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

Chapter 222: Senior Sister, I’m Coming!

Today, the outskirts of the Imperial City were bustling. It was the day of Pillar Duke Yu Yun’s monthly “Cultivation Mobilization Conference,” and a sea of people had gathered to witness the spectacle.

Hidden deep within the throng was Zhao Chengyue.

His plan was simple: wait for the Spirit Root testing segment, get close to the stage, and deliver a thunderous, fatal strike to the Pillar Duke.

There was just one problem.

The Pillar Duke was a windbag of catastrophic proportions.

Yu Yun had been droning on for over an hour. His opening remarks were a meandering river of nonsense, with no sign of reaching the main topic. He spoke with such passion that spittle flew from his mouth, glistening in the sunlight.

Zhao Chengyue stood there, his blood pressure spiking with every wasted second. His patience snapped.

I am a dignified Golden Core expert. Why am I suffering through this torture?

To hell with the plan. Killing him now would be a mercy to everyone!

“Shut up, you noisy dead fatty! Go to hell!”

Zhao Chengyue roared, his camouflage dropping as his Golden Core cultivation erupted. He raised a hand, and the sky turned red. A torrent of scorching fire rain materialized from the void, crashing down toward the high platform with apocalyptic fury.

On stage, Yu Yun was in the middle of a particularly flowery sentence when he felt the sudden heat. He looked up, saw the descending inferno, and his round face went pale as a sheet.

“Holy shit!”

His reaction was faster than thought. With a strange yelp, his hand blurred, slapping a yellowish-brown talisman onto the stage floor.

Buzz!

A thick, earthy-yellow barrier sprang up instantly, encasing him and his personal guards in a dome of light.

BOOM!

The fire rain hammered against the shield, the explosions deafening. The barrier groaned and fractured, spiderweb cracks spreading across its surface. Shockwaves ripped outward, sending the terrified crowd tumbling like bowling pins. screams filled the air.

“What rat dares to attack this Duke?!” Yu Yun bellowed, equal parts terrified and furious.

He locked eyes with the old man whose aura was surging like a beacon in the crowd. With a sharp gesture, a flying sword gleaming with cold light shot from his sleeve, whistling through the air straight at Zhao Chengyue’s throat.

The crowd erupted into chaos, stampeding in all directions.

Zhao Chengyue snorted. He flicked his sleeve, sending a streak of fire to intercept the blade.

Clang!

The flying sword was knocked aside, spinning wildly. But the impact sent a jolt of numbness up Zhao Chengyue’s arm. He blinked in surprise.

Good heavens. A mere Foundation Establishment cultivator owns a High-Grade Magical Artifact? This guy is filthy rich… he must be connected to that brat Zhang Xian!

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he sensed a violent, unstable fluctuation from the spinning sword he had just deflected. The spiritual energy within it was collapsing.

“Hm? Self-destruction?!”

Zhao Chengyue’s face went white. Traumatic memories of Zhang Xian’s dirty tactics flashed through his mind.

Whoosh.

He retreated backward frantically. But he wasn’t fast enough.

While he was still mid-air, a blinding bolt of lightning—triggered by a secondary trap mechanism on the sword—crashed down without warning.

CRACK!

Zhao Chengyue was struck squarely. Smoke curled from his body as he slammed into the ground, charred and disheveled.

“Damn it! This cheap tactic… it’s exactly the same as that little thief Zhang Xian!”

Zhao Chengyue spat out a mouthful of soot, trembling with rage. He swore to flay this fat bastard alive.

Seeing his sneak attack land, Yu Yun didn’t hesitate for a second. He didn’t stay to fight. He leaped onto a second flying sword and fled toward the city outskirts at breakneck speed.

“Trying to run?”

Zhao Chengyue launched himself into the sky. A Golden Core cultivator’s speed was far superior to a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s; the gap between them shrank rapidly.

Ahead, Yu Yun was screaming internally.

It’s over! It’s over! This old lunatic is definitely a Golden Core expert! This has to be one of Zhang Xian’s enemies coming to settle a grudge! I’ve used my reserve talismans and my self-destruct sword, and he’s still coming!

Feeling the murderous intent locking onto his back, despair washed over the Pillar Duke.

Is this it? Is my lifetime of fame and glory ending here?

Senior Sister… I’m coming to see you!

Just as he prepared to close his eyes and accept his fate—

Swish.

A beam of sword light, clear and fluid as water, swept past him from behind.

It moved with the grace of a celestial being descending from the heavens, bypassing Yu Yun and slashing straight at the pursuing Zhao Chengyue.

Zhao Chengyue didn’t even see it coming.

He only felt a titanic force slam into his chest.

Bang!

He was swatted out of the sky like a fly, crashing into the earth with a meteoric boom. A massive crater formed on impact, and Zhao Chengyue vomited a fountain of blood.

A crisp, slightly amused female voice floated into Yu Yun’s ear.

“Eh? Little Fatty Duke, what trouble have you gotten yourself into this time? You look like a stray dog running for its life.”

Hearing that voice, Yu Yun nearly burst into tears of relief.

He whipped his head around. Floating beside him was a young woman in a simple, elegant cyan dress. Her features were picturesque, her temperament ethereal. She hovered there, looking down at the smoking crater with mild curiosity.

It was Lin Yinyin.

In recent years, while Zhang Xian was developing the Great Liang Minor World, Lin Yinyin had grown bored at the Yunmiao Sect and often came over to help. She had been nearby, browsing a bookstore, when she sensed the Golden Core energy fluctuations and rushed over.

“Senior Lin!” Yu Yun pointed a trembling finger at the crater. “It must be an enemy your husband provoked! He couldn’t beat the main target, so he came here to bully honest people like me!”

“Oh?”

Lin Yinyin raised a delicate eyebrow. Her gaze pierced through the settling dust below. When the smoke cleared enough to reveal the bloody, twisted face of the old man, her eyes widened in genuine surprise.

“It’s you! How are you here?”

At the bottom of the pit, Zhao Chengyue struggled to lift his head. When his vision cleared and he recognized the woman floating above him, his pupils shrank to pinpricks.

Lin Yinyin!

Years ago, she had been nothing but a lowly Qi Refining girl working in his mine. A servant. An ant.

But just now… he hadn’t even been able to withstand a casual strike from her sword. If not for the Shadow Cloak absorbing the brunt of the impact, he would be dead.

Humiliation and hatred boiled over, burning away his rationality.

When enemies meet, eyes blaze with fury!

He clawed his way to his feet, a maniacal, bloody smile stretching across his face.

“Hahaha! Good! Truly excellent! I never expected to find you here too! Today, I will torture you to death! I can’t wait to see the look on Zhang Xian’s face when he finds your corpse!”

He didn’t hesitate. He pulled out the pitch-black Blood Incinerating Soul Burning Pill and swallowed it whole.

The pill dissolved instantly.

“ARGHHH!”

Zhao Chengyue threw his head back and roared, a sound of pure agony and madness. His body visibly swelled, muscles tearing and expanding. His skin turned a gruesome crimson, veins bulging like snakes beneath the surface.

Violent spiritual power erupted from his core, climbing frantically.

Golden Core Middle Stage… Golden Core Late Stage…

His aura slammed into the peak of the Golden Core realm. It was unstable, chaotic, and filled with the scent of destruction. He could feel his dantian cracking and his meridians burning to ash, but he didn’t care.

He had power. He had enough power to kill Lin Yinyin.

Lin Yinyin’s expression finally turned grave. She could see his Golden Core collapsing. He was burning his very soul for a moment of supreme power. He intended to drag her down to hell with him.

“DIE!”

Zhao Chengyue felt invincible. Wreathed in roaring flames, he launched himself at her, a human meteor desperate to incinerate everything in his path.

Lin Yinyin remained calm. She raised her hand, her fingers moving in a gentle, rhythmic seal.

Yunmiao Sword Scripture.

Layer upon layer of water-blue sword light manifested, flowing like ocean waves, soft yet relentless. The waves crashed down to meet the fire.

Zhao Chengyue laughed wildly, pushing his flames to the limit. I am unstoppable!

Reality, however, was cruel.

BOOM!

The “gentle” waves of sword light hit him with the weight of a collapsing mountain.

For the second time in a minute, Zhao Chengyue was swatted out of the air and smashed back into the earth. The impact was deeper, louder, and far more definitive.