The combination of Tree Person clone + bees is perfect as a stand-in for Bee Daoist.
In addition, Little Spirit Fox and the Three-Colored Deer have been cultivated to the peak of the first grade and are now accumulating towards breaking through to the second grade.
As for Little Stone Spirit, well, it’s been sleeping straight through until now.
Because it’s sleeping next to the Dark Iron Tree and the spiritual vein, it’s still grown quite a bit even while asleep.
But the one with the biggest increase in strength is Little Flower Sprite. With Qi Ping’s Plant Growth and the support of the spiritual vein, it’s now just about ready to break through to the mid-second grade. Its breakthrough speed is the fastest among all of Qi Ping’s animal companions!
Combined with its increasingly masterful use of the Hundred Pupils Demon Realm talent, it has gradually become a trump card in Qi Ping’s hand.
“For the Tree Person clone, taking the Armor Bees and Scout Bees along should be enough.”
Although Crow Crow and Little Flower Sprite are powerful, they absolutely cannot go out and take risks easily. They can only go out with the main body, using the deductions from Natural Perception to fight battles where victory is almost certain.
“For formations, just use array disks carved from ordinary spiritual objects.”
Dark Stone Scale Armor is something Qi Ping intends to cultivate as one of his natal spiritual artifacts. It’s been nurtured in the Dark Iron Tree for many years now, so it absolutely cannot be lost.
More importantly, using spiritual objects that aren’t common in the territory makes it harder to expose the existence of the Dark Stone Scale Armor.
After spending a week carving two sets of array disks, Qi Ping controlled the Tree Person clone, along with the Armor Bees and Scout Bees, to set off and leave the territory.
His main body, however, stayed in the territory, focusing on cultivating the Blood Blaze Robe to get its medicinal effects to the limit of Plant Growth as quickly as possible.
By now, controlling two bodies simultaneously isn’t difficult for Qi Ping; in fact, he’s already very skilled at it.
Basically, as long as he doesn’t do things that require intense concentration from his soul and attention at the same time.
For example, if one body is comprehending the true meaning of laws while the other is researching spells, doing such things simultaneously just reduces efficiency.
But if one is out running errands and fighting while the main body is cultivating spiritual herbs, there’s basically no impact.
“Using the Tree Person clone feels great!”
At this moment, Qi Ping, dressed in a blood-red Dharma robe, exuded a rather intense killing intent. A relaxed, incredibly easy smile appeared on his somewhat devilishly handsome face.
He had crafted this blood-red Dharma robe by digging up some ore from some random place and then forging it with the Beast King’s Flame. Apart from looking quite dashing, it had no special effects. It was just meant to match the appearance style he had changed into using the “Thousand Transformations and Myriad Changes Art.”
Since this identity was meant to disguise his main body, naturally, the greater the stylistic difference from his main body, the better.
After leaving Qingshi County and finding the token for the Mysterious Merchant Guild, Qi Ping began searching for suitable tasks.
Refresh! Refresh! Refresh!
To choose the most suitable task, Qi Ping refreshed ten times all at once.
His spirit stones on the black market dropped from 5800 to 3800.
[Black Market Spirit Stones: 3800]
[Black Market Points: 3100]
There were now a total of fifteen tasks listed as active on Qi Ping’s token.
Originally, there should have been seventeen tasks, because five years ago, he had refreshed seven times.
Two tasks were missing because someone had completed one assassination task and one task of destroying a faction. A completion rate of two out of seven in five years isn’t too low.
“Someone completed two tasks, huh? Looks like someone else has been carrying out Mysterious Black Market tasks lately.”
Qi Ping was a little surprised by this. After all, understanding the power of this organization, daring to go against them really takes considerable guts and strength.
But Qi Ping didn’t dwell on it too much, because the allure of the Mysterious Black Market was truly high!
Then, Qi Ping carefully examined the seventeen tasks on the token, deciding to start with the simpler ones. After all, assuming the clone was destined to self-destruct, it made sense to start with the easy ones and complete as many tasks as possible.
Furthermore, from the moment he brought the Tree Person clone out, Qi Ping never planned on bringing it back. Ending with the [True Understanding Self-Destruction] was the best way to better hide the existence of the Tree Person clone.
Because ending with death was best, allowing the enemies to feel they had achieved revenge. Then, Qi Ping could quietly use the Black Market Points he earned to properly improve his strength.
Self-destruction was the destiny Qi Ping had assigned to the Tree Person clone.
“I’ll start with this one!”
“The Qi family in Linshui County has two early Foundation Establishment cultivators inside.”
“Every year, after the Qingyuan Sect finishes recruiting disciples, they search within Linshui County and nearby mortal areas through channels like immortals accepting disciples or secret inquiries for infants and young children suitable for making Blood Ginseng.”
“Linshui County originally had four great families. After this war, two families were wiped out, one family fell to being a Qi Condensation family, leaving only the Qi family almost completely intact.”
“Interesting!”
The previous war of the Qingyuan Sect was fought so fiercely, and Linshui County was one of the more intense battlefields. Two of the four great families were wiped out, yet the Qi family, originally the weakest, remained almost entirely unharmed. Qi Ping absolutely wouldn’t believe there was nothing fishy going on.
“If that’s the case, then the Qingyuan Sect and the other sects probably know what the Qi family represents, which is why they dare not touch them.”
“But are they complicit through connivance or active participation?”
After discovering this issue, Qi Ping couldn’t help but feel curious about the exact nature of the relationship between these regional powers and these mysterious organizations.
Having decided to act, Qi Ping immediately set off for the Qi family in Linshui County.
Because the distance was so vast, even for a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s pace, Qi Ping had to travel for over three full days to get there.
Upon arriving at the Qi family, Qi Ping didn’t hesitate and immediately sent out Scout Bees, which were good at hiding and scouting, to investigate the situation.
But only a short while after the Scout Bees went out, they reported back that the Qi family had a protective formation. Entering would alert the people inside.
But this clearly didn’t stump Qi Ping. The Qi family’s protective formation was a very ordinary low-tier second-grade formation. It only took Qi Ping a little while to quietly open a gap and let the Scout Bees inside.
Then Qi Ping hid outside and waited patiently.
He needed to confirm whether the Qi family was really making blood meals. He couldn’t just take the Mysterious Black Market’s word for it; everything had to be based on reality.
However, after only a short time passed, Qi Ping’s face turned completely gloomy.
“Buzz buzz… (Boss, we found over three thousand blood meals made from the corpses of human infants and children!)”
“What? Over three thousand?” Qi Ping couldn’t believe it, wondering if he had misheard.
Over three thousand wasn’t just ordinary infants; almost all of these chosen ones had cultivation qualifications or special physiques!
To some extent, these might represent a large portion of the geniuses with cultivation aptitude born in this region. In wartime, they would represent the future hope of humanity. And now they’ve all turned into blood meals for some existence?
“Buzz buzz. (Yes, boss, there are over three thousand. Plus, there are over twenty more children currently being cleaned, skinned, and processed…)”
