“So that’s how it is. Thank you for the advice, Senior. This Senior will give it a try.”

Following Qin Lan’s suggestion, Han Lie lowered his asking price by a thousand Spirit Stones. Sure enough, in less than an hour, both magical treasures were sold. The two items brought in a total of thirty-four thousand Spirit Stones. After deducting the seventeen-hundred-stone venue fee, Han Lie walked away with thirty-two thousand three hundred. Adding his original eight thousand, his personal reserve now sat at roughly forty thousand Spirit Stones.

After leaving the trading market and offering Qin Lan another earnest thanks, Han Lie made a beeline for the Myriad Pill Hall market.

The counters of the Myriad Pill Hall were, as always, stocked with various medicinal wonders.

“Meow! Meow! Meow!”

The black cat leaped from Han Lie’s arms onto his shoulder, its eyes fixed on the display cases as it chirped incessantly. It seemed that, compared to raw natural treasures, it had a refined palate for processed pills. It made sense; pills were refined from the essence of rare herbs and the blood of demonic beasts, making them far more concentrated and enticing to a creature like the Hell Nine-Tailed Cat.

Han Lie scanned the selection and settled on the Profound Yellow Pills, priced at fifty Spirit Stones each.

“Brother, is there a bulk discount for these?” Han Lie asked the disciple behind the counter.

“Ten percent off for fifty pills, twenty percent off for over a hundred.”

“Alright, give me a hundred for now.” Han Lie decided to test the cat’s reaction with a lower-tier batch first.

“Meow! Meow! Meow!”

As the shop disciple began packing the order, the black cat grew frantic. Han Lie followed its gaze and his face instantly darkened. Good grief—the little beast had set its sights on the Thousand Flower Pills, which cost a staggering one thousand Spirit Stones per pill!

“Forget it! With the pittance your master gave me for your upkeep, we can’t afford those!” Han Lie rapped the cat on the head and scolded it fiercely.

Feeding it thousand-stone pills? How could any fortune survive that? The hundred thousand stones Ye Qingxuan provided sounded like a king’s ransom, but stretched over three years, it would vanish in an instant if he indulged this creature’s expensive tastes.

“Meow!”

The cat became desperate, circling Han Lie’s feet and rubbing against his pant leg with pathetic whines. Han Lie ignored it. But as he paid for the Profound Yellow Pills and turned to leave, the cat bit into his hem and dug its claws in, refusing to budge. A strange, flickering black flame even began to dance on its two tails.

“…”

“Fine, fine! I give up! Just one pill—don’t even think about a second.” Han Lie was speechless. He turned back and bought a single Thousand Flower Pill.

Just like that, nine thousand stones were gone from the budget. Only seventy-nine thousand remained of the original hundred thousand, and only four months of the three-year period had passed.

Han Lie didn’t feed the prize to the cat immediately. He began walking back to the palace with the anxious creature trailing behind him, howling and crying nonstop. Knowing exactly when to yield, Han Lie waited until the cat was practically hoarse before finally offering the Thousand Flower Pill. Contented at last, the cat wagged its tails and rubbed against his leg with renewed enthusiasm.

“Han Lie!”

On the path back to the Violet Heaven Palace, he crossed paths with Zhuo Hongyi leading a patrol of the Vermilion Bird Squad. She waved to him from a distance.

“Little rascal, get back in here.” Han Lie tucked the cat into his robes before greeting her.

“It’s been a while, Captain Wuxing. You look more radiant and captivating than ever,” Han Lie said with a smile. It wasn’t empty flattery; nourished by his Pure Yang Sacred Body, it would have been strange if she hadn’t gained a certain celestial glow.

“You’re not so bad yourself. In fact, you look quite a bit younger again!” Zhuo Hongyi replied with a playful squint.

After the pleasantries, Han Lie asked about the situation with Cai Zhen and Yunxia. Zhuo Hongyi gave him the rundown.

After Iron Hand released him, the Captain had gone straight to the Overlord Hall Master. He reported that the evidence was insufficient and highlighted the sheer absurdity of the cultivation gap; a Servant Disciple at the mid-Foundation Establishment Stage killing a Core Formation expert was simply impossible.

The Overlord Hall Master had outwardly accepted the conclusion, but Zhuo Hongyi wasn’t convinced.

“He won’t let it go that easily,” she warned. “Even though they weren’t personal disciples, they were outstanding among the Inner Disciples. To have two promising talents die without a clear culprit… the Overlord Hall Master won’t just swallow that anger. Be careful.”

“Thank you for the warning, Captain. This Senior will be on his guard.”

If the Overlord Hall Master was looking for a pretext, Han Lie had to be cautious. Even if the man wouldn’t dare storm the Violet Heaven Palace, Han Lie couldn’t stay hidden in his hut forever.

“Mhm. Get back to your duties. Recently, infighting among disciples has been on the rise, so my patrol schedule is packed. I’ll find you when I have a moment of peace.”

“You’ve worked hard, Captain. I won’t keep you.”

Han Lie resumed his walk back to the palace with the cat tucked away.

“Hey, little servant boy, over here!”

Just as he approached his hut, a familiar, sultry voice called out. Han Lie turned to see a graceful figure in crimson standing at the entrance of the Violet Heaven Palace, waving at him. It was Grand Elder Chi Lian.

“This Senior pays his respects to the Grand Elder,” Han Lie said, stepping forward with a cupped-fist salute.

“Skip the formalities.” Chi Lian’s crimson lips curved into a sly smile. “Little servant boy, you’ve been in the Heavenly Void Sect for over a century now, haven’t you? How would you like to go out for some fresh air?”

“Huh?” Han Lie was taken aback. “I’m afraid I don’t follow. What does the Grand Elder mean?”

Chi Lian let out a light laugh. “It doesn’t mean I’m kicking you out. What I mean is… in about six months, Qingzhou City—located at the border of our sect, the Sun Moon Sect, and the Myriad Sword Pavilion—will host a martial arts competition.”

“Qingzhou City?” Han Lie remembered the name. He had been born there. It was where his parents had sold him off; he only ended up in the Heavenly Void Sect because they had offered a few more coins for Servant Disciples than the other buyers.

“This competition is essentially a ‘gilding’ event for the City Lord’s son,” Chi Lian explained. “The goal is to win some titles for the boy so he gets preferential treatment when he joins a major sect later. Because of that, the participants will be a mixed bag of rogue cultivators with generally low cultivation.”

“You should go and enter. With your current strength, the only one who might give you a challenge is the Young Lord of Qingzhou City himself. And if you win…”

Chi Lian paused, her smile turning decidedly mischievous.

“When you stand on the podium to receive your prize, you must announce to the entire crowd, as loud as you can: ‘My name is Han Lie, from the Heavenly Void Sect Servant Disciple Division.’ Do you understand? You must make it very clear.”