131: Chapter 131 The Pollution of the World

As the setting sun went down, the light in the courtyard shifted from golden to dark red.

The three of them had practiced their sabers and spears all day, their bodies drenched in sweat. At this moment, they sat side by side at the base of the courtyard wall, cross-legged with their eyes closed, regulating their breathing and circulating their energy.

Qin Yin placed her hands on her knees, palms facing upward, her breathing long and steady.

That Intermediate Qi and Blood Talisman slowly circulated within her body, bit by bit replenishing the qi and blood she had consumed while practicing martial arts during the day.

Her meridians were much wider than when she first arrived, and her qi and blood flowed through them like a rushing river in its channel.

Qin Mo's breathing was a bit heavier than Qin Yin's, and the rise and fall of his chest was also wider.

That qi and blood talisman circulated faster in his body than in Qin Yin's, darting back and forth through his meridians.

His brows were slightly furrowed, but his aura was not chaotic. Although his spear technique was still rough, the foundation of his qi and blood had already been laid very solidly.

Qin Ling watched them from within the shrine, his expression calm.

They still needed time; the qi and blood talisman had only helped them push the door open a crack, and whether they could push the door open completely still depended on themselves.

Qin Ling's gaze shifted away from Qin Yin and Qin Mo and fell upon Pei Se.

Pei Se's breathing was very light, making almost no sound.

The aura of a Fourth-Turn Martial Artist was freely retractable and released, unlike Qin Yin and Qin Mo, whose circulation of qi and blood could still be easily perceived by others.

Her qi and blood sank into her sea of qi like a bottomless pool of water.

But Qin Ling saw was more than just that.

When Pei Se breathed, something invisible to the naked eye in the air was drawn into her body along with her breath.

It mixed into her qi and blood, flowing along her meridians into her sea of qi.

It was not the weak spiritual energy that ordinary martial artists absorbed from heaven and earth during cultivation, but another kind of thing.

A thing Qin Ling was very familiar with!

It was evil qi!

Qin Ling's brows slowly furrowed.

Although it was extremely shallow, that was indeed evil qi, and he was certain he had not probed incorrectly.

After all, he had already dealt quite a bit with evil spirits nowadays, and he was quite familiar with evil qi.

Noticing this, Qin Ling immediately used divine arts on Pei Se.

Dream-Entering Technique.

Pei Se's breathing, which had just been meditating, grew heavier and slower.

Her consciousness seemed to be gently lifted by something, floating out from her body, passing through that layer of dim twilight, and falling into a gray, hazy fog.

She stood in the fog, the surroundings completely deserted, with only the mist rolling slowly.

She did not panic, but simply stood there and waited.

She knew what this was; Qin Yin had told her that Lord Qinling possessed the ability of dream-entering, capable of pulling people into dreams in a single thought.

And today, Pei Se had finally encountered it.

A beam of light lit up from the depths of the fog.

It was gentle, like a candlelight.

That light grew closer and brighter, the fog being dispersed by the light to reveal a figure.

She still could not see that face clearly, but those eyes were bright.

Pei Se of course knew who this golden figure was.

"Lord Qinling."

As she spoke, she was about to kneel down.

"Get up."

Qin Ling said indifferently.

Pei Se stopped her motion of kneeling.

"When you cultivate, do you know what the thing you inhale is?"

Qin Ling went straight to the point.

Pei Se's body stiffened slightly.

Of course she knew; even before she managed to break through to the Fourth-Turn, she had learned about it from the texts of the Demon Slayer Association.

Those things that surged into her body with her breath, mixed into her qi and blood, and flowed along her meridians into her sea of qi—

were precisely evil qi.

Pei Se raised her head, looked at the golden figure, and said,

"Lord Qinling, I know. For martial artists in this world, once anyone breaks through to the Fourth-Turn, they will begin to be polluted by evil qi."

"No one knows where this evil qi comes from, nor is there any way to stop it. All martial artists have tried, but there is no way."

"All martial artists above the Fourth-Turn can only endure this pollution."

"When first entering the Fourth-Turn, the pollution is not yet too severe and can still be resisted, but as the realm continues to rise, this pollution will further intensify."

There was a strange calmness in Pei Se's voice.

Qin Ling was somewhat surprised that Pei Se knew about the pollution. He lowered his head, deep in thought.

He hadn't expected that this world would produce pollution for all martial artists who broke through to the Fourth-Turn.

Moreover, after being polluted for so many years, no martial artist had been able to find the root cause of this pollution.

Could it be the evil spirits of the sea?

Images of those huge evil spirits within the vast sea surfaced in Qin Ling's mind.

But soon he shook his head, feeling that it didn't quite look like it.

Then Qin Ling slowly raised his head.

He recalled that purple lightning bolt that had struck down from the Thirty-Three Heavens previously.

At that time, he thought that the God of Thunder might be in some state, and the Heavenly Court of this world was probably in trouble.

Then, could the source of that evil qi be in the Heavenly Court?

Just as Qin Ling was pondering, Pei Se's voice rang out again.

"Reporting to Lord Qinling, after monsters advance to the Fourth-Turn, they will also be polluted, just like us martial artists."

"However, a long time ago, monsters discovered a method to resist this pollution, and this method is—"

"Incense!"

Hearing the two words 'incense', Qin Ling's gaze grew stern.

He was exceptionally sensitive to incense!

"Monsters discovered that incense can resist that pollution. As long as the incense is thriving enough, they can avoid being polluted by evil qi."

"This is also the reason why Huang Zu bought an official position from Prefect Yin Wuji and came to Guanhai County to be the magistrate."

"It is not just to eat a few people, but even more so for the incense of Guanhai County."

Hearing these words from Pei Se, Qin Ling recalled the statues of the Yellow Immortal he had seen before.

These statues of the Yellow Immortal were naturally the channels Huang Zu used to absorb incense.

At that time, Qin Ling had been puzzled as to why Huang Zu went to such great lengths to seize incense. Now, hearing Pei Se's words, he understood instantly.

Huang Zu advanced from the peak of the Third-Turn to the Fourth-Turn, understanding that he was about to be polluted by evil qi.

Naturally, he had to buy the magistracy of Guanhai County in order to absorb incense to resist the pollution.

"However, martial artists cannot do as monsters do, because humans cannot absorb incense."

Pei Se sighed and said,

"Therefore, after so many years, just as you, Lord Qinling, see now, most of the officials in various places of the State of Qian are monsters, not martial artists."

"It is difficult for martial artists to guard a region because they cannot sustain it for long."

"Martial artists are already polluted by evil qi; if they get tainted with evil qi while fighting evil spirits that appear within their jurisdiction, they are probably not far from death."

Pei Se raised her head and said,

"But monsters are different. They have incense to resist the pollution, so they are not as fearful of evil qi."

"Of course, that is also built on the condition that the evil spirits are not very strong."

"This time, a Five-Turn Evil Tree appeared in the county town, didn't that Prefect Yin Wuji just turn his head and leave?"

"No monster would want to come and deal with an evil spirit of the Five-Turn realm."

Hearing these words from Pei Se, Qin Ling felt that many of the mysteries he had previously felt puzzled about now had answers.

He just hadn't expected that this answer would be so cruel.

Humans cannot absorb incense, which in turn leads to martial artists being unable to guard a region.

Instead, those monsters can absorb incense and thereby transform into officials in various places.