Chapter218 – Immortal Storage Ring

The Sword Tomb was a sea of stone markers, each one standing for a blade that had once shaken the world. Gerald stood before them in silence.

Lauren followed his gaze upward. At the very top of the mountain of sword steles stood Thor’s Sword. It radiated quiet authority even without its master. Who would wield it next?

“Lauren,” Gerald said without turning around. “Is something wrong?”

She stepped forward and handed him the ring. “Master left this for you, Sect Leader. It’s resources for the sect.”

Gerald sighed deeply before taking it. “It feels too sudden,” he murmured. “We always looked forward to Mr. Drake ascending. And now he’s just… gone. I feel like there were still so many things I wanted to say.”

Lauren lowered her eyes. She felt the same. “Master said to cultivate diligently,” she replied softly. “We’ll meet again one day. Sect Leader, keep going. I believe it won’t be long before you and Master meet again in the heavens.”

Gerald: “…” Why does that sound like you’re sending me to my death?

He cleared his throat. “Enough. Go back. You may still be young, but you’re the Summit Master of Starfell now. Any important matters must be discussed with the elders. Understand?”

Lauren’s lips twitched. “Master never went to meetings. I’ll pass.”

Gerald’s face darkened instantly. “Without rules, there’s no order. This isn’t up for debate. When you reach Mr. Drake’s level, then you can negotiate with me.”

Lauren was speechless. You never dared talk to me like this when Master was around.

Sure enough, once the mountain’s gone, the monkeys think they’re kings.

“Fine, fine. We’ll talk about it later. I’m going back.” She left in a hurry.

......

Halfway up Starfell Summit, Briar came jogging toward her.

“Briar? What’s wrong?”

He glanced around mysteriously, then pulled out several storage rings. “I can’t open them.”

Lauren stared. “These… aren’t those people’s rings from the Upper Realm, are they?”

“Yes.” Her eyes lit up. Immortal Storage Rings.

Holy shit. If these were full of Immortal Artifacts, then once she ascended, she wouldn’t have to mine spirit stones like a broke nobody.

“I’ll take them to the Sect Leader,” she said decisively. “There are people in the sect who specialize in cracking storage rings. Maybe they can handle it.”

“Okay.”

So Lauren, who had just left, returned once again to Cloud Peak.

Gerald looked at her, already exasperated. “What is it now?”

Lauren beamed and dumped the rings into her palm. “Sect Leader—we’ve struck it rich.”

“Those Upper Realm bastards’ rings. Briar grabbed them. Come take a look.”

Gerald’s expression changed instantly. He carefully picked up one ring, turning it over in his palm. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

His lips twitched uncontrollably. He looked like a man trying very hard not to burst into laughter.

“Upper Realm storage rings…” he muttered. “These are definitely full of Immortal Artifacts. Lauren, we’re fucking rich.”

There were only four Immortal Artifacts in the entire cultivation world.

Up there? Even their trash might be Grade-One Immortal Weapons.

Lauren nodded eagerly. “Go open them!”

Gerald gathered all six rings at once—then paused. His expression shifted. “We should agree on the distribution first.”

Lauren: “…” Your mood changes faster than flipping a damn page.

“Although Briar found them,” Gerald continued solemnly, “my three thousand disciples and I contributed greatly. Half of them are still injured. Especially me—do you know how many treasures I lost in that battle? Lauren, you’re not planning to cut me out, are you?”

Lauren folded her arms. “I never said that. There are six rings. One for Briar, one for me. You take one. The remaining three go to the sect treasury for development. Fair?”

Gerald considered. The sect treasury… which he controlled. He could access it whenever he pleased.

“That’s reasonable,” he nodded gravely.

He immediately summoned several weapon refiners and personally supervised the cracking process.

Lauren stayed to watch, just in case. The result was… awkward.

“Master,” one of the refiners said stiffly, “we can’t open it.”

Gerald’s eyes widened. “What do you mean you can’t?”

“The imprint isn’t ordinary spiritual sense. It’s an Immortal Soul mark. We don’t have the conditions required to break an Immortal Storage Ring.”

Silence fell.

Lauren and Gerald stared at the rings like they had personally betrayed them. So all that excitement—

For nothing?

Another refiner cautiously offered, “There’s always a method. If we leave them here for research, perhaps over time we’ll discover a solution.”

At least there was hope. Gerald nodded quickly. “Fine. Leave two here for experimentation.” The rest, of course, he would keep.

“Master,” Lauren said sweetly.

“What?”

“Those two are mine. Why don’t you give them back to me first? When they figure it out, I’ll bring them over.”

Gerald hesitated. Very reluctantly, he handed them back.

“The other one belongs to Briar,” he added sternly. “Don’t you dare bully him.”

Lauren: “…”

......

On the third day after Drake’s ascension, Gerald urgently convened an Exorcism Assembly.

The group from Sky-Covering Valley had emerged. No one knew what they would do next.

If they chose to stir up chaos again, the sects needed to be prepared. Whether to negotiate, suppress, or outright kill—those decisions had to be made now.

Gerald hadn’t even voiced his opinion yet before the hall erupted in discussion.

Someone said coldly. “The remaining eight—we cannot let them roam free.”

Lauren raised a hand weakly. “What exactly did Jaxon and Cade do wrong?”

The hall went quiet.

Everyone looked at each other. No one answered. They didn’t actually know those two at all. Everything they knew had come from Kareem’s secondhand accounts of the people trapped inside.

“Does anyone here know them personally?” Gerald asked.

Silence. Heads shook.

Lauren seized the moment. “So how are we going to settle scores? Just because they came from Sky-Covering Valley? When I was little, I wandered in there too. Maybe they stumbled in by accident.”

“That’s true…”

“The Summit Master has a point.”

Gerald nodded slowly. “As long as they don’t cause trouble, we won’t interfere with them.”

“Fine,” someone muttered. “But what about that man-eating Butcher? And that woman from the Demonic Cult?”

“I heard the woman returned to the Demonic Cult,” another elder said dryly. “And the Butcher followed her.”

Everyone: “…”

Gerald waved a hand dismissively. “Not our problem. As long as they don’t cross into our territory and start killing people, we leave it alone.”

“And Devourer?” someone pressed.

“Devourer is Freya,” Gerald said flatly. “He didn’t die. We still don’t know how he ended up in Sky-Covering Valley back then.”

The hall exploded.

“Freya?”

“He’s alive?!”

“Master, we must bring him back!”

Gerald sighed. “I’d like to. I can’t contact him.”

That shut them up. What happened back then between Drake and Freya had always been… strange.

Twisted. No one outside the two of them knew the truth.

“If he wants to return,” Gerald concluded, “he will.”

“And Tyler?”

“Disappeared the moment Sky-Covering Valley opened,” Gerald replied. “Herbert said so.”

That left one final name hanging in the air. Light. The evil monk.

“That demon monk is dangerous. We can’t let him walk free.”

Lauren spoke again, somewhat hesitantly. “Master once said Golden Light is extremely powerful. Aside from Master, I’m afraid no one here can handle him. How exactly are we planning to stop him?”

The entire hall stared at her. Lauren, are you professionally sabotaging morale?