Is It Wrong to Bully the Novice Village for System Rewards?

Chapter 213: I’d Rather Die Than Speak!

Bzzzt!

Massive pillars of Formation energy erupted into the night sky, weaving together like a heaven-encompassing net that instantly locked down the entire region.

Before the Grass Spirit Gang could even process their panic, the ambient energy solidified. Thick, glowing chains shot out from the void, ruthlessly binding the plant spirits in place.

“Crap! It’s the Heavenly Dipper Spirit-Binding Array!” Old Mountain Ginseng stared at the glowing cage in absolute terror, a sickening sense of dread plummeting into its roots.

This specific Formation was tailor-made to capture spiritual entities. While it barely tickled human cultivators, it was utterly devastating to plant spirits. Once deployed, even a Medicine King of its caliber couldn’t twitch a single leaf.

“Deputy Leader! What the hell is happening?!” Old Mountain Ginseng shrieked.

The surrounding space had turned viscous, sealing it like a bug trapped in amber. If not for Old Mountain Ginseng’s profound Spiritual Energy, it wouldn’t have even been able to move its mouth. The weaker Spirit Grass dolls had already passed out the exact second the Formation activated.

Meeting Old Mountain Ginseng’s desperate gaze, Qi Yuan instantly plastered on a look of utter, frantic bewilderment. “Gang Leader! I don’t know either! Hold on, I’ll save you—!”

Before he could finish his sentence, several terrifying streaks of light tore through the night sky. Each figure radiated an oppressive, overwhelming aura—these were clearly elite enforcers dispatched by the Supreme Mystery Sanctuary.

Qi Yuan’s face paled in dramatic horror. “Gang Leader, their forces are too strong! To preserve the last spark of our Grass Spirit Gang, I… I have to fall back! But don’t worry! Once I’m safe, I will definitely find a way to break you all out!”

He delivered the lines with such raw, tear-jerking sincerity that he sounded like a tragic, righteous hero making the ultimate sacrifice.

Hearing this impassioned vow, Old Mountain Ginseng hesitated. A moment ago, it had heavily suspected Qi Yuan of betraying them, but now…

Old Mountain Ginseng slumped in defeat. “Deputy Leader… go! Hurry! Leave us! Only come back when you have the power to save everyone!”

Even with its chaotic, plant-level intellect, Old Mountain Ginseng understood the basic stakes. At the brink of a total party wipe, blindly trusting the human’s loyalty was their only option. At least the kid promised to come back. Fake or not, it was a sliver of hope. If the Deputy Leader got captured too, the Grass Spirit Gang was officially extinct.

“Stay strong, Gang Leader! I will return!”

Tossing out one final, airy promise, Qi Yuan dove straight into the dirt and vanished without a trace.

Watching Qi Yuan’s flawless escape, Old Mountain Ginseng actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Seconds later, the blinding streaks of light crashed down in front of the trapped plant. The leader was a white-haired, rosy-cheeked old man in azure robes—the Internal Affairs Hall Master of the Supreme Mystery Sanctuary, a veteran Dao Integration realm expert. Because the medicine gardens fell under his jurisdiction, he had been personally dispatched by the Headmaster to oversee the capture.

Flanking him were half a dozen Sanctuary Elders, all radiating the terrifying pressure of the Dao Integration realm. Deploying such an absurdly overpowered lineup, on top of the prohibitively expensive Heavenly Dipper Spirit-Binding Array, proved just how zero-tolerance the Supreme Mystery Sanctuary was about securing this botanical bounty.

Spotting Old Mountain Ginseng, the Internal Affairs Hall Master’s eyes practically turned into glittering gold coins. Barely suppressing a manic grin, he strode forward, his tone oozing warmth. “Senior Ginseng, your presence graces our Supreme Mystery Sanctuary! It is our utmost honor. Since you are already here, why not stay a while longer? Allow us to properly fulfill our duties as hosts.”

The old man wasn’t blind. One glance told him this Old Mountain Ginseng was no ordinary weed; it was a Peerless Medicine King with at least 300,000 years of Cultivation! You couldn’t find a second one in the entire Cultivation world if you flipped the realm upside down. Its value was astronomical. Harnessed correctly, it could push the entire Supreme Mystery Sanctuary to a new echelon of power.

While mentally doing backflips of joy, the Hall Master couldn’t help but marvel at Qi Yuan.

To think our Holy Scion orchestrated a heist of this magnitude in total silence. He truly is a peerless monster of his generation!

“Hmph!” Old Mountain Ginseng sneered, its wrinkled face radiating unyielding defiance. “Despicable humans, save your hypocritical breath! We of the Spirit Grass race would rather shatter as jade than survive as unbroken clay!”

It lifted its chin, the very picture of a hardened war prisoner facing a firing squad. “If you think you can pry any information out of me, you’re dreaming! I’d rather die than speak!”

……

Meanwhile, inside the Main Hall of the Supreme Mystery Sanctuary.

Qi Yuan stepped through the towering, heavy bronze doors and immediately spotted Daoist Hengzhen seated on a meditation cushion. He hurried forward, bowing with the utmost respect. “Disciple greets Master.”

As he bowed, Qi Yuan’s heart skipped a beat. The aura rolling off Daoist Hengzhen was unfathomably deep and ethereal, as if the old man could shatter his mortal shackles at any second. Dao Integration Perfection. His Master had taken another step forward and was now barely half a breath away from the Tribulation Crossing realm.

“No need for formalities, my disciple,” Daoist Hengzhen said, waving a hand casually. But as his gaze landed on Qi Yuan, his expression completely froze. He bolted upright, his calm facade shattering. “You… it’s only been a few months! How are you already at Nascent Soul Perfection?!”

The last time they met, less than three months ago, this kid was only at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm. The speed of his advancement was frankly terrifying! What defied logic even more was that Qi Yuan’s Spiritual Energy was impossibly dense, and his foundation was rock-solid. There were zero signs of forced Cultivation or unstable pill-popping; it looked like he had spent decades meticulously tempering his core.

Qi Yuan offered a shy, modest smile. “Reporting to Master, your disciple simply had a stroke of good luck. I stumbled across a few Fated Chances during my travels, which pushed my Cultivation forward a bit.”

A few Fated Chances? Daoist Hengzhen’s eye twitched. Since when did the heavens hand out Fated Chances in wholesale bulk?!

The old Daoist looked at him with an incredibly complicated expression, feeling like his disciple was casually flexing on him. But he knew Qi Yuan’s Providence was monstrous. Geniuses of his caliber naturally tripped over ancient legacies on their morning walks. He decided not to pry.

Clearing his throat, Daoist Hengzhen changed the subject. “Your recent performance has greatly exceeded my expectations. Not only did you single-handedly broker an alliance between our sect and the Exquisite Sanctuary, but you also lured a literal hoard of ten-thousand-year Medicine Kings right to our doorstep.”

“The Supreme Mystery Sanctuary strictly rewards merit and punishes failure. Even though you are already the Holy Scion, such a colossal contribution must be compensated.” Daoist Hengzhen flicked his sleeve, sending a pristine jade vial floating into Qi Yuan’s hands.

“Inside is the Nine-Turn Nirvana Pill, a supreme treasure drawn from the Sanctuary’s deepest vaults. Consuming it permanently fortifies the physical body against thunder and fire, drastically increasing your odds of surviving a heavenly tribulation. Since you are on the verge of your Soul Formation Heavenly Tribulation, this Saint-grade Pill is exactly what you need.”

Qi Yuan’s eyes widened. He hastily bowed again, genuine gratitude in his voice. “Thank you for this supreme gift, Master!”

The Nine-Turn Nirvana Pill was the stuff of legends, a holy grail for high-tier cultivators. Even though it was technically a Low Grade Saint-grade Pill, its practical value utterly dwarfed other pills of the same tier, like the Heavenly Mechanism Body Tempering Pill.

Permanent immunity scaling against thunder and fire was insanely broken! A Pill like this boosted a cultivator’s chances of surviving a heavenly tribulation by at least 30 percent.

And Qi Yuan needed every percentage point he could scrape together. He knew his own catastrophic luck. The Heavenly Dao absolutely despised him. Back when he was merely condensing his Nascent Soul, the heavens had literally double-tapped him with lightning strikes.

When he eventually pushed into the Soul Formation realm, the resulting heavenly tribulation was guaranteed to be an apocalyptic nightmare far beyond what normal cultivators faced. To him, this Nine-Turn Nirvana Pill wasn’t just a reward; it was an absolute lifesaver!