ARLQLCC chapter 21

Yuan Gathering Pill, Dragon Blood Grass, Seven-Fang Shield, Earth-grade low-tier cultivation method…

The white light faded, and the true forms of each treasure were completely exposed before everyone’s eyes.

Even the prize for tenth place was already extremely valuable, let alone the Yuan Gathering Pill for first place. When taken during a breakthrough, this pill could protect the cultivator’s meridians, ensuring smooth circulation, and the chance of forming a golden core was almost one hundred percent.

Although it was only a pill used by Foundation Establishment cultivators and might not mean much to the four major sects, for other sects it was something they were determined to obtain.

With this Yuan Gathering Pill, their sect would inevitably gain another Golden Core disciple.

The cultivation world was vast. In many small places, Golden Core realm cultivators were even beings who could “walk sideways” without fear.

The appearance of the prizes pushed the already heated atmosphere to its peak. Foundation Establishment participants all showed longing expressions, staring unblinkingly at the treasures in the air.

The prizes for each realm corresponded to what disciples in that realm needed most. Disciples above Foundation Establishment did not react as intensely, but seeing such high-level rewards for Foundation Establishment still filled them with endless anticipation for their own realm’s prizes.

Su Ji watched from the spectator stands with some interest. Since these prizes had nothing to do with him, it was actually a good way to pass the time.

As he watched happily, other cultivators in the spectator stands also began to chat.

“The rewards for the Sword Trial Tournament are getting more and more generous. In the past, only the top three got prizes, but now there are suddenly twenty-eight. Tsk tsk tsk.”

“In ten years, when I reach Foundation Establishment, I’ll come participate too!”

“I heard half of these rewards were provided by Chenxin Sect. They’re really wealthy.”

“You say, the Fang Sect Master isn’t even the organizer. Why would he take on such a loss, contributing half the treasures?”

“Who knows? Maybe he’s just got too much money and nowhere to spend it. How could we ordinary people guess what sect masters think?”

Su Ji did not speak. He listened quietly while stroking the little cat more and more slowly.

He was not easily distracted when he was thinking. In his mind, he sneered: With Fang Que’s narrow-mindedness, if not to salvage some reputation, why would he bother being this unjustly generous?

As he was thinking, he suddenly heard a young voice beside him mutter:

“Whatever else he’s thinking, it’s just because news of him helping his daughter frame a disciple of his sect got out and damaged his reputation. Now he’s finally trying to spend money to fix it. Where was he earlier?”

Su Ji turned his head slightly. Behind him, at some point, a white-robed young man with a jade crown was sitting there. He looked handsome and refined, but his expression was full of disdain, and he was playing with a nine-linked ring in his hand.

Noticing Su Ji’s gaze, he looked up and met Su Ji’s eyes. “Why are you looking at me? Do you need something?”

Su Ji smiled lightly. “Nothing. I just want to remind you, young master, that there are many people here and many ears. If what you just said reaches Sect Master Fang’s ears, it may bring trouble.”

The young man looked like he had just heard something ridiculous. His disdain deepened.

“Let whoever wants to say it say it. Others may fear Fang Que, but I don’t! If he’s not convinced, let him come find me!”

“……”

Su Ji fell silent, thinking: truly a newborn calf who doesn’t fear a tiger.

The young man’s clothing and accessories were all top-tier, and even emitted spiritual energy when closely sensed. Each piece of clothing and even his jade crown were high-grade magical artifacts, clearly showing an extremely powerful background.

No wonder he spoke so boldly.

However, since his words were somewhat related, Su Ji still patiently reminded him: “Even so, that person is narrow-minded. Open attacks are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against. It’s always better to be cautious and avoid unnecessary trouble.”

He originally thought the youth would continue to argue in a fearless manner, but after Su Ji finished speaking, the other party’s eyes lit up instead. He leaned in excitedly.

“You also think Fang Que is an insidious villain? Brother, truly sharp eyes!”

Su Ji looked at his expression as if he had found a soulmate and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “It seems young master indeed has a… poor impression of Sect Master Fang?”

The young man immediately launched into a stream of complaints.

“Not just poor—it’s terrible! Fang Que is simply two-faced, cruel, utterly immoral, and rotten to the core!”

As if trying to use every insult he had ever learned, Su Ji was very glad he had set up a soundproof barrier earlier. Otherwise, with his outrage, even if no one had noticed before, they definitely would now.

After ranting for a while, the young man seemed to realize he was being abrupt, cleared his throat, and introduced himself:

“Ahem… I got too worked up. My name is Xie Qinghuai. ‘Qing’ as in ‘pure and upright,’ ‘Huai’ as in the Huai River. How should I address you?”

Su Ji smiled. “I am Su Ji.”

Xie Qinghuai asked, “Is it the ‘Ji’ in ‘clear skies and bright weather’?”

Su Ji nodded. “Exactly.”

Xie Qinghuai was very friendly toward those he considered like-minded. He immediately dropped his arrogant attitude and very familiarly reached out to shake Su Ji’s hand.

“If you also hate Fang Que, then we’re friends. Pleasure to meet you.”

Su Ji asked curiously, “Why do you hate him so much?”

Chu Zhaoye, lying in Su Ji’s arms, also perked up his ears.

After listening for so long, if he was not mistaken, Su Ji’s earlier emotional shift must have been related to this Chenxin Sect Master Fang Que. Otherwise, there would be no other explanation for such a strong reaction.

Xie Qinghuai thought for a moment. He clearly had too much to say and became tangled up in his thoughts.

After a while, he exclaimed, “Ah, it’s a long story. Leave me your spiritual communication imprint first. I’ll tell you properly when I have time!”

Su Ji gathered a bit of green spiritual energy in his hand, flicked his fingers, and the light flew toward Xie Qinghuai’s forehead before disappearing.

Xie Qinghuai did the same, and the two exchanged spiritual communication imprints.

He was about to speak again when suddenly waves of surprise and gasps rose from around them. The two humans and one cat looked up in unison toward the arena.

The Golden Core prizes had already been revealed, and among them, the most spiritually dense treasure floated at the very top.

Su Ji focused and recognized it immediately.

This artifact was called “Dan Yi” (Pill Robe). As the name suggests, when a Golden Core cultivator had not yet reached Nascent Soul, refining this item would form a protective layer around the core. If the dantian suffered a heavy injury, it could preserve the Golden Core once.

When the cultivator broke through, the Dan Yi would be absorbed by the core, transforming into pure spiritual flow that nourished it and increased the chance of breakthrough.

It could be said that this item was tailor-made for Golden Core cultivators.

Admiring voices came from all directions. Even Su Ji, who had seen many treasures, couldn’t help but sigh:

“Below Nascent Soul, there is nothing more precious than this artifact.”

Chu Zhaoye, lying in his arms, lazily licked his paw and thought: What’s the big deal? The demon race has as many of these as they want. If they drop on the ground, I wouldn’t even bother picking them up. If you like it, giving you half my private vault wouldn’t be a problem either.

Xie Qinghuai beside him directly scoffed: “Yellow-grade Dan Yi? Looks like Chenxin Sect isn’t that sincere after all. They clearly have better ones but didn’t bring them out. This thing is actually first place reward?”

The soundproof barrier was still active, so Su Ji was not worried about others hearing.

“I’m guessing half of these prizes from Chenxin Sect came from Fang Que’s private treasury. He must be bleeding inside. Of course he’d use lower-grade ones to make up the numbers instead of giving away higher-grade ones,” Su Ji said.

Xie Qinghuai gave him an approving look. “Makes sense. Chenxin Sect may be ranked third, but its foundation isn’t even as strong as some smaller sects. Cheap and petty—it’s normal for them to feel pain over such losses.”

Su Ji almost laughed. Indeed. Chenxin Sect didn’t have the long heritage of the other three sects. Back then, they relied heavily on spending spirit stones like water just to recruit experts and force their way into third place.

After Fang Que became sect master, he tightened control over expenditures, even reducing disciple stipends by twenty percent compared to other sects.

Fang Que cared deeply about appearances. This time, to salvage his shaky reputation, he was truly bleeding heavily.

On the arena, prize announcements continued. Compared to Golden Core and Nascent Soul rewards, Su Ji was more interested in the Soul Transformation prizes.

After all, that was his own realm—even if it had nothing to do with him, it was still enjoyable to watch.

Nascent Soul prizes appeared one after another, and until the Nascent Soul segment ended, the crowd’s exclamations never stopped.

Listening to the waves of envy and awe around them, Xie Qinghuai curled his lips. “A bunch of country bumpkins.”

Chu Zhaoye nodded his round little head in deep agreement.

The demon race, though friendly with the cultivation world, never participated in the Sword Trial Tournament.

First, demon cultivators and spiritual cultivators shared the same origin, but demons had an innate advantage in cultivation speed, and rarely lost to spiritual cultivators of the same level.

Second, the demon race was vast and rich, even larger than the cultivation world, with countless secret realms and spiritual veins. They simply did not care for the tournament’s rewards.

In the past, the cultivation world had invited Chu Zhaoye several times, but he always declined, citing lack of interest. This time coming with Su Ji was effectively his first real time watching.

On the arena, the Nascent Soul prizes shone brightly.

Then came the peak moment—the prizes for the Soul Transformation realm.

These were the most dazzling of all. Even the tenth-place reward for this realm could outshine the top prizes of previous realms, let alone the first prize: the Spirit Gathering Platform.

This item, from Kunlun Divine Palace, could gather spiritual energy within ten li.¹10 li = 5 kilometers ≈ 3.1 miles Sitting on it for one hour of cultivation was equivalent to an entire month of meditation.

It could be used from entry-level cultivation all the way up to early Mahayana realm.

Even disciples from other realms envied it greatly, wishing their cultivation was high enough to qualify.

Chu Zhaoye stood up slightly and looked toward the arena, scanning around. He found that the Soul Transformation disciples were generally older than Su Ji, yet their cultivation was not as high as his. He didn’t see anything worth comparing.

The real genius was sitting in the spectator stands. If Su Ji had entered, no one in Soul Transformation would be his opponent.

He thought proudly: you’re lucky.

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  10 li = 5 kilometers ≈ 3.1 miles