Taking stock of the gains

Outside Lingxiao Hall.

The elders spent only half a day discussing matters before dispersing.

Xu Ziqing was the last to emerge from the hall.

He was the sole nominal disciple of Chen Linyuan, the Dongyuan Sect's master. After the meeting ended, he had a private conversation with the sect master, so he left the hall a little later than the other elders.

"..."

As though sensing something, Xu Ziqing glanced to his side.

Qin Xijun was leaning against the steps outside the hall, watching him with a smile.

"What brings you here, Elder Qin?"

"Oh, come now, young Elder Xu, don't be so distant. I did guide you along your way, after all... What a terrible attitude."

"You dumped that whole mess of elders' duties on me, a True Disciple, and you still have the nerve to say that."

Xu Ziqing flicked his sleeve and headed straight down the mountain.

Still.

He did not hurry to leave on his sword.

"Hehehe, what could I do? You know those disciples of mine. None of them are as dependable as you, right...?"

Qin Xijun caught up and walked beside him.

"Don't give me that... Out with it. What is it this time?"

"Listen to you. Can't I come chat with you without needing something?"

"When someone offers kindness unasked, they're either scheming or stealing."

"Now you really have misunderstood me. I came to thank you this time."

Xu Ziqing stopped, looking suspicious. "Thank me... for what?"

"For standing up for that boy."

"Who did I help?"

Xu Ziqing had no recollection of helping anyone.

"That Outer Sect Disciple, Song Yesheng."

"..."

Xu Ziqing pondered for a moment, then waved a hand. "My helping him today had nothing to do with either you or him."

"He's merely an Outer Sect Disciple. What does his life or death have to do with me?"

"If that's what this is about, there's no need to thank me. You should thank Mas... thank the sect master for intervening."

"You know perfectly well what I'm after."

Losing interest in the conversation, Xu Ziqing waved a hand and summoned his flying sword.

His tone was flat, without a ripple.

"I don't care who lives..."

"I only want the Xuanyuan Sect dead."

The events of the trip to Silent Valley had kept the name Song Yesheng in the spotlight throughout the Dongyuan Sect for quite some time.

But now the matter was settled, and the person at its center had fallen in cultivation. Soon, everyone would turn the page.

In the cultivation world, a fall in cultivation meant many things.

Most importantly, even if one could cultivate one's spiritual power anew, the time lost in doing so was enough to shatter an ordinary cultivator's state of mind.

Everyone had tacitly accepted one thing.

This Outer Sect Disciple named "Song Yesheng" probably had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment in this lifetime.

Song Yan, however, knew nothing of this.

All he knew was that he could finally return to his cave abode.

When he had left, how could he have foreseen so much happening?

Now that he was back in his cave abode...

Song Yan sighed softly.

"It feels as though a lifetime has passed."

With the matter of Silent Valley settled, his body and mind, taut all these days, suddenly relaxed.

A profound weariness from deep within, compounded by the injuries to his meridians that had yet to heal completely, washed over him.

Without resisting, Song Yan lay down and fell asleep.

He slept soundly all night.

The next day, the sun was already high when Xiao He touched his nose with her cold Snake Tongue, finally rousing him.

After bathing, changing, and washing up in his cave abode, he felt thoroughly refreshed.

Sitting cross-legged on his stone bed, he circulated the Qi Condensation Scroll through several cycles, completing his basic cultivation for the day before slowly bringing his practice to a close.

His mind was tranquil,

Sending his spiritual power into his Heaven and Earth Bag, Song Yan began taking stock of the gains from this trip.

To be fair, although he had not brought those two Heaven and Earth Bags back, when he had seen Wang Xi's bag, Song Yan had truly found it hard to put down.

He still remembered that Heaven and Earth Bag, jet-black and edged with gold thread. It had been exquisitely made.

He wondered where it had been custom-made.

Setting those thoughts aside, he sorted through the items.

Although he had already done his best to calm himself, the sight of the pile of belongings that had been Wang Xi's still made his breathing quicken.

"Ten..."

"Twenty..."

"..."

"One hundred and thirty... One hundred and thirty-six Spirit Stones!"

With the current strength of Song Yan's Divine Sense, he could have known the exact number at a glance, but a pauper like him simply loved the feeling of counting Spirit Stones mark by mark.

Song Yan knew this was not actually much.

After all, Wang Xi's own cultivation consumed a great deal of resources.

Unless they were merchants in the cultivation world, no one would hoard huge quantities of Spirit Stones in their Heaven and Earth Bag. They would have exchanged them for cultivation resources long ago.

But for Song Yan, who knew how long it would have taken him to save up these one hundred and thirty-six Spirit Stones?

Song Yan had long since spent all his own Spirit Stones, leaving only four marks' worth of Spirit Stone fragments.

Now, after adding Wan Songran's pile to the total, he actually possessed one hundred and sixty-five Spirit Stones!

"A fortune!"

Forcing down his delight, Song Yan continued taking stock.

Apart from the Spirit Stones he cared about most, the bulk of the haul consisted of law artifacts, pills, and some talismans.

Between the two men, there were five law artifacts in total, two of which were offensive. One was an ocher flying sword belonging to Wang Xi. For some reason, he had not used it that day.

Perhaps it was because its power fell short of that small golden seal artifact called the Mountain-Subduing Seal.

Thinking of that made Song Yan's heart ache again.

"What a shame..."

When Wang Xi was killed that day, the seal had fallen out of sight along with the crumbling, inverted mountain. Later, he had not found it in Wan Songran's Heaven and Earth Bag either. It had presumably sunk into the mire.

"Although I've now decided to follow the path of a pure sword cultivator and have no use for these law artifacts, I could still sell them for Spirit Stones."

It could not be helped. Song Yan had been poor enough to fear poverty.

His fixation on Spirit Stones now went far beyond the ordinary.

The other offensive law artifact was a Long Whip that had belonged to Wan Songran.

"If not for that strange little flute... could the Wan family of western Chu actually use whips to command spirit beasts?"

Song Yan speculated maliciously to himself, muttering under his breath.

That was far too primitive.

Setting it aside, he took out the only defensive law artifact among them.

It was a triangular protective amulet made of blue-green jade.

Song Yan often saw protective amulets of this shape at Lingyuan Marsh Market as well. Such things were very common in the Chu Kingdom's cultivation world.

Its function was also very simple: it could withstand three attacks from a late Qi Refining Stage cultivator.

Once activated, defensive law artifacts of this kind would usually take effect automatically, without requiring the cultivator to expend mental effort controlling them.

This one had belonged to Wang Xi. Unfortunately, in his arrogance, he had not activated it at the time.

Perhaps by the time Wan Songran used that Yi Wood Spirit-Severing Talisman, everything had already been too late.

This was something Song Yan could use himself, so naturally, he would not sell it.

Of the final two items, one was something Song Yan had never seen before. He planned to take it to Granny Qin for an appraisal later.

The other was this red-and-black flute.

Song Yan toyed with it in his hand, recalling the scene of Wan Songran playing this strange flute and influencing the Demon Beasts' minds.

"What an eerie flute."

He used his spiritual power to give the Glutton Tail Flute a thorough cleaning...

Originally, Song Yan had planned to sell this flute anonymously as a "precious treasure" at the Spirit Source Marsh Night Market's next auction, exchanging it for Spirit Stones.

But now he hesitated.

Because he seemed to have heard or seen a description somewhere of a treasure with a similar effect...

"Ah..."

After thinking carefully for a moment, Song Yan raised his eyebrows. He remembered.

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