Cultivation is just so scientific!

Shi Ximing stood on the roof, his body light as a feather, his legs shimmering with a cyan glow.

This time, he had come to Great Xia for a legacy.

His talent was not exceptional. It had taken him over twenty years to reach the third level of Qi Refinement.

This strength put him at a very awkward level, as normally, cultivators walking outside with Qi Refinement cultivation would not be below this strength.

And since he had spent so much time cultivating, he had no time to master many combat techniques, not even enough to rob someone effectively.

Had it not been for some of the resources handed down from his ancestors, perhaps he wouldn't have even reached the Qi Refining Third Level.

He had stumbled upon notes left by his ancestors and saw an essay that mentioned a good friend of his ancestor who, severely injured and hopeless on his immortal path, returned to Great Xia.

The essay described how his ancestor's friend was rather fortunate to have obtained a top-grade magic tool during the early Qi Refining stage.

Top-grade magic tools are so rare that most cultivators in the late-stage of Qi Refinement can't obtain them, which shows the preciousness of top-grade magic tools, and his ancestor's friend's tool was a high-grade attack magic item.

Perhaps Shi Ximing's ancestor had recorded it as a memory, but upon seeing it, Shi Ximing first thought of how if he could possess a high-grade attack magic item, he could rob most mid- and low-level cultivators.

While a low-level cultivator could not maintain a high-grade attack magic item for long, even middle-level cultivators without good defensive magic artifacts could not withstand the attack of a low-level cultivator using a high-grade attack weapon.

In his opinion, this was his fate as a cultivator, so he had come to Great Xia.

However, he had no real connections in the secular world, and as he inquired about the descendants of his ancestor's friend, his inquiries were leaked.

Chief Escort Wang's ancestor was precisely the friend of Shi Ximing's ancestor, and the legacy left by Chief Escort Wang's ancestor had become the foundation of the Wang family.

The legacy of Chief Escort Wang's ancestor included not just cultivation secrets but also several top-tier martial arts inheritances.

In the Cultivation World, the value of top-tier martial arts inheritances is not high, but it was these martial arts inheritances that made the Wang family produce many experts.

This generation's Chief Escort Wang had even achieved the title of master, and Weiyuan Escort Agency was one of the major escort agencies in Great Xia.

Chief Escort Wang also knew the importance of the ancestral legacy and made precautions when he learned that someone was inquiring about his ancestor's information.

That day, he gathered the dart heads of the escort agency, preparing countermeasures when Shi Ximing found them.

Seven dart heads fought desperately to allow Chief Escort Wang to escape from the Tianxiang Building, and with his familiarity with the surroundings, he successfully evaded Shi Ximing's tracking.

Shi Ximing had not expected Chief Escort Wang to be so cunning. A secular master in front of him, a mere cultivator at the third level of Qi Refinement, was supposed to be easy to capture, but his momentary carelessness allowed Chief Escort Wang to slip away.

Because of the incident at Tianxiang Building, particularly since many scholars were present at the time and several suffered injuries, and with seven lives taken, the government put all its efforts into pursuing Shi Ximing.

Shi Ximing was not afraid of the government, but he did not want to cause too much trouble with the Great Xia officials before obtaining the items he desired.

If things got out of hand, the Immortal Sect behind Great Xia would send cultivators to deal with the situation.

The cultivators sent for such tasks were not something his minor third-level Qi Refinement stage could contend with.

It was for this reason he ceased causing trouble and only used some methods to track Chief Escort Wang.

However, after scouring nearly half of Nanling City, he still hadn't found Chief Escort Wang, which left him unable to remain rational any longer.

Shi Ximing found the Weiyuan Escort Agency, killed everyone inside, and used the fresh blood of Chief Escort Wang's direct lineage to activate a Low-level Bloodline Tracking Talisman.

What deeply disappointed him occurred; the Low-level Bloodline Tracking Talisman, on which he had pinned his hopes, failed to locate Chief Escort Wang's precise position.

There were two possibilities: either Chief Escort Wang had left Nanling Prefecture and was more than 500 miles away or he had died, rendering the Low-level Bloodline Tracking Talisman ineffective.

Standing on the roof, Shi Ximing gritted his teeth and took out a new tracking talisman, which contained a much richer Spiritual Power Pattern than the one he had used before.

This was a Mid-level Qi Tracking Talisman, one of the few items left by his ancestors.

A single Intermediate Talisman was equivalent to one hundred of the same kind of low-level talismans. With Shi Ximing's strength at the third level of Qi Refining, he was incapable of crafting Intermediate Talismans by himself.

Using an Intermediate Talisman to track a mere mortal was a painful thought for him.

"Once I track you down, I will extract your soul and refine your body into a corpse puppet!" he said reluctantly as he took a piece of clothing from the storage bag at his waist.

The clothing, found in the Weiyuan Escort Agency, belonged to Chief Escort Wang and carried his scent.

He channeled Spiritual Power, activated the Mid-level Tracking Talisman in his hand, which turned into a beam of light that landed on the clothing. Using the Mid-level Tracking Talisman, he could feel the route taken by Chief Escort Wang.

The effective time of the Mid-level Tracking Talisman was three two-hour periods. As long as Chief Escort Wang was still within Nanling City, Shi Ximing was confident he could find him.

Even if Chief Escort Wang was dead, all the places he passed would retain traces of his Qi.

Having searched the Weiyuan Escort Agency and found nothing, he resorted to other methods and learned from Chief Escort Wang's family that Wang had taken an item with him.

Therefore, whether or not he could find Chief Escort Wang himself, locating that item was still highly probable.

Shi Ximing applied a Basic Light Body Talisman to himself, maintaining an effect that made him as light as a feather.

This time, to achieve his goal, he was being extraordinarily extravagant, constantly using talismans that he usually hesitated to use.

Following the Qi clues provided by the Mid-level Tracking Talisman, he leaped across the structures of Nanling City.

Half a two-hour period later, he arrived outside the prefectural office.

Feeling the guidance of the Mid-level Tracking Talisman, he finally understood why he hadn't found Chief Escort Wang before.

It turned out that Chief Escort Wang had hidden inside the prefectural office; the most dangerous place was indeed the safest.

Who would have known that the man Shi Ximing and the officials were searching for was hiding in the government's own prefectural office?

Without any hesitation, even if it meant being discovered by government officials, he was determined to enter.

The direction of the Qi led toward the back garden; the high courtyard walls were as if nonexistent to him.

He leaped over the wall effortlessly, his feet tapping on the treetops as he traced the Qi without touching the ground.

There was no one in the garden; Li WenYuan had been extremely busy lately. The Li Family consisted only of Li WenYuan and Li Shiming, with few servants.

Due to major events that had occurred in Nanling Prefecture in recent days, a large number of personnel had been deployed for investigations.

Although Shi Ximing's strength was weak—only in terms of cultivators—with the help of the Basic Light Body Talisman and his keen senses, he managed to penetrate deep into the garden without alerting anyone.