Lu Wan?

Didn't I just see her in Zengtou City today? Why didn't she say anything to me directly, and had to ask someone else to send a message... Ji Yuan suddenly realized something.

He calmly took the letter from Lin Hu's hand, and instructed, "Remember not to tell anyone else about this."

"Don't worry, Brother Ji, I know, I won't even tell Wu Qin."

Lin Hu nodded hard.

"Mm."

After sending Lin Hu off, Ji Yuan returned inside and unfolded the letter.

The handwriting was delicate, still carrying a faint scent of pear blossoms.

"Qiu Qianhai is now hiding near the Cold Pool. The Qin Family already knows his location, and they've sent Qin Wei, who is at Sixth Level of Qi Cultivation, along with two other Sixth Level Qi Cultivation guards.

He and the Qin Family seem to have other grudges, far more complicated than Liu the Leper.

If you go, you must be careful."

As expected.

Ji Yuan wasn't surprised that Lu Wan could find out about Qiu Qianhai; after all, she was now part of the Qin Family, and given her talent in talisman painting, the Qin Family definitely wouldn't treat her poorly.

What caught Ji Yuan off guard was why she would inform him about this.

Ji Yuan still remembered when Qiu Qianhai had just fled to Cloud Rain Marsh, and when he ran into Lu Wan in Zengtou City, she specifically warned him to stay away from Qiu Qianhai.

But now... she was actively telling him Qiu Qianhai's whereabouts. Something about this didn't add up.

After thinking it over, Ji Yuan figured this was probably Lu Wan testing him.

She wanted to see if he truly walked his own path or if he had feelings and ties.

That was the optimistic guess; if not, then maybe she had genuinely defected and surrendered to the Qin Family.

He was the offering she chose.

She had teamed up with the Qin Family to set a trap, aiming to wipe out both him and Qiu Qianhai.

Of course, that was highly unlikely—not only was Lu Wan not that kind of person, but Ji Yuan and the Qin Family had no obvious grudge on the surface.

As for Liu the Leper's death, even if the Qin Family found out now, they ought to have enough sense to weigh the pros and cons.

Or maybe she was deliberately trying to stir up trouble between him and the Qin Family, hoping he would weaken their strength?

Or perhaps it wasn't that complicated at all—she just knew he and Qiu Qianhai were close, so she passed the news along to him.

So many possibilities, but at least now he finally knew Qiu Qianhai's location.

Should he go to the Cold Pool to find Qiu Qianhai?

He'd have to go, for sure.

If he were transported here for several decades or a century, perhaps Ji Yuan's mindset would be different, and he'd be like so many other cultivators—abandoning friends without a second thought.

But now, having crossed over just six months ago, Ji Yuan, the one who slipped through nine years of compulsory education under the Red Banner, truly couldn't do such a thing.

You toss me a peach, I repay with a jade—this was Ji Yuan's current attitude.

The Qin Family was only sending three Sixth Level Qi Cultivators... with the Yin Ghost Array, Ji Yuan was confident that even if he couldn't kill them, he could at least keep himself alive.

Let alone the fact that he'd been planning to go to the Cold Pool anyway—he'd never forgotten that the place was known for Cold Iron Sand.

Maybe this place was also the chance to upgrade his Fish Pond!

Once he'd made up his mind, Ji Yuan carelessly burned the letter to ashes.

He focused his mind into his Storage Bag, starting to analyze his current situation.

Lots of Spirit Stones saved up... Well, not "saved," but plenty left over—even though he was using them for cultivation every day, he still had 79 left.

As for talismans, for a Sixth Level Qi Cultivator like Ji Yuan, middle grade talismans were no longer much use.

They could only serve as basic attacks.

He had two top-grade talismans—one for escape, the Water Escape Talisman, and one for offense, the Golden Seal Talisman.

He'd bought the Golden Seal Talisman after experiencing firsthand how powerful it was when he got hit by it.

For elixirs: several Spirit Gathering Pills for cultivation, five Qi Blood Pills for emergencies, and... twenty Spirit Revitalizing Pills for recovering spiritual power during fights.

Spirit Revitalizing Pills weren't especially potent, but since they restored spiritual power on their own, they were still pretty expensive.

One Spirit Revitalizing Pill cost five Spirit Stones.

Even so, Ji Yuan bought a few from time to time, and still managed to stock up twenty.

His magical artifacts were still the same as before; buying more wouldn't help, since he couldn't control them right now anyway.

So, he'd just make another trip to Zengtou City and buy two more top-grade talismans.

It was already getting dark, but Ji Yuan didn't care.

As a Sixth Level Qi Cultivator, unless someone truly advanced in Qi Cultivation showed up, he could do as he pleased in Zengtou City.

Heading to the backyard, he looked at the chickens running around and the half-grown Spirit Pig, and in the front yard, a pond full of semi-spiritual fish.

The last few times he'd gone out, he was only gone a few days at most, so not feeding the Spirit Fish and chickens didn't matter.

This time might be different.

Who knew if he'd be able to rescue Qiu Qianhai, but no matter what, he'd be away for quite a while—at least ten-plus days.

Going so long without anyone to feed them wouldn't do.

So after some thought, Ji Yuan decided to deal with everything first—the chickens had been laying eggs for ages, it was time to swap them out, and the semi-spiritual fish were even easier; he could buy more when he got back.

Besides, Ji Yuan had some ideas—like his Chicken Cage, maybe he could raise a few real spiritual birds to lay eggs?

Instead of these half-baked chickens.

The spiritual eggs gave a bit of spiritual qi, but not enough for his cultivation needs anymore.

So he got to work—under the White Water Flying Sword, the semi-spiritual fish and chickens were all slain, even that Spirit Pig he'd barely raised a few days got chopped up with a single stroke.

He wouldn't be around, and no one would look after them.

Seemed like he'd really have to figure out some puppet-refining techniques soon, though he'd heard the art of puppetry and artifact refining were kind of entwined.

Damn, too many things to do, too little time.

After that, Ji Yuan hurried to Zengtou City overnight; first he went to the Fish Cage to sell the semi-spiritual fish, paid the next month's Immortal Residence fee in advance, then went to the chicken cultivator to sell the chickens.

The chicken cultivator watched Ji Yuan kill all his chickens at once, full of heartache, as if Ji Yuan had murdered his precious babies.

He only cheered up when Ji Yuan said he'd come buy from him next time.

Once done, Ji Yuan went to the Hundred Treasures Tower and bought a top-grade Demon Suppression Talisman and a top-grade Iron Wall Talisman.

With four top-grade talismans on hand, even if he ran into someone in late-stage Qi Cultivation, Ji Yuan was confident he could fight.

He spent a total of fifty-eight Spirit Stones, with some left for the Yin Ghost Array and for restoring his own spiritual power.

After leaving Zengtou City, Ji Yuan didn't go home; he followed the waterway map and headed straight for the Cold Pool.

Rushing full speed on the Black Wind Boat, it was already midday the next day before he reached a strange patch of water deep in the Cloud Rain Marsh.

The waters of Cloud Rain Marsh were all green, but this time, Ji Yuan saw an area of unusually pale blue.

The pale blue stretched around the edges; a few miles in, there were countless islands, and the water inside was a deep blue.

Just getting close, Ji Yuan could feel the temperature drop by several degrees.

This was the Cold Pool—full of Cold Pool Water, the further in you went the colder it got, and supposedly at the very core, it could freeze a mid-stage cultivator to death.

Besides Cold Iron Sand, the place was also home to spirit fish demons who liked cold, dark water.

Their strength was much greater than spirit fish of the same rank outside.

On top of that, there were fishermen digging for sand; since Water Dragon Sect started buying up Cold Iron Sand lately, more and more fishermen were coming here, nearly forming a small market.

Ji Yuan had heard that most people digging for sand here were outlaws from various markets in Cloud Rain Marsh.

Yeah... like Qiu Qianhai.

So it was only natural he'd end up here.

Entering the danger zone, Ji Yuan slowed down the boat; he didn't call out the Dragon Armor Shield, but he did hold a Thunder Strike Talisman in his left hand and a Golden Armor Talisman in his right, both hidden in his sleeves.

He didn't rush to the heart of the Cold Pool, but first cruised the outer edges to scout things out.

He hadn't gone more than a few miles before he suddenly sensed that the center of a group of small islands up ahead was the site of magical combat—the surge of spiritual qi there meant it was two mid-stage cultivators.

Ji Yuan was about to steer clear, but just as he turned to leave, a familiar voice rang out.

He heard that person laugh like a madman:

"Old Lin, looks like your Sixth Level Qi Cultivation is nothing but paper!"

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