Volume 1, Chapter 58: I Have Never Fought Such a Wealthy Battle in All My Years!

"Are you sure it's fifty million?"

"Of course!"

Xia Yaoyao said, spreading her palm to reveal the spatial ring. "How could I possibly miscount?"

Elder Tian-gong's divine sense instantly probed into it.

Then, he fell silent.

"Fifty million..."

"It is fifty million!"

"So what if it's fifty million?" Elder Tian-gong snapped back to reality, his gaze resolute. "With fifty million, could he just walk away without even drinking a cup of tea?"

Xia Yaoyao: "???"

"Did you not pour him tea?"

"No... I didn't!"

"I knew it! You mustn't do this next time. It wasn't easy for Nephew Wang Mu to make a trip here, how could we not even let him have a sip of tea? Word gets out, and people will say we don't know how to treat our guests!"

Elder Tian-gong said with a straight face.

Xia Yaoyao was dumbfounded, staring at her master. "You... aren't you angry anymore?"

"What's to be angry about? What's there to be angry about? Money or no money, that's secondary! Nephew Wang Mu thinks highly of us and gave us such a huge order. This is trust! In heaven and earth, trust is the only thing that must never be let down, understand?"

"Understood!"

"Good, remember, you must not mess this up!"

"If we fail to collect the final payment later due to quality issues, see how I deal with the lot of you! Did you hear me?"

Xia Yaoyao's mouth twitched slightly. "Yes..."

"Alright, that's all!"

Elder Tian-gong turned around, hands behind his back, and walked into the stone door.

A moment later.

From inside the stone door, a muffled shriek echoed out.

"Fifty million... Hahaha... This old man has never fought such a wealthy battle... I'm rich... I'm rich, hahaha, hiccup~"

"..."

Xia Yaoyao silently helped her master activate the soundproofing array he had forgotten to turn on, and quietly left the place.

...

The Flood Dragon Lord's Tomb.

Neither sun nor moon could be seen in the secret realm.

Yet it was not dim.

An ethereal, faint glow permeated every corner here.

The lake water rippled with a faint luster.

Three cultivators—two men and a woman—came to the lakeside together.

All of them bore injuries.

Their eyes were filled with the relief of having survived a catastrophe, as if they had just been through a great trial.

"Hah~"

The female cultivator collapsed directly onto the ground, panting heavily. "That was too perilous! This secret realm has almost turned into a natural yin-gathering ground, and the flood dragon that died tragically back then has transformed into a remnant soul, hiding in the dark, waiting to ambush all intruders..."

One of the male cultivators also spoke with lingering fear, "Fortunately, the treasure map distributed by the Langya Foundation had early markings and warnings. We were on guard and extra vigilant, which is why we managed to survive! Otherwise, I'm afraid we would have met the same end as Fellow Daoist Zhou and the others..."

Mentioning "Fellow Daoist Zhou," the three of them fell into a brief silence.

Originally, six or seven of them had traveled together.

But by the time they reached this point, only the three of them remained.

The rest, although they had also obtained the treasure map, did not believe the Foundation would be so kind and placed little trust in the map's authenticity.

Coupled with the temptation of opportunities right before them, they lost their minds, and a single misstep led to eternal regret.

The secret realm was treacherous. Even with a treasure map in hand, the crises that were meant to come would still arrive.

Unless one bypassed them entirely.

Yet danger and opportunity often coexisted, and bypassing danger meant, in the vast majority of cases, giving up the chance of fortune.

Just like them, they had survived by sheer luck, yet they had obtained that deeply hidden spiritual herb. As long as they could successfully ingest and refine it, it would undoubtedly be of immense benefit to their cultivation progress.

Originally, all of them were foundation-establishment cultivators with slim hopes of forming a core.

But now, they had caught a glimmer of opportunity.

"Indeed, we truly owe this favor!"

"With our abilities, it would have been extremely difficult to reach here without that treasure map!"

"It seems the Langya Foundation is indeed, as legends say, a place of supreme benevolence!"

"In this treacherous world of cultivation, the emergence of the Foundation is truly a breath of fresh air."

They sighed with emotion one after another.

Coming this far, the treasure map had helped them immensely.

Suddenly, their gazes sharpened as they looked toward the center of the lake.

The light there suddenly intensified.

It illuminated a small patch of land in the middle of the lake, upon which grew a blood-red tree. Vaguely, several crimson spiritual fruits could be seen hanging from the branches, looking quite extraordinary.

"What is that?"

"There is no mark on the treasure map. It only said... there is a great danger in this lake, approach with caution!" The female cultivator flipped out the treasure map, checked it carefully, and said with a solemn expression.

"It looks like a spiritual fruit of exceptional quality... Should we go take a look?" One of the male cultivators showed a look of temptation. The fruit was growing brighter and brighter, emitting a rich, exotic fragrance that made one intoxicated, clearly a treasure.

Just sniffing it twice made him feel a slight increase in his internal cultivation.

This made the three of them swallow hard, finding it difficult to restrain their impulse.

"We shouldn't go, right? The treasure map says there is a great danger here..." The female cultivator frowned, being somewhat cautious and unwilling to approach.

"The records in the treasure map only have an eighty percent accuracy rate, and it didn't mention this spiritual fruit, which means no one has ever reached there before... Or perhaps, the spiritual fruit only matured recently!"

The male cultivator's desire grew increasingly intense as he began to find reasons to persuade himself.

He looked at the other two, his eyes filled with yearning. "What does this mean? Our opportunity has arrived, we cannot miss it!"

"Fellow Daoist Chen is right! I'll go with you!" The other male cultivator was persuaded and resolved to go.

"I... I think I'll pass!" The female cultivator bit her lip, pondered for a long time, and said.

"Sigh, so be it. Everyone has their own aspirations, then you stay here and wait for our return!"

The two male cultivators looked at each other, leaped into the air, and sped toward the center of the lake.

However.

Just as they reached the center of the lake.

A huge black shadow surged out from beneath the water, opening its blood-paved maw and engulfing both of them within it.

"Ah—"

"Careful!"

Their expressions changed drastically. They exerted all their strength to resist, driving a flying sword and a spiritual ring to strike the black shadow, but only managed to spark some fire.

The next moment.

Accompanied by two miserable screams.

They were swallowed directly into the belly of the black shadow.

It was only then that the female cultivator saw clearly that it was a pitch-black demonic crocodile, possessing an extremely terrifying aura, far beyond what they could contend with.

The demonic crocodile evidently was not satisfied with just swallowing two cultivators. It turned its head, locked its gaze on the female cultivator, and thrashed its tail as it charged over, stirring up waves dozens of feet high on the lake surface, terrifyingly fierce.

Terrified out of her wits, the female cultivator turned tail and fled, speeding toward the exit of the secret realm.

Boom!

The demonic crocodile opened its mouth and spat out streams of water arrows of astonishing power. Fortunately, the female cultivator reacted quickly at the moment of life and death, shifting her position so that they only struck her arm, instantly shattering it.

Her face turned pale, and without a moment of hesitation, she pulled out all her medicinal pills and swallowed them down in one gulp.

Pills for healing injuries, pills for temporarily boosting cultivation.

Indiscriminately, she swallowed them all.

She knew that if she slowed down even a fraction, it would mean certain death.

Even so.

New wounds continuously appeared on her body—her arm, her neck, her heart. Her injuries grew increasingly fatal, her pills were exhausted, and the exit was right before her eyes.

"Almost there... almost..."

She bit the tip of her tongue, mustered the very last trace of spiritual power in her body, and lunged forward.

Ah—

At that very moment.

A sharp pain came from beneath her body; the demonic crocodile had directly bitten off her lower half.

Plop!

A burst of brightness appeared before her eyes.

She finally broke out of the secret realm, but with only her upper body left, having lost an arm as well. Looking utterly wretched, she plummeted heavily to the ground.

Her eyes dimmed, and feeling the intense pain throughout her body, she felt utter despair.

Although she had escaped, all her medicinal pills were depleted. With injuries this severe, how was she any different from a dead person?

She lay on the ground, breathing weakly, feeling the world before her grow darker and drift further away.

"Am I... still going to die here?"

She murmured in resentment, melancholy, and despair.

Just before her consciousness faded entirely.

She suddenly saw a group of figures dressed in white rapidly gathering around her.

Beside her ears, human voices faintly drifted over.

"There's a wounded person here! Quickly bring the healing medicine!"