Chapter 96: A Surge in Orders! The Sect Competition Approaches (1/2)

Soon, Ye Qingning and Master Kongming walked out from the partition, drawing the attention of everyone present.

Everyone was eager to find out whether Ye Qingning had sold the Fanyin Bell to the Fahua Zen Monastery.

Upon seeing Master Kongming holding the Fanyin Bell, anyone who wasn’t blind would know that Ye Qingning had indeed sold the bell to the Fahua Zen Monastery.

There were still many people quietly plotting to kill and rob, but now they all grew silent.

Even though the person wasn’t Kongwang, as the abbot, Kongming’s strength was equally formidable. No one was foolish enough to want to become enemies with the Fahua Zen Monastery.

Kongming, seeing through the situation, spoke seriously in front of everyone: “The Fanyin Bell is a treasure of the Buddhist sect. Ye benefactor is kind-hearted, and has graciously donated the Fanyin Bell to our temple.”

“I hope everyone will not cause trouble for her. Anyone who harms her will be opposing our temple.”

Kongming deliberately used the term “donated,” signaling to everyone present that Ye Qingning not only no longer possessed the Fanyin Bell, but even lacked spirit stones. This was clearly to prevent others from targeting her.

There were still some who were curious about how many spirit stones Ye Qingning had received for selling the Fanyin Bell, but now they had completely given up on that idea.

Kongming’s words also served as an additional layer of protection for Ye Qingning.

The Fahua Zen Monastery was a sacred place of Buddhism, and no one wanted to become an enemy of the entire Buddhist sect.

“I won’t disturb you any longer, benefactor Ye. Please take care,” Kongming said, joining his hands in a gesture of respect before leading his group of monks away.

Although they had left, the discussions about Ye Qingning did not cease.

“I didn’t expect that the Ye family would so generously donate the Fanyin Bell to the Fahua Zen Monastery.”

“This isn’t generosity; it’s cleverness. A cultivator at the Golden Core stage carrying such a treasure would inevitably attract trouble. By giving it to the Fahua Zen Monastery, she gains their protection and can rest easy.”

“I remember she said her surname is Ye. Isn’t this the same Ye family that had a conflict with the Penglai Sect? Now that the Ye family is protected by the Fahua Zen Monastery, doesn’t that mean they’ve gained a powerful ally?”

“That’s not right. See that young man? He’s the son of Qilian. These people are calling him ‘Shixiong,’ so they must be disciples of Penglai. It’s obvious that she is the foster daughter that the Ye family wanted to take from Penglai.”

“The Ye family put a curse on her, and you think she would still consider herself a part of the Ye family?”

“True… I wonder if the Ye family will regret today’s events when they find out.”

…

The discussions continued endlessly, but Ye Qingning acted as though she hadn’t heard them.

Now that she had become the center of attention, she had no intention of opening the source stones anymore. She signaled to Qi Feifan and the others to leave.

Qi Feifan didn’t want to leave, but having lost all his spirit stones, there was nothing to do but leave.

As for the auction house, they didn’t go either. After Ye Qingning paid the spirit stones to Yi Jiazi, she and Si Qian left directly for the teleportation array to return to Penglai.

Along the way, Si Qian and Song Ziyan didn’t stop talking, every word and sentence expressing their happiness for Ye Qingning.

They also understood why Ye Qingning wanted to return to Penglai immediately. First, Qi Feifan had no more spirit stones, and the richest among them had nothing left, so there was no point in going to the auction house.

Second, after the Fanyin Bell incident, news had already spread through the spiritual jade slips. While no one would think of killing and robbing her anymore, her whereabouts had been exposed.

The Ye family would soon come to capture her, and by now, they were likely on their way.

As expected, not long after Ye Qingning’s group left, the Ye family arrived—only to find that they had missed her.

Chapter 96: A Surge in Orders! The Sect Competition Approaches (2/2)

Ye Xin didn’t care whether Ye Qingning had received the protection of the Fahua Zen Monastery. In his eyes, as long as the Ye family was strong enough, the Fahua Zen Monastery was nothing. When the time came, the entire immortal sect would bow to the Ye family!

Back at Penglai Sect, Si Qian joyfully ran to tell Si Nan about the events of the day.

Ye Qingning returned to her courtyard and saw a note on Wei Wei’s door, indicating that Wei Wei was in seclusion, trying to break through to the Golden Core stage.

As soon as she entered her room, the system eagerly flew before Ye Qingning: “Ning Ning, Ye Hanyue must have already found out that you’ve stolen her chance. She’s probably going crazy right now! Just thinking about it makes me feel so relieved!”

Ye Qingning hadn’t expected to obtain such a fortune at the spiritual market, so she was naturally in a good mood.

She also took out the jade token and mustard seed pouch that Master Kongming had given her.

“Quick, let’s see how many spirit stones that monk gave you!” The system wasn’t unfamiliar with spirit stones, but it found the ones taken from others particularly sweet, especially since they originally belonged to that bitch Ye Hanyue.

Though Ye Qingning was also money-minded, she still held a certain reverence for Buddhist temples, so she hadn’t planned to take too many spirit stones. But when Master Kongming had given her the mustard seed pouch, she had a feeling it wouldn’t be lacking in spirit stones.

Sure enough, after scanning with her divine sense, she found that the mustard seed pouch contained a total of 200,000 high-grade spirit stones!

What did 200,000 high-grade spirit stones mean? That was equivalent to 20 million top-grade spirit stones! Even ordinary aristocratic families wouldn’t be able to take that much out at once, let alone small sects and factions, who would have to give up everything to come up with such a sum.

In her past life, 200,000 high-grade spirit stones would have been enough to support the entire Luo Yun Sect. Now, she was even wealthier than the second-generation immortals who had lost everything.

The best part was that all these spirit stones were hers, and she no longer had to give them to anyone.

In October, the golden autumn slowly unfolded, with a gentle breeze carrying a faint chill and the rich fragrance of fruit. This was the harvest season in the mortal world and also signaled that the immortal sect competition was fast approaching.

Ye Qingning slowly opened her eyes. Over the past three months, she had been cultivating almost day and night.

During her rest periods, she didn’t forget to reply to messages in the jade slips. The majority of the messages were asking how many spirit stones were needed to help block the thunder tribulation.

She had already given a unified response: 30,000 high-grade spirit stones.

Only those preparing for the Nascent Soul thunder tribulation could afford such a cost. The power of a Nascent Soul thunder tribulation was not to be underestimated. Many cultivators had failed in their tribulations in the past.

In the worst case, they would lose all their cultivation, or even die, with their physical body turning to dust, vanishing without a trace.

Even with defensive magical tools, the price of high-grade defense tools was not low, and most of them had a limited number of uses before breaking into useless scrap.

This was under the best of circumstances. If cultivators weren’t prepared when the tribulation struck, it would truly be hopeless, and they could only watch themselves be struck dead by the lightning.

Therefore, the price of 30,000 high-grade spirit stones for blocking the thunder tribulation was not considered high. No one would think that their life wasn’t worth that much.

As a result, her response spread quickly through the various sects, and almost everyone became eager to act.

Those lacking spirit stones were already making plans to gather them, while others, eager to save their spirit stones, decided to face the thunder tribulation themselves, risking everything.

Ye Qingning’s orders surged. Within just three months, dozens of people had already confirmed their need for her assistance in blocking the tribulation, not including those who still wanted to reserve but lacked spirit stones.

However, the thunder tribulation wasn’t something that could be scheduled on a whim, so no specific dates had been set. Those with enough spirit stones would be dealt with first.

She was also thinking about asking for a deposit from those with breakthroughs coming soon, in case they backed out last minute. Who would she turn to then?

Just as she returned to her thoughts, there was a knock at the door. It was clearly the voices of Si Qian and Wei Wei, signaling that it was time to set off for the Floating Sky Immortal Island.