Upon returning from the Boundary River, the beast crystals and the young Lion-Tigers that Zong Shou and the others carried were surprisingly exempt from being turned in. Zong Shou found this extremely odd. The ninth-tier spirit beast that had fled at the end was clearly intimidated by something, having retreated on its own.

Was it not due to the deterrence of some Elder within the sect?

Or perhaps, was it in deference to the might of his Dharma Idol?

Though utterly perplexed, being allowed to keep these treasures was, after all, a good thing.

Each of the young Lion-Tigers could fetch a king's ransom. As for the beast crystals, the crystal core of that single ninth-tier Lion-Tiger alone was priceless.

As for the Soul Stones, those were completely disintegrated by his Primordial One White Sword.

As usual, the first stop was the Merit Hall to report the 'mission.' This time, the presiding deacon, Fu Wu, wore a distinctly sour expression.

When Zong Shou took out his Lesser Heaven and Earth Pouch and dumped all the acquired beast crystals and various materials—clink, clatter—onto the floor of the small hall, Deacon Fu’s face turned incomparably grim.

"Grand Martial Uncle, cheating is not right!"

Zong Shou chuckled; this kind of accusation came around almost daily now.

"What cheating? When we left, didn't you inspect everything we were carrying? Is anything missing or added?"

"But, but—"

Fu Wu hesitated for a moment, then fixed them with a look of utter suspicion.

In just half a day, they had accrued over a thousand sixth-tier beast crystals. There were nearly a hundred seventh and eighth-tier ones combined.

—Not to mention, there was a ninth-tier beast crystal of extremely high purity amongst them!

He knew Zong Shou’s swordsmanship was profound; even Jue Yu had narrowly lost to him. But half of a ninth-tier was still just 'half.' There was no way he could have defeated that ninth-tier spirit beast.

Therefore, this Grand Martial Uncle Zong must have cheated! He just hadn't figured out the method yet.

Zong Shou, however, had already adopted a grim expression, letting out a cold snort for show. Fu Wu sighed in resignation, carefully recalculating everything before changing the number after Zong Shou’s name on the nearby ledger to twenty-three thousand seven hundred. His total merit now pulled ahead of the next few names by nearly half the distance.

Zong Shou glanced at the list with an indifferent gaze, then suddenly gasped in surprise. Another name had appeared on the roster: it was none other than 'Shui Lingbo.'

She hadn't been anywhere in sight yesterday, yet today she had surfaced. With fifteen thousand merit points, she was just behind Fang Wen and Xue Xi.

It wasn't that the latter two were truly inferior; the former had to manage the Academy, while the latter spent most of his time in grueling cultivation, trying to make up for twenty years of lost time, never having truly applied himself.

Has this woman returned to the Cangsheng Dao Palace?

As he pondered this, Fu Wu suddenly tilted his ear to listen, then brightened slightly. "Grand Martial Uncle! Elder Han has issued an order. For this cleansing of the Boundary River, the Grand Martial Uncle may withdraw. He says there is another important task he needs to entrust to you—"

Zong Shou felt a flicker of joy deep inside, but his expression remained impassive, merely uttering a flat, "Oh," offering no comment. He then squinted, waiting for Fu Wu to elaborate.

Not having to participate in the river cleanup was naturally good news. But whether he would accept the subsequent 'important task' depended entirely on his mood.

He had already fulfilled his compulsory duty to the Cangsheng Dao this year. That old man, Han Fang, couldn't command him anymore.

Fu Wu did not provide details, merely handing a jade slip to Zong Shou.

"Elder Han said it would be best if the Grand Martial Uncle could take this on. If not, someone else will be found. Grand Martial Uncle, please consider it yourself. Give me a response within one day."

Zong Shou was taken aback, accepting the jade slip. With a slight invocation of his spiritual sense, a moderate torrent of information rushed into his sea of consciousness.

After carefully reading through it, Zong Shou's eyebrows suddenly lifted. "So that's how it is!"

After a brief moment of thought, Zong Shou tucked the jade slip into his sleeve.

"I accept this matter, Zong Shou will handle it!"

The task sounded simple, requiring less than three days round trip, and it conveniently fell along his path; it didn't seem particularly tricky, well within his capabilities.

Most importantly, it was the last sentence: after this matter was concluded, the next five years could be much easier.

As he walked out of the Merit Hall, Zong Shou's peripheral vision sharply caught a flash of red in the distance, which then vanished without a trace.

"Could that have been your Martial Aunt, Immortal Lingbo? Am I really that frightening?"

Zhao Yanran had also caught the sight, her expression becoming strangely conflicted. She wanted to laugh but dared not. Knowing Shui Lingbo had keen spiritual perception and held grudges fiercely, she could only reply vaguely, "Disciple doesn't know! Perhaps Grand Martial Uncle saw incorrectly—"

Zong Shou secretly chuckled, yet remained cautious, unwilling to truly ignite the temper of the exceedingly violent Immortal Lingbo. He tugged at the corner of his lips and strode away.

Separating from Zong Yuan and Zhao Yanran, Zong Shou headed straight for the second and third floors of the Scripture Depository—the Hall of Transmitting Techniques and the Hall of Transmitting Dharma. For the past half month, he had visited here whenever he had the slightest free moment. Using the three million merit points, he had redeemed every sword secret manual and martial cultivation technique within his sight.

It wasn't about taking the highest-ranked ones; instead, Zong Shou began his study from the second-tier introductory martial arts, starting from the shallow and moving toward the profound.

In his past life, what he valued most was fundamentals, yet due to his background as a rogue cultivator, his foundation was not entirely solid.

Currently, the entire collection of texts within the Cangsheng Dome was a massive treasure trove for Zong Shou.

Previously, he would meticulously understand and internalize one book completely before moving to the next.

But today, he merely skimmed through them. He forcefully memorized all the text and diagrams, considering the task done.

The next three days were the same. Nearly a thousand martial secret methods unseen in his previous life were stored deep within his sea of consciousness.

On the day he used up exactly a quarter of his accumulated three million two hundred thousand merit points, a spiritual sword and two agate-like black boxes were delivered simultaneously to Courtyard One of the Jia block.

The sword was named 'Severing Autumn' (Duan Qiu), a ninth-tier spiritual sword. It was something Zong Shou had commissioned from the sect using one hundred thousand merit points, forged by the sect's top weapon refiners.

Its material quality was two tiers higher than the Fire Yin Sword. However, because the timeframe was too rushed, it couldn't be elevated further.

If it had truly been forged into a true magical treasure-grade weapon, he likely would only be able to look at it now without being able to wield it.

The entire blade was strangely colored in black and white. It came with its scabbard, totaling two. When transformed into Tan Qiu, the sword appeared blue; when wielded by Zong Shou, the blade was white, looking identical to the previous Fire Yin Sword.

As for the two agate black boxes, they contained a set of needles and a set of throwing knives. These too were exchanged for using merit points by Zong Shou.

The former consisted of three hundred and sixty-five golden needles, all sixth-tier. They were not inherently powerful nor possessed any peculiar spiritual qualities, but they excelled in toughness and fire resistance, being extremely difficult to melt.

They could also form a spiritual array, acting as tools to gather fire-elemental and lightning-elemental spiritual energy, while significantly amplifying their power.

This was the tool Zong Shou intended to use for executing the 'Thunderous Splendor of a Thousand Flowers' (Lei Lie Qian Hua).

In the battle three days prior when eradicating the beast horde, the third-tier flying needles he hastily assembled were all destroyed without exception.

Even the most durable ones couldn't last more than four breaths before completely melting. If not for that, the duration and destructive power of his 'Thunderous Splendor of a Thousand Flowers' could have been considerably stronger.

Switching to this set of needles for arson and murder would surely feel excellent.

As for the set of throwing knives, they were also named Cloud Blaze (Yun Yan), an enhanced version of the original third-tier Cloud Blaze throwing knives. There were sixty-four blades in total, all sixth-tier.

The merit points spent were several times that of the golden needle set.

Even the agate boxes were custom-made. Once the throwing knives, which he had nurtured to their peak state, were concealed within the boxes, they could maintain their absolute peak condition for ten years.

This meant the number of throwing knives he could actively utilize could be increased severalfold.

That night, Zong Shou lightly refined the Severing Autumn sword. The next day, he departed from the Cangsheng Dome. Using the teleportation jade slip, he returned to Qiantian Mountain City.

Ren Bo possessed considerable ability; the Qiantian direct-rule cities were managed in an orderly fashion. Although the Yun Continent was surging with undercurrents and war was imminent, the domestic situation remained relatively calm.

Qiu Wei and Hu Qianqiu were veterans of military affairs, proven battlefield commanders. The dozen or so great generals from the era of Zong Weiran were also experienced and highly capable.

The expansion of the army by four hundred thousand had been nearly completed. All border troops had been equipped with spiritual weapons and armor, quietly positioned in preparation for conflict.

The Blood Cloud Cavalry had increased by over three hundred riders, and the stock of spiritual arrows had reached four million.

Almost everything was proceeding systematically.

However, not all the news Zong Shou received was good.

The first item concerned the Kongqi Sect; it wasn't that Qiao Han had failed to persuade his sect.

Rather, the Lingyun and Shangxiao Second Sects were investigating the destination of the spiritual artifacts recently refined by the Kongqi Sect.

Apart from the exact quantity of spiritual artifacts purchased by Qiantian in the Eastern Lin Continent being unknown, the cooperation between the Kongqi Sect and Qiantian Mountain over the years had likely been fully uncovered.

In this past half-month, they had been subtly or overtly marginalizing the Kongqi Sect.

"Indeed, the world is never short of intelligent people—"

Zong Shou sneered faintly, unconcerned. Even if the Lingyun Sect discovered this matter, he wouldn't care. The real killing weapon was the Blood Cloud Cavalry.

Its wings were fully formed; even if the Lingyun Sect knew of the Blood Cloud Cavalry's existence, they would be powerless. It was merely a matter of how much or how little the final spoils would be.

Given the style of the Lingyun Sect, they would most likely retract their probing heads, which was not what Zong Shou desired. The second piece of news concerned the Danquan Sect; the situation within that sect was indeed somewhat peculiar.

Old Man Ming Dan had not appeared in public for a long time. Power had been transferred to several Elders.

It seemed Li Yuan Dan held considerable authority.

Yet, Xuanyuan Yiren, no matter how much he and Xuanyuan Tong persuaded her, refused to return.

Zong Shou felt a massive headache. After much deliberation, he still found no solution. He couldn't just run over there himself—

However, this matter required vigilance. At the very least, he needed a strategy to protect Xuanyuan Yiren’s life.