"Brother Qin, I'm back."
Just as Qin Shou was enjoying himself, he was suddenly interrupted by a voice.
Then he heard a series of "hehe" sounds from everyone else besides himself.
Qin Shou ignored the figure flying towards him from afar and followed the sound to the back of the tree, where he saw a monk with a flushed face shaking his shoulders and chuckling foolishly.
"Damn, you actually have a Heavenly Secret Stone!"
Qin Shou was furious. At this moment, he knew perfectly well that he had been truly killed by this monk.
"Tell me, how much did you buy this Celestial Stone for?"
Qin Shou grabbed the monk by the collar and questioned him.
"Oh, oh, oh, Mr. Qin, please calm down and don't ruin the harmony."
The monk chuckled awkwardly, then held up one finger.
"One million top-grade spirit stones?"
"Uh...no."
The monk shook his head.
Qin Shou frowned. "One hundred thousand?"
"No, not exactly."
The monk shook his head again.
Qin Shou immediately flew into a rage and pulled the monk even closer to him.
"Don't you dare tell me it's only worth 10,000 spirit stones!!!"
"One piece."
"What? "
Qin Shou was stunned for a moment, thinking he had misheard.
The Holy Buddha chuckled, "Ten thousand low-grade spirit stones and one high-grade spirit stone."
“I...................Nie.............................Fuck!”
Qin Shou almost couldn't catch his breath.
The thought that he had exchanged the third chapter of the "Undying Scripture" and two million top-grade spirit stones for it made Qin Shou feel a heavy weight rise in his chest.
It wasn't that I felt bad about losing the spirit stones, but rather that I felt like I was being fooled, just like Little Fatty, utterly stupid.
Thinking it over, Qin Shou decided to unleash his violent aesthetics.
"Hey, hey, hey, Benefactor Qin, please calm down."
The holy Buddha quickly stopped him.
"This humble monk didn't mean it. I only wanted to ask you for two million low-grade spirit stones as a token, but who knew you would pull out two million high-grade spirit stones without even asking?"
"Honestly, I wanted to refuse, but my hand wouldn't listen, and I stubbornly took it with trembling hands."
The Holy Buddha looked aggrieved as he spoke.
This almost made Qin Shou think it was his fault.
"Brother Qin..."
At that moment, the voice was already close by.
Yun Anran landed gracefully on the mountaintop, standing there unsteadily.
Qin Shou turned around and his expression suddenly changed.
"Brother Yun, what's wrong with you?"
Yun Anran was in a sorry state. When she left, she was dressed in white and looked extremely dashing. When she returned, her white clothes were covered in blood, and she even staggered as she walked, as if she was about to fall at any moment.
"Heh, it's nothing, I'm just about to die."
Yun Anran waved her hand casually, a pale smile playing on her lips.
"The Path to Immortality is a hoax, merely a pastime for beings in the upper realms to fish out those in the lower realms when they're bored."
Yun Anran slowly walked to the square wooden table under the peach tree. His expression was gentle and calm, and deep bloodstains were left under his feet.
"Brother Qin, please sit down."
Yun Anran raised her hand to signal, picked up the teapot on the table, and poured a cup of tea for Qin Shou.
"I'll save you..."
Before Qin Shou could finish speaking, Yun Anran rejected him.
"It's no use. My life force has been exhausted. What lies before you now is nothing more than an empty shell, a 'mirror image' created through secret techniques, barely clinging to life. My soul is about to perish; there is no cure."
"What exactly happened?"
With a heavy heart, Qin Shou sat down opposite Yun Anran.
The tea on the table was excellent spiritual tea, but Qin Shou had no appetite for it at the moment.
"Hehe." Yun Anran chuckled indifferently, picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, then coughed a few times before setting down the teacup and saying softly, "Some ascend to immortality, some descend to the mortal realm, some are full of hope seeking a way out of dire straits, but in the end, it's all just empty joy."
"I went to the Origin Realm and embarked on the Path to Immortality, but in the end, it was all just an illusion."
"Over the years, I've had some fortuitous encounters, reaching the Integration Realm and cultivating a Heavenly Eye Technique. I once witnessed a scene in the sky: a faceless shadow sat fishing by a pond, a rusty bronze hook hanging from the path to immortality. Right before my eyes, it snatched the soul of a peak expert who had already reached the late stage of the Integration Realm, feeding it to an unknown demonic beast beside him."
"In my hazy vision, I also saw a young man in silver armor descending the steps at the end of the Path to Immortality, wielding a large halberd. He casually killed many powerful figures along the way, seemingly descending to the mortal realm..."
"When the Path to Immortality manifested, several beings whose lifespans were nearing their end, buried deep within forbidden zones, crawled out. They ascended to the heavens and entered behind that light curtain, their fates unknown..."
"I witnessed many things, and was even struck by a mysterious force on the path to immortality. In an instant, my soul went numb, as if being eroded by some irresistible force, being pulled into a vortex..."
"I knew I wasn't going to survive, but thankfully I had the foresight to prepare a backup plan, which allowed me to sustain my life through an extreme secret technique."
"I came back to see you one last time, to tell you about this scam of the Path to Immortality, so you'll be aware of what's going on. Also, I wanted to take one last look at my homeland and return to the sect that raised me to settle some final affairs."
Yun Anran's voice was soft, and one could not tell how much sadness she was expressing.
However, in Qin Shou's heart, an indescribable sense of melancholy lingered.
Life is unpredictable.
The curtain of history seems to be slowly rising, just as the Tianji Sect predicted decades ago.
Little did they expect that this prelude would be started by beings from the upper realm.
"By the way, when I was in the Central Plains, I accidentally discovered a secret. I heard that there is a world-shaking tomb in this world, which even the immortals and gods of the upper realms would covet."
I suspect that this "Path to Immortality" scam is likely related to this legendary tomb.
Yun Anran frowned and pondered.
Qin Shou couldn't help but ask, "Do you know whose tomb it is?"
Yun Anran shook her head. "I don't know. I learned this news from Her Majesty the Empress of the Great Dream Dynasty. Ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators probably wouldn't be qualified to know the inside story of this matter."
"Is that so...?"
Qin Shou suddenly sighed, saying with some emotion, "A game played by the Daoists has caused so many lives to have their grand dreams shattered."
This is the world of cultivation.
Without the right method and without the right path to rely on, no matter how hard you try, in the end you may just have a pipe dream because of someone else's whim.
It's cruel.
But it is undeniably real.
"Brother Qin, this is for you."
Yun Anran threw something out.
Qin Shou took it and examined it. It was a fan-shaped metal block, and he couldn't tell what kind of metal it was. There was an incomplete picture on it, as well as a strange beast that Qin Shou didn't recognize.
"What is this? It looks like a round, one-sixth of a piece."
"have no idea. "
Yun Anran shook her head as well. "I brought this out from the Origin Secret Realm after a near-death experience, and I can't see through it. But then again, anything that I can't see through must have some extraordinary aspects."
"Then what use is it to me? I'm not going down the mountain, and I don't know the origin of this metal block."
"Hehe, I was thinking that I was about to die anyway, and since I've known you, Brother Qin, for so long, I haven't given you anything. And you wouldn't like ordinary things, so I took out this 'treasure' to give you."
"Oh, you really know how to give gifts."
Qin Shou accepted the metal block.
The two then chatted for a while under the tree and watched the sunset.
Yun Anran stood up and stood on the edge of the cliff. He exuded a heavy, gloomy aura, no longer the spirited and unrestrained man he once was.
He carried several jars of Enlightenment Wine in his hands, intending to return them to the sect that had nurtured him, hoping to leave behind some promising talents for the Xuan Tian Sword Sect.
"Brother Qin, consider these jars of wine a loan. I'll pay you back in my next life."
Yun Anran laughed loudly a few times while carrying the wine jar in her hand, and left in a carefree manner.
Qin Shou stood quietly on the mountaintop, watching the departing figure, feeling a mix of emotions swirling in his heart that he couldn't shake off.
"well.........."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com