In the main hall of the Infinite Dao Sect, the atmosphere was extremely heavy.

After Jian Huiyin’s request, Tian Zhu did not respond immediately but looked at her coldly.

Aotian knew it wouldn’t cost him much to make the upgrades to her sect.

With the inheritances he had currently synthesized, even without counting the mountain of inheritances and treasures Bao Wuji had just stolen, he could create things comparable to Golden Core level using only Founder-Tier materials. He could upgrade the Bamboo Sword Sect quickly and cheaply.

He simply didn’t agree right away because he felt it wasn’t right to easily accept such presumptuous requests.

For a sect as powerful and full of opportunities as the Infinite Dao Sect, it wasn’t pleasant to have an inner elder thinking so fondly and nostalgically of another sect—to the point of asking the current one to strengthen the former—without even having contributed much.

Furthermore, a vassal sect should first contribute to the sovereign sect in order to receive benefits, not the other way around—with the sovereign sect serving and upgrading the vassal without any real merit.

And perhaps the worst part was that Jian Huiyin offered her loyalty as a bargaining chip—something she should have offered the moment she began receiving the sect’s resources.

Seeing these problems wasn’t just Aotian’s personal opinion or narrow-mindedness, but the result of experience he had gained as sect leader, and even insights drawn from the memories of other sect leaders through soul searches.

Looking more coldly at the bowing Jian Huiyin, Tian Zhu finally spoke.

“Elder Jian,” he spoke calmly, breaking the tense silence. “You do understand that the nature of your request is less than tolerable, don’t you?”

Jian Huiyin had remained with her head bowed since the beginning of the request.

As a sect leader herself, she naturally understood how misguided her behavior was. But, out of filial piety to her master—who gave his life in exchange for hers—and to protect the legacy he entrusted her by naming her sect leader, she had forced herself to make such a request, even if it was presumptuous. It was her way of preserving and strengthening her former sect one last time before what was to come.

She knew the Infinite Dao Sect wouldn’t remain idle for long. War and conquest would soon come against the entire continent, and even beyond—and that could place the Bamboo Sword Sect in grave danger. To avoid sleepless nights, she decided to cast aside her dignity and beg.

Tian Zhu didn’t tell her to rise and left her bowing there, without a shred of compassion.

“As an elder of the sect, you naturally have the sect’s support and the right to make certain requests. If you had simply come and declared that the Bamboo Sword Sect would become a vassal force, and asked us to care for it out of affection for you, I would have done everything you asked—and more.”

He spoke calmly, making Jian Huiyin’s heart race. She couldn’t help but lift her head slightly and look at the sect leader, stunned. She had never imagined he would value an elder so much as to do that without even asking for anything in return.

Though she couldn’t be sure if he was being sincere, her instincts told her he wasn’t lying. A hint of regret welled up in her heart. Unfortunately, what was done, was done.

Tian Zhu observed her coldly.

“But the moment you came, made demands, and used your loyalty as a bargaining chip—you disappointed me.” His voice carried a trace of boredom as he rested his elbow on the armrest and his cheek on his fist. “Jian Huiyin, remember this: as an elder of this sect, you hold relevance and privileges, but that identity was granted to you by me. Without it, your talent or status is not as impressive as you think—and the value of your loyalty is less than nothing.”

Her heart tightened, understanding that her request was likely to be denied due to her lack of discretion, and that the sect leader had lost a great deal of trust in her.

But the words that followed caught her by surprise.

“I will approve your request, as I know it is your final act of filial piety toward your master and former sect. But… I don’t want this to ever happen again. Otherwise, the consequences won’t be so simple. Understood?” Tian Zhu raised his voice as he stood from the throne and clasped his hands behind his back.

An immense and suffocating pressure fell upon Jian Huiyin, but she didn’t tremble.

She lifted her gaze and stared at him directly, with firmness and gratitude, breaking through the indifference on her face.

“Thank you, Sect Leader, for granting my selfish request. I, Jian Huiyin, will never again fail the sect, nor you. Even in the face of death, my loyalty to the Infinite Dao Sect will not waver. Even if I must cross mountains of blades and seas of fire, I shall do so expecting nothing in return.”

She spoke with fierce determination.

Her words may have been simple, but there was no doubt or falsehood in her steely gray eyes.

The pressure upon her vanished, and Tian Zhu simply nodded in acknowledgment as he returned to sit on his black throne.

“Good. Soon, some elders will accompany you to carry out your request. As for the Bamboo Sword Sect—being a vassal force—I have some territorial management tasks for your members to perform. This will ease the burden on our disciples and allow them to focus on more important matters. Later, someone will be sent to inform you. Now, if there is nothing else, withdraw.”

He ordered indifferently, and lightly closed his eyes as he finished speaking.

Jian Huiyin cupped her fists and bowed deeply once again, filled with deep gratitude and admiration as she looked upon the powerful leader sitting calmly on his black throne.

“Thank you, Sect Leader. Huiyin takes her leave.”

With those words, she hesitated no longer. She turned and departed.

A few seconds later, Tian Zhu opened his eyes and watched her retreating figure with a thoughtful gaze.

…

Beiyan Continent (Northern Flame), Fenglei Empire (Wind and Thunder).

In the lively crowd moving back and forth, ten well-dressed men stood out slightly as they walked together.

Aotian couldn’t help but feel slightly excited at seeing such a crowd. The last time he had seen that many people gathered together was probably back on Earth.

And the most incredible thing was that there were not only many mortals in the crowd but also many cultivators walking among them.

There were even some merchants without any cultivation, escorted by guards radiating Foundation Establishment cultivation—a sight simply unimaginable in the Beixu (Void North | Desolate North) continent, where the Infinite Dao Sect was currently located.

‘In the desert continents, Foundation Establishment cultivators are ancient monsters or extreme geniuses. Often leaders of their own sects or exalted elders. Yet here… they’re just guards for some wealthy merchant, in exchange for a few spirit stones to live on,’ Aotian thought, fascinated by the contrast.

The same power, yet in one place a king, in another, a guard.

That was just the difference of a continent, and Aotian couldn’t even imagine how outrageous the central continent must be.

As he pondered, the elders began to split up, each heading in a different direction to take care of various matters.

With the crown prince’s memories, he knew enough about the city and where to go.

Gu Jian, the outer elder of the Treasure Pavilion, headed toward the city center, though not where the mountain and spiritual vein were located. That was the royal and noble district, and entry was not permitted to those without proper identity.

No, the center he was heading toward was the area around the mountain, and there stood one of the most famous—and likely most powerful—buildings in the entire city: the Golden Dragon Bank.

Gu Jian entered the busy bank calmly and made his way to the counter naturally and without hesitation.

He didn’t look around or admire the architecture. He simply walked in as if it were a common occurrence, which helped avoid drawing attention.

The counter was a massive desk with hundreds of women attending to customers.

Gu Jian spotted the shortest line, entered it, and waited.

Service was quite fast, and soon he was standing before one of the beautiful attendants.

“How can I assist you, esteemed customer?” she asked gently, wearing a professional smile behind the desk.

Gu Jian looked at her calmly and stated his request.

“I’d like access to the raw spirit stone processing room,” he said without any hint of irregularity.

“One moment, please.” She smiled kindly and placed her hand on the desk, communicating with the formations via spiritual energy. Then, she looked at him again and explained, “Sir, Room Three is available. Access is open; you may proceed directly. If you have any questions or additional requests, feel free to return or speak to another attendant. Have a good day.” She smiled pleasantly.

“Thank you…” Gu Jian nodded and headed toward a glowing door on the right side of the building, marked with the number 3 above.

The mouth of Aotian’s main body, back in the sect, twitched slightly upon seeing the environment and hearing the attendant’s words. This was somewhat shattering his expectations of the ancient cultivation world.

Heading toward Room Three, with green lights on the sides, next to nine other doors with red lights—indicating they were occupied or had disabled access—he entered and closed the door.

From the outside, Room Three also turned red after his entry.

The room wasn’t very large. Just a spacious white area with a large hole in the floor, covered by a pale yellow light barrier that prevented anyone from seeing what lay beneath.

On the wall next to the door, there was a glowing scoreboard with three zeros stacked vertically.

Below the scoreboard, there was a hollow black square embedded in the wall and, next to it, a concave circle the size of a hand.

Gu Jian looked at the hole in the ground with the yellow barrier, and Aotian recalled what it was.

‘That’s the raw spirit stone processor. The yellow barrier prevents anything else from passing through, only allowing spirit stones to enter.’

Recalling the information extracted from the prince’s mind, Aotian knew that was his target.

Gu Jian raised his hand over the hole. On his ring finger was the same storage ring he had taken from Wu Juntian back then.

The ring, with a capacity of only about five cubic meters, was crammed with spirit stones, with only a few extra items taking up space.

Stones began to pour from the ring, falling into the hole nonstop and disappearing beneath the barrier.

The panel behind him, previously at zero, began counting rapidly.

Soon, as the ring emptied, the numbers read:

– 1,600

– 8,000

– 2,400

These numbers represented, respectively, high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade stones.

Aotian had wanted to leave some “change,” thinking it would be suspicious to have only high-level stones, so he had separated various amounts of each type.

What he didn’t expect was that, from the 15,000 stones, the bank would directly take 20% as a processing fee.

Gu Jian then went over to the wall where the numbers were displayed, placed his hand on the concave circle beside it, and inserted spiritual energy. That was the manipulator, where you could choose how many jade cards you wanted and how much to place in each one.

Each card cost 500 mid-grade stones, which wasn’t cheap. It was also possible to insert an existing card into the black square in the wall, and it would simply update the numbers without charging for a new card.

Aotian requested just one card and loaded the total value into it.

Soon, a purple card dropped into the square, and Gu Jian picked it up.

It was just a smooth card, but upon infusing it with spiritual energy, the three numbers that had previously been on the panel appeared in golden light above the card, with the 500 stones already deducted.

As for the numbers on the wall, they reset to zero once again.

Satisfied to see that, Aotian smiled mischievously.

‘Still too little, time for the second round.’

Gu Jian mirrored the smile and, suddenly, pulled down his pants without ceremony or shame.

But what was truly surprising was that, hidden within his underwear, dozens of storage rings taken directly from the royal family of the city remained… still warm… literally.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep