Outside Lingxiao Hall.

The Elders’ meeting took only half a day, and then they all dispersed.

Xu Ziqing was the last one to walk out of the hall.

He was Chen Linyuan, the Sect Master of Cave Abyss Sect’s, only Named Disciple. After the meeting, he had some private talks with the Sect Master, so he left the main hall a bit later than the other Elders.

...

Xu Ziqing seemed to sense something and looked to his side.

Qin Xijun was leaning against the steps outside the hall, smiling at him.

"Elder Qin, what can I do for you?"

"Oh, little Elder Xu, don’t be so distant. After all, I’m your guide... such a bad attitude."

"You dump all these Elder affairs on me, a True Disciple, and you still have the nerve to say that."

Xu Ziqing flicked his sleeve and walked straight down the mountain.

However.

He wasn’t in a hurry to leave on his Flying Sword.

"Hehehe, I can’t help it. You know those guys under me, none of them are as reliable as you, aren’t they..."

Qin Xijun caught up and walked alongside him.

"Don’t give me that... Tell me, what is it this time?"

"Look at you, saying that. Can’t I come chat with you even if there’s nothing wrong?"

"No good deed goes unpunished, nor is there any kindness without an ulterior motive."

"Then you’ve really misunderstood me this time. I’m here to thank you."

Xu Ziqing paused, his expression suspicious: "Thank me... Thank me for what?"

"Thank you for standing up for that kid."

"For whom?"

Xu Ziqing couldn’t remember helping anyone.

"That Outer Sect Disciple, Song Yesheng."

...

Xu Ziqing pondered for a moment, then waved his hand: "My helping him today has nothing to do with you, or with him."

"What does the life or death of a mere Outer Sect Disciple have to do with me?"

"If it’s about this, then there’s nothing to thank me for. You should thank Master... thank the Sect Master for taking action."

"You know my objective very well."

Xu Ziqing lost interest in talking, waved his hand, and summoned his Flying Sword.

His tone was neither warm nor cold, without any ripples.

"I don’t want anyone to live..."

"I only want Profound Origin Sect to die."

...What happened in Jiran Valley made the name Song Yesheng a focus of attention throughout Cave Abyss Sect for quite some time.

However, now that the matter is settled, and the protagonist at the center of the incident has fallen in Realm, it will soon be forgotten.

In the Cultivation World, a drop in Realm means many things.

The most important of which is that even if one can re-Cultivate spiritual power, the time lost in doing so is enough to destroy the mental state of an ordinary Cultivator.

Everyone silently agreed on one thing.

That is, this Outer Sect Disciple named "Song Yesheng" would probably have no hope of Foundation Establishment in this life.

However, Song Yan didn’t know any of this.

He only knew that he could finally return to his Immortal Cave now.

When he left, how could he have predicted so many things would happen?

Now, returning to his Immortal Cave... Song Yan sighed softly.

"It feels like a lifetime ago."

With the Jiran Valley incident resolved, his tense body and mind, which had been stretched for days, suddenly relaxed.

A deep sense of fatigue from the depths of his heart, coupled with the still not fully healed injuries in his meridians, surged over him.

Without resisting, Song Yan lay down and slept.

He slept soundly through the night.

The next day, when the sun was high, he was gently nudged on the nose by Xiao He’s cool snake tongue, and only then did he slowly wake up.

After bathing, changing clothes, and washing up in his Immortal Cave, he immediately felt refreshed.

He sat cross-legged on the stone bed, circulated the Qi Condensation Scroll, completed several cycles of his daily basic Cultivation, and then slowly withdrew his power.

His mind was peaceful.

With his Divine Sense, Song Yan delved into his qiankun bag and began to inventory the gains from this trip.

To be fair, although those two qiankun bags were not brought back, when he saw Wang Xi’s qiankun bag, Song Yan was truly reluctant to part with it.

He still remembered that qiankun bag, dark black with gold trim, incredibly exquisite.

He wondered where it was custom-made.

Putting aside his thoughts, he organized the items.

Although he had tried his best to calm himself earlier, when Song Yan saw the pile of items belonging to Wang Xi, his breathing still quickened slightly.

"Ten..."

"Twenty..."

"..."

"One hundred thirty... one hundred thirty-six Spirit Stones!"

With Song Yan’s current Divine Sense strength, he could actually tell the exact number with a glance, but as a poor man, he loved the feeling of counting the Spirit Stones one by one.

Song Yan knew that this wasn’t actually a lot.

After all, Wang Xi also needed a large amount of resources for his Cultivation.

Unless they were merchants in the Cultivation World, no one would hoard a huge number of Spirit Stones in their qiankun bag; they would have long since exchanged them for Cultivation resources.

But for Song Yan, these one hundred thirty-six Spirit Stones would take an unknown amount of time to accumulate.

Song Yan had already spent all of his original Spirit Stones, with only four fragmented Spirit Stones remaining.

Now, after integrating Wan Songran’s pile, he actually possessed one hundred sixty-five Spirit Stones!

"A fortune!"

Forcibly suppressing the joy in his heart, Song Yan continued to inventory.

Aside from the Spirit Stones he cared about most, the bulk of the items were Spiritual Artifacts, Medicinal Pills, and some Talismans.

The two of them had a total of five Spiritual Artifacts. Two of them were offensive Spiritual Artifacts: a yellowish-brown Flying Sword, which belonged to Wang Xi, and he didn’t know why he hadn’t used it that day.

Perhaps its power was inferior to that golden small seal Spiritual Artifact named "Zhenshan Seal."

Speaking of which, Song Yan felt another pang of heartache.

"What a pity..."

That day, when Wang Xi was killed, the seal, along with the shattered inverted small mountain, fell without a trace. It was also not seen in Wan Songran’s qiankun bag later, so it must have sunk into the muddy swamp.

"Although I have decided to take the path of a pure Sword Cultivator and won’t use these Spiritual Artifacts, they can still be sold for Spirit Stones, no matter what."

There was no other way; Song Yan was terrified of poverty.

He now had an extraordinary obsession with Spirit Stones.

Another offensive Spiritual Artifact was a long whip, belonging to Wan Songran.

"If not for that strange short flute... could it be that the Wan family of Xichu used whips to control Spirit Beasts?"

Song Yan maliciously speculated in his mind, muttering to himself.

That would be too primitive.

Setting it aside, he took out the only defensive Spiritual Artifact among these Spiritual Artifacts.

A triangular protective Talisman made of green jade.

Song Yan often saw protective Talismans of this shape at Lingyuanze Market. This kind of item was very common in the Cultivation World of Chu Kingdom.

Its effect was also very simple: it could withstand three attacks from a Late Stage Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator.

This type of defensive Spiritual Artifact, once activated, usually took effect automatically and did not require the Cultivator to expend mental effort to control it.

This belonged to Wang Xi, but unfortunately, in his arrogance, he did not activate and use it at the time.

Perhaps by the time Wan Songran used that Yi Wood Spirit Severing Talisman, it was already too late.

This was something Song Yan himself could use, so of course, he wouldn’t sell it.

The last two items: one was something Song Yan had never seen before, and he planned to ask Granny Qin to appraise it later.

The other was this red and black flute.

Song Yan held it in his hand, playing with it, recalling the scene when Wan Songran played this strange flute, affecting the Demon Beast’s mind.

"What a strange flute."

He used his spiritual power to thoroughly clean this tao tail flute... Originally, Song Yan planned to anonymously sell this flute as a "precious treasure" at the next auction at Lingyuan Ze Night Market to exchange for Spirit Stones.

But now he was hesitant.

Because he seemed to have heard or seen descriptions of similar powerful treasures somewhere.

"Ah."

After a moment of careful thought, Song Yan raised an eyebrow, remembering.