The rest of the journey back to the Green Mountain Sect was peaceful. The Sky-Swimmer Turtle paddled through the air at a slow, steady pace, providing a tranquil ride. The confrontation with Jin Ao seemed to have been the final, desperate act of their enemies, and now, a comfortable silence settled over Li Yu's small group. They were no longer just a team; they were comrades who had faced death and humiliation together and emerged victorious through cunning.
On the seventh day of their ten-day journey, they sat near the turtle's head, sharing a meal as they flew over the fields below.
"I still can't get over the look on his face," Hu Jian said, breaking the silence with a loud, booming laugh that startled a passing flock of birds. "When he realized he'd been played… I've never seen a man so proud look so pathetic. It was beautiful."
"He was a fool," Lin Tao said quietly, polishing a small, sharp dagger he had bought in the city. "He let his anger and his pride blind him. The moment we challenged his wealth, the outcome was decided. He never even considered that we might be playing a different game."
Brother Kai looked at Li Yu, his eyes filled with a deep pride. "You not only completed the mission, but you also weakened a rival faction without shedding a single drop of blood. In the inner sect, a victory like that is worth more than a hundred duels."
"We were all part of the plan," Li Yu said, his voice calm and even. He looked at each of them in turn. " His words, a simple acknowledgment of their roles, made the three men swell with pride. He was not a leader who hoarded glory for himself. He shared it. It was a small thing, but it made their loyalty to him absolute and unbreakable.
"Still," Hu Jian said with a grin, "I wish I could have seen Elder Jin's face when his precious disciple came back.
In a dark, opulent chamber at the peak of the Heavenly Jin mountain, the atmosphere was not so cheerful. Jin Ao knelt on the cold, stone floor, his body trembling, not daring to look up at the man who sat on a high-backed throne before him.
Elder Jin was a man who looked to be in his late forties, his face sharp and hawkish, his eyes cold and lifeless. He was not raging. He was not shouting. He was perfectly, terrifyingly still.
"Three hundred thousand spirit stones," he said, his voice a low, soft, menacing whisper. "You went to Sunken Treasure City to represent our faction, to display our might and secure a valuable treasure. Instead, you were goaded into a bidding war by a child. You spent a fortune, a sum that will cripple our operations for the next five years, all because your pride was wounded."
"Master, I…" Jin Ao stammered, a cold sweat beading on his forehead. "He was slippery and cunning! He used tricks…"
"Silence," Elder Jin's voice was flat, but it sharply cut through Jin Ao's excuses. "You were given a simple task: establish our dominance and acquire the pearl. Instead, you allowed a boy who has been cultivating for less than two years to make a fool of you in front of the entire cultivation world. You have not just failed me, Jin Ao. You have become a joke. And by extension, you have made me a joke."
He stood up and walked down from his throne, his movements slow and deliberate. He stopped in front of his kneeling disciple and looked down at him, his eyes devoid of any emotion. "The Heart of the Deep Sea will be a useful tool for your cultivation. But the price you paid for it was your future. You will be confined to the mountain for the next ten years. You will not take a single step outside the sect. You will cultivate, and you will reflect on the price of your failure."
"Master, no!" Jin Ao cried, his face a mask of pure terror. Ten years of confinement was a terrible fate for a proud, ambitious genius like him.
"You are fortunate I do not cripple you myself," Elder Jin said, his voice turning cold. He turned his back on his disciple. "Now, get out of my sight."
Jin Ao was dragged away by two silent, black-robed enforcers, his pleas for mercy echoing in the dark, empty hall. Elder Jin walked to a large window and looked out at the distant, cloud-wreathed peak where Ning Yue resided.
"Ning Yue," he whispered to himself, a cold, dangerous light in his eyes. "You have found yourself a very interesting subordinate."
When Li Yu and his companions finally returned to the Green Mountain Sect, they were greeted not as tragic heroes, but as cunning victors. The story of the auction had already spread like wildfire, carried back by other disciples. The tale of how the Heavenly Jin faction's prodigy had been tricked into paying a ruinous price for a treasure by Elder Ning's new disciple was the most popular gossip the sect had heard in years.
Li Yu was immediately summoned to his master's pagoda. He walked the familiar path up Azure Cloud Peak, his heart calm. He entered the fifth-floor study to find Elder Ning waiting for him, a rare, genuine smile on her face.
"You have returned," she said, her voice filled with a warmth he had never heard before. "And you have brought me a pleasant surprise."
"This disciple was fortunate to complete the mission," Li Yu said, kneeling and presenting the jade box containing the Heart of the Deep Sea.
Elder Ning did not take it. "I am not talking about the pearl" she said, her smile widening. "I am talking about the three hundred thousand spirit stones you cost my dear rival, Elder Jin. The entire sect is laughing at him. He has become a recluse on his own mountain, too ashamed to even attend the elder's council. You have done significant damage to his faction with a single."
She finally took the pearl and examined it, a pleased look in her eyes. "And you secured the objective with fifteen thousand stones to spare. You have exceeded all of my expectations, Li Yu."
"I only followed Master's instructions," he said humbly.
"You did more than that," she corrected. She looked at him, her expression turning serious. "Now, as for your reward. The ten thousand contribution points and the Earth-grade manual from your previous mission are already yours. For this victory, I will add to it."
She tossed him a small, heavy pouch. "This contains one thousand mid-grade spirit stones. They are a hundred times more potent than the low-grade stones you are used to. Use them to solidify your new foundation."
Li Yu's eyes widened. A thousand mid-grade stones was the equivalent of one hundred thousand low-grade stones. His master's generosity was staggering.
"And this," she said, placing a simple, unadorned wooden box on the table. "This is your true reward."
Li Yu opened the box. Inside, nestled on a bed of soft, white silk, was a single, withered, black-colored lotus root. It looked dead, but Li Yu could feel a faint, incredibly deep and ancient life force within it and it looked quite familiar.
"What is it, Master?" he asked.
"That," she said, a strange, excited light in her eyes, "is the root of the Serpent's Breath Lotus you retrieved from the Whispering Fen. The flower is for the alchemists. The root is for the beast tamers. It is a treasure that can cause a water-attribute demonic beast with a trace of a draconic bloodline to undergo a profound evolution." She looked at him, her meaning clear. "Your Marsh-Drake, Crimson, is a descendant of an ancient Flood Dragon. If it consumes this root, it has a chance to awaken its dormant bloodline. It could evolve from a Rank 3 Spirit Beast into a true, Rank 4 Fierce Beast."
Li Yu stared at the withered root, his heart pounding. The opportunity was immense. Crimson was his first companion. To have it advance to the next realm would increase his own strength exponentially.
"Thank you, Master!" he said, his voice filled with a deep, genuine gratitude.
"Do not thank me yet," she said. "The process is dangerous. The draconic energy is violent. There is a chance the evolution will fail, and Crimson could be crippled or even die. The choice of whether to take the risk is yours."
Li Yu bowed deeply. "This disciple understands."
He left the pagoda, his mind filled with the weight of his master's gifts and the gravity of the choice before him. He returned to his own quiet valley, a place that now truly felt like home. He looked at the new, powerful formations, at the loyal, smiling faces of his three comrades, and at the vast, deep lake that was his kingdom.