

Li Chuqiu practiced this for over ten years.

That unknown body-tempering technique laid an extremely solid foundation for his physical abilities. This allowed his strength to advance by leaps and bounds after he entered the ninth realm, until one day, Li Chuqiu discovered a serious problem… he couldn't open his sea of ​​consciousness!

Although he could absorb and transform the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and was not without spiritual roots, for some reason he just couldn't gather and open up a sea of ​​consciousness no matter what he tried. He tried countless times, but that sea of ​​consciousness was harder than his penis, showing no sign of cracking at all!

Compared to others whose spiritual roots are insufficient, the size of the 'sea of ​​consciousness' they open may differ, but even those with the worst spiritual roots are not incapable of opening a 'sea of ​​consciousness'.

His situation is unprecedented.

Without a sea of ​​consciousness, his body cannot store spiritual energy for long. No matter how much spiritual energy he absorbs, it will eventually dissipate.

No matter how high one's martial arts talent is, it is impossible to reach the middle three realms.

This is hopeless!

This also made Li Chuqiu want to curse.

But cursing was useless. As time went on, Li Chuqiu gradually accepted this cruel reality... He was unable to cultivate and might never be able to cross the threshold of the middle three realms in his lifetime.

This is why Li Chuqiu accepted his second aunt's "broken engagement" so readily; after that girl joined Linglong Palace, the gap between them would only widen. He might even become a burden to her in the future.

Rather than ending up in a difficult situation and making a fool of yourself, it's better to be sensible and part ways amicably.

However, even if he couldn't open his sea of ​​consciousness, it didn't dampen Li Chuqiu's determination to practice. In this world where immortals and demons exist, only martial arts skills could give him enough security.

Therefore, Li Chuqiu still maintained the habit of practicing martial arts!

It was during a demon-slaying expedition a year ago that Li Chuqiu inadvertently discovered a special condition about his body after killing a minor demon… His body would automatically absorb the residual spiritual power of the dead demons.

This made him start to doubt whether he was a demon, since his abilities sounded very demonic.

But the problem is... even demons can open their 'sea of ​​consciousness'. His situation is a rare 'difficult case' even in the demon world.

Apart from that, so far, Li Chu has not discovered any other use for this special ability, nor has it had any effect on his body.

Aside from not being able to open his "sea of ​​consciousness," he is still a proper person to this day!

……

One hour later.

in the courtyard.

Li Chuqiu stood rooted to the spot, drenched in sweat. He closed his eyes, seemingly immersed in a profound state. After a long while, he suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze falling on the gleaming silver saber in his hand, its sharp edge gleaming with a chilling light.

A chilling, oppressive aura seemed to flash across the world.

Under the eaves, the white cat licked its paws clean, glanced at Li Chuqiu in the yard, meowed, stretched, and then comfortably lay back down in its cat bed under the eaves to sleep.

In the courtyard, the sky gradually darkened.

Li Chuqiu sheathed his sword, tidied the courtyard, took a bath in the backyard, changed into clean clothes, and returned to his room. He then carefully studied the nameless body tempering technique left by his cheap old man, as well as several copies of the "Spring and Autumn Annals" that he had seized from a bookseller on the street a few days ago. Two hours later, he took another cold bath in the backyard and did not go to sleep until the night was getting late.

However, not long after I fell asleep, I was woken up by a series of urgent knocks on the door.

"Boss, boss, wake up! Something's happened!"

Li Chuqiu was awakened by hurried footsteps. She put on a coat, got up, and went out to the courtyard. As soon as she opened the gate, she saw her subordinate Chen San'er standing at the door, looking travel-worn and anxious.

"Boss, something terrible has happened..."

"The Prince Jing's heir is dead!"

"..."