Compromise

Xu Xian closed the book and let out a long sigh.

"Finally finished recording."

Exactly one thousand two hundred and thirty-five of them.

Humans, demons, spirits, beasts...

They were all there.

He did a silent calculation in his head. If he collected the debts according to this ledger, the fourth floor of the Sword Tower could be built.

There would even be a small surplus.

Immortal plants and immortal ores...

Counting different attributes, there were ten thousand kinds in total, yet Xu Xian had recorded over a hundred thousand entries.

He had left enough room to avoid duplicates of certain immortal plants or ores.

At the same time, it would prevent the problem of having too much of one attribute and not enough of another.

Immortal plants and immortal gold were rare, priceless things. Unlike ordinary items, their production was low, so the possibility of repetition was much smaller.

As for the remaining 990 special materials...

Xu Xian had already obtained some before, and many weren't overly rare to begin with.

This time, he had successfully recorded all the most difficult ones to find.

These thousand-plus people were an unexpected windfall.

Aside from those from the original eight islands, eight tribes, and Three Sects and Seven Schools, several disciples from hidden sects had also entered the Emperor's Tomb.

Because of their high cultivation, they had been accidentally captured by Xu Xian, though naturally, some had managed to slip through the net.

Fortunately, it didn't affect the big picture.

Now, for the final step.

With a wave of his sleeve, over one thousand two hundred blood-red talismans flew out and hovered in front of everyone.

One for each person.

Staring at the blood talismans, some were confused, while others' expressions changed drastically.

Even the elders outside the Emperor's Tomb could no longer remain calm.

"It's a blood contract..."

"What is he trying to do?"

"How does he know the techniques of a demonic cultivator?"

"This..."

A strong sense of unease continued to spread.

The blood contract was no stranger to these seniors. It was a type of contract technique that used a blood talisman as a medium to sign an agreement, planting a mark within the other person's body.

The caster could detonate the blood contract with a single thought.

At best, it would shatter their dao heart.

At worst, they would die instantly.

Because of this, it was classified as an evil technique.

However, many of them used it privately as well.

The blood contract technique wasn't particularly sophisticated or profound. These experts naturally had ways to remove it.

But the prerequisite was that they had to do it before the caster could trigger the thought.

Clearly, given the current situation where the captives were in Bai Mang's hands, they had no chance.

Many had originally planned to use force.

The moment the Emperor's Tomb opened and Bai Mang stepped out, they would strike immediately to kill him.

Now, they had to abandon that idea. No matter how fast they were, could they be faster than the youth's single thought?

With dark faces, they remained silent.

It seemed that today, they would have to give what he asked for, whether they wanted to or not.

Inside the Emperor's Tomb...

Although the geniuses were extremely reluctant and resisted internally, they still had to let their blood drip onto the blood contracts.

They watched helplessly as Bai Mang planted the blood contracts into their dantians.

Compromise, compromise, and more compromise...

It wasn't the first time they had compromised anyway.

After finishing all this, Xu Xian finally withdrew his hand with satisfaction and stood up.

He stretched lazily and looked at the gap in the sky.

He muttered to himself, "That should be enough."

"It's time to go out."

"Those people should all be here by now..."

He took out a Cloud Boat he had just scavenged and let everyone board. He didn't forget to set up a formation on the ship.

Just to be safe and avoid any blunders.

Then he boarded and headed toward the eight platforms where they had first arrived.

The eight tomb gates.

Entering had been random, but exiting required going back the same way. However, the little book spirit had a way to let him emerge from any gate.

The play had to be performed to the end.

Chi Ji, acting as Bai Mang, had entered through the Jing Gate of the Demon Abyss, so Xu Xian naturally had to exit through the Jing Gate as well.

As the tomb gate drew closer, Xu Xian's heart began to race with anxiety.

To be honest, he was a little nervous.

Even though he had done everything he could, this heist was simply too massive.

One could say he had offended every prominent figure in the entire world.

If they truly launched a collective attack, forget the Demon Abyss—even the Wendao Sword Sect might not be able to protect him.

"Master, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just feel a bit uneasy."

"So you do know fear?"

"Nonsense. I'm a human, not a god..."

The little book spirit clicked its tongue. "But you haven't done many human things lately, have you?"

Xu Xian was speechless. He complained, "Can you blame me? Your broken tower's requirements are so high. What else was I supposed to do? Do you think I wanted this?"

The little book spirit felt slighted and muttered gloomily, "But from what I saw, you seemed to be doing it with quite a lot of enthusiasm..."

Xu Xian didn't bother to respond. "Enough, just do your job."

"Oh!"

...

In front of the tomb gates at the Black Sand Sea, seeing that Bai Mang was about to emerge, the powerhouses present couldn't bring themselves to feel any joy.

One by one, they stood with grim faces. For some reason, they felt a stabbing pain in their chests.

Someone left gloomily.

"Where are you going? Are you not going to save them?"

"Going back to raise the money."

"Uh..."

"Sigh, this old man is going too."

They had also compromised, even the saints.

At their level, the things Bai Mang wanted were certainly precious.

But to them, those items weren't of much use anyway.

Compared to the legacy, they were even worth mentioning.

A good talent was hard to find, appearing once in a thousand or ten thousand years. They couldn't afford to lose them, nor were they willing to gamble or take the risk.

They hated Bai Mang, but they envied the Demon Abyss even more.

Regardless of whether Bai Mang was shameless, cunning, or used underhanded tactics...

His talent, his temperament, and his courage were all things they had never seen before.

A thousand virtues gathered in one person.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a Child of Fortune.

Moreover, they had to admit that someone with this kind of unscrupulous personality, willing to do anything to achieve their goals, was more likely to survive and attain the Dao.

A few flaws in character could be completely overlooked.

If they had to name a disadvantage...

The only disadvantage was probably that he wasn't their own junior.

Some stayed behind.

They continued to wait.

Some left and went far away.

They went to raise the money.

Some used thousand-mile voice transmissions to have juniors from their sects bring the items.

Some used spatial manipulation to prepare the items in advance.

Some even manifested their sanctity at their own mountain gates...

All just to save time.

The spirit bodies of the several demon immortals didn't move, but within the sacred islands far across the North Sea, roars and bellows of rage echoed.

A giant dragon pulled out a reverse scale, fury burning in its dragon eyes.

A true phoenix wept essence blood, its aura surging with killing intent.

A qingluan shed a feather, blood seeping from the corner of its beak.

Looking toward the horizon, the Nine-Tailed severed one of her tails, her eyes filled with unmistakable resentment.

"Wendao Sword Sect."

"I must have owed you in my past life..."

The master left, and then came the disciple. One stole her heart, and the other snatched her tail...

Thinking about it, it was truly laughable.

"Forget it..."

"In the next life, I'll make both of you, master and disciple, pay me back double."

The tomb gate rippled and space distorted. A corner of the Cloud Boat was already emerging from the light curtain.

Hearts leapt into throats.

He was coming.

Jin Qing acted as if facing a formidable enemy and said solemnly, "Prepare!"