Master, What Dao Do You Cultivate?-Chapter 44: Master’s a Cop

Early the next morning, Ji Qinglin contacted Advisor Tang using the identity of Huang Silang.
“Target’s been dealt with. Location: General Store Alley on Xindong Street.”
Advisor Tang sounded clearly surprised on the other end:
“It’s only been a day, hasn’t it? Lord Huang really works fast and clean.”
“Go ahead and take the credit for your stats. Just send the money to my virtual account.”
“Wait a moment, Lord Huang, could I have a word with you?”
Hearing that, Ji Qinglin and Yu Ye—who had just changed into fresh underwear—both became wary. After all, they were still worried the authorities might know about the Immortal’s corpse.
“Lord Huang, you’ve taken down quite a number of wanted criminals recently—more than many of our own inspectors, in fact. You’ve made a great contribution to the peace and stability of Bangkok...”
*Knock knock knock—*
Ji Qinglin lightly tapped on the table:
“Everyone’s busy. Just get to the point.”
“Ha, alright. I’d like to invite Lord Huang to serve as a Dark Police Inspector for the Bangkok Police Department.”
Ji Qinglin had, of course, heard of the Dark Police title, but he still played dumb:
“What’s a Dark Police?”
Advisor Tang explained:
“To handle certain cases involving Qi Refiners, aside from our official officers and inspectors, we also hire justice-minded Qi Refiners to assist in investigation and operations. Since their identities are not publicly disclosed, we call them Dark Police.”
“You don’t even know my background, and you dare invite me to be a Dark Police Inspector?”
“Judge by actions, not intentions. No one’s perfect. I don’t need to know Lord Huang’s real identity. All I need to know is that your track record for catching wanted criminals is impressive even within the department.
A Dark Police Inspector doesn’t manage any officers, and there are no time or location restrictions. Besides the regular salary paid to a virtual account, the Inspector title gives you access to firsthand intel and the right to request police cooperation.”
Ji Qinglin didn’t respond directly, instead asking further:
“So, what do you need me to do?”
Hearing that the other party could offer the Inspector position, Ji Qinglin began to suspect that this “Advisor Tang” might hold a higher status than he’d initially guessed.
“Lord Huang just needs to keep capturing wanted criminals. If you have time to assist in cases, even better. I won’t set quotas for case numbers or captures—given your previous record, it’d be unreasonable to demand more anyway.”
“If I have to stay anonymous, how will others recognize me as a Dark Police Inspector?”
“If you agree, I’ll send you a Dark Police Inspector ID through the dark web. For Dark Police, we verify by ID, not by person. You can use it yourself or have someone else act in your place with it. Take your time to think it over and get back to me.”
“No need. I can agree right now.”
Yu Ye, who was sitting on the table with her legs dangling, dressed in pajamas and waiting for the next “performance,” listened closely to their conversation. She was surprised that her usually cautious Master had agreed so quickly. “Advisor Tang” sounded just as surprised.
“That quick? You really caught me off guard.”
But Ji Qinglin changed the tone:
“But I have conditions of my own. I need to know your real identity.”
“...Tsk, Lord Huang, knowing who I am has nothing to do with being a Dark Police Inspector, right?”
“Strangers’ money can be trusted. Strangers themselves? Not always. And if Dark Police is ID-based, how do I know some other Dark Police Inspector didn’t just outsource their job to me?”
Hearing that, Advisor Tang went silent. Clearly, he hadn’t expected to lose control of the conversation so fast.
“...Tch, got me there. Fine, I’ll think it over and contact you later.”
After the call ended, Ji Qinglin took a sip of tea freshly brewed by Yu Ye and gave a soft snort:
“Trying to play me?”
Yu Ye, still in her pajamas, sitting at the table waiting for the “show,” asked:
“You really want to take on this fake inspector gig?”
“If it were before yesterday, probably not. But now we’ve got a hot potato in hand. We need to prepare for the worst. If word gets out that we have this thing, then this title gives us a legitimate reason to turn it over to the authorities.”
“Master, wouldn’t it be better to hand it over to President Lei Qiong instead?”
“That was the original plan. With the Commerce Guild’s influence and the President’s abilities, even if someone found out we had the Immortal’s corpse, they’d probably be able to protect it. But that’s only after we’ve figured it out ourselves. We can’t be out here doing the work of drug dealers and getting paid like cabbage vendors, can we?”
*Doo doo doo doo—*
Before they could chat any further, a police car arrived at General Store Alley.
“Intel says it’s here. Search thoroughly.”
“There’s blood on the ground—this way!”
Four officers jumped out of the car, and two police drones detached from the roof, flying down to follow and collect evidence.
Ji Qinglin and Yu Ye pretended to be sleepy residents just waking up to watch the excitement and joined the crowd.
“Bro, what happened in there?”
“Killed a wanted criminal. Didn’t you hear anything last night?”
“There was a bit of noise, but it quieted down quickly. I thought it was just some Qi Refiners fighting.”
The officer who found the body up front first confirmed the victim’s identity, then opened the backpack next to it and gave a professional sniff:
“No doubt about it—it’s Duan Tianpeng. The underwear looks freshly stolen too. What a perv.”
That officer took out the clothing and gave it another look. He looked a little puzzled—this set didn’t quite match what Duan Tianpeng had stolen before. These seemed plain and unremarkable. Yu Ye rolled her eyes at her Master, the real Underwear Thief.
The whole matter of Duan Tianpeng was wrapped up smoothly. To avoid suspicion from closing the shop, Yu Ye stayed to mind the store and train, while Ji Qinglin returned to the living room and began carefully studying the crystal arm from the Immortal’s corpse.
But after inspecting it for a while, he still couldn’t find any clues or insights related to cultivation. Aside from being a fancy back-scratcher, this thing had zero practical value.
If it supposedly held some method for meridian circulation, this was just an arm bone. It didn’t even have skin or muscle—there was no way to figure out any flow of meridians.
If it was about the arm’s shape—well, the whole hand just hung down naturally. It wasn’t forming any hand seals or sign language.
Could it be meant to be grafted onto a person? That couldn’t be it—if so, then all the Immortal’s corpse parts would already be attached to someone, and Duan Tianpeng would never have had the chance to steal it.
Soaking it, burning it, dripping blood on it—Ji Qinglin tried every method in the book. He even used the Divine Perception function on his cultivation phone, but still couldn’t uncover any mysteries.
What, was he supposed to grind it into powder and swallow it?
Knowing it was just the wrong method, Ji Qinglin didn’t obsess. He sat cross-legged on the sofa, opened his Qi Sea Cloud Storage, and started restoring the data he’d burned through in yesterday’s battle while brainstorming a breakthrough method.
The surroundings went dark again. Ji Qinglin, now inside his internal visualization, raised both arms to absorb the rushing flow from the Sea of Data. Then he used a breathing technique to store the data properly within himself.
But as he glanced down for a moment—he suddenly saw that crystal arm from reality standing upright amid the flow of data in the Qi Sea Cloud Storage’s inner scene.
It was Ji Qinglin’s first time seeing such a change in the Qi Sea Cloud Storage’s visualization. He thought, could the solution be here? He cautiously reached out to touch the bone arm at the bottom of the data river.
But the moment his palm made contact, the crystal arm suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm.