266: Trade between the two worlds

With a complex and heavy heart, Gu Ran followed Hu Qianxue and the other two out of the Sect Great Hall, then flew down the mountain, finally landing beneath the Enlightenment Tea Tree.

At the stone table beneath the Enlightenment Tea Tree, Lin Xiao sat there, arranging the tea set on the table, while Yun Ling'er and You Bao sat on either side of him.

But upon seeing the few people descend from the sky, they both stood up and nodded in greeting to Hu Qianxue and the others.

"Revered Master."

Yun Ling'er bowed, speaking softly.

"Your guests have arrived."

"Good, I know."

As Lin Xiao responded, he looked up, his gaze meeting Gu Ran's.

"You're finally here, Tower Lord Gu."

Lin Xiao spoke first, raising a hand to point at the seat opposite him, then grinned and said, "Please sit."

"We meet again, Palace Master Lin."

Although he had been overshadowed by the other party earlier, Gu Ran still offered a polite smile in greeting, then came and sat down opposite him.

"Alright, Ling'er."

Seeing him seated, Lin Xiao looked at the few people beside him and instructed, "You all go down first; your Revered Master and Tower Lord Gu have matters to discuss."

"Yes, Revered Master!" (said by multiple people)

Gu Ran watched as Yun Ling'er and the others transformed into streaks of light and flew away before retracting his gaze, sighing, "Palace Master Lin's Sect actually has so many young Geniuses; it truly makes me envious."

Gu Ran truly meant what he said; without exception, all of Lin Xiao's Disciples were top-notch Cultivation talents. Any one of them could be groomed to be a successor.

Even Yun Ling'er and You Bao, as Yun Xiao had said, indeed had Aptitude superior to his.

And for so many Geniuses to all be Lin Xiao's Disciples, how could Gu Ran not be envious?

He, too, had Disciples, but most of them were stuck at the low-level Great Emperor realm, with the most outstanding one only being a Five-Realm Great Emperor.

Although in terms of Cultivation, his Disciples seemed much stronger, when it came to potential and talent, they truly couldn't compare to Lin Xiao's Disciples.

"Hahaha, Tower Lord Gu has good eyesight."

Lin Xiao accepted Gu Ran's praise without modesty, the smile on his face clearly deepening.

What he was most proud of was not his invincible strength, nor establishing such a large Sect, but rather cultivating these excellent Disciples.

He recalled how, when he first took them in, they were all naive and inexperienced, but now, they could stand on their own.

"Come, come, Tower Lord Gu, please have some tea."

After Gu Ran praised the right thing, Lin Xiao's attitude became more enthusiastic. He raised the teapot and poured tea for the former.

As a thin stream of water arced through the air, a rich tea fragrance diffused throughout the area, invigorating one's spirit upon smelling it.

"Hmm?"

Even Gu Ran's eyes brightened slightly. He slowly picked up the teacup and praised, "What fragrant Enlightenment Tea! Palace Master Lin, this Enlightenment Tea Tree of yours must be of no low grade, right?"

As a top-tier powerhouse from another world, Gu Ran had naturally also drunk Enlightenment Tea.

It was just that the Enlightenment Tea Trees in that world had gone extinct earlier than in the Tianxuan Continent, so Gu Ran himself still had a few taels, which he usually couldn't bear to drink.

The last time he drank it was eight thousand years ago, when Ouyang Jie made a Breakthrough to Eight-Realm Great Emperor. He took out a small amount to celebrate, and ordinarily, he would only take it out to look at and satisfy his craving.

When Gu Ran first arrived, he noticed the Enlightenment Tea Tree and the Bodhi Tree behind the two. The Xuanyuan Continent indeed had the latter, but upon seeing the former, he was stunned.

He hadn't expected to see the long-extinct Enlightenment Tea Tree here.

If he couldn't defeat Lin Xiao, he would have prepared to pull it out and take it back to the Sword Tower.

Next, the two drank and chatted, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious, but Gu Ran felt increasingly restless. Finally, he couldn't help but speak, "Palace Master Lin, you called me here today, surely not just for food and drink, right?"

"Indeed not."

Hearing this, Lin Xiao gently blew on the rising steam from his cup before slowly speaking, "Today, I invited Tower Lord Gu here primarily to discuss the issues between our two continents.

This Revered Master wishes to establish trade. Tower Lord Gu, what do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Ran fell silent. He hadn't expected Lin Xiao to call him here today for this matter, but thinking about it, it was also within expectations.

After all, trade would bring no harm to either the Tianxuan Continent or the Xuanyuan Continent; on the contrary, it could promote mutual progress for both sides, a situation with a hundred benefits and no harm.

Although Wuji Palace had fallen out with the major powers of their Xuanyuan Continent, that had nothing to do with others. Gu Ran thought many Cultivators would be willing to trade with people from another world.

Furthermore, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. Regardless of what happens between these powers in the future, for now, simply opening trade routes for commerce is completely fine. He believed that even in the Xuanyuan Continent, no one would object.

So, Gu Ran agreed without much thought, but then he looked towards the Sect Great Hall with some confusion.

Although the two realms could trade, they could only travel to each other's worlds through the spatial passage.

And the spatial passage was located in the Sect Great Hall, such a solemn place. If Cultivators from both sides were to come and go, wouldn't it become a market? Where would Wuji Palace's dignity be?

Furthermore, there was only one spatial passage, and after trade began, the number of people coming and going would be more than a million, likely far too many to handle.

But when Gu Ran voiced these two doubts, Lin Xiao burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, Tower Lord Gu speaks truly, but this is not a problem for this Revered Master."

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, a hint of confusion appeared on Gu Ran's face. He then looked at Lin Xiao and asked curiously, "Palace Master Lin, how so? I'd like to hear the details."

"Please see."

Lin Xiao smiled as he put down his teacup, then with his free right hand, he made a grabbing motion in the air. The entire space vibrated, but quickly settled down. At this moment, his palm lit up.

"Hmm?"

Seeing this, Gu Ran's expression was immediately drawn in. He felt a familiar power in the other party's palm, as if he had sensed it somewhere before.

Before he could remember, Lin Xiao casually tossed it, and a dazzling ball of light immediately flew out from his palm, finally landing on the lawn a few meters away, followed by waves of invisible fluctuations spreading outwards.

In the blink of an eye, a spatial portal had formed. When the scene on the other side appeared before his eyes, Gu Ran's eyes widened instantly.

What met his gaze on the other side was the edge of a valley, and looking further, a vast expanse of spiritual mist appeared.

This was incredibly familiar to Gu Ran; it was precisely the Beidou Great Rift Valley on the Xuanyuan Continent's side.

Looking at the stunned Gu Ran, Lin Xiao smiled slightly. Two more portals appeared out of thin air next to the spatial portal, and the views inside both were of the Beidou Great Rift Valley, only from different perspectives.

"Watch closely."

Lin Xiao casually picked up a spiritual fruit from the table and tossed it into the left spatial portal. The next moment, both of them saw the spiritual fruit appear within the view of the middle portal, finally exiting from the right portal and eventually rolling back into Lin Xiao's hand.

"This..."

It took Gu Ran a while to recover after seeing this scene. He gazed at the spatial portal before him, and after a long silence, he finally sighed, "Palace Master Lin, what a skillful technique."

This was not flattery; Gu Ran was truly impressed. He admitted he couldn't replicate this technique himself. It was hard to imagine to what extent the man sitting opposite him had mastered the power of space to achieve such a feat.

"Haha, mere trifles."

Lin Xiao casually dispersed the three spatial portals. He took a bite of the fruit in his hand, and the sweet juice made his eyes comfortably narrow, a slow smile spreading across his lips.

Regarding the issues Gu Ran mentioned earlier, Lin Xiao had already thought about them long ago; after all, he didn't want his Sect Great Hall to become a market.

After awakening, he had been researching this in his spare time. Of course, he didn't forget to pull Zhu Rong, the all-around Great Master, in to help.

Relying on Zhu Rong's intellect and his own unparalleled strength, they quickly developed the ability before them.

Currently, Lin Xiao could open spatial portals to the Xuanyuan Continent from any location in the Tianxuan Continent, with no limit on the number.

And Gu Ran quickly realized something, his pupils suddenly dilating.

He had previously been marveling at Lin Xiao's powerful strength, but now, having reacted, he felt a chill run down his spine.

If the other party could arbitrarily create a large number of such spatial portals at any time, in any place, and close them at will, that would be truly terrifying.

In that case, if the two continents went to war, the other party could use this ability to move freely, with maximum mobility.

Most importantly, the other party could close the spatial portals at will, and this was the most concerning aspect for Gu Ran.

This was absolutely not good news for all the powers in their Xuanyuan Continent.

Looking at Lin Xiao's smile opposite him, Gu Ran felt an infinite chill well up in his heart. This man was truly too terrifying, both himself and everything else about him.

Originally, Gu Ran had come here with the intention of learning more about Wuji Palace to prepare for future battles.

But now that he understood, Gu Ran's heart instantly felt as if it had plunged into an ice abyss.

After understanding, he realized that compared to Wuji Palace, their Xuanyuan Continent had unknowingly fallen too far behind, both in terms of mobility and Peak combat power.

Even their original greatest advantage, overall strength, Gu Ran lost confidence in after seeing Lin Xiao's Disciples.

With the talent of Lin Xiao's Disciples, when they grew up in the future, plus the assistance of so many powerhouses, could their Xuanyuan Continent truly contend with them?

Even now, Gu Ran felt that if the man before him wished, he could completely close the spatial portal and kill him on the spot.

It wasn't that Gu Ran lacked confidence in his own strength; it was precisely because he was too confident that he knew how powerful and invincible the person before him truly was.

The most important thing for a person is to have self-knowledge, so that they can see themselves clearly and not do foolish things.

After discussing the main business, the tea was almost finished.

Gu Ran stood up, preparing to leave. Lin Xiao had originally intended to keep him for a meal, but the former seemed to have no appetite and politely declined.

"Then, farewell, Tower Lord Gu."

Lin Xiao stood up, smiling as he waved his hand. Not far away, Gu Ran stood before the spatial portal opened by the former, a smile also on his face, though it looked somewhat forced.

"Farewell, Palace Master Lin."

After speaking, Gu Ran turned and stepped into the spatial portal. When he reappeared, he was already back in the Xuanyuan Continent. Upon noticing the portal behind him dissipate, the smile on his face instantly vanished, replaced by a look of heavy solemnity.

"What a Wuji Palace..."

This trip today truly made Gu Ran clearly see the gap between the two. Everything else was fine, but Lin Xiao himself brought him a shock far exceeding his previous expectations.

Now, just thinking about the possibility of fighting such an enemy in the future, Gu Ran felt a lump in his chest, and his future seemed dark, without a glimmer of hope for victory.

Thus, Gu Ran embarked on his return journey with a heavy heart, unaware that not far behind him, in the sky, a small spatial portal appeared, like an eye, silently watching him.

It wasn't until he disappeared into the horizon that the portal silently dissipated, transforming into wisps of spiritual energy and spatial power, vanishing into thin air...

...

Inside Wuji Palace, after Lin Xiao casually dispersed the spatial passage before him, he turned and walked back to his seat, then looked around and spoke helplessly, "I say, you little rascals, how much longer are you going to hide?"

"Cough cough!"

As Lin Xiao's words fell, several coughs suddenly echoed out of thin air, and then the space began to fluctuate. Immediately after, several figures appeared as if squeezed out around Lin Xiao, their forms gradually solidifying from ethereal to tangible. It was none other than Hu Qianxue, Qin Wudao, and Yun Xiao, who had left earlier.

Oh, right, next to Hu Qianxue, a small figure was Lying down, and it was none other than Zhao Feiyan.

"Hmph."

Lin Xiao's gaze swept over them one by one. Upon meeting his gaze, all of them lowered their heads, feeling somewhat guilty.

After looking around, Lin Xiao finally fixed his gaze on the timid Zhao Feiyan perched on Hu Qianxue's shoulder. A smile finally appeared on his face, and he called out softly, "Feiyan, come here."

"Grandmaster!"

Hearing this, the originally anxious Zhao Feiyan immediately broke into a smile, then flew directly from Hu Qianxue and, like a young swallow, threw herself into her Grandmaster's embrace.

"Good girl."

Lin Xiao raised a hand to stroke the little one's black hair in his arms, his eyes full of doting affection.

And standing beside this peaceful pair of Grandparent and Grandchild, Qin Wudao and the other two were quite conspicuous.

In the distance, Yun Ling'er, who was gracefully flying towards them from the horizon, couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle when she saw this scene.

This scene truly had a strangely heartwarming quality.