Ding Daoxiao was caught completely off guard by this abrupt change of topic.

"Those two men were my father and my brother," Chu Qiguang explained.

"So you did this for revenge!" Ding Daoxiao spat through gritted teeth. "I should've killed your entire family!"

"Revenge? You've got it all wrong," Chu Qiguang scoffed as he pulled out a machete. "I'm only doing this because you've gotten in my way."

Ding Daoxiao was enveloped by a sense of crippling fear as he realized what was about to happen to him. He began roaring like a furious beast, trying to dispel the fear in his heart.

"To me, you're nothing more than a weed that needs to be uprooted," Chu Qiguang mused.

***

Some time later, Chu Qiguang stepped into the moonlight, his face still splattered with blood.

He felt like he had just sacrificed Ding Daoxiao as an offering to alleviate his mental condition. The aggression that was raging in his chest was slowly giving way to a calm sense of peace.

The part of him that was Ergou, the part that had been screaming for justice and vengeance, seemed to finally settle with Ding Daoxiao's death, and the thorn in his mental state slowly faded away.

This sense of calm brought a change to his mental state. It was as if his consciousness had left his body and risen into the boundless universe, reaching the end of the galaxy, where time and space met. There, he saw vast and infinite secrets as well as an abyss that transcended all imagination...

All of his senses slowly faded away, and he was ultimately left in a state of complete immersion within himself.

All of a sudden, a voice rang out. "Are you there?"

The words rang like thunder in Chu Qiguang's ears, snapping him back to reality. However, by the time he returned to his senses, he had already forgotten about hearing that voice.

All he could sense was the great step forward that his mental state had just taken, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

Your death has helped me reach the fourth state in Dao arts, Ding Daoxiao. You should be honored. It seems like there's still a minute influence from Ergou lingering in my mind, but I should be able to completely get rid of this mental thorn once I've gone to pay my respects at the grave of his father and brother.

As a fourth-state Dao artist, Chu Qiguang had gained the ability to shut out all five senses and enter a deeper state of Concentration.

This was a highly efficient state for both rest and thought, and he would be able to replace sleep with just half an hour of meditation each day.

My Dao arts cultivation base doesn't directly improve my combat prowess, but it's still contributing greatly to my martial arts cultivation. Just the fact that I barely need to sleep anymore is already very useful. If I could bring this ability with me back to Earth...

All of a sudden, Chu Qiguang noticed something rather surprising. He had just thought back to his memories from Earth, only to discover that they were incredibly clear.

As he continued recollecting more of his memories from Earth, he realized that this didn't only apply to normal memories. Instead, all of the knowledge that he had learned, all of the people that he had met, even a picture that he had caught a fleeting glimpse of while reading a book, then sensation of being held by his parents as a child, the aroma of the roast meat skewers he had eaten back in his university days...

All of those memories were incredibly clear and vivid, as if they had been stored in a computer and could be accessed in 4K definition through all of his senses at any time.

As a third-state Dao artist, I gained the ability to remember everything I see. Now, I'm able to go back and examine all of my memories with incredible clarity.

Chu Qiguang stroked his chin as he wondered whether all fourth-state Dao artists were capable of the same thing. Unfortunately, he didn't know anyone else who had memories from a past life, so there was no one he could ask.

However, this sudden change gave Chu Qiguang a new flash of inspiration.

Looks like I can alter my plans a little bit...

At this point, Chu Qiguang was a third-state martial artist and a fourth-state Dao artist. Furthermore, he had established an enormous and powerful network of connections in Azure Sun County. All he had to do now was pass the martial examination and enter the officialdom, and his rise to the top would truly begin.

After disposing of Ding Daoxiao's body, Chu Qiguang interrogated Li Changqing and obtained a great deal of information about the Demon Vanquishing Department.

He chose to spare Li Changqing for now and only kill the thousand-man commander once his condition flared up again. That way, he would be able to take another step forward in his mental cultivation.

After hiding Ding Daoxiao's medicines and Sumeru King Scripture, he returned to the Ding Manor to check on the unfolding situation.

***

By the time Chu Qiguang returned to the Ding Manor, it was already very late, but the night was still far from over.

Crates that were filled with silver and gold were still being carried out of the cellar one after another. The total assets seized from the Ding Manor had already exceeded three hundred thousand taels of silver, and that number was steadily increasing, much to everyone's fervent excitement.

In the end, it took close to ten days to divide all the spoils. During this time, there were frequent arguments and altercations between the leaders of the prominent clans, the officials, and the Daoist priests over how all of this wealth should be distributed. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

There was nothing that Chu Qiguang could do about this. Intervening would only make everyone turn on him instead, so he could only wait for them to finish bickering.

Only when it became known that Provincial Governor Li Peiqian was planning to send his men to seize the Ding Clan's assets did everyone finally reach an agreement. In the end, only fifty thousand taels of silver were left to be submitted to the imperial court. If any questions were asked, everyone had already agreed on the story that Ding Daoxiao had taken the rest and fled.

With the arrival of the imperial court's soldiers came a piece of news that shook the entire county. The current-serving general secretary, Fei Yi, had returned to his hometown to observe a mourning period, and Wu Siqi had taken his place.

Overnight, the status of the Wu Clan skyrocketed, and Wu Wei took advantage of this to claim a large portion of the Ding Clan's land and businesses. On top of that, he also gave Chu Qiguang ten thousand taels of silver.

Wu Wei was an extremely greedy and miserly man, so it was very remarkable that he was willing to give Chu Qiguang such a large sum. On one hand, Chu Qiguang had played a pivotal role in bringing down the Ding Clan and saving the Wu Clan, and on the other hand, he had very high hopes for Chu Qiguang's future, so he was making an early investment.

After seizing the Ding Clan's remaining assets, the soldiers of the imperial court set off for Plum Mountain. However, all of the Immortal Dao followers on Plum Mountain had already fled, leaving behind only a mountain full of wandering living corpses.

There was nothing to be gained from dealing with these living corpses, so the soldiers killed a few dozen of them before deciding that it wasn't worth the effort. In the end, they simply erected a plaque warning everyone to stay away from Plum Mountain.

From that day forth, Plum Mountain became a strictly off-limits death zone crawling with thousands of living corpses.