The Terrifying Path of Immortal Cultivation

Li Qing frowned and looked vigilantly behind him.

There appeared a gray-robed old man there at some point.

The old man looked very gloomy, with a face full of wrinkles and a waxen yellow complexion, as if he were a corpse emerging from a grave.

Expressionless, with dark eyes, he walked past Li Qing and spoke in a low voice.

"The merits here are divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D."

"Each level has three subcategories: upper, middle, and lower. D corresponds to Foundation Building, C corresponds to True Law, and so on."

"If you want to take on a task, bring your token to me to receive the case file."

The eerie old man had already reached the end of the spacious room, where there was a desk and chairs, and he sat down slowly.

He took out a case file from the desk and picked up a brush with his right hand, seemingly making corrections.

The eerie old man, the quiet task hall, exuded a strange atmosphere.

Li Qing's brow twitched. He felt something strange. This old man didn't seem like a normal person.

His gaze swept over the jade plaques hanging on the wooden board.

Under each jade plaque was a brief introduction, describing various task contents.

"The night cries on Pipa Street in the north of the city, 1 merit point."

"The accident at the Blue River Ditch in the north of the city, 3 merit points."

"The children's disappearance in the north of the city, 3 merit points."

"The sunken ship incident at the Taihe Painting Studio, 5 merit points."

...

At a glance, there were all sorts of cases, numbering at least a hundred, most of which were D-level cases.

Li Qing watched for a while. These cases only had rough names and corresponding merit points.

Li Qing's goal was to find tasks with a large number of merit points, preferably long-term ones.

In his continuous search, he found a task.

"Clearing the chaotic burial mound in the west of the city, 1 merit point for each mutated corpse handled."

Seeing this, a hint of joy appeared on his face.

This task was exactly what he was looking for.

He directly took on this task and turned to walk towards the old man.

The old man took the jade plaque and took out a case file from under the desk, handing it to Li Qing.

"After dealing with a corpse, remove the corpse's bones as evidence."

Mutated corpses usually herald the arrival of zombies, which are already monsters in the True Law Realm.

As harbingers of zombies, mutated corpses have some bones that undergo mutation.

The best way to deal with mutated corpses is to burn them to ashes, leaving only the toughest bones.

The bones seem to be one of the raw materials for a certain type of technique, and many forces collect them.

Li Qing took the case file and left the place with it.

After he left, the old man behind him tilted his head and looked at the background of his departure, a strange smile appearing on his lips.

"Interesting person."

At this moment, another person walked in from outside, a young scholar.

Soon, he took a jade plaque and went straight to the desk.

Placing the jade plaque on the desk, the old man took out a case file and placed it on the table.

The young scholar seemed to have never noticed the old man from beginning to end.

In his eyes, the case file appeared on the table out of thin air.

Taking the case file, he left the place, never pausing his gaze on the old man for a second, as if he had never seen him at all.

The old man seemed indifferent to the behavior of these people, quietly completing his work.

...

Li Qing left Jixia Academy. It was midday, the time when the sun's energy was at its peak, and he planned to check the situation first.

As he left Jixia Academy, Zhou Xinglong and a group of scholars were coming from another direction.

Zhou Xinglong had been chatting and laughing with others, but he suddenly noticed Li Qing's figure.

His eyes lit up slightly, a hint of contemplation crossing his expression.

He slightly bowed to the others, "I have something to attend to now. Let's meet another day."

Ying Huayue and the others also bowed slightly, "Let's meet another day then."

...

Li Qing leisurely arrived at the west of the city, where a mile away from the city wall was a chaotic burial mound.

In his eyes, this chaotic burial mound was filled with a faintly eerie Essence Qi, mainly in green and black.

Although scarce, it rendered the place like a ghostly realm.

The reason why the task of clearing mutated corpses was left unclaimed there was because the task was very troublesome and tedious.

First, you had to find the mutated corpses, then you had to dig up the graves, and finally, you had to gather a large amount of firewood or use fire-based spells to burn the corpses to ashes.

The most troublesome part was finding the mutated corpses, as they were hard to detect without special means, unless they attacked you on their own.

For ordinary scholars, this task was too lowly, and they didn't like it.

For True Law Realm cultivators, the task had too few merit points and was too time-consuming and laborious, making it not worthwhile for them.

So, it was cheap for Li Qing, and he felt that this task was very suitable for him.

The reason was that he had "Six Senses Reaching the Heavens and Investigating Myriad Paths" and "Myriad Dao Myriad Qi Domain," which allowed him to detect all kinds of subtle traces, even within a three-meter range underground.

This made it easier for him to find mutated corpses in this chaotic burial mound.

"Limitless Escape Technique" and "Life and Death Wheel Five Elements Tribulation Qi" allowed him to easily enter the underground and eliminate mutated corpses, taking away the bones to complete all the work.

All the problems that were difficult for others to solve were extremely simple for him.

At this moment, a formless eye silently appeared in the sky a hundred meters away.

The eye was watching him, observing his every move.

A mile away, at the west city gate, Zhou Xinglong was secretly casting a spell here.

He was using the "Profound Heaven Virtual Eye," a spell of the Zongheng family tradition.

This spell could create an illusory eye that could observe everything within a hundred meters.

"So, this guy has taken on the task from the task hall and is clearing those mutated corpses."

"Heh, what a vulgar person. A grand wandering cultivator is actually doing this kind of work. It's really shameful."

"However, this might be a good opportunity."

A strange calculation flashed in Zhou Xinglong's eyes. The Zongheng family excelled in conspiracies, tricks, and verbal debates.

As a descendant of the Zongheng family, Zhou Xinglong naturally excelled in these areas.

He left the place and soon headed to Hundred Gates Alley.

In a gloomy alley, there were independent cultivators selling their wares.

Zhou Xinglong approached one of them, who was dressed in a black robe and had some strange items on display, mostly dried-up body parts.

Among them was a blood-red dried-up palm placed in a corner.

Wearing a black robe, Zhou Xinglong spoke in a low voice.

"Blood Sea Hell."