In the courtyard, over ten minutes later, Lin Yun and Qing Yue sat together on the grass. Just now, he had granted her the Innate Demon Body.
Lin Yun smiled and said, “Now, try cultivating your demonic technique again.”
Qing Yue frowned slightly. Honestly, she hadn’t felt any change in her body just now, but out of trust for the director, she still gave meditation a try.
The moment she attempted it, she froze.
“How… how is this possible?”
Normally, when she cultivated demonic techniques, her body would accumulate demonic Qi, and if it wasn’t neutralized in time, she’d easily fall into Qi deviation. But now, when she cultivated, not even the slightest trace of demonic Qi appeared!
Qing Yue even dared to try a few abilities that usually came with serious side effects, but they didn’t affect her at all!
Shocked, she quickly asked Lin Yun, “Director, how exactly did you do this?!”
Lin Yun responded with a mysterious smile. “Well, that’s a secret of heaven. You just need to focus on cultivating properly from now on.”
Qing Yue stared at him and couldn’t help but say, “Now I’m starting to suspect… who exactly are you?”
Lin Yun smiled gently, “I’m just me, an ordinary orphanage director.”
Naturally, he wouldn’t reveal anything about the system.
Qing Yue hesitated and asked, “Seriously though, with your strength, why run an orphanage in a place like this?”
From her understanding, even if he appeared in one of the major forces as a grand elder, it would be completely reasonable. But instead, he chose to open a small orphanage here. It made no sense.
Lin Yun gave a straightforward reply, “You could say I just want to give kids like you—those with nowhere else to go—a safe place to grow up.”
Qing Yue looked at him differently after hearing that. “Director, you really are a good man…”
“Of course. So stop acting like everyone’s out to get you.”
Lin Yun smiled gently. In truth, even without the system, running an orphanage was a dream he had before transmigrating. He had been an orphan from a young age and raised in one himself. This system had simply helped him realize that wish…
“Alright, let’s leave that for now.”
Thinking of the earlier mission, Lin Yun asked, “I heard you demonic path cultivators all have to forge a life-bound demonic weapon. When are you planning to make yours?”
“That… probably when I reach the Transcendent Realm.”
Qing Yue thought for a moment and sighed softly. “It’s too expensive…”
If she were still at the Heavenly Demon Palace, she might have started preparing by now, but relying on herself, she couldn’t afford to consider it in the short term. She could forge a lower-grade one, but that wouldn’t be meaningful.
“Based on my talent, I need an eighth-grade demon crystal worth 50,000 black crystals, Netherwood for 80,000 black crystals, Doomflower for 70,000 black crystals, and then also…”
“Stop, stop, stop! Don’t go on.”
The more Lin Yun listened, the more it hurt. Based on spending power, one black crystal equaled about 1,000 yuan—it was outrageous.
“Looks like even in a fantasy world, raising kids still takes money…”
Lin Yun sighed. Even after looting all the assassins last night, the total haul didn’t even reach 5,000 black crystals.
Wasn’t there any way to get a large amount of black crystals all at once?
“Now that I think about it, there’s talk in the city about some treasure. If I could get my hands on it, I might exchange it for a ton of black crystals.”
Of course, that was just wishful thinking. Outrealm City was massive—why would a treasure fall into his hands so easily?
“Forget it, no point dwelling on annoying things.”
Lin Yun shook his head. Some things were better left to fate.
As dusk fell, the golden afterglow lit up the smoky streets.
Outside a merchant firm, the Jade Sword Queen, dressed in a green dress, tossed a spatial ring to the two people in front of her.
“There are 150,000 black crystals in here. Count them yourselves and see if any are missing.”
The black-clad man and woman excitedly took the ring and grinned, “No need to count. We trust Jade Lord’s integrity!”
The Jade Sword Queen snorted coldly, “Now, can you take me to see the person?”
“Let’s make this clear first—if I find out you’ve tricked me or the person is already dead, you should know the consequences!”
Her voice carried intense killing intent, making both of them shiver as they nodded frantically. “Don’t worry, Senior! The target is definitely alive and well!”
“Good. Let’s go.”
She glanced at the two of them. In truth, she had wanted to go last night, but they insisted she gather the full amount of black crystals first, which had delayed things by almost a whole day.
Before long, the two brought her to a big tree at the corner of a street.
The black-clad man grinned, “Jade Lord, the girl is just beneath this spot!”
“You buried her alive?”
“Of course not! We sealed her in a natural box. Someone was chasing us yesterday, remember?”
“Alright!”
The man grinned wide, then he and his partner grabbed shovels and started digging.
One minute passed. Two minutes. Three minutes…
The Jade Sword Queen frowned and asked, “Still not done? How deep did you bury her?”
“Almost there! Just a bit more!”
They kept digging, but the deeper they went, the more anxious they became. After reaching a depth of three meters and still finding nothing, both of them were sweating heavily.
“This can’t be… how is this possible?”
The black-clad man dug deeper and even widened the hole, thinking he might’ve remembered the wrong spot.
The Jade Sword Queen’s expression grew darker.
“Don’t tell me you can’t find it. If so, this hole will become your grave!”
After a few more minutes, the two of them had dug out a pit five meters wide on all sides—still no sign of the box.
The Jade Sword Queen’s patience had clearly run out. A long sword, green as jade, appeared in her hand and shimmered coldly under the setting sun.
“You two think it’s fun messing with me like this?”
Her chilling voice made the black-clad pair’s legs go weak.
“I swear, I swear, Lord!”
“We really did capture her, locked her in the box, and buried her right here under the tree!”
“Someone must’ve dug her up! Definitely someone took her away!”
They rushed to explain, terrified they’d die to her sword if they hesitated even a second.
That would be the ultimate example of digging your own grave…
The Jade Sword Queen frowned slightly. Judging from their terrified looks, it didn’t seem like they were playing her for a fool.
Besides, with their measly courage, they wouldn’t dare…
Suddenly, she sensed something and swept her gaze around.
“So fresh… such a strong smell of blood…”
Soon, her eyes landed on a courtyard in the distance—Outrealm Orphanage.