83: The Ancient Mystic Master whose defenses were breached

March 25th.

Fei Chen Realm, Xuanhuang Sect.

Venerable Gu Xuan looked at the reappearing Yu Xuzi with a tense expression, his heart filled with wariness.

"Fellow Daoist Taiyin, for what reason have you returned?"

"You have already looted just about every Cultivation Technique and classic my Xuanhuang Sect possesses. What more do you want?"

Yu Xuzi's expression stiffened for a moment before returning to normal. He gave a faint smile and said, "Don't make it sound so unpleasant. Didn't I give you Spirit Stones?"

"Hmph!"

Venerable Gu Xuan gave a cold snort, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but continued to watch him warily.

"How about we make another deal?"

Again?

Venerable Gu Xuan was on the verge of a breakdown.

Forcibly suppressing his anger, he simply threw caution to the wind, waved his hand, and said:

"If Your Excellency has taken a fancy to something else, you might as well just take it by force. Why bother with such high-sounding talk of a deal?"

"Despicable!!"

Upon hearing this, Yu Xuzi's expression suddenly darkened.

In all his years of cultivation, no one had ever dared to be so insolent to his face, pointing at his nose and cursing him.

A vast Divine Sense surged out instantly, blanketing Venerable Gu Xuan's entire body and transforming into a phantom golden giant that tore into his Sea of Consciousness.

"This seat gave you face, didn't I?"

The rolling waves of sound were like heavenly thunder striking the center of Venerable Gu Xuan's Sea of Consciousness, stirring up monstrous waves.

"Boom—"

Venerable Gu Xuan's face instantly turned pale, his skin bloodless. The intense pain from his Divine Soul caused cold sweat to pour down his forehead, and he nearly collapsed to his knees.

He was suddenly wide awake.

Oh no!

How did I let my inner thoughts slip out?

I forgot that the person before me is a ruthless individual.

"I'll ask once more: will you do this deal or not?"

Yu Xuzi looked at him with cold eyes.

"I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it—"

Venerable Gu Xuan endured the sharp pain and nodded frantically.

He didn't even dare to ask what the deal was; he only wanted this bringer of calamity to finish looting and leave as quickly as possible.

"That's more like it."

Yu Xuzi nodded with satisfaction, withdrew his Divine Sense, and began his pre-planned explanation.

"The deal I mentioned is a large population of Mortals, exactly what you urgently need."

"Mortals?"

Venerable Gu Xuan was stunned.

"Correct! Surely you are aware that with your current population of barely one or two thousand, it will be difficult to sustain the Xuanhuang Sect's Legacy without a massive expansion of Mortals. You will inevitably enter a period of decline, or even see your Legacy severed."

Yu Xuzi's words were not mere alarmism.

Without Mortals, there is no fresh blood.

The Mortals they currently protected truly possessed no Spiritual Roots. To wait for infants with Spiritual Roots to be born and grow up would take too long... Moreover, those with Spiritual Roots among Mortals were one in a thousand!

In a few decades, the Xuanhuang Sect would surely face a generational gap. Whether they could recover to their former level would depend entirely on the will of heaven.

"What does Fellow Daoist Taiyin mean by this?"

"I can bring you a large population of Mortals, guaranteed to be young adults and children. How does that sound for a deal?"

"How is that possible?"

Venerable Gu Xuan didn't believe it at all and questioned, "The Demonic Calamity has descended, and this continent is in such ruins. Where could there be a large population of Mortals?"

Yu Xuzi smiled with a mysterious expression. "Just because they aren't in this world doesn't mean they don't exist in others."

"What do you mean, Fellow Daoist?"

Yu Xuzi's expression turned solemn, and he began to spin a tale: "Fellow Daoist Gu Xuan, you must be curious about my origins, right? After all, I have never been seen in your Fei Chen Realm before!"

"Is... is that so?"

Venerable Gu Xuan blanked for a moment, then immediately denied it: "I'm not curious. Not curious at all."

He even suspected Yu Xuzi was fishing for a reaction.

Yu Xuzi: "..."

Had he been too overbearing earlier?

He had driven an old man nearly two hundred years old to this state!

"Fellow Daoist Taiyin, rest assured, I have absolutely no intention of prying into your origins, nor will I leak any information about you to anyone."

"No, you are curious."

Yu Xuzi said seriously.

"I'm really not curious!!"

Venerable Gu Xuan wanted to cry but had no tears.

"No, you should be curious!"

Venerable Gu Xuan: "..."

He had completely broken down.

He simply spread his hands and stood there expressionless.

Fine!

Whatever you say goes.

"To tell you the truth, I am actually an Outer Sect Disciple of the oldest, largest, and most powerful force in the myriad worlds—the [Yu Xu Palace]. I have the authority to travel through many Small Worlds, which is why I can bring you a large number of Mortals!"

As he spoke, Yu Xuzi deliberately allowed a trace of pride to show on his face.

When away from home, one's identity is whatever one claims it to be!

Meanwhile, Venerable Gu Xuan stood there dazed, the corners of his mouth twitching wildly, not knowing what to say for a moment.

"Don't you want to know what the Yu Xu Palace is?"

"What... what is... it?"

Venerable Gu Xuan's heart felt no ripples of emotion.

His voice was just stumbling, making him sound somewhat comical.

"It is a top-tier force that dominates the myriad worlds, a peak existence even in the Upper Realm. Do you understand?"

"Ah? Oh!"

Venerable Gu Xuan just quietly watched the person before him boast, nodding in agreement from time to time.

"You don't believe me?"

"I believe you!"

"No, you clearly don't!"

Venerable Gu Xuan: "..."

Yu Xuzi looked at him speechlessly, and his interest in fabricating a grand backstory for a massive organization vanished.

"Fine, you'll believe me when you see those Mortals!"

"Oh."

"Fellow Daoist Gu Xuan, I see that your Xuanhuang Sect's Thick Earth Flying Boat is quite good. It's a second-rank Medium Grade Magical Artifact, right? How about giving it to me in this deal?"

At this, Venerable Gu Xuan finally had a reaction.

His face rapidly flushed red, and his lips began to tremble and chatter.

"You, you, you—"

I knew it!

After all that talk, I knew he was going to snatch something again!

Unfortunately, he didn't dare to vent his anger.

"Indeed, it is a second-rank Medium Grade flying boat, a Magical Artifact passed down through the Sect's ancestors for a thousand years. How does Fellow Daoist intend to trade for it?"

He didn't say anything about it not being for sale anymore.

Even the ancestral Cultivation Technique and Legacy had been sold; what else couldn't be?

Besides, since he had been targeted by this Venerable Taiyin... "Didn't I just say? A trade for a Mortal population!"

"How many people?"

"A fixed price: one hundred thousand!"

"Fine!"

Venerable Gu Xuan nodded without hesitation.

In the past, let alone one hundred thousand people, even ten million Mortals couldn't buy a second-rank Medium Grade flying boat artifact!

But in the current situation, one hundred thousand Mortals were equivalent to buying the future of the Sect and preventing the Legacy from being severed. It was truly hard to say if it was a loss or a gain.

"If Fellow Daoist Taiyin can bring one hundred thousand Mortals, I will present the Thick Earth Spirit Boat with both hands."

"No, no. Give me the flying boat first, and then I'll bring the Mortals over."

"You—"

Venerable Gu Xuan's blood boiled again, his breathing became rapid, and he almost couldn't contain his rage.

In the end, he still took out the Thick Earth Spirit Boat, only daring to say a sarcastic remark:

"Fellow Daoist Taiyin could have just taken it by force, yet you went to the trouble of fabricating those words to deceive me. How truly thoughtful of you."

"Don't worry, I am an honest man. Look at you, why so much hostility?"

Yu Xuzi accepted the flying boat with a chuckle. "You will thank me in the future!"

"Wait for my news within a month."

As soon as he finished speaking.

Accompanied by a ripple in space, Yu Xuzi's figure vanished instantly from the spot.

It was a true—instant disappearance!

"Uh..."

Venerable Gu Xuan was suddenly startled.

Wait, you were serious?