Sect Square.
Lu Li paused briefly before heading toward the Pill Tower. The Pill Tower belonged to the Qingyang Sect's Pill Hall, a place specifically for exchanging pills.
At this moment, the first floor of the Pill Tower had only one middle-aged Deacon helping a young woman in a light purple dress exchange pills.
The two exchanged no extra words. After the young woman finished her exchange, she prepared to leave. Just as she reached the doorway, she suddenly stopped again, looking at the dark-skinned youth hurrying over with a thoughtful expression.
Only when the youth approached did she tentatively say, "You are... Junior Brother Lu Li?"
Lu Li had seen the young woman from afar. Hearing this, he stopped and thought for a moment before quickly cupping his hands in reply, "Lu Li, greetings to Senior Sister Zhou."
This person was precisely Zhou Xinyi, who had saved him three years ago at Qingliang Temple. If she hadn't rushed into the main hall in time back then, whether he would be alive or dead now was uncertain. So toward Zhou Xinyi, Lu Li still felt grateful.
"It really is you." Zhou Xinyi seemed somewhat incredulous. "I heard Senior Brother Chu say your spiritual roots are extremely mixed. I never expected..."
This truly overturned her understanding. In three years, Lu Li had actually cultivated to the second level of Qi Refining with a nine-spiritual-root aptitude. This really made it difficult for her to comprehend.
Lu Li didn't know how to respond. He smiled and said, "I just cultivated more diligently, that's all." After speaking, he changed the subject and asked, "Senior Sister Zhou, was that evil Daoist caught?"
Zhou Xinyi shook her head. "No. For these three years, there's been completely no news of him. It seems he's already left Liangzhou."
Not caught yet.
Hearing this news, Lu Li's brows immediately furrowed. He thought to himself: That Zhang Song treats this pill formula as his lifeblood. It's absolutely impossible for him to just give up like this. Moreover, he's so old already, probably can't live many more years. The possibility of him catching people again to test the pill formula isn't great...
Then, he'll most likely seek opportunity with me and Chen Zhong. In that case...
Thinking this, Lu Li immediately felt as if needles were pricking his back.
He even felt the Qingyang Sect wasn't safe anymore. Although Zhang Song couldn't enter the Qingyang Sect, he could completely capture Qingyang Sect disciples training outside, control them, then force them to come back and capture me to take out...
No, I must prepare early.
He originally planned to exchange for True Essence Pills, but looking at it now, exchanging for some life-preserving items would be the better strategy.
Because his realm couldn't break through in a short time, and even if it broke through, it would only be the third level. One level more or less didn't make much difference. But trump cards were different. Powerful trump cards could kill someone one or two stages higher without any problem.
Coming back to his senses, Lu Li chatted a few more sentences with Zhou Xinyi before bidding farewell and leaving.
"He's grown into an adult."
Watching Lu Li's back, Zhou Xinyi murmured softly with a faint smile before also turning and leaving.
Treasure Hall.
This was the Qingyang Sect's place specifically for selling various miscellaneous goods, including but not limited to weapons, armor, talismans, and so on. Generally, Qingyang Sect disciples going out to train would come here to buy some life-preserving gear.
At this moment, the Treasure Hall was similarly empty, with only one plump middle-aged Deacon dozing in a reclining chair behind the counter.
Lu Li walked to the counter and gently knocked on the surface. The plump Deacon then woke up. Seeing Lu Li wasn't wearing a chest badge, he couldn't help showing a trace of disappointment. "Want something?"
Not wearing a chest badge indicated he was just a miscellaneous disciple. Miscellaneous disciples had at most two to three hundred contribution points per month, most used to buy pills. Basically none came here.
Lu Li also didn't know what he wanted to buy, so he said, "I want to buy some life-preserving items suitable for me. Does Senior Brother have any recommendations?"
"Life-preserving items?" The plump Deacon looked suspiciously at Lu Li. "What does a miscellaneous disciple like you want with these? Are you preparing to go out training?"
"Ahem, no need for Senior Brother to worry about this."
"Heh, so mysterious." The plump Deacon stood up. "There are many life-preserving items, but none are cheap. Tell me how many contribution points you have, and I'll recommend some."
Lu Li thought, since they're life-preserving items, he should definitely buy the best. So he directly said, "I have seven thousand contribution points. Senior Brother, what do you think would be suitable to buy?"
"Seven thousand!"
The plump Deacon's body shook. "You're not joking with me?"
Even among formal disciples, few bought seven thousand worth of items at once.
Lu Li didn't waste words either. Spreading his palm, he directly took out six purple cards, plus a stack of white and yellow cards. "I'm serious."
"Good, good, good!" The plump Deacon's eyes shone. He turned and ran toward the inner shelves. "Wait! Don't run off, or I'll chase you to Miscellaneous Valley and beat you up!"
Hearing this, Lu Li felt speechless.
A moment later.
The plump Deacon carried a large pile of miscellaneous items and tossed them onto the counter. Casually picking up a black greatsword, he began eloquently introducing it.
Seeing this, Lu Li quickly said, "Senior Brother, I don't want weapons. Are there things that are convenient to use and have great power, like powerful talismans..."
"You should've said so earlier."
The plump Deacon rummaged under the counter. Before long, he took out a stack of talismans and placed them on the counter.
"Mid-grade Swift Movement Talisman, two hundred contribution points each. True Qi driven, makes people lighter, speed increases at least twofold."
"Mid-grade Explosive Talisman, three hundred contribution points each..."
"Mid-grade Quicksand Talisman, two hundred contribution points each..."
"Mid-grade Flame Bullet, three hundred contribution points each..."
"High-grade Tortoise Shell Talisman, one thousand contribution points each..."
"......"
After the introductions, the plump Deacon raised his head and looked at Lu Li. "How about it? Satisfied?"
Lu Li considered carefully. Finally, he bought five Explosive Talismans, five Quicksand Talismans, five Flame Bullets, and ten Swift Movement Talismans. As for the Tortoise Shell Talisman, first he thought it was too expensive, second his own body was still okay, so after thinking about it, he gave up.
If all these talismans were unleashed on one person, even mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators would die with regret. For the current Lu Li, this was already enough.
"Junior Brother, actually I have one more good thing here. Do you want to look?" Seeing Lu Li spend so lavishly, the plump Deacon spoke much more politely, saying mysteriously.
Lu Li shook his head. "I already have no contribution points left."
"No contribution points doesn't matter. Can exchange with other things."
"What good thing?" Hearing the other say this, Lu Li couldn't help feeling somewhat interested.
Hearing this, the plump Deacon's eyes flashed. He walked out from behind the counter, directly went to the doorway and looked around in all directions, then creaked the door shut. The light in the room instantly darkened somewhat.
Seeing this, Lu Li immediately frowned, one hand quietly reaching into his robe.
"Don't be nervous. How could I harm you here?" Seeing Lu Li's hand reaching into his robe, the plump Deacon's face twitched as he spoke.
"Senior Brother, what exactly do you want to do!"
"Hehe, show you a good thing." The plump Deacon said, waving his hand. Suddenly, a five-foot-tall black banner flag appeared in his hand.
The banner flag resembled a signboard held by street fortune-tellers, but the banner surface was shorter, the flagpole dark red, with a white skull painted on it, looking somewhat eerie.
Almost instantly, a thick bloody smell and bone-chilling cold rushed toward him.