“Rumble!”
Not long after the geniuses sent out their messages, one powerhouse after another with heaven-defying cultivation tore through space and arrived.
Some held fly-whisks and wore Daoist robes, looking like immortals; others had dragon horns growing from their heads, looking exceptionally majestic; and some were shrouded in black energy, resembling evil spirits crawling out of hell.
In just dozens of breaths, no fewer than a hundred powerhouses gathered in the sky above where the Immortal Hall had originally stood.
“Let us work together to break the restriction,” one powerhouse proposed.
“Indeed, we should,” the others agreed.
Having reached a consensus, the group of powerhouses unleashed their attacks. Soon, with a deafening boom, a gap was blasted open in the powerful restriction that had originally enveloped the Immortal Hall secret realm.
But when they poured through the gap into the secret realm, they found it completely deserted and the tower gone. Not a single thing of value was left behind.
“Has the Immortal King's Tower really been taken away?”
“Investigate! We must thoroughly investigate every genius who entered the trial this time. A supreme treasure like that is simply not something a mere mid-tier genius can possess.”
“Well said. This tower came from the true Immortal Realm, so it must contain countless secrets of immortal ascension. Perhaps we can find a way to bolster our foundations and help us break through our bottlenecks.”
“Hehehe, if anyone dares to keep such a supreme treasure for themselves, we will surely band together and destroy them.”
The moment the countless powerhouses saw that the Immortal King's Tower had vanished, none of them felt anger. On the contrary, fanatical expressions appeared on all of their faces.
Because the Immortal King's Tower being taken away meant that someone had obtained its secrets and treasures, which meant they finally had a chance to catch a glimpse of them.
After all, the Immortal King's Tower had descended into this world nearly a hundred thousand years ago, and its existence had long ceased to be a secret to the major forces.
Unfortunately, over all these years, wave after wave of geniuses had participated in the trial, yet no one had ever cleared the hundredth floor of the Immortal King's Tower, nor had anyone unlocked its secrets.
In the past, there had been greedy powerhouses who tried to forcibly take the Immortal King's Tower, but before they could even get close, they were all turned into a bloody mist.
Thus, seeing that the Immortal King's Tower might have been taken by a mere junior at the Qi Condensation Stage, how could the powerhouses not be excited?
After all, as long as they found and controlled this genius, all the secrets would be theirs.
Meanwhile, in the Outer Academy cafeteria, Ye Lin carried a tray of food with a balanced mix of meat and vegetables to an empty dining table.
Without any hesitation, he sat down and began to feast, completely ignoring his surroundings.
“Have you heard? The reason why the new disciple trial was modified and the new disciples were slaughtered in large numbers has been found. The culprit is actually Second Prince Nangong Yun of our Tianyuan Dynasty.”
“I heard about that too. Apparently, for the sake of the crown prince position, Nangong Yun chose to collaborate with a Golden Core Stage evil spirit named ‘Venerable Tianku’.
He was responsible for providing humans as blood food to that evil Venerable, while the evil Venerable was responsible for teaching him evil arts and helping him assassinate people. The new disciples were treated as blood food for this transaction, which is why they were slaughtered on such a massive scale.”
“Then this Nangong Yun truly deserves to die. As a prince enjoying endless wealth and honor, it's one thing that he doesn't care about the human citizens, but he actually partnered with evil spirits to slaughter humans. How is he any different from an evil spirit?”
“Shh, keep your voice down. Although Nangong Yun indeed deserves to die, besides his royal background, his imperial mother, Ji Yu, has an even greater background.
So even though he committed such a massive crime, the academy's higher-ups probably can't do much to him. At most, they'll verbally condemn him.”
“Sigh. Nobles and royals have so many privileges, while the lives of commoners are thinner than paper. If one does not become a powerhouse, they will ultimately remain an ant.”
While Ye Lin quietly focused on eating, many disciples in the cafeteria were heatedly discussing the aftermath of the new disciple slaughter incident.
However, their discussions ultimately turned from grief and indignation into helpless sighs.
The new disciples and the Demon Suppressing Guards of the Demon Suppressing Division had suffered an undeserved catastrophe, and they could only blame their bad luck. As for seeking justice, or even revenge?
Those were just pipe dreams. In this world where martial strength was respected above all, justice was always held in the hands of the strong.
Hearing everyone's discussion, Ye Lin just silently ate his food without making any comments.
Since the higher-ups of the Cultivation Academy didn't even want to delve deeply into such a major incident, a mere newly admitted disciple like him naturally had no business interfering.
Of course, all of this was under the assumption that he didn't know the Second Prince had sent people to target him.
If he knew that the Second Prince already hated him to the bone due to one accident after another, he would not only interfere, but would also eliminate the Second Prince without hesitation.
After packing some food and tossing it into his storage ring, he left the cafeteria.
Seeing that it was still early, he thought about it and decided to visit a chamber of commerce in Tianqi City first. After all, to deal with the protagonist, Ye Tian, he wanted to purchase some even more terrifyingly powerful talismans, formations, and other things.
Spending fifteen minutes, he traveled from the Cultivation Academy to the entrance of the largest chamber of commerce in Tianqi City.
This chamber of commerce was named the ‘Tianyu Chamber of Commerce’. Its background was highly mysterious, and it was said that even the royal family and the academy did not dare to provoke it.
“Honored guest, please come in. What would you like to buy?”
Perhaps because he was wearing a mid-grade black-and-gold robe and carried himself with composure, as soon as he reached the entrance of the chamber of commerce, a woman of excellent temperament dressed in red approached him with a smile to receive him.
“I want a large number of offensive talismans and formations above the Foundation Establishment Stage,” Ye Lin said straight to the point, not beating around the bush.
“No problem, honored guest. Please follow me.” After hearing Ye Lin's request, the woman in red led him to a storage room on the second floor.
“All the talismans and formations here meet your requirements. We have both Foundation Establishment and Golden Core Stages. You can take your time to choose.”
Pointing at the rows of sealed talismans and formations on the shelves, the woman spoke in a gentle tone.
“Give me a hundred of each for the Golden Core and Foundation Establishment Stages. Also, if you have more powerful ones here, I would like some as well.”
After stepping forward and verifying that the goods were all fine, Ye Lin made a new request.
“Of course we have Nascent Soul Stage ones, but the price is much more expensive. Each one costs two thousand mid-grade spirit stones.”
Seeing that Ye Lin wanted even higher-grade ones, the woman in red was briefly taken aback before explaining in a gentle tone.
“As long as you have stock, price is not an issue. Give me ten of each of the Nascent Soul Stage talismans and formations.”
Hearing that the Tianyu Chamber of Commerce actually had Nascent Soul Stage talismans and formations, Ye Lin decisively bought ten of each.
After all, he was dealing with the protagonist, Ye Tian, so he could never be too cautious.
As for spirit stones, he still had one hundred thousand unreplicated mid-grade spirit stones in his storage ring, as well as over nine hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones left over from his last cultivation session. His financial resources were naturally not an issue.
As for whether doing this would attract the attention of the Tianyu Chamber of Commerce, it didn't really matter. If they really wanted to rob him, he would draw the Immortal King-grade weapon that had been charging for a long time in the Desolate Ancient Dao Pagoda and show this chamber of commerce what it meant to play dirty.
Ultimately, the Tianyu Chamber of Commerce showed decent class. They didn't covet his wealth, nor did they pry into his identity.
Foundation Establishment Stage treasures were 20 mid-grade spirit stones each, Golden Core Stage ones were 200 mid-grade spirit stones each, and Nascent Soul Stage ones were 2,000 mid-grade spirit stones each.
Therefore, he spent a total of 84,000 mid-grade spirit stones.
When he was leaving, the woman in red handed him a purple-gold black card.
“My name is Gu Shiyue. In the future, wherever you go, as long as you hold this card, you will enjoy priority purchasing rights for any item, as well as a thirty percent discount.”
Before he left, the woman in red shook his hand with a smile and solemnly introduced herself.
“Ye Lin, a nobody.” Waving his hand holding the purple-gold card, Ye Lin turned and walked away without looking back.
“Young Mistress, he is merely a Qi Condensation Stage cultivator from a small place. Why did you give him such preferential treatment?”
Not long after Ye Lin left, a figure hidden in the shadow of the woman in red suddenly spoke via voice transmission.
“Just now, the Starfall of Destiny showed abnormal movement. Perhaps he can help me find that item.”
Looking at Ye Lin's departing back, the woman in red said expressionlessly.
“Are you saying... that item? How is that possible? Our family spent countless resources searching for it to no avail. How could a mere Qi Condensation cultivator like him have the ability to find it?” The figure in the shadow found it hard to believe.
“Who knows? It doesn't matter if he can't find it. I'll just treat it as a gesture of goodwill; it's not like I'm losing anything,” the woman in red said, her face devoid of any joy or sorrow.
Rate on N.U.
