273: Chapter 273 Monopolizing the spoils, vowing to follow to the death.

He took a step forward from Lu Changyuan's side—only one step—but as this step landed—the ancient Array Pattern on the dark bronze alloy floor lit up beneath his feet—the Spiritual Pressure of the Peak Foundation Establishment Stage released from his body—the speed of the release was not fast—but extremely uniform—the range covered by the Spiritual Pressure—exactly covered the area at the base of the stone wall where Shopkeeper Qian, the Gold-Rank Enforcer, and all the Loose Cultivators were located.

No one took a step forward.

Shopkeeper Qian, who had been the first to lose the strength in his legs when the Golden Core Abyssal Beast broke through the door—at this moment pressed his back tighter against the stone wall—so tight that the fabric on the back of his robes was pressed into at least four or five indentations by the protruding fragments of ancient Array Patterns on the stone wall.

His gaze shifted away from the Golden Core—shifting to the narrow-bladed straight sword in Leng Feng's hand that was still dripping with Abyssal Beast blood—the tip pointed to the ground—less than three inches from the ground—beneath the sword tip—on the dark bronze alloy floor—the few drops of dark green blood that had dripped when Leng Feng pulled his sword from the neck of the Golden Core Abyssal Beast on the right were being slowly absorbed by the dark golden layer of Spiritual Pressure—every time a drop was absorbed—a circle of extremely faint, fine dark green ripples appeared on the surface of the Spiritual Pressure layer—the ripples spread outward—spreading less than half a foot—then were swallowed by the Spiritual Pressure layer.

The fingers of the Gold-Rank Enforcer gripping the hilt—loosened.

The way he loosened them was a form of surrender—his fingers pried off the hilt one by one—every time one was pried off—the friction between his knuckles and the anti-slip texture of the hilt made an extremely light, fine scraping sound—the sound was amplified at least several times in the extreme silence of the altar—every Loose Cultivator heard it.

When the last finger—the index finger—completely let go of the hilt—his palm left a very clear, wet handprint on the hilt—the sweat from his palm—was cold.

Leng Feng bent down—and began to peel the armor from the remains of the Abyss Beast Leader's corpse.

His armor-peeling movements were extremely skilled—the tip of the narrow-bladed straight sword followed the gap at the bone armor seams that had been stretched open by the berserk state and then retracted—he inserted it—twisted his wrist inward—and the bone armor was pried off in one piece from the bone body.

The pried-off bone armor plates cast an extremely faint dark green cold light in the dark golden Spiritual Pressure layer—the layered structure of the dark bronze deposit on the surface of the armor plates remained intact—from the outermost dark green to the inner dark green—layer upon layer—each layer was less than half a millimeter thick.

Leng Feng placed the peeled-off bone armor plates into his Storage Pouch one by one—it was a placement—the plates were arranged by size in the Storage Pouch—the large plates were cushioned at the bottom of the pouch—the small plates were stacked on top—after stacking one layer—he placed the second layer from the side—the number of plates in each layer was exactly the same.

Shadow One and Shadow Two walked to the side of the Golden Core Abyssal Beast corpse that had died kneeling on the ground—crouched down—short swords unsheathed.

The way the two peeled the armor was different from Leng Feng—they cut from two directions simultaneously along the bone armor seams—Shadow One's sword tip slashed from left to right—Shadow Two's sword tip slashed from right to left—the two sword marks met at the midpoint of the seam—the bone armor plate detached completely from the bone body—the cut was extremely smooth—so smooth it looked like it had been cut in one stroke—but in reality, it was two.

Lu Changyuan held the Golden Core in the palm of his hand—turned around—and faced the huddled crowd at the base of the stone wall.

His gaze swept from Shopkeeper Qian to the Gold-Rank Enforcer—swept to the Loose Cultivators who had signed the Heavenly Dao Oath—swept to that young Loose Cultivator at the Peak of Qi Refining—tears that hadn't dried yet still hanging on his face—crouching next to the Gold-Rank Enforcer—mouth closed—eyes fixed on the bone armor plate Leng Feng was peeling—he blinked—and then blinked again—every time he blinked—the residual tears on his eyelashes cast a tiny, faint shimmer of water in the dark golden Spiritual Pressure layer.

"According to the contract."

His voice was not loud—but in the extremely quiet space of the altar—every word landed extremely clearly.

He pulled the Golden Core half an inch into his palm—a deep blue halo leaked out from between his fingers the moment his five fingers closed—the leaked light formed an extremely faint, thin icy blue ring of light outside his fingers—the ring of light spread outward—spread less than three inches—and then was swallowed by the dark golden Spiritual Pressure layer.

"What I should distribute to you—will not be one cent less."

He paused—his gaze swept over the crowd again—swept over those who had huddled at the base of the stone wall shivering when the Golden Core Abyssal Beast broke through the door—swept over those who had drilled into the side passages when the bone shield formation blocked the corridor—swept over those who were squatting on the ground, their strength to even flee having been drained away.

"What is not written in the contract—"

He put the Golden Core into the inner pocket of his sleeve—the Golden Core entered the pouch—the deep blue halo flashed at the edge of the pouch opening—and then was suppressed by the Spiritual Pressure of the black crystal—and extinguished.

"I will not give one bit more."

Shopkeeper Qian's reaction was the fastest.

He stood up from the base of the stone wall—his knees bent slightly under the hem of his robe—then steadied himself.

He walked to Lu Changyuan—cupped his hands in a salute—the posture of the salute was exactly the same as when he signed the Heavenly Dao Oath before entering the ruins—hands pushed out flat from the chest—palms aligned—five fingers together—then he bowed—the depth of the bow was nearly twice as deep as when he signed the Heavenly Dao Oath.

"Leader, you are mighty. Today's battle—I, Qian, have never seen in my entire life—a Golden Core Abyssal Beast—one sword strike—"

He could not continue.

His mouth could not keep up with his brain—in his mind, he was calculating two accounts at the same time—one was the Spirit Stones he was supposed to receive according to the contract—the other was what level that sword strike just now corresponded to on the Market's combat power ranking list—the two accounts overlapped—his lips moved at least three or four times—every time he wanted to say the next word—the next word was suppressed by the numbers from the other account.

Lu Changyuan raised his hand—stopping what he was about to say.

"Distribute the useful Materials from the Foundation Establishment Abyssal Beasts."

He pointed to the corpses of the Foundation Establishment Abyssal Beasts scattered around the periphery of the altar—under the suppression of the Guardian Spirit's Spiritual Pressure—those Abyssal Beasts below the Foundation Establishment Stage had not even been able to stand up during the battle just now—most had knelt down on the spot when the Spiritual Pressure swept over—bone shields littered the ground—bone spears scattered between the shields—a few Late Foundation Establishment Stage bone shield soldiers had forcibly tried to stand up while suppressed by the Spiritual Pressure—the bone armor seams had been torn open from the inside by their own muscle strength—the edges of the tears were extremely irregular—winding crookedly from the shoulder armor to the flank.

"Distribute it yourselves—according to how much you contributed. The Heavenly Dao Oath is above—whoever takes more knows it in their heart."

The Loose Cultivators stood up from the base of the stone wall—the speed of standing up was not fast—but after standing up—everyone's gaze first swept over the narrow-bladed straight sword still dripping blood at Leng Feng's waist—and then looked at the Foundation Establishment Abyssal Beast corpses on the ground.

The Gold-Rank Enforcer was the first to step forward—his heavy battle sword was still hanging at his waist—but he did not draw it—he bent down—and with his bare hands, peeled the bone armor from the bone body of a Late Foundation Establishment Stage bone shield soldier corpse—he placed the peeled-off bone armor plates aside—then from the inside of the chest armor, closest to the spiritual power core—he reached in—and pulled out a dark blue crystal core the size of a thumb.

A Late Foundation Establishment Stage Abyssal Beast crystal core—could sell for dozens of Spirit Stones in the market—it wasn't much—but compared to the broken Materials they had picked up while exploring the outer periphery of the ruins themselves—it was already several times more.

The Loose Cultivators who had signed the Heavenly Dao Oath gathered around—divided into several groups—each group picked a corpse—and began to strip the Materials.

No one argued—they didn't dare. Leng Feng's sword was still in his hand—the layer of Abyssal Beast blood on the blade—in the dark golden Spiritual Pressure layer—the reflection of every drop of blood was like an extremely cold, silent eye staring at the back of their necks.

Then Yan Guming walked out from the crowd.

He dragged his heavily injured body—his left leg had been slashed open in the side passage by fragments of Sword Qi from the remaining Puppets, a wound extending from his knee to his ankle—the wound was wrapped in a piece of fabric he had torn from his robe—the fabric had already been soaked dark red with blood—every step he took—the bandage wrapped around the wound rubbed against it—grinding the blood at the edge of the fabric to ooze out less than half a millimeter.

But his spine was straight—straighter than when he signed the Heavenly Dao Oath.

His gaze swept from Lu Changyuan's palm—the cuff where the Golden Core had disappeared—to the narrow-bladed straight sword in Leng Feng's hand—swept to the bone armor plates Shadow One and Shadow Two were peeling—and then landed on Lu Changyuan's face.

He knelt on one knee before Lu Changyuan.

The way he knelt was extremely heavy—his heavily injured left knee struck the dark bronze alloy floor—creating an extremely deep, muffled sound of bone cracking—his kneecap hit the metal plate surface—the force of the impact was so great that his body tilted nearly half a foot to the left—but he braced himself with his right leg—steadied his body again—knelt on one knee—kneeling extremely steadily.

"My Lord—"

His voice was hoarse—his throat had been grazed by the poisonous mist of the remaining Puppets in the side passage—the edges of his vocal cords had been corroded by an extremely thin layer—every word he spoke—his Adam's apple rolled up and down once—when it rolled, one could see the dark red corrosion mark on the skin of his throat—the mark extended downward from his Adam's apple—extending into his collar—with no end in sight.

"I, Yan, have something—to present to my Lord."

He took a Jade Slip from the inner pocket of his sleeve.

The Jade Slip was pale cyan throughout—its surface covered with a layer of extremely thin, faint natural jade patterns—the patterns did not reflect light within the dim golden spiritual radiance—but inside the patterns—in the deepest layer of the jade—something was moving—extremely slowly—extremely faintly—impossible to notice without careful inspection—it was a sliver of extremely fine, faint cyan Qi—slowly circulating within the deep patterns of the jade—the direction of the circulation faintly echoed the path of the deepest and most complete sword technique trajectory engraving found in the side chamber's secret room.

Lu Changyuan took the Jade Slip—probed it with his Divine Sense.

Inside the Jade Slip—was a general outline of a Sword Cultivator Legacy.

It was a decrypted version of the sword technique trajectory diagram on the half-person-tall stone wall fragment in the side chamber's secret room. The sword technique trajectory diagram on the stone wall fragment—the set that Shadow One had traced section by section using the tip of her short sword along the engravings in the side chamber—was encrypted. The engravings had been carved directly into the stone wall by an ancient Sword Cultivator using Sword Essence—sealing the spiritual fluctuations of the sword technique's trajectory within them—but it was encrypted—and the key to this encryption was an Innate Sword Pulse. Only a Sword Cultivator possessing an Innate Sword Pulse—after their Sword Pulse had been triggered—could use the instinct of their Sword Essence to sense and decipher the spiritual fluctuations within the engravings—restoring the encrypted trajectory diagram into a complete general outline.

Yan Guming—having been saved by Lu Changyuan at the brink of death—had his Innate Sword Pulse forcibly triggered by the medicinal power of the Azure Sea Jade Liquid between life and death—as he lay on the stone platform—the first thing his Sword Pulse instinctually sensed—was the spiritual fluctuation of that deepest and most complete sword technique trajectory in the side chamber's secret room. He carved the trajectories deciphered by his Sword Pulse into the Jade Slip—one by one—taking a full hour—and once he finished—the trajectory diagram inside the Jade Slip and the engravings on the stone wall fragment—one decrypted and one encrypted—one bright and one dark—combined to form a complete Sword Cultivator Legacy.

Lu Changyuan's Divine Sense swept through at least dozens of sword technique trajectories within the Jade Slip—every single one matched the fragmentary diagram traced by Shadow One—but there was more—the breaks in the fragment that had been smoothed over by time—had been reconnected in the Jade Slip by Yan Guming's Sword Pulse—at these connection points—one could still see extremely fine and faint traces of the transition—the lingering spiritual resonance left behind during the Sword Pulse's decryption—at these breaks—it breathed out extremely faint cyan spiritual light at an incredibly slow frequency—flickering on and off—perfectly synchronized with the circulation frequency of the Innate Sword Pulse within Yan Guming's body.

He withdrew his Divine Sense from the Jade Slip—looked down—at Yan Guming, who was kneeling on one knee on the dark copper alloy floor. Yan Guming's right fist was pressed against the floor—his knuckles white from the exertion—the veins on the back of his hand were bulging—throbbing at an extremely rapid frequency beneath his skin—a frequency that matched perfectly with the circulation of Sword Essence within his body after his Innate Sword Pulse had been triggered.

"This Jade Slip—" Lu Changyuan twirled the Jade Slip between his fingertips—as it turned—the extremely faint and thin natural jade pattern on its surface caused the cyan Qi within the patterns to trace an extremely short, faint cyan arc within the dim golden spiritual radiance— "is something you carved."

"Yes." Yan Guming's voice was hoarse—but he enunciated every word with great effort—as if using his teeth to bite down on an extremely hard and astringent Spirit Stone— "That stone wall in the side chamber's secret room—the engravings—were carved by an ancient Sword Cultivator using Sword Essence—it was encrypted—and the key was an Innate Sword Pulse. My Sword Pulse was triggered while I was unconscious—after I woke up—the spiritual trajectory lines within the engravings—were in my mind—every single one—every single one—I could see them all with perfect clarity."

He paused—and as he swallowed—the corrosive marks on his Adam's apple oozed less than a sliver of dark red—then he continued.

"The fragment is the encrypted version—the Sword Pulse is the key—only when the two are put together—does it become a complete Sword Cultivator Legacy. This sword technique—is called the 'Tiangang Immortal-Slashing Sword'—it is a core Legacy left behind by ancient Sword Cultivators when they fought the Haiyuan Clan in the Outer Sea. The general outline is divided into three volumes—the first volume covers the sword technique trajectories—and can be practiced at the Foundation Establishment stage. The second volume is the Sword Essence Mind-Cultivation Technique—which can only be practiced upon reaching the Golden Core stage. The third volume—it is not in the Jade Slip—the engravings were worn too deep by time—and the Sword Pulse could not decipher them—it may be lost forever."

He lifted his right fist from the floor to shoulder height—opened his five fingers—turned his palm upward—in the dim golden spiritual radiance—one could see the extremely deep, long, old scar on his palm—the result of long-term sword gripping—it had taken years—from when he began holding a sword in his youth—to reaching the Late Foundation Establishment Stage—to the triggering of his Innate Sword Pulse—the sword callus on his palm had thickened to the point of merging with his skin—gleaming with an extremely faint, translucent, pale yellow luster under the cold light of the Spirit Stone.

"This sword technique—might be useful to you, My Lord. The path of a Sword Cultivator is different from that of an ordinary Cultivator—but some of the principles of the trajectories in the general outline—can also be applied to the sword techniques of ordinary Cultivators. Your subordinate—presents it to you, My Lord."

Lu Changyuan tucked the Jade Slip into his sleeve—placing it in the same inner pocket as the black crystal. As the Jade Slip entered the pocket—its edge brushed against the black crystal—the iciness on the crystal's surface caused the Jade Slip to emit an extremely light, faint, jade-like tremor the moment it entered—the frequency of the tremor and the breathing frequency of the dim golden fine lines on the bottom of the black crystal—matched within less than half a breath—then synchronized—and then returned to silence.

"Yan Guming."

"I am here."

"Regarding the few stalks of Cold Marrow Moss for your sister—Leng Feng collected six stalks along the path of survival." Lu Changyuan pushed the Jade Slip deeper into the inner pocket—his fingertips touched the surface of the black crystal—the sensation was still icy—but cooler than before—now that the burning heat from the sword hilt slot had faded—it had regained a slight chill, perhaps less than thirty percent of its original temperature— "After you return—have the Shadow Guards deliver them to your sister."

Yan Guming's body gave a slight jolt. The magnitude of the vibration was extremely light—so light that his knees only shifted less than half an inch on the dark copper alloy floor—but his eyes—the rims of his eyes—welled up with an extremely faint, thin sheen of moisture within less than a breath—the moisture shimmered once in the dim golden spiritual radiance—then he blinked twice with extreme speed—blinking it away. He did not speak again—he pressed his right fist back against the floor—and bowed—the old scar on his forehead, cut by the Puppet's Sword Qi—was pulled by less than half a millimeter where the new pink skin had grown at the edges of the scar as he bowed—he furrowed his brows slightly—a very shallow furrow—then relaxed them—continuing to bow until his forehead almost touched the cold, hard floor.

Lu Changyuan reached out—and supported his shoulder.

"Get up."

Yan Guming was pulled up from the floor—the wound on his left leg tore open by less than half an inch as he was lifted—and fresh blood seeped from the edge of the bandages—the color of the blood changed from dark red to a slightly lighter dark red—his blood quality was recovering after the Azure Sea Jade Liquid had flushed through his Meridians—and the speed of recovery was at least twice as fast as an ordinary person's—yet the wound had not yet healed. He stood straight—his spine erect—straighter than before he had knelt—his palm brushed against the edge of his Storage Pouch—feeling his sister's prescription—then he let go.

Just then—the communication Formation Plate at Lu Changyuan's waist lit up.

Deep blue communication Array Patterns—Elder Wei Changfeng's encrypted frequency. Moreover, the flickering frequency this time—was faster than any previous time—so fast that the communication Array Patterns on the surface of the Formation Plate left behind streaks of extremely short, fine, deep blue afterimages as they flickered—the afterimages overlapped on the surface of the Formation Plate—forming a sheet of blue light that almost merged into one—the brightness of the blue light was dampened by less than half a stop of color temperature within the dim golden spiritual radiance—but the flickering frequency—had not diminished in the slightest.

Lu Changyuan unfastened the Formation Plate—and pressed his thumb onto the receiving node.

Elder Wei Changfeng's voice exploded from the Formation Plate—he skipped the pleasantries entirely—his voice was suppressed with excitement—yet within that excitement was a very obvious hoarseness—the hoarseness of someone who hadn't closed their eyes for several days—every few words—his vocal cords would catch on the hoarseness—then rush forward again—the speed of his speech was at least twice as fast as usual.

"Changyuan—the market prices outside—"

An extremely loud and hurried intake of breath came from the Formation Plate—he had inhaled too quickly—choked—coughed for less than half a second—and then continued—without any pause to stop and drink water.

"They've increased fivefold! A full fivefold! Spirit Recovery Pills—you thought the price had hit the ceiling—but it's doubled again. Barrier-Breaking Talismans—the inventory has been completely cleared out—and pre-orders are lined up until next month. Those shops that hadn't signed contracts before—are now chasing after me—begging me to sign—they're offering any price I ask—"

The sound of paper pages being turned rapidly came from the Formation Plate—at least dozens of pages—the turning speed was so fast that the friction between the pages merged into an extremely dense, hurried buzzing sound—then, the sound of page-turning stopped abruptly—landing at a very precise spot—Elder Wei Changfeng pressed his finger on that page—the friction of the paper being pressed by his fingertip was amplified in the Formation Plate—emitting an extremely light, muffled sound of the paper indenting.

"Have you prepared the sacks—Changyuan—"

His voice dropped by less than half a degree—he had saved the most important sentence for the last.

"The kind for holding Spirit Stones—you'll need large ones—extra-large sacks."