"Disciple pays his respects to Uncle-Master Bai."
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Feng Qingye respectfully kowtowed again.
"I thought you were still remembering the treats but forgetting the beatings, brat, and had mistaken me for Senior Brother Lei again."
"No, no, never."
Feng Qingye hurriedly nudged Lin Shisan beside him, signaling him to come forward and pay his respects.
"This humble lad, Lin Shisan, pays his respects to the Immortal Lord."
Lin Shisan put aside his thoughts of blaming Feng Qingyue.
Following Feng Qingyue's example, he respectfully kowtowed.
Feng Qingye was an outer sect disciple, so naturally he referred to himself as a disciple.
Lin Shisan was only a menial servant and could only call himself a humble lad.
"Where did this dark-skinned brat come from? I haven't seen him before."
Uncle-Master Bai glanced at Lin Shisan with his triangular eyes.
"Feng, your eyesight is getting worse and worse. You even took someone with a false spiritual root and no Dao Seed under your wing?"
Lin Shisan's heart tightened.
Uncle-Master Bai could tell at a glance that he had a false spiritual root. Could he also see that he had advanced three tiers in succession?
But the next remark shattered Lin Shisan's composure again. Did he have to be so hurtful?
"Feng, don't tell me this is your illegitimate son?"
The same words, the same scene.
The same fire blazed in Lin Shisan's head.
Were all these cultivators so hopelessly shortsighted? In what way did he resemble that little old man?
"N-no... he isn't..."
Feng Qingye blinked repeatedly in embarrassment.
"Uncle-Master Bai, this is some Seven-Day Immortal your disciple brought as a humble gift. Please accept it."
Feng Qingye respectfully offered the Seven-Day Immortal Lin Shisan had prepared with both hands. "Knowing you enjoy this, Uncle-Master, I made sure to bring some."
"You hypocritical brat."
Uncle-Master Bai pointed at Feng Qingye's forehead and scolded, "You prepared this for me? This was obviously meant for your Uncle-Master Lei."
"Well... it's the same... the same... all the same..."
After that awkward moment, Feng Qingye immediately signaled Lin Shisan to step back and clear a path for Uncle-Master Bai.
"Uncle-Master Bai, please come inside."
Uncle-Master Bai nodded.
But he also made a point of looking at Lin Shisan, making him shudder from head to toe.
The divine sense of someone at the sixth level of meridian opening was terrifying.
Just one glance felt as though he had been hammered to pieces.
"Your Uncle-Master Lei couldn't make it today, so he gave me his Spirit Token. Go change his name to mine."
Uncle-Master Bai spoke with an indifferent expression.
With a single step, he arrived directly in Feng Qingye's office.
Using his divine sense power, he changed the name in the Registration Ledger.
"Feng, how do you think my luck will be this time? Will I get something good?"
Just as he was about to enter, Uncle-Master Bai turned back to ask Feng Qingye.
Feng Qingye shrank his neck. How would he know? Yet he had to say something.
"Uncle-Master Bai, fortune shines upon you, and your divine abilities are vast. Whatever Cultivation Manuals and Combat Skills you desire, surely obtaining them will be as easy as turning your hand?"
"Your visit does our Tibetan Scripture Pavilion an immense honor. How could it fail to offer you a cultivation manual or combat skill to your liking?"
"Your mystery box is sure to shine brilliantly this time, Uncle-Master Bai. You'll certainly return laden with rewards."
Whether any of that was true could wait. First, he needed to butter Uncle-Master Bai up.
Sure enough, it worked. Uncle-Master Bai's stern butcher's face gradually grew less stern.
"You old rascal, stop spouting nonsense. This is a Spirit Artifact refined by the Founding Patriarch. Unless the sun rises in the west, only those with the right fated opportunity can obtain anything. Forget returning laden with rewards. I'll be satisfied if I don't go back empty-handed and make this trip for nothing. I'm only here to try my luck."
"You're right to admonish me, Uncle-Master."
Feng Qingye extended his right hand, and a palm-sized Little Yellow Flag materialized.
With a ripping hiss, the Little Yellow Flag released towering rays of white light.
As Feng Qingye murmured an incantation, a broad path of starlight extended from beneath his feet straight to the entrance of the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion.
Rumble...
It felt as though the heavens were collapsing and the earth was splitting apart.
The entire Tibetan Scripture Pavilion began to shake.
Then Lin Shisan saw the stars wheel and shift.
The whole sky suddenly darkened, and square boxes flew out one after another like twinkling stars.
Mystery boxes?
This was how they opened mystery boxes?
Each mystery box was like a shooting star, right before his eyes one instant and far away the next.
Even catching one would take tremendous effort, let alone catching a cultivation manual or combat skill that suited his wishes.
That was harder still.
More importantly, these square boxes had nothing on them-not even the most basic identifying mark.
It was truly like fishing a needle out of the ocean.
Even ordinary mystery boxes offered better odds than this.
No wonder there were so many poor suckers.
"Fortune shines upon Uncle-Master Bai. You're certain to achieve instant success and obtain the top-tier cultivation manual or combat skill you desire."
Feng Qingye spoke respectfully.
These were both the customary auspicious words spoken before opening mystery boxes and a bit of flattery. Who didn't enjoy hearing something pleasing?
"Heh heh heh..."
Uncle-Master Bai finally smiled. "May your auspicious words bring me a good mystery box. Otherwise, you two today..."
Feng Qingye and Lin Shisan felt as though needles were stabbing them, their bodies turning ice-cold.
Whatever followed that "otherwise" was far too lethal.
Uncle-Master Bai sprang into the air, stepping onto a three-foot Flying Sword and entering the star-filled sky.
At first, the starry sky was peaceful. The moment Uncle-Master Bai leaped into it, that peace vanished.
The square boxes seemed to come alive, always slipping away on their own just before Uncle-Master Bai could catch them.
Whoosh, whoosh...
Whuff, whuff...
Whiz, whiz...
Streaks of light and darting figures crisscrossed the starry sky.
This was truly soaring through the heavens and burrowing through the earth.
Someone at the Sixth Meridian Opening Realm really was like an immortal. That sword flight alone filled Lin Shisan with envy.
And those techniques were even more wondrous than the village storyteller's tales, even more captivating to his heart and imagination.
"...Aah!"
An angry roar rang out amid the stars.
Uncle-Master Bai had been grabbing for ages without so much as touching a mystery box.
Never mind catching one and opening it.
Even from a great distance, Lin Shisan could feel Uncle-Master Bai's towering fury.
The Flying Sword beneath his feet was throwing off sparks as he chased relentlessly after a fleeing mystery box.
He exhausted his divine abilities, yet always fell just that final hair's breadth short.
"Shisan, go down the mountain now and buy two pork trotters and another two jin of Seven-Day Immortal. Pick a few more of those apples to settle the nerves, too. Hurry."
Feng Qingye was so nervous that his tongue tied itself in knots.
"Go right now?"
Lin Shisan spoke in surprise.
Uncle-Master Bai was still opening mystery boxes over there. Would leaving now offend him and bring a fatal disaster down on his own head?
"Now. Immediately. This instant."
Before Lin Shisan could react, Feng Qingye grabbed him and flung him out.
Rumble...
Lin Shisan had barely left the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion's grounds when he heard another earth-shattering crash.
What was that little old man playing at? Why eat pork trotters at a time like this? Was he cooking up some nasty scheme to screw me over?
Rapidly imagining the possibilities, Lin Shisan took one last look, then raced down to the foot of the mountain.
When he returned, he was dumbfounded.
The courtyard was a complete mess. Trees, flowers, and grass had been uprooted and strewn across the ground, and the pavilion by the entrance was gone.
Dust was everywhere, ash was everywhere, and collapsed rubble was everywhere.
It was utter devastation, a scene from the end of the world.
"Brother Ye... Brother Ye..."
Lin Shisan set down the Pork Trotter and Seven-Day Immortal and rushed inside, taking the steps two at a time.
After rummaging around for ages, he finally dug Feng Qingye out from beneath a pile of broken timber.
He was a miserable sight.
His bruised nose and swollen face were only the beginning.
Sword wounds crisscrossed his chest, blood streaming like water. He looked like a man made of blood.
His clothes were riddled with holes, large and small.
He lay gasping, barely alive, looking as though thirty or fifty huge fat men had taken turns thrashing him-a picture of a fate worse than death.
Before you continue