Chapter 93: Nonsense, Late-Stage Qi Refining!

"Hello, viewers and friends; here is the river channel where the legendary carp leaping over the dragon gate appeared."

"We can see that quite a few tourists have come to the bank today; it seems everyone is very curious about this matter."

"Is it truly the uncanny workmanship of nature, a magic trick performed by someone on purpose, or perhaps the genuine resurgence of mystery and the return of myths?"

"Next, we invite..."

"Click!"

An office for an expert group.

After the middle-aged man serving as the team leader pushed open the office door and entered, he casually turned off the television that was bothering him.

Sitting down, the middle-aged team leader patted the tabletop in annoyance:

"Nonsense, this is absolute nonsense!"

"Isn't this just increasing our workload?"

This middle-aged team leader was very angry, and then, looking at the new red dot notifications constantly popping up on his work tablet, his mood grew even worse.

The assistants nearby all kept their heads down, not daring to provoke the middle-aged team leader's fury.

Yet in their hearts, they understood.

Ever since mysterious phenomena began appearing in various places one after another.

Someone at the top immediately realized something was wrong, so they drew elite personnel from various expert groups to form the current expert group.

The main purpose was to investigate the principles behind the phenomena in various places, and then provide research reports on whether they would affect current society, and so on.

Originally, the number of places where phenomena could be collected yesterday was only ten or twenty, and more than half were not in densely populated areas, but deep in those famous mountains and great rivers.

Their manpower was still sufficient to handle it.

It was just that starting from today, as public opinion and information fermented.

In various scenic spots, famous temples, and Taoist monasteries, more and more people reported that phenomena or miracles had appeared on their side.

Some said they saw Taoist masters and Buddha preaching until flowers fell from the sky; others swore on their chests that they truly saw Immortals ascending on mountain cliffs.

There were even herdsmen crying and shouting in front of the camera that they truly saw a dragon fall into the valley bottom of such-and-such a place.

Others even took out pictures or videos that were even blurrier and rougher than those on the internet, saying these were the mysterious phenomena they had just captured!

These reports appeared like bamboo shoots after a spring rain; in the blink of an eye, they exceeded three digits and were steadily advancing toward four digits.

These... of course, could not have been created by Su Ping.

Rather, it was people at many scenic spots and various attractions that borrowed historical origins, either actively or tacitly allowing those below them to fish in troubled waters and create them as well.

On one hand, it was naturally to chase the hype; getting a little bit was better than nothing.

On the other hand, the managers of some temples and Taoist monasteries were also a bit worried; after all, everyone was a famous scenic spot with a long-standing history.

Why did phenomena appear at your place, but we have nothing here?

Could it be... that you are the real ones, while we are the fake ones?

This was absolutely impossible!

Although there was no lack of those among them that had only borrowed names to emerge in the last few decades, or were even "reincarnated from the dirt."

But admitting that was absolutely impossible.

Therefore, phenomena and myths—they had to have them, and they absolutely must have them!

…………

Pot Heaven.

Su Ping returned here holding his travel camera.

Looking at the photos filling the travel camera, Su Ping rubbed his brow and rested for a while.

After rushing about for nearly a day and a night, and even running to Nierbo in the end, Su Ping had finally completed this upgrade mission.

Fortunately, although this mission looked grand and seemed to have a trend of guiding the resurgence of mystery.

In fact, it was only for a moment; in the information age, with so many events popping up in a short time, it would instead attract more suspicion.

As long as those at the top did not want to make a big deal out of it, and no mysterious events that truly affected the majority of people continued to occur, the hype would also die down faster.

Furthermore, before Su Ping returned, he had already noticed that small forces unwilling to be lonely had started fishing in troubled waters.

Once a few of these crude imitators were exposed, I'm afraid even the audience at the scene would doubt whether they had seen wrong at the time, or were influenced by memory scams like the collective hallucinations given by experts, right?

【Upgrade mission: Go on a travel check-in; completed】

【Congratulations, Travel Shop has appeared】

【From now on, the travel merchant will randomly appear in the Travel Shop】

After resting, Su Ping chose to complete the upgrade mission.

Soon, a burst of clouds and mist drifted over and then dissipated.

On the edge of Zhu Feng, a shop with green tiles and white walls, occupying less than three square meters, appeared in Su Ping's eyes.

Su Ping hurried over.

He saw that the green-tiled house had no walls or windows facing the direction of Zhaoyue Tingfeng Pavilion; it was completely open, displaying a wooden counter that filled the room.

A small purple cat was lying on the counter, looking listless.

Seeing Su Ping approach, the small cat spoke in human language:

"Meow-wu! Welcome to Mao-wu's little shop; if you want to see anything, open the booklet and look for yourself."

After the small purple cat finished speaking, it continued to lie back down and slightly narrowed its eyes.

Su Ping resisted the urge to pet its head and picked up the booklet made of silk.

He immediately discovered that this thing was like a tablet computer, displaying pictures of items and text descriptions.

In addition, there were also explanations for buy-back prices.

It was just a bit of a rip-off.

Common items only give 1 Fishing Coin, rare ones 10 coins, and even precious ones only 100 coins.

Unless one is truly in dire need and in an emergency situation.

Su Ping didn't even want to give the other party his trash to recycle.

Who knows when the various trash cans he draws might form some kind of set, and then produce unexpected effects?

"Hmm?"

"This must be the beginner's welfare for unlocking the Travel Shop!"

Su Ping browsed through the booklet, and after skipping over most of the useless decorative items, he quickly discovered a product that made his heart beat violently:

【Universal Upgrade Scroll, consumable, quality: rare, can immediately upgrade any item produced by the Pot Heaven】

【Exchange cost: 100 Fishing Coins】

"It can be bought for 100 Fishing Coins; this is definitely a beginner's welfare that can be obtained without duplication."

Su Ping already had sufficient experience with fishing and card drawing, and he understood the routine of this Fishing Game well enough—it was a mature tactic of giving a little sweetness to lure you into the pit before slaughtering you.

"Beginner's welfare, the sooner I take it, the sooner I enjoy it, and the only things I can use it to upgrade are the rare-grade Memory Scepter and the precious-grade Apprentice Fox-Mask Shrine Maiden."

"As for which one to upgrade, if I were playing a game, I would need to consider it, but now, naturally, the rarer and harder-to-get one takes priority."

Su Ping directly exchanged for the Universal Upgrade Scroll, then took out the Memory Scepter and chose to use it.

Suddenly, on the five barely visible holes of the Memory Scepter, a dark blue gemstone appeared in one of them.

【Memory Scepter of an Ancient Mysterious Existence, 1-star, can continue to be upgraded】

As the prompt message flashed by, Su Ping felt the changes produced after the Memory Scepter leveled up its stars.

That is, when the player plays as a humanoid memory illusion, it changes from non-attackable to attackable.

However, it still does not inherit the attributes and special abilities of the original memory entity.

It can only rely on Su Ping's own skills to strike.

However, the memory aura will not change because of this; it remains the aura characteristic of the memory object.

This actually allows Su Ping to do more things after wearing a disguise in the future, and he doesn't have to worry about the tiny possibility of exposing his original identity due to instinctive reactions after being ambushed!

In addition, with the star upgrade, when casting skills, the duration increased from 4 hours to 6 hours, and the cooldown time decreased from 12 hours to 8 hours.

Su Ping was quite satisfied with this improvement in effect; being able to use it in reality to help himself was the most important thing for him right now.

Then Su Ping cast the Memory Scepter's ability, transforming himself into the White Crane Boy.

This time, Su Ping, wearing the form of the White Crane Boy, began to perform Body Refining and practice boxing in the Pot Heaven.

He quickly became proficient with the differences in height and weight between the White Crane Boy and his own body, thereby successfully executing the Beidou Tanlang Fist.

Su Ping, at the late stage of Body Refining, was feeling a bit inflated.

He summoned the genuine White Crane Boy and ordered it to spar with him.

In Su Ping's view, he was already at the late stage of Body Refining, and the White Crane Boy also appeared to have the combat power of the late stage of Body Refining.

Sparring with each other... should be able to greatly increase his actual combat experience!

One minute later.

Su Ping turned into an afterimage and crashed through the blue-tiled wall of the Zhaoyue Tingfeng Pavilion, plunged inside, broke a small wooden bridge, and destroyed two rockeries.

Only then did he cough and gasp for air as he climbed up from the pile of rubble, looking at the White Crane Boy flying in mid-air.

"We are both at the late stage of Body Refining, and I even have the Saint Body enhancement; how am I still being suppressed and beaten by a puppet?"

"But compared to before, when I didn't even dare to think about trading blows with the other party, I have already made great progress."

"Besides, it just hurts a little; my skin isn't even broken, so it's not a big problem."

Su Ping climbed out in a somewhat disheveled state and dispelled the phantom on his body.

Then the White Crane Boy also slowly approached Su Ping, waiting for new orders.

"Continue!"

Su Ping took a deep breath, his heart stirred, and he gave an order from a distance, letting the Apprentice Fox-Mask Shrine Maiden, who was eating melon seeds and reading a novel, give him a blessing.

He ordered it to spar with the White Crane Boy again!

With the blessing, Su Ping kept up with the White Crane Boy's movements.

He no longer let the battle be decided in a short time.

It was just that the Zhaoyue Tingfeng Pavilion suffered from the ravages of the two fighting, and the fine pavilions and towers were destroyed into a mess.

Fortunately, this main building had the ability to recover and could slowly return to its original state.

If not for this, Su Ping would not have chosen to fight here to adapt to complex environments in advance.

They fought fiercely for an entire day.

It was only late at night that Su Ping felt satisfied; he let the White Crane Boy go and began to eat a full-fish feast of Dragon-Seed Exotic Fish.

He ate the fish meat and Spirit Rice in large mouthfuls, drank Spirit Wine, and stuffed a handful of Peiyuan Pills into his mouth before meditating.

After one night.

Su Ping, having felt something, suddenly opened his eyes, only to feel a Golden Light break through the mysterious membrane before him, causing his vision to enter a brand-new realm.

He glanced casually out the window and could see the fine textures on the blue tiles of the distant wall.

His intuition had increased once again; with his eyes closed, the surrounding objects already had different colors and rough shapes.

It felt quite a bit like the thermal radar detection mode in a game.

"Qi Refining Seventh Layer!"

"I actually became a late-stage Qi Refining Cultivator just like that after practicing for one night!"

Su Ping did not expect that after having a fight with the White Crane Boy and eating and drinking to his heart's content, he would break through to the late stage of Qi Refining just like that!

He had thought he would encounter a bottleneck.

After all, those among the Outer Sect Disciples who could enter the late stage of Qi Refining were extremely rare.

Among the fellow cultivators who started at the same time as Su Ping and had cultivated for twenty years, only that senior brother had become a Deacon!

And because of this, he received praise from the Immortal Sect and was held up as a model to inspire Outer Sect Disciples to work hard!

Within the Outer Sect of the Immortal Sect, once one reaches the Qi Refining Late Stage, they are considered to have officially entered the lower ranks of the Immortal Sect and are counted as one of their own.

Outer Sect Deacons, mineral vein guards, and managers of Cave Abodes in ordinary Markets are mostly positions held by disciples in the Qi Refining Late Stage.

A portion of those who are valued, such as that Inner Sect Disciple carrying three swords, are even able to pilot an Immortal Boat and become a Patrol Envoy.

And this is one of the reasons why the Qi Refining Late Stage is so highly regarded and why the difference in treatment is so vast compared to the previous realms.

In the Qi Refining Late Stage, the five senses are greatly enhanced, and the Divine Soul can barely be considered strong.

They can pilot vehicles used by cultivators such as Immortal Boats and wear Immortal Armor; in the eyes of those above, even if they are still working, they are considered skilled workers.

"Dual late stage of Qi Refining and Body Tempering!"

"Finally reached this realm."

"It's just... I have to be more low-key with this identity as an Inspector of Jinque City."

"Those with a lower cultivation base than me can only see that I am strong, but they are unclear about exactly how strong."

"If I run into someone whose realm is not below mine, my realm will not be able to be hidden."

"This is not conducive to my plan for low-key development."

Su Ping sighed, yet he had no better solution.

He could only ensure that when things happened, he would let a persona like White Crane Boy go first as much as possible.

As for his true self, he would minimize contact with the cultivator circle.

Fortunately, it is an eventful autumn recently.

As long as no earth-shattering events occur in Jinque City.

No one will come looking for a semi-retired, transparent person like himself.

Especially in large Immortal Sect organizations like the Merit Hall and the Punish Evil Alliance; if there were updates during this period, he would just be a small fry at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.

If there were no updates... he would be even more of a loser who had cultivated for twenty years and was still at the Qi Refining Third Layer!

Being able to serve well as an Inspector can be considered making the best use of everything.

"In order to avoid being noticed by those above as much as possible, I must ensure that no major mysterious events occur in Jinque City."

"To this end, I still have to try my best to prevent trouble before it happens."

Su Ping returned to Linyue Villa and immediately summoned Spirit Mouse Xiaobai and Xiaohui, closing his eyes to connect with the group of mice.

Soon, Su Ping discovered that after the Qi Refining Late Stage, with the further increase of his Divine Soul.

The speed at which he reviewed memory fragments had accelerated significantly, and many details he would not have noticed before surfaced.

In just a few minutes, Su Ping ended this connection and found a strange place he had not noticed before.

The heavy rain had weakened a little, but it was still falling.

In a small town where not many residents remained.

In a secluded courtyard within the town.

A male and a female evil cultivator lay in the courtyard with their eyes wide open in death, blood flowing from the large holes in their heads onto the ground, which was beginning to form a pool of water.

Squeak, squeak, squeak!

A gray-furred Spirit Beast quietly ran out from the female cultivator's sleeve, braving the rain in an attempt to escape.

But it was blocked by a white shadow, which directly bit and pinned it to the corner of the courtyard wall, where it shivered.

Su Ping waited for a good while, confirming there was no abnormality, before maintaining the Memory Illusion of White Crane Boy and stepping into the courtyard while wearing a mask.

These two evil cultivators were ones Su Ping had discovered hiding in the mortal world by relying on details.

They also had some fortuitous encounters, obtaining a Spirit Beast, and then, with the help of this Spirit Beast, they had committed crimes multiple times and happened to avoid patrol squads.

Several times, the City Lord Mansion's men and even Outer Sect Disciples passed by without discovering their tracks.

Unfortunately, if you walk the night path too often, you will eventually meet a ghost.

After committing so many crimes, their traces were found, and then Su Ping came over overnight and sent them on their way.

Su Ping looked at the Spirit Beast controlled by Spirit Mouse Xiaobai.

He had no great interest in it.

For this kind of Spirit Beast that is already extraordinary, no matter how a cultivator contracts and controls it, it is impossible to be as obedient and mentally connected as he is now with Xiaobai and Xiaohui.

They will always have obstacles, and at most, they can only be used as a substitute for a Dharma Artifact for early warning and detection.