Peak Master Liu smiled without his eyes, saying, “Then I shall take the Immortal Venerable’s auspicious words to heart.”
Someone sensed the hidden sparks flying between Shen Xiuyun and Peak Master Liu. To keep things from escalating, they hollered:
“Come on, come on, don’t just stand around! Let’s open a betting pool. I’ll bet Zhang Chengzhi makes top five… five hundred mid-grade spirit stones.”
“I’ll bet the sect master’s third disciple makes top ten… one hundred mid-grade spirit stones.”
“I’ll bet…”
Seeing everyone getting so fired up, Shen Xiuyun probed his universe pouch with his divine sense. After discovering his own substantial assets, he couldn’t help but feel eager to join in.
Shen Xiuyun did a quick count and, under the astonished gazes of those around him, stepped forward and dropped a pouch of spirit stones under Zhu Xingyao’s name. “I bet Zhu Xingyao takes first place.”
Although Zhu Xingyao’s current cultivation meant he would be entering the secret realm practically at the bottom, with almost no real chance of taking first place, Shen Xiuyun simply wanted to back his disciple in front of everyone.
After tossing down the spirit stones, he gave Yun Siqing a quick greeting and walked right off… without taking a single cloud with him.
The one running the betting pool belatedly opened the pouch, and the moment he did, he felt blinded by the gleam… it was filled entirely with high-grade spirit stones.
“Outrageously wealthy!”
“A ruthless show of force!”
“Tears of envy streamed down.”
One high-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for ten mid-grade spirit stones, or a hundred low-grade spirit stones.
Moreover, high-grade spirit stones were already produced in limited quantities. Ten thousand at once… in the entire cultivation world, aside from the Immortal Venerable, no one could pull out that many, right?
The original Immortal Venerable had lived nearly two hundred years. Once, in an advanced secret realm, he happened upon a spiritual vein and casually dug up no fewer than a hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones.
Master was usually so absorbed in cultivation that he hardly ever spent spirit stones. Natural treasures and rare materials were supplied in abundance by the sect, so there was simply nowhere to spend them.
So even now, a hundred thousand remained a hundred thousand.
Now, with a grand wave of his hand, he tossed them out as though playing around.
When Liu Yi saw that pouch brimming with high-grade spirit stones, his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and he glared venomously in the direction Shen Xiuyun had disappeared.
Shen Xiuyun, why must you always stand in my way?
Back then, they had entered Xuantian Sect at the same time. His spiritual roots were clearly quite good as well, yet Xuanlingzi had only taken Shen Xiuyun as a disciple.
Not only that, Shen Xiuyun had also received the personal care of Yun Siqing, the sect master’s first disciple at the time.
After the former sect master’s ascension, Yun Siqing grew even more partial to his junior brother Shen Xiuyun, granting almost every request. Even when it came to the sect’s supreme treasure, the Blood Bodhi, Shen Xiuyun had only to say he needed it, and it was handed over without so much as blinking.
Why?
Giving something so precious to a half-demon mixed-blood bastard… did he deserve it?
Just wait. In this secret realm, his disciple would certainly make Zhu Xingyao regret everything.
As Shen Xiuyun drew a teleportation array by hand, he chatted with the System:
『System, I just thought of something.』
System: 『Hmm?』
Shen Xiuyun: 『In my previous life, the ancient fierce beast that escaped from Xuantian Sect’s seal and wreaked havoc on the mortal world… when sealing it, I shouldn’t have been injured at all.
While setting up the formation, an Elder dropped the ball. Yun Siqing was forced to patch the breach and nearly got ambushed. In my desperation, I used my body to block a strike.』
System: 『So that Elder was?』
『None other than Liu Yi, Peak Master Liu, the one from just now. I’ll need to guard against him in the future.』
Shen Xiuyun laid down the final stroke. The formation completed in a blaze of dazzling golden light, identical to the teleportation array in the Xuanwu Great Hall that sent people into the demon realm.
He infused spiritual energy into the formation and vanished from the room in an instant.
When Shen Xiuyun opened his eyes again, he was already inside the demon realm.
To avoid triggering an abnormal response from the demon realm’s barrier, he had even compressed his cultivation to late Foundation Establishment.
He had been teleported to the edge of a mountain lake. The surroundings were quiet, and it seemed there was no one else nearby.
Shen Xiuyun crouched by the lake, looked at his own striking face reflected in the water, and formed a hand seal for an illusion technique. In the next instant, he gave himself an utterly ordinary face… the kind you’d forget the moment it was lost in a crowd.
Tch, this was perfect!
Who could have known he’d logged onto a smurf account to protect his dear disciple?
Time to go find Zhu Xingyao.
However, he didn’t know that atop a giant tree by the lakeside, someone had just witnessed everything Shen Xiuyun did… and of course, had seen his true appearance.
The man licked the corner of his lips, his dark green slit pupils flashing with a beast-like, predatory ferocity.
It was the look a wild beast wore when it had locked onto its prey.
Shen Xiuyun, anxious to rendezvous with Zhu Xingyao, hadn’t noticed he was being watched.
Following the System’s navigation, he drew closer and closer to Zhu Xingyao… but just as he was about to arrive, he heard a commotion.
Could Zhu Xingyao have gotten into a conflict with someone?
Shen Xiuyun was furious. Which idiot dared to bully his disciple?
He’d finish him off in minutes!