Wealth Stirs the Heart

The sunset is infinitely beautiful, but it's nearing dusk.

The brilliant sunset stretched from the horizon all the way to Red Leaf Island, as if splitting the azure sky and the ocean in two.

The red leaves on the island swayed gently in the breeze, accompanied by the faint sobs of a woman and the clapping of her hands—a beautiful picture of red leaves, blue sea, and a beautiful woman!

After a long while, the clouds dispersed and the rain stopped. Hao Ming nestled in his senior sister Zhang Hongye's arms, looking uneasy. "Senior sister, am I being unfair to senior brother by doing this?"

Which senior brother?

"Of course it's Senior Brother Ju Qingzi, eh?" The young disciple was suddenly stunned. What did that mean? Although I have three senior brothers, I can't let all three of them down!

"I have nothing to do with him!"

"But you two aren't." Hao Ming blinked. To anyone, Senior Sister and Senior Brother seemed like a match made in heaven!

Zhang Hongye ran her fingers over Hao Ming's firm muscles, laughing as she said, "I just love your innocent side!"

"Ah?"

"Have you rested enough?"

"You've had enough rest!"

"Let's do it again!" Zhang Hongye said, and was about to step over Hao Ming.

"Senior sister, senior sister, please don't do this, senior sister, ah!"

Three hours later, Hao Ming lay listlessly under the tree, his eyes darting around.

He felt as if he had just escaped Ghost Gate Pass, experiencing no pleasure from lovemaking, only endless pain.

As for the senior sister, she just had her fun and ran away.

"Sigh!" After resting for a long time, Hao Ming finally got up, rubbing his body. He dressed, picked up his sword, and was about to leave when he remembered something.

Yes, the battlefield needs to be cleaned up!

"Huh?" Hao Ming turned his head and discovered that the battlefield had been covered with a layer of black ants!

"Black Ice Ant?" People from Taiheng can quickly investigate the living habits of Black Ice Army Ant, so Hao Ming, as a local, knows even more about these ants.

Hao Ming was startled and immediately drew his sword. Then he parted the grass and followed the movement of the Black Ice Ant to find their nest.

The red maple forest was tall and dense, with leaves piled high underfoot. Hao Ming wasn't feeling well, so he had to bend over and look carefully to see even a little bit clearly.

"Such a huge nest!" Hao Ming was astonished to find that the ant trail had stretched for more than ten meters. He had seen no fewer than fifty or sixty thousand ants along the way!

How many ants must be in that ant nest?

But what's even more surprising is that with such a large Black Ice Ant nest here, the trees and soil in the area were hardly damaged?

"Hmm? Yeah, why?"

Hao Ming's eyes lit up. There was only one possibility: its natural enemy was here!

He immediately held his breath, slowed his pace, and strained his ears, carefully feeling his way through the woods.

Before long, he discovered the Black Ice Ant nest.

But instead of destroying them, he first grabbed a handful of ants, crushed them in a bowl, and then poured water on them to make a bowl of ant soup.

With a surge of Qi and Blood, the ant soup instantly exploded into a cloud of black mist that spread in all directions.

Hao Ming quickly climbed the tree and then carefully observed the area below.

More than ten minutes later, a moving red rock cautiously appeared under the tree, taking two steps back at a time!

"Just as I thought!" Hao Ming was overjoyed, then leaped down and grabbed the thing.

The Red-backed Armadillo immediately curled into a ball, revealing only its hard shell.

But this shell could protect against wild beasts, not people. Hao Ming picked up the beast and its shell together and put it inside a Beast Taming Bag.

Instead of returning to the sect, they took the anteater and piloted a small boat, leaving Red Leaf Island.

When he returned, he had not only changed his clothes and his sword, but he also reeked of alcohol and was swaying unsteadily.

This situation naturally couldn't be hidden from his fellow disciples. They pinned Hao Ming down and extracted information from him in just a few words.

There are Red-backed Armadillo on the island!

This thing is very valuable; one can sell for tens of thousands of taels of silver!

What are we waiting for? Go catch them!

As for whether arresting them will affect the ecosystem, who cares?

All they know is that the redback anteaters are limited; if you don't catch them, someone else will, and you won't get any of the money from selling them!

The cultivation levels of everyone on the island were not high; the only Qi Refining were Master Zhang Qizi and his wife Yue Qiwei.

However, they had many tools, each with a Tracking Talisman, and they also had the blood of anteaters on them. In addition, the island was not large, only 16 square kilometers.

In less than a night, all the Red-backed Armadillo, along with their cubs, were captured.

The four of them met in the early hours of the morning and then discussed the matter.

An adult Red-backed Armadillo can fetch 50,000 taels of silver, while even a juvenile can sell for several thousand taels. They caught nine adults and six juveniles, with a total value exceeding 600,000 taels of silver!

With so much money, you could easily join a better sect, so why suffer on this tiny Red Leaf Island?

So the four of them packed their things and boarded a small boat, leaving Red Leaf Island.

Two hours later, the four of them landed on Yingzhou Island. They found an inn, took a bath, changed their clothes, and then rode fast horses for another hour. Only after confirming that their master would not catch up did they find a rugged and chaotic place to stop.

"Which sect should we join?" asked Bai Bailin, the second senior brother.

"The Green Wood Sect in the east only costs 150,000 taels of silver to enter, and all four of us can join!" said Zhang Luer, the third senior brother.

"But the sect leader of the Green Wood Sect is only at the Qi Refining Fourth Level, just one level higher than our master. Instead of spending so much money to join the Green Wood Sect, we might as well stay on Red Leaf Island!" Bai Bailin said.

"Then, the Mingzhu Sect? This sect only costs 100,000 taels, but their elders are at the Qi Refining Fifth Level!" Hao Ming said.

"The Mingzhu Sect is currently fighting the Black Water Sect for territory; they're just recruiting cannon fodder!" Bai Bailin said irritably, "Go ahead and die if you want!"

"We can't do this, we can't do that, what are we supposed to do?" Zhang Luer said irritably.

Having been stimulated by his senior brother's description of the future, and now after two hours of rowing and two hours of riding a horse in the cold wind, he has calmed down.

Thinking about it carefully, although Master's cultivation level is low, Senior Sister is beautiful!

Besides, if I were to marry my senior sister, how could my master possibly not pass on his True Disciple to me?

Yes, Red Leaf Island was poor, and life was difficult.

But now that they have the Red-backed Armadillo, won't Red Leaf Island have money after selling them all?

"Shall we go back?" Zhang Luer asked.

"Go back?" After a long silence, the eldest disciple, Ju Qingzi, finally spoke, "If you had turned back two hours ago, you would have had a chance. Now, your junior sister must have already woken up and discovered that we are gone. Your master and mistress, who were in seclusion, have also been woken up. What will we say when we go back? That we betrayed the sect and then regretted it?"

Zhang Luer fell silent immediately.

Once betrayal is committed, there is no turning back.

Even if Master didn't pursue the matter at the time, who knows if he would retaliate later!

"Then what do we do? The best sect we can get into with 150,000 taels of silver is the Green Wood Sect!"

Ju Qingzi shook his head. "No, we have more than 150,000 taels, we have 600,000 taels!"

"Huh?" Zhang Luer was taken aback, and immediately gripped her sword tighter. "Senior Brother, what do you mean? You want to take it all for yourself?"

"You're being unfair, Senior Brother! Not to mention that we all caught the armadillo together, even if we were to divide it, it should be Fourth Junior Brother, who found the armadillo, who should get the lion's share!" Bai Bailin quickly gripped his weapon tightly. If Senior Brother wanted to take it all for himself, he would have to team up with Third Junior Brother.

As for Hao Ming, who died of old age, he was just there to make up the numbers.

Ju Qingzi quickly shook his head. "What kind of person do you take me for? The four of us are as close as brothers, how could I take it all for myself?"

The remaining three didn't believe it. After all, Hao Ming had only spent his money on a lavish lifestyle, while their senior brother had decisively led them in defection.

"What I mean is, 600,000 taels of silver to buy one spot!" Ju Qingzi said. "The remaining three can enter as pageboys or servants. Once that person breaks through to the Qi Refining Stage, will the other three still have a chance?"

Bai Bailin and Zhang Luer were immediately intrigued.

150,000 taels of silver can only get you into the Green Wood Sect, but 600,000 taels can get you into the Yuanchen Sect, which is a super sect with a Golden Core expert in charge!