Chapter 868: Envy

Chapter 868: Chapter 868: Envy

"Hundred Elephant Country... Lotus Pool..."

Chen Baiqing pinched a jade token lightly between her fingers, her gaze lifting to the map of Eastern Divine Continent hanging nearby. Her eyes quickly locked onto a point in one corner of the continent.

An unremarkable, even somewhat remote location — no distinguishing features, no spirit veins.

The Tianyan Sect cultivators she had brought along had all been dispatched to trace where these Premium Buddha Statues had ultimately scattered to.

These statues had passed through layer upon layer of intermediaries, circulating over the course of months in staggered shipments. Along the way, they had undergone extremely covert wish-power extraction, with each handler different from the last.

The operation was remarkably well-hidden, its methods utterly unpredictable.

Tianyan Sect disciples had lost the trail several times. Most of the threads went cold before reaching their end — but every trail that did reach its conclusion pointed to Lotus Pool in Eastern Divine Continent.

These Tianyan Sect disciples’ competence was beyond question, yet even they had lost track of most of the targets. That they had managed this level of concealment suggested the matter’s significance far exceeded initial expectations.

The wish-power on the Eastern Sea had yet to fully subside. Where that enormous volume of wish-power was being directed was equally beyond doubt.

"Celestial Demons?" Chen Baiqing reached out and tapped Lotus Pool on the map. "How very interesting."

Lin Luoyu’s gaze followed to Lotus Pool:

"Should we report to Shifu?"

"Of course we should report to Shifu." Chen Baiqing’s eyes dipped slightly. "If there really are Celestial Demons at Lotus Pool, this matter has exceeded what we can handle."

"However... if it really is the Celestial Demons behind this, isn’t it a bit too obvious?"

"Using official shipping routes, importing Premium Buddha Statues from Western Niu Continent, switching to different carriers at the destination to extract the wish-power, and finally delivering it all to Lotus Pool."

"If these are Celestial Demons, I’d say they’re practically announcing themselves."

Lin Luoyu pondered for a moment, somewhat confused:

"If they’re announcing themselves, why go to such elaborate trouble — why operate so secretly?"

Chen Baiqing composed a reply to Shifu on her jade token using divine sense:

"Filtering. They want to keep other sects and factions from disturbing them, but they want us to find them."

Lin Luoyu asked: "What’s the point?"

"What we don’t know is the most dangerous thing." Chen Baiqing’s tone grew serious. "Assuming the worst about our opponent — that’s what we need to do."

Chen Baiqing handed the completed jade token directly to Lin Luoyu:

"Junior Sister, take this jade token to Shifu. You must deliver it into Shifu’s hands personally. No one else may see it."

Lin Luoyu instinctively took it, then looked up at Chen Baiqing:

"Senior Sister, you’re staying here alone?"

Chen Baiqing understood Lin Luoyu’s unspoken concern and soothed her with a light laugh:

"I’m no fool, and I won’t do anything reckless. Someone needs to remain here, to uncover what needs uncovering. I can’t bear to let Shifu suffer."

Hearing this, Lin Luoyu did not hesitate. She nodded firmly, then turned and departed.

Chen Baiqing watched calmly as Lin Luoyu’s figure transformed into a streak of rainbow light and vanished.

Eastern Divine Continent. Xiaoyun Hall Temporary Central Hub.

Chu Xingchen lounged languidly across the principal seat. The table before him was piled with spirit fruits and spirit fruit juice.

Beside him, Yunxiao’s desk was covered in jade tokens.

Yunxiao’s pace flipping through the tokens was unhurried — or rather, he spent most of his time observing Chu Xingchen.

Some messages didn’t need processing; the subordinates would handle them naturally.

Most of the rest were simply progress reports and status updates.

"Is there something written on my face?" Chu Xingchen suddenly asked, glancing sideways at Yunxiao.

Yunxiao snapped back: "No."

"Then why are you staring at me?" Chu Xingchen sat up, one arm resting on the table before him. "Don’t think my good looks come free. From now on, every extra glance costs you spirit stones — I’ll be charging you, understand?"

Yunxiao found this somewhat speechless. Sometimes, a certain person’s sense of shame was truly beyond prediction:

"That seems rather unreasonable?"

Chu Xingchen raised an eyebrow, his tone aggrieved: "Unreasonable? This is an emotional distress fee. Having your fiendish glare fixed on me for so long, I won’t be able to sleep tonight."

"If you don’t believe me, I’ll find a few dreadfully ugly people to stand here and stare at you all day. Then you’ll see."

Yunxiao took a deep breath and lowered his gaze back to the jade tokens on his desk.

If Bai Xuanling was unmatched in action with an unblemished record, then Chu Xingchen was unmatched in words with an equally unblemished record.

The former took lives. The latter took hearts.

Outside rumors were sometimes exaggerated, but some of the truth genuinely exceeded even the rumors.

Yunxiao did not argue. He simply lowered his head and focused on the jade tokens. He had never truly expected to glean anything useful from the expressions of someone like Chu Xingchen.

The sun was dipping low, evening glow emerging.

When a slant of sunset light filtered into the meeting hall, Lin Luoyu flew in and landed. No greetings, no pleasantries — she skipped every formality, ignored Yunxiao entirely, and pressed the jade token clutched tightly in her hand directly before Chu Xingchen.

Lin Luoyu kept her voice as steady as she could: "Third Senior Sister asked me to deliver this to Shifu personally."

Chu Xingchen’s brow furrowed slightly. He reached out and took it, then noticed someone’s gaze probing toward him. He looked in that direction and saw Yunxiao had raised his head to study the exchange.

Seeing this, Chu Xingchen spoke without good humor:

"What’s it to you? Every extra glance at me today costs a thousand spirit stones. The counter resets every three breaths. You currently owe me a thousand spirit stones!"

"If you think that’s unfair, you’re free to leave right now. Don’t say I, the Great Benefactor Chu, extorted you."

Yunxiao lowered his head again.

It was a jade token anyway — he couldn’t read the message. He could listen with his ears, but looking or not looking made no difference.

If they used divine-sense transmission, that would mean the matter was extremely important — which was intelligence in its own right.

But only a moment passed before Chu Xingchen’s voice rang out in fury:

"What? They actually dare do this?"

Yunxiao promptly raised his head toward Chu Xingchen — but saw no fury in those eyes. Instead, Chu Xingchen was peering at him with a playful grin.

Chu Xingchen’s satisfied voice came again:

"Two thousand spirit stones now, Fellow Daoist Yunxiao."

Yunxiao did not argue. He checked the timing and lowered his head once more.

Chu Xingchen’s urgent voice sounded again:

"For something this critical, don’t come to me first. Go to Senior Bai for emergency reinforcement immediately, then head to Xuanqing Heavenly Sect and summon Huang Miao."

Yunxiao suppressed the urge to look up.

Without a transmission — it might just be another ruse.

Lin Luoyu’s somewhat tense voice came through: "Now?"

A cultivator radiating Haoran Qi spoke, the urgency in his voice unmistakable.

Yunxiao raised his head again toward Chu Xingchen. Meeting Chu Xingchen’s teasing gaze head-on, he spoke first:

"Three breaths, one thousand spirit stones. Yunxiao Hall will pay."

"Truly a great sect — wealthy and generous beyond compare." Chu Xingchen sighed in admiration, then reached for a fruit on the table and offered it to Lin Luoyu. "Here, Luoyu, have a fruit. Take your time."

Lin Luoyu nodded, well accustomed to this by now. She took the fruit and began eating.

Chu Xingchen let out a long, theatrical sigh:

"Core disciples of great sects are really something else — paying fortunes just to watch someone else eat fruit."

"All I can say is: envy."