'Is Meng Yan's strength truly this great? Or did he have help?'
Lin Qingzhu recalled that Meng Yan shouldn't have been this powerful.
She carefully inspected the battlefield. Although the bodies had been turned into meat paste by a heavy hammer, the battle had only just ended, and a lingering aura that didn't belong to Meng Yan remained in the air.
'Did Meng Yan find another helper? But there's no one in the Qingyuan Sect who can be spared right now. Could it be someone from outside?'
A series of doubts flashed through her mind.
However, she didn't dwell on it too long. She was simply surprised that Meng Yan could recruit an ally of this caliber.
To her, this was also good news. Currently, she and Meng Yan were the only effective fighters at the Qi Refinement stage in Qingshi County. With so many sects watching them, having Meng Yan slay more enemy geniuses would significantly reduce the pressure on her.
Once she confirmed that Meng Yan was the victor, she didn't linger. She swung her sword, unleashing sword qi that swept across the battlefield, clearing the remaining traces of aura.
She also didn't want the other sects to discover Meng Yan's helper. If that happened, it would only attract more enemies, which would be detrimental to her.
Having finished her cleanup, Lin Qingzhu quickly departed.
Meanwhile, after fleeing a great distance from the battlefield, Meng Yan and Qi Ping found a secluded spot and quickly emptied the contents of the storage bags.
Meng Yan skillfully sorted through the items, immediately discarding several objects like command tokens, jade pendants, and spirit insects. He tossed them aside along with some useless junk.
"Brother Qi, these items can be used to track our location, so they must be discarded. Let's move to another location."
"Good!"
Qi Ping didn't doubt him. In fact, upon hearing this, he just wanted to run even faster. Even if Meng Yan hadn't said anything, he wouldn't have kept them.
If he weren't currently disguised as a middle-aged man, he would have long since wrapped himself up in something to hide his identity.
These three were genius disciples of major sects; Qi Ping had no desire to deal with any subsequent revenge.
A short while later, the two of them set off again at full speed. Only after traveling a great distance did they finally stop.
When Meng Yan displayed the contents of the three storage bags once more, not only Qi Ping, but even Meng Yan found it hard to stay composed. These people were truly rich!
Just the spirit stones alone amounted to 16,671!
That wasn't even counting the various manuals, spells, pills, herbs, weapons, talismans, and more...
The preliminary estimated value exceeded forty thousand spirit stones! And that didn't even include the value of the various manuals and knowledge.
Furthermore, there were significant quantities of everything. It was unclear how many people these three had plundered to accumulate such a fortune, as the items clearly came from many different sources.
Qi Ping was slightly dazed by the sheer amount of loot. He and his bees worked tirelessly for a year, and even without spending anything, they would find it hard to save twenty thousand stones. Yet here it was, in a single haul.
One could only say that these people were indeed the geniuses of their sects, and having survived this long in the war, it was only natural for them to be wealthy.
However, the cost and risk were also exceptionally high.
As geniuses of their respective sects, their deaths would surely attract a great deal of attention. If it weren't for the fact that Meng Yan—the disciple of a Golden Core elder from another major sect—was shouldering the responsibility, Qi Ping would never have dared to clash with such people, let alone kill and rob them.
The division of the spoils was straightforward.
Meng Yan originally suggested giving two-thirds of the loot to Qi Ping because Qi Ping had played a greater role in the fight and had come specifically to help him. Had it not been for Qi Ping, he might have fallen at their hands.
But Qi Ping refused the offer.
The reason was simple. Firstly, Meng Yan had spent a significant amount to set up the Rank One perfected interference formation. Secondly, Meng Yan would be the one bearing the brunt of the hostility and potential revenge from the other sects.
Ultimately, they agreed on a simple fifty-fifty split.
Qi Ping had a slight advantage in the distribution because Meng Yan gave him the right of first refusal.
Since Qi Ping had poor channels for liquidating goods, he chose the spirit stones, along with some spiritual herbs, seeds, and a portion of the cultivation knowledge and manuals.
The wooden sword of the Seven Star Sword Sect genius, for instance, was something the man had carried and improved since his early days as a mortal. It recorded his entire journey from first picking up the sword to grasping the Slaughter Sword Intent. It was a rare treasure.
Even broken, its value was immense. In a place like the Qingyuan Sect where sword cultivators were everywhere, it could be sold for a high price.
However, it was too difficult for Qi Ping to sell, and it was far too eye-catching. Giving it to Meng Yan was the best choice.
Qi Ping took fifteen thousand spirit stones. After repaying the five thousand he owed Meng Yan, he was left with ten thousand.
As for the manuals, they followed the usual routine: Meng Yan would arrange for copies to be made and given to Qi Ping.
Following this, Qi Ping took his leave first. He didn't want to linger in this area a moment longer.
After Qi Ping left, Meng Yan also found a place to hide. In the current situation, he didn't dare show his face easily.
However, when he thought about Qi Ping's use of the Explosive Flame technique, he realized it was even better than his own. The entire set had also been mastered to perfection.
Thinking of this, Meng Yan couldn't help but marvel at Qi Ping's immense talent.
Such talent would be more than enough to join a great sect. But then he thought of the current state of his fellow disciples in the Qingyuan Sect and understood—not joining was actually quite good!
After traveling a great distance from the battlefield, Qi Ping split the loot into several storage bags and had the bees bury them in various random locations.
After doing something this big, he decided it was best to play it safe.
After all, based on the current situation, even Meng Yan was just a pawn that could be eaten at any time. Was Meng Yan's judgment necessarily accurate? Qi Ping didn't think so.
Therefore, he kept only the items he needed for the immediate future in one bag—such as spiritual herbs and the fire-attribute body refinement manual from the Sky-Fire Pavilion disciple. He planned to retrieve the rest once he confirmed there was no danger. He would be as steady as possible.
Only then did he transform into a bee and return to his mountain peak.
Once back and having confirmed there were no hidden risks, he turned his thoughts to today's harvest.
Recalling the loot, his heart throbbed with a bit of excitement.
He had struck it rich in one go!
Not only had he cleared his debt to Meng Yan, but he also had an extra ten thousand spirit stones. This directly solved some of his immediate needs for buying new spirit beasts and Foundation Establishment manuals.
Though there was still a gap, he wouldn't have to spend a massive amount of time saving up.
However, among today's harvest, the thing that captivated Qi Ping the most wasn't the spirit stones or the manual, but a single seed!
"Star-Spirit Wood seed..."
"Star-Spirit Wood. A Rank Two Low-Grade spiritual tree with the ability to gather spiritual energy. It can transform the soil around its roots into a spirit-dense area..."
Star-Spirit Wood was one of the few spiritual trees capable of gathering energy. Its requirements for spiritual land were low, and it could absorb and gather energy on its own to create a small area of spiritual land.
With this, Qi Ping could create his own spiritual land.
But that wasn't the most important part. Rather, he suddenly had a new idea for his Level 5 Druid advancement: The Shepherd of Trees!