Chapter 49: Treasures Do Not Ask Their Origin

Xu Chen and the other two had just arrived near the mountain gate when they felt a terrifying Divine Sense descend, followed immediately by a streak of Escape Light tearing through the air; in the blink of an eye, a middle-aged man, both shocked and furious, stood before them.

"Great Elder!"

Upon seeing him, the three were both shocked and overjoyed, hurriedly stopping together to bow and offer their salutations.

Danchenzi looked at the three disciples under his sect, who were disheveled and in a sorry state. His Divine Sense swept over them, and without a word, he flicked his sleeve. A terrifying surge of Origin Qi swept the three of them up and whisked them back to the front of Taiyuan Hall on the mountain peak.

The two Elders and a crowd of disciples hurriedly landed in front of the great hall, surrounding the three with immense excitement and agitation.

"Ninth Junior Brother, why have you only just returned?"

"Junior Sister Zhao, how did you get so severely injured?"

"What on earth happened in Jingshi?"

As the crowd bombarded them with questions while their Divine Senses scanned the three, a terrifying aura from Danchenzi descended, causing everyone to hurriedly shut their mouths.

"What are you clamoring about? We shall speak inside the hall!"

Danchenzi swung his large sleeves and strode into Taiyuan Hall. The two Elders followed behind with expressions of astonishment, while a group of male and female disciples crowded around the three to hurry inside, soon sitting down on their respective prayer mats.

Xu Chen and the other two naturally did not dare to sit immediately; instead, they stood respectfully before the three Elders, bowing and waiting to be questioned.

By now, the stifling atmosphere in the great hall had been swept away, replaced entirely by an indescribable sense of excitement and agitation, with everyone watching the three with eager eyes.

Danchenzi's expression was neither happy nor sad, though a trace of warmth flickered in his eyes, a change from the cold, watery mood he had maintained since returning to the mountain.

"Speak. What great disaster did you three stir up after descending the mountain?"

"That's right, Junior Brother and Junior Sister, hurry and tell us what exactly happened after you went down the mountain?" several Senior Brothers could not help but shout loudly.

The three looked at each other, and finally, Jiu Shixiong bit the bullet and laid out everything that had happened since they descended the mountain.

The great hall was deathly silent. Everyone listened, dumbfounded; even Danchenzi and the two Elders had expressions of shock and were deeply stirred.

Over the last ten days or so, the actions of the three Taiyuan Sect disciples in Jingshi had already spread far and wide; it would be no exaggeration to say they had shaken the world.

Of course, the various reports were chaotic, and many of the so-called "inside stories" were a jumble of truth and falsehood.

But the fact that the three had wounded Yulong Zhenren and caused the deaths of disciples from two major Immortal Sects was absolute and indisputable.

Yet, only now, after hearing the detailed account from the parties involved, did they realize the cause and effect were even more convoluted and bizarre, truly spectacular.

The crowd listened, their fingers clenching and relaxing, their expressions shifting between tension and joy.

It took a full two sticks of incense worth of time for Jiu Shixiong to finish his account. Finally, he took the Spirit Box containing the Blood God Grass from his bosom and placed it before Danchenzi, while Xu Chen and Zhao Xuan also hurriedly took out two Storage Bags each and placed them before the remaining two Elders.

Jiu Shixiong stepped back two paces, bowed with a bashful expression, and said, "The matter is complex. That the three of us were able to survive and escape back here is entirely due to the merit of our Little Junior Brother. However, that Yuqing Hall bullied us too much; it was not that this disciple wished to cause trouble."

Danchenzi's expression was extremely strange, but his eyes were fixed intently on the palm-sized Spirit Box before him. Finally, he took a deep breath and flicked his Divine Sense. The moment the lid popped open, a mass of swirling red light surged out, instantly causing Spirit Qi to roil and a strange fragrance to permeate the entire hall.

Over a dozen Divine Senses landed on the Spirit Box almost simultaneously. When they saw the Spirit Medicine inside, no more than five inches long and resembling blood coral, they were all so shocked they lost their composure, their mouths hanging open wide enough to fit a large duck egg.

Danchenzi stared at the Spirit Medicine for a long while, then suddenly stood up and laughed toward the sky. He grabbed the Spirit Box and examined it for a moment, and a heroic aura never before seen surged into the sky, transforming into a streak of Spirit Light that shook the mountains. The entire Zhaoyang Peak trembled slightly, and all beasts and birds within a hundred miles crouched in terror, shivering and daring not move.

"Hahahaha! Heaven has not forsaken my Taiyuan Sect! To think such a Spirit Treasure has appeared in the world—you three have performed a great service this time."

Jiu Shixiong asked cautiously, "Great Elder, is this truly the Blood God Grass?"

The Great Elder said with a face full of delight, "Indeed, it is the genuine Blood God Grass. Even though I have never seen it before, the aura cannot be wrong."

The three let out a long sigh of relief. In the great hall, all the Elders and disciples, young and old, instantly leaped up, erupting into cheers of excitement such as the Taiyuan Sect had not seen in its three hundred years of heritage.

A long time later, when everyone's emotions had calmed slightly, Danchenzi closed the Spirit Box and re-applied the Soul Lock. Only then did he flick his hand, and the four Storage Bags rose into the air and gave a slight shake, spilling out a massive pile of items that floated in the great hall with a clatter.

Looking at the dense, shimmering Spirit Materials, Spirit Medicines, Magic Treasures, and Spirit Stones, the great hall fell into another moment of extreme silence.

"Thump~"

The disheveled and haggard-looking Eldest Senior Brother sat down on the floor, saliva instantly sliding from the corner of his mouth.

The other disciples were similarly out of control, their eyes wide as they swallowed hard.

Although the four Storage Bags were precious, the items inside were terrifyingly numerous, and their grades were all quite high.

A quick glance revealed at least a hundred Spirit Stones, and there were thirty or forty Jade Bottles of various sizes containing pills. As for the other Spirit Materials and Spirit Medicines, they were impossible to distinguish, and the dozen or so Spirit Boxes and Jade Bottles among them were enough to make one's mouth go dry.

Any cultivator who has roamed the Immortal World knows that anything requiring a Spirit Box or Jade Bottle is a peerless, hard-to-find Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure; only by sealing them away can one ensure the Spirit Qi does not dissipate.

Three Zhenyuan Realm and one late-stage Kaiyuan Realm cultivator were all elite disciples of large Immortal Sects; their personal reserves were naturally incomparable to the Taiyuan Sect, whose members were usually so poor they were "eating dirt."

Among these, the reserves of the two Zhenyuan Realm cultivators from the Ziyang Sect were so abundant it was staggering.

Furthermore, although the items carried by Liang Feng, a disciple of Yulong Zhenren, were not numerous, every single one was an extremely rare boutique item. There was no trash, not even a Great Origin Pill; they were all Second-Tier Spirit Pills or higher, at least seven or eight bottles.

Additionally, the various Magic Treasures harvested this time were of ridiculously high quality.

Aside from a few First-Stage Magic Treasures obtained by the black-clad cultivator through murder and looting, the Soul-Absorbing Bell, Bronze Ancient Mirror, Eight-Trigram Array Disk, Flying Cloud Spear, and Wind Thunder Sword were the cream of the crop among Second-Tier Magic Treasures. Each one could be considered a sect-protecting item of a large Immortal Sect, obtainable only by inner-sect elite disciples and Personal Disciples of Danyuan Realm Elders.

"We're rich! We're rich! The three Junior Brothers and Sister have truly performed a great service this time!"

The group of Zhenyuan Realm disciples were all drooling, their faces flushed red, wishing they could pounce forward and snatch one for themselves.

The group of disciples who had yet to reach Foundation Establishment were also staring with burning eyes and dripping saliva. While these Immortal Treasures were of too high a grade for them to use, the dense pile of pill-filled Jade Bottles was the greatest temptation. With these Spirit Pills, everyone's cultivation would surge significantly in a very short time.

Some were even trembling with excitement while staring at several of the pill bottles.

Because it was said that there were three Guiyuan Pills inside—one obtained from the black-clad cultivator of the Ziyang Sect, and the other two exchanged from the Treasure Pavilion of the Yuqing Hall using Second-Tier Spirit Materials and Spirit Medicines.

Although Spirit Materials and Spirit Medicines were precious, exchanging them for pills that the Taiyuan Sect urgently needed to break through was more worthwhile. The three of them knew the situation of the Taiyuan Sect; no matter how good the Spirit Medicines or Magic Treasures were, they were not as precious as pills that could break through cultivation realms.

With three Guiyuan Pills, as long as they could create one Zhenyuan Realm cultivator, the strength of the Taiyuan Sect would increase significantly.

At present, in the entire Taiyuan Sect, besides the Great Elder Danchenzi, only two Elders and three Senior Brothers and Sisters had reached Foundation Establishment; everyone else was still struggling in the Kaiyuan Realm, and several had been stuck at the late stage of the Kaiyuan Realm for many years.

There was no need to think about Heqi Pills; even the Yuqing Hall didn't have any to spare and would never put them up for trade. Thus, the Guiyuan Pill was the only choice for the Taiyuan Sect and the independent cultivators.

The Treasure Pavilion only had two Guiyuan Pills, and the three of them had bought them all.

Such an opportunity was rare and not to be missed; once missed, one would regret it for a lifetime.

If it were before, the three would only have been able to drool, just like their embarrassing first visit to the Treasure Pavilion where they couldn't afford anything. It wasn't until Xu Chen opened the black-clad cultivator's Storage Bag that they suddenly became wealthy; even at a hundred Spirit Stones each, it was worth it.

And the subsequent behavior of the three, frantically trading and scavenging at the Treasure Pavilion, had left Deacon Tong of the Treasure Pavilion both shocked and delighted, yet filled with suspicion.

However, the Immortal World had its own rules: one does not ask about the origin of treasures. As long as these items were not obtained by killing disciples of the Yuqing Hall, he would not care in the slightest. As a top-tier Immortal Sect with three Spirit Realm Great Cultivators sitting in command, there was no treasure in this world they could not swallow, and no wealth they could not launder.

This was strength: the ability to suppress all dissent.

Therefore, later when Jiu Shixiong went sneakily by himself to trade for a Third-Grade True Fire Talisman, Deacon Tong did not ask a single question; moreover, he also knew that Danchenzi was on the verge of Spirit Transformation, and under the premise that Yuqing Hall had instructed to maintain good relations with Taiyuan Sect, he naturally opened the door of convenience wide and even gave a significant discount.

And it was precisely because Jiu Shixiong, this old hand, had taken precautions and spent a huge price to obtain such a Third-grade Spirit Talisman that the three of them finally had the opportunity to escape the pursuit of Ziyang Sect and return to the sect alive.

Therefore, the Immortal World, just as Danchenzi said, has never been a place that reasons; in reality, it is no different from the mortal world, as it still speaks through strength, and cultivation level and power determine everything.

Aside from the crowd of Disciples, the remaining two Elders were also so excited that their Souls were trembling.

Because among this vast array of treasures radiating spiritual light, several Spirit Medicines for refining Spirit Pills to break through the Zhenyuan Realm were visible to the naked eye, and their age and quality were very good, with Spirit Qi surging and the fragrance of medicine assaulting the nostrils.

Second Elder, who is Xu Chen's Master, has been stuck at the Great Perfection of the Zhenyuan Realm for many years, constantly traveling far and wide to search for these Spirit Pills, Spirit Medicines, and other opportunities to assist in Golden Core formation; he had naturally gone to large Immortal Sects like Yuqing Hall and Longmen Mountain to seek them in the past, yet he had gained nothing for several years, and perhaps he had obtained a few Spirit Medicines for alchemy, but failing to gather them all was in vain.

But the return of Xu Chen and the others this time has brought new hope to the two Elders.

Even if the Spirit Medicines are still not enough, as long as Great Elder Danchenzi successfully refines the Blood God Grass to achieve Spirit Transformation Infant and becomes a Spirit Realm Great Cultivator, by relying on his face to greet the various Immortal Sects, it is estimated that the Spirit Medicines for refining the Descending Dust Pill will soon be gathered.

This is what is called when one person attains the Dao, their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

The face of a Spirit Transformation Realm Great Cultivator is something any Immortal Sect must give.

Of course, one can choose not to give it, but I fear it will be very difficult to get by in the future, and if one is robbed someday, no one will be willing to stand up for them, because no one is willing to offend or deal with a Spirit Transformation Realm Great Cultivator; this is the naked reality.