Hearing Qi Zhiheng's words of reassurance, the headmaster of the Yuansheng Academy did not immediately feel at ease, but still sat back down in his chair: "What do you mean by not needing me to contribute spirit stones?"
Qi Zhiheng laughed and said, "Of course, we should let someone else do it. Even the Dean wants to break through to the Spirit Venerable realm, so why wouldn't others want to?"
“What you say makes sense, but there are only so many Spirit Venerables in total. It’s probably not easy for such a small number of people to gather five million high-grade spirit crystals.” The Dean of the Source Academy also had his own considerations.
“Although there are few Spirit Venerables, there are quite a few Spirit Saints and Spirit Kings.” Qi Zhiheng said nonchalantly, “I didn’t say that only Spirit Venerables can go, did I? When the time comes, Dean, you can bring some of the Yuansheng Academy’s core members, and the cultivation world will be able to make a name for itself.”
The dean of the Gensei Institute's expression shifted, and he immediately said, "So you mean you don't intend to keep this a secret?"
"What kind of dangers the cultivation world will encounter is still unknown. More people mean more strength, don't you think? Besides, as long as there are more people to share the burden, why not?" Qi Zhiheng said, "To be honest, Dean, I obtained a spiritual artifact in that ruin that can carry people safely through a spatial passage. If Dean is willing to come with us, I will waive the fees for fifty places in the Yuansheng Academy. As for the others, I will charge each person five thousand high-grade spirit crystals."
Qi Zhiheng had calculated carefully that the flying spirit artifact that Gu Qinglin had refined was large enough to carry at least 1,200 people. As long as each person received 5,000 high-grade spirit stones, he could raise 5 million high-grade spirit stones. After deducting the 1 million for opening the passage, the rest would naturally be used to line his own pocket!
"Five thousand high-grade spirit stones." The dean of the Yuansheng Academy frowned slightly. Five thousand high-grade spirit stones were nothing to a Spirit Venerable, and even a Spirit Saint could manage to scrape together some, but for a Spirit King, it would be a bit troublesome.
Qi Zhiheng said, "It's just a matter of going bankrupt, it's nothing. If you miss this opportunity, there won't be another one. Once you get to the cultivation world, there will only be more resources. If you don't even dare to take a gamble, then don't come here." The cultivation world is full of opportunities, but it is also full of dangers, which Qi Zhiheng will not go into detail about.
"You want me to pass on this message?" The Dean of the Yuansheng Institute could now somewhat understand Qi Zhiheng's thoughts.
Qi Zhiheng didn't mince words: "That's right. I'll have to trouble the dean to give some pointers to the various factions on this matter. I'm just a nobody, and I'm afraid I won't be able to convince everyone. To be honest, only I know how to leave, and the only thing I can leave with is on myself."
The head of the Yuansheng Academy knew that he meant to protect his family and relatives, so he said, "Don't worry, I will definitely not let those people cause trouble for the Qi family."
Qi Zhiheng laughed and said, "Dean, you misunderstand. My family members are quite powerful, and I am indeed a little afraid that those people will cause trouble for them. However, I am not afraid of what those people will do to my family. I am just afraid that if those troublemakers are beaten to death, they will come back to me to make excuses. I would appreciate it if the Dean could give me some pointers to avoid causing trouble again. If anyone causes trouble for the Qi family, they deserve to be beaten to death. I will not take any responsibility."
The dean of the Yuansheng Academy was shocked by his words. Didn't the Qi family only have one Spirit Venerable? Could they possibly have other great abilities? But when he thought about Qi Zhiheng's strength, he felt that what he said might be true!
Thinking of this, the Dean of the Yuansheng Academy dared not have any other thoughts: "I will first send an invitation to all the forces with Spirit Venerables to come and gather, and then announce this matter."
Qi Zhiheng nodded and said, "Then I'll trouble you, Dean. I'll be in the small courtyard of the Yuansheng Academy. If you have any questions, you can come and find me."
After Qi Zhiheng took his leave, the Dean of the Yuansheng Academy immediately sent invitations to various forces, large and small, inviting the Spirit Venerables within them to a gathering. The invitations stated that they would discuss methods for breaking through to the Spirit Venerable level.
The various Spirit Venerables, who had initially been indifferent, began to stir with excitement. While many were skeptical of his intentions, they were tempted and decided to come to the meeting. Some of the forces with two Spirit Venerables opted to send one while the other remained in the family headquarters.
Ten days later, everyone gathered.
The Dean of the Yuansheng Academy also summoned Qi Zhiheng. Qi Zhiheng did not refuse and came along.
Including the eight Spirit Venerables from the Source Academy, there were over three hundred Spirit Venerables present. Some forces with a large number of Spirit Venerables naturally didn't send all of them. This shows that there are quite a few Spirit Venerables in the Xuanling Continent.
The head of the Yuansheng Institute began by explaining the whole story. Naturally, some people raised questions after he said that, and some even asked where the entrance was.
Without information about the entry point, they couldn't possibly believe Qi Zhiheng's words.
Qi Zhiheng did not object. He led the twenty selected Spirit Venerables to the Full Moon Well. After examining the fist-sized passage, everyone believed it.
The spiritual energy emanating from this passage was much denser than that on the Xuanling Continent, leading everyone to believe that there were even stronger opponents there.
After inspecting the entrance, everyone went back to regroup.
When the price of five thousand high-grade spirit stones per person was proposed, some people who wanted to bring their families immediately expressed their dissatisfaction, saying that there was nowhere to get so many spirit stones.
Qi Zhiheng said rather shamelessly: opening the passage requires this many spirit stones, and there's nothing he can do about it.
The group was at a loss and could only go back and discuss it.
Qi Zhiheng didn't mind and let them go back.
Some people had ulterior motives and wanted to use the Qi family to threaten Qi Zhiheng, but the Qi family was so powerful that they wouldn't be able to return without sending dozens of Spirit Venerables. Therefore, no matter what underhanded tricks the people sent tried, they were all doomed.
Qi Zhiheng didn't pay much attention to the news from the Qi family.
Even those from the Yan family who came to cause trouble were dealt with by the Qi family.
However, Qi Zhiheng still instructed the Qi family members to avoid traveling alone during this period. Now, the Qi family has no weaknesses outside, otherwise they would not be afraid of these people.
The various factions quickly gathered their subordinates who wanted to advance and had them register and hand over spirit stones.
Qi Zhiheng's policy is this: register first, pay half of the spirit stones, and pay the other half when boarding the ship.
Qi Zhiheng also said that it doesn't matter if you don't have spirit stones, you can go through when the passage opens. However, he doesn't know if the passage is unstable and you will be torn to pieces by the spatial passage.
After receiving this news, some people came up with other ideas.
To prevent these people from dawdling, Qi Zhiheng announced that there would be 1,000 spots available on a first-come, first-served basis, and those who missed out would not be accepted.
After Qi Zhiheng made his statement, the people who were initially moving slowly sped up. The thousand available spots were filled very quickly.
Qi Zhiheng underestimated the people of Xuanling Continent's thirst for power; the place was full in just five days.
Qi Zhiheng smiled broadly when he saw the 2.55 million high-grade spirit crystals he had already acquired. This was the first time he had ever handled so many high-grade spirit stones! Now he had some capital to take action in the cultivation world.
Once Qi Zhiheng had set a departure date, he began selling off his family's property.
There weren't many servants in the household. Apart from the dozen or so people originally brought from Butterfly Town, the others newly recruited in the capital were either dismissed or put to work in the shops and followed the new owners.
This is a huge change in the Xuanling Continent. This time, more than half of the Spirit Venerables chose to leave, while some elderly ones or those worried about the power of their families stayed behind to guard the area.
Qi Zhiheng led a large group of people to Wangyue City, which scared the city lord half to death. There were too many people to hide. Anyway, Qi Zhiheng's family was leaving, so he didn't care about the aftermath.
These people simply assumed that some kind of secret realm had appeared here, since the appearance of secret realms is a common occurrence and nothing surprising.
At the Full Moon Well, Qi Zhiheng said some words to urge everyone to follow, and then led the Qi family into the Full Moon Well first.
The people from Genseiin followed one by one inside.
Before that, Qi Zhiheng collected the remaining payment.
Then he stood in front of the fist-sized spatial passage, threw in a storage bag full of high-grade spirit stones, and cast a spell! The others were quite far away, and only saw Qi Zhiheng do something. Then the fist-sized passage gradually expanded, and a suction force came, causing everyone to retreat to stabilize themselves.
Qi Zhiheng first invested 500,000 high-grade spirit stones—well, just to test the waters. The Moon Beast also said that 1 million was a conservative estimate, and perhaps it wouldn't be necessary. However, it was obvious that Qi Zhiheng was overthinking things; 500,000 was indeed not enough.
The passage is not yet stable, and the opening is not yet large enough to accommodate his flying artifact.
Qi Zhiheng gritted his teeth and invested another 300,000 high-grade spirit stones, and cast another set of spells. The passage was now stable, but the entrance was still a bit small!
Flying magical artifacts clearly cannot pass! Qi Zhiheng threw in another 200,000!
Seeing all those spirit stones that originally belonged to him being thrown away like that, it would be a lie to say that Qi Zhiheng wasn't heartbroken. He would need spirit stones as power to pilot his flying magical artifact later.
Human-powered driving consumes too much spiritual energy, so it is naturally not advisable.
After Qi Zhiheng threw in another 300,000 spirit stones, the opening finally reached a suitable size.
Qi Zhiheng released his flying artifact and led the Qi family members onto the ship first, then let everyone enter in an orderly manner.
After the last spiritual cultivator boarded the ship, Qi Zhiheng placed 10,000 high-grade spirit stones in the source of spiritual energy, controlled the ship to take off, and entered the dark passageway.
Behind them followed a group of people who didn't have enough spirit stones but still wanted to go in. After Qi Zhiheng and his group's flying magical artifacts moved forward, these people also followed in on their magical artifacts.
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