Thank you for the reward, Chief!

Fang Yuan scratched his head awkwardly, the fat on his face bunching together. "I... I'm ranked below thirty thousand."

"Below thirty thousand?"

Chun Xiaobai knew this fatty was at the seventh level of Qi Refinement, just inside late-stage Qi Refinement. Did that mean the Outer Sect alone had at least a hundred thousand late-stage Qi Refinement disciples?

Still, he wasn't particularly worried.

As long as he had enough cultivation resources, he believed he would soon trample that bullshit "Genius Disciple Ranking" from top to bottom!

Chun Xiaobai glanced at Fang Yuan, then waved a hand, pulled several cultivation manuals from Cheng Haoxuan's Storage Bag, and tossed them over.

"Here. Your reward!"

Fang Yuan hurriedly caught them, fumbling in his haste. Taking a closer look, he found two sword manuals and one palm manual, all mid-grade Yellow Tier cultivation arts.

Cultivation arts were divided into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. As for what lay above Heaven Tier, he had no idea...

But even these Yellow Tier arts would cost at least two hundred merit points apiece to exchange for in the sect!

One merit point in the Azure Cloud Sect was roughly equivalent to one spirit stone. In other words, Senior Brother Chun had casually rewarded him with cultivation arts worth nearly a thousand spirit stones!

His eyes flew wide, and every roll of fat on his body trembled with excitement.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Chun! Thank you, Senior Brother Chun!"

"All right, all right!" Chun Xiaobai waved his hand grandly, looking every inch a bandit.

"Stick with me from now on, kid! If your Great King has a mouthful of meat, you'll always have a mouthful of broth!"

"Yes, yes! Thank you, Great King!" Fang Yuan blurted out without thinking.

"Uh-!"

He hadn't heard anyone call him "Great King" for several days. Hearing it again out of the blue brought back a long-missed sense of familiarity and warmth.

Chun Xiaobai immediately grinned and patted Fang Yuan on the shoulder.

"Good! Your Great King sees promise in you! From now on, you're my second-in-command!"

"Huh?!"

Y-you really were a bandit chief?

Fang Yuan froze. He had thought calling himself "Great King" was merely this senior brother's catchphrase.

But from the sound of it, had he really once led a gang of bandits on some mountain, robbing and pillaging?

He stood stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

Who cares!

As long as I cling to this golden thigh and get some meat to eat, that's enough!

Before he joined the Azure Cloud Sect, his father had taken his hand and told him:

"For cultivators like us, with mediocre talent, no money, and no backing, making something of ourselves in this dog-eat-dog Cultivation World means relying on elusive opportunities. But our best chance is meeting a benefactor along the way!"

He might have been slow-witted, but he had always kept those words close to his heart and searched for the benefactor his old father had spoken of.

He had spent nearly ten years in the Outer Sect, clinging to countless powerful thighs, but those people had only treated him as an errand boy. Not one had ever rewarded him with even a single spirit stone!

He knew those people were, at most, merely his bosses.

Only today...

Had he finally realized that he had found the greatest benefactor of his life-the man standing before him... Chun Xiaobai.

His very first reward was Yellow Tier cultivation arts worth nearly a thousand spirit stones!

If I render some more service in the future, the rewards... wouldn't that beat doing missions and exploring secret realms with my head hanging from my belt?

Isn't this exactly the benefactor Father talked about?

Seeing the fatty's eyes actually turn red, Chun Xiaobai froze for a moment.

"Hey, you're a grown man. How come you're crying at the drop of a hat?"

"I'm not, I'm not! I... I'm just too excited!" Fang Yuan hurriedly jiggled his greasy belly and shook those thoughts out of his head.

"All right, head back for now. Remember to close your Great King's courtyard gate."

"Yes, Great King!" Fang Yuan nodded firmly, then jogged out, his barrel-shaped waist swaying.

"Not bad. This fatty might be a little slick, but he's hardworking and knows how to sweet-talk."

Chun Xiaobai stroked his chin. "Having him serve as second-in-command for now isn't a bad idea."

"When you're out in the world, you need someone to run errands for you, don't you?"

With his hands behind his back, Chun Xiaobai hummed an off-key tune and strolled into the cultivation room, where he sat cross-legged.

He turned his hand over, and the Storage Bag he had just won appeared in his palm.

This Storage Bag was considerably more finely made than the one he had stripped off that adulterous couple. It was probably mid-grade.

Storage Bags also came in low, mid, and high grades. Above those were the rare Storage Rings.

Still, treasures like those probably couldn't be found in the Outer Sect. To get one, he would likely have to take a stroll through the Inner Sect.

Aside from the difference in capacity, the biggest distinction between Storage Bags and Storage Rings was that a Storage Bag only required mental power to store or retrieve items at will. Whoever held it could use it; there was no need to bind it to an owner.

Storage Rings were different. Not only did they require blood-binding, but they also needed powerful divine sense to activate.

Chun Xiaobai toyed with the Storage Bag for a moment, then willed its contents out. With a clatter, a glittering little mountain appeared before him.

"Holy shit! When that guy wakes up, won't he die of rage on the spot?"

Chun Xiaobai stared at the mountain of assorted pill bottles before him. There were well over a hundred.

There were more than a dozen longswords in various colors alone.

But the most abundant items were spirit stones!

At a glance, there were at least six thousand, along with a dozen or so jade boxes containing spirit herbs.

Together, these things were worth at least ten times the adulterous couple's entire fortune!

"Dammit! These big shots on the ranking are practically dripping with fat!"

Considering how Fang Yuan, who ranked below thirty thousand, had gotten so excited over a few Yellow Tier cultivation arts, it was clear that the weaker disciples in this sect were all so poor their pockets jingled with nothing.

It seemed that if he wanted to pull off a big score, he would have to set his sights on the big shots on the "Genius Disciple Ranking"!

"Then I'll start getting rich by working my way through the ranking!"

Chun Xiaobai muttered to himself and immediately began sorting everything.

There were over a dozen jade slips containing sword arts, cultivation arts, spirit techniques, and the like, all uniformly mid- or low-grade Yellow Tier.

He had studied cultivation arts and spirit techniques like these. Not only was their power unimpressive, but they also required spiritual power to activate.

His punches now packed five thousand jin of force, making them far deadlier than these flashy spirit techniques.

So, to him, these Yellow Tier cultivation arts and spirit techniques were nothing but trash.

He sorted out the cultivation arts and tossed them aside for now, then activated his [Treasure-Seeing Dharma Eye] and looked at the boxes of spirit herbs.

Soon, he noticed a rich green glow rising from one of the boxes.

He opened it and found a spirit herb shaped like a little blade of grass. But its green glow was much greener than that of the two herbs he had gotten from the adulterous couple earlier. Clearly, it was a grade higher.

He put this spirit herb away separately, then sorted the pill bottles, setting aside the mild ones he could eat like meals, such as "Spirit-Restoring Pills" and "Spirit-Gathering Pills"...

He also stored those of unknown origin separately.

Finally, he counted the spirit stones. There were exactly six thousand five hundred.

Chun Xiaobai stared at the pile of glittering spirit stones, a little dazed.

If he kept mixing spirit stones with water and drinking them every day, whether or not he developed kidney stones, indigestion would certainly be unavoidable.

After pondering for a moment, Chun Xiaobai grabbed a handful of spirit stones, clenched them in his palm, and squeezed hard.

Then he activated his [Treasure-Seeing Divine Eye], locked onto the green lights, and used the Martial God Art to draw them into his body and refine them.

Sure enough!

As long as his [Treasure-Seeing Divine Eye] locked onto the faint wisps of origin qi escaping from the spirit stones, he could freely direct, channel, and refine them with the Martial God Art!

"Dammit! Finally, I don't have to gnaw on rocks and drink cold water every day!"

Chun Xiaobai let out a long breath.