Grandstanding

There was still one shichen before the secret realm opened. After packing up, the group walked together toward the entrance of the secret realm.

On the way, Xue Yu spoke up to remind them, “A lot of miasma breeds inside this secret realm. If inhaled for too long, it can easily make you dizzy and cloud your mind.”

Having said that, he looked at Luo Qingyu beside him and asked, “Fourth Junior Brother, do you have any magical artifacts on you that can block miasma?”

Luo Qingyu nodded. “Of course I do. Other than spirit stones, magical artifacts are what I have the most of.”

With that, she took out five exquisitely crafted magical artifacts from her storage ring and distributed them to everyone one by one, saying generously, “Here, they're yours. It's just that these kinds of artifacts require a continuous channel of spiritual energy to work. If we get into a fight, it might be a bit inconvenient.”

Hearing this, Ye Qiao's eyes darted around, and she immediately thought of a way to have the best of both worlds.

She raised her hand to pull out a thick piece of cloth from her storage ring, then drew the black sword hanging from her waist. With quick, practiced movements, she measured and cut, quickly slicing out several pieces of cloth of the right size.

Xue Yu, watching from the side with curiosity, poked his head over and asked, “Little Junior Sister, what are you making?”

While tying thin strings to the edges of the cloth, Ye Qiao explained casually, “Face masks, of course. They can block this smog without needing a single drop of spiritual energy. They're lightweight and save a lot of trouble.”

Mu Zhongxi's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but praise, “Little Junior Sister, you're amazing! To think you could come up with a method like this!”

Ming Xuan, however, stared at the crude cloth masks, his brows furrowing slightly as he said hesitantly, “While they might work, wearing them over our mouths like this... won't it look a bit unseemly?”

Luo Qingyu rolled her eyes at Ming Xuan and said, “Second Senior Brother, as long as it works, it's fine. If you think it looks bad, you can just use the magical artifact I gave you.”

Ming Xuan turned to see that everyone else had obediently put on their masks. After a brief hesitation, he finally tied his on as well, muttering, “If we're wearing them, we might as well all wear them.”

As the group stepped into the vicinity of the secret realm, the rate of people turning their heads to look at them on the road was ridiculously high. The passing cultivators all stared at them with faces full of curiosity.

At this moment, a cultivator couldn't resist stepping forward to strike up a conversation: “Fellow Daoist, if I may ask, what is that you all are wearing on your mouths?”

Seeing this, Ye Qiao was extremely enthusiastic and immediately gave him a detailed explanation of the face mask's utility.

Before long, the surrounding cultivators all rushed over, directly taking out money to buy face masks from her.

Watching from the side, Ming Xuan clicked his tongue in wonder, murmuring in admiration, “With such a quick mind, it's really a pity Little Junior Sister didn't go into business.”

Xue Yu sighed, “It can't be helped. Who told our Little Junior Sister to be so poor? Of course she has to seize every opportunity to earn more.”

Not far away, Su Zhuo watched Ye Qiao's group with cold eyes. His face was filled with disdain as he scoffed under his breath, “What a bunch of grandstanders. It's bad enough they're using a piece of scrap cloth to block the miasma, but they're even making a huge scene out of it.”

After a short while, more than half of the surrounding cultivators had covered their faces with the same style of mask. Instead, only the three from the Yueqing Sect were left using magical artifacts, making them stand out like a sore thumb in the crowd.

Song Hansheng reconsidered the situation. Constantly channeling spiritual energy to fuel the magical artifact was truly not worth the cost. With no other choice, he could only lower his pride and walk up to Ye Qiao.

“Fellow Daoist, do you still have any spare face masks on hand?”

Ye Qiao very enthusiastically quoted a price, intentionally raising it by a significant margin to heavily rip off the Yueqing Sect.

Seeing them jack up the price on the spot, Su Zhuo stamped his feet in anger. Yet, hindered by the secret realm's miasma, he had no choice but to buy them.

Clutching the newly purchased mask, Su Zhuo's face was so dark it looked like it could drip water. He complained to Song Hansheng in a hushed voice, “Senior Brother, it's just a scrap of cloth, yet she has the nerve to jack up the price. She's clearly ripping off our Yueqing Sect on purpose.”

Song Hansheng glanced at him indifferently and said in a flat tone, “We can't waste too much spiritual energy before entering the secret realm, so we have no choice but to use this thing for now. Even if it's expensive, we just have to accept it.”

Standing to the side, Yunque listened to their conversation and spoke softly to comfort them, “Senior Brother, Senior Brother Su, there's no need to take it to heart. They are merely cultivators from some small sect; they don't matter.”

Hearing this, Su Zhuo calmed his anger slightly. He cast a contemptuous glance at Ye Qiao's group, who were busy counting their spirit stones not far away, and let out a cold snort.

“A mere small sect can only rely on these unorthodox tricks to earn spirit stones. They are utterly unpresentable.”

Song Hansheng didn't reply. He simply tied the mask tightly behind his ears, cast his gaze toward the entrance of the secret realm, and said flatly, “Cut the chatter. The secret realm is only open for a limited time. Let's go in first to search for opportunities.”

With that, the three of them followed the crowd into the secret realm.

Standing not far away, Ming Xuan took in the entire scene. He leaned in close to Luo Qingyu, holding back his laughter.

“Fourth Junior Brother, look! Those Yueqing Sect people who were so arrogant just now still had to obediently hand over their money to buy Little Junior Sister's face masks.”

A faint smile played in Luo Qingyu's eyes as she said softly, “Little Junior Sister has a lot of ideas. They went out of their way to make things difficult for us before, so paying a high price now is just their own undoing.”

Ye Qiao gathered the pile of spirit stones she had earned and happily stuffed them into her storage ring. She turned to look at her senior brothers, her eyes sparkling. “Let's hurry into the secret realm! We can't delay finding treasures!”

The others voiced their agreement and followed her, stepping through the entrance of the secret realm. A thick wave of miasma rushed over them, but with their face masks on, they couldn't smell the dizzying, pungent odor at all.