"Got it figured out?"
Watching Li Qingshan deep in thought, Wan Keshan prodded:
"Two years is enough to get you to Body Forging Layer 5."
"By then, facing a Wolfsbane, even without any martial skill you could hack it to death by brute force."
"When it comes down to it, realm is the foundation. Even on the New Continent, you raise your realm first, then study martial skills."
"Thank you, Teacher. I understand."
Li Qingshan nodded without arguing.
Wan Keshan wasn't wrong, but it didn't apply to him.
With the Martial Dao Space, 《Phantom Step》's Greater Achievement was just around the corner.
And once 《Phantom Step》 hit Greater Achievement and he killed the Wolfsbane, he could grind 《The Starry Sky Beckons》' proficiency in peace.
At the fourth stage, 《The Starry Sky Beckons》 would double his cultivation efficiency yet again.
Body Forging Layer 5 wouldn't take anything like two years!
Wan Keshan nodded, said no more, and swiped a finger across his comm-band.
Li Qingshan's wrist buzzed.
Ding!
Received +100,000
Li Qingshan's eyes went wide, fixed on the number on the screen.
"That's the reason I was looking for you."
Wan Keshan's mouth curved up, pleased with the reaction.
"That tip-off you sent yesterday was very useful. The 100,000 star coins are your reward."
Li Qingshan looked up in surprise.
"Teacher, do you moonlight at the Inspection Bureau too?"
Wan Keshan's smile froze, his face twitching.
"Moonlight, nothing — I'm a consultant on secondment!"
"Right, a consultant. Force of habit on my part, sorry." Li Qingshan offered a placating smile.
100,000 star coins was enough for a month's worth of nutrient fluid.
Toward a benefactor, his attitude was always excellent.
Then Li Qingshan asked the question he cared about most.
"Teacher, that magenta-haired woman in my report — is she really an evil-god cultist?"
"All but confirmed." Wan Keshan nodded.
All but confirmed?
Li Qingshan paused, then said in surprise:
"The Inspection Bureau didn't catch her?"
If they had, he wouldn't have put it that way.
After a moment's thought, Wan Keshan said:
"By the Bureau's rules, in principle I'm not supposed to tell you."
Having said that,
he found that the student opposite, far from disappointed, had brightened, eyes shining, waiting for the rest.
Were students this worldly nowadays?
The thought flashed past, and Wan Keshan could only go on:
"Originally, based on the two victims' identities, the Bureau set up surveillance on several streets they frequented, Linjiang Road among them."
"But after receiving your report, they made a point of investigating the Starriver Bar on Linjiang Road more deeply."
"And as it turned out, that dig really did turn something up."
"Starriver Bar was a stronghold for a group of Blood-Flesh Cult believers."
"A stronghold!"
Li Qingshan sucked in a cold breath, shaken in hindsight.
He'd worked at Starriver Bar for over a month — who knew how many evil-god cultists he'd brushed past.
"Just a few pieces of scum, what's there to fear?" Wan Keshan frowned, displeased.
"Last night the Bureau wiped out the whole stronghold. After a night of interrogation, we learned the woman you mentioned is just a newly inducted believer — the night before last was her first sacrifice."
"The Bureau's guess is she may have already fled Luoying City to lie low elsewhere."
At this point Wan Keshan paused and cautioned:
"You resigned outright yesterday and stayed away from the bar. That kind of caution is good."
"But just in case, let me warn you: the Blood-Flesh Cult worships the Blood-Flesh Demon God, and its believers can alter their bodies. Be wary of anyone who deliberately approaches you."
"Thank you, Teacher. Understood."
Li Qingshan wasn't too worried.
After all, with the stronghold wiped out, one little fish through the net couldn't stir up much.
Besides, he and the woman had only crossed paths once, the night before last, with no grudge between them; there was no way she'd come after him.
The method to kill Wolfsbane was found, and the hundred-thousand reward was in hand.
Li Qingshan took his leave and turned for the door.
Just as he reached it, Wan Keshan's voice came from behind.
"Remember, a hypothetical is only a hypothetical. Realm is the foundation!"
"I understand, Teacher."
Li Qingshan answered, and his figure vanished out the door.
"I hope you truly do understand!"
Wan Keshan sighed, his eyes complicated.
Li Qingshan had come to the office on purpose to ask how to kill a Wolfsbane.
That single-minded, head-down look of his was hardly the air of someone asking idly.
Once, he'd had a student who asked a similar question, chasing combat power beyond her realm.
And that student's aptitude was excellent — barely into middle school, she'd trained 《The Starry Sky Beckons》 to the third stage.
With talent like that, she could have gone straight to the New Continent.
But Wan Keshan, in a moment of impulse, had decided to keep her in Luoying City and teach her himself.
Because he'd "seen the world" and knew that the super-geniuses of those great martial planets could all strike down enemies across realms.
But reality dealt Wan Keshan a heavy slap.
The student he'd carefully nurtured did gain the power to slay across realms.
But there was a limit to "crossing realms."
Among the same cohort of students on the New Continent, several had already surpassed his student by a full major realm.
Because of that, his student painfully lost her chance to leave Planet Ziying and study on a great martial planet.
Buzz, buzz!
His wrist vibrated; a video request popped up on his comm-band.
Seeing who was calling, Wan Keshan's face stiffened slightly.
But he took the call anyway.
A light-screen sprang up.
A bright silver mecha appeared on the other end, streams of light flickering across its metal shell now and then.
The mecha's face showed not the slightest movement, yet a cool, clear female voice sounded:
"Consultant Wan, has Li Qingshan's reward been disbursed?"
Wan Keshan's expression had returned to normal; he smirked and said:
"Obviously. Why else would you be calling me?"
"Consultant Wan, by the Bureau's standards, the reward for a stronghold tip like this should be 50,000 star coins."
"Yu Man, getting bold, are you — pulling rank as deputy director on me? Consultant this, consultant that — call me Uncle!"
Wan Keshan retorted, indignant.
"Li Qingshan is a Martial Dao prodigy. He's from Public Rearing, can't even afford nutrient fluid. So what if I gave him a bigger reward?"
After two seconds of silence, the mecha's faceplate lifted, revealing a lovely face six parts alike to Yu Lei's.
"A prodigy?"
Yu Man asked back flatly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
A real prodigy would have gone to the New Continent long ago.
Wan Keshan had no comeback and finally sighed.
"Li Qingshan came by just now and asked a question much like the one you asked back then."
Yu Man was that very student.
Wan Keshan himself didn't know whether he was helping Li Qingshan because of the boy's Public Rearing background, or because he thought of Yu Man.
Perhaps both.
Yu Man's cool face finally shifted, her voice softening a little.
"Uncle, I've never blamed you. Even if I hadn't poured my energy into martial skills back then, my realm wouldn't necessarily have risen higher than theirs."
"Besides, I studied the Martial Dao only for greater combat power."
"A mecha can achieve that goal just as well! At the very least, those few are no match for me now!"
"A mecha?"
Wan Keshan gazed at the light-screen, at the silver mecha shimmering with light, and shook his head.
"It's not the same. Had you gone to a great martial planet, you might have glimpsed the view from the Martial Dao's summit."
Wan Keshan looked out the window at the sky, as if yearning.
"To cross the starry sky with one's own flesh, to roam the universe!"
"A starship can roam the universe just as well!" Yu Man's voice turned flat again.
"In a while, I'll try for a chance to train at a planetary fortress."
"If it goes well, my combat power will rise further, and even those super-geniuses of the great martial planets — I could give them a fight."
"Combat power, again!"
Wan Keshan shook his head and ended the call.
The road of evolution hadn't reached its end; no one was qualified to judge whether a direction was right or wrong.
But as a Martial Dao teacher, he was loyal to the Martial Dao alone for his whole life.
"Li Qingshan and Yu Man are different, after all. I hope he heeds my advice!"
Wan Keshan sighed.
Yu Man had awakened a psychic power, which was why she had the fallback of a mecha.
But if Li Qingshan took the wrong road, he'd lose even his sliver of a chance at the New Continent.
In the end he'd be stuck on the Old Continent, fading into the crowd.