***
The Discipline Hall of the Sword Sect, before the period of the great change, was a department that managed internal punishments within the sect and urged disciples to abide by the rules of the Sword Sect.
Now, however, it was also responsible for maintaining social order and security in various places under the jurisdiction of the Sword Sect, functioning similarly to a police station.
As a side note, the department was called by that very name in the territories governed by the Righteous Path Alliance.
Lin Qiuxian and the sword cultivator surnamed Feng were being held within the Xuanjian City branch of the Discipline Hall.
After Li Fengping returned to Xuanjian City and sent out the samples he had obtained within the secret realm, he came directly to see him.
However, because there were many people coming to visit, he had to wait in line until late at night before he successfully met Lin Qiuxian.
This was also thanks to the fact that the visiting hours of the Discipline Hall were set very loosely.
Under the guidance of a Discipline Hall disciple at the Golden Core stage, he followed along until he reached the entrance of the reception room.
"Go on in, you have thirty minutes at most."
"Thank you."
After offering his thanks, Li Fengping entered the reception room, while that disciple of the Discipline Hall entered an adjacent room to monitor the conversation.
The spiritual light of a formation flickered upon the specially made glass window, possessing a certain ability to suppress magic.
Its degree of hardness was such that even a practitioner at the Nascent Soul stage would have to expend a considerable amount of effort to break it.
But no one dared to do such a thing, unless they wished to be placed on the wanted list of the Sword Wielding Hall, at which point their life or death would no longer matter.
Li Fengping sat down in front of the window.
Opposite the window, Lin Qiuxian’s expression was calm, possessing a kind of indifference that suggested he had seen through the vanities of the mortal world.
He had been repeatedly mentioned by the traffic law popularization programs over the past two days, so there was not a single bit of a good impression left to maintain.
By the time he was finally released, people might have already moved on, so he had simply decided to embrace a state of total resignation.
A few too many things had happened in Xuanjian City recently, and even the Sect Master had taken notice of this place.
This resulted in the Lin family being unable to get him out, even if they wanted to.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with being cautious of the steps beneath one's feet.
To act willfully for a moment of pleasure is to suffer the wounds of a lifetime.
Pain, it was simply too painful!
Lin Qiuxian felt that he had never understood these two sentences as thoroughly as he did now.
"Senior brother, are you... alright?"
"Alas, I have simply come to understand some truths. Do not worry, I am fine."
"..."
It had only been such a short time, yet the high-spirited Senior Brother Lin had turned into this sort of state.
"Stop talking about me, let us talk about you. Did you come to see me because the mission has been completed?"
"Yes, senior brother. I sought out Jiang Jing, an inner sect disciple of the Law Enforcement Hall, as well as an outer sect deacon of the Discipline Hall named Xu Sandao. We entered the secret realm this afternoon and completed the mission."
Jiang Jing... he seemed to have heard of the name before, but he could not remember exactly who it was.
As for this Xu Sandao?
"Interesting, for a Nascent Soul sword cultivator to actually have such a name."
"Uh, Senior Brother Sandao is actually a very good person. When we entered the secret realm, we accidentally triggered the sword qi, and it was he who helped block it."
"Tell me the details."
In truth, Lin Qiuxian did not have much interest, but since it was deathly boring in this place, he treated it as though he were listening to a story.
The next morning, at the largest shopping mall in Xuanjian City—Seeking Truth.
From cultivation tools such as magical treasures and medicinal pills at the top, down to the daily necessities required for ordinary life at the bottom, everything could be purchased inside.
Although the overall layout and style of the mall looked no different from the ones in his memory from his previous life, the names of the various storefronts were still the same old style.
Names like the Sweet Dew Pavilion, the Hidden Edge Tower, the Rare Treasure Study, and so on...
Xu Xing walked through the mall, his gaze casually scanning the surroundings.
Since a junior nephew was coming to visit, he intended to prepare a small gift, and also buy some materials to upgrade the formations of his residence while he was at it.
If he were to directly use the materials he carried on his person to upgrade a small-scale formation, it would truly be somewhat of a waste.
Ultimately, Xu Xing stepped into a shop named the Profound Moon Pavilion.
This shop mainly sold cultivation materials such as spiritual ingredients, precious medicines, ores, and beast blood.
In the relevant sections of the Spiritual Network, many people gave this shop very high evaluations.
Just as he stepped inside, a female sales assistant wearing a red qipao with a beautiful face greeted him with a smile across her whole countenance.
"Guest, may I ask what you require?"
"I want to buy some formation materials. The category is not limited, and the grade does not need to be too high."
So it was an array master.
Among the so-called hundred arts of immortal cultivation, there were pills, weapons, formations, and talismans.
With the emergence of many new professions, the wealth-gathering potential of the hundred arts of immortal cultivation had declined somewhat, but it was still definitely better than that of an average practitioner.
"If it is formation materials, please turn left ahead to the Area C. Do you need me to lead you there?"
"No need, I can head over myself."
"Very well."
The sales assistant nodded gently, the smile still remaining on her face as she retreated to her original position.
There was a row of several people, and the stature and appearance of every single one were top-tier, making for a pleasant sight.
It was said that this shop used to recruit charm cultivators from the He Huan Sect to act as the storefront's facade, and business had been booming.
However, before long, they were reported by their competitors.
It also happened to coincide with the mayor taking office and rectifying the city's appearance and spirit, so those charm cultivators were fired.
Xu Xing walked further in and turned left to arrive at Area C.
Looking across, all sorts of spiritual materials were displayed within bright counters, with prices ranging from one thousand spirit coins to hundreds of thousands of spirit coins.
"It is not considered too expensive."
The purchasing power of ten spirit coins was equivalent to one standard unit of spirit stone.
This method of division was proposed by an elder within the Righteous Path Alliance, and the Sacred Emperor Abyss further refined it, eventually promoting it as the currency system for the entire Great Profound World.
The spiritual energy contained within one standard unit of spirit stone was equivalent to the total amount of spiritual energy a common practitioner at the first level of Qi Refining could absorb in twenty-four hours.
Spiritual energy was purchasing power, so there was basically no possibility of counterfeiting.
Along the counters, Xu Xing examined those spiritual materials one by one, filtering out those items where the spiritual energy had faded, the age was insufficient, or those that had internal flaws.
"This one, this one, and that one over there, help me pack them up."
A piece of transparent blue crystal with fine white threads growing inside, a palm-sized section of bamboo with purple patterns, and a piece of stone with pale golden spots.
These three items were considered relatively good among many spiritual materials.
"Certainly, guest, please wait a moment."
The salesperson behind the counter nodded slightly, and the three types of spiritual materials were quickly packed into exquisite wooden boxes.
"Do you require a bag?"
"No."
"Please take them."
As soon as the boxes landed in Xu Xing's hand, they vanished directly.
"The total is one hundred seventy-three thousand five hundred spirit coins."
The salesperson took out a device, the appearance of which was similar to the one seen previously at the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.
Xu Xing took out the green jade token and inserted it into it.
The contribution points of the Sword Sect could be used directly as spirit coins, though this was limited to the areas under the jurisdiction of the Sword Sect.
The exchange ratio was one to one thousand.
After completing that mission yesterday, he had obtained one thousand contribution points, which converted to a full one million spirit coins.
"Beep! The version is too low, please use after upgrading."
An emotionless mechanical voice drifted out from the device.
The salesperson looked up and turned toward Xu Xing with embarrassment.
"You see, this..."
The identity token for this persona of Xu Sandao was, after all, something he had created before he went into seclusion, even though this identity would only be activated when used.
However, the craftsmanship itself was already many generations old.
Throughout the entire period of the great change, it was unknown how many times the identity jade tokens of the Sword Sect had been improved.
"Then use this instead."
Xu Xing pulled out the jade token and instead produced a storage ring.
After the salesperson took it, she extended a thread of divine sense; inside, pieces of spirit stones were stacked neatly and tidily.
Hmm? Spirit stones?
She had thought it would be spirit coins.
"Please wait a moment, I need to go and ask the boss for instructions."
"Fine."
The salesperson left in a great hurry.
'It seems that after returning this time, I must update all the identity tokens of my personas.'
Just as he was thinking this, he saw another person walk into the shop.
Oh?
It was actually that young girl, Zhang Yunlu.
***