One of the Ironwood Mountain Clan’s disciples, a tall and arrogant-looking young man, approached with a smirk on his face, “Where is that new male cultivator who recently passed that pagoda’s trial and joined your sect as an outer disciple? Did he already get cold feet and refuse to join in on the Mystique Realm?”
The Radiant Lotus Sacred Sect disciple remained silent, not wanting to create an unnecessary conflict right before entering the sect since their higher-ups agreed to cooperate with each other.
But it was clear that the Ironwood Mountain Clan’s disciples wanted to create a conflict before entering the Mystique Realm, not only due to their cultivation techniques being better for offense but because of the absence of Shen Yuan as well.
They finally get a chance to take a hit at Lotus Sect’s reputation for this reason.
“He’ll be here,” Wan Ling said firmly, her voice filled with unshakable confidence in Shen Yuan, “And you should better keep your mouth shut, else he shut you up permanently when he arrives.”
The tall disciple from the Ironwood Mountain Clan raised an eyebrow in amusement, “We’ll see about that. He better not be a joke after your Sect hyped him up so much. And just try not to get in our way inside, we wouldn’t want to have to rescue you.”
Ling Mei’s eyes flashed with a dangerous glint, but she didn’t explode, instead, she replied calmly, “We’ll handle ourselves just fine. You should worry about your own group.”
The Azure Sky Sect disciple scoffed and walked away, joining his group as they prepared to enter the Mystique Realm.
Wan Ling took a deep breath, calming herself. “They’re going to regret looking down on us.”
Ling Mei nodded in agreement. “Let’s focus on the Mystique Realm for now. We need to give it our all lest we die inside. It will be a lot easier once Shen Yuan joins us.”
During the entire interaction, the Elders of the respective sects didn’t interfere as they let the young ones settle the issue among themselves.
They stood high in the air, calmly looking at the crack in space leading toward the Mystique Realm.
…
“Here, Senior Brother Shen Yuan, I have gathered all the things you asked for from nearly the entire market. But I picked more than one type of a single thing you asked for. For example, I have bought tens of types of detoxification pills alone, and dozens of gourds per pill.” She told him in a proud tone that not just anyone can ask the entire market for their goods.
Shen Yuan inspected the items, seeing if something was below his standard before nodding in approval. “I’ll take them all.”
The stall owner blinked in surprise, her expression briefly turning to disbelief before she quickly regained her calm. “All of them? Senior Brother Shen Yuan, this would cost—”
“I know what it’ll cost,” Shen Yuan cut her off with a calm smile. He reached into his pocket and casually placed a storage ring filled with mountains of spirit stones on the counter, causing the stall owner’s eyes to widen in shock.
The sheer amount of wealth Shen Yuan offered was staggering—enough to bankrupt even some of the outer sect elders.
It was clear that Shen Yuan wasn’t someone who cared much for the price, only the quality and use of the items.
“Are you trying to buy out my entire stock?” the stall owner joked nervously, clearly taken aback. “This is a fortune large enough that the entire outer sect can train the disciples for months or even years with that.”
Shen Yuan smiled and replied casually, “Consider it a payment for my peace of mind inside the Mystique Realm. Besides, I’d love to help my fellow sect disciples in their time of need.”
He spoke with a gentle smile, but the stall owner felt something amiss in his words, but she dismissed them.
She stared at the spirit stones, still processing the transaction. With a grateful nod, she quickly gathered everything Shen Yuan had requested—an array of detoxification pills, poison resistance pills, Qi replenishing pills, healing pills, spirit beast repellant pills, and more.
Along with the pills, she handed over barrier talismans, strength-enhancing talismans, concealment talismans, a few rare teleportation and illusion-breaking talismans, and more.
As Shen Yuan began storing the items in his spatial ring, the stall owner leaned forward and spoke in a quieter tone. “Senior Brother, with this amount of preparation, are you expecting something more dangerous than the disciples of other sects or beasts inside the Mystique Realm?”
Shen Yuan paused for a moment, looking at her with a thoughtful expression. But he soon shook his head and replied with a light chuckle, “It’s not that I expect some dangers from other disciples…but we all know that Mystique Realms hold more than just enemies on the surface. There could be traps, unknown dangers, or even things none of us are prepared for. It’s always better to be cautious and prepare yourself as much as you can.”
The stall owner nodded in agreement. “You’re right. May the heavens bless your path, Senior Brother Shen Yuan.”
As Shen Yuan gave a final nod of thanks and turned around to leave, he felt a faint presence moving towards him.
He looked up to see a beautiful woman descending from the sky on a flying artifact, a graceful lotus-shaped platform made of pure crystal. The woman’s aura was gentle yet imposing, her mere presence silenced the entire bustling marketplace.
When Shen Yuan finally got a chance to look at her, he saw a violet-haired woman with sharp emerald-green eyes, wearing a tight robe that clung to her curvy figure, especially around her chest and hips, descending gracefully on a glowing lotus-shaped platform.
“Disciple Shen Yuan,” Elder Xiang Mei called out with a gentle smile, “It’s really hard to meet up with you.”
“Greetings Elder,” Shen Yuan cupped his fist and greeted her, then continued, “I just finished my closed-door cultivation, otherwise I would have met up with you way sooner.”
Elder Xiang Mei’s eyes glanced briefly at the storage ring placed in her corner, she scanned it with her divine sense and saw the pile of spirit stones, her brow raising slightly before she spoke again. “Looks like Senior Yuxin gave you quite a fortune to spend.”
Shen Yuan smiled calmly but didn’t correct her as these spirit stones were some of the things he got during his teenage years while doing daily missions.
“I’m here to escort you to the Mystique Realm. The other disciples have already left, but I was assigned to bring you there once your seclusion ended.” She continued seeing his reaction.
Shen Yuan nodded, his expression turning serious. “I appreciate that, Elder. I wanted to make a few preparations before joining them.”
Elder Xiang Mei nodded approvingly. “I saw your ‘few preparations’. Anyway, that’s wise of you. But it’s time to depart now. The realm has already been opened and the disciples entered, we don’t want you to lose this opportunity, we need to hurry.”
Shen Yuan took one last look around the marketplace and bid farewell to the stall owner before stepping onto the lotus-shaped flying artifact.
