Chapter 410.1: Sleeping with Even the Old Madam He Must Be Very Ambitious

Qi Yuan lowered his head and thought carefully. Jiang Lingsu listened intently but her mind had already drifted off to how she would cultivate and grow stronger.

He couldn't help but wonder, Could it be that I'm some long-lost ancestor of the Black Demon Abyss? Such unfilial descendants, making their own ancestor work for them!

The thought left him feeling a little indignant.

He said quietly, "Come on, let's go see the steward."

This outpost had five Grand Stewards and a number of ordinary stewards. Every Grand Steward was a Mythic, while ordinary stewards started at the Great Venerable realm. Guest officials like Qi Yuan were essentially skilled laborers. There were several hundred such officials, and even more ordinary enforcers. Given that a single Moluo Sacred Tower contained more living beings than all of Canglan World combined, this was hardly surprising.

Stepping out of the cave residence, he found black buildings stretching in every direction as far as the eye could see. Black bridges, black trees, black stones... Even the water flowing beneath the bridges was like black ink. The reason was simple: most cultivators of the Black Demon Abyss like black.

He stepped onto the bridge and headed deeper into the outpost. "At least the air isn't black."

The bridge carried plenty of guest officials, though most of the crowd was Violet Palace realm enforcers. Guest officials were rather rare. Any enforcer who crossed paths with Qi Yuan bowed their heads in respect. In the Black Demon Abyss, status was everything. Everything came down to strength and bloodline.

Qi Yuan leaned against the bridge's railing and surveyed the outpost. Jiang Lingsu couldn't stray far from him, so she simply kept her arm looped through his.

"The upper world really is good. This bridge is quite interesting."

The bridge itself was a treasure. To reach the depths of the outpost, one had to cross it. However, the time it took to cross didn't depend on how fast one could fly, but which identity token one had.

Even at top speed, it would take an ordinary enforcer roughly a hundred breaths to cross the distance, about as long as it would take an ordinary person to walk it. For guest officials, the time varied according to rank. With Qi Yuan's token, the crossing should normally take him thirty breaths.

Jiang Lingsu wondered, "I’ve never seen anything like this treasure before. Doesn't that mean if I set the delay to ten million years and hid on the other side, no enemy could ever reach me?"

He smirked. "And what if the enemy just doesn't cross the bridge at all?"

The bridge simply piqued his interest a little. Though it was useful against low-level cultivators, functioning almost like an ironclad rule, a Great Venerable with a Divine Domain had plenty of ways around it. However, since he was pretending to be an elder of Futu Mountain, he had to keep up the charade. This was the first time he'd ever impersonated someone else, so he wasn't accustomed to it.

Thirty breaths later, Qi Yuan arrived at the depths of the Black Demon Abyss's outpost. A massive black stone stood before him. When he took out his identity token, the stone split open, revealing a faint eerie glow. The two walked forward and entered the building together.

Inside, a dwarfish old man sat with his head bowed, fiddling with something that looked like a Rubik's Cube. Sensing Qi Yuan's arrival, the old man raised his head and shot him a sidelong glance. "What is it?"

They said one shouldn't judge a person by appearance, but this old man wasn't a person, so Qi Yuan judged him anyway. He looked like the sort with a strange temper, as if all his cultivation had scrambled his brain.

Qi Yuan asked, "Steward Ke, I'd like to ask how many contribution points it takes to exchange for a Heaven-Piercing Jade."

He was in a hurry to reach the Sixth Heaven and head to the demon abyss to see Jin Li. It was already May, after all.

"A Heaven-Piercing Jade? That's not easy to come by. You'd need ten thousand contribution points. Even then, there's no guarantee you'll get one."

His eyes went wide. "You're telling me I'd have to work for ten thousand years?"

A single strand of Miluo Light was equal to one contribution point. Meanwhile, it took an average of a year for a Yin Spirit cultivator to gather a single strand. In short, at a monthly salary of five thousand yuan, even working like a horse for ten thousand years would earn him only six hundred million yuan. Back on Blue Planet, that would count as a decent little fortune that was enough to buy a small mansion in a big city.

The old man said flatly, "Your identity records haven't been entered into the system yet, but since you carry the Ink Jade token, your status as a guest official is confirmed. Would you like to take on the task of gathering Miluo Lights? The sooner you gather enough contribution points, the sooner you can head to Sixth Heaven."

Generally speaking, it could take months or even a year or more for a guest official’s record to be properly entered. The cultivator in charge of that task could either be off in seclusion, or busy with something else entirely. It was simply the norm in the upper world.

Qi Yuan mulled it over briefly. "Fine."

These kinds of tasks were only handed off once every century anyway. He wouldn’t even know where he’d be a hundred years from now, so who cared about the task by then? For now, he'd wear the skin of the Black Demon Abyss, go out to gather Miluo Lights, and do some fishing on the side.

Stepping out of the outpost, he stretched lazily. "I suddenly feel like coming to the upper world is what actual cultivation feels like... Back in the lower world, it was more like playing around."

He genuinely meant it. His path of cultivation had mostly been playing games day after day, chasing after his White Moonlight, or wiping out entire clans. Being a guest official and taking on assigned tasks was something he'd simply never done before.

Jiang Lingsu blurted without even thinking, "Isn't this how it should be, though? Most cultivators spend their whole lives this way."

"That kind of cultivation sounds far too dull." Inhaling deeply, his consciousness reached into the gaming jade. The new game was still being downloaded. "Come on, let's go gather Miluo Light."

In truth, he was heading to the Miluo World. The Moluo Clan's territory was vast and the Moluo Sacred Towers were spread far apart. Even a Yang Spirit cultivator flying at full speed would still require quite some time to cross the distance. Moreover, a flying Yang Spirit was bound to draw the attention of Creation Treasures or other Heavenly Venerables within the Moluo Clan.

As for Miluo World, it was essentially a crude version of the Dark Void. The Dark Void was the special, unfathomable place that teleportation arrays passed through. Even a Yang Spirit could only pass through it via a teleportation array. No one could enter it physically, making it impossible to observe or explore. As a result, the people of the immortal realm had accumulated countless theories and studies about the Dark Void.

On the other hand, though cultivators could enter the Miluo World, it was a labyrinthine fraught with dangers. Even the slightest mistake could cost a Yin Spirit their life. Still, it was an especially convenient and well-hidden shortcut when traveling. Usually, only Great Venerables with a Divine Domain or stronger would dare use it to travel.

The portion of the Miluo World controlled by the Moluo Clan was rich in Miluo Light. Entering it to gather Miluo Light required credentials from one of the major powers, which was part of the reason Qi Yuan had joined the Black Demon Abyss in the first place.