Fortunately, it was already night, so the consumption of Spiritual Power was a mere trifle to Xie Guannan!
Early in the morning, Xie Guannan appeared at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion in the Liuyun Dynasty.
Flying on a sword was fast to begin with, let alone at night!
This Myriad Treasures Pavilion was not too far from Jianghai City, which was why Xie Guannan had been able to arrive so quickly. If he were to cross the entire Liuyun Dynasty, even flying at full speed on his sword might take him a few years.
This Myriad Treasures Pavilion was much larger than the ones Xie Guannan had previously visited in Jianghai City. A single pavilion here was as large as half of Jianghai City—not even counting its backyard. If that were included, a single Jianghai City probably wouldn't be enough!
After Xie Guannan entered, a steward quickly walked up to him.
The steward asked Xie Guannan, "Welcome, distinguished guest, to our Myriad Treasures Pavilion. Let me know if you need anything."
Xie Guannan immediately took off his mask.
"Oh, so it's you. Very well, I shall inform Elder Ci right away."
After all, as the person Ci Qianluo had brought back, the steward recognized Xie Guannan and asked him to wait here for a moment.
***
Ci Sheng had not expected Xie Guannan to come looking for him so soon, and he promptly had someone arrange a tearoom.
The steward led Xie Guannan straight to the tearoom.
"The Patriarch invites you in!"
"Please!"
"Very well!"
Upon entering the tearoom, a spacious room met the eye.
"Elder Ci, I've kept you waiting. How is your recovery coming along?"
Hearing Xie Guannan mention his injuries, the stern expression on Elder Ci's face softened a bit. How could he possibly treat the person who had saved his life with cold indifference?
"Of course, thanks to young friend risking your life to save me, I am much better!"
"Well? You've already reached the late-stage Qi Condensation so quickly? Truly, the younger generation is to be feared, unlike that unfilial little Luo of mine!" While praising Xie Guannan, Ci Sheng couldn't resist making a passing jibe at Ci Qianluo.
The sound of a door suddenly bursting open rang out!
"Grandfather, I am not! I've been cultivating very hard, how can you say that about me to an outsider!" Ci Qianluo barged in angrily, hugging Ci Sheng's arm and shaking it back and forth.
"Patriarch, I'm sorry, I couldn't stop the young miss!" The servant bowed and apologized.
Elder Ci merely waved his hand, and the servant immediately backed out.
Ci Sheng gestured toward Xie Guannan, looked at his granddaughter, and smiled faintly. "Oh? Is this person an outsider too?"
Xie Guannan then removed his cloak and looked at Ci Qianluo with a faint smile.
Seeing who it was, Ci Qianluo instantly panicked. "No, I—no, it's not me, I didn't! He's not—no, no, no, he is, oh!"
Unable to make her words clear, Ci Qianluo simply sat down to the side, buried her head, and cast sidelong glances at Xie Guannan, her eyes seeming to want to convey something.
"Young friend Xie, relationships are relationships, and business is business. I am a man who keeps the two very distinct."
Xie Guannan listened intently; he was also curious about what kind of demands this Elder Ci would make.
"For saving both our lives, I shall grant you a purple-gold token, along with the promise that you may freely choose any item you like at the upcoming auction."
"Of course, the purple-gold token allows you to redeem one item for free every year, and you receive a discount when purchasing items."
Xie Guannan spat out a mouthful of tea, almost choking.
This treatment was simply too unbelievable. Two items? Coming from the Ci Family's Myriad Treasures Pavilion, this gesture was indeed a bit too grand.
Ci Qianluo's jaw dropped as she exclaimed, "Each Patriarch only has one of these purple-gold tokens."
"To see this token is to see the Patriarch."
"It seems Grandfather values you a lot." Ci Qianluo blinked her bright eyes, her cold voice carrying a hint of joy. Was her man about to be approved by her grandfather?
"Haha, Elder Ci made it very clear to me that business is business and relationships are relationships. This seems to only concern business."
"Hahahaha, indeed. You saved my life and drove out my poison; you are well worth this purple-gold token." Ci Sheng smiled benevolently.
Immediately afterward, Ci Sheng's expression turned cold. He spoke indifferently, "What about the marriage between you and my granddaughter? Do you have nothing to say?"
Beside them, Ci Qianluo clenched her jaw, biting her lip slightly as her small hands tightly locked together.
Xie Guannan simply replied calmly, "I will marry her!"
A glimmer of light flickered in Ci Qianluo's cold eyes, and at the same time, her brows twitched imperceptibly.
"Do you know the strength of my Ci family?"
Xie Guannan shook his head. Indeed, he wasn't very familiar with it, having had no dealings with this faction in his past life.
"My Ci family is a major power in this Southern Heaven Territory. The elders in our family have all reached the Transcendence and Sainthood realm, or even higher."
Xie Guannan's expression remained calm as he listened very attentively.
*Eh? Why doesn't this kid have any change in expression? Could it be that he doesn't know the classification of cultivation realms?* thought Ci Sheng. *Well, it's normal for someone from such a remote place not to know.*
"You must know that cultivation realms are divided into the Qi Condensation Stage, Foundation Establishment Stage, Void Transformation Realm, Spirit Transformation Realm, Spirit Void Realm, and Nirvana Realm. Only after Nirvana does one reach Transcendence and Sainthood."
Xie Guannan's expression remained calm and composed. How could Ci Sheng possibly know that the person before him was the Southern Emperor, who had stood at the half-step God Realm in his past life? Naturally, even if Xie Guannan stated it, Ci Sheng probably wouldn't believe him.
"So what does Elder Ci mean?" Xie Guannan cut straight to the point!
"Just as I said earlier, relationships are relationships, and business is business. You saved me, and I will not shortchange you just because you are a junior from a remote region; this is the benefit you deserve."
"As for the relationship, it is obvious—Xiao Luo has a betrothal with you, but naturally, you must be a suitable match!" Ci Sheng lowered his voice.
Business is business, and relationships are relationships. However, this was already enough for Xie Guannan; he had no intention of marrying Ci Qianluo right now anyway, as that was a matter for the future. More importantly was this matter of being "suitable"!
"Then what level of strength is required to be a match?" Xie Guannan didn't beat around the bush and asked directly.
"Young friend Xie is certainly straightforward. At the very least, you must crush Xiao Luo's pursuers!" Ci Sheng smiled faintly.
Ci Qianluo, standing to the side, let out a cold snort. "Them? Hmph, I wouldn't even spare them a glance. They're all hypocrites with impure motives!"
Because the Ci Family's Myriad Treasures Pavilion possessed immense power, there were no lack of people trying to marry into the family as matrilocal sons-in-law, but Ci Qianluo didn't care about them in the least.
Xie Guannan nodded. After all, this was merely taking back everything from his past life; these things were just bonuses along the way!
This could also be considered a new agreement!
"That is only right!"
It required no effort at all. How could one grow without battle? Conflict with the prodigies of various clans was bound to happen! Crushing them would be a piece of cake for Xie Guannan.
"Very well, I've noted it down. Elder Ci, I came here today not just to discuss this marriage with you, but also regarding another important matter."
"Oh? Let's hear it!" Ci Sheng had assumed Xie Guannan would leave once they finished talking, and hadn't expected him to have another matter.
"A medium-grade Spirit Vein—is Elder Ci interested?"
"Medium-grade? Are you certain it's medium-grade?" Ci Sheng grew somewhat interested; it had been many years since he had heard that term. Spirit veins themselves were extremely scarce commodities.
"Yes! It is indeed medium-grade."
Ci Sheng looked at Xie Guannan before him with a complex expression. Xie Guannan didn't say what he wanted, choosing instead to remain silent. Ci Sheng naturally understood the value of a spirit vein.
"Young friend Xie, what do you want in exchange for doing this?"
"My Ci Family's Myriad Treasures Pavilion has forces spread across the entire Southern Heaven Territory, far stronger than the entire Liuyun Dynasty by who knows how many times. Speak boldly, you need not worry that we cannot achieve it."
"Consider it as the betrothal gift!" Xie Guannan said word by word.
Ci Sheng fell silent.
Beside them, Ci Qianluo's eyes flashed with brilliance, as if she wanted to see right through Xie Guannan, yet she couldn't! Then, her gaze dimmed a little.
This betrothal gift was probably the only one of its kind in the entire Southern Heaven Territory. Who would ever yield the mining rights of a spirit vein to someone else? One had to know this was a medium-grade spirit stone vein! Just giving it away like that?
*Does this kid really not know the scarcity of this spirit vein? A single spirit vein could buy how many Saint-class artifacts!* Ci Sheng thought to himself.
"Then... are there any other conditions?" Ci Sheng asked next.
"Mining and usage—as long as it doesn't affect my family, everything else is up to you."
"Young friend makes a joke, that goes without saying!"
***
Hearing this, the stone in Xie Guannan's heart seemed to finally drop. In this way, an extra layer of connection would be forged between the fate of the Xie family and the Ci family.
"Elder Ci, I also have some beast corpses here. How can I sell them to the Beast Taming Sect? Do you know of a channel?"
Ci Sheng sipped his tea and nodded slightly. "Of course I do!"
Ci Sheng could certainly handle a small matter like this. After all, given the status of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, what difficulty was there in selling a few beast corpses?
Ci Qianluo's face was full of question marks. *Beast corpses?* "I suspect you're just here to offload cargo!"
"Ah, Xiao Luo, is that any way to speak to young friend Xie!"
"Grandfather!" Ci Qianluo let out a spoiled huff.
Xie Guannan now understood that this trait was truly hereditary.
"This tearoom is too small to hold those corpses, let's move to the backyard!" Xie Guannan suggested.
Before long, the three of them moved to the backyard.
The numerous servants originally there cleared a space for them.
"What do you think they're doing?" one servant whispered to another, covering his mouth.
"Well, a distinguished guest has come to sell some goods, so they've moved to the backyard!"
"Who? That late-stage Qi Condensation kid? What connections does he have?"
"I don't know. Seems to be someone the young miss brought back. Let's go, let's go, we still need to move the cargo!" A servant shook his head and urged the others along.
Xie Guannan directly unloaded a thousand ant beast corpses into the courtyard. The originally spacious courtyard instantly sprouted a small mountain. Fortunately, this Myriad Treasures Pavilion was large enough.
Beside him, Ci Qianluo pointed at these ant beasts, completely speechless!
Ci Sheng's expression shifted, and he asked, "Could it be that you killed all of these?"
"Pretty much!" Xie Guannan replied casually.
*Pretty much, my foot! I'm at the Foundation Establishment Stage and I wouldn't dare be that arrogant...* Ci Qianluo was already complaining inwardly about Xie Guannan.
"The value of these ant beast corpses is not very high, but fortunately, the quantity is massive. A single one can sell for over 50 silver taels," Ci Sheng said with a serious expression.
These thousand-plus corpses came out to 60,000 silver taels, equivalent to 600 gold coins.
Immediately afterward, Ci Sheng had someone bring over 600 gold coins. Xie Guannan stored them away in his storage ring; combined with what was left from the weapon-refining pavilion, he now had nearly a thousand gold coins.
Xie Guannan nodded. He had killed them casually anyway, so how much they sold for didn't matter. He didn't lack weapons or anything. Armor was something encountered by chance rather than sought; anything usable needed to be custom-made by a weapon refiner, making it truly scarce.
Shortly after, Xie Guannan used his Spiritual Power to toss out the corpse of the Azure-Eyed Python. Having reached the late stage of cultivation, he naturally no longer feared this minor poison.
"How does 20 gold coins for a Tier 1 special beast core sound?" Ci Sheng inquired.
Xie Guannan had no objections and nodded. A Tier 1 beast corpse and beast core didn't hold much value; the main thing was that the venom could be used to refine special medicinal pills.
"Elder Ci, let's return to the tearoom."
"Oh?" Ci Sheng was puzzled at first.
"Let's go!" He then nodded.
Inside the tearoom, Ci Qianluo kept sizing up Xie Guannan—her gaze drifting away at times, wandering at others—while toying with her hair.
Without wasting words, Xie Guannan directly produced the Snake Saliva Fruit.
"I happened to come across this Tier 5 Snake Saliva Fruit. Elder Ci, name your price!"
Ci Sheng completely lost his composure, staring in extreme shock at the snake-head-shaped, fist-sized Snake Saliva Fruit in Xie Guannan's hand.
"This is the Snake Saliva Fruit guarded by that Tier 5 Scaled Python. I heard Xiao Luo say that when you saved me, you even produced a dragon horn? Is that true?" Ci Sheng asked with a serious expression, his eyes fixed on Xie Guannan with excitement.
Xie Guannan nodded; there was no need to hide this. If Ci Sheng recovered to his peak condition and traveled to the core area again, only to find the beasts gone and the Snake Saliva Fruit missing, what would he think? He would certainly conclude it was the work of the person before him. Better to just admit it openly.
"Yes, it was that same Scaled Python."
The look Ci Sheng gave Xie Guannan became extremely complex.
"Just how did you kill it?" Ci Qianluo cupped her exquisitely peerless face, staring at Xie Guannan with blinking eyes.
Meeting Ci Qianluo's gaze, Xie Guannan smiled. "That cannot be told!"
Ci Sheng thought to himself, *This is an essential herb for refining the Nirvana Pill, and also a task assigned to me by the family. Since he's selling it, naturally I cannot treat him unfairly. I never expected it to fall into this young man's hands.*
"Young friend, I am indeed in urgent need of this Snake Saliva Fruit. What do you want? Just name it," Ci Sheng said in an excited tone.
"It's fine, I'll give it to you!" Xie Guannan took a sip of tea and spoke indifferently, quite straightforwardly.
Elder Ci had already given him quite a lot of things. Moreover, being able to take one item from the Ci Family's Myriad Treasures Pavilion every year was already an astronomical fortune, not to mention the status of the purple-gold token. He couldn't keep taking advantage of others all the time; doing so would make their relationship rigid. By acting this way, Xie Guannan was both fostering friendship and maintaining a sense of mystery.
"You—such a precious medicinal herb, and you aren't going to make a killing off of it?" Ci Qianluo lowered her voice, her tone laced with doubt.
She was finding it harder and harder to understand Xie Guannan. A spirit vein, he gave away just like that; a rare medicinal herb, he gave away just like that.
"Young friend Xie, your vast skills—which recluse high expert are they from?" Ci Sheng was also very puzzled.
Xie Guannan didn't have any master; in his previous life, he had relied entirely on his own desperate cultivation, only meeting many friends along the way, but a master he truly did not have.
"My master... it seems he has a title, but I don't remember the exact details. He doesn't like to talk about it much!"
A title! One had to know that only those above the Saint Realm possessed titles. Saints were scarce throughout the entire Southern Heaven Territory.
"As expected, a famous teacher produces an outstanding disciple," Ci Sheng praised.
"Elder Ci, please accept this Snake Saliva Fruit, otherwise your Nirvana Pill will not be easy to refine."
*He even knows about the Nirvana Pill? Just how many secrets does he have?*
Ci Qianluo looked bewildered. "What are you two talking about?"
Ci Sheng needed the Nirvana Pill to break through to the Nirvana Realm, and breaking through to the Nirvana Realm was no easy feat, especially here in the Southern Heaven Territory where spiritual energy was thin and the aptitude of cultivators was quite ordinary.
Under Xie Guannan's gaze, Ci Sheng accepted the Snake Saliva Fruit.
"Elder Ci, I have one more question."
Ci Sheng smiled at Xie Guannan. "Ask away without worry."
"Are there any auctions coming up recently?"
"There will be an auction in a few days. Does Young friend Xie have anything you wish to consign for auction?"
Without wasting words, Xie Guannan directly tossed the head of the Scaled Python out of his storage ring. As for the dragon horn, he naturally kept it for himself, but this Tier 5 Scaled Python beast core was to be sold.
This final move left old Elder Ci completely speechless. First, the youth had saved his life, then handed over a spirit vein, then gifted him a Snake Saliva Fruit, and now had even helped him exact revenge. The look he gave Xie Guannan inevitably carried a few shades of deep respect.
***
Xie Guannan did not take out the corpses of the Black Rock Bear to hand over to Ci Sheng for processing. After all, directly pulling out two high-tier fierce beasts clearly exceeded Ci Sheng's cognitive range of an ordinary late-stage Qi Condensation cultivator. He could already guess what had happened, and it was better to maintain a hint of mystery. Ci Sheng hadn't even been able to take down the beast himself, yet coincidentally this young man had managed it. If word of that got out, where would he put his face?
"Very well, this Tier 5 beast core will definitely fetch a very good price. If no one wants it, our Myriad Treasures Pavilion will buy it ourselves."
"Shall we go take a look at the spirit vein?" Xie Guannan suggested.
Ci Sheng then summoned several powerhouses of the fourth realm—the Spirit Transformation Realm—to accompany them. When mining commenced, naturally even stronger individuals would be dispatched to garrison and protect the place.
Right now, for Xie Guannan, using the power of others to protect his family was naturally the best method, especially since they were his future in-laws!
Before long, high above Jianghai City, a dark mass of fierce beasts flew through the air, casting massive shadows across the ground below.
The streets were struck with terror by this ominous black cloud.
"Quick, look at that! Is that a beast wave?"
"It's so huge, any one of them could easily destroy Jianghai City!"
"Look closely, there are human figures on top of them."
"People from the Beast Taming Sect? What are they here for?"
This Jianghai City had no city lord; whoever came, no one cared.
"A Tier 4 fierce beast really is faster than flying on your own sword." Xie Guannan looked down at the beast flying beneath him.
This was a beast owned by a Spirit Transformation Realm powerhouse by Ci Sheng's side—not a tamed beast, but a contracted beast. Tamed beasts were controlled through force, whereas contracted beasts were bound by a soul contract. A cultivator could only choose one, and could only contract another after the death of the previous one. If the master died, the contracted beast would also die; but the reverse was not true—the master would only suffer some injuries and recover after recuperating for a few days.
Tamed beasts, on the other hand, were controlled using specific cultivation techniques. As the cultivator's own strength increased, they could control stronger fierce beasts, and their numbers could also grow. The biggest difference was that contracted beasts could be nurtured within the cultivator's dantian and sea of consciousness, while tamed beasts could only be kept and raised outside.
In his previous life, Xie Guannan had truly thought all fierce beasts were controlled through taming techniques, seeing no real difference. As for tamed beasts, once someone focused on controlling a powerful beast, those cannon-fodder beasts became unnecessary.
However, in Xie Guannan's eyes, anyone who stood as an enemy—whether master or beast—was slain by him all the same. Daring to provoke him, no matter who you were, your ultimate end would be turning into dust.
A Tier 4 fierce beast was ultimately incomparable to a carriage on the dirt roads. In less than half an hour, they arrived at Jianghai City.
The pedestrians on the street looked up at the dark mass of beasts with panicked expressions. The streets fell into utter chaos for a moment, but after a long while, seeing that the beast showed no intention of harming anyone and that there were people standing atop it, the commotion on the street gradually subsided.
Shortly after, the massive beast hovered above the Xie family courtyard and slowly descended.
The courtyard wasn't large, and it couldn't really accommodate such a creature. Seeing his son standing atop the fierce beast, Xie Wentian's expression lit up with joy.
Xie Guannan had already been away from the Xie family courtyard for two days.