Pay-to-Win Cultivation: I Get 10,000x Returns

Chapter 286: When Can the Three of Us Finally Bare It All?

The two women accepted their gifts, and a smile teeming with meaningful subtext curled Zhang Xian’s lips.

“Alright, enough business. Master, Yinyin, follow me into the cabin. I have some… things to explain to you.”

The moment the word “explain” dropped, Li Fuxi’s beautiful face flushed a deep, burning crimson.

She knew exactly what Zhang Xian’s pre-departure “explanations” entailed. They were usually long, deep, and thoroughly exhausting farewell sessions.

Lin Yinyin’s eyes, however, lit up with the chaos-loving gleam of a true troublemaker. She latched onto Li Fuxi’s arm, practically bouncing with excitement. “Oh, wonderful! Master, let’s go together! I want to hear Big Brother’s important instructions too!”

Li Fuxi nearly died of mortification on the spot. She shook off Lin Yinyin’s grip and transformed into a streak of desperate sword light, fleeing the flying boat as if a demon were nipping at her heels.

“You two chat! I… I have urgent matters to attend to!”

Watching her master’s retreating figure, Lin Yinyin sighed with profound regret. “Alas, Master is still too conservative. I wonder when the three of us can finally meet frankly, openly… and bare it all to listen to Big Brother’s teachings together?”

One month later.

Zhang Xian piloted the flying boat, arriving silently in the depths of the Western Region.

The region was unnervingly calm, bordering on desolate. The [Hatred] cultivators that once blotted out the sky had evaporated, leaving only a few scattered, weak-willed demonic cultivators wandering the ruins like lost ghosts.

Some demon race clans had even begun rebuilding their homes. With Nangong Yao’s complete annihilation, the thick, suffocating hatred that had plagued this land was finally beginning to thaw.

Zhang Xian didn’t alert a soul. Following the route etched in his memory, he returned to the ruins of the Animal Crossing Association.

The massive metallic [Stone Gate of Fate] still stood there, a silent monument to a bygone era.

Zhang Xian paused, slightly surprised. The heavy metal doors were wide open.

He had previously hidden a memory stone here, so he knew Taichu had visited. Realization struck instantly: aside from himself, the only other person capable of opening the Stone Gate of Fate was the deceased Yang Poxiao. This gate was likely where Yang Poxiao had met his end.

After a brief pause, he stepped through the open portal.

The chamber beyond was a coliseum of vast, empty space. The walls were forged from a mysterious alloy—neither gold nor jade, yet bearing a striking resemblance to Star Marrow Iron.

A faint hum of spiritual energy lingered in the air. The room was lined with metal shelves and sealed cabinets, but they were mostly bare, stripped clean by Taichu’s greedy hands.

Zhang Xian spread his Divine Sense, scanning the area until he found a second metal door at the far end. A single, crisp line of calculation glowed on its surface.

Seeing the math problem, Zhang Xian couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Heh. So there was another filter. No wonder Taichu got stuck here. Yang Poxiao really died unjustly—Taichu must have been stomping his feet in rage when he saw this.”

After confirming there were no traps, Zhang Xian strolled up to the door. With a casual flick of his finger, he traced spiritual light into the blank space, writing the number 732.

Rumble!

The heavy stone door groaned, the mechanism thundering as it slowly rose, revealing the inner sanctum.

This chamber mirrored the second in size and material, but the floor was littered with precision mechanical components.

In the center lay a conspicuous circular void. A massive device had clearly once sat there, but it had been removed—taken away by Wang Ye long ago.

Zhang Xian glanced around. A few jade bottles sat forgotten on the shelves, and several dim, lackluster spiritual treasures were scattered on the floor. In the corner lay the skeletal remains of unfinished puppets, their designs suspiciously similar to the Su Clan Battle Puppet.

He bent down, retrieving a metal fragment. It was heavy. His Divine Sense probed it—similar to Star Marrow Iron, but the purity and spirituality were trash. A degraded knockoff.

So Wang Ye was trying to reverse-engineer the Su Clan’s tech, Zhang Xian mused. Looks like his piracy skills weren’t quite up to par.

Is this it?

A faint sense of disappointment washed over him. The Drifting King’s legendary “treasure” was underwhelming.

The only items of value were the Middle Grade spiritual treasures on the floor. Outside, these would trigger a bloodbath among cultivators. To Zhang Xian, they were paperweights.

He swept the room one last time, confirming there were no hidden compartments. Finally, his gaze landed on a small pedestal near the central void.

A metal identity plate rested there quietly.

The front depicted a young man with a blindingly sunny smile and an air of high-spirited arrogance. The face was eighty to ninety percent identical to Su Yuanshen.

This was undoubtedly the Drifting King, Wang Ye.

On the back, a microscopic sound-retaining array was inscribed. Zhang Xian injected a wisp of spiritual power, and a series of fragmented audio logs—recorded at different times and dripping with varying emotions—began to echo through the empty chamber.

Message One:

“Experiment 441. Failed again. Sigh… I didn’t control the fire spirit root infusion properly and almost blew up the furnace… wait. Crap, wrong file! This isn’t my lab journal!”

“Ahem. Take two. To my successor! Congratulations. You’ve endured hardships and finally found this King’s treasure vault. Sure, it looks a bit shabby now, but I’ll keep expanding it. Just you wait—I’ve got a massive surprise prepared for you in the future.”

Zhang Xian sighed, shaking his head. Pity, Old Wang. You didn’t expect to perish so suddenly, did you? That surprise died with you.

Message Two:

“Being invincible for too long is honestly just lonely. Money? I have infinite money. Women? I have even more of those! But why can’t I break through to Soul Formation? It’s not scientific! Aren’t I the Child of Destiny? Where’s my promised Ascension?”

“But hey, on the bright side, my original body—this little grass spirit form—is actually OP. I found out that using my ‘essence’ to irrigate my Dao companions boosts their cultivation like crazy. Tsk tsk, now I don’t have to worry about my waifus falling behind. I really am the perfect husband.”

Message Three:

“I was too rash! I expanded the harem way too aggressively recently. I feel… drained. Like, physically hollowed out. Even doing photosynthesis every day isn’t enough to recharge. I need to R&D some heavy-duty supplements, stat.”

“I swear, Xiao Zi is absolutely the last one. Once I succeed with the pills, I’ll leave a few bottles here for you, successor. Uh, if you’re a female Fellow Daoist, I guess you can use them too? If you’re single… cough, you could always consider becoming this King’s little wife. Hahaha, just kidding!”

Hearing this, Zhang Xian waved his hand without a shred of hesitation, swiping a bottle labeled “Kidney Salvation” from the shelf and tucking it into his robes.

Message Four:

“Just got back from the Central Continent. Saw the human cultivation world. Even though I’m technically a grass spirit, I identify as human. But hey, humans and demons are family, right? Thanks to my hard work, the two races are finally coexisting.”

“I swear, Ah Yue is absolutely the last one. Also, I picked up artifact refining on this trip. In just two hundred years, this King is already the continent’s recognized Number One Grandmaster. That guy, Xiao Song… his nose is probably crooked from jealousy by now. Haha!”