Chapter 296: "Chen Qiu, You're the Marquis!"

Chapter 296: "Chen Qiu, You're the Marquis!"

"Forget it," Chen Qiu waved his hand and sighed lightly, "Let him sleep. It's time for his hibernation. Let's go and check the rear mountain."

Without waiting for Xiong Gao's response, Chen Qiu immediately returned to the miniature world with Fat Dragon and stood at the rear mountain.

This place used to be the highest point of the entire miniature world, and he had cultivated here for a long time. In his free time, he would often stand here, overlooking the entire miniature world and feeling the fruits of his hard work.

However, this place was no longer the highest point of the miniature world. In the valley, a mountain made of piled-up spirit stones had surpassed the height of the rear mountain, which was obviously a bit exaggerated.

His little wolf had a very good bloodline. Long ago, he had hoped that when this little wolf grew up, it would greatly assist him in the future. Now it seemed that although the little wolf's growth rate was good, it was still far inferior to his own.

Due to its oversized body, it wasn't needed in battles, so it stayed in the rear mountain all the time.

In the past, the brown bear clan would play with them, but recently, the other members of the brown bear clan had gone to clear new lands far away. This little wolf didn't want to go to the barren wasteland, so it could only stay in the rear mountain, feeling bored and sleeping all day.

But now, this little wolf had found its job. The mountain made of spirit stones often had a large number of spirit stones sliding down, and his little wolf was panting as it kept pushing the fallen spirit stones back up.

This process continued endlessly, and it was clear to anyone with eyes that there was nothing holding these spirit stones together, which meant they would keep sliding down. Yet, the little wolf tirelessly continued its task as if it were a fun game.

Chen Qiu's divine sense enveloped the scene.

It was impossible to count the exact number of spirit stones. If he were to do so, it would take a lot of time. There were roughly one hundred million spirit stones, no more, no less.

Although Fat Dragon knew that this harvest was extremely abundant, this was the first time he had seen such a sight. He was stunned into silence by the scene before him and muttered softly, "All the wealth accumulated by the Bai family for so long has been surpassed by us so easily?"

The last time he was shocked by the number of spirit stones was when Bai Jia Jiuzhu waved his hand, revealing spirit stones all over the mountains and plains. But the number of spirit stones before him now far exceeded that occasion.

Far, far beyond!

It was not even in the same league or level.

It was clear that Bai Jia Jiuzhu was proud of his business philosophy, but now it seemed that making money through business was too slow and complicated.

"It's hard to say," Chen Qiu said, leaning on the Heavenly Oracle Umbrella with a satisfied smile, looking at the mountain made of spirit stones, "No one knows if the batch of spirit stones that Bai Jia Jiuzhu took out last time was all of them or just a portion."

"But these two are not comparable at all."

"This batch of spirit stones we have is purely due to fate. It is the accumulation of tens of thousands of years from a continent, and a part of it has all fallen into our hands. Unfortunately, the continent is in a state of collapse; otherwise, there could have been more."

At this point, Chen Qiu seemed a bit regretful. There were many cities he hadn't visited, but time and the environment didn't permit it.

The Spiritless Land didn't affect him much.

But the problem was that as dawn approached, the entire world began to gradually collapse. From time to time, spatial rifts would appear out of thin air without warning. He had witnessed a beastfolk running in panic, only to be cut in half by a sudden spatial rift.

He didn't test to see if he could withstand it; he just decided it was better to leave early.

If he had enough time, he would have liked to scour all the cities, including the wild medicinal herbs and other treasures, and take everything from an entire continent. There must be undiscovered ancient herbs, which were all precious, but they required extremely meticulous searching to find. Obviously, time didn't allow him to do so.

The Deceptive Buddha had made a huge profit this time.

However, it seemed like he owed the Deceptive Buddha a favor.

". . ."

Chen Qiu rested his chin on his hand in thought. Although he had given the Deceptive Buddha a strand of Soul of Shadows' Fortune before leaving, this strand was part of a deal he had made with the Deceptive Buddha. This time, the Deceptive Buddha didn't have to take him along, but he did, and even gave him this opportunity.

This was no small favor.

Although, even if they hadn't been allowed to go, the Deceptive Buddha's group wouldn't have been able to consume everything, and it would have been a waste.

But favors aren't calculated like that.

If it were, then there would be no need to calculate favors at all; one could just disown their family and slaughter indiscriminately. Favors aren't measured by the rarity of the item to the other party, but by its value to oneself.

A favor of over one hundred million spirit stones was not small. He would look for an opportunity in the future to repay the Deceptive Buddha.

"Alright," Chen Qiu said, after finishing his observation, and looked down at the little wolf still busy at work, "Let him be. This little guy has finally found something to do, and he seems to have taken on the role of a warehouse manager."

"Speaking of which, Fat Dragon, it seems like you're not doing a great job managing the sect as the Great Elder."

"In other sects, the disciples take on sect missions, but in our sect, the disciples have to find their own tasks."

"Huh?"

Fat Dragon was slightly startled and winced, "Chen Qiu, you're the Marquis!"

"Moreover, I really don't know what to assign them to do. After we go to the Immortal World, I'll observe how other sects are managed and see if I can learn some management experience."

"Mhm."

Chen Qiu nodded casually and looked into the distance. The area of this miniature world was much larger than before, with hundreds of cities lined up side by side, spreading out from the center of the Mock Heaven Sect's mountain gate.

It was quite a spectacular sight.

These cities also contained vast wealth. Even if they didn't consider anything else, just the city stones, if dismantled, would amount to a considerable sum. The stones used for building city walls were not ordinary stones, but this wealth was time-locked and couldn't be obtained in the short term.

Just at that moment—

The telepathic bracelet in Chen Qiu's embrace suddenly emitted a bright light, it was a message from Ba Dan, asking for his location. Ba Dan was always able to pinpoint his position precisely because the telepathic bracelet would reveal his whereabouts.

However, at this moment, he was inside a miniature world, so the telepathic bracelet naturally lost its ability to sense his location.

If he were inside the Heavenly Palace and had activated the array, Ba Dan still wouldn't be able to sense his position.

After sending his location through his divine sense, Chen Qiu left the miniature world with Fat Dragon and sat at the entrance of the Heavenly Palace. Before long, he saw Ba Dan appearing in mid-air, his face filled with joy.

"What's up? Something good?"

Chen Qiu smiled and looked at Ba Dan, "Your face is beaming with happiness."

"It's an Overflowing Blessing Cup," Ba Dan said, taking a deep breath. Then, with a face full of emotion, he looked at Chen Qiu, who was flying in the air, "This batch of spirit stones not only allowed the Maan Clan to recover significantly, but it also firmly established my prestige within the clan. It's a triple gain, and my popularity among the Maan Clan is at an all-time high."

"Everyone believes that following me will lead to a better future."

"I came to find you for two reasons. First, about the 70-30 split we discussed last time. Although there are many spirit stones, and this batch is quite tempting, I, Ba Dan, am not the type to be tempted by greed. This time, the Maan Clan harvested a total of around fifty million spirit stones."

"According to the 70-30 split, I'll give you 70%, which is 35 million."

"They're all in these ten storage rings."

Ba Dan handed over ten storage rings, his expression serious, "Master Chen, take a look."

Chen Qiu's spiritual energy surged and enveloped the ten storage rings Ba Dan had given him. He scanned them with his divine sense, and each storage ring was filled with spirit stones, a substantial amount. If it weren't for this windfall, this batch of spirit stones would have been enough to buy his life.

Of course, this was an exaggeration, but it did indicate that the number of spirit stones was indeed very large.

The Maan Clan's harvest was much smaller than his, which was normal. After all, the Maan Clan's size was enormous, and moving consumed a lot of spiritual energy. Even a First Rank Continent, no matter how small, was still quite large. The Maan Clan couldn't maintain the same constant high-speed movement as him, so they couldn't travel as far, resulting in a smaller harvest.

This was normal.

Chen Qiu nodded slightly to indicate that he had finished counting, then took five storage rings and handed them to Ba Dan with a light smile, "This time, I have to thank you for telling me about this. Otherwise, where would I have found such an opportunity? I won't say more, but these five storage rings are for you."

"They're not for you."

"They're for Zhao Yishi. It's been a long time since I've seen him, and we're from the same village. We should look out for each other."

"This..."

Ba Dan sighed helplessly and smiled bitterly. He was about to say something more, but Chen Qiu's words left him speechless. He could only sigh lightly, "Master Chen, your words sound so familiar. Ordinary people often hear such words during the New Year. Since you've said so, I'll thank you on Zhao Yishi's behalf for your gift."

After bidding farewell to Ba Dan, Chen Qiu took out all the spirit stones from the remaining five storage rings and threw them into the rear mountain, adding another fifteen million middle-grade spirit stones.

That was good.

After Ba Dan left, Chen Qiu's divine sense entered the miniature world, looking at the spirit stone that had grown slightly taller, and nodded in satisfaction.

Time passed slowly.

In the following period, Chen Qiu spent his days with Fat Dragon, sitting by the campfire, chatting, grilling, daydreaming like an ordinary person, or even pretending to be asleep. In short, he was just killing time.

If other Peerless Talents saw this, they might feel heartbroken that he was wasting time like this.

But time is often most meaningful when it's being wasted.

Perhaps a barbecue session wouldn't improve one's cultivation or battle prowess, but if one were to be imprisoned forever in a place one day, looking back on their life and realizing they had spent it all on cultivation, how boring and unfulfilling would that be? Even death would be extremely bitter.

This matter...

Perhaps the two people he had permanently imprisoned in the Vast Continent could understand. He was quite curious about what those two had been doing during their imprisonment.

Finally—

After about six or seven days, he received a message from Bai Jia Jiuzhu. The Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm in the Third Rank Continent, the Heaven-reaching Continent, had finally opened!

Third Rank Continent, Heaven-reaching Continent.

"This is the place."

In the sky above a cliff, a seven-colored light gate was slowly rotating. Bai Jia Jiuzhu looked at the light gate with a serious expression, "We still don't know the name of this mystic realm, nor its contents. Only after entering can we know the full picture."

"This mystic realm is a multi-continent realm. Ten Peerless Talents from Third Rank Continents will enter this realm, and the highest allowed cultivation level is the Body Integration Stage."

"Moreover, the entry ticket for this realm requires an advance reservation, and it costs one million spirit stones."

"The Bai family has already purchased this qualification, but only those with Bai family blood can enter. So, some Bai family Peerless Talents will enter with you. If possible, please take care of them inside. The Bai family doesn't have many Peerless Talents, so it would be a pity if something happened to them."

"Them?"

Chen Qiu, standing to the side, looked thoughtfully at the three young Bai family members behind Bai Jia Jiuzhu. They had all activated the Illusion Stones, and due to the overwhelming difference in cultivation, he could clearly see their true forms.

It was quite terrifying.

After revealing their true forms, it was unlikely that anyone would believe they were from the human race; they were even more demonic than the demon race.

He could see through the true forms of the three Bai family members, but he couldn't see Bai Jia Jiuzhu's true form. Not to mention combat power, Bai Jia Jiuzhu's apparent cultivation level was higher than his.

And these three Bai Family juniors, two males and one female, were all at the Essence Refinement Cultivation level.

Despite their young age, their cultivation level was indeed worthy of the title 'Peerless Prodigy'. At the Third Stage Continent, this was already impressive, as advancing further in Essence Refinement would lead to the Body Integration Stage.

Moreover, the Bai Family had three such prodigies, which truly demonstrated the depth of the Bai Family's foundation on the Heaven-reaching Continent.

"Greetings, Senior."

The two males and one female approached cautiously, their eyes filled with reverence. They took a step forward and bowed to Chen Qiu, then respectfully greeted Fat Dragon, "Greetings, Master Dragon."

"Master Dragon? Heh."

Fat Dragon couldn't help but smile, scratching his head. "This is the first time I've been addressed this way. Speaking of which, Bai Family Head, your prodigies have quite the composure. Usually, the prodigies we encounter are more temperamental and wouldn't be this considerate. They'd need a good beating before they'd know their place."

"I see."

The Bai Family Head's lips twitched slightly, and he gave a dry laugh. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond.

It seemed that Fat Dragon's words about their prodigies were true. After all, this was a common trait among prodigies, but he had specifically instructed these three before bringing them here.

They had become much more well-behaved.

Moreover, even he was so respectful towards Master Chen. These three prodigies of the Bai Family weren't fools; they wouldn't dare to be disrespectful.

He also had his own ulterior motives.

The rewards in this mystic realm were substantial, not just in terms of spirit stones. Many rewards were things that couldn't be bought with spirit stones. If these three prodigies of the Bai Family entered, not only would they not obtain overly abundant rewards, but they would also face significant risks of death.

But with Master Chen leading the way, everything was different. They could indulge in the hot and sour soup while ensuring their safety, which would provide a valuable training experience for these three prodigies.

"Hmm."

Chen Qiu nodded slightly at the three prodigies and whispered, "Don't worry, Bai Family Head. Once we're inside, as long as they don't run around, I'll do my best to protect them. But if they act recklessly on their own, then it's out of my control."

"No problem, no problem."

"Let's go now."

The Bai Family Head took out a token from his pocket and pressed it onto the backs of the three prodigies' hands. A tattoo-like mark appeared on their hands, "This token is an Access Token. It can leave a mark on five people, and you will all appear in one place."

"Only with this mark can you enter this mystic realm."

"Otherwise, even if you see the teleportation gate, you won't be able to enter."

After that, the Bai Family Head gave his three prodigies a few more instructions before nodding to Chen Qiu, indicating that everything was ready. Chen Qiu then stepped into the rainbow teleportation gate, with Fat Dragon and the others quickly following behind.

A rainbow light flashed.

This teleportation was much more comfortable, with only a momentary feeling of weightlessness before returning to normal. Compared to the Deceptive Buddha's teleportation, it was hard to say how much more comfortable this was.

As their vision returned, Chen Qiu found himself in a classroom? No, it was more like a private tutoring room.

A room with forty to fifty desks, but the desks and benches were made of stone, and there were no windows. Only the five of them were inside, with no one else. Although it was a private tutoring room, there were no books in sight.

Only three large characters were written on the blackboard at the front.

"Waiting Area."

"Wow," Chen Qiu muttered as he looked around. He had been to many Heavenly Dao Mystic Realms, but this one felt different. Even now, he didn't know the name or content of this mystic realm.

However, he didn't act rashly.

He decided to wait patiently for a while. At this moment, only the five of them were in the room, perhaps others hadn't entered the mystic realm yet. He'd wait and see.

Just then—

One of the three prodigies, a sword cultivation prodigy, spoke cautiously, "Senior, this private tutoring room is called the 'Waiting Area', but Senior, do you think it's possible that this is the first trial of this mystic realm, to see who has the courage to leave their comfort zone first?"

"Senior, do you think that's possible?"

". "

Chen Qiu glanced at the sword cultivation prodigy and casually replied, "Yes."

"Ah?"

The sword cultivation prodigy was clearly stunned, and he whispered in surprise, "This is just my speculation. I thought Senior would think I was being troublesome."

"No."

Chen Qiu's divine sense probed into the stone desk as he spoke without turning his head, "Without more information, what you said is indeed possible. But the question is, who will try it? Why don't you go out first and see? If it's safe, come back and tell us."

The sword cultivation prodigy was speechless for a moment, unsure of what to say.

"Since your family head asked me to guide you, I might as well share my experience in the Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm."

Chen Qiu patted his hand and turned to the three prodigies, "In the Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm, there's no need to ponder what the correct answer is. To find the right answer, you need to try. We don't have many chances to make mistakes, and the best approach in such situations is to consider what has a higher chance of success."

"Like right now—"

"I believe staying inside has a higher chance of survival. No matter how crazy this Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm is, they wouldn't kill us without providing any information. But if we leave this Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm, something terrifying might happen, or perhaps nothing will happen at all."

"Who knows?"

After Chen Qiu stood up, he casually glanced around the room before leaning on the Heavenly Oracle Umbrella and striding towards the exit, disappearing from everyone's sight in no time.

"Senior..."

Baijia Jianxiu Tianjiao, Heaven's Pride of the Bai Family's Sword Cultivation, stared blankly in the direction of Chen Qiu's departure. He swore that he had been listening attentively just now and even felt ashamed of his own cleverness. The senior had just said that staying in the room was the right decision, but at that very moment, the senior walked out of the house alone.

What's he doing!

It's always said that actions should match words, but this was the first time he had seen someone so inconsistent.

"How should I put it..."

Fat Dragon, who was left in the room, sighed softly, "Master Bai is counting on Chen Qiu to mentor you, but it's also a very headache-inducing matter. Chen Qiu has already given you the correct answer, but when you see Chen Qiu acting in a way that completely contradicts the answer, you'll start to doubt if it's even correct."

"This is indeed a difficult situation for you."

"I can only say that the answer is correct, but this isn't a private tutoring room, and there's more than one right answer."

"For example, if you want to open a lock, finding the right key is the correct method. But if you have the ability to smash the lock to pieces with a single punch, that's also a correct approach."

"When you can't do the second method, it's better to choose the first one."

In this Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm, the highest allowed cultivation level is Body Integration Stage, or specifically, the ninth layer of Body Integration. In other words, within this secret realm, Chen Qiu is an invincible existence. With his nearly hundred-layer Body Integration killing move, all the Heaven's Pride cultivators in this realm combined wouldn't stand a chance against Chen Qiu. It's like a one-sided beatdown.

Master Bai is hoping that his three Heaven's Pride disciples will learn something from Chen Qiu.

This is indeed a very headache-inducing matter.

What can they possibly learn?

When faced with uncertainty, let the Heavenly Thunder guide the way?

Just then—

People began to appear in the room one after another, in groups of five. In no time, every seat in the room was occupied, except for the spot where Chen Qiu had been sitting, which was now empty.

These people were the cultivators participating in this Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm.

Everyone seemed to have a tacit understanding and patiently waited in the classroom, knowing that this was the "Waiting Area."

"Hey!"

A voice rang out beside Fat Dragon. A young man sitting not far away turned his head and looked at him with a mocking smile, "The Bai Family from the Heaven-reaching Continent has been getting more and more pathetic in recent years. There are five spots, but they couldn't even gather five people?"

"Only four people came?"

"And not even one at the Body Integration Stage. Is the Bai Family really sending a few Essence Refinement cultivators to compete for this Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm?"

"Isn't that like sending them to their deaths?"

At this moment, the people in the room subconsciously turned to look in Fat Dragon's direction. These people were from other Third Rank Continents, all from subordinate continents of the Jiang Taiping Continent. Master Bai had made many connections in other continents, and there were quite a few people who knew the Bai Family.

Although Master Bai had a wide network, it was impossible for everyone to love him in the cultivation world. The man who had mocked them was from a family that had a conflict with the Bai Family.

"He's Huangjia Shaomu, the young master of the Huang Family from the Northern Continent, a Third Rank Continent."

Baijia Jianxiu Tianjiao, upon seeing the provocation, immediately whispered to Fat Dragon, "Our original business suffered a heavy blow due to the interference of our family's master. So, we've always had a good relationship with the Bai Family, but we never had the chance to meet before. Today is the first time I've seen him in person."

"They'll probably use underhanded methods against us."

"Oh."

Fat Dragon casually nodded, not interested in the feud between the two families. To him, it was like children playing house, and when Chen Qiu returned, he would swat them all away with a single slap.

Both of them were wearing their family's standard robes, so they immediately recognized each other.

Just then—

Chen Qiu suddenly strode into the room, and everyone in the room subconsciously held their breath and closed their mouths, looking at Chen Qiu with reverence. They remained silent until Chen Qiu walked straight back to his seat and sat down, and only after several breaths of silence did the room erupt into noise again.

"What's going on? I thought the secret realm had started!"

"Me too, I thought the host of the secret realm was about to explain the details."

"Can we leave the waiting area? I thought we couldn't leave."

"I'm going to take a look outside too."

The Huang Family's young master, who had just provoked the Bai Family's Heaven's Pride, was now impatiently striding towards the door, "Maybe we're not supposed to wait here, but to see if we have the courage to leave."

However, just as the young master of the Huang Family stepped out of the door, a powerful Heavenly Thunder carrying deadly force descended from the door frame and struck him.

"Boom!"

After the smoke cleared, the classroom remained intact, but the young master of the Huang Family had vanished, leaving only some scattered charred remains at the door, proof that he had been annihilated.

For a moment, everyone in the room looked at Chen Qiu with uncertain expressions. Why could he freely enter and exit, while the young master of the Huang Family was instantly killed by the Heavenly Thunder just for trying to leave the room?

"Well..."

Fat Dragon looked at the scene before him and sighed with a sense of emotion, "In most cases, everyone has to find the right key to open the lock, but not everyone has a clear understanding of themselves."

"Like this young master here."

"He only had one line and then he was done. If this were a short play, the pay wouldn't even cover a box lunch."

"Poor guy."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end