A chilling sensation ran down Chen Feiyu’s spine.

He could not believe that Chen Jingzhai could easily kill Liu Mingke, the fifth son of the Liu family.

The Master-Uncle of the Luo Sheng Sword School was also ruthless enough to be able to say things like “eradicating the entire family,” which was of equal standing to the royalty.

Although the Chen family was a level higher than the Liu family, they still remained like bugs in front of the Luo Sheng Sword School.

The feeling of helplessness filled Chen Feiyu’s heart, but he also felt a sense of relief.

He was glad that he hadn’t done anything and that Liu Mingke was the one who had opposed Chen Jingzhai.

Dying was one thing, but he would bring shame and death to his entire family.

Chen Jingzhai’s pressure remained present even after he had killed Liu Mingke.

He looked at Miao Ke. To be more precise, he looked at something next to her.

“The Sage of the Soaring Clouds Clan, cat got your tongue? Your celestial maiden is the one who tried to mess with me first. Are you confident that I won’t do anything to her, or do you think you can defeat my puppet?” Chen Jingzhai coldly asked.

No one dared speak up again.

Even the guardian of the Serenity Hollow Clan remained silent.

It was clear that they had all now noticed who was the cause of the devastating outcome.

“What are you asking for?” A female cultivator wearing a black robe suddenly appeared next to Miao Ke.

“Master Aunt!” Miao Ke greeted.

“Don’t you have some explaining to do?” Chen Jingzhai playfully asked.

“Isn’t this just a small matter?” the lady asked. “Aren’t you making a scene because of Miao Yun? It has nothing to do with Miao Ke.”

“And who are you to decide that?” The young man scoffed. “How can I know that the rumors did not come from this group of people? Do you really think I’m a Master-Uncle for decoration purposes?”

“Then, what do you want? All the celestial clans have agreed to explore the Eastern Ocean Remains together, but you have stalled us and even killed a genius…”

“So, you are still trying to blame me in the end?” Chen Jingzhai grinned. “I mean, I can just kill all of you and head back to the mountain range. No one can do anything to me there.”

Everyone’s expression immediately changed after they heard that.

No one would’ve said anything if they heard Chen Jingzhai killing all four guardians despite still being in the Foundation Establishment Plane, even if he had the help of a puppet.

And the Luo Sheng Sword School would do anything to protect a genius like him.

He might have to pay for killing them in the end, but they would’ve ended up dead.

It wasn’t worth the trade.

“Miao Ke is in the wrong this time.” The female cultivator quickly came to a conclusion. “However, even if you don’t believe us, we have nothing to do with the rumor regarding Miao Yun. You can’t blame it on us.”

“And your solution?”

“All four of us will give you a Grade 3 item each as compensation, and we’ll never talk about this again. But, you’ll have to swear that you’ll not do anything to us during the exploration.”

“Fine. Let’s see what you have to offer first.”

With a scoff, Miao Ke’s guardian waved her arm, and a silver cloud descended toward them.

It floated in front of Chen Jingzhai, and it looked alive.

“This is the Intermediate Grade 3 Silver Screen Spirit Cloud,” she announced.

The guardian could feel her wallet bleeding as the cloud was considered a treasure even in the Soaring Clouds Clan.

A Grade 3 spirit cloud was valuable to a Golden Core Sage.

The biggest problem was that the Silver Screen Spirit Cloud was highly compatible with her methods and that it could grow into something better in the future.

It was natural for her to feel the pain of giving away something with so much potential.

She hated Chen Jingzhai for not falling for the charms of a celestial maiden, but she was also angry at Miao Ke for angering Chen Jingzhai for no reason.

He ended up trampling over them, and they couldn’t do anything about it.

“Not bad.” Chen Jingzhai had a satisfied smile.

He felt as if he could hear how much the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens desire for the cloud.

Although the Supreme Sky Master was the one who felt all of that, Chen Jingzhai was also able to feel a little of it.

That was why he immediately put the spirit cloud into the Grotto-heavens.

It immediately sent Origin Power to cover the entire cloud. Even a hint of innate Qi was used. All three of them combined and started to swirl around inside the space.

As Chen Jingzhai focused on what was happening inside the Grotto-heaves, he also turned to look at the other three Sages.

“This is the Preliminary Grade 3 Rotating Herb,” Xu Qing from the Serenity Hollow Clan said.

It was a plant the size of a palm with white roots, a stem, and black leaves.

It was named the Rotating Herb because it could circulate and gather Yin and Yang Qi.

Once it had fully matured, a circle of black and white energy would surround it, giving it a mystic appearance.

The Rotating Herb was extremely rare among all Grade 3 spirit plants, and even Chen Jingzhai had only heard of it but had never seen one.

“This will do.” Chen Jingzhai smiled.

“We do apologize for offending you, Master-Uncle, but you will still have to pay for severing one of Master-Uncle Yang’s arms in the future,” Xu Qing seriously said.

“You sure are the genius of the Serenity Hollow Clan.” Chen Jingzhai laughed. “Come at me whenever you want. Even the Luo Sheng Sword School wouldn’t blame you if you managed to kill me.”

The young man now had a new understanding of the disciple from the Serenity Hollow Clan. Xu Qing had the makings of a successful person.

Sage Yang smiled and stood next to Xu Qing. He had already put his arm back on and was using his Golden Core magic power to recover from his wound. A severed arm wasn’t a huge problem for cultivators in the Golden Core Plane.

“This is a Preliminary Grade 3 Will Cold Steel.” Fan Mingge threw an ore the size of a fist to Chen Jingzhai.

“This is not enough.” Chen Jingzhai shook his head. “You’ll need to give something more than this.”

Fan Mingge glared angrily before giving another ore.

It was only then that the young man nodded in satisfaction.

Although it was a Preliminary Grade 3 cold steel, Will was in its name.

It represented that it was a unique material from the Will Celestial Clan. Mixing its powdered form into a spiritual weapon could give it the ability to change shape. The more powder, the bigger the change would be.

For example, if one were to mix powder from a pinky-sized Will Cold Steel into an arrow, the arrow could change into a spear. However, it wouldn’t be able to change the arrow into a long sword.

Yet, it would be possible if the size of a full finger was mixed into the arrow.

That was why the Will Celestial Clan rarely gave out the ore to other people.

As the ore was able to create a magic treasure as well, even giving out a piece was more than enough to put a dent in Fan Mingge’s wallet. And yet, he had no choice but to give Chen Jingzhai two ores.

Sage Zhou had already put his heart back where it belonged and was working on closing the hole in his chest.

Since Fan Mingge had caused such a huge problem to his guardian, there was no way he could let the Sage pay for what he had done.

Chen Jingzhai then turned to look at Chen Feiyu and said, “Your turn.”

Chen Feiyu glanced at his guardian, who was still unconscious and sighed.

He immediately removed a black box from his storage and tossed it to Chen Jingzhai.

The young man grabbed the box and curled his lips but remained silent.

“We’ve done our part. Do I have your word that you won’t do anything to us during the exploration?” the female Sage asked.

“You have my word.” Chen Jingzhai nodded.

A promise from a cultivator meant a lot of things, and one would suffer consequences if they went back on their word.

However, it didn’t mean anything to Chen Jingzhai. All the consequences would be borne by his spirit deities.

That was the uniqueness of spirit deities and the wonder of the Dragon and Phoenix Consummation Seal Script.

No one present knew of that secret, and that was why they eased up a little when Chen Jingzhai gave them his word.

“Then, let’s talk about the exploration,” the female Sage said.

“It’s natural that we should go our separate ways after what happened here. You can do whatever you want there, but remember this—if any of you tried to exact your revenge on any of my disciple nephews or nieces, you’d wish I killed you today.”

“You are probably the only Master-Uncle in all of Luo Sheng Sword School that would do this to us,” Sage Zhou couldn’t hold back and said. “Aren’t we supposed to get to know each other more and be on friendly terms?”

“Well, I did just join the clan a couple of years ago.” Chen Jingzhai chuckled. “Isn’t it natural for me to discipline the disciples who have no manners? Also, I didn’t do anything out here in the mortal world, yet people keep stabbing me in the back. Am I supposed to let that happen? You guys are the ones who came after me, not the other way around.”

If it were a few minutes ago, the group that came on the ship would’ve refuted that.

However, they remained silent now as there was no fault in the young man’s words.

He was right, and not only that, but he was also strong enough to keep them at bay.

“The rumor about Miao Yun has nothing to do with us. Miao Ke and Miao Yun have different masters, just like how you have different branches,” the guardian from the Soaring Clouds Clan explained. “I hope you don’t drag us into it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. But, now that the confusion has been solved, let’s leave it as it is. I hope you don’t repeat this when we meet at the Eastern Ocean Remains.”

After saying that, Chen Jingzhai disappeared along with Hei Ji.

The group watched as he dragged Jiang Lin, half-drunk, back to his puppet tower ship.

The ship then turned into a ray of light and disappeared toward the Eastern Ocean.

“Did anyone manage to see that puppet?” the female cultivator asked.

“Its frame is made with Grade 3 Ocean Star Black Metal. So it seems that it has a demonic spirit in it too?” Sage Yang replied.

“But I don’t feel any demonic energy from it. It must be a spirit guardian that he has created.” Sage Zhou added, “Since he’s a genius who even Headmaster Fuyun views highly, it’s not surprising that he has a Grade 4 spirit guardian.”

“I’ll apologize in Miao Ke’s place for embarrassing everyone.” The female cultivator bowed.

“It’s our fault for being weak.” Sage Yang sighed. “I’d say this trip is already worth it since we got to see how powerful Chen Jingzhai actually is. We might even need his help during the exploration.”

The other Sages reacted differently to that.

They didn’t actually feel humiliated to be defeated by Chen Jingzhai as he was still a Master-Uncle, which meant that he was on the same level as Headmaster Fuyun.

If Chen Jingzhai were in the Golden Sage Plane, even the Sages would’ve had to address him as Master-Uncle as well.

What surprised them the most was the puppet that he controlled.

There was no way they would let such a chance slip after witnessing a Grade 3 puppet master utilizing a Grade 4 puppet. In the end, the exploration was the most important thing to them at that moment, and they would be able to get a lot of rewards if they worked with Chen Jingzhai.