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

Chapter 267: Afraid the Grandmaster Would Immediately Resort to Force

Su Yunmiao couldn’t help but roll her eyes. You just happen to have the same roots as everyone, don’t you?

Her fingertips brushed over a jade ruyi scepter on the table, and she trembled.

“Could these all be… High Grade Spirit Treasures?”

“Uh, they should all be Top Grade,” Zhang Xian corrected casually. “High Grade artifacts are basically phased-out junk for this disciple.”

“Top Grade?” Su Yunmiao was shaken to her core. She found it hard to believe.

She picked up a jade pendant designed to aid cultivation and tried to inject her Spiritual Power to refine it. To her shock, her energy sank like a stone in the ocean—no reaction at all.

Huh?

She was completely dumbfounded.

“They really are Top Grade! Even with my Half-step Soul Formation cultivation, I cannot refine them?”

She looked up, revealing a bewildered, helpless expression for the first time—like a country girl who had just stepped into a glittering metropolis.

“Are these really all Top Grade Spirit Treasures??”

She knew the theory: Top Grade Spirit Treasures typically required the Void Refinement or Body Integration stage to master. Staring at the table full of treasures, she experienced the agony of entering a mountain of gold but being unable to take a single coin. Her eyes filled with intense longing.

Zhang Xian slapped his forehead. He remembered that the Grandmaster’s Favorability hadn’t reached 90 yet, meaning the system’s level restrictions still applied to her.

Regretfully, he swept the Top Grade artifacts aside. Then, with a swish, he produced another pile of treasures with slightly subdued glows.

“Uh, Grandmaster, sorry. I grabbed the wrong batch. You should be able to refine these.”

Su Yunmiao, already numb from the stimulation, picked up a protective jade talisman and injected a trace of power. It instantly bloomed with a warm, powerful light.

“They really are High Grade Spirit Treasures!”

Their quality far surpassed anything she owned. When she fled her clan ten thousand years ago, she had only managed to bring two or three Middle Grade artifacts.

Zhang Xian cupped his hands and smiled. “Congratulations, Grandmaster. Consider these a token of this disciple’s filial piety. In the future, I’ll need you to look after Lele and Yinyin. The puppet matter will also require your effort.”

Su Yunmiao felt like she was dreaming. “These… are all for me?”

“Naturally. If Grandmaster feels it’s not enough, I have more.”

“Enough, enough! Ah, no—”

She caught her slip of the tongue, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. “H-how can I accept such heavy gifts?”

Zhang Xian waved his hand. “Grandmaster, why be so formal? I’m counting on your cultivation to skyrocket so you can deal with that old thief Taichu. You don’t want to see the sect attacked again, do you?”

“Alright. I will accept them.” Su Yunmiao seized the excuse to step down gracefully.

Afraid she might change her mind, Zhang Xian gathered the High Grade treasures and stuffed them into her hands.

However, Su Yunmiao’s gaze involuntarily drifted back to the pile of “phased-out” Top Grade treasures on the floor. Her eyes betrayed her reluctance to part with them.

Zhang Xian instantly understood. He scooped them up and shoved them into her hands as well.

“Grandmaster, take these too. Even if you can’t use them now, keep them for the future. Consider it… motivation.”

Su Yunmiao’s heart raced wildly. Top Grade Spirit Treasures… given away like cabbages?

She opened her mouth to refuse, but the words stuck in her throat. Dozens of Top Grade artifacts! If she refused now, she would regret it for the rest of her immortal life.

Only after sweeping everything into her Storage Ring did her heart rate slow. When she looked at Zhang Xian again, the junior seemed infinitely more pleasing to the eye.

[Ding! Success. Triggered Return: Top Grade Spirit Treasure Essence x1500 bottles.] [Top Grade Spirit Treasure Essence: Can be used to upgrade Magical Artifacts or lower-grade items to Top Grade quality.]

He gave me so many precious things… Su Yunmiao thought, her heart tightening. Could it be that he is interested in me?

Su Yunmiao, stop it! You are ten thousand years older than him! He already has a harem of confidantes. His behavior has been respectful… probably not… right?

She felt uncertain. But asking her to return the loot was out of the question.

Ah, this Zhang Xian is perfect in every way… except he’s a bit too much of a playboy.

Thinking this, she scrutinized him closer.

“Huh?”

She noticed something.

“Grandmaster, what’s wrong?” Zhang Xian asked, in high spirits.

“The accessories you are wearing… those are Top Grade defensive Spirit Treasures, aren’t they?”

“Mhm,” he admitted frankly. “Not just me. Master and Yinyin have them too. Yinyin can’t unleash their full power yet, but they’re more than enough to keep her safe.”

Su Yunmiao felt her worldview cracking again. “Yinyin is only at the Golden Core stage! How can she refine Top Grade Spirit Treasures?”

Zhang Xian looked at her eager, inquiring face and hesitated.

He couldn’t exactly say, “You need to fall deeply in love with me until the System approves you.” That would earn him a beating.

Seeing his hesitation, Su Yunmiao sighed. “Forget it. This must involve your secrets. I asked too much.”

“It’s not a secret,” Zhang Xian said with a wry smile. “I’m just afraid you’ll punish me for telling the truth.” He struggled to phrase it. “Only those… extremely close to this disciple can bypass the level restrictions.”

“Extremely close?” Su Yunmiao blinked. How close?

Then, realization dawned. Her cheeks warmed.

Huh? Is he teasing me? Or hinting at something?

Seeing her expression shift, Zhang Xian quickly added, “Grandmaster, don’t misunderstand! I’m telling the truth. It’s just… complicated to explain.”

Su Yunmiao nodded slowly, creating her own explanation. “I understand. These artifacts must be linked to your bloodline. Since Fuxi and Yinyin are intimate with you—with essence and blood intermingling—they can refine them smoothly, correct?”

Her expression turned complicated.

Does that mean… to use them… I would have to share a bed with him?

I am a ten-thousand-year-old maiden! That sacrifice is too great!

But… Top Grade Spirit Treasures…

Pah! Su Yunmiao, stop thinking nonsense!

Hearing the phrase “essence and blood intermingling,” Zhang Xian nearly choked. Su Yunmiao’s accidental innuendo was terrifyingly bold.

Afraid she might decide to “force the issue” right then and there to get the gear working, he hurriedly clarified.

“It’s not that simple! It requires more than just… intermingling. It requires hearts and minds to connect, with absolutely no barriers. It’s… a spiritual resonance. Very hard to explain.”

Oh? It requires wholehearted, sincere love?

A pity, Su Yunmiao thought, stopping her train of thought.

A short while later, the conversation ended. Su Yunmiao, burning with impatience, requested a quiet room and rushed into Secluded Cultivation to study the [Twelve Turns Jade Condensation Sutra].