In a high-level martial arts game, a wife is given to you at the start.

A level-two task, the reward is neither high nor low, it's inconspicuous, and there's not much risk—on the surface, it seems like just an ordinary medicine-finding commission. But Lin Qiye noticed a detail: the poster was the Gu family of Ironwall City.

Gu Yan, the head of the Household Registration Department, also had the surname Gu.

He didn't accept it immediately, but continued reading. On the next monument, a task caught his attention:

"Clearance Mission: An unusual gathering of monstrous beasts has recently appeared in 'Bone Ridge' in the southwest of the Holy City, suspected to be connected to an unknown area via an underground passage. The cause of the beast gathering must be investigated and the threat eliminated. Mission Rating: C. Reward: 150 Source Crystals, with possible increases depending on performance. Note: Basic intelligence support provided by the Temple."

Dry Bone Ridge.

Lin Qiye's gaze lingered for a moment on the words "the underground passage connects to an unknown area." He thought of the purified heart deep in the Black Wind Valley crevice, the ancient beast sleeping deep in the Canggu Mountains, and the polluted vein that stretched from the wasteland all the way to the outskirts of the Holy City.

Could the underground passage of Kugu Ridge also be on this line?

He noted down the task, glanced at the "Night-blooming Grass" commission next to him, and finally turned around and walked towards the task acceptance point.

The old man behind the registration desk saw him again but didn't even look up: "Taking him again? Which one have you chosen this time?"

"The clearing mission at Dry Bone Ridge."

The old man rolled his eyes: "Another Class C? You really messed up a lot last time with that Class C. This time, behave yourself and don't ruin the whole ridge."

Lin Qiye didn't reply. The old man shrugged, completed the formalities as usual, and handed him a detection compass: "Same as always, the mission period is fifteen days. Return the compass on the due date, and pay for any damage."

Lin Qiye put away the compass and mission token, then turned and left.

He did not leave the city directly, but returned to Qing Shi Lane first.

In the courtyard, Xiaoman was chasing a dragonfly all over the place, Luo Sheng was sitting on a stone bench by the courtyard mending clothes, Manji was chopping wood, and Shuang'er and Qingyin were busy in the kitchen. When they saw him return, everyone's eyes fell on him.

"Going out again?" Luo Sheng put down her needlework.

"Kugu Ridge isn't far from the Holy City," Lin Qiye said. "We can be back in three to five days."

Luo Sheng nodded without asking any further questions. She walked up to him and reached out to straighten his collar, saying, "Be careful."

"Um."

After chasing the dragonfly, the little girl ran over and hugged his leg, tilting her head up and asking, "Daddy, are you going to fight bad guys again?"

"Um."

"Then Daddy must come back soon!" Little Man Niu said earnestly, "and bring Niu Niu something delicious!"

Lin Qiye reached out and ruffled her hair: "Okay."

He turned and walked out of the courtyard gate.

At the end of the bluestone alley, in the shade of the old locust tree at the alley entrance, an old woman with a hunched back was walking slowly with a cane. Lin Qiye's gaze swept over her without lingering.

But just as he walked past the old woman, he paused slightly.

The old woman's aura was so clean.

She was so clean-cut that she didn't look like an old woman living in a poor alley in the West End. Her steps also had an inexplicable lightness, which was quite incongruous with her hunched posture.

He continued walking forward without making a sound, exiting the alley and blending into the crowd. His senses, however, acted like an invisible thread, quietly attaching themselves to the old woman.

really.

About a hundred paces after he walked out of the alley, the old woman turned into a dark alley, her back slowly straightening and her steps becoming lighter. She pulled off the gray cloth covering her head, revealing a young face, glanced back in the direction of the bluestone alley, and then quickly disappeared into the depths of the alley.

Lin Qiye withdrew his senses, his gaze calm.

The Dark Viper's men have already set their sights on his doorstep.

He took out the temporary jade token and gently ran his fingertip across its surface. The token flashed with a faint light, revealing a line of tiny characters—a message he had previously extracted from the memories of the two Dark Viper spies:

"One of the Dark Viper's strongholds: 'Dark Alley' in the eastern district of the outer city, with a black signboard and white lettering that reads 'Chen's Cloth Shop' hanging at the entrance."

He put away the jade pendant, turned around, and walked towards the east district.

He did not go directly to the Viper's stronghold.

He first went to a pawnshop in the western district of the outer city, spent a few source crystals to buy an inconspicuous gray-brown short robe and a gray veil to cover his face, then turned into a secluded alley, changed his clothes, covered his face, and then walked slowly towards the eastern district.

Chen's Cloth Shop, a dark alley in the eastern district.

This was an ordinary-looking fabric shop. The storefront was small, with a few old bolts of cloth hanging at the entrance, and a plump shopkeeper sitting behind the counter, dozing off. But Lin Qiye's senses told him that there was a sizable space underground in this fabric shop.

Instead of going straight in, he went around to the back alley of the cloth shop, and with a swift movement, silently climbed onto the roof of the shop.

A few lights shone faintly from under the roof tiles.

He lay prone on the roof, his senses penetrating through the tiles and seeping into the fabric shop. Soon, a clear image appeared in his mind—

Beneath the fabric shop, in a spacious, secret room, a middle-aged man dressed in black sat in the main seat, a map of the Holy City spread out before him. On the map, the location of Bluestone Alley was circled in red.

Behind the middle-aged man stood two masked men. One of them was reporting something in a low voice.

"...It has been confirmed that the person who disrupted Black Wind Valley lives in Blue Stone Alley. He was accompanied by more than a dozen women and children, whose origins are unknown. According to intelligence, he is carrying an object related to the Canggu Mountains, which is suspected to be a fragment of some kind of ancient crystal core."

"A fragment of a crystal core..." The middle-aged man stroked his chin. "How did something from the Azure Bone Mountains end up in the hands of an ordinary person?"

"I suspect he's not an ordinary rogue cultivator. The great upheaval deep within the Canggu Mountains is said to be related to a mysterious expert. Could it be... the same person?"

The middle-aged man was silent for a moment before slowly speaking: "Regardless of whether it's the same person or not, the higher-ups are determined to get that item he has. Send more men to keep an eye on Qing Shi Lane, but don't alert him. We'll make our move when he's established himself in the Holy City and lowers his guard."

"yes!"

"And—" the middle-aged man paused, "it seems the Temple is also investigating him recently. We need to act quickly, before the Temple gets there first."

Lin Qiye lay on the roof, listening to the conversation with a calm gaze.

As expected. The Dark Viper's target was that fragment.

He didn't act immediately. He rolled off the roof and disappeared silently into the depths of the alley.

When he returned to Qing Shi Lane, it was already late at night. He stood at the courtyard gate, looking at the warm light shining from inside, and remained silent for a moment.

Then he pushed open the door and went inside.

"Get a good rest tonight," he said to Luo Sheng, who came to greet him. "I'm going to Kugu Ridge first thing tomorrow morning."

Luo Sheng looked into his eyes, didn't ask any more questions, and simply nodded.

Lin Qiye entered the cultivation room and sat down cross-legged.

He closed his eyes, sensing the temperature of the dark golden crystal deep within his dantian. It lay there quietly, like a seed waiting to take root. It neither rejected him nor was it devoured by him; it simply lay dormant, as if waiting for the right moment to completely merge with him.