Chapter 18: Fourth Tier

Yaoguang returned to the main building and made his way step by step to the top floor of the nine-story structure.

He had just arrived when a heated argument erupted above. A moment later, a gunshot rang out.

Bang!

The argument ended, then a man in his forties, wearing glasses and carrying a metal case, rushed out. The moment he stepped through the door, he came face-to-face with the muzzle of Yaoguang's raised gun.

The man quickly set the case down, dropped his own weapon, and raised both hands.

He said, "This contains the money and resources Director Xu accumulated over the past month. They haven't been handed in yet. Just the cash alone is more than three million..."

He quickly added, "I mean asters. Including the other valuables, the total inside is worth more than four million."

The aster was the currency of the Crimson Star Empire and the most widely used currency in the world.

This world had no concept of a dominant power facing many strong rivals; instead, it was defined by dual hegemony. Aside from the rising Snowdragon Empire and the world hegemon Crimson Star Empire, every other nation was insignificant. At most, some countries could serve as pawns during conflicts, while others were not even worth either hegemon's attention.

Four million asters equaled forty million dayu.

"All of this is yours now," said the man, his hands still raised as he cautiously backed away.

The next second, Yaoguang fired.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Flowers of blood blossomed on the man's shirt. His eyes shone with hatred as he collapsed.

Yaoguang remained calm. He had seen this man earlier when he infiltrated the industrial park. The man was one of the higher-ups. And given what this place had done, none of the higher-ups were innocent. Killing all of them left no loose ends.

Yaoguang picked up the case and glanced into the luxurious office behind the man. It had clearly been searched. A corpse lay on the floor, most likely the loser of the earlier argument.

He withdrew his gaze and said quietly, "I've avenged you, I guess. No need to thank me, I'll just take the money as payment."

Then he removed his blood-stained clothes, took the case, and headed downstairs.

With the danger resolved, he no longer needed full combat gear. He discarded his firearms and blended into the departing crowds, leaving Qingyu Industrial Park.

Less than half an hour after he left, dozens of armed pickup trucks mounted with machine guns, along with several infantry fighting vehicles, stormed into the park to conduct a rapid "counter-terrorism" exercise. Further away, police cars from Feiyu wailed toward the scene.

By then, Yaoguang had already reached the outskirts of Mingguang. His walking pace looked normal, yet he covered five to six kilometers in just half an hour. Once outside the city, he caught a ride heading toward the border crossing.

Only after reaching the checkpoint did he remember something. He had not exited the country through official channels.

Suddenly, a surprised voice called out behind him, "Young Master Su."

Yaoguang turned and saw Zhang Ching hurrying over, shoving two half-eaten steamed buns into a plastic bag and wiping his oily hands on his clothes as he approached.

Seeing Yaoguang, Zhang Ching looked both relieved and uncertain. "Young Master Su... Is everything done?"

He did not know whether he should be asking.

Yaoguang answered with a quiet "Mhmm. Let's go back."

"Yes, Young Master Su. This way, please." Zhang Ching gestured immediately.

The two crossed the checkpoint again and returned to Zhang Ching's sedan on the other side.

"Take me to the hotel," Yaoguang said.

A moment later, he thought of something. "Actually...let's go to the Heavenly Sword Workshop again."

"Young Master Su, do you like swords? Planning to buy a weapon?" Zhang Ching said, then added, "I made some inquiries recently. The Mijade Collection Hall under Yulong International houses a famous sword named Chengying. It is said to be a thousand-year-old blade from the Lost Era. What's astonishing is that, even though it was forged a thousand years ago, modern alloy weapons cannot damage it. Would you like to take a look?"

"A famous sword?" Yaoguang repeated the term.

The Martial Dao had prospered since ancient times in this world. Divine weapons occupied a prominent place in this long history. Many were described with grand embellishment, said to possess the power to destroy cities or even topple nations.

In such a tradition, the classification of a famous sword was far from empty praise. It followed strict evaluation standards. Above famous swords, in terms of rank, were treasured swords and divine swords.

Divine weapons commanded astronomical prices. They often sold for hundreds of millions, even billions.

Famous swords were slightly more affordable, but still started in the tens of millions. Some particularly renowned blades could fetch hundreds of millions.

"An ancient sword, huh." After some thought, Yaoguang said, "Let's go take a look."

"Alright." Zhang Ching quickly started the car and drove off.

Yaoguang sat in the back seat with his eyes closed, appearing to rest. Seeing this, Zhang Ching slowed the car and put on soft, gentle music.

Yaoguang's mind sank into the tree-shaped search engine within his mental world.

Several new lines of information refreshed before him.

One entry was for slaying a third-tier middle-grade Horned Fiend, and two entries were for slaying third-tier high-grade Horned Fiends.

In addition to these...

[Transaction profit: 46.88 million. The first-tier Merchant branch has received growth nutrients... Growth halted as the main trunk has absorbed all nutrients.]

Yaoguang focused on this line.

A profit of 46.88 million had provided more nutrients than killing a third-tier high-grade Horned Fiend. His detour to the main building had not been in vain.

"Merchant experience increases not only with transaction profit but also with cost investment. This time, my investment was the manpower cost of a grandmaster and the material cost of a sword worth half a million. The final return was several times the input..." Reaching this point, Yaoguang felt a faint regret.

In the Merchant calculation mode, the manpower cost of a grandmaster was simply too high. And as his cultivation continued to rise, that cost would only become higher.

Unless he could eventually make money passively, then even a profit of 46.88 million could not compare to the gains from daemon hunting.

"Merchant nutrients combined with Daemon Hunter nutrients..." Yaoguang fixed his gaze on the Martial Artist branch.

In the next instant, nutrients from both branches surged into it. The Martial Artist branch started growing vigorously. The ancient tree itself rose past the four-meter mark, then continued to grow taller. 4.1, 4.2...

Only when it reached 4.3 meters did the growth finally slow.

As the Martial Artist branch underwent its transformation, countless streams of information flooded into Yaoguang's mind.

This time, the information was no longer centered on the grandmaster tier but converged on the martial paragon tier.

What was a martial paragon? It was someone who had completed marrow cleansing and blood renewal!

Once this step was completed, the cultivator was no longer human. Strength, speed, impact resistance, and even the toughness of one's viscera would all rise into an entirely new domain. The martial paragon could accomplish feats that were considered impossible even after pushing the human body to its extreme limit.

Initially, the information filling his mind focused on how to efficiently perform marrow cleansing and blood renewal. But as the influx continued, the latter content even touched on nurturing the psyche with qi.

Since ancient times, the martial world had held the saying, "Strengthen the muscles, bones, and skin to train a single breath of qi within."

Martial Dao cultivation trained a person's essence and qi. This referred to one's physique, qi, and blood.

Before reaching the grandmaster realm, cultivation strengthened the body. At the martial paragon realm, it would be finally possible to refine qi and blood itself.

Yet Daoist theory spoke of the three treasures: essence, qi, and psyche; only when the three were unified could the human body evolve.

The path of the martial paragon showed the first steps into this philosophy, touching upon the mysterious "psyche" that existed beyond the physical.

If the nurturing of psyche with qi succeeded, one would not only remain mentally sharp at all times but would also gain heightened reflexes, enhanced perception, and even certain supernatural capabilities that ordinary people could not imagine.

If marrow cleansing and blood renewal still operated within the realm of physical enhancement comprehensible to common understanding, then once psyche-nurturing reached mastery, the abilities it produced would appear to outsiders as techniques that defied scientific explanation.

"Nurturing the psyche," Yaoguang murmured silently.

So this is the key to reaching the realm above martial paragon.

Unfortunately, His current martial paragon branch had only just sprouted. It had not yet bloomed. Judging by progress, it was barely around thirty percent. It was naturally impossible to obtain more information on psyche-nurturing.

To grasp the mysteries of the psyche, he would likely need to raise the martial paragon progress to at least seventy percent.

Soon.

Yaoguang thought this quietly and then turned his gaze toward a particular direction.

There is still one more daemon at Yulong International...

Ring, ring, ring!

Just then, Yaoguang's phone rang.

He glanced at the screen. It was Lin Xiaowei, the inspector from the Yunmeng Police Department's special investigation team.

He could not guess the reason, but after a brief moment of thought, he accepted the call.

The moment it connected, Lin Xiaowei's voice came through. "Are you in Shanlong right now? I think we need to meet."