The dozing old man held his cane horizontally in his hand, walked to an iron anvil, tapped the cane on the anvil once, and three red hot iron blocks clattered and slid onto it.
The cane was inserted into the ground. The dozing old man pulled out a dark red bone from his waist, like the rib of some creature, and used it as a pen to write characters on the red hot iron blocks. The places where the rib contacted the red hot iron blocks melted rapidly, producing grey smoke and dust.
After finishing writing on all three red hot iron blocks, the old man put away that rib like object, lifted his cane and casually swept the red hot iron blocks into a water bucket nearby. Dense water vapour immediately puffed out from the water bucket.
The old man did not look at it at all, turned and walked back behind the long table, closed the ledger book, and leaned back on the chair to doze off again.
Cui You went over, fished out three secluded residence plaques from the water bucket, turned and called the three to leave.
After exiting the underground cave, crossing the bridge and leaving the secluded cliff, they arrived at the secluded corner port on the opposite side. Only then did Cui You bring out the three secluded residence plaques and let the three each choose their own.
Any that could refract a secluded glow under light upon touching the person themselves belonged to that person. This was also a method to distinguish the genuine from the fake at a glance.
Yu Qing held his own secluded residence plaque and examined it. He saw that the three characters Jian Yuan Zhai were already on it.
Cui You once again instructed the three along the way to observe the rules of the secluded corner port and not to act recklessly outside and such.
The three who had returned to Miao Qing Hall packed up their bundles once more.
Seeing the three emerge with bundles on their backs, Tie Miao Qing and Sun Ping knew that this time the three were truly going to leave.
Partings always bring sadness, not to mention that this parting carried a special significance.
No one knew whether the two sides would have another chance to meet. Even if they met again, there might no longer be a Miao Qing Hall.
Although they knew that the two women’s cultivations were far higher than theirs, the three men still felt somewhat ashamed in their hearts at leaving the women to face the difficulties alone, especially beautiful women. However Yu Qing was more realistic and insisted on leaving. Nan Zhu could not persuade him otherwise.
Tie Miao Qing, who watched the three depart, felt a touch of regret. She had always wanted to see the top scholar’s handwriting and ask for a piece of calligraphy, but in the end she did not have the nerve to bring it up, leaving her with an inexplicable melancholy.
Of course there was also a gain. She had inexplicably received two million taels of silver.
Old Fifteen, how much silver did you manage to get this time?
None of your business.
Give us a straight answer. We will not take advantage of you, nor can we. At most we will take some of your travel expenses on the road.
There is no need to tell you.
Old Fifteen, here is what I think. Just by your nature, if you could give Tie Miao Qing two million, it shows that you have far more than two million on hand. With so much money, do we still need to run to the demon realm to take any risks?
Nan Zhu, walking on the streets of the secluded corner port, raised this question. It really touched the scene and stirred emotions. Thinking of how Tie Miao Qing had been reluctant to let him go, he felt a bit heartbroken. He had not had enough time with such a great beauty as Tie Miao Qing and could not bear to leave. It was rare to encounter such a beautiful woman willing to spend time with someone like him.
Yu Qing was taken aback by his words and stopped in his tracks on the street immediately.
His eyes looked a little dazed. In his heart he muttered, yes, with so much money, why go to the demon realm to take risks? Going to the demon realm to take risks was only for making money, right? If they really went, with so much money they could first raise their cultivations. With higher cultivation, would it not be steadier to go then?
Coming back to his senses, he said to Nan Zhu once more, Whether I have money or not is my affair and has nothing to do with you.
Nan Zhu said in a low voice, If you truly have the financial strength to act as sect leader, we would admit we are inferior and accept it. From now on we will follow your lead in everything. We will all listen to you.
Yu Qing’s brows gradually lifted. He had worked hard waiting for this day. He said calmly, Really?
Nan Zhu replied, If you truly have that strength, do we have any choice? We have to accept it even if we do not like it! He tugged at Mu Ao Tie’s sleeve. Old Nine, is that not so?
Mu Ao Tie paused for a moment and nodded slightly.
Yu Qing stroked his tender little moustache and pondered. Calculating one person two jin of spiritual rice per day, four people would be eight jin. One day would be eight hundred taels of silver. Adding other miscellaneous cultivation resource expenses, spending one thousand taels a day would be about right. A year would require an expenditure of over three hundred thousand taels.
That meant the money on hand could support them for more than ten years. Moreover there was the money handed over annually by his junior martial uncle as part of his duties.
With spiritual rice like this to refine to satisfaction every day, after more than ten years the cultivations of everyone in Linglong Temple would probably reach the profound level.
It seemed that under his leadership as this generation’s sect leader, Linglong Temple was going to march towards new glory.
The people coming and going before him suddenly made him realise that his thoughts had gone a bit far. He gathered his wandering thoughts and hummed, Alright, let’s go!
Nan Zhu was delighted and immediately followed. After a few steps he sensed something wrong, looked back towards the direction of Miao Qing Hall they had come from, and asked urgently, Where are we going?
Yu Qing said, Where else could we go? Of course back to the temple!
Dangers could arise anywhere outside, and now they had the money. How could it compare to returning to Linglong Temple for peaceful cultivation and comfortable leisure.
He now only wanted to return and ask his second senior brother Gao Yun Jie one question: do you submit or not!
Ah? Back to the temple… Nan Zhu was a bit stunned. He felt the other party had misunderstood his intention, yet he could not find a reason to resist.
The group of three still left by water route. They hurried to the lower reaches of the waterway at the secluded corner port, received another sliding board, and once more entered an underground cave.
They slid in winding paths through the dim light for a long time. When a sudden brightness appeared before their eyes, they had already rushed into a river and then, due to inertia, soared into the air, finding themselves above a waterfall.
Amid the enormous roaring sound, many figures flipped and flew in the air, using the iron chains stretching across the left and right cliffs to cross and land on the mountains to the left and right.
The sunlight was dazzling. Looking at the mountain terrain, it seemed they had come down from the plateau. The snow mountains were already far away in the distance.
The sliding board fell into the water along with the waterfall. It was said that people from the secluded cliff downstream would collect and bring it back.
After descending the mountain, at the foot of the mountain was a horse ranch, also operated by people from the secluded cliff.
The three bought mounts and whipped them to gallop away side by side.
After galloping for several li, the three gradually felt something was off. They noticed five people chasing rapidly from behind, their feet almost not touching the ground, moving at incredible speed.
The three knew at once they were all profound level experts. They immediately whipped their mounts furiously, bringing the riding beasts to maximum speed.
But it was still no use. The horses’ speed could not compare to that of profound level experts.
Soon the five flipped and flew over, descending from above. Yu Qing and the other two suffered powerful strikes and were all knocked off their horses.
In the blink of an eye the three horses had new owners. Three masked men sat on the horses’ backs. The galloping horses were forcibly halted in place and then turned around by the masked men.
The three martial brothers who had gotten up had not yet reacted when the other two masked men had already flashed over urgently.
From the corner of his eye Yu Qing sensed one person charging towards him. Bang! Yu Qing kicked and exploded the gravel on the gobi.
The scattered rocks flew towards that person but all bounced away upon nearing his body.
Whoosh! Yu Qing seized the chance to draw his sword. He did not run away, knowing escape was impossible. In a flash of thought he charged back instead. The Fengchen Sword Art was deployed. Sword light slashed in succession, going straight for a desperate fight!
Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie, who tried to dodge aside, could not avoid it in time. With two loud clangs they were blasted away.
The masked man rushing at Yu Qing saw the sword light breaking his protective gang qi but did not evade. Relying on his superior cultivation he directly sent a palm strike through the air onto the incoming sword body. Yet it did not send the sword flying as expected.
Yu Qing, whose fingers were shaken open, did not let go of the sword. The sword flew along with him as he spun in the air and united once more.
In mid air the Earth Sword Style was unleashed!
Yin sword momentum, kill!
Male sword style, kill!
Yang sword style, kill!
Female sword style, kill!
Heaven sword style, slash!
The figure merged with the sword light, seeming to fuse into countless sharp edges. His body technique flashed urgently, encircling one masked man in an instant and delivering six consecutive swords. Every strike was a lethal move that disregarded his own safety, attacking only without defending. It was truly a desperate assault and actually forced the masked man into a hasty state where he could only defend himself urgently and had no time to counter.
Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie, who had landed coughing blood, looked up and were both stunned. In the little junior brother’s fierce offensive, in order for the attacks to connect seamlessly he had even used the left hand sword. Moreover when his body turned with back facing the enemy the sword strikes from behind remained continuous and deadly.
Just this scene shocked the two martial brothers. The little junior brother had reversed the situation and counterattacked, actually forcing a profound level expert into a flustered mess?
The eyes of the other five masked men also clearly flashed with surprise.
However it was a pity that Yu Qing had not yet mastered uniting the thirty six swords into one. He could only coordinate with the swimming dragon body technique to deliver six swords instantaneously at once.
Once the momentum of the six swords passed, attempting to begin again immediately revealed a major flaw.
The masked man who had been forced into a flustered state finally got a breather. Boom! A palm strike through the air sent Yu Qing flying away.
The gap in cultivation between the two sides was truly too vast.
The masked man who had finally freed himself lowered his head to look at his own arm. There was a cut on the sleeve. He had not expected that he had nearly been injured by a cultivator at the upper martial realm.
The five watching masked men also breathed a sigh of relief. They realised that Yu Qing was only so much. It was merely the momentum of one breath and had nearly given them a fright.
Yu Qing, who had landed, coughed up a mouthful of blood. He propped himself up with his sword, stood, panted heavily, stared fiercely at the few people and said in a deep voice, What do you intend to do?
The masked man sitting on the horse in the middle chuckled and said, Heaven and earth are vast. There are so many paths to take yet you chose this one! Listen well. This road was opened by me. If you want to pass this road, leave your passage money. If you have no passage money, pave the road with your skeletons!
They had run into robbers? Yu Qing and the other two exchanged a glance, somewhat speechless.
After waiting a while that masked man shouted again, Hand over the money or your lives!
Yu Qing did not hesitate in the slightest. Just two words, Hand over the money!
That masked man immediately let out a surprised sound, Kid, you are really straightforward. Are you not afraid that I will go back on my word, take the money and then take your lives anyway?
Yu Qing raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and countered, Do I have any choice?
Truly a clever person! That masked man burst into loud laughter once more, then waved his hand to indicate.
The masked man who had clashed with Yu Qing immediately stepped forward. He first kicked out a stone, which with a clang knocked the sword from Yu Qing’s hand, before standing facing Yu Qing.
Yu Qing stared into the opponent’s eyes for a while, reached into his chest, began pulling out a stack of silver notes with his left hand and another stack with his right, and only stopped after handing over all more than four million, indicating there was no more.
That masked man counted it and said in a deep voice, Only around four million?
Upon hearing these words Yu Qing suddenly narrowed his eyes slightly. His gaze slowly swept across the several masked men and he replied, That really is all there is!