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

Chapter 253: Turns Out You Aren’t Even an Elite Mob

Rewind time to approximately one hour earlier.

Central Continent. The Mountain Gate of the Guiyuan Sect.

Mist and clouds swirled around the massive, towering archway of the mountain gate, presenting a scene of serene, immortal majesty.

Several Golden Core disciples on gate duty leaned leisurely against the jade railings, chatting and boasting, enjoying the innate sense of superiority that came with being disciples of the world’s number one sect.

Just then, a slightly portly figure hurried over, covered in the dust of travel.

The newcomer was a chubby young cultivator wearing the robes of a Guiyuan Sect inner disciple. His cultivation appeared to be only at the late Foundation Establishment stage.

He walked up to the mountain gate and respectfully handed a jade identity token to the disciples on duty.

“Disciple of the Golden Cicada Palace, Yu Yun. Returning to the mountain after visiting family.”

The duty disciple took the token, inspected it, and finding no issues, tossed it back with a casual, condescending flick of his wrist.

“Oh, it’s Senior Brother Yu Yun. Go on in.”

“Thank you.”

Yu Yun caught the token, gave a perfunctory bow to the two, and stepped through the barrier. He immediately summoned a flying sword and wobbled unsteadily toward the Golden Cicada Palace.

The two duty disciples watched his retreating figure and sneered.

“Hah. Just a fat tub of lard at the Foundation Establishment stage. Who knows what kind of dumb luck he had to get into one of the Inner Sect’s Thirty-Six Palaces?”

“Probably has some family background. Must have stuffed the pockets of the elders with Spirit Stones. I don’t see much future for him, though. Look at that clumsy sword riding. Embarrassing.”

“Hahahaha!”

The mockery reached his ears, but Zhang Xian—disguised as Yu Yun—paid them no mind. His sword riding looked clumsy, but in reality, he was moving with terrifying efficiency, arriving above the Golden Cicada Palace in a heartbeat.

On the plaza in front of the main hall, nearly a hundred disciples sat cross-legged in meditation.

At the front, Song Zhang and Lu Yao—the personal disciples of Palace Master Hu Yanqing—were loudly reciting Daoist scriptures, lecturing the junior disciples.

Zhang Xian descended on his flying sword. Ignoring the two head disciples completely, he walked straight toward the main palace entrance.

Seeing this, Song Zhang frowned, his face darkening with displeasure.

“Hey! You! Yu Yun! Stop right there!”

He shouted sharply, pointing a finger. “Why didn’t you come over and pay your respects to your Senior Brother and Sister? Do you have no concept of rules?”

Zhang Xian’s steps halted. He turned his head slightly, giving Song Zhang a cold, indifferent glance.

“I don’t want to waste words. If you don’t want to die, take everyone and get off the mountain immediately. If you’re lucky, you might survive.”

“What? How dare you!”

Song Zhang couldn’t believe his ears. Fury exploded in his chest. The spiritual power of his peak Golden Core cultivation surged, and he stretched out a hand, conjuring a massive palm of spiritual energy to seize this insolent fatso and teach him a harsh lesson.

However, his spiritual hand had barely extended a foot when disaster struck.

BANG!

An invisible, terrifying force slammed into him like a freight train.

Song Zhang didn’t even have time to blink. His protective spiritual light shattered instantly. Blood sprayed from his mouth as his body was launched backward like a ragdoll, flying dozens of yards before crashing heavily at the edge of the plaza.

Silence.

Deathly silence.

The hundred disciples were dumbfounded, staring at the scene in disbelief.

Senior Brother Song Zhang, a peak Golden Core cultivator, was defeated in a single move? By this usually low-key, somewhat pathetic Junior Brother Yu Yun?

Lu Yao trembled violently. She stared at Zhang Xian’s back in horror, her heart roiling with a tsunami of shock.

The Senior has returned. This time, he’s not even pretending? He’s committing violence right in the core heartland of the Guiyuan Sect! What exactly is he planning to do?

Zhang Xian had clearly held back; he didn’t even bother to look at Song Zhang again. Instead, he immediately spread out his Divine Sense, enveloping all thirty-six palaces of the Guiyuan Sect in an instant.

The strongest aura was missing, as expected.

In the Upper Six Palaces, there were still two auras at the late Nascent Soul stage. There were over ten other Nascent Soul cultivators scattered about, and countless Golden Cores.

Truly worthy of being the number one sect in the Central Continent. Their foundation is deep.

He mapped out the distribution of strong cultivators instantly.

“Hu Yanqing is still in Secluded Cultivation. Perfect. I’ll start with you.”

His gaze locked onto the main hall of the Golden Cicada Palace. He raised his hand, fingers forming a sword, and made a casual slashing motion toward the majestic structure.

BOOM!

An earth-shattering roar tore through the peace of the sect.

The roof of the Golden Cicada Palace was ripped off entirely. Countless glazed tiles, jade beams, and gilded pillars shattered, flying in all directions. The layers of protective formations enveloping the hall couldn’t hold for even a breath, popping like soap bubbles.

Deep inside a secret chamber, Palace Master Hu Yanqing was in Secluded Cultivation, happily comprehending the “essence” of his dual cultivation techniques.

The sudden, terrifying explosion nearly scared the soul out of his body.

He reacted instinctively, transforming into a stream of light and shooting out from the ruins, roaring in shock and fury.

“Who dares to be so insolent in my Golden Cicada Palace?!”

He had just rushed into mid-air, his words not even finished—

CRACK!

Accompanied by the sickening sound of snapping bone, Hu Yanqing let out a miserable scream.

His knees were instantly pierced by two beams of golden sword qi. Like a bird with broken wings, he plummeted headfirst from the sky, smashing into the plaza floor with a heavy thud. His life-bound spiritual sword clattered uselessly to the side.

Blood instantly stained his luxurious Palace Master robes.

Everything happened too fast. It was too shocking.

The disciples of the Golden Cicada Palace were petrified. They stared wide-eyed as their Master—a figure they considered invincible—was crippled and grounded in a single exchange, utterly powerless to resist.

Lu Yao trembled even more violently. She knew this Senior was strong, but she never imagined he was this strong.

It was a complete and utter stomp. The Master she viewed as a nightmare was as fragile as an ant before this man.

Zhang Xian’s figure flashed, appearing before the fallen Hu Yanqing like a ghost. Expressionless, he stepped onto Hu Yanqing’s chest, brutally crushing the man’s attempt to rise.

“Pfft!”

Hu Yanqing spewed a fountain of blood. His internal organs felt like they had been pulverized. His face was twisted with extreme pain, incomprehension, and terror.

His mind couldn’t process the shift. One moment he was visualizing esoteric arts; the next, he was being beaten like a dog in his own front yard.

Feeling the bone-chilling killing intent radiating from Zhang Xian, Hu Yanqing was scared out of his wits. Abandoning all dignity, he begged hoarsely.

“No! Don’t kill me! Senior! Spare me!! Whatever you want to know, whatever you want, I can give it all to you!”

Zhang Xian looked down at the man’s pitiful, groveling state, a flicker of disgust passing through his eyes.

“Hah. When we first met, I thought you might be some kind of boss guarding a checkpoint. Turns out you aren’t even an elite mob.”

Saying this, he couldn’t be bothered to waste more breath. He reached down, activating a Soul Searching secret technique, and pressed his hand toward Hu Yanqing’s forehead.

However, just as his fingertips made contact—

Buzz!

A golden curse seal emerged from between Hu Yanqing’s eyebrows, blocking Zhang Xian’s intrusion.

“Tch.” Zhang Xian curled his lip, displeased. “As expected. These core figures of the Guiyuan Sect all have a Soul Forbidden Curse Seal protecting their Divine Sense.”

He had encountered this annoyance before.