Inside a stone cave within the secret realm...
A man dressed in dark martial attire, both hands wrapped in blood-soaked white cloth, quietly wiped down a dull, lusterless heavy sword.
The blade was ancient and unadorned, faint dark red patterns etched into its surface, as if it had drunk the blood of countless victims.
“What did those righteous cultivators say?” Fang Xiu did not even raise his head, his voice deep and raspy, like metal grinding against metal.
Down below, the demonic disciple who had fled back from Su Yi's camp lay prostrate on the ground, his voice trembling with lingering terror: “R-Reporting... Senior Brother Fang, that... that Su Yi, he... he agreed!”
“Oh? He agreed?!” A female voice rang out, laced with a hint of languor and surprise.
Nearby, an alluring woman in a vivid purple dress leaned sideways against a snapped tree trunk.
Twirling a wisp of dark qi around her fingertips, she inquired with keen interest, “He truly agreed? He didn't chop you to pieces on the spot?”
“H-He truly agreed! I wouldn't dare lie!” The demonic disciple pressed his forehead even closer to the ground, shaking like a leaf. “That Su Yi... he smiled and said, ‘Those are the only conditions? No problem,’ and then let this lowly one return!”
Hearing this, Tu Lingqie let out a series of bell-like chuckles, though the sound was exceptionally eerie in this demonic-qi-choked cavern. “Well, what a pleasant surprise.
“It seems Young Manor Lord Su is quite an interesting man who knows how to adapt. He happens to have plenty of our ‘materials’ on hand anyway. Those useless wretches from Pestilence Manor and Demon Theft Nest can finally be put to some use.”
Her tone was light and dismissive, as if discussing the disposal of worthless trash.
She had long coveted Blood Qi Spirit Pills, but as a member of the demonic sects, it was inconvenient for her to openly move against her own kind.
“Tu Lingqie, you're taking this too far.” Fang Xiu paused briefly in wiping his blade, looking up at her with eyes as sharp as swords. “What will you do if the elders of Pestilence Manor and Demon Theft Nest hold you accountable?”
“Accountable?” Tu Lingqie stretched languidly, outlining her breathtaking curves, a cruel smirk playing on her lips.
“I wasn't the one who killed them, nor was I the one who refined the pills. It was their own lack of skill that got them captured alive and placed on someone else's chopping block. If anyone is to blame, blame their own incompetence.”
She paused, a flash of sadistic amusement in her eyes, and chuckled softly, “Besides... once that Young Manor Lord Su actually delivers the pills, we can ‘kindly’ share a portion with the elders of those two sects.
“Let them savor them carefully. Who knows... perhaps those old bastards' tongues haven't dulled yet, and they'll be able to taste the unique ‘flavor’ of their own precious disciples?”
Fang Xiu frowned slightly, clearly displeased by Tu Lingqie's morbid sense of amusement, but he said nothing more and returned his attention to his heavy sword.
In the demonic path, strength reigned supreme. A few sacrifices were unavoidable.
“Besides, Fang Xiu,” Tu Lingqie's smile faded slightly as she turned toward three figures meditating nearby, shrouded in thick demonic qi. Her tone grew solemn.
“Don't forget our true objective on this expedition. What does it matter how many useless wretches from Pestilence Manor and Demon Theft Nest die? In the depths of this secret realm lies an ancient Nascent Soul Perfected One's inheritance—isn't that worth ten million times more attention than the lives of those mongrels?”
She raised her voice slightly, loaded with deliberate deference and reminder: “Elders, wouldn't you say so?”
The auras surrounding those three demonic silhouettes were as inscrutable and abyssal as the deep sea. Hearing her words, they showed no reaction whatsoever, completely indifferent to the disciples' fates.
Everything was for the sake of that ancient inheritance about to emerge into the world.
As for the sacrifices and costs along the way—whether righteous disciples or demonic comrades—they meant nothing before sufficiently immense benefits.
They cared nothing for Tu Lingqie's scheming.
This transaction was merely an appetizer before the banquet; the true storm was yet to come.
...
At the edge of the Withered Wood Forest, the atmosphere in the temporary “alchemy zone” was grim, yet beneath it ran an undercurrent of long-repressed catharsis.
Following Su Yi's arrangements, Shi Yan and Ling Qingyu led the main force of the four great sects to contest for Foundation Establishment spirit sources at several spirit-source-rich locations marked on Su Yi's map.
Meanwhile, most of those who stayed behind to refine pills were wounded rogue cultivators and small-sect disciples, their eyes blazing with the fire of vengeance.
At the same time, in stark contrast to the grim tension outside, the mood inside Su Yi's main tent was entirely different.
Tantai Yunzhi stood frozen in flustered disbelief, staring at the heap of shimmering Five Elements spirit sources Su Yi had thrust into her arms. Spanning metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, the sheer quantity and pure quality of these spirit sources far exceeded anything she had hoped to obtain from this secret realm excursion.
She felt as if Senior Brother Su had given her his entire personal share.
“Senior Brother, these... these are far too precious! I... I can't accept them...” Tantai Yunzhi waved her hands in panic, her pretty face filled with trepidation.
She knew full well how precious spirit sources were, especially for someone like her who had to balance all five elements, but this gift was simply too great.
Seeing her overwhelmed and flustered state, Su Yi shook his head with mild amusement.
“Come now, since Senior Brother is giving them to you, just accept them. You have a Five Elements Dao Physique, and every single attribute requires a massive amount of spirit sources. I don't even know if this will be enough.”
Because of him, Tantai Yunzhi—who should have shone brilliantly as the female lead—had not had many opportunities to stand out during this secret realm trial and thus hadn't received many spirit sources. As for him, his actual cultivation had always been at Late Foundation Establishment, so spirit sources were useless to him anyway.
Seeing Tantai Yunzhi open her mouth to protest further, Su Yi stepped forward and slid the storage ring right off her finger.
Tantai Yunzhi let out a soft gasp, only to watch Su Yi deftly sweep all the spirit sources into the ring, vanishing them as if into a bottomless pit.
Then, he naturally took hold of her slender hand.
Tantai Yunzhi felt a jolt of heat at her fingertips and instinctively tried to pull back, but Su Yi held on firmly. Lowering his head, he slipped the storage ring back onto her delicate finger.
“Cultivate well. In the future, do not let your senior brother down, and do not fail Divine Might Manor's expectations of you. That will be enough.”
Feeling the cool touch of the storage ring on her finger, along with the lingering warmth of Su Yi's palm, Tantai Yunzhi's heart thumped like a war drum.
Looking at the expectation in Su Yi's eyes, an indescribable warmth flooded her entire being—a mixture of gratitude, veneration, and a faint flutter of emotion she could not yet fully comprehend.
“Yes! Senior Brother! Yunzhi swears that in this life, she will never fail Senior Brother's expectations, nor will she ever fail Divine Might Manor's nurturing!”
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