Exchange

You're a smart one.

Zhou Yi gave a mental nod of approval. He didn't care what the two of them truly thought in their hearts.

Under coercion and bribery, nine out of ten weren't sincere.

"The thirty-six outer sect ultimate arts of Kunlun can't just be given away for free."

"Being a nominal disciple and learning one ultimate art for free is already a grace. If you want to learn more, you'll need to contribute to the sect to earn the right to exchange."

Zhou Yi hadn't founded the Kunlun Sect out of a sudden burst of charity, handing out martial arts manuals to bless the masses.

The thirty-six martial arts were nothing more than common jianghu skills in that other world, but placed on Blue Star, where the Spiritual Energy Revival had only been going on for three years, they were the one and only true inherited arts.

When Gu Yu heard that contributions were needed for exchange, his doubts actually lessened quite a bit. He firmly believed there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world—only sweet bait.

If he could exchange contributions for ultimate arts, then he'd know what the Kunlun Sect wanted, and that actually put his mind at ease.

"May I ask the elder how to earn contributions?"

"Tangible martial arts and secret techniques, intangible intelligence and secrets, as well as all kinds of spiritual pills and medicines, spirit stones and spirit ores—anything useful to the sect can be exchanged for contributions."

This was Zhou Yi's true goal: using the Gateway to Myriad Wonders to travel through countless worlds to acquire techniques, then trading those techniques for cultivation resources on Blue Star.

Blue Star was different from the countless Other Selves in other worlds, where he could mess around freely without consequence even if he died.

The True Self was unique across all realms. If it died, that was truly the end.

Perhaps there was a cycle of reincarnation in heaven and earth, but after rebirth through reincarnation, with all memories lost and personality changed, was he still himself?

After returning to Blue Star, Zhou Yi had set a steady-development tone. But steady development didn't mean leaving things to fate—it just meant not personally stepping onto the battlefield, instead pulling strings behind the scenes to acquire cultivation resources.

The Great Dao lies in striving.

First, his True Self had extremely poor aptitude and needed massive resources to cultivate.

Second, the Gateway to Myriad Wonders needed to devour spiritual items to travel through the heavens faster; otherwise, each search across the realms would take three years.

Zhou Yi's True Self Lifespan couldn't afford to wait three years after three years.

"Elder, can this item be exchanged for contributions?"

After discussing with Jiang Xiaozhai, Gu Yu took a bead out of his backpack.

It was the size of a broad bean, earthy yellow in color.

"When Xiaozhai and I encountered a Wild Boar Demon harming people, we killed it and found this in its Dantian. Should be a Demon Core, right?"

Zhou Yi nodded. "It is indeed a Demon Core. But this boar demon's strength is too weak. Ten Demon Cores can be exchanged for one ultimate art."

Ten Demon Cores meant killing at least ten demons—and not every demon had a core.

After the Demon Race awakened, they all had innate techniques. For example, the Wolf Demon in Jincheng could spit Wind Blades, easily cutting through metal and jade—extremely dangerous.

Innate techniques were just one difficulty. The second was that after three years of Spiritual Energy Revival, demons were scarce. Just searching for them would take who knows how long.

When Zhou Yi set this price, the handsome smile still lingered on his face, but his heart had already turned pitch black.

Still, it highlighted the value of Kunlun's ultimate arts.

Cultivators on Blue Star were still in the exploratory phase. The Kunlun Sect's techniques were one of a kind in this world.

"Ten..."

Gu Yu didn't know the value of the techniques. Even if it was expensive, he could only grit his teeth and endure, pulling a wooden box from his backpack.

When he opened it, a rich fruity fragrance wafted out.

A round, fiery red spiritual fruit, about the size of a cherry, with golden patterns on its surface.

"This nameless fruit—there's only one left. How many Demon Cores can it offset?"

Gu Yu and Jiang Xiaozhai had traveled the world, exploring places rich in spiritual energy. Over two years, they'd found quite a few good things.

Demon Cores and spiritual fruits were just two of them.

The moment Zhou Yi saw the spiritual fruit, he almost couldn't stop himself from snatching it. Forcing himself to maintain the image of a lofty expert, he slowly reached out and took it.

"You two are quite fortunate."

Following the instructions from the Gateway to Myriad Wonders, Zhou Yi read word for word: "The Crimson Flame Fruit grows in extremely hot and arid lands. The flower blooms for one day, withers for one day, and bears fruit on the third day. If not picked, one day later, it burns to ash along with the plant."

"The elder is truly knowledgeable. The Crimson Flame Fruit plant did indeed burn itself to ash."

Gu Yu's trust in the Kunlun Sect grew a little more. Offering the Crimson Flame Fruit was also a test of the sect's inheritance depth.

And indeed, it was unfathomably deep—the elder easily recognized the Crimson Flame Fruit.

"The Crimson Flame Fruit isn't high-grade, but it's rare. I'll count it as ninety contributions. Adding the Demon Core, that makes exactly one hundred. One ultimate art costs exactly one hundred contributions."

After Zhou Yi finished speaking, he flipped his palm, and the Crimson Flame Fruit and Demon Core vanished. Once something left his mouth, there was no way it was coming back.

Gu Yu and Jiang Xiaozhai discussed it and decided to exchange for a Body Protection Method.

They already had a footwork technique, a palm technique, and long-range attacks through thunder-fire abilities. The only thing missing was a defensive art.

The two didn't ask whether disciples could pass techniques among themselves. Since the elder hadn't specifically said they couldn't, they assumed it was allowed.

By their calculation, they'd actually come out ahead by one technique. Future exchanges would effectively be half off. They just hoped the sect wouldn't take too much of a loss.

"Body Protection Method: Golden Bell Shield and Iron Shirt are orthodox body-tempering arts. In addition, Iron Head Skill, Iron Arm, Iron Leg Skill, Bell Striking Skill, and Cave Gold Finger train the head, hands and feet, shoulders, and fingers respectively. It's up to you to choose."

Zhou Yi turned to look at Jiang Xiaozhai. "Rest assured, the sect's techniques have long been improved. Even if a female disciple practices Iron Shirt, it won't distort her figure."

Zhou Yi's words were an indirect admission that the two could exchange techniques with each other.

The improved techniques were a fabrication. Jiang Xiaozhai, with her Thunder Spirit Body, underwent daily Spiritual Energy Body Tempering, so practicing Golden Bell Shield wouldn't affect her physique either.

"We choose Golden Bell Shield."

As Zhou Yi expected, Golden Bell Shield sounded higher in rank compared to the others.

Zhou Yi taught them the Body Tempering Formula for Golden Bell Shield, along with various Prohibited Matters, and appended a Golden Bell Stance.

The Golden Bell Stance was no worse than the Primordial Chaos Stance, only lacking the Internal Refinement Art, so it couldn't connect inside and out to generate Internal Qi.

Another half day passed, and Gu Yu and Jiang Xiaozhai's Stance Training looked passable.

Zhou Yi wasn't worried about them damaging their bones and tendons. Natural tempering by Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy would never leave hidden injuries. He had to admit, the two were truly Favored by Heaven and Earth.

"Meeting is fate; parting is fate. From now on, you two are disciples of the Kunlun Sect. Do not use your ultimate arts to do evil, or This Elder will surely kill you without mercy."

"Elder, where can we find you in the future? How about we add each other on WeChat?"

"I'll be at Peach Blossom Mountain for the next few years. Just come find me directly."

Zhou Yi had no intention of adding WeChat—in fact, he would avoid any information related to the internet under the identity of "Chixiao." Exposing one thing meant exposing everything.

Before leaving, Jiang Xiaozhai couldn't help but ask, "Can the Kunlun Sect truly cultivate immortality and achieve eternal life?"

"I don't know about eternal life. The founder exhausted his thousand-year Lifespan and could only reincarnate through Liberation by Violence."

Zhou Yi sighed. "Perhaps the path of cultivation only lets people live a little longer."

A sense of vicissitude and desolation, of the Great Way being lost, radiated from him.

Only after confirming that Gu Yu and the others had left did Zhou Yi finally drop his dignified facade. He quickly took out the spirit fruit and Demon Core.

"A big haul—a real big haul!"

The violent spiritual energy of the Demon Core was directly absorbed by the Gateway to Myriad Wonders, turning into a hundred points of Origin.

The Crimson Flame Fruit was a heavenly spirit fruit. Even mortals could swallow it, let alone Zhou Yi, who was not far from a Flawless Physical Body.

This single spirit fruit, in Yan Chixia's world, could exchange for not just three martial arts manuals, but thirty, even three hundred.

Some old fellows stuck at the Peak of Houtian, with aging bodies and fragile meridians, dared not guide Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy into their bodies to temper themselves and advance to Innate Grandmaster.

The gentle spiritual energy of the spirit fruit was practically their life-saving herb and longevity pill.

"Cross-World Trade truly yields immense profits—it's no exaggeration to call it a thousandfold return on investment!"