After returning home, Bai Yu couldn't wait to open the fragmented tome of "Swallow's Triple Water Flip."

After flipping through and practicing it once, two new lines appeared on the panel.

["Swallow's Triple Water Flip," Yellow Rank Middle Grade lightness skill, fragmented tome.]

[Compatibility with Void Walking Step: 86%, can be fused for 200 Life Experience.]

It seemed the lower the compatibility, the more Life Experience it would cost.

Intrigued, Bai Yu spent 200 Life Experience.

Instantly, he felt the knowledge in his mind continually merging and reorganizing.

[Fusion successful, acquired new cultivation technique "Flying Swallow Void Walking Step."]

Although "Flying Swallow Void Walking Step" was still Yellow Rank Middle Grade, it was more agile, like a swallow skimming the water.

Bai Yu nodded in satisfaction and fell into a steady sleep.

In the following days, Bai Yu used the silver he earned to buy ginseng and polygonatum.

He prepared several doses of Essence-Nourishing Powder and began consuming them for cultivation.

With a large supply of Essence-Nourishing Powder, Bai Yu had ample Qi and Blood.

His Iron Armor Technique advanced rapidly, with his entire skin tempered to be as hard as steel, yet emitting a jade-like luster.

One day, Bai Yu was training under a waterfall.

The powerful water currents struck his body, making a loud slapping sound.

He picked up a steel knife from the side and slashed it across his chest.

It left only a white mark on his chest.

[Iron Armor Technique (Thorough Understanding)!]

Bai Yu's Iron Armor Technique had finally advanced to the level of Thorough Understanding.

His skin was like steel, impervious to blades and spears.

Ordinary knives and axes could no longer harm him.

Moreover, his entire body had been tempered without any weak spots.

His skin was like jade, and his body was flawless.

"Next, I should use Qi and Blood to open my meridians and transform it into internal force."

"Then I'll be able to step into the Fourth Rank Meridian Connecting Realm."

In other words, he had encountered his first bottleneck in martial cultivation.

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To open the meridians and condense internal force, he needed a breakthrough opportunity.

It couldn't be rushed.

Next, he turned his attention to the Zhuyou Yin Talisman Scripture.

His last trip to the black market left Bai Yu feeling uneasy, as there were too many people encountering Sha energy.

Mastering the Yin Talisman Scripture, drawing talismans to earn money, and having some confidence against Sha energy seemed like a good plan.

This time, Bai Yu learned a Requiem Song from the Yin Talisman Scripture.

It was an ancient funeral song with a clear and ancient melody, possessing a miraculous effect of calming souls.

Bai Yu quickly got the hang of it.

He continued to push forward, setting his sights on the Blood Talisman recorded in the Yin Talisman Scripture.

Ordinary talismans were drawn with cinnabar and rooster blood, with limited power.

They mainly used the principle of mutual generation and restraint to transform and dispel Sha energy.

The Blood Talisman, however, was drawn with human essence blood and could deal with certain ghostly entities and mummified corpses.

Bai Yu set up a table and laid out special talisman paper.

Old Mo stood on a chair, helping Bai Yu hold down the talisman paper, watching intently as Bai Yu drew the talisman.

Bai Yu pricked his middle finger, forced out essence blood, and began drawing the talisman.

His mind was intensely focused, his hand moving continuously, drawing intricate runes.

However, halfway through, he felt immense resistance, his body trembled, and he could no longer continue.

Drawing talismans required a seamless process; any interruption meant failure.

Bai Yu took a deep breath, organized his thoughts, and started drawing again.

After several consecutive failures, he finally completed a Sha-Gathering Talisman.

This Sha-Gathering Talisman could gather Sha energy, and if used on a person, it would immediately envelop them in Sha energy.

Bai Yu carefully put away the Sha-Gathering Talisman and sighed, "This Blood Talisman is too difficult; continuing would deplete my Qi and Blood."

Fortunately, he had abundant Qi and Blood to expend.

For others, they could only draw one or two talismans a day at most.

Bai Yu couldn't help but speculate that perhaps the Blood Talisman was the reason for the decline of body cultivators.

Other cultivators used external materials like cinnabar, combined with spiritual energy, to draw talismans.

But body cultivators had to consume their own essence blood.

Over time, how could ordinary body cultivators endure?

Their cultivation progress naturally couldn't keep up with Qi Refining cultivators.

In the following days, Bai Yu dared not draw Blood Talismans again.

Instead, he bought cinnabar, black dog blood, and other materials to draw ordinary Sha-Subduing Talismans, Sha-Transforming Talismans, and so on.

Only when the funeral procession provided generous Qi and Blood rewards did he start drawing Blood Talismans.

In half a month, he only managed to draw three Blood Talismans.

One Sha-Gathering Talisman, one Fire-Starting Talisman, and one Corpse-Control Talisman.

On the other hand, he accumulated quite a few ordinary talismans.

On the fifteenth, payday arrived once more.

After Bai Yu and the others received their hundred wen, the Black Wolf Gang's Wolf Master came knocking again.

"Listen up, folks at the charity mortuary, from now on, the monthly protection fee will double."

Zhu Tong, Old Zhangtou, and the others' faces changed, but they sighed and handed over a hundred wen.

Wolf Master and his men looked maliciously at Bai Yu and another attendant, Little Wang.

Bai Yu, however, remained unfazed and handed over a hundred wen.

In his mind, he added another mark against Second Master Zuo.

In this line of work, debts would eventually be repaid; he was determined to dig up the Zuo family's ancestral graves!

Little Wang, who originally only received fifty wen, was at a loss when suddenly required to pay a hundred.

Bai Yu discreetly patted him and slipped a string of coins into his waist, lending him a hand in his time of need.

Little Wang, feeling as if he had been granted a great reprieve, also handed over his protection fee.

Wolf Master was quite surprised, not expecting both newcomers to be able to pay.

He had been waiting for Bai Yu to run out of money and come to him for a high-interest loan.

Today, he had even planned to make an example of someone, but seeing Bai Yu and Little Wang so compliant, he found it hard to act out.

"Hmph, count yourselves lucky."

He turned with his men and headed to Willow Street across the way.

Soon, screams and wails could be heard from outside.

When Bai Yu rushed over, a crowd had already gathered.

Through the gaps in the crowd, he saw an old man with white hair lying on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

An old woman beside him was crying over a shattered stove.

Second Master Zuo and his men were wreaking havoc, smashing things left and right.

It turned out to be Old Zhou, the wonton vendor, and his wife.

Old Zhou was a very amiable person, always adding an extra wonton for regular customers at his stall.

The surrounding neighbors were discussing in hushed tones.

"Old Zhou is really unlucky. He spent a lot of money treating his wife's illness recently, and now with the Black Wolf Gang doubling the protection fee, he's completely out of savings."

"What a sin, Old Zhou's stall is smashed, and now it's even harder for him."

"I heard Second Master Zuo has his eye on their small courtyard and is trying to force them to sell."

"Shh, be careful, don't let him hear you."

At this moment, Second Master Zuo, having smashed enough, shouted loudly:

"Look closely, this is what happens when you don't pay the protection fee; even your stall gets smashed!"

"Not only will it be smashed, but the protection fee can't be less!"

"No money? That's easy, borrow from me."

With a wave of his hand, one of his men pulled out a loan note and forced Old Zhou to press his fingerprint on it.

Second Master Zuo pulled out five wen from his pocket and threw it on the ground.

"Take it, this is your loan of five hundred wen, plus this month's protection fee, you owe me a total of five hundred and sixty wen."

He put away the loan note and led his men to the next stall.

Bai Yu, however, was seething with anger inside.

This time, Second Master Zuo was clearly out to make a deadly example.

If Bai Yu hadn't been able to pay earlier, he would have faced the same fate.

This Second Master Zuo was on a path to destruction.