Soon, ten days had passed.
"Damn it, I couldn't even sense spiritual energy," Ren Xuan murmured.
Spiritual energy is a kind of heaven and earth energy. Like oxygen—without oxygen, people cannot live; similarly, without spiritual energy, people cannot cultivate.
"Now how am I supposed to absorb it?" His knuckles turned white as he clenched his fist.
Oh well, after all, this is a useless body with mixed spiritual roots.
Spiritual roots are necessary for cultivation. Among every ten thousand people, one is born with mixed spiritual roots, and among every ten thousand, one has four spiritual roots. This ratio continues down to one spiritual root. Then there are evolved or mutated spiritual roots, which are also rare. Spiritual roots determine how fast one can absorb spiritual energy.
"I heard that if I could take ten Qi Gathering Pills and refine them, I could become a Stage-1 Qi cultivator."
Qi Gathering Pills are like containers of spiritual energy. With the help of many herbs, alchemists can make many kinds of pills, and this is one of them.
But one pill sells for 25 spiritual stones, and I only get 5 spiritual stones daily. It's impossible to buy those pills. Ren Xuan sighed.
"I have to find a way." His eyes became sharper, and a small curl appeared on his lips. "Oh well, I have to do something evil. Hehe."
Outside his room, steady footsteps echoed as they came closer.
"Hmm? Is someone coming to my room?" Hearing the footsteps, Ren Xuan murmured and started walking toward the door. Before he could get near, a knock came at the door.
"Open the door."
A steady voice spoke. It wasn't like a man's or a woman's voice, but it directly echoed inside his mind like thunder.
"What the…?" A sharp pain came from his brain. It felt like a needle piercing it.
"Ahh!"
His mind went blank for a moment, then he slowly came to his senses.
The room was silent except for his heavy breathing and fast heartbeat. His body could not help but tremble.
Immediately, he ran toward the door and opened it.
"Junior Ren Xuan pays respect to Senior."
He knelt down. His body trembled uncontrollably. Cold sweat fell from his forehead, though the weather was cold.
A mighty force pressed upon his body. Blood began to flow from his knees and forehead.
In his mind, he cursed: Why did this bastard come to my place? And if he came, why couldn't he behave like a normal person? Why must he release his spiritual pressure on me? Hurry, hurry, take it back, or I will be dead.
"Oh, you're Ren Xuan, who lost his memory? Well, well, you have good manners."
Again, the voice echoed inside his mind. He felt that same terrifying sensation. This time, he was truly about to pass out, but remembering that if he passed out, this mighty figure might get angry and kill him on the spot, he tried his best to stay conscious.
A box and a bottle appeared before his kneeling figure.
"A few days from now, someone will give you an order to work at Li Na Chamber. When I give you a signal, mix that powder with something and give it to her. If you do well, I will give you rewards."
The voice spoke inside his mind before he could give any response. His mind went blank, and he passed out.
Seeing this, a faint smile left the figure's lips, and then the figure vanished.
Sometime later, Ren Xuan woke up. His face was full of worry.
What is the meaning of this? I only came to this world in a useless body, and now some mighty figure wants me to do something for him. Isn't this hellish?
Why did he say this? Because he knew this was a death trap.
If he did what that figure said, something would happen to Li Na. As for Li Na's identity, he didn't know, but he knew only an inner disciple could have such status, so she was either an inner disciple or higher.
If something happened to her, the sect people would really investigate everything, and if they investigated, they would find him even if he left no evidence.
But if that figure knew his identity and did not erase all evidence, that figure would kill him.
And why did he choose Ren Xuan? That was very simple. If someone else did the work for him and he killed that person, the case would end. But if the investigation found that Li Na, one of the servant disciples, was missing, what would they do?
For that reason, he would let Ren Xuan take the mission, then come to kill him and say Ren Xuan had lost his memory, so Ren Xuan didn't know which medicine to mix.
Thus, he mixed it into Li Na's food unknowingly, and she died. Everything would look like an accident.
Being an exceptional genius, Ren Xuan understood everything, but soon a smirk appeared on his lips.
"Hah, want to use me? Dream on. And how dare you bully me?"
He thought angrily.
But every path was a dead end. However, I don't give a fuck. I thought life was going to go well. If it continued like this, it would be boring, but now it's interesting.
"Let's see who dies in the end. Hehe."
Thinking that, he picked up the bottle and box, came to his bedside, and hid them under his bed.
Then he went outside to a nearby market to buy identical bottles and boxes.
More than twenty boxes and bottles were brought to his room and placed on different sides.
After doing everything, he locked his door and window.
"Let's have a look at what that bastard gave me."
With that thought, he opened the bottle. Immediately, a medicinal fragrance spread all over the room.
"Hah, is this… great! I was badly needing this." All his earlier stress and tension decreased.
Inside the bottle were ten Qi Gathering Pills. He couldn't help but shake his head.
What a cunning bastard he is. He even thought I wouldn't be able to become a cultivator within three months. And if I couldn't do his work or if I understood his plan and didn't cultivate and left the sect, this cunning bastard had sealed that path too, he thought.
"Damn that bastard. If I knew who you were, after I became strong, I would cut you into thousands of pieces and feed you to a dog," he murmured with some anger. His brows furrowed unconsciously.
"Whatever, I don't have plans to leave the sect anyway."
After much thought, he found Chen Meng and gave him a pill. With an unfocused look and some confusion, he asked, "Brother, what did I find in my room? Do you know what it is?"
Seeing the pill, Chen Meng immediately gave it back to Ren Xuan and said in a serious tone, "Do not swallow it. Otherwise, it will expand its function."
Oh well, this Chen Meng is really a good person, so I could use him as a sacrifice, Ren Xuan thought.
After a few polite words, Chen Meng left.
After many thoughts, Ren Xuan went to the market again. He sold pills, then bought others. This process continued for ten days. He sold and bought from twenty different shops. After finishing all this, he came back.
Why did he do that? It was simple. He didn't believe that if that guy had done something to the pill, he wouldn't be in big trouble.
After coming home, he began to analyze everything that had happened. After that, he started forming a plan.
To be successful, he had to find out that figure's identity, but that was the big issue. Who could find out? He didn't even see the face, and that wasn't enough—he couldn't even identify the voice.
To be continued…