Chapter 560 - Senior, would you like a token?

Inside the meditation room in the Emotionless Sect, Leng Yushu’s eyes reddened after seeing Ling Ya speak so seriously.

She hurriedly shook her head. “Master, I wasn’t being serious. I am not wary toward you at all! You’re so good to me! It’d be completely heartless of me to even suspect you of anything! I trust you more than anyone else in this world!”

Sighing softly, Ling Ya gazed dotingly at her. For a moment, the atmosphere turned a bit strange.

After an unknown amount of time, Leng Yushu asked, “Have Senior Brother and Seventh Senior Sister still not returned?”

Ling Ya shook his head. “They probably won’t be back for a while.”

Leng Yushu seemed dejected.

Ling Ya smiled at her. “Yushu, you’ve been with the sect for decades now, and all you’ve ever done is cultivate. Although your cultivation progress is extremely fast, your foundation will inevitably become unstable if this continues.

“It will then be detrimental to your cultivation. For the time being, you should go out and take a walk. Besides, the Kunling Relief Site is about to appear soon. You might even get your hands on the Dao treasure if you enter.”

Leng Yushu appeared bitter. “That sounds like a great idea. But Senior Sister said that for tens of thousands of years, no one has ever become the true master of this relic site. Do you think I can really do it?”

Ling Ya smiled. “You’ll only know once you try. Don’t force it. Compared to that relic site, I’d much rather you broaden your horizons. Besides, everyone knows I’ve taken on an eighth disciple, but almost no one has ever met you. This is a good opportunity to let them know just how outstanding my disciple is!”

Leng Yushu said sheepishly, “I-I’m just average, really...”

Ling Ya shook his head and chuckled. “If you’re average, then this world is full of less than average people.”

With a flick of his finger, a transparent token landed before her. “Later, have your senior brothers and sisters accompany you down the mountain. Go have some fun, then visit the Lingyun Merchant Association. If you see anything you like, buy it all! Don’t hold back, or people might say that I’m too stingy toward my disciples!”

Leng Yushu received the token. “Thank you, Master!”

Whether intentional or not, Ling Ya added, “Oh, right. When Mu Feng comes out of seclusion, tell him to let this be the last time.”

Leng Yushu was taken aback. “Master, what do you mean?”

Ling Ya smiled and waved his hand. “Just go. He’ll understand.”

With questions lingering, Leng Yushu bowed to Ling Ya and cheerfully left the meditation room.

As Ling Ya watched her leave, a hint of peculiarity flickered in his eyes. “This girl is much smarter than Chenyin. What a pity, what a pity...”

***

Time flew by and over a month had passed. Arriving at a desolate place devoid of spirit qi and human presence, Gu Han’s face was covered in the dust of travel. As his sword descended, streaks of sword aura relentlessly struck a small hilltop not far away. That single strike had leveled the hilltop completely.

With a bark, Xiao Hei swaggered in, lifting a front paw slightly to point in a direction. Without hesitation, the sword descended again. A pit over three-chi deep appeared on the ground, revealing a token covered in rust and dust.

Gu Han’s heart filled with joy as he picked up the token. “The seventeenth one!”

Over the past month, he had been traveling nonstop, searching for the locations of these masterless tokens under Xiao Hei’s guidance. The places they went were either as desolate and inconspicuous as this one or dangerous lands fraught with peril. There wasn’t a single normal place among them.

In truth, over these tens of thousands of years, it wasn’t as if major powers had never come to such places to search. But without Xiao Hei’s nose, no one could possibly find them so easily, especially with most tokens buried deep underground.

Gu Han gave a thumbs up. “Xiao Hei, well done!”

Buying Soul Crystals required a great deal of wealth. He couldn’t possibly rob all those second-rate forces one by one because it was too risky. Furthermore, if he attracted the attention of those first-rate forces, he’d only end up being hunted down. The tokens were different. On top of being ownerless, they were low-risk, high-return. With Xiao Hei around, finding them wasn’t too difficult, making them his first choice.

Xiao Hei barked in displeasure.

Gu Han smiled. “Don’t worry. I always keep my word.”

With that, he tossed the seventeenth storage ring to Xiao Hei. After over a month of interaction, he could understand what Xiao Hei meant without requiring Chongming’s help. It was asking for its wager.

In fact, he had only prepared ten storage rings initially. However, after finding the fifth token, he had quietly turned the remaining five storage rings into fifteen. Of course, the resources inside hadn’t increased one bit. Not that Xiao Hei could tell beforehand how much was in the storage rings anyway. This gave him plenty of room to maneuver.

Finally, Chongming couldn’t stand watching any longer. He stared at the ecstatic Xiao Hei as his heart ached. “Kid, you’re even conning such an innocent dog. You’re going too far!”

Gu Han gave an awkward chuckle. “Master Rooster, you can’t say that. Xiao Hei led us the wrong way before. I’m already being generous by not deducting its wager.”

Not everyone kept these tokens in storage rings. Half a month ago, Xiao Hei had followed a scent trail and nearly led Gu Han straight into a first-rate force’s secret ground. If Gu Han hadn’t sensed something wrong and fled in time, he’d probably be hunted down by a few Ascension realm or even Freedom realm cultivators by now.

Xiao Hei appeared unhappy. “Woof!”

It was saying, “You can’t blame me. Even humans make mistakes, horses stumble, and dogs lose their noses.”

Gu Han was speechless, while Chongming was full of disdain. In his mind, Gu Han and Fu Yulin were slowly becoming the same person.

Chongming’s scrutinizing gaze made Gu Han feel a bit guilty. “Let’s head to Lingyun City.”

Although some tokens were still scattered outside, they were in places more dangerous than the depths of Luori Mountain. Not even Xiao Hei dared to approach them most of the time, and Gu Han certainly wasn’t going to.

Adding to what he already had, he now had a total of twenty-six tokens, which was already a massive fortune. Aside from that, he had traversed nearly half the Tiannan Realm over the past month, so he passed by the gates of many sect forces.

When he encountered modest ones, he didn’t provoke them. When he ran into arrogant ones that demanded tolls, he would conveniently do some scavenging. He still had quite a bit of resources left on him as a result. During this time, he had already figured out where Lingyun City was. It was only a few tens of thousands of li from his current location.

Although they passed through the territory of several third-rate forces, no one came out to collect protection fees. This was a rarity, but of course, this was also Gu Han’s doing.

During this period, more and more rumors had been spreading across the Tiannan Realm. A strange trio consisting of a rogue cultivator, a rooster demon, and a dog would deliberately pass by the gates of various forces. They would first fish for trouble, then scavenge. He was smooth and practiced, and many forces had been caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.

For a time, the third-rate and unranked forces were all on edge like startled birds. Their conduct had noticeably become more restrained. In a way, this actually improved the situation in the Tiannan Realm.

Gu Han felt quite emotional. I sheared the sheep too hard, and now there’s no wool left...

Beside him, Chongming whispered some common-sense lessons into Xiao Hei’s ear, “A saint herb split into a hundred portions is still one herb. The total amount doesn’t change. It’s all a scam.”

Upon learning the truth, Xiao Hei instantly went berserk and chased Gu Han for over a thousand li, biting at him the whole way. After some coaxing and trickery, he finally managed to calm Xiao Hei down. Before he knew it, they had arrived a few dozen li outside Lingyun City.

From a distance, he could see the towering, majestic city, so grand that it seemed to pierce the sky. After reaching this point, the number of cultivators coming and going gradually increased.

Just as he was about to enter the city, someone asked nervously and timidly not too far away, “Senior, please wait. Would you... like a token?”