Chapter 26: Tenfold Resources

Hearing Yue Qingshuang’s words, Chen Ping crouched down beside the corpses of the Nascent Soul experts and began searching through them at a leisurely pace.

His movements were casual, as if he were simply gathering firewood by the roadside.

Yue Qingshuang and Liu Yun stared blankly at the scene, temporarily at a loss for how to react.

This man… the first thing he did after killing someone was search the corpses?

“Senior, why not let this old servant handle these trivial matters…” Liu Yun ventured.

“No need.” Chen Ping didn’t even look up. “Do it yourself, and you’ll never go hungry^[1].”

Liu Yun: “…”

The corner of Yue Qingshuang’s lips twitched. She wanted to laugh, but felt the occasion was inappropriate.

When Chen Ping reached the fourth corpse, his movements paused.

It was a ferocious-looking corpse with a long scar running down the left side of its face, stretching from the brow to the jawline, none other than the Blood-Handed Butcher, Tu Gang.

“You’ll do,” Chen Ping murmured, pulling a blood-stained storage pouch from the man’s waist.

His divine sense swept inside, and with a quick scan, he found the pitch-black bead.

The Profound Yin Bead.

It was about the size of an infant’s fist, completely pitch-black, with faint silver-white light patterns flowing across its surface.

As soon as he took it out, the surrounding temperature dropped sharply, and even the moonlight seemed to dim slightly.

Yue Qingshuang’s pupils dilated instantly.

That icy, pure aura resonated strongly with her Taiyin Origin.

Indeed, it was the Profound Yin Bead she had been desperately searching for.

Chen Ping handed the Profound Yin Bead to Yue Qingshuang.

Her body couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

“You… you’re willing to give it to me?”

Her voice trembled slightly, filled with disbelief.

Chen Ping looked at her and said calmly, “If you can show enough sincerity, we can talk.”

Yue Qingshuang was stunned.

Sincerity? She was currently gravely injured and had nothing of value left on her. What sincerity could she possibly offer?

Liu Yun reacted extremely quickly, stepping forward to bow solemnly.

“Thank you, Senior, for saving our lives! If Senior is willing to part with the Profound Yin Bead, Tianyue Palace will surely offer a generous reward!”

Chen Ping looked at her and said nothing.

Liu Yun gritted her teeth and continued, “Spirit stones, pills, cultivation methods, magic treasures, as long as Tianyue Palace can produce it, Senior only needs to ask!”

Chen Ping finally nodded.

“Good, straightforward.”

With a casual flip of his hand, he took out a storage ring from his robes and handed it to Liu Yun.

“Take a look. Give me ten times the resources in here, and the Profound Yin Bead is yours.”

Liu Yun took the storage ring and swept her divine sense inside.

In the next moment, her expression froze.

Inside the storage ring, resources were piled up neatly like small mountains: roughly a million high-grade spirit stones, and every kind of pill from Qi Refining to Nascent Soul. There were also magic tools, talismans, formation disks, and spiritual herbs… a dazzling, glittering hoard.

This was clearly the accumulated savings of a mid-sized sect over several years.

And Chen Ping said he wanted ten times that?

Seeing that Liu Yun’s expression was off, Yue Qingshuang also leaned in to check with her divine sense, and then she was similarly stunned.

“Se-Senior…” she said with difficulty, “this…”

Chen Ping’s expression was calm. “What, is it too much? We can negotiate.”

“No…” Yue Qingshuang took a deep breath. “These resources of yours, Senior, are indeed substantial. If it is ten times, even Tianyue Palace would need some time to mobilize them…”

“However, a life-saving grace cannot be compared to a few resources. If Senior needs them, this junior will certainly do her best to help gather them.”

Chen Ping nodded, seeming to have expected this.

“No rush,” he said. “As long as you agree, the Profound Yin Bead can be given to you right now.”

Yue Qingshuang was stunned.

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

Chen Ping tossed it with a flick of his hand. The Profound Yin Bead traced an arc through the air and landed steadily in Yue Qingshuang’s palm.

The instant it entered her hand, a warm and pure surge of Taiyin power flooded into her body.

The Taiyin Origin that had raged unchecked for three months was like a starving cub that had finally found milk. It quieted down instantly, greedily absorbing the power within the Profound Yin Bead.

A trace of color returned to Yue Qingshuang’s pale face, and even her breathing became much smoother.

She stared blankly at the Profound Yin Bead in her hand, then looked up at Chen Ping, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

“Aren’t you worried we might go back on our word, Senior?”

Chen Ping smiled.

The smile was very faint, but it made Yue Qingshuang’s heart turn cold for some reason.

“I assume that Tianyue Palace, the overlord of the Southern Region, and the Saintess of Tianyue, whose word is as good as gold, would not return good with evil over a few resources.”

“Moreover…”

He paused, looking at Yue Qingshuang with a calm gaze.

“Since I can kill them, I can also just as easily kill my way into your Tianyue Palace.”

His tone was flat, as if he were simply stating a fact.

Yue Qingshuang’s pupils contracted slightly.

Liu Yun’s entire body went rigid, and she instinctively shielded Yue Qingshuang.

But Chen Ping had already looked away. He continued searching through the pile of corpses, collecting the storage rings of Li Cang and the other Nascent Soul cultivators one by one.

A moment later, he stood up holding the head of the Blood-Handed Butcher, Tu Gang.

The blood had dried, but that savage face was still clearly recognizable, serving as the proof needed to complete his mission.

“Alright, I’m heading back to the sect.” Chen Ping put the head into his storage ring and patted the nonexistent dust off his hands.

“Once you’ve gathered the resources, remember to come find me at Luoxia Peak of the Qingyun Sect.”

He paused, then added, “By the way, my name is Chen Ping.”

After saying that, he turned and walked toward the outskirts of the city.

Yue Qingshuang watched the green-robed back recede into the distance and suddenly spoke: “Senior!”

Chen Ping’s steps paused slightly, but he did not look back.

“I will remember this life-saving grace,” she said solemnly. “Tianyue Palace will definitely not break its word regarding the resources. Within three days, I will personally deliver them to you!”

Chen Ping waved his hand, and his figure disappeared into the night.

The night breeze swept past, and the ruins of the Lin Mansion fell into dead silence.

Yue Qingshuang held the Profound Yin Bead, feeling the Taiyin Origin gradually calm down in her body, remaining silent for a long time.

Liu Yun walked to her side and said in a low voice, “Saintess, this person… is too dangerous. Killing those in the Divine Ability Realm while in the Qi Refining Stage is like slaughtering chickens. This is absolutely impossible for a true Qi Refining Stage cultivator. He must have hidden his real cultivation, and it is unfathomably deep.”

Yue Qingshuang nodded. “I know.”

“And the tenfold resources…” Liu Yun showed a difficult expression. “Although it is only resources below the Nascent Soul level, gathering such an amount in a short time will hurt even Tianyue Palace to the bone. As for the Palace Master…”

“I’ll speak to her,” Yue Qingshuang interrupted. “I will explain it to Master myself.”

She raised her eyes to look in the direction Chen Ping had disappeared, her gaze deep.

“Aunt Liu, did you notice the method he used when he killed Li Cang?”

Liu Yun recalled the moment, her expression growing increasingly solemn. “There were no spiritual energy fluctuations at all. He just… raised his hand and clenched his fist. That feeling didn’t seem like a spell, but rather…”

“Like the power of the Great Dao,” Yue Qingshuang chimed in, her voice very soft. “That was a suppression at the origin level, completely unrelated to cultivation realm. In front of him, Li Cang was like an ant facing an elephant, unable to even muster the thought of resisting.”

Liu Yun took a deep breath. “Saintess, do you mean…”

Yue Qingshuang shook her head and did not continue the topic.

“Let’s go, back to the palace first. Since the Profound Yin Bead is in our hands, I must refine it completely as soon as possible to avoid any complications.”

“Yes.”

The two figures rose into the air and disappeared into the night sky.

On a hill outside the city, Chen Ping stood with his hands behind his back, watching the two departing streaks of light, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

“Tianyue Palace… an unexpected harvest.”

He looked down at the storage rings in his hand.

With the savings of Li Cang and the seven Nascent Soul cultivators, the total number of high-grade spirit stones in his hands now approached 1.5 million.

Although it was still far from the tenfold resources required by the system, adding the portion that Tianyue Palace was about to deliver, it should be about enough.

“And the Blood Fiend Sect…” A cold glint flashed in Chen Ping’s eyes.

In Li Cang’s storage ring, he had found a detailed map of the Blood Fiend Sect. It marked the locations of various strongholds, branch halls, and the entrance to the Blood Fiend Secret Realm.

“Once Xiaoyu breaks through to the Thirty-Six Layers of Qi Refining, it will be about time to pay them a visit.”

He put away all the storage rings and took a deep breath.

In the eastern sky, the horizon was already turning white.

Day was about to break.

Chen Ping did not delay any longer. His body transformed into a pale golden streak of light, rushing toward the direction of the Qingyun Sect.