The Trouble of Having Too Many Treasures

Could this be another chicken rib?

His teeth ached involuntarily.

This was no ordinary treasure. If he could make use of it, it would indeed be of great help to him.

But how could he make the Flat Peaches ripen quickly without anyone discovering it?

That was quite a difficult problem.

Lin Xiaoyao pondered for a long while but still had no clue, so he temporarily tossed the Flat Peach Tree Seed into his storage space as well.

Since he could not think of a solution for the moment, there was no use in worrying himself sick. He could consider it slowly in the future.

Several more days passed like this.

Perhaps prosperity had reached its peak and begun to decline. In the previous few days, he had already used up all his good fortune. Over these past days, Lin Xiaoyao had neither signed in for cultivation nor obtained any treasures capable of increasing his magic power.

Furthermore, he did not dare cultivate, fearing that he might bring disaster upon the Feathering Sect. For a time, his cultivation remained stuck at the Nascent Soul Late Stage, leaving Lin Xiaoyao caught between laughter and tears.

Of course, he had not gained nothing these past few days. Though he had failed to sign in for treasures that could improve his cultivation, he had still obtained quite a few miscellaneous rewards.

For example, Star Thunder Wood.

It was one of the five great divine woods of the cultivation world.

Magic treasures refined from it came with a spell known as Demon-Breaking Divine Thunder, which naturally suppressed demonic cultivators.

There was also Clear Spirit Powder.

Its name sounded ordinary, but it was actually a sacred treasure rarely seen even once in a thousand years in the cultivation world, priceless beyond measure.

It was said that its greatest effect was treating cultivation deviation.

Cultivation deviation was originally the greatest danger when cultivators advanced and broke through. Yet with Clear Spirit Powder protecting them, it was as though all worries had been swept away, almost equivalent to gaining an extra life.

There were many more things like it.

All of them had been obtained by Lin Xiaoyao through signing in.

Yet these treasures, enough to drive the entire cultivation world mad, were scarcely different from trash in the eyes of someone like him who possessed the Saint Fruit Position.

Or they could be called chicken ribs. Without bothering to sort through them, he simply tossed them all into the System Space.

It was not as though Lin Xiaoyao had never considered giving this trash, which was completely useless to him, to his fellow disciples of the Feathering Sect.

Presumably, if even one item were handed to Master Green Feather, the sect master would be so delighted that he would be unable to sleep for three days and nights.

But Lin Xiaoyao did not do so.

It was not because he was reluctant to part with them.

If it were you, would you feel attached to a piece of trash?

What was more, though they were chicken ribs to him, if the people of the Feathering Sect obtained them, they would certainly be able to rapidly increase the sect's strength.

For more than a year now, he had signed in every day and swept the Founder's Shrine. Others might have found such peaceful days dull.

But to Lin Xiaoyao, the world outside was vast and full of fighting and killing, countless fiends and demons, and the occasional birth of great demons. Where else could possibly be more suitable for lying low than here?

In short, he had made up his mind not to leave until his cultivation matched the Saint Fruit Position.

And that process was clearly not going to be easy.

Since that was the case, whether out of fellowship with his sectmates or so that he could lie low more safely, deliberately increasing the Feathering Sect's strength was obviously a fine choice.

But the problem was that Lin Xiaoyao only wanted to be a little nobody. He did not want to attract the attention of the Feathering Sect's many great figures by kindly giving away treasures. That would be more loss than gain.

"Looks like I still need to think of a way. Only when I can send these treasures out without anyone knowing, and without any hidden danger, can I rest easy."

Lin Xiaoyao muttered to himself.

In any case, before finding a reliable method, he would not act rashly.

Speaking of which, although his cultivation had not improved over the past few days, the atmosphere in the Feathering Sect had grown increasingly tense.

More and more inner sect elders were patrolling the back mountain every day. Even Master Green Feather, the sect master, had been alarmed.

That was rather unusual!

Clearly, the trouble Liang Xiaotian had caused when he entered the Heart-Refining Path last time still had not been resolved.

That was why the sect was acting as though facing a great enemy.

Gradually, all sorts of rumors even began to spread.

That day, Lin Xiaoyao went out for a walk. He had already finished sweeping the Founder's Shrine, but he had yet to decide where to sign in that day.

Should he go to Sword-Flying Peak or the Library Pavilion?

Or should he instead visit the Spirit Herb Garden and Treasure Pill Valley to see whether he could sign in for something that would improve his realm and cultivation?

Along the way, Lin Xiaoyao heard quite a few discussions among the sect's disciples.

Though they spoke quietly, whispering with people they knew well.

How could their words possibly escape Lin Xiaoyao's ears and divine sense? Even without deliberately listening, every word entered his ears.

"Do you know what happened on the Heart-Refining Path? One of my friends is the sword-bearing disciple of Elder Dong from Sword-Flying Peak. I heard some definite news from him."

The speaker was all animated, his voice brimming with smugness.

"What happened?"

The others around him immediately pricked up their ears.

It seemed gossip was not something only mortals were interested in. Cultivators, too, could not escape such common tastes.

"I heard that a terrifying fiend is suppressed within the Heart-Refining Path. Senior Brother Liang fell victim to his schemes this time. Now those fiends are about to break free, which is why the elders and old masters of the sect have all rushed there—to reinforce the formation sealing the fiends."

"So that's how it is."

Everyone exclaimed in amazement, though some remained unconvinced.

"I have my own source of information, but what I heard is rather different from what this senior brother just said."

"Oh? What did you hear?"

Everyone turned their heads. This melon was getting more and more interesting.

"I heard that Senior Brother Liang accidentally took away a treasure used as the formation eye while he was on the Heart-Refining Path, which was what caused this disturbance."

The disciples continued talking.

Then, another seven or eight people who claimed to have sources of information popped up.

Some said their childhood friend had been accepted as the personal disciple of some elder.

Others said the dimwit from next door had suddenly wised up. Not only had he entered an immortal sect, but he had even become a fire-tending boy in Treasure Pill Valley and was greatly valued.

In short, every one of them spoke with great confidence. The onlookers could not tell whether they truly had well-informed sources or were merely spouting nonsense to attract attention.

"Do you know that Liang Xiaotian is actually a traitor to our sect? A rival sect went to great pains to plant him in our sect. His purpose was to destroy the Heart-Refining Path. Otherwise, that forbidden ground had never suffered any mishap for over ten thousand years, so why did such a huge disaster arise the moment he entered?"

"Nonsense! Senior Brother Liang is the pride of our sect. How could he possibly commit such treachery? Stop spouting wild nonsense here."

The moment those words were spoken, someone refuted them on the spot.

It was clear that Liang Xiaotian remained quite popular.

"Then tell me, why did something happen to the Heart-Refining Path the moment Liang Xiaotian entered it?" Having been embarrassed in public, that person naturally refused to accept it.

"Who says something happened to the Heart-Refining Path? The news I received is precisely the opposite. I heard that Senior Brother Liang made an astonishing discovery there. It will soon become a blessed grotto-heaven of our sect, and there may even be astonishing treasures."

"I heard that too..."

The crowd remained gathered there, discussing it with endless enthusiasm, but Lin Xiaoyao had already slipped away quietly.

With so many people and so many mouths, every kind of claim was being made, and there was no way to tell truth from falsehood. Still, it gave Lin Xiaoyao, who had not known where to sign in that day, an idea.

So he turned and headed toward the back mountain.