Chapter 40: Suddenly Destitute

During the battle, with Xiao Zhu's assistance, Qingxi managed to conceal his full cultivation aura. Therefore, everyone believed he was merely at the fifteenth stage of Qi Refinement.

Yet, for most of the onlookers, this was not the main point. The true highlight was that Zhou Yuanlong's attacks consistently missed, leading to his defeat in the challenge.

The most fatal blow was that the root cause turned out to be Zhou Yuanlong's weakness!

Some male disciples who often accompanied Zhou Yuanlong to Qingyue Pavilion at the foot of the mountain wore peculiar expressions. They didn't laugh; instead, they began to reflect on themselves. Some even hurried off to check their own health.

"You lost. Hand over your points," Qingxi said bluntly, snatching Zhou Yuanlong's disciple token and heading to the disciple in charge at the mission hall.

The disciple from the mission hall cast a pitying glance at Zhou Yuanlong, who was still weeping on the ground, shook his head, and transferred all the points to Qingxi's outer disciple token.

Seeing nearly eight hundred points, Qingxi was thrilled.

Under the envious gazes of the crowd, he entered the mission hall, accepted the task to find the Water Spirit Pearl, and then, along with Nie Yu and the others, proceeded to the nearby Points Hall.

"The show's over!"

"I thought it would be a one-sided match, and it turns out I was right. Only Zhou Yuanlong was the one crushed."

"Hmph, serves him right. Who asked him to frequent those places? Now he knows better."

"Take care of yourself!"

The crowd dispersed, grumbling and cursing, leaving behind a few inner disciples who glared fiercely at Zhou Yuanlong.

"Zhou Yuanlong, hand back the points you owe!" These men were acquaintances who had lent points to Zhou Yuanlong. Watching their points slip away, they felt stifled.

What infuriated them even more was Zhou Yuanlong's audacity to challenge despite his obvious weakness—a blatant insult and irresponsibility!

"I’m out of points, can’t you cut me some slack…"

"Cut you slack? Brothers, let's teach him a lesson!"

The inner disciples bared their teeth and threw themselves upon Zhou Yuanlong, delivering another round of punishment.

…

The Points Hall.

This was the place specifically designated for spending points.

Inside, everything was clearly priced: elixirs, weapons, materials, and even storage bracelets.

But even the lowest-grade storage bracelet cost over a thousand points, making Qingxi purse his lips and silently lament the high prices.

He soon set his sights on a finely crafted superior-grade Coldlight Sword.

"This item is indestructible. With it, the journey to West Sand River will surely... Wait, the superior-grade Coldlight Sword costs a thousand points? Why’s it so expensive?" Qingxi was dumbfounded.

Previously, when he’d asked Ouyang Changfeng about selling a superior-grade Coldlight Sword, he was told it could go for just over a hundred points. Qingxi thus assumed the sword wasn't too costly.

But seeing the price today, he was stunned.

Nie Yu explained, "The superior-grade Coldlight Sword has always been a thousand points. Your points aren’t enough yet, so you might consider buying a mid-grade one—only three hundred points."

Qingxi recalled the superior-grade Spirit Sword he’d seized from Li Xingyao, still stored in his system space, and asked curiously, “If I sell the superior-grade Spirit Sword I took from a Red Flame Sect disciple, how many points could I get?”

“Buyback prices are usually just a fraction of the original. Probably only a bit over a hundred points,” Nie Yu mused.

“How unreasonable!” Qingxi grumbled, abandoning the idea of selling the Spirit Sword.

Both the superior-grade Spirit Sword and the superior-grade Coldlight Sword were high-grade spiritual weapons, but the Coldlight Sword was crafted by Lingyuan Sect’s smiths, while the Spirit Sword came from the Red Flame Sect.

If he kept it, it would be a hot potato; should any Red Flame Sect disciple see it, he’d become a target.

But considering the buyback price, Qingxi gave up for now.

He figured if nothing else, he’d make do with the Spirit Sword. Even if it meant being hunted by Red Flame Sect disciples, so be it—they were already semi-hostile anyway.

With that thought, Qingxi turned his attention to the shelves of elixirs.

A bottle of first-grade Qi Condensing Pills contained five pills, priced at five points—one point each.

He continued browsing, finding that second-grade pills cost two points apiece, third-grade four, fourth-grade eight... and so on.

By the time he reached ninth-grade Qi Condensing Pills, they cost 256 points each, extremely expensive.

However, their medicinal energy was immense—256 times that of a first-grade pill. Only the top inner disciples were qualified to use such high-grade elixirs.

Even for masters at the Innate Realm, they were not cheap.

"Sister, could I buy three ninth-grade Qi Condensing Pills?" He had only 773 points, just enough for three pills.

But to quickly raise his cultivation and ensure the mission’s success, he was prepared to spend.

The young, peach-blossom-faced senior sister shook her head. "Don’t joke, junior brother. The medicinal power of ninth-grade pills is far too strong for you. If you take one rashly, it might burst your body. And anyway, pills are sold by the bottle—five per bottle."

Though she doubted Qingxi could afford so many points, she spoke gently, as befits a well-mannered cultivator.

Nie Yu also cautioned, "Your cultivation is at the fifteenth stage of Qi Refinement, so your internal energy is equivalent to 23 first-grade pills—not even a tenth of a ninth-grade pill. If you took one, you’d burst… Even if you didn’t, you couldn’t absorb so much at once—it’d be a waste!"

"What if I don’t swallow the whole pill at once, just bite off a tiny piece each time?" Qingxi retorted, but it was only a joke. He decided to heed their advice, spending 480 points to buy six bottles of fifth-grade Qi Condensing Pills suitable for his level.

With his remaining points, he redeemed a low-grade round shield and some Blood Qi Pills and Healing Pills.

In the end, Qingxi had only three points left.

Hugging his bottles of elixirs and the shield, staring at the red number "3," he sighed, "Earning points is hard, spending them is easy. Investing makes me stronger, but also poorer!"

Nie Yu and the others were amazed, secretly marveling at Qingxi’s ability to spend.

Over seven hundred points—under normal circumstances, that would take a long time to earn!

The senior sister handling the elixir sales widened her almond eyes, unable to believe this young junior had so many points.

After bidding farewell to Nie Yu and the others, Qingxi returned to Ouyang Changfeng’s residence.

"Why are you back again?"

Seeing Qingxi, Ouyang Changfeng sat up uneasily from his recliner.

"To cultivate. I’ll set out again tomorrow."

"Where are you heading for your mission this time?" Ouyang Changfeng asked offhandedly.

"West Sand River."

"West Sand River?" Ouyang Changfeng stood up, glanced at the shield and elixirs in Qingxi’s hands, and casually tossed him a deep blue ancient token. "There’s a small gathering there soon. With this token, you can broaden your horizons… Don’t worry, it represents your master’s identity. Those people won’t trouble you."

"What kind of gathering?" Qingxi asked, gazing at the token, full of curiosity.