Hearing the Second Elder's questioning, the Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor and the Sect Leader both had ugly expressions on their faces.
This time, they had entered the Immortal Ancient Secret Realm, and from there, they had entered the Xuanming Great World.
They hadn't gained a single benefit, yet they had suffered heavy losses.
All the Soul Transformation disciples who had gone in had died inside!
After the Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor and the Yunhua Ancestor went in, their combat strength was suppressed.
They had been directly captured to mine in Ghost King Huang Dun's mine!
Who would have thought that after they finally managed to find an opportunity to rebel successfully, before they could even reap any benefits, they were ejected from the Xuanming Great World!
To make matters worse, trouble had also brewed back home, causing no small amount of losses.
At this moment, the most depressed person was the Tiansheng Sect Leader.
He had truly suffered disastrous losses this time; not only was his storage bag confiscated by Ghost King Hei Dun, but he also owed the Tianqi Dynasty a massive sum of spirit stones for his ransom.
Feeling the stares of the Second Elder and the Third Elder, the Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor coughed lightly:
“Cough, the disciples all died while fighting over the immortal artifact!”
“What immortal artifact?”
“Where is the immortal artifact?”
The Second Elder and the Third Elder were both startled upon hearing the Ancestor's words.
Well, if so many people had died fighting for an immortal artifact, they could understand.
After all, for an immortal artifact, the three great forces would definitely fight to the death!
They could easily picture that scene!
Afterward, the Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor explained how they had been racing spirit boats against the Guiyi Sword Sect, and how they ended up crashing into the opening portal of the Immortal Ancient Secret Realm, collapsing the gateway, and getting swept into the secret realm together.
Hearing that this was the reason they had all fallen into the secret realm together, the Second Elder and the Third Elder stared at their Ancestor in utter speechlessness.
“Honestly, at your age, how can you still be so childish?”
Noticing their gazes, the Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor felt a bit helpless.
What was with those looks? He wasn't the one racing the spirit boat.
That was done by the disciples below; he had merely let them be.
What did that have to do with him?
Nevertheless, he still went on to recount their experiences after entering the Immortal Ancient Secret Realm.
“So you are saying that our Tiansheng Sect lost so many people, yet we didn't even get a single hair of the immortal artifact?”
The Second Elder couldn't help but exclaim in shock after listening to the Ancestor's recount.
“Sigh! Not only did we not get a hair of the immortal artifact, but a bunch of ancient powers have also emerged. Forget about being the number one power on the Xuantian Continent; we will have to keep our heads down and behave from now on!”
The Third Elder also shook his head and sighed!
What kind of mess was this? A bunch of big shots had suddenly appeared over their heads.
How could they, who were used to being the big shots, accept and adapt to this?
Hearing their words, the Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor also looked helpless.
He also hadn't expected that so many ancient powers actually existed!
“So whose hands did the immortal artifact end up in?”
The Second Elder couldn't help but look up and ask.
The Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor shook his head. “I do not know either!”
He had been captured to mine as soon as he entered the Xuanming Great World, so how could he know anything about the Immortal Saber?
“The Immortal Saber was taken by the Tianqi Ancestor!”
Right at that moment, the Tiansheng Sect Leader suddenly spoke up.
“What?”
Hearing this, the Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor and the other two instantly widened their eyes, staring at the Sect Leader.
How on earth did the Tianqi Ancestor manage to do that right under the noses of so many ancient powers?
The Tiansheng Sect Leader then recounted everything he had witnessed in Heibei City.
The others were utterly shocked after listening. They had never expected the Immortal Saber to ultimately fall into the hands of the Tianqi Ancestor.
What they also hadn't expected was that the Tiansheng Sect Leader actually owed a massive amount of spirit stones.
Whoosh!
Right then, a sound transmission talisman suddenly appeared before the Tiansheng Sect Leader, and Emperor Tianqi's voice rang out:
“Sect Master Gu, pay back the spirit stones!”
“What should we do?”
The Tiansheng Sect Leader looked up and asked the other three.
The three fell into a brief silence. After a moment, the Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor stroked his beard and said:
“Delay it for a while. Now that the Tianqi Dynasty has obtained the immortal artifact, those ancient powers will not let them off!”
“If they proactively offer the saber and latch onto the thigh of an ancient power, we will immediately pay back the money!”
“But if they are wiped out by the ancient powers, then that works out perfectly—we won't have to pay them back!”
Hearing the Ancestor's analysis, the Tiansheng Sect Leader nodded.
As expected, their Ancestor had eaten more salt than they had traveled roads!
His skills in defaulting on debts were truly refined to perfection!
The Tiansheng Sect Leader nodded and pulled out a sound transmission talisman:
“Emperor Tianqi, please grant us a grace period. Our Tiansheng Sect has had a large batch of wealth swept away by Xiao Jingde, so our cash flow is currently tight. As soon as we have the spirit stones, we will pay you back immediately!”
After the Tiansheng Sect Leader sent the reply, the Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor quickly sent a sound transmission talisman to the Yunhua Ancestor, telling him about the Tianqi Ancestor running off with the Immortal Saber.
The Yunhua Ancestor was also shocked beyond belief.
Subsequently, both the Tiansheng Sect's Ancestor and the Yunhua Ancestor sent sound transmissions to the Tianqi Ancestor.
However, the other party did not reply to any of them.
This left both of them on tenterhooks. Had the Tianqi Dynasty really latched onto a powerful thigh and now looked down on them?
Or were they already preparing to deal with them?
After so many years of overt and covert power struggles, it was impossible to say they hadn't wanted to destroy the other two factions!
Thus, the members of the three great forces all lived their days in constant anxiety.
Emperor Tianqi worried that people from the ancient powers would come looking for trouble.
Meanwhile, a long line of people had already formed outside Lu Ming's residence in Tiansheng City.
These were all the people who had borrowed spirit stones from Lu Ming back then, and they had now come to repay their debts.
During the days Lu Ming had been away, they had lived in absolute terror.
They were terrified that Lu Ming wouldn't return, preventing them from repaying their debts and resulting in them being struck dead by lightning.
Sect Master Han, in particular, was practically going insane with worry. His two-month deadline was fast approaching.
Whenever he thought about the fate of those who had failed to repay their debts, he couldn't help but tremble.
He really did not want to be struck dead by lightning!
“Saint Lu, I beg of you, please come back quickly!”
Sect Master Han couldn't help but pray silently.
Seeing the two-month deadline drawing closer and closer, Sect Master Han's face turned pale with anxiety.
Yet, it was as if the heavens could not hear his prayers.
Lu Ming still hadn't appeared, and the time was almost up.
Sect Master Han fell into despair. Was he really going to die here just because he couldn't repay his debt?
Just as he felt he could already hear the rumble of lightning, a long-awaited figure finally appeared.
Upon seeing Lu Ming's figure, Sect Master Han was incredibly thrilled, tears of joy streaming down his old face!
He had never found Lu Ming to look so handsome before.
“Saint Lu, you are finally back!”
“Saint Lu, you've returned!”
“Saint Lu, I missed you to death!”
“...”
Just as he returned to his residence, Lu Ming heard wave after wave of excited shouts.
Lu Ming was startled. Holy crap!
What is going on?
After recognizing their faces, Lu Ming realized that his debtors had come to repay him.
“No rush, take your time!”
Everyone: “...”
We can't take our time at all! It's not you who's going to be struck by lightning!
“Saint Lu, here are my spirit stones...”
“Saint Lu, this is mine...”
Before Lu Ming could even stand firm, Sect Master Han and the others began stuffing storage bags into his hands.
Once the storage bags were safely handed over to Lu Ming, everyone couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.
They had finally saved their own lives.
“Saint Lu, could you please not go far away in the future?”
Some cultivators who didn't have the spirit stones to pay him back yet couldn't help but beg.
They were truly terrified that Lu Ming would go on a long journey and delay their repayment.
Seeing their reactions, Lu Ming was both amused and exasperated.
On second thought, he realized this wasn't a long-term solution.
It seemed he needed to establish a fixed repayment location.
With a wave of his hand, he spoke:
“How about this? In the future, you can just repay your spirit stones to the Bandit Sect!!”
Hearing this, everyone was somewhat surprised. They didn't understand what connection this Saint Lu had with the Bandit Sect.
But it didn't matter. As long as there was a place to repay their debts, it was fine.
They had really been scared half to death this time.
Rate on N.U.
