Su Mingyuan raised his hand to set up a soundproofing barrier, picked up his teacup, and assumed an attitude of being all ears.
“It is no matter. Your master has plenty of time today. No matter how long the story is, we can take our time.”
These two kids had probably run off to the black market again.
He had long warned them that it was a chaotic place with a mix of good and bad. Roadside vendors selling packets of medicinal powder would dare to claim they were the ashes of immortals, yet they just wouldn't listen.
Xue Mingzhao's mind raced.
Joining the Heavenly Origin Sect, entering Wanjian Mountain, emptying out a pile of damaged spiritual tools, and the Evernight Demon Domain three months later... If she let slip any single one of these, Su Mingyuan would probably move her place of secluded cultivation right under his nose.
“Master is wise.”
Xue Mingzhao admitted on the spot, “We did indeed go to the black market.”
Su Mingyuan gave her an “I knew it” look.
“Someone showed us these storage rings, and they were packed with supreme-grade spirit stones. They said they wanted to exchange them for a batch of magical artifacts at a low price. Senior Brother and I had a momentary lapse of judgment and traded in all the spirit stones we'd saved up and things we didn't need.”
She slapped her thigh, her face filled with grief and regret.
“Who knew those supreme-grade spirit stones were all an illusion! The other party was afraid we'd get suspicious on the spot, so they deliberately left a dozen real ones in one of the rings as bait.”
Su Ye silently lowered his head.
His junior sister's mouth—once given a starting point, she could weave the entire cause, effect, and modus operandi all by herself.
Su Mingyuan sighed.
“Scams in the black market are endless. It's fine to suffer a loss once, at least you'll learn a lesson.”
“You are not allowed to go there again. If there is indeed something that must be done there, leave it to your Second Senior Brother.”
An Shihuai: “...”
Fine, who told him to be the senior brother?
For the sect, and for his junior brother and sister, it was his bounden duty!
“Rest assured, Master!”
Xue Mingzhao had a deeply remorseful look. “Rest assured, Master, Senior Brother and I have deeply realized our mistake. For the next three months, we will definitely cultivate behind closed doors and absolutely won't run around.”
Su Mingyuan looked at her. “Speaking of secluded cultivation, what level of Foundation Establishment are you at now?”
“First level.”
“And Su Ye?”
“Fourth level.”
Su Mingyuan pondered for a moment and solemnly instructed, “Mingzhao, once you break through to the ninth level of Foundation Establishment, you must inform me immediately.”
Although Xue Mingzhao was baffled, she still obediently agreed.
After the three left, Su Mingyuan stared out of the courtyard, remaining motionless for a long time.
The materials required for the Heaven-Shrouding Formation had still not been fully gathered. Given his youngest disciple's cultivation speed, he probably didn't have much time left.
If it couldn't be found in the Eastern Territory, he would have to go to the Northern Territory.
He would set off tomorrow.
Outside the door, An Shihuai finally found an opportunity to stuff two heavy spirit stone bags into the hands of Xue Mingzhao and Su Ye respectively.
Su Ye swept his divine sense inside, and his entire spirit was instantly refreshed.
“One hundred thousand?”
An Shihuai smile appeared on his face, and he even flipped open his account book. “Business has been extremely good lately, especially—”
“Senior Brother!”
Xue Mingzhao grabbed both of his hands, her eyes filled with complete trust.
“No need to explain, I trust your business capability. You deserve the greatest credit for the Grand Primordium Sect's success today. Keep up the good work, we'll take our leave first.”
Before An Shihuai could speak, she had already pulled Su Ye and run off, disappearing at the end of the mountain path in the blink of an eye.
An Shihuai stood there holding his account book for quite a while.
He sighed to himself. Compared to his junior sister's hundred thousand spirit stones, his own pockets were truly empty. He had to redouble his efforts so he wouldn't have to let his junior brother and sister risk their lives to earn spirit stones again.
On the other side, Suguang had just finished cultivating and was sitting cross-legged to adjust his breathing when his door was suddenly pushed open with a bang.
Xue Mingzhao and Su Ye burst in, one after the other.
“Senior Sister? Senior Brother?”
With a wave of Xue Mingzhao's hand, a dozen long swords bearing star marks clattered onto the ground one after another.
Some of the sword blades were broken in half, some were so rusted their original colors couldn't be seen, and one was even missing a piece of its hilt.
With a dozen of them piled together, it didn't look like divine weapons choosing their master at all, but more like a scrap metal shop coming to collect goods.
“Come, pick one.”
Suguang still hadn't figured out what was happening. His gaze swept across the pile of swords and suddenly stopped on one of them.
That sword lay quietly at the very bottom. Its scabbard was covered in dark red rust stains, and a dim star mark was carved near the handguard.
Even though it was completely unremarkable, he couldn't tear his eyes away from it.
A voice seemed to be urging him from the bottom of his heart.
This is the one.
Xue Mingzhao had been closely watching his reaction. Seeing this, she immediately put the rest of the long swords back into the Qiankun Heaven-Locking Bracelet, leaving only that one.
“Looks like this is indeed the one. Form a contract with it.”
Suguang did not hesitate. He forced out a drop of blood from his fingertip and lightly tapped it onto the star mark on the scabbard.
The instant the blood droplet seeped in, the long sword, which had been silent for many years, suddenly let out a clear chime.
Hum—
The entire room shook along with it.
The rust on the sword blade cracked and crumbled inch by inch, and a dazzling, reddish-gold sword light burst forth from the cracks.
The long sword unsheathed itself, crashed through the roof, and hovered in the sky above the Grand Primordium Sect.
Tens of thousands of miles away, within the Heavenly Origin Sect, the Xunyue Sword at Shen Chaoyue's waist suddenly chimed despite the lack of wind.
A cold, clear moon shadow flashed and vanished.
Shen Chaoyue opened her eyes and raised her hand to press down on the slightly trembling hilt.
By the time she followed that aura and looked toward the Eastern Territory, the distant sword intent had already vanished without a trace.
Within the Grand Primordium Sect, the reddish-gold long sword slowly descended and came to a steady halt in Suguang's palm.
The blade was long and narrow, dark gold all over, with fine star marks flickering along the spine of the sword.
Suguang suppressed his excitement and turned around, wanting to ask Xue Mingzhao where she had found this sword.
“Senior Sister, this sword—”
The room was already completely empty.
There was only a large hole in the roof, with the night wind howling inside.
On the other side, Xue Mingzhao and Su Ye had already flown over ten li away.
The two of them found a clearing in the wild where the feng shui was barely acceptable.
Unfamiliar the first time, experienced the second.
One dug the grave, the other carved the tombstone, cooperating much more skillfully than the first time.
In less than half an hour, a brand-new grave mound stood in the wilderness.
On the tombstone was written: Grave of Lin Tieniu.
Xue Mingzhao inspected the area and nodded with satisfaction.
The next day, after the three of them paid their respects to Lin Tieniu, they hurriedly returned to the Heavenly Origin Sect.
Just after returning to her residence, Xue Mingzhao immediately entered the Qiankun Heaven-Locking Bracelet.
Just as Xiao Qian and Baize came forward to greet her, she laid the dozen or so empty rings on the ground.
“Xiao Qian, you are suspected of false advertising.”
Xiao Qian tilted her head. “What?”
Xue Mingzhao pulled out those dozen or so empty storage rings.
“Didn't you say the things inside could be taken out? Why are all the supreme-grade spirit stones I packed gone?”
“That's impossible!”
“Things in the space can indeed be taken out.”
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