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

Chapter 299: Ah, Yes, Yes, Everything You Say Is Right

Zhang Lele continued her grim recollection. “Right at that moment, I saw you inside the Sect. I was so relieved, so happy… and in that moment of vulnerability, you stabbed me through the chest. Fortunately, that fake ‘you’ was weaker than me. I managed to kill it at the last second.”

Zhang Xian: “…”

“But… not long after, three new Evil Thoughts joined the fray. I was outnumbered. I died again. Then I woke up back here, in this small mountain village.”

Zhang Xian frowned deeply. “Your revival point is tied to your childhood memories. The four Seven Emotions Evil Thoughts must know that too. Aren’t you worried they’ll find you?”

“Not immediately,” Zhang Lele replied. “After reviving this time, I went straight to the boundary of the illusion and refined this ‘Minor World,’ moving the entrance to a hidden location. They shouldn’t be able to find it in the short term.”

Her expression darkened. “However, every time I die, the illusion deteriorates. Initially, the enemies were just the Evil Thoughts. By my second revival, they were commanding armies of corrupted puppets and beasts to attack the Yunmiao Sect.”

“When I looked out at the Great World this time… it was crawling with their minions. I can’t contact Master. The sect has likely already fallen.”

She clenched her fists. “All I can do is hide. I need time to cultivate. If I can become strong enough to fight all seven of them at once, maybe I can break out.”

She paused, looking at Zhang Xian with a complicated expression. “That is why I’m choosing to believe—for now—that you aren’t one of them.”

She seemed to have rationalized his existence. “You must be a helper Master sent in via some secret technique. A guide to assist my cultivation.”

“That Heaven-grade cultivation technique you mentioned… it must be Master’s latest insight, passed to me through you, right?”

Zhang Xian fought the urge to roll his eyes. He nodded vigorously. “Ah, yes, yes. You are absolutely right.”

As long as she doesn’t try to stab me again, I’ll be whatever she wants.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Zhang Xian asked. “If we have the technique, let’s start cultivating!”

Zhang Lele sighed. “I tried. But the Spirit Stones I stockpiled are gone. This Minor World has almost no ambient Spiritual Qi. I was planning to leave for the Great World tomorrow to hunt for resources. And then… you showed up.”

“The Great World is crawling with enemies. Isn’t that suicide?”

“I have no choice,” she said grimly. “If I stay here, I stagnate. As my strength wanes and theirs grows, my chances of survival drop to zero.”

Zhang Xian’s eyes lit up. “I have an idea. Come on, let’s go to the Great Liang Kingdom!”

Both of them were Nascent Soul cultivators. They transformed into streams of light, crossing the distance in less than fifteen minutes.

Zhang Xian headed straight for the familiar Nameless Daoist Temple.

It was a ruin. Cobwebs choked the corners, dust coated the floors, and there was no trace of Xuanwei or Li Miaoyin.

“Huh? They aren’t in the illusion?” Zhang Xian was dumbfounded. He had been banking on borrowing some emergency funds from his old friends.

Next, they flew to the capital. The streets and buildings were familiar, but the people were strangers. The Duke of Zhenguo? Gone. Even the massive estate of Pillar Duke Yu Yun was missing, replaced by generic housing.

“Damn it!” Zhang Xian complained. “Why doesn’t this illusion follow the real world’s architecture? This is just lazy rendering!”

Zhang Lele watched him, baffled. “What exactly are you looking for? Are you sure you’re a guide? You look more lost than I am.”

Suddenly, Zhang Xian slapped his forehead. “Got it!”

He flashed to a secluded alleyway and located a hidden entrance.

Inside the underground chamber, the walls were covered in pulsating red and black runes, emitting a sinister, bloody aura.

Zhang Lele gasped, tightening her grip on her water sword. “What is this? Such a malicious Formation!”

Zhang Xian ignored the danger. He moved with practiced ease, firing small bursts of water Qi to strike specific nodes in the array.

Hum.

The ominous red glow flickered and died. The formation powered down.

“Done,” Zhang Xian said. He reached into the central groove and plucked out a handful of glowing stones.

He handed them to Lele. “Here. Use these.”

Zhang Lele stared at the stones in her hand. “You went through all that trouble… for a few High-Grade Spirit Stones?”

She looked at him like he was insane.

[Ding! Collection Successful.]

[Triggered Critical Return: Supreme Spirit Stone x1000.]

Zhang Xian froze. He wanted to cry.

I forgot about the system upgrade! It only returns Supreme Spirit Stones now! I can’t give those to her without blowing my cover!

“What’s wrong?” Lele asked, seeing his pained expression.

“Nothing,” Zhang Xian waved his hand dismissively. “This place isn’t safe. Let’s go.”

They returned to the dilapidated Daoist temple. Zhang Xian selected a peak in the back mountains and began to work.

He took out a few of his Supreme Spirit Stones—careful to hide the rest—and began laying down a Spirit Gathering Formation.

What a pity, Zhang Xian sighed inwardly. I can’t activate the full power of these Supreme stones without blowing up the mountain. But the ambient leakage should be equivalent to Middle-Grade stones. It’s barely usable.

But soon, he discovered an unexpected loophole.

The total Spiritual Qi inside a Supreme Spirit Stone was effectively infinite. Even if the output was throttled, the source was bottomless.

If quality is capped, I’ll make up for it with quantity.

Zhang Xian began to improvise.

He abandoned efficiency. Instead, using the Supreme Spirit Stones as unshakeable cores, he layered hundreds of basic Spirit Gathering Formations on top of each other.

Individually, they were weak. But stacked? They created a vacuum effect.

Whirrrr…

The air began to vibrate. Spiritual Qi was forcibly ripped from the stones and concentrated into a dense fog.

Within an hour, Zhang Xian had brute-forced the barren back mountain into a cultivation paradise comparable to a Cave Heaven.

Zhang Lele stood to the side, watching him work. As the Spiritual Qi concentration climbed to impossible levels, suspicion took root in her heart again.

This “fake brother”… his methods, his knowledge of secret locations, his ability to casually terraform a mountain… it far exceeded the capabilities of a mere subconscious guide.

Is he really just a tool sent by Master?

Zhang Xian finished his work, clapped his hands, and looked at his masterpiece with satisfaction.

“All done! What a shame, I didn’t bring my luxurious flying boat in here. If I had parked it here, that would’ve been truly comfortable.”

Zhang Lele walked into the Spirit Qi-filled formation, her gaze complex as she looked at Zhang Xian. She couldn’t help but ask again, “How do you know so much? How did you know there was a formation and Spirit Stones under the secret chamber, and that this Daoist temple was suitable for modification?”

Zhang Xian smiled and explained, “Didn’t I tell you? After I died and was reborn, I became the Duke of Zhenguo in the Great Liang Kingdom. This Daoist temple, two friends of mine used to cultivate here in seclusion, and I stayed here for a while too.”

“The place we’re standing now is where I first underwent my Foundation Establishment heavenly tribulation. I prepared so thoroughly back then, but what happened?”

He shook his head self-mockingly. “Sigh, it’s all because my aptitude was too poor back then. The lightning tribulation I attracted was just a pitiful single bolt, and it was pathetically weak. So many disciples in the temple were watching at the time, it was so embarrassing! I lost all face!”

“As for that life-draining formation in the secret chamber, it really did exist in the real world, and I destroyed it later. It was through that clue that I eventually tracked down and killed [Desire], avenging the old village chief and my godfather.”

Zhang Lele watched him speak fluently, with rich details and sincere emotions, as if he were recounting personal experiences, and couldn’t help but feel dazed again.

It’s too real.

She quickly gathered her thoughts, warning herself not to get lost in it, and whispered, “I remember now. After I successfully established my Foundation back then, it had already been ten years since our promise.”

“I returned to the mountain village but couldn’t find you. I didn’t give up. I traveled every inch of this Minor World, searching for you for a full thirty years.”

“This Daoist temple… I think I’ve been here too. I have a vague impression.” She looked up, her eyes carrying a hint of gratitude. “Thank you, for telling me such a realistic story again.”

[Ding! Current Favorability 27.]

Hearing that she had searched for him for thirty years, Zhang Xian’s heart suddenly tightened. He fell silent for a moment before forcing a lighthearted laugh. “It’s fine, as long as you can find a reasonable explanation for yourself. Just don’t suddenly pull out your sword to chop me, and we’re good partners!”

Afterward, the two of them immersed themselves in cultivation in the back mountains of the Daoist temple.

During this time, Zhang Xian ventured into the Great World to check the situation. Just as Zhang Lele had said, the outside was now dominated by the Seven Emotions Evil Thoughts, with evil energy pervading everywhere, making it hard to find pure land.

Zhang Xian weighed his own strength. Although he had a Heaven-grade technique, he lacked suitable spiritual treasures and was short on pills and talismans for support. His actual combat power was only equivalent to the mid-stage of Nascent Soul. Going out recklessly would be pure suicide, so he slunk back.

During the cultivation process, Zhang Xian unexpectedly discovered a benefit: cultivating in the illusion seemed exceptionally fast.

In just one year, his cultivation soared all the way to the fourth level of Nascent Soul.

Zhang Lele’s progress was equally obvious, advancing from the fifth level of Nascent Soul to the peak of the sixth level, just one step away from the seventh.

Finally, the Spiritual Qi dispersed from those Supreme Spirit Stones was completely consumed, and the effect of the Spirit Gathering Formation greatly diminished.

The two had no choice but to leave this temporary Safe Zone and step back into the perilous Great World.

After this half-year of living together day and night and cultivating side by side, Zhang Lele’s wariness toward Zhang Xian had basically disappeared, and she grew increasingly doubtful of the “subconscious guide” explanation.

But she forced herself not to delve deeper. The primary task at hand was to break the illusion.

When the two stepped out of the Minor World again and returned under that gray sky, Zhang Lele’s figure blurred for a moment, then changed like rippling water.

She quickly grew up, restoring the appearance Zhang Xian had seen when she was in the sea—fair-skinned, with stunningly beautiful features and pure, clear eyes.

Zhang Xian was instantly stunned.

Zhang Lele noticed his awestruck gaze and felt slightly pleased inside, but on the surface, she pretended to be indifferent. “What’s wrong? Not quite the same as that little dark-skinned girl in your memory, is it?”

Zhang Xian snapped back to reality, shook his head with a smile, and said gently, “No, when you were in the sea, I often went to see you secretly. You just didn’t know.”

Zhang Lele felt as if her heart had been suddenly clenched by an invisible hand, and her breath halted for an instant.

The two composed themselves and observed their surroundings, their hearts sinking.

The entire sky seemed covered by a thick layer of pale gray, oppressive and suffocating.

“The situation seems to be getting worse,” Zhang Lele said with a grave expression.

Zhang Xian nodded in agreement. “This feeling is as if the entire world has already fallen. Should we go find your master first?”

Zhang Lele hummed in affirmation. In the illusion, Su Yunmiao was the strongest ally they could find.

The two identified the direction and sped toward the Yunmiao Sect.

However, after flying for less than half a day, their sense of unease grew heavier.

As far as the eye could see, it was desolate. The earth was dry and cracked, all vegetation had withered and died, devoid of life, as if the entire world had experienced an apocalyptic catastrophe.

Just then, countless streams of light suddenly appeared on the distant horizon, flying rapidly toward their location.

As they got closer and saw the attire of the newcomers, Zhang Xian’s pupils instantly contracted.

They were all cultivators from the Yunmiao Sect. The leaders, he even recognized—Head Seat Zhao from Poyun Peak, and several Elders from Heavenly Palace Peak, among others.

However, their faces were now dull, their eyes vacant, and thick black mist of evil energy emanated from their bodies.

“This is bad!” Zhang Lele exclaimed in a low voice. “They’re all cultivators from the Yunmiao Sect. It seems they’ve all been corrupted too!”

Zhang Xian replied, “Yeah, a lot of old acquaintances.”

But both he and Zhang Lele were now at the mid-stage of Nascent Soul, possessing Heaven-grade techniques, and their strength was far from what it used to be. They weren’t afraid.

Soon, sword lights intertwined as the two sides clashed in battle.

Relying on exquisite techniques and powerful Five Elements Spiritual Power, Zhang Xian and Zhang Lele quickly gained the upper hand, routing these controlled fellow disciples.

Zhang Xian showed no mercy, his sword flashing as he slaughtered all these cultivators who had become puppets of the evil thoughts.

However, just after dealing with this batch of enemies, a water-blue sword aura shot toward them like a meteor from beyond the sky, incredibly fast, aimed directly at Zhang Lele’s face.

The power contained within unmistakably carried the flavor of the Heaven-grade [Yunmiao Sword Scripture].

Zhang Xian reacted swiftly, flashing in front of Zhang Lele and swinging his sword to block it head-on.

Boom!

With a loud explosion, Zhang Xian felt his Qi and blood churning violently. He retreated several steps before stabilizing himself.

“Such strong force!” he thought with shock.

A stream of light approached from afar, revealing the figure of the newcomer. It was a stunningly beautiful young woman, wearing silver-white robes and holding a water-colored spiritual sword, but her face was icy and expressionless.

Zhang Xian blurted out, “Yinyin?”

The one who had arrived was Lin Yinyin, controlled by the Seven Emotions Evil Thoughts, and her cultivation had actually reached the fourth level of Nascent Soul.