Not overreacting and not lying. After carefully considering the situation, Gu Yuan had determined that this was the safest way to deal with the Disciplinary Hall.
Fortunately, it seemed to be the right choice.
Before long, Mo Chen finally concluded his interrogation. He turned around and left with the other Disciplinary Hall disciples, eliciting a quiet sigh of relief from Gu Yuan.
But perhaps he had relaxed too soon. Mo Chen suddenly stopped, and turned his head back.
"I just remembered something. Wang Ling was actually killed, and you were the last person known to have met her one month ago. Do you have any idea who the culprit was?"
Mo Chen stared at Gu Yuan.
Gu Yuan stared back at him.
"...No."
The answer came a heartbeat later. That slight delay was only natural, because the moment he heard the question, countless thoughts had already erupted in Gu Yuan’s mind.
Had he been discovered? No... before that, how had they even found out that Wang Ling was dead?
Gu Yuan carefully observed Mo Chen’s expression. Unlike all the questions before, this time he had lied.
Yet Mo Chen showed no reaction. He merely nodded before turning around, leaving with the other Disciplinary Hall disciples.
But... why did Gu Yuan feel as though he had seen a faint smile on his face just now?
Left alone, Gu Yuan let out a tired sigh before entering his shabby house.
No matter how he looked at the matter, he was the victim of what had happened a month ago.
If Wang Ling had not deliberately targeted him, would he have killed her?
No. He would never have gotten involved with her in the first place.
Fearing that another incident might happen, Gu Yuan had spent the past month living as inconspicuously as possible. Aside from going to the Forge every now and then, he had practically remained inside his house and never involved himself in anything else.
But did he really need to continue living like this?
Gu Yuan shook his head. Instead of constantly worrying about whether he would eventually be caught, perhaps he should look at the incident from another angle.
Everything had started with his fight against Liu Feng and his two lackeys. Looking back at that fight now, there was one thing that had become clear.
Gu Yuan was weak.
Naturally, this was not referring to his cultivation base. At only fourteen years old, reaching the Fifth Stage of the Qi Refinement Realm was already quite impressive.
The problem was his actual strength as someone at the Fifth Stage. Even those outer sect nobodies from a month ago were stronger than him.
It might have seemed like he had won that fight, but he actually hadn’t. He had barely managed to hold on through his surprise attack until Wang Ling interfered. Without her appearance, he might not have been able to deal with them at all.
Gu Yuan wanted to at least be able to easily handle opponents who were at the same cultivation level as him. Having a cultivation base without the strength to properly back it up was the last thing he wanted.
So, how could he solve this problem?
After thinking for a few moments, several methods came to his mind. The simplest was naturally to rely on external items. Obtaining a powerful treasured weapon, along with other auxiliary treasures, could make his strength skyrocket.
But... that was impossible.
Gu Yuan did not have the financial ability to afford such items.
That meant he had to move on to the next option: techniques.
A better cultivation technique, movement techniques, weapon techniques... In the end, everything came down to techniques.
Yet once again, he faced the same problem.
A lack of Spirit Stones.
"Wait, was that really the case?"
Gu Yuan suddenly muttered under his breath as his thoughts shifted toward the Orb of Creation, more specifically, the space within it.
Inside, Wang Ling’s corpse remained frozen in the state it had been in when he killed her.
Gu Yuan inspected it, and before long, his eyes landed on what he had been looking for.
A storage bag.
Normally, a storage bag could not be placed inside another storage bag. Doing so would destroy both. It was common knowledge among cultivators.
But that rule did not seem to apply to his Orb of Creation.
With some anticipation budding inside him, Gu Yuan took out the storage bag and probed its contents with his senses.
Vials filled with pink substances, all kinds of revealing clothes, and other items that clearly looked like adult toys.
The storage bag was filled with such things.
Gu Yuan frowned as he sorted through them, already on the verge of disappointment, when his eyes suddenly quivered.
Ten Spirit Stones.
That alone would not have been noteworthy, except these were high-grade Spirit Stones. Converted into low-grade Spirit Stones, they were worth one hundred thousand!
Gu Yuan’s hand could not help but tremble as he realized just how much wealth he was holding.
In two years at the Black Desolation Sect, he had accumulated only around 320 low-grade Spirit Stones.
Yet now, that number had increased to 100,000.
Gu Yuan took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.
How had Wang Ling accumulated this much? Simply by selling her body?
He wondered for a few seconds before deciding that it did not matter.
Whatever the reason, these Spirit Stones belonged to him now.
Gu Yuan continued sorting through the other items in the storage bag.
Three crystal slips, five talismans, one Spirit Weapon, and finally, one array disk.
She was really rich!
The three crystal slips each contained a technique. Two were related to charm and dual cultivation, while the last was a whip technique. Naturally, none of them were suitable for him.
The talismans, however, were a pleasant surprise.
Two were defensive, one was for escape, and the remaining two were offensive.But what truly surprised Gu Yuan was one of the offensive talismans.
It was a Spirit-Grade talisman.
Its power was equivalent to an attack from a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Gu Yuan’s body shivered as he realized what that meant. If he had not finished Wang Ling instantly and had instead given her even a single chance to retaliate, he would most likely have been killed on the spot.
Fortunately, his surprise attack had succeeded. Otherwise, Gu Yuan did not want to imagine the outcome.
Moving on, the Spirit Weapon was indeed stronger than his current saber, but it was a whip, so he could not use it. As for the broken array disk, he would investigate its worth later.
Having finished sorting through the items he could use from the storage bag, Gu Yuan put everything back into his Orb of Creation, leaving only the ten High-Grade Spirit Stones outside.
Now, what should he do with these?
For the time being, his problem with items could be considered solved. The five talismans he had obtained were enough to greatly improve his ability to deal with unexpected situations, which meant he could finally turn his attention to techniques.
Now, he could afford them.
Yet another problem remained. If he suddenly used these Spirit Stones to purchase something, it would inevitably raise questions about where his wealth had come from.
It was the problem of having wealth without daring to use it.
After thinking about it for a while, Gu Yuan finally made up his mind.
For now, he would buy a decent saber technique using his own savings. As for these ten High-Grade Spirit Stones, he would save them and use them to purchase a powerful cultivation technique when he was about to break through into the Foundation Establishment Realm.