33: Chapter 33 The Ruthless Ruler

"Don't you agree?"

The ice layer in the underground plaza did not continue to shatter. A gentle force supported the sinking ruins.

The spatial barrier in front was forcibly folded to both sides. A slender, pale hand reached out.

A man wearing a black robe walked out of the Void Realm. His long hair was disheveled. He did not wear any Magical Artifact. The moment he appeared, the Creation Realm pressure weighing down on Ye Lan and Xiao Wuji instantly dissipated by more than half.

Su Qianxue leaned against the ice wall. Her brain was completely numb. What kind of monster was this again? She didn't even dare to breathe hard. Danqingzi in her ring had already cut off all perception, sealing himself in a corner.

The man did not look at the two subordinates on the ground. He walked straight to Luo Qingxue and stopped three steps away.

"Qingxue." The man's syllable was short.

Luo Qingxue raised her head.

"Senior Brother."

The man reached out his hand, stopping in mid-air. Finally, he retracted it.

"It is good that you have returned."

He turned around, facing the Void Realm channel, looking directly at Xuan Kong in mid-air.

In the Eastern Wasteland Hall, Gu Sheng watched the screen.

[Target locked.]

[Name: Jun Wudao.]

[Identity: Current Hall Master of Xuanming Hall.]

[Cultivation: Creation Realm Great Perfection.]

Gu Sheng leaned back in his chair. Creation Realm Great Perfection. No wonder he could neutralize Xuan Kong's pressure. The foundation of this Xuanming Hall was ridiculously deep. If this Jun Wudao had attacked directly just now, Xuan Kong might not have been able to suppress him. Now that the initiative was in his hands, he had to maximize the benefits.

"Your Excellency has impressive methods," Jun Wudao said.

The sound waves echoed in the underground plaza. They had no aggression, yet they forced back all the gray-white Qi flow emitted by Xuan Kong.

Xuan Kong tapped his pipe. Sparks fell onto the ice, burning deep, bottomless holes.

"My master is asking a question. Who are you to interrupt?" Xuan Kong did not retreat at all. His Creation Realm Peak cultivation erupted completely.

Jun Wudao's sleeves billowed. He took the pressure head-on.

"Current Hall Master of Xuanming Hall, Jun Wudao." He bowed slightly. "My two incompetent subordinates have made a fool of themselves before Your Excellency."

Gu Sheng transmitted his voice through the System.

"Since Hall Master Jun has come, let us discuss compensation."

Jun Wudao looked at the Void Realm channel.

"The fact that Qingxue can reunite her True Soul is something all of Xuanming Hall is deeply grateful for. Whatever compensation Your Excellency desires, feel free to speak."

Gu Sheng quickly deduced in his mind. Ask for Magic Treasure? What he lacked now were destiny points and high-level resources. Ask for Cultivation Technique? The System's Cultivation Technique was stronger. He needed some hard currency that could be cashed in immediately, and while he was at it, build his reputation to intimidate these old monsters.

"Hall Master Jun should be aware of the value of the taiyin divine marrow," Gu Sheng said, slowing his speech. "I went to such great lengths, not to do charity."

"The Everlasting Gu Family never does business at a loss."

As soon as these four words were spoken, the underground plaza fell into deathly silence.

Jun Wudao's originally steady breathing paused for a moment.

Xiao Wuji raised his head abruptly. The veins on the back of Ye Lan's hand holding the spear bulged.

Everlasting Gu Family.

Ordinary Cultivators could not even touch upon what these four words represented. But in the ears of old monsters like them who had lived for thousands of years, this was a taboo. It was a behemoth that spanned several epochs and stood above the Immortal Holy Land.

Jun Wudao weighed the situation quickly in his mind. No wonder the other party could casually bring out a Heaven-Defying divine object like the taiyin divine marrow. No wonder a servant was at Creation Realm Peak. If it were the Everlasting Gu Family, everything made sense. Offending such a Hidden Family, no matter how many trump cards Xuanming Hall had, it could not withstand the turmoil. Paying money to avoid disaster was the only choice.

"So it is a distinguished guest from the Gu Family." Jun Wudao lowered his posture by three points. "Xuanming Hall has been avoiding the world for many years; my subordinates were blind and offended the distinguished guest."

He took out a pitch-black storage ring from his sleeve.

With a light flick of his finger, the storage ring turned into a stream of light and flew toward the Void Realm channel.

Xuan Kong reached out and caught it. He swept it with his Divine Sense, then turned his head to look inside the channel.

Eastern Wasteland Hall.

[Ding.]

[High-level resource supply detected.]

[Contains: 30,000 Top-Grade Spirit Stone. Three 'nine-turn soul-returning pill' of Creation-level healing holy medicine. One Xuanming Hall Secret Realm passage token.]

"Hall Master Jun is a straightforward person," Gu Sheng transmitted.

"However, I have said that I never do business at a loss. Luo Qingxue, since I have saved you, you are mine. We shall meet again."

"Xuan Kong, come back."

Far North Icefield.

Xuan Kong put away the storage ring and tucked his pipe into his waist.

"You are sensible."

Xuan Kong turned around and stepped into the Void Realm channel.

The huge black rift began to close. The violent spatial turbulence gradually subsided.

The sky of the Far North Icefield returned to gray.

Underground plaza.

The terrifying pressure weighing on everyone's hearts disappeared completely.

Xiao Wuji collapsed onto the ice, gasping for breath. Ye Lan stuck his black spear beside him, kneeling on one knee to support his swaying body.

Jun Wudao turned around, looking at the slender figure of Luo Qingxue.

"Senior Brother." Luo Qingxue took a step forward.

"He..."

"Do not think about it anymore." Jun Wudao interrupted her.

He walked forward, took off his black robe, and draped it over Luo Qingxue's shoulders.

"It is good that you have returned."

Jun Wudao looked at Luo Qingxue's pale face. The obsession of three hundred years finally settled at this moment. As for what purpose that person from the Everlasting Gu Family had, it was not important now. As long as she was here, the Soul of Xuanming Hall remained.

"But..." Luo Qingxue still wanted to say something.

The person who had occupied her body did not act like someone from a Hidden Family at all. That calculating, profit-driven shrewdness was more like a gambler struggling at the bottom. Moreover, the traces that person left in her Sea of Consciousness made her feel a strange sense of familiarity.

"There are no buts." Jun Wudao raised his voice.

He turned to look at the two people on the ground.

"Can you still walk?"

Xiao Wuji struggled to stand up. The wound on his left knee was still bleeding.

"This subordinate is guilty."

Ye Lan pulled out his black spear and stood silently behind Luo Qingxue.

Jun Wudao ignored Su Qianxue. A mere ant at the Qi Refinement Stage was not worth another glance from him.

He raised his hand.

The space in front produced violent twisting ripples. A Void Realm channel leading to Central Province formed.

"Return to the sect."

Jun Wudao stepped into the channel first.

Ye Lan followed closely behind.

Xiao Wuji limped to follow.

Luo Qingxue stopped at the entrance of the channel.

She turned her head, looking at Su Qianxue huddled in the corner.

This girl who had accompanied her all the way here was shaking uncontrollably at this moment.

Luo Qingxue reached out. A drop of dark red life essence blood condensed at her fingertips.

The life essence blood flew toward Su Qianxue and merged into the center of her eyebrows.

"This is what you deserve."

Luo Qingxue withdrew her hand and turned to walk into the Void Realm channel.

The channel closed.

The underground plaza fell into deathly silence.

Only broken ice remained on the ground, along with the remains of three Nirvana Realm powerhouses.

Su Qianxue touched the center of her eyebrows. That drop of life essence blood contained vast vitality and was rapidly repairing her frozen Meridians.

Inside the ring, Danqingzi's Soul finally dared to emerge.

"Girl, leave quickly. This place cannot be stayed in."

"I will take you to a place; I have a good friend there who will help you."

"Once you have properly digested what you gained during this time, with your talent, you will sooner or later trample them underfoot."

Eastern Wasteland. Tianxuan Peak Hall.

Gu Sheng watched the closed channel on the light screen.

He let out a long breath of stale air.

The clothes on his back were already soaked through with cold sweat.

Four hundred thousand exchange points were thrown in, exchanging for two hundred thousand in return. Adding the previously harvested destiny points, he barely managed to maintain a balance.

But he had lost a top-tier thug at Soul Transformation Great Perfection and a Clone with Mahayana potential.

Gu Sheng opened the System panel.

[Ding.]

[Karma line for the Far North Icefield area is being settled...]

[Host successfully guided the main storyline of Xuanming Hall to start early.]

[Destiny daughter Su Qianxue has deviated from her original growth trajectory.]

[Obtained special reward: Creation Realm Experience Card (one quarter of an hour) × 1.]

Gu Sheng sat up straight abruptly.

Creation Realm Experience Card.

This thing was much more useful than any Top-Grade Spirit Stone. This was a true life-saving trump card.

"System." Gu Sheng stared at the corner of the screen.

There was still a screen there that hadn't been closed.

In the ruins of the Far North Icefield.

Li Yifeng lay in the solid ice. Seventy percent of his bones were broken. His broken sword was stuck to the side.

The people from Xuanming Hall left very decisively. They didn't pay any attention to this heavily wounded and dying Sword Cultivator at the Soul Transformation Stage.

In the eyes of the Creation Realm, the Soul Transformation Stage didn't even have the qualifications to be cannon fodder.

[Ding.]

[Detected that the life signs of the Top-Grade character card 'Li Yifeng' have dropped to the critical point.]

[Do you want to spend 5,000 exchange points for cross-domain teleportation recovery?]

Gu Sheng looked at the one-armed Sword Cultivator.

To block a blow from the Void Refining Stage, this paper cutout character drawn from the System had risked his life.

"Recover." Gu Sheng issued the command.

In the center of the hall.

Space twisted.

A blood-covered body fell from mid-air, crashing heavily onto the sandalwood floor.

Li Yifeng's eyes were tightly closed. His breathing was weak to the extreme.

His right hand was gripping the broken sword tightly.