Gu An placed the Purple Cloud Goose egg into his storage bag. He had already examined it; it was a dead egg and could be stored in the bag.

"Why not give me a fertilized egg-" Gu An thought greedily, fantasizing about riding a Purple Cloud Goose soaring across the sky.

I must buy a flying spirit beast in the future!

Preferably one I raise myself, loyal!

Hmm, and if something unexpected happens, it can provide me with some spiritual Qi. Two birds with one stone. Only under my care can this spirit beast truly realize its value in life!

Gu An called Bai Zhi over and instructed her to leave the island and return to Blackrock City. He told her to inform the Blackrock City Lord to bring all the Black-Pattern Iron tomorrow, and granted her half a month's leave. Seeing Qingliu staring at him with eager eyes, he also granted her wish and let her go home as well.

The two women prepared lunch, took their leave, and together rowed a boat off the island.

Gu An, on the other hand, ate slowly, gazing at the rippling lake water. A gentle breeze brushed his face, and the taut string in his heart finally began to relax.

After all, it was a late-stage Qi Condensation spirit beast. Although the misunderstanding had been resolved, being so close to it still made Gu An quite nervous.

After finishing his meal, Gu An went into the lake and fully exerted his Entangling Spell. Eight vines, like green pythons entering the water, flexibly wove through it, capturing all sixty-three Black Spirit Fish one by one and placing them into the spirit beast bag.

This spirit beast bag was not large; several dozen fish took up nearly half its space. He also drew some water into it to keep the Black Spirit Fish alive.

The next morning, just as Gu An finished his meditation, he heard movement outside the courtyard.

Walking out of the house and pushing open the courtyard gate, he saw the Blackrock City Lord, along with four black-armored soldiers, moving a box from the boat onto the lake island.

There was only one box, entirely made of redwood, and not too large, yet the four men carried it with great care.

The Immortal Iron requested by the Immortal Master must not be handled carelessly!

Seeing Gu An push open the gate and walk out, the Blackrock City Lord hurried over to greet him.

"Immortal Master Gu, Immortal Master Gu, this commandery has collected a total of thirty-two catties and seven taels of Black-Pattern Iron ore this year. It's all here. Please take a look."

As he spoke, he signaled the four black-armored soldiers to open the box.

The iron ore was entirely black-gray in color, its surface densely covered with spiderweb-like dark red natural patterns, resembling dried bloodstains. The patterns emitted a faint metallic luster under the light.

It was in angular, blocky shapes. Gu An knocked on it with his hand, and it emitted a dull hum.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed to exude a faint earthy smell, with subtle spiritual Qi fluctuations.

Gu An had seen this type of spirit iron in the texts of the Scripture Pavilion. It was classified as first-grade lower-tier, imbued with Earth Fiend Qi, and was commonly used in the refinement of many low-grade magical artifacts. These few pieces were raw ore; after refining, they would probably yield about three catties, worth around a dozen or so spirit stones.

The texts also recorded that in extremely rare cases, Black-Pattern Iron buried in Blood Fiend land could transform into first-grade high-tier spirit material, Blood-Pattern Iron. Blood-Pattern Iron was far more valuable, with a single catty worth several dozen spirit stones.

Gu An recalled the characteristics related to Black-Pattern Iron, waved his sleeve, and stored the Black-Pattern Iron into his storage bag. Smiling, he praised, "Not bad, City Lord Zhang has been thoughtful. I will put in a good word for you."

Upon hearing this, the Blackrock City Lord was visibly excited and repeatedly thanked him. The Yun Kingdom was within the sphere of influence of the Qingyuan Sect, and every action was deeply influenced by the sect. For officials, promotion, demotion, protecting the territory, and pacifying the people were secondary; the main criterion was how many spiritual items they could provide for the Qingyuan Sect and how well they could curry favor with the Immortal Masters.

"I intend to return to the royal city to report on my duties. This trip will take at least half a month. City Lord Zhang, you must take good care of White Mirror Lake." Gu An accepted the Blackrock City Lord's thanks with a clear conscience and issued a warning.

After speaking, Gu An activated the Light Body Spell, walking on water like stepping on duckweed, graceful as a startled swan. In a few bounds, he reached the meadow outside the lake.

"Neigh."

A black wind rushed over from afar. Focusing his gaze, it was the Black-Scale Horse, Little Black.

A year had passed. Although Little Black often grazed outside on its own, and Gu An only fed it a handful of ordinary grain and a few chicken eggs each day, it was still plump and strong, its scales glossy and shiny, nourished by the spiritual Qi of White Mirror Lake.

Stroking Little Black's mane, Gu An said with a smile, "Little Black, let's go."

Then he mounted the horse, oriented himself, and headed towards the Red Maple Mountain Spirit Land.

..

"Second Uncle, with the bountiful harvest of Golden Cloud Rice this year, has the clan leader mentioned anything about increasing our salary-"

"No, there's only an extra six hundred catties. Where would the spirit stones come from to increase the salary-"

"Ah, at least we can get a larger share of the spirit rice, right- I've been stuck at the second layer of Qi Condensation for four years now."

In the spirit field, two men chatted idly under the sun, occasionally picking up stray grains and ears of spirit rice left in the field and putting them into the storage bag at the waist of the middle-aged man.

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves came, growing from distant to near, gradually becoming clear.

What came into view was a young man riding a black horse, galloping towards the two of them.

The two men warily stared at the young man on the horse until he was close, and they saw the green cauldron embroidered on his chest. Only then did they let out a long breath.

"Fellow Daoist ahead, are you from the Lin Family of Red Maple Mountain- I am Gu An, a disciple of the Qingyuan Sect stationed in Blackrock Commandery, here to pay a visit."

The newcomer was Gu An. He had spotted these two from afar and sensed that the spiritual pressure emanating from them was only at the early stage of Qi Condensation. Seeing them picking up grains in the spirit field of Red Maple Mountain, he guessed they were members of the Lin Family and came forward to inquire.

The two exchanged a glance. The middle-aged man stepped forward and spoke, "We are indeed from the Lin Family. I am Lin Changfeng, and this is my nephew, Lin Qing'an. Greetings, Fellow Daoist Gu."

Gu An was puzzled. He had visited the Lin Family's clan leader once before and had registered all the Lin Family cultivators. He knew of Lin Changfeng, but he had never heard the name Lin Qing'an.

Pointing at the young man, Gu An asked clearly, "Fellow Daoist Lu Ping came to see me before. How is it that I've never heard of this Fellow Daoist's name-"

Hearing this, Lin Changfeng finally let down his guard completely. He stepped forward and cupped his hands, "Please don't take offense, Fellow Daoist Gu. My nephew's real name is actually Lin Qingsong."

"Oh, then why deceive me-" The name Lin Qingsong matched the records, but Gu An was even more curious and asked.

"Forgive me, Fellow Daoist Gu. This was truly not our intention. Our Lin Family has always been utterly loyal to the Qingyuan Sect."

"The reason we did this is that there were circumstances."

"Our Lin Family.."

"Stop, stop, stop. I naturally do not doubt the Lin Family's loyalty. However, I still have matters to discuss with your clan leader. Fellow Daoist Lin, please get straight to the point!" Gu An found Lin Changfeng's rambling somewhat headache-inducing and hurriedly interrupted him.

"The clan leader said there have been robber cultivators recently." Lin Qingsong, standing by, summed it up in one breath.

"Yes, yes, yes, there are robber cultivators. I heard they've already committed crimes in another commandery, wiping out a small family." Lin Changfeng continued the conversation.

robber cultivators. Gu An's heart skipped a beat as he recalled the Qingyuan Sect's records on evil cultivators.

robber cultivators were cultivators who had strayed from the path, making a living by robbing and plundering. They did not engage in production, sought wealth and committed murder, either lurking at market entrances to spot easy targets or setting traps to lure people in. The most notorious among them would directly attack Spirit Lands, burning, killing, and plundering. Their reputation was extremely foul.

Furthermore, the foundation of a robber cultivator's ability to seek wealth and commit murder was their formidable strength; otherwise, they would just be delivering themselves to be killed. So, ordinary people who encountered them couldn't even fight back.

The Qingyuan Sect had taught that robber cultivators should be shown no mercy.

Thanks to his transmigration, Gu An had matured early and hadn't been led astray. He had no thoughts of upholding justice. What were righteousness and evil, anyway- Nothing more than conflicts of interest. It was just that he was currently enjoying the benefits of following the Qingyuan Sect. If there was no danger, he might lend a hand.

But now, he was merely a minor cultivator at the fourth layer of Qi Condensation. Even fighting against early-stage Qi Condensation cultivators seemed risky to him. Therefore, he only felt worry about this matter of robber cultivators.

"Just don't let them come after me!" Gu An prayed inwardly.

Seeing that Gu An was interested in the matter of the robber cultivators, the two men spoke up, "We don't know any more of the details. Fellow Daoist Gu, you can go into the mountain and discuss it in detail with the clan leader."

Gu An nodded slightly and asked the two to lead the way.