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

Chapter 245: If You Are Poor, Don’t Bother Cultivating

Xuan Zhao struggled to find his footing. As he met Zhang Xian’s icy gaze—a look one might give to an insignificant ant—he felt his self-esteem being trampled into the dust.

He was the dignified Palace Master of Xuan Zhao Palace, a Grand Cultivator at the late Nascent Soul stage. Yet, he was being treated with such utter contempt by a junior who had only just entered the realm?

“Junior… how dare you humiliate me!”

He roared, a mixture of shame and fury exploding within him. The twelve streaks of profound light behind him surged violently. Simultaneously, he spat out a mouthful of essence blood onto his life-bound spirit sword.

The blade shrieked, shimmering with blinding golden light and an intimidating sharpness. Yet, in Zhang Xian’s eyes, it was merely a Low Grade Spirit Treasure. It was only through Xuan Zhao’s desperate infusion of pure spiritual power that it barely managed to exude the pressure of a Middle Grade artifact.

“Die!”

Xuan Zhao merged with his sword, transforming into a golden rainbow that tore through the air, lunging straight for Zhang Xian.

Zhang Xian’s expression remained flat. He raised his sword to meet the charge.

It took less than ten moves.

With a casual swing, Zhang Xian shattered Xuan Zhao’s layers of golden defense and blasted him backward once again.

This time, Xuan Zhao could no longer suppress his injuries. While still in mid-air, he retched, spraying a massive mist of blood. His protective spiritual light dimmed to a flicker, and his magnificent, gold-embroidered Palace Master’s robe was half-incinerated by the clinging black flames, leaving him looking utterly wretched.

He crashed to the ground, half-kneeling, his aura withering rapidly. His face was a mask of disbelief and terror as he stared at the black flames on Zhang Xian’s body, which showed no sign of weakening.

“Impossible!” he rasped, his voice hoarse. “We have fought fiercely until now… why hasn’t your aura diminished in the slightest? What forbidden Pill did you swallow?”

Zhang Xian stood with his sword lowered, his breathing even. “To deal with trash like you, I need to pop pills?”

He raised a finger and pointed at the sky.

Xuan Zhao instinctively looked up. His pupils contracted to pinpricks.

Only now did he realize that, unnoticed, a phantom of a colossal ancient tree had been suspended in the sky above them. A rain of green light drifted down like a sheer curtain, enveloping nearly half of the small world.

Xuan Zhao began to tremble.

He finally understood. From the very beginning, his opponent had been fighting while maintaining this wood-element recovery technique. While Xuan Zhao was consuming his reserves, Zhang Xian was effectively using the battle to sustain himself.

The Five Elements Spiritual Roots… terrifying to such an extent!

Xuan Zhao looked down at his own life-bound spirit sword, which was now riddled with hairline cracks. Boundless humiliation and jealousy surged in his chest.

“If not for your Spirit Treasure’s grade being far superior to mine,” he roared unwillingly, “you would never be my match!”

Zhang Xian looked at him as if looking at an idiot.

“Since you are so poor,” Zhang Xian replied calmly, “you really shouldn’t try to imitate how others cultivate.”

“Poor…?”

Xuan Zhao trembled with rage, nearly spitting out another mouthful of blood.

As the Palace Master of one of the Upper Six Palaces of the Guiyuan Sect, he controlled vast resources. The tribute materials and Spirit Stones he received annually were beyond count. This was the first time in his life anyone had dared to call him poor.

“I’ll drag you down with me!!”

With a guttural scream, he forcibly ignited all his Potential, going so far as to burn the very origin of his Nascent Soul. The twelve golden lights before him swelled to a frenzy, transforming into twelve titanic swords of light that tore through the heavens, crashing down toward Zhang Xian like falling stars.

Zhang Xian’s eyes turned cold. He flipped his spirit sword.

“Freeze.”

Massive pillars of ice shot skyward, intercepting the attack. With a deafening crack, all twelve golden light swords were instantly frozen solid in mid-air.

“Impossible!!”

The madness on Xuan Zhao’s face froze, replaced by an abyss of horror. His desperate, life-burning strike had been neutralized so effortlessly?

The absolute disparity in power instantly devoured his last shred of hope.

Escape!

He abruptly pulled out a shuttle-shaped escape Ephemeral Artifact, intending to tear through space and flee at any cost.

He poured his energy into it.

Silence. The artifact remained inert.

Zhang Xian’s icy voice drifted over. “Within the ‘Water Curtain Heavenly Radiance’ of my [Yunmiao Sword Scripture], space has long been sealed. You cannot escape.”

A bone-chilling despair spread from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. The escape artifact clattered from his numb fingers to the ground, but he didn’t even notice.

He, the Palace Master of Xuan Zhao Palace, a late Nascent Soul Grand Cultivator… was he actually going to Perish here? At the hands of a junior who had just stepped into the realm?

At that moment, Zhang Xian pointed two fingers forward. A streak of pure white, vast sword intent—the [Heart-Questioning Sword]—shot into Xuan Zhao’s body.

Xuan Zhao stiffened.

However, there was no change in his expression. The madness and hatred in his eyes remained clear.

Zhang Xian understood immediately. As expected. The [Great Dream Evolution Art] isn’t permanent mind control. Someone like Xuan Zhao is a core fanatic of Grandmaster Taichu; his loyalty is voluntary.

Xuan Zhao looked at him, suspicious and alarmed. “What did you do to me?”

“I can give you one last chance to live,” Zhang Xian said indifferently. “Tell me Taichu’s full plan, and the true purpose of the Guiyuan Sect.”

Xuan Zhao was stunned for a moment. Then, he burst into a fit of maniacal laughter.

“Hahahahaha! What do you think you are? You think you can make This Seat betray my sect?”

The Spiritual Qi around him surged erratically. Intense golden light erupted from his pores as he squeezed every last drop of power from his collapsing foundation.

“Zhang Xian! You are still living in a dream! Your Yunmiao Sect is likely facing annihilation at this very moment! You’d be better off thinking about how to go back and collect your master’s corpse!!”

Zhang Xian’s expression instantly darkened. “What did you say?”

But Xuan Zhao did not answer. With a face twisted by madness and vindictive glee, he coalesced the remaining golden light behind him. Like a moth flying into a flame, fearless of death, he launched his final, suicidal charge.

Zhang Xian’s eyes turned completely cold.

He easily deflected the incoming assault with a wave of his hand. Simultaneously, he pointed a finger toward the sky and uttered a single, sharp command.

“Fall.”

A bolt of destructive lightning hammered down from the heavens, striking Xuan Zhao directly.

Xuan Zhao did not dodge. As the thunder coursed through his body, choking his breath, he let out a final, wild roar, trying to force his golden lights to pierce Zhang Xian’s defense.

But it was futile. Even as his Nascent Soul disintegrated and his Spiritual Qi ran dry, the golden lights failed to scratch the water curtain sword barrier.

Finally, Xuan Zhao’s charging figure stiffened.

He let out a short, desperate gurgle. The light in his eyes faded rapidly. He fell to his knees, his head tilting up to look at Zhang Xian’s towering figure one last time, his expression freezing into a mask of ultimate unwillingness.

The golden light dissipated into nothingness.

Zhang Xian looked down at the corpse with an expressionless face. He flicked a finger, capturing a wisp of remnant soul that was on the verge of scattering.

It wasn’t much use, but it would be enough to keep Xuan Zhao’s soul lamp at the sect from extinguishing, delaying the moment the Guiyuan Sect realized their Palace Master was dead.

Watching Xuan Zhao’s body slowly dissolve into particles of light, Zhang Xian sighed softly. “At least he had some backbone. It’s a pity I couldn’t extract any useful information.”

He took one last look at the desolate small world. His gaze seemed to penetrate the endless void, locking onto the direction of the Central Continent.

A killing intent as cold and sharp as glacial ice rose in his eyes.

“Guiyuan Sect… Taichu… I am coming.”