The other two small paper figures crawled out from the corpse, one on the left and one on the right, and walked to the side of the middle small paper figure.

Xiao He, now in human form, was squatting behind the three small paper figures.

"Yan Yan, what is this?"

Xiao He lowered her head, staring at them with a suspicious expression, wanting to reach out and touch them, but not quite daring to.

Song Yan shook his head; he had never seen such a thing either.

Rustle.

The small paper figures swayed in the mountain night wind, making a rustling sound.

To Song Yan’s astonishment, the three small paper figures actually cupped their hands in salute towards him, and then ran towards the northwest.

He frowned, and his finger moved the magical incantation again.

The three fragments of Spiritual Artifacts that had fallen nearby hummed as they flew up, shooting towards the three small paper figures.

Swoosh—

The three fragments each pinned a small paper figure to the ground.

There were no screams, no calls for help, no sound whatsoever.

The small paper figures seemed to have died quietly just like that.

Suddenly, three streaks of bloody light emerged from the paper figures, continuing to fly northwest. The bloody light was too fast, and there was no time to stop it.

Song Yan frowned thoughtfully.

It didn’t look like anything proper... but his Realm was low, and his experience shallow, so he simply stopped thinking about it.

He walked directly to the three corpses and began to examine them.

Among the three, only Lu Xiaowei had a qiankun bag; the other two were practically penniless, with only a small bell each.

Song Yan directly used his spiritual power to erase the mark on Lu Xiaowei’s qiankun bag on the spot.

"So poor."

Before this, Song Yan had thought he might be one of the poorest Cultivators in the world, but compared to these few, he was actually not bad at all.

A total of eight Spirit Stones, two black nails; if the three from just now were included, that would be five nails.

There were several coffins; some were empty, some contained corpses, but Song Yan had no interest in them.

A piece of paper with writing on it, and two scattered Jade Slips.

The central part of the paper was mostly covered by black bloodstains, so Song Yan couldn’t make out what was written on it, only seeing something like Holy Cult and Yin nature.

He probed the Jade Slips with his Divine Sense; one was a blank Jade Slip, which should have contained something originally, but it had been erased.

The other recorded the Alchemy method and Medicinal Pill effects of something called the "Spirit Transformation Blood Pill."

Middle-aged corpse blood, infant heart blood, elder corpse blood. Looking at these Materials for Alchemy, Song Yan almost vomited.

The Medicinal Pill effect of this Spirit Transformation Blood Pill, however, utterly astonished Song Yan.

Repeated consumption could cause a special meridian to grow within the body of a Mortal without Cultivation Aptitude, thereby granting them the opportunity to Cultivate to the third level of Qi Refining.

Allowing Cultivators without Spiritual Root Aptitude to Cultivate to the third level of Qi Refining?

It was simply unheard of. Soon, Song Yan found this bottle of Medicinal Pills in the qiankun bag.

Song Yan opened the jade porcelain bottle, and a strong smell of blood assailed him. His brows furrowed, his gaze sharpened, and he saw that the Medicinal Pills in the bottle had an abnormal color.

The color of the Medicinal Pills was a deep, dripping red, as if stained with blood.

"..."

Xiao He transformed into a snake and slithered into his sleeve, circling once before poking her head out from the collar of his Dao robe.

"Eww~ It smells awful."

Song Yan sealed the Medicinal Pill bottle: "This Hermit Xin Shan must be a remnant of a Demonic Cultivator..."

"After returning to the Sect, I’ll just explain everything in detail..."

When the sky falls, the tall ones bear it; when those powerful Demonic Cultivators wreak havoc in the world, they wouldn’t possibly start with a small fry like him... Song Yan also had absolutely no use for these things.

He planned to pick one item from these things that didn’t look too valuable and hand it over to the Sect along with his mission "confession."

In any case, since there were clues about Demonic Cultivators, it still needed to be reported.

As for the other things... Song Yan decided to sell them to Granny Qin.

Her small shop should accept these things, right? Whatever he could sell them for, it would be a small fortune.

No matter how small the mosquito, it’s still meat; Song Yan was so poor now that he could barely even drink the northwest wind.

After Song Yan finished everything, he went back and buried the bodies of the three villagers.

"Big Brother, Big Sister, I apologize for the offense just now, but it was also to let you rest in peace..."

He sighed.

"Life is as cheap as grass..."

Song Yan packed everything up and hurried back to the thatched hut before dawn.

The next day, Song Yan went down the mountain.

"Senior Brother Zhao, I am returning to the Sect today. I will trouble you to look after the people in town..."

Zhao Fengcheng also liked peace and quiet, living near the foot of Qing stone mountain.

"Junior Brother Song, those three people..."

Song Yan smiled slightly: "They should not come to Shiliang to cause trouble again..."

"Oh... that’s good."

Zhao Fengcheng nodded repeatedly, his gaze at Song Yan filled with envy.

To those Inner Sect Disciples, perhaps Outer Sect Disciples like Song Yan were a dime a dozen, unable to keep up with their Cultivation pace, nor having the possibility of seeking the Dao of longevity.

But for Disciples like Zhao Fengcheng, who had been dismissed, being able to continue Cultivating within the Sect like Song Yan was already a dream come true.

And Zhao Fengcheng, how many people in Shiliang Town envied him?

It has always been this way between people.

"Senior Brother Zhao, this is a bottle of Qi Nourishing Pills, which Junior Brother refined himself. It might have Medium Grade Medicinal Pill effects."

Song Yan swiped his finger, and a small porcelain bottle appeared in his hand: "Although it’s not the most suitable Medicinal Pill for you, it’s a token of Junior Brother’s regard."

If one understood Zhao Fengcheng, they would know that he was not a very likable person.

Cowardly, timid, and insecure.

Yet, he diligently searched for Cultivation sprouts in the town for the Cave Abyss Sect. Song Yan was one of the Disciples he discovered and brought into the Sect.

When Lu Xiaowei and the other two caused trouble, he dared to stand up for the common people.

In this Cultivation World where everyone fended for themselves, regardless of his motives, he had already done right by many people.

Since he had now achieved a Breakthrough to the fifth level of Qi Refining, Qi Nourishing Pills were no longer of much use to him. It was better to repay the favor of his "introducer" to the Immortal Path back then.

Song Yan was very poor, but he was not stingy with things that should be spent.

"This..."

Medicinal Pills, Medium Grade Medicinal Pills!

Although it was the lowest-grade Qi Nourishing Pill, to Zhao Fengcheng, it was already a priceless treasure.

His eyes burned with fervor, and polite words like "It’s my duty, how could I accept it" came to his lips... but he couldn’t bring himself to say them.

"Thank you... Junior Brother Song."

Every time he mentioned the words "Junior Brother," he felt a burning sensation.

He bowed deeply, burying his head low.

"Senior Brother Zhao, there’s no need for this. If it weren’t for you introducing me to the Sect back then, how would I have seen this path of Cultivation?"

"This kindness is repaid today, lest Junior Brother dies and his Dao disappears in the future, without having the chance."

Song Yan gave a self-deprecating smile and then departed.

"Dies and his Dao disappears."

Zhao Fengcheng sighed deeply, clutching the porcelain bottle in his hand even tighter.

After walking a distance, Xiao He buzzed in his sleeve: "Are we going to the Immortal Mountain now?"

"Let’s go to town first and say hello to A Nian, Darong, and the others..."

Although Lu Xiaowei and the other two were dead, he still didn’t know what they... or rather, that so-called Hermit Xin Shan, wanted with Sheng Nian.

"No matter what, I have to warn A Nian."

A Cultivator traveling thousands of miles to find a Mortal constable... what was the reason for that?