When an unbeatable senior wants to seal one’s mouth through the method of gifting treasures, what should one do?

Elder Li’s first reaction was actually to refuse.

He had already obtained his desired treasure; taking more would mean owing Senior Duo Bao karmic ties.

But Senior Duo Bao…

Was simply too generous!

Seeing Elder Li’s hesitation to reach out, Senior Duo Bao shook his sleeve, and the entire valley was instantly illuminated by treasure light.

Various post-celestial spiritual treasures rich in spiritual nature slowly undulated around Elder Li, up and down, left and right, completely enveloping him – the kind that left no gaps for air!

Elder Li, nearly blinded by the treasure light, silently raised his hand to cover his heart.

Here, it hurt.

What kind of ‘treasure-hoarding uncle’ could so calmly bring out hundreds or thousands of treasures, telling one to choose freely, with a minimum requirement of ‘equal to one’s height.’

Equal to one’s height…

Do you mean the treasures he took should stack up to match his height?

Well, the difference between laying them horizontally or vertically, choosing ‘pearl-type’ versus ‘pagoda-type’ treasures, would be quite significant…

“How about it? Are there any you fancy?”

Senior Duo Bao calmly smiled outside the circle of spiritual treasures, “If none catch your eye, this poor Daoist can exchange them for several more batches, we can choose slowly!”

Elder Li: …

He seemed to see Senior Duo Bao wearing a large gold chain around his neck, a big gold watch on his wrist, clothed in gold-threaded precious garments, leaning back in a round chair.

What does it mean to be a professional treasure hunter?

This was just too stimulating!

And then, Elder Li sadly discovered…

Previously, when he had his treasure-hunting paper avatars operating across the Middle Divine Continent, he had made a “Register of Primordial Spiritual Treasures” out of boredom, recording various famous spiritual treasures, and had thought he knew seven or eight-tenths of all primordial spiritual treasures.

Today, seeing Senior Duo Bao display his family treasures, Elder Li realized his knowledge was too shallow, too little.

Of the treasures flying around in circle after circle, any random one was a post-celestial spiritual treasure, and among them were even several supreme-grade post-celestial spiritual treasures!

Those without the ‘post-celestial’ prefix, or lacking in spiritual nature or having flaws, couldn’t possibly appear in Senior Duo Bao’s collection!

These treasures were of high quality and great power, rarely shown before others, but were just used by Senior Duo Bao as common items, so they had no fame and were unknown to others.

That register was just a junior version, better add ‘lesser’ in front of it.

“Senior,” Elder Li made a Daoist salute, and though he wanted to wave his hand grandly, clench his five fingers into a fist, and majestically shout “I want them all,” rationality ultimately suppressed his impulse.

He couldn’t deepen his karmic ties with the Jie Sect any further.

Elder Li transmitted his voice:

“The Grand Master has instructed that this disciple’s cultivation is not yet profound enough, and should not rely on magical treasures, lest it makes me slack in cultivation. If the Senior insists on giving gifts, why not give this disciple a set of Five Elements spiritual treasures of comparable grade? This junior has been pondering some Five Elements grand formations recently, which would be just right to use. The Grand Master has said that no matter how many treasures one has, they cannot be integrated into one’s own Great Dao, and add no benefit to a disciple’s cultivation. This disciple will now make an oath, that this is the first time meeting with Senior, and this junior saw nothing before this.”

Number one shield – Grand Master Xuan Du.

At once, Elder Li solemnly recited a Great Dao oath, stating that if he spread the word of what he had seen before, he would suffer Heaven’s punishment from the Heavenly Dao.

Duo Bao pondered for a moment, looking at Elder Li standing in the treasure light with a complex gaze, sighing: “Chang Geng, you needn’t be like this, I trust your character.”

As he spoke, Senior Duo Bao smiled freely, his sleeve opening to take back all these spiritual treasures, his gaze toward Elder Li showing some apologetic feelings.

“Chang Geng, though your cultivation isn’t high and your years aren’t many, how is it you speak words that make one ponder so? Indeed, no matter how many treasures one has they are useless, having one or two pre-celestial spiritual treasures to protect the Dao and stabilize fate is enough. After all, they cannot be integrated into one’s own Great Dao.”

Duo Bao sighed deeply, then said: “Wait a moment, I remember I have a set of treasures I collected over several thousand years, precisely of the Five Elements attributes.”

Elder Li, holding the Treasure-Finding Copper Coins, couldn’t help but feel some anticipation.

Senior Duo Bao rummaged in his sleeve for a while, his entire arm almost reaching in, before finally fishing out five pearls of different colors.

These five pearls were clearly a complete set of magical treasures, containing the power of the Five Elements – metal, wood, water, fire, and earth – and these Five Elements powers were extremely pure, without even a trace of impurity.

If the earth element pearl that Qin Xuan Ya had given him before was just an entry-level Five Elements pearl;

Then these five pearls today were already at the limit that post-celestial treasures could reach!

Senior Duo Bao raised his hand to send them over, and these five pearls slowly flew over, gently rotating around Elder Li.

Using some unknown divine ability of Senior Duo Bao’s, these five pearls had already automatically accepted their master, transmitting feelings of closeness to Elder Li, along with many insights into the Five Elements Dao techniques appearing in Elder Li’s mind…

Elder Li opened both hands, and the five pearls slowly flew over, landing in Elder Li’s palms, and floating up and down.

Just as he was about to put away the treasures and thank Senior Duo Bao, Elder Li suddenly made a light sound of surprise, sensing in the center of these five pearls a faint, ethereal spiritual Dao rhythm, seemingly containing transcendent meaning…

Five pearls forming a set, could they count as a pre-celestial spiritual treasure?

Elder Li felt somewhat of a headache – using such a pre-celestial spiritual treasure as the formation core for ‘Little Qiong Peak’ would be too wasteful of Heaven’s gifts.

“Senior, these pearls are too precious…”

“Hey!”

Senior Duo Bao frowned, “Chang Geng, could you be looking down on this poor Daoist? Just a small trinket, take it, take it, I already said this is compensation for injuring your avatar!”

“Thank you Senior for bestowing treasures!”

Elder Li made a Daoist salute, putting the Five Elements Zhenzhus and that pair of Treasure-Finding Copper Coins into two treasure pouches, keeping them close to his body.

This half-year’s effort hadn’t been wasted after all.

Senior Duo Bao seemed to have put down a concern, his eyes showing some relief as he smiled and said: “Chang Geng, come with me together… eh? Why is he here?”

Who?

Elder Li became alert.

Senior Duo Bao raised his hand to point at the sky, the Purple-Gold Bowl covering a thousand li radius lightly trembled and disappeared, appearing in Senior Duo Bao’s palm in the blink of an eye, shrinking to five inches in diameter before being put into his sleeve.

Then, Duo Bao raised his hand to grab Elder Li’s arm, saying: “Let’s go!”

After speaking, he lightly jumped, and the environment around the two instantly changed, appearing in… the tunnel that Elder Li had walked through once before, dug out by Senior Duo Bao.

This tunnel was no ordinary tunnel, it was a treasure tunnel dug by the Jie Sect’s senior disciple, with concealment that could be called excellent.

The two crouched in a corner of the treasure tunnel, and Senior Duo Bao took out a treasure mirror from his bosom, breathed on the mirror, and a white cloud racing like lightning immediately appeared within.

On the white cloud sat an old Daoist, surrounded by faint clouds and mist.

But Senior Duo Bao spat “pah” at the mirror, and those clouds and mist slowly dispersed, revealing the old Daoist’s true appearance.

Brown Daoist robe, square face, double sideburns, large hanging ears, with a bronze lamp floating at his shoulder – wasn’t this none other than the Zhan Sect’s Vice Patriarch, Senior Ran Deng?

Senior Duo Bao, fearing Elder Li might not recognize him, voluntarily introduced: “This is the Zhan Sect’s Vice Patriarch, according to his own words, he’s of the same generation as our three lords. Usually, when this poor Daoist sees him, I must also call him Uncle Master.”

Elder Li felt some understanding in his heart, and hurriedly said: “Senior, if he’s still far away, we can just leave now.”

“He saw my bowl, and has seen me use this bowl before…”

Senior Duo Bao pondered for a moment, saying: “No hurry, let’s first see what he’s come here for. Though he’s our Dao sect’s senior, this poor Daoist isn’t afraid of him. You can rest assured, that even though Ran Deng is the Vice Patriarch, he’s still an outsider – the three lords value the Dao sect’s inheritance and their disciples most. If Vice Patriarch Ran Deng is also here seeking treasures, I’ll secretly leave a few treasures here for him to take.”

For some reason, Elder Li heard thick dissatisfaction toward Senior Ran Deng in Senior Duo Bao’s words.

Thus his heart settled down by half.

According to Elder Li’s deduction, Ran Deng must have come for the Treasure-Finding Copper Coins.

If so, that scene in the Investiture of the Gods story where Xiao Sheng and Cao Bao used the Treasure-Finding Copper Coins to steal the Ocean-Calming Zhenzhu was a good show directed by Ran Deng, leading Elder Zhao right into the pit!

Today he had taken the Treasure-Finding Copper Coins, preventing future events and making Senior Ran Deng lose the opportunity to seize the Ocean-Calming Zhenzhu…

Could it be that Ran Deng had sensed this?

Elder Li said: “Senior, this junior has also had contact with Vice Patriarch Ran Deng, and may have offended him before.”

“Oh?”

Senior Duo Bao couldn’t help but become interested, “How did you end up having a conflict with him?”

In a few words, Elder Li transmitted his voice to briefly tell Senior Duo Bao about his previous interaction with Ran Deng.

He naturally couldn’t tell the truth, only saying that he initially didn’t recognize this Zhan Sect senior and ‘accidentally’ cursed at Ran Deng a few times, not to mention that Zhao Gong Ming and True Person Huang Long were watching at the time.

Senior Duo Bao carefully considered this, his slightly plump face showing some realization, and he couldn’t help but clap and laugh heartily, raising his hand to lightly pat Elder Li twice.

“How can you be so clever! Hahaha! Not being able to see this scene personally is truly regrettable, regrettable indeed.”

Elder Li asked in a low voice: “Senior, you seem to, regarding this Vice Patriarch senior…”

“Ah,” Duo Bao shook his head, “Some things are better left unsaid!”

Generally, hearing this tone and these words meant the speaker was eager to complain.

Elder Li went with the flow, saying seriously: “This junior still wants to understand more, to avoid any mistakes in the future.”

Thus, Duo Bao sighed lightly a few times and spoke steadily:

“These recent tens of thousands of years, friction between the two sects has been constant. Their Zhan Sect friends often cause trouble without reason, and sometimes our side also has fellow disciples speaking carelessly. Every time these things happen, it’s mostly this poor Daoist who goes to smooth things over. Coming and going, I’ve had more contact with this senior. Tsk… Chang Geng, you should have less interaction with this senior expert in the future, and be careful when speaking with him, don’t let any mistaken words slip out for him to grasp onto as leverage. This senior expert, hmph hmph, has very complicated thoughts!”

Elder Li roughly understood.

By the way, experts like Duo Bao and Ran Deng, how far could their immortal sense probe?

They had been talking for so long, yet the scene in the mirror remained the same. If not for those quickly retreating clouds, Elder Li would have thought this spiritual treasure mirror was malfunctioning.

Just as he was about to inquire, Elder Li’s immortal sense edge caught Ran Deng’s figure.

And just as his immortal sense had caught Ran Deng’s figure, in the blink of an eye Ran Deng had appeared in the sky above the bull demon valley, a great expert’s pressure covering heaven and earth.

The bull demon tribe still in deep sleep below instantly shivered in their dreams.

Senior Duo Bao’s detection range…

His detection range…

In Elder Li’s heart, there was an inexplicably helpless feeling. He had originally thought that becoming a Golden Immortal and having the Human Dao as support meant he had some ability to seek small spiritual treasures in the primordial world.

Better write the “Scripture of Stability” nine thousand times after all.

Yes, have Junior Sister do half the work – when Senior Brother has needs, Junior Sister serves his labor.

“He’s coming, he’s coming!”

Senior Duo Bao said in a low voice, his eyes showing a bit of bright light, as he held his breath with Elder Li, paying attention to the changes in the mirror’s scene.

At this time they hadn’t extended their immortal sense, as this treasure mirror was naturally also a detection-type spiritual treasure, with excellent concealment and counter-detection abilities.

They saw Ran Deng sitting on a cloud, circling this area twice, then taking out a glazed pagoda. With a wave of his hand, this pagoda instantly grew to several hundred zhang tall, its spire pouring out streams of immortal light, in the blink of an eye covering the thousand-li area in immortal light.

The crowd of demons in Chi Tie City: …

“Hmph!”

Ran Deng flicked his finger at Chi Tie City, instantly shattering the city’s formation.

“Those in charge here come answer me.”

This cold voice, paired with the pressure Senior Ran Deng was now releasing, caused the demons in Chi Tie City who hadn’t yet recovered from the Purple-Gold Bowl’s suppression to fall into chaos again.

Before long, those three Golden Immortal bull demons rushed to Ran Deng’s presence. Ran Deng snorted lightly, and these three old bulls’ knees bent, unconsciously kneeling in mid-air.

“Greetings, Senior!”

“Don’t waste words,” Ran Deng said coldly, “Is this your tribe’s territory?”

“Yes, yes it is our tribe’s territory.”

Ran Deng asked again: “What happened here earlier? If there’s half a false word, today your tribe need not continue existing.”

At once, the three bull demons spoke one after another, hurriedly relating everything that had happened before.

In the bull demons’ description, they were first attacked by a mysterious group of human forces, but the other side appeared briefly before immediately retreating, seeming to have used some kind of illusion.

Then that Purple-Gold Bowl appeared, covering a thousand li radius…

Ran Deng sat on the white cloud, continuously calculating with his fingers, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

He had been cultivating in the Jade Void Palace earlier when his heart suddenly showed some warning signs. Upon calculating, it seemed a treasure deeply connected to his future Dao fruit had been taken by someone!

This kind of warning was purely his own Dao resonating with Heaven’s workings – it would only let him know this had happened, with no knowledge of specifics.

Ran Deng immediately carefully deduced using his glazed lamp, following a thread of Heaven’s workings to calculate this event’s specific location, and immediately rushed here.

However, what Ran Deng didn’t know at this moment was…

As he arrived at this valley, Elder Li had already divided part of his attention to start disguising traces of battle at six locations in the Middle Divine Continent with similar terrain…

Meanwhile, Elder Li’s true form had also mounted a cloud to fly out from Little Qiong Peak, going to Breaking Heaven Peak.

It was time again to offer incense to the Sage Lord.

Just as Elder Li had flown to the Hundred Mortal Palace, Ran Deng above the bull Demon Valley had roughly thought things through.

Ran Deng first swept his gaze over those three Golden Immortal bull demons, saying coldly: “Go check your tribe’s treasury for what’s missing, then wake your tribesmen and question them one by one about what was lost. You have half an hour. If even one is not timely, don’t blame this poor Daoist for being heartless.”

The three bull demons hurriedly bowed their heads in agreement, rushing down into the valley.

Confirming with a glance – this was a ruthless person who could destroy their tribe with one finger!

After the bull demons left, the glazed lamp on Ran Deng’s shoulder shone brightly as Ran Deng spoke again, his voice spreading throughout the thousand li of sky and earth.

“Nephew Duo Bao, why not show yourself? The treasure you took has ties to this poor Daoist, this poor Daoist is willing to exchange it for a favor.”

In the treasure tunnel, Senior Duo Bao’s mouth twitched, and he was about to go out to confront him, even transmitting to Elder Li:

“See that? The Vice Patriarch is just so confident, unwilling to part with treasures, wanting to take them from this poor Daoist with just a word about favors! Does he take this poor Daoist for a treasure-scattering child? Hmph, since he’s discovered this poor Daoist is here, what’s wrong with going out to meet him?”

“Senior!”

Elder Li quickly pressed down on Senior Duo Bao’s arm, transmitting: “Senior, this is just words to draw you out. If you don’t believe me, just watch, he’ll say something else in a moment. If it’s not ‘What, must this poor Daoist personally invite you out,’ it’ll be ‘Nephew, do you want this matter to grow larger?'”

Senior Duo Bao blinked, showing some doubt.

However, Ran Deng might have truly been somewhat anxious – just as Elder Li finished speaking, Senior Ran Deng frowned and said:

“What, must this poor Daoist invite you out?”