Chapter 22 Excellent Sleep

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Ding——

Under the bright lights, a brand-new Joy Coin spun to the apex of its trajectory and fell into the open backpack beside the bed.

It was the third day after the fierce battle at the spire.

After a busy day, Daoist Wang returned to a high-end hotel in the Entertainment District of Joyful City on the 46th floor and lay on a two-meter-wide soft bed, exhaling softly.

This was a luxury king-sized bed room, costing two Joy Coins per night, featuring a white porcelain bathtub, and...

a toilet that didn't require coins to flush.

He rather liked this kind of toilet; it was much more advanced than the wooden buckets he used before heading up the mountain.

Wang Jixuan glanced at the backpack, whose bottom was lined with Joy Coins and Quota Cards.

These were all the savings from Gu Wending.

Daoist Wang turned to look at the several cans of Deactivated Blade Beast Blood on the table, a few iron boxes that contained complete Blade Beast Outer Bones, and the Soul Capturing Charms pressed underneath them...

A subtle sense of achievement was born in him.

Cultivation was like this, inner door elders just need to focus on their diligent practice, while the outer door elders had many more things to consider.

Re-treading the path of Ascension in this life, he felt a sense of fulfillment from fighting for every resource himself.

'Is this what Red Dust Heart Refining is about?'

Wang Jixuan raised his hand to his forehead.

Recently, he had suddenly discovered that he seemed to have quite a talent for becoming a Demon Cultivator...

After the encounter with the Black Fire Gang's third-in-command 'Giant Bone Fish' Wen Heisen, Wang Jixuan put aside his contempt for these gangs.

The whereabouts of the head of the Black Fire Gang remained a mystery, and Wang Jixuan had begun to suspect that this boss was never in Lower City, perhaps remotely controlled by someone from Upper City.

But now, for Wang Jixuan, this boss was actually secondary.

Spiritual Ability Users and Blade Beasts.

Wang Jixuan had a strong premonition that these two matters were definitely related to his future path of cultivation!

The Spiritual Energy in the air of this world was too sparse; to rely on meditative hard practice for Ascension, one might run out of lifespan at every stage—dying of old age before even forming a Golden Core...

Spirit Stones, Demon Cores, or any other treasures containing Spiritual Energy, were extremely important for Wang Jixuan.

The Black Fire Gang held clues related to these.

What Wang Jixuan wanted most right now was to give Wen Heisen a head massage and slap on a Soul Capturing Talisman.

However, the opportunity was not present for the moment.

The Black Fire Gang was in full lockdown, with drones flying chaotically everywhere, lights at full illumination, searching every nook and cranny for 'Mu Liang'.

Wang Jixuan had to lay low for the time being and take the opportunity to prepare.

With Lower City coins paving the way, he had found plenty of Deactivated Blade Beast Blood—enough to craft a thousand low-level talismans;

found some Blade Beast Outer Bones; with some ores, he could try refining some Bone Penetration Nails and other Magic Artifacts;

But he hadn't found a single Demon Core from a Blade Beast.

Wang Jixuan speculated that if such a cultivation resource truly existed, it was very likely to be controlled by the elites of the Fortress, especially by the Thirteenth Institute.

If he made no gains in his dealings with the Black Fire Gang, then once he stepped into the Gathering Spirit Realm or even higher realms, he would continue dealing with Zhou Zhengde and Wei Na, asking them to help search for Blade Beast Demon Cores.

For that, Wang Jixuan was willing to pay a price that wouldn't jeopardize his own safety.

Such as helping Zhou Zhengde and Wei Na soothe and invigorate their channels, curing some difficult illnesses of their relatives and friends, offering some of his own breath control techniques to extend their lives, and such.

—If he could obtain the necessary cultivation resources on his own, he would continue to keep a certain distance from Zhou Wei.

In the past few days, Wang Jixuan had also been looking for other materials to refine Magic Artifacts.

This made him even more speechless.

The metals he could access had almost all been reused many times, possessing no Spiritual Energy at all, and most were various alloys.

He needed ore.

The kind that had just been mined and was still imbued with Spiritual Energy.

Wang Jixuan was now beginning to worry about his future Sword Control Technique.

What's most important when drifting in the Immortal Realm?

Of course, a top-tier flying sword that ripples like water!

"Sigh, let's search slowly. These things need to be done one by one."

Wang Jixuan continually strategized in his mind.

'Next, I need to find a way back to the 49th Floor to find an opportunity to take out Wen Heisen and uncover the secrets of the Spiritual Ability Users. If I can find a Blade Beast Demon Core in the Black Fire Gang, that would be perfect.'

'I can't let that mysterious boss of the Black Fire Gang escape. I need to confirm his whereabouts as soon as possible and end this karma.'

'I wonder about the extent of Wen Heisen's injuries. Will he call for more Spiritual Ability Users for support?'.

Wang Jixuan closed his eyes to ponder for a while. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he jerked awake, immediately sat up, and his hands quickly formed seals.

Bao Yuan Shou Yi, Inner Heaven Cycle.

"Cultivation cannot be neglected, I must quickly enter a state of abundant Qi."

Wang Jixuan flicked a finger, and a strand of Qi precisely hit the light switch.

Click.

The room immediately plunged into darkness.

Outside the concrete-sealed window was the bustling night market of Joyful City's 'Entertainment District', where the kaleidoscope of bright lights and drunken dreams could easily lead one to believe the Golden Age of humanity had not passed.

Wang Jixuan had just entered meditation.

Crack, crack.

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Faint footsteps carried from the carpeted corridor.

The corner of the Soul Capturing Charms, placed under the iron box and sealing the 'Bartender's' soul, slightly floated up.

Someone was approaching.

Wang Jixuan suddenly opened his eyes, silently leaped from the bed to the corner behind the door, his legs sturdily braced against both walls, carefully sensing the situation outside the door.

'Such rich killing intent.'

There were a total of five people in the corridor, each of their breaths was light, and their footsteps were also extremely faint.

Had his whereabouts been exposed?

Had the Black Fire Gang sent elite fighters for revenge?

Or was it some other situation?

Thump! Thump!

The other party suddenly knocked on the door, and a young woman's voice called out in a high pitch:

"Hello, the service staff here to deliver hot water. Could you come to the door to receive it, please?"

Wang Jixuan didn't respond, holding his breath, his left hand clutching five blades of a utility knife gleaming with cold light, his right hand holding a pistol equipped with a silencer.

Whispers at a barely audible volume came from outside.

"No one there?"

"The scanner didn't detect any signs of life in the room area. I mean, none on the bed and in the bathroom, and not under the bed either. Strange."

"It could be a trap. Prepare the high-frequency flash bangs. Our goal is to take him back, by whatever means necessary, whether he's injured or not... Open the door."

Click, hiss—

The electronic lock that the hotel receptionist claimed 'could resist all kinds of electromagnetic interference' was effortlessly hacked by the five people outside.

A black 'can' was thrown inside and the door slammed shut.

Pop!

Intense light instantly filled the entire space!

Even though Wang Jixuan quickly raised his hand to cover his eyes, his vision was still filled with large white spots!

One person violently kicked open the door, three others wielding rifles barged in, one kneeling on one knee, two sweeping their barrels left and right, tacitly covering three areas of the room with their muzzles, while two more stood guard at the doorway.

Wang Jixuan paid close attention.

The spots of light before his eyes hadn't faded away, and the intruders hadn't looked up at the corner above the door.

So he held his breath and endured, continuing to wait for the best moment to strike.

"The wardrobe! Under the bed!"

The three below moved forward simultaneously towards the wardrobe, under the bed, and the sealed window. Since they had cleared the space and indicated "no danger," the two outside the door swiftly moved inside and gently closed the door.

Now was the moment!

Sounds of whistling air suddenly arose!

Wang Jixuan's left hand thrust fiercely, sending five trails of cold light flashing past, and his silenced pistol fired in succession!

After a series of 'thuds,' the room fell into complete silence.

Wang Jixuan's figure slowly slid down, supporting himself against the security door, closing his eyes to sense movements around him, while strands of cool Qi refreshed his eyes.

After a short while, Wang Jixuan's vision returned to normal. He turned on the daylight lamp and emotionlessly surveyed the five bodies in the room.

Hmm?

Not wearing green tracksuits?

The cause of death for these five people was the insertion of a utility knife blade into a similar area at the back of the neck.

Because Wang Jixuan's vision was obstructed, his shooting angle was somewhat unstable; of the five bodies, only three were shot in the head, and two were shot in the back.

Thinking back to the time when his pistol failed to penetrate Wen Heisen's thick skin...

'Magic artifacts are still more reliable.'

Wang Jixuan smirked and shrugged, clicked the safety on his pistol, and tucked it into the inner pocket of his jacket.

This was no place to stay for long.

He stepped over the bodies, intent on retrieving the hard-won Blade Beast Outer Bone, but his gaze was suddenly drawn to a flickering green light in the arms of a corpse.

What was this thing?

He approached cautiously, his Spiritual Sense pushed to the max, and found a device the size of a watch face in the muscular team leader's embrace, examining it closely.

This device resembled the holographic video player Lan Yuzai had.

Daoist Wang decided to try pressing the green play button.

Four beams of light converged from the sides of the device, within which appeared a somewhat blurry three-dimensional projection video.

Zhou Zhengde, sitting behind a desk dressed in a light blue uniform, appeared before him with a smile.

"Is it recording now? Okay, good! Mu Liang!

"When you see this video, I presume the five elite mercenaries from Lower City I hired should already be in front of you.

"They were sent to escort you back, and by now, I think you should have already gained a basic understanding of each other, right?

"Please trust in their abilities; they are the apex of Lower City's food chain, true slayers who disregard gang rules, each highly skilled, and of course, exceedingly expensive."

Zhou Zhengde displayed a pained expression on the projection screen.

Wang Jixuan: ...

He looked at the now cooling bodies;

It's nice to be young, so easy to fall asleep.