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

Chapter 273: What Are You Talking About, I Don’t Understand At All

The three exchanged a silent glance, nodded in unison, and followed Lin Jianyuan without a word. The four of them dissolved into streaks of light, bypassing countless checkpoints in the blink of an eye before touching down at the absolute vanguard—the border of the Western Region.

Here, the air was thick enough to choke on, saturated with soaring baleful energy and the scorched scars of perpetual war. The garrisoned cultivators hadn’t yet received the news of the impeachment. Seeing Lin Jianyuan arrive in person instantly reignited the fire in their eyes.

Lin Jianyuan forced a strained smile for the troops. He then turned, his gaze heavy and profound as it swept over the three trailing him. “I don’t know what you have been through to become like this,” he said, his voice dropping to a solemn rumble. “But I can tell you this with absolute certainty: Zhang Xian is not [Desire]!”

Xia Chengyan stepped forward, his expression an emotionless void. “Master, drop the argument. You’ve been relieved of your heavy burdens. Now you can focus entirely on holding back the [Hatred] without bleeding yourself dry over the rear’s trivial politics.”

Lin Jianyuan’s eyes lingered on Xia Chengyan, then Lin Xiaozhu, and finally Long Zhi. A bitter, drawn-out sigh escaped his lips.

“I’m beginning to suspect you’ve been bewitched by some profane art, or that Councilor Sun’s faction has planted some twisted obsession in your minds. Give it a few days. I am going to bring in a Grandmaster who specializes in soul-searching to thoroughly examine the three of you.”

Lin Xiaozhu shook her head. “Uncle, you’re being paranoid. I specialize in the soul-searching path myself. Nobody could plant a spell in my head without me noticing.”

Lin Jianyuan fell silent. Realizing words were useless, he turned his back to them and threw himself into the grueling task of reinforcing the [Realm-Severing Light Wall]. Vast reserves of spiritual power poured from him like a tidal wave, bleeding into the colossal barrier until its radiance grew blindingly solid.

Watching her uncle’s back—looking so incredibly isolated and weary against the backdrop of apocalyptic war—a sharp pang of guilt stabbed Lin Xiaozhu’s heart. She was half-tempted to tell Long Zhi to just pull out the [Heart-Questioning Sword], spill the entire truth, and then beat Xia Chengyan within an inch of his life for the disrespect.

But Long Zhi met her eyes with a calm, anchoring stare, forcing Lin Xiaozhu to swallow her impulse.

Zhang Xian was right. If you want to hook a leviathan, you need patience. If you’re going to play the bait, you have to commit to the role.

Suddenly, a voice made of pure ice detonated directly inside Lin Xiaozhu’s mind.

“Do it. Kill him!”

Lin Xiaozhu flinched violently. It was Taichu’s voice. He was here!

Almost the very millisecond the telepathic command dropped, Long Zhi was the first to move. Purple lightning crackled violently in her eyes as her spirit sword cleared its scabbard, thrusting directly toward the center of Lin Jianyuan’s spine.

Driven by the [Great Dream Evolution Art], Xia Chengyan didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a heartbeat. He formed a sword seal and lunged right behind her.

Lin Xiaozhu’s heart hammered against her ribs. The show must go on! Gritting her teeth, she forcibly surged her spiritual power and threw herself into the fray.

But Lin Jianyuan was an eighth-level Nascent Soul powerhouse for a reason. His combat instincts were terrifying. With a furious roar, an ocean of sword energy erupted from his core, violently blasting all three of them back in a single explosive shockwave.

Yet, in that split-second opening—while Lin Jianyuan’s momentum was stalled—three overwhelmingly powerful figures tore through the sky. Their ambush was timed with vicious, surgical perfection, their speed defying comprehension.

Caught off guard, Lin Jianyuan hastily deflected the first two strikes, but the third—the fastest and most brutal of them all—slammed cleanly into his defenses.

Hum! A five-colored shield of light abruptly flared to life around him, taking the brunt of the kinetic impact, but the sheer force still sent Lin Jianyuan skidding backward across the scorched earth. He paled, realizing that without that life-saving artifact, his internal organs would have been pulverized.

The ambushers landed, their figures solidifying from the blur of motion.

There was Councilor Sun, wearing a sickeningly smug grin. Next to him stood Nangong Yao, her eyes frozen pools of malice.

And standing front and center was a man with long, center-parted hair and a face devoid of all human empathy. The pressure radiating from him was absolute, suffocating everyone in a hundred-yard radius.

It was the Guiyuan Sect’s Supreme Elder, Grandmaster Taichu.

Taichu didn’t even bother looking at his bleeding prey. Instead, he snapped his head up, glaring into the empty void of the sky. “Skulking rat! Show yourself! This seat knew you were hiding here all along!”

The moment the words left his mouth, four ear-piercing shrieks tore through the sky. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Four heaven-grade flying swords plummeted like tactical missiles, burying themselves hilt-deep into the four corners of the battlefield.

A heartbeat later, two figures crashed into the center of the impromptu sword formation with the force of a meteor strike. As the dust cleared, Zhang Xian and Li Fuxi casually stepped forward.

The moment Nangong Yao laid eyes on Zhang Xian, the [Hatred] swirling around her mutated into a violent, churning storm. The purple-black corruption in her eyes looked ready to physically bleed out from pure malice.

But before the villainess could even open her mouth to monologue, Zhang Xian beat her to the punch. He pointed a highly accusatory finger straight at her and yelled enthusiastically at Taichu and Councilor Sun.

“Grandmaster Taichu! Councilor Sun! Man, you guys have impeccable timing!” Zhang Xian cheered, looking absolutely thrilled. “This monstrous bitch is the source of the Western Region’s [Hatred]! We were just about to team up and purge her from the server! Come on, let’s jump her together!”

The sheer audacity of the pivot physically choked Grandmaster Taichu.

Taichu’s face flushed a violent purple. He was so enraged he actually let out a deranged laugh. “Zhang Xian! You shameless dog! You orbital-striked my Guiyuan Sect’s mountain gate and vaporized a millennia of my foundation! This seat hasn’t even begun to skin you alive for that, and you dare spout this garbage to my face?!”

Zhang Xian’s expression morphed into a mask of pure, unadulterated confusion. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand at all. What does the Grandmaster mean?”

He blinked, looking like the picture of innocence. “The guy who leveled your mountain gate was obviously that old thief Qianji. He’s been in bed with the [Hatred] since day one. Everyone here knows that. The real question is… why is a respected Senior like you hanging out with Nangong Yao, the literal avatar of [Hatred]? I gotta admit, this junior is totally lost right now.”

Councilor Sun’s eyelid twitched erratically. He was entirely done listening to this nonsense. “Hmph! Keep gaslighting all you want with that silver tongue! None of you are leaving this wasteland alive today!”

But just as the death threat left his lips, the battlefield fractured again.

Lin Xiaozhu and Long Zhi, who had been standing silently off to the side, suddenly moved. But they didn’t aim for Lin Jianyuan, and they certainly didn’t aim for Zhang Xian. They pivoted flawlessly and blitzed Xia Chengyan.

Their coordination was lethal. Lin Xiaozhu slammed a binding technique into Xia Chengyan, locking his limbs in place, while Long Zhi stepped in, a concentrated spark of tribulation lightning dancing on her fingertip. She jammed her finger directly into the center of his brow.

“Argh!”

Xia Chengyan let out a guttural scream, collapsing to his knees and clutching his skull. The psychic shackles of the [Great Dream Evolution Art] violently shattered. Decades of suppressed, rewritten, and deleted memories flooded back into his consciousness like a bursting dam.

Grandmaster Taichu’s haughty expression finally cracked, his brows slamming together.

In a thousand years, this was the absolute first time anyone had forcibly broken a target out of the [Great Dream Evolution Art]. This wasn’t just unexpected; it was supposed to be impossible.

Xia Chengyan gasped for air, his eyes rapidly clearing from the fog of brainwashing. He looked up, his face a mess of horror and lingering trauma. “Xiaozhu, I—”

Crack!

Lin Xiaozhu silenced him with a vicious elbow right to his ribs. “Shut up!” she snapped, her pent-up rage finally boiling over. “Save the apologies for after we finish this fight!”

Lin Jianyuan, watching the chaos unfold, finally put the pieces together. His gaze turned to frozen steel as he locked eyes with Councilor Sun and Grandmaster Taichu. “So. You are the true masterminds pulling the strings in the dark.”

Taichu and his lackeys offered no response, their faces settling into murderous scowls.

Zhang Xian casually sidestepped, appearing right next to Lin Jianyuan. “Sorry about that, Senior Lin,” he said, not sounding particularly sorry at all. “We had to keep you in the dark to bait them out. Hope you don’t mind playing the damsel in distress for a minute.”

Lin Jianyuan waved a hand, his grave expression softening slightly. “It’s fine. Extreme situations require extreme measures. I understand. But the Alliance…”

“Don’t sweat the Alliance, Uncle!” Lin Xiaozhu interjected with a fierce grin. “Most of the council was just puppeted by Taichu’s garbage mind-control technique. We already left a backdoor protocol. As we speak, the [Great Dream Evolution Art] affecting everyone back in the city is being systematically purged. The political crisis is already over.”