Chapter 219: So Embarrasing!

Although, from the sense of a modern person, calling out for a brick like that would be really embarrassing, her doing that didn’t matter. Well, except for Yun Shu, who finds it hard to hold back her laughter.

Bai Yunxian studied her for a long moment, as though searching for the catch, the trick, the hidden motive.

But Yun Shu’s eyes were clear.

They appeared to be quite mischievous and teasing, but also firm, unwavering, and full of the quiet determination that only appeared when she decided that something mattered.

Finally, Bai Yunxian rose to his feet.

The crowd, already whipped into a frenzy, fell momentarily silent as the infamous Palace Lord stepped onto the lotus pavement. His black robes fluttered in the night wind, his aura restrained but heavy, as if mountains moved at his command.

Every cultivator froze.

“He… he’s going to claim it.”

“The Palace Lord himself finally came out!”

“No one else stands a chance now…”

Whispers spread like fire. Even the most arrogant sect heirs paled, some retreating instinctively.

Bai Yunxian walked unhurriedly toward the hovering brick. His steps were quiet, but each one resonated with the authority of someone who could command armies with a glance.

At the edge of the lotus’s center, he paused.

His gaze lifted to the block of metal. A silence deeper than the lake itself seemed to fall over the world.

Then, in his low, even voice, he spoke:

“Come here, Brick.”

For half a breath, nothing happened.

Then—

The halo surrounding the object flared, exploding with light. The lotus beneath it shivered, each glowing petal resonating like struck crystal. Waves of power rippled outward, shoving cultivators back dozens of feet.

The crowd erupted into gasps of shock.

“It responded—!”

“What did he say?!”

“What divine name could move it like that?!”

The brick pulsed once more, then drifted gently down into Bai Yunxian’s waiting hand.

No resistance or rejection. It simply settled there, perfectly obedient, as though it had been waiting for him all along.

Yun Shu, watching from the edge of the mat, clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from bursting into hysterical laughter.

The system screeched like it had won the lottery.

[HOST!!! HAHAHA! HE JUST CALLED IT “BRICK” AND THAT BRICK ACTUALLY LISTENED!! HAHAHA! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?! HE NAMED IT RIGHT! HE’S THE TRUE MASTER OF THE COSMIC BRICK! HAHAHAHA!]

Yun Shu’s shoulders shook violently, tears prickling the corners of her eyes from the sheer effort of containing herself. Her chest hurt with suppressed mirth.

Bai Yunxian, meanwhile, lowered his hand, the brick gleaming faintly in his palm. His expression didn’t change. His eyes were calm, but somewhere deep within them, a flicker of wry realization gleamed.

He had heard Yun Shu’s smothered laugh.

He knew.

But he said nothing.

The crowd, of course, erupted into more ridiculous conclusions.

“The Palace Lord must have invoked the True Hidden Name of the Artifact!”

“Only someone with his cultivation could pronounce the sacred syllables properly!”

“I knew it! It wasn’t the Pillar of Celestial Resonance, it was something even more profound!”

Yun Shu finally broke, ducking her head into her sleeves as she shook with laughter. To the cultivators, she must have looked like a maiden overcome with awe. Only Bai Yunxian and the system knew the truth.

The scene unfolded with such weight that the entire lakeside seemed to fall into another world.

The divine artifact had finally chosen.

When Bai Yunxian’s cold, imperious voice spoke the word that none of the other cultivators dared even imagine, the strange metal brick, so mundane, so alien in appearance, quivered in midair and released a resonant hum. The hum wasn’t loud, yet it reverberated straight into their souls, as though striking against the core of their cultivation. Threads of spiritual light wound around the object like celestial ribbons, only to coil down and sink into Bai Yunxian’s palm.

Gasps scattered across the gathered crowd like waves in a storm.

“Impossible…”

“Why him?”

“That’s the Palace Lord of the Northern Territories, isn’t it? The one with the bloodstained reputation…?”

“Wasn’t it said that he’s untouchable, merciless? Yet the divine artifact submitted instantly…”

The disbelief in their voices only heightened the oppressive pressure of Bai Yunxian’s presence as he stood there, serene and untouchable, holding the artifact as though it were something he had possessed for centuries. The glow of the relic cast sharp highlights across his disguised features, and the chilling air about him only thickened.

Yet none of the astonished cultivators saw what Yun Shu saw.

She sat nearby, her eyes wide, staring at the object with a mixture of amusement and speechless wonder.

That’s just a brick!

A metal brick from the modern world. If she hadn’t whispered the right name into Bai Yunxian’s ear… seriously, why did it have to be a brick of all things!

No one here would have ever guessed. Everyone else had been trying grand, pompous names, layering titles like “Sky-Sealing Divine Pavilion Stone” and “Eternity Foundation Core.” The absurdity made Yun Shu want to bury her head into the picnic blanket.

But absurd or not, it had worked. That’s what mattered the most right now.

And the moment Bai Yunxian’s fingers closed around the brick, his cultivation surged violently. The air cracked with the sudden pressure of rising qi, as if the heavens themselves had acknowledged his right to wield the relic. He immediately sat cross-legged upon the lotus platform that had risen from the lake, his expression steady but his aura fierce.

“Palace Lord Bai is breaking through!” someone cried, retreating in panic.

The spiritual energy pouring toward Bai Yunxian was like a storm, a whirlpool dragging every stray thread of qi in the surroundings into his body. The surface of the lake churned and frothed. Mist rose in dense waves, glowing faintly under the moonlight.

For a moment, the cultivators hesitated. To attack him during a breakthrough was both taboo and deadly, yet the temptation of the artifact and the chance to strike down the Palace Lord in a moment of vulnerability was too strong for some.

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