"Mm. I've already borrowed it."
Yao Ranran nodded. "Alright then, this bead is yours."
Xiao Rong's eyes went wide, sparkling with delight. "That's great! Boss, you're the best!"
Yao Ranran curved her lips into a small smile and opened her spirit stone pouch. Inside, the spirit stones were piled like a small mountain.
The brilliance nearly blinded Xiao Rong. His grin, stretched from ear to ear, slowly faded. "B-Boss, how… how many spirit stones are in there?"
"Sect Master Zhou said it's a total of one hundred thousand spirit stones. If we split it nine to one, you'll get ten thousand spirit stones." Yao Ranran lowered her head slightly, smiling at him.
That smile was dazzling—painfully so.
Xiao Rong felt as if an arrow had shot straight into his chest. "No wonder she had agreed so readily today. So she had secretly raided Biliu Sect's treasury!"
"Boss, I know getting rich through robbery is quick, but you can't target Sect Master Zhou!"
And worse, none of it was even his share!
Xiao Rong's face flipped instantly, adopting a look of righteous indignation.
Yao Ranran counted the spirit stones leisurely, her tone light. "I did business with him. I don't even know where Biliu Sect's treasury is. One hundred thousand stones, not a single one missing. Sect Master Zhou is a man of his word."
Satisfied, Yao Ranran hefted the pouch and walked away, leaving Xiao Rong in the cold wind beneath the setting sun.
He should never have hoped Boss would show any brotherly affection in the face of spirit stones.
The hundred thousand spirit stones hadn't come solely from Sect Master Zhou.
After Yao Ranran had sent him the exact location where the secret realm would open, she suggested he resell it—twice, three times if he could. They would split the profit fifty-fifty.
Sect Master Zhou was efficient. In just a few days, he sold the news to several factions and earned two hundred thousand spirit stones.
Now, it was only a matter of waiting for the secret realm to open.
Outskirts of Shiyan City
An old man and a child sat together on a tree branch, chatting back and forth.
"Wow, so many people!" the younger one exclaimed in surprise.
The elder chuckled and nodded. "Yes, a lot of people indeed."
Below the tree, Yao Ranran remarked, "There really are quite a lot of people."
Not far away, a group of people hid behind the treetops, watching her every move.
"Is it normal for an expert to act like this? She looks like she's never seen the world before," Zhou Lili murmured, puzzled.
Zhou Shengqian smiled with confidence. "Li Li, don't be fooled by appearances. The more capable someone is, the less they bother to flaunt it. Just like me—although I'm the Sect Master of Biliu Sect and worth millions, I never show off lightly in public." He stroked his short beard, wearing a proud expression.
The disciples who had followed along silently thought: This is not convincing at all.
Zhou Lili didn't even glance at him. Her gaze stayed fixed on Yao Ranran. "Once we enter the secret realm, as long as we follow her, even if we can't get the meat, we can drink the soup."
Zhou Shengqian looked pleased. "Exactly. She may not want to take us along, but she can't stop us from 'happening to go the same way'."
Yao Ranran could never have guessed that by selling the secret realm's location early, she had inadvertently become a revered expert in the Zhou family's eyes.
Hour of You (late afternoon)
The sky blazed with crimson clouds, casting a rosy glow across everyone's faces.
On the tree branch, Xiao Rong stood up, his cheeks flushed with excitement. "Boss, Xiao Jiang, look over there! The fiery clouds are turning into a tiger, a giant python, a celestial crane!"
Xiao Jiang's eyes lit up. "The secret realm is about to open!"
"Wrap the vine around me," Yao Ranran instructed. "Beware the secret realm's gale—it could blow us apart."
"Alright!" Xiao Rong acknowledged.
"Alright!" The Zhou father and daughter echoed from their hiding spot.
Aside from a deep green vine binding Yao Ranran to Jiang Shengxiang, another transparent thread suddenly shot out from behind the tree, wrapping around her waist.
Yao Ranran blinked.
The Biliu Sect members held their breath.
Had she noticed?
"Achoo!" Yao Ranran rubbed her nose. "Why has my back felt chilly these past few days? Could someone be cursing me behind my back?"
The Biliu Sect group exhaled in relief.
So, she hadn't noticed after all.
The fiery clouds above twisted into endless shapes, shifting from one form to another.
Suddenly, a tiger-shaped blaze leapt from the surrounding clouds, pouncing straight toward the outskirts of Shiyan City.
It roared in the air, as though ready to devour them whole.
Some faint-hearted spectators dropped to the ground in fright, eyes squeezed shut.
Yao Ranran kept her gaze steady.
Mid-leap, the tiger dissolved into fire, blooming like an explosion in the sky.
From its center, a crimson vortex appeared.
"The secret realm is open!"
Someone shouted from the crowd, and in an instant, figures shot out from the woods.
Everyone knew—the earlier you entered, the better your chances of finding treasure.
Yao Ranran was already moving at lightning speed.
She charged ahead without hesitation.
Among the streaks of light, a blinding white glow trampled over the others without mercy, surging to the front.
Yao Ranran's eyes gleamed with resolve, her fists clenched tight. "The treasures are all mine!"
Against the crimson sky, several streaks of light plunged downward.
Biliu Sect's group followed close, climbing upward on beams of light.
"It's you! Zhou Shengqian, Sect Master of Biliu Sect!" a voice shouted from one of the falling lights, naming him with fury.
That single cry brought the wrath of the crowd upon Biliu Sect.
Dozens of hostile gazes pierced them like needles.
Sweat beaded on Zhou Shengqian's forehead.
It wasn't like he wanted to do this—he simply couldn't stop!
"Zhou Shengqian! You dare use my disciples as stepping stones? Once inside, this Zhēnrén will never let you go!"
A booming male voice roared in his ears. He turned to see a hot-tempered elder of Mingxia Sect glaring at him with fury.
Zhou Lili nearly lost her soul from fright. "Father, when we get out, will our sect still exist?!"
Biliu Sect was only a big fish in the small pond of Shiyan City, where spiritual energy was scarce. Outside, they were nothing. And now they had provoked a Golden Core elder of a demon cultivator sect—Biliu Sect was doomed.
Zhou Shengqian forced a calm face. "Stop panicking! If I break through to Golden Core inside, we might still stand a chance!
Let's get inside first!" He gritted his teeth, dragging his daughter and disciples as they stepped on beams of light, chasing after Yao Ranran.
Xiao Rong glanced back at the hazy figures behind them. "Why are the people back there crying?"
The Zhou family kept their misery to themselves.
"Phew, this place doesn't look bad," Yao Ranran said as she stepped through the vortex and landed on a soft patch of grass.
Xiao Rong and Jiang Shengxiang nodded in agreement—it looked safe enough.
Yao Ranran scanned the area, her gaze lingering briefly on a massive stone before moving on.
"Xiao Rong, sniff around. See if you can sense anything with the same aura as your transformation treasure."
"Okay!" Xiao Rong nodded automatically, then paused. "Wait, Boss, I don't have that kind of ability!"
Yao Ranran shook her head with regret.
Jiang Shengxiang let out a barely audible sigh.