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

Chapter 220: Hehehe, I’ve Come to Play With You

Back on the main flying ship, Zhang Xian stood alone on the deck, watching the sea of clouds rush beneath the hull. His expression was distant, his mind churning.

Xia Chengyan drifted over, noting his friend’s heavy mood. He leaned against the railing and offered a comforting pat. “Big Brother, the Drifting King has been missing for who knows how many years. It’s completely normal that we didn’t find a direct clue. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

Zhang Xian nodded slowly, though the depths of his eyes remained dark and unreadable. “Mm. Although we didn’t find the answers we came for, I gained some other insights. I plan to enter secluded cultivation in the sword chamber for a while. If anything happens on the ship, you and the others handle it.”

“Oh?” Xia Chengyan’s eyes widened playfully. “Big Brother, are you trying to break through to the Nascent Soul realm? Your Golden Core is already monstrous. If you hit Nascent Soul, won’t you just ascend on the spot?”

Zhang Xian offered a faint, polite smile. “Breaking through to Nascent Soul isn’t that simple.”

He turned and vanished into the inner cabin, leaving the young master to his speculations.

Inside the sword chamber, high-grade Spirit Stones were scattered across the floor like a galaxy of fallen stars, emitting a soft, breathing light.

Zhang Xian didn’t meditate. Instead, he sat cross-legged, meticulously reviewing the day’s events. The discovery of the Stone Gate of Fate, the subtle reactions of every person present, and the sudden, inexplicable spike in Nangong Yao’s Providence.

Above all, he couldn’t shake that feeling he had at the gate—the sensation of a needle pricking his back. That was no illusion.

Moments later, the heavy door of the chamber slid open without a sound. Long Zhi and Zhiyin walked in, one after the other.

Zhiyin didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “You called us here alone. Is something wrong?”

Her mechanical gaze shifted to the air beside Zhang Xian, where a translucent, pure white sword shadow was manifesting from the void.

” The Heart-Questioning Sword?” Zhiyin’s tone sharpened slightly. “If you’re summoning that, the situation must be grave. Do you suspect us? or someone else?”

“I’m not sure,” Zhang Xian said, his voice level. “But for what I plan to do next, I need absolute certainty. I have to offend you both for a moment.”

Long Zhi frowned, a spark of lightning crackling in her pupils. Yet, there was no anger in her voice, only decisive action. She stepped forward. “Do you suspect the Hatred in my body wasn’t fully cleansed? Good. Test me. I want to be at ease as well.”

Zhang Xian explained calmly, “Back in the Southern Region, when we fought against the [Desire] entity, there were cultivators hidden within the six major forces who went berserk at critical moments. They had no idea they were compromised until they snapped. I later learned of a technique called the [Heart Severing Art]. It can fabricate memories, trapping the victim in an illusion so deep they believe it is their reality.”

The Yunmiao Sect’s Heart-Questioning Sword targeted the true heart. It distinguished inner demons and pierced through falsehoods. Since learning it, Zhang Xian had upgraded the technique to Heaven-grade. No illusion, not even the Heart Severing Art, could hide from it.

“Forgive me.”

Zhang Xian took a deep breath. He brought two fingers together in a sword seal.

Whoosh!

Two beams of pure white sword light shot out like divine judgment, instantly submerging into the bodies of Long Zhi and Zhiyin.

Long Zhi’s body trembled. Her aura turned crystal clear, and the lightning seal between her brows blazed with sudden intensity. The sword light found no corruption, only pure elemental power.

Zhiyin, however, showed no reaction at all. A faint whir of gears echoed from her chest. “Whether it is the Heart Severing Art or the Heart-Questioning Sword, mental attacks are useless against a puppet.” Her voice remained flat.

Seeing them both unaffected, Zhang Xian finally exhaled, the tension in his shoulders dropping.

Zhiyin’s processor worked quickly. “So, you suspect Lin Xiaozhu? Or the people from the Animal Crossing Association?”

Zhang Xian didn’t deny it. “I don’t know who it is. Maybe I’m paranoid. But I have an inexplicable sense of crisis. Ever since we approached that Stone Gate of Fate, I’ve felt like hidden eyes are watching us.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I feel as if a giant hand has been manipulating everything behind the scenes since we entered the Western Region. Someone wanted to lure us to that gate. Someone wanted us to open it.”

“Evidence?” Long Zhi asked.

“Do you suspect Lin Jianyuan?” Zhiyin added.

“Not necessarily him.” Zhang Xian shook his head with a bitter smile. “I have zero proof. Just intuition and this creeping dread. What terrifies me most is that with my current Divine Sense, I observed everyone—Chengyan, Miss Xiaozhu, Little Liuli, the survivors—and I saw nothing. No flaws. No tells.”

“Of course,” he mused, “the danger might simply come from whatever is locked behind the Stone Gate of Fate.”

“High-level cultivators possess celestial-human sensing,” Zhiyin stated. “The universe sends vague premonitions of death. This instinct is rarely wrong. Your caution is justified.”

Zhang Xian fell silent for a moment. He flipped his hand, retrieving two jade pendants carved in the shape of birds and a small, sinister black doll.

“Take these.”

He handed the [United Heart Winged Pendants] and the [Nine Nether Tribulation Puppet] to Long Zhi and Zhiyin, explaining their functions.

“For the next few days, I will announce that I am in secluded cultivation. I will leave a puppet decoy here in the chamber, but my true body will be acting alone. These items are for your protection.”

Long Zhi accepted the items silently, tucking them into her robes. “I will cultivate quietly on this ship. I’ll keep an extra eye on the survivors for you.”

[Ding! Successfully gifted United Heart Winged Pendant. Triggered 1,000x Return.] [Obtained: United Heart Winged Pendant x1,000.] Item Description: Earth-grade exotic treasure. One-time use. Instantly teleports the user to the bonded partner’s side, ignoring most restrictions and distances. ‘Mandarin ducks fly wing to wing; a single thought to reach you.’

[Ding! Successfully gifted Nine Nether Tribulation Puppet. Triggered 1,000x Return.] [Obtained: Nine Nether Tribulation Puppet x1,000.] Item Description: Earth-grade secret treasure. Once refined, it can substitute for the Host’s death once and teleport them to a random safe location. Note: Substitution fails if the damage exceeds the puppet’s endurance limit.

[Ding! Zhiyin Favorability +0. Current Favorability: 35.]

Zhiyin pushed the items back across the floor. “I have a puppet body. I cannot use your secret treasures. Furthermore, as a consciousness that can inhabit countless avatars, this physical shell is expendable. Do not waste them on me.”

She tilted her head. “But the Western Region is vast. How will you investigate alone?”

A strange, inscrutable smile curled the corners of Zhang Xian’s lips. “Who said I’m going to investigate?”

Seeing the confusion on their faces, his smile deepened—not with warmth, but with a hunter’s anticipation. “I simply discovered that an old friend has also come to the Western Region. I plan to go… have a chat with her.”

The two women asked no further questions and silently withdrew from the chamber.

Late at night.

The two flying ships sailed smoothly through the stratosphere, encased in tranquil protective barriers. Below them lay the endless expanse of the Western Region’s scorched, black earth.

At the bottom of the main ship, a concealed maintenance hatch slid open just a crack.

A shadow—insubstantial as smoke—slipped out. It merged perfectly with the boundless night, causing not even a ripple in the ambient spiritual energy.

Above, the two ships continued their journey, accelerating like magnificent meteors until they vanished over the horizon.

The shadow dropped silently, landing light as a feather on a desolate mountain ridge.

The figure flipped his hand, and a large, tattered black robe materialized, draping over his frame. From beneath the fabric came the sickening sound of bones shifting and gears clicking—crack, clack, snap.

The tall, upright figure collapsed in on itself, becoming short, hunchbacked, and twisted.

The icy night wind carried a voice that sounded like grinding stones.

“Cough, cough! Hehehe…”

“I, Zhang Xian… oh no. I, the Thousand Mechanism True Person, have come to play with you.”

As he spoke, he raised a withered hand. A weak, ghostly green flame ignited at his fingertips.

It was a tracking mark he had planted on Nangong Yao years ago in the Southern Region. Originally, he had intended to hunt her down immediately, but life had gotten in the way. The mark’s range was short, useless across continents.

But now? Now they were neighbors.

The hunchbacked figure in the black robe swayed uncontrollably. Suddenly, his body blurred.

Whoosh!

Dozens of shadows exploded from him, scattering in all directions. Then, each shadow split again, and again. Like a blooming firework of darkness, hundreds of clones scuttled across the landscape, disappearing into the night.