Fang Xing definitely didn’t want to give up his storage sacks for Shen Lo’s ransom, but he knew deep down that this had been caused by the golden crow, and he would benefit the most if he helped the crow hide from all of this. For this reason, he kept an unusually low profile and concealed himself amongst the disciples without causing any trouble, pretending to be just another regular disciple while Xiao Jianming sorted this problem out.

Xiao Jianming felt a little better when he heard he would be able to keep his storage sack. It was good he wouldn’t have to hand over his, although it was a bit problematic for him to command the other disciples to hand over theirs.

When the red-dressed girl saw that none of the Qing-Yun disciples spoke up, she grinned and pa.s.sed a glance to Xiongnu behind her. The giant man immediately lifted Shen Lo up and slammed his large palm right against Shen Lo’s face.

Pah, pah, two loud slapping noises later and Shen Lo’s mouth was filled with blood. Three or four teeth fell away and he began to scream, "s.h.i.+xiong Xiao… s.h.i.+xiong Xiao… my brothers, please, please help me…."

"Aiii," Pi Junzi sighed, taking the lead to throw down his own storage sack. "Take out your sacks!" No matter what, Shen Lo was a Shuwen disciple, and Pi Junzi—as the lead disciple of Shuwen Valley—couldn’t let something like this happen. Besides, he could tell Xiao Jianming was already convinced but too prideful to make such a command; for him to take the lead here meant Xiao Jianming would most likely thank him later. It was already impossible to keep the storage sacks when faced with such a strong opponent, after all.

Not only that, Pi Junzi also had the storage sacks of all the Shuwen disciples who’d died during the mission, and he just had to hand over one of them. Although giving up a storage sack might be shameful, he didn’t actually lose much.

When Pi Junzi took the lead, Xiao Jianming did not speak a word but quietly approved of it. With this, the rest of the Shuwen disciples all threw their storage sacks towards these men. For these disciples, these storage sacks were all that they had, and each felt a pain in their heart as they let go of their life’s savings.

"Take them out then!" Feng Qingwei also let out a sigh as she threw out a storage sack, followed by all of the Shanhe disciples. No matter how unwilling they were, they had to; these men were clearly much more powerful than them, and it looked as though they wouldn’t mind killing a person or two.

Even Xu Linyun had resigned herself to handing hers over, but when she went to do so, Fang Xing suddenly tucked her sleeve and winked before throwing out two storage sacks. Xu Linyun only realized that the boy had seven or eight storage sacks on him and had thrown out an extra in her place, sparing her from losing all of her savings from the past seven to eight years. Although this caused a trace of frustration to form in her heart, there was still the presence of grat.i.tude towards him as well.

"Haha, so are all cultivators in Chufung a bunch of p*ssies like you guys?" two seventh-tier men atop a black bat apiece laughed as they used [Gravitational Force] to draw the storage sacks up into the air. The pair sat on their bats and began to count the sacks one by one while looking at the disciples below, as if to take a headcount to ensure everyone had handed over a sack.

All together, the men counted twenty-six storage sacks; although Xiao Jianming hadn’t paid, the other twenty-six disciples had. The man on the left side suddenly laughed and looked towards the man on the right. "Haha, s.h.i.+di Long, we’ve got nine people yet there’s only twenty-six sacks. It’s not enough…."

The man on the right understood what he meant and look towards Xiao Jianming without good intentions. "Indeed. If only we had one more!"

It was obvious they wanted to take Xiao Jianming’s storage sack as well. He was obviously the person with the highest cultivation level within the group of people, after all, and if one had to guess who had the most valuable items in their sack, his alone could possibly be better than any ten of the others’.

Xiao Jianming’s face paled, but he remained silent. Naturally, he would not go looking for trouble at a time like this.

Seeing that Xiao Jianming didn’t reply, the man on the right then purposefully continued, "Since it’s a ransom, if we’re missing a bag, a part of him will also be missing. Business is only good when it’s fair. Xiongnu, tear a leg off that guy and return the rest to them. You can have the leg as your dinner!"

Xiongnu snickered when he heard this. Viciousness flashed in his gaze and he grabbed one of Shen Lo’s legs in a tight hold.

Shen Lo was so frightened that his soul may as well have flown out into outer s.p.a.ce; a couple of slaps were not hard to bear, but losing an entire leg was another story! He yelled out in desperation, "s.h.i.+xiong Xiao… s.h.i.+xiong Xiao, help…." As he struggled, he looked towards Xiao Jianming, only for his heart to drop when he saw that the returning gaze was as cold as ever. Xiao Jianming must have detested him by now.

Shen Lo could clearly feel how Xiongnu—like a hungry monster—was holding onto his left leg as though he was truly going to tear it off, and his fear increased manyfold. In his despair, he suddenly recalled something before loudly yelling, "Yes… storage sack, there’s more…." Without a care in the world, he then pointed towards Fang Xing amidst the group of disciples. "He has them…. He has seven or eight more…."

"Nn?" The men’s glances immediately s.h.i.+fted towards Fang Xing, and those around the boy all moved away to leave him exposed.

Atop the black bat, the man on the right side looked at Fang Xing unconvinced. "A boy like him? How would he have seven or eight storage sacks?"

Shen Lo screamed out in desperation, "That’s right, it’s all valuable stuff in his sacks! There were over a thousand Illusory Soulgra.s.ses alone…."

The eyes of both men lit up as they focused their attention on Fang Xing and snickered. "Hey boy, hurry and hand them over!" Not a single Qing-Yun disciple dared to stand up for Fang Xing, and they merely looked to him with complex expressions. There were even people who were taking joy in Fang Xing’s misfortune and thanking Shen Lo; wouldn’t only they have suffered a great loss if they handed over everything they owned while this boy kept so much more for himself?

Meanwhile, Fang Xing was seething in anger. The fact he hadn’t sliced up that turtle-egg b.a.s.t.a.r.d as fast as possible was undoubtedly the single biggest mistake he had ever made!

When Fang Xing saw all the glances had focused on him, it was obvious the phrase "over a thousand Illusory Soulgra.s.ses" had caught their attention and greed—they would surely not let him go now. Although he was unwilling, he suddenly thought of something and quickly s.h.i.+fted his eyes while activating [Gravitational Force] on himself to leap up towards the side of the giant altar.

"Heh, want to escape?" The group of men obviously weren’t worried. There was no fear of him escaping since they had their black bats, and they followed behind Fang Xing on their bats at a leisurely pace.

By the time Fang Xing had climbed three hundred feet and reached the top of the altar, three or four bats had closed in on him. Fang Xing didn’t intend to escape, however, and he instead pulled the seven or eight sacks from the front of his robe in two handfuls while leaning closer to the altar’s center. "Don’t come closer!" he loudly yelled, "Or I’ll throw all of it inside, and none of you will have a share!"

Those from the Myriad Beasts Sect were all startled to see the boy acting in such an unexpected manner. Was this not burning his own boat?

The man on the left side coldly laughed. "Boy, let alone throwing them all, if you throw even one, I’ll make sure you wish you were dead!" His voice was vicious, and the words were clearly not a joke.

When Fang Xing realized this wouldn’t frighten them, another idea began to form. From one of the sacks, he grabbed a book that was tainted yellow and held it above the top of the altar. "Hmph, the storage sacks may not be enough to stop you, but I promise if I throw this high-tier Ancient technique—the Yin-Yang… Yin-Yang Unification Technique—inside, you’ll regret it for the rest of your lives!"

"High-tier Ancient technique?" In that instant, not only were the two men atop the bats surprised, but all of the men from the Myriad Beasts were. As for the embroidered-gown youth, his eyes seemed to gleam with a bright light.

The Qing-Yun disciples, for their part, all appeared a bit confused. What was this… [Yin-Yang Unification Technique]?

Fang Xing then turned to Xiao Jianming and spoke with resentment, "s.h.i.+xiong Xiao, please don’t blame me for this. Shen Lo was just too despicable and wanted to sell me out, so I had no choice but to come up with a method like this to stop them. This Yin-Yang Unification Technique is our most precious treasure, so I don’t believe they won’t care about it…. s.h.i.+xiong Xiao, please hurry and leave, and ask the elder to come and deal with them. I’ll keep them here until you return…."

Xiao Jianming was momentarily confused as well. The way the boy was acting, it really did seem true.

"Boy, do you really have a high-tier Ancient technique? Show it to me!" the embroidered-gown youth commanded as he drew close on his black bat.

Fang Xing looked as though he was terrified and pretended to stutter out, "Stay away from me, or… or I really will throw it down!" His hands moved closer to the altar’s opening.

The body of the embroidered-gown youth shook. He no longer wished to stir up the boy’s anger, in case the boy truly was prepared to throw his soon-to-be manual inside the altar. Coming here for nothing had frustrated him, and he’d really only intended to vent his anger on this group of Chufung cultivators by taking their storage sacks; it had been more for the sake of "fun" than "necessity". However, everything had changed now that a high-tier Ancient technique manual had unexpectedly appeared. If this was true, he would truly earn himself a fortune, and it wouldn’t even matter if the Myriad Beasts’ cauldron was never found.

For this reason, although he still had doubt, he did not dare to be careless.

"Boy, give me the manual…. No, allow me to make a copy of it, and I’ll let you guys leave, and all the storage sacks will be returned to you as well!" the embroidered-gown youth spoke in an awe-inspiring tone.

"I… I refuse! I don’t trust you. Let my brothers and sisters leave first…" Fang Xing responded in a selfless and righteous manner.

This actually caused the Qing-Yun disciples to be slightly moved. No matter whether the manual in Fang Xing’s hands was real or not, the fact he had thought of them and asked the men to allow them safe departure was more than enough. Of course, if they could leave with their storage sacks, it would be even better….