Taixuan Laoren hadn’t run away—he’d just gone back to pilot his Gundam.

It must be said, Bamboo Mountain Unit One’s combat power was formidable, easily resolving the various sect warriors in short order.

“Senior, this thing of yours is awesome!”

Jun Changxiao circled the mecha with an admiring expression, finally unable to resist asking: “Can I go inside and try it?”

“Go die somewhere else.”

Taixuan Laoren rolled his eyes, hurriedly storing away Bamboo Mountain Unit One: “This is my painstakingly created treasure, more precious than a wife—no one’s allowed to touch it carelessly.”

“……”

Jun Changxiao was speechless.

Comparing the mecha to a wife was truly unprecedented!

Gou Sheng suppressed his thoughts and came before the unconscious Third Elder and others, collecting all their spatial rings.

Seeing this, Taixuan Laoren immediately understood why this kid had offended so many sects.

“Stinking brat.” He scolded: “I dealt with them, how come everything goes into your pocket alone?”

This one sentence directly shattered the legendary image of the Xingyun Continent figure.

“Senior.”

Jun Changxiao grinned: “Let’s split fifty-fifty.”

“No good.”

Taixuan Laoren said: “Bamboo Mountain Unit One consumed so much energy, it must be ninety-ten with me getting nine.”

“Fine, fine.”

Jun Changxiao tossed all the spatial rings over: “All these belong to Senior, I don’t want any.”

For Gou Sheng, who always valued martial dao resources extremely highly, to voluntarily give up all gains was truly quite abnormal.

“Let’s go.”

Taixuan Laoren didn’t bother tallying resources: “We need to leave here quickly.”

Although he’d forcefully dealt with over three hundred Void Breaking Realm cultivators, they ultimately had sects backing them and definitely wouldn’t let this go, so the best choice was to change mountain peaks.

“Sigh.”

Taixuan Laoren looked up at the sky with a long sigh: “I wanted to live a low-key life, but my strength wouldn’t allow it.”

“……”

The corner of Jun Changxiao’s mouth twitched as he thought: “This old man is quite pretentious!”

The System said: “From what he said in the Taixuan Cave Mansion, you could tell he’s someone who pursues low-key living but deep down actually enjoys seeking thrills.”

“Makes sense.”

Jun Changxiao deeply agreed.

“Boy, what are you still standing there for? Hurry up and leave.” Taixuan Laoren urged.

“Senior.”

Not only did Jun Changxiao not leave, he instead sat on a nearby boulder: “I think the scenery here is quite nice, why not just stay? At worst, when water comes we’ll block with earth, when soldiers come we’ll block with generals.”

“……”

Taixuan Laoren glared at him: “The Profound-rank sects all have Core Rotation Realm powerhouses. When they all come charging over, I truly won’t be able to protect you.”

If not for Jun Changxiao coming from Xingyun Continent, he absolutely wouldn’t fight the major sects—after all, as a mere rogue cultivator, though his strength was decent, it couldn’t compare with sects whose networks and relationships formed intricate webs.

Moreover, a saying always circulated in the Upper Realm: even if you encounter a dog when going out, you can’t casually provoke it, because who knows how many forces might be involved behind it!

Although Taixuan Laoren deep down enjoyed seeking thrills, ultimately his main focus was researching esoteric arts—he couldn’t possibly run out to fight people every day.

“Senior.”

Jun Changxiao said earnestly: “Truth be told, this junior came here with a request.”

“What request?”

Taixuan Laoren’s eyelids unconsciously twitched.

Bringing him such huge trouble, he had a feeling whatever this guy was about to say definitely wasn’t anything good!

As expected!

After hearing what Jun Changxiao said, he first froze, then exclaimed: “Are you insane!”

“This junior is not insane!”

Jun Changxiao said earnestly: “This junior wants to bring the entire sect to ascend to the Upper Realm!”

“……”

Taixuan Laoren’s facial expression became spectacular.

Back when he’d thought of creating a formation that could smuggle people to the Upper Realm, he’d felt he was already extremely audacious—he hadn’t expected this kid to be even more imaginative, actually wanting to transport an entire sect!

“How many people?”

“One hundred thousand and one.”

“……”

Taixuan Laoren nearly collapsed to the ground.

Did he think the Upper Realm was his family’s back garden, where he could casually bring that many people for sightseeing?

“Senior.”

Jun Changxiao said earnestly: “You created a Heaven-Defying Creation Grand Formation for single-person transmission, so you can definitely create one for multiple people, therefore……” He took out all the martial dao resources he’d recently obtained, cupping his fists: “Please help!”

“This favor is too great.” Taixuan Laoren shook his head: “This old one is powerless to assist.”

“……”

Jun Changxiao’s emotions instantly plummeted.

He’d thought finding Taixuan Laoren would lead to finding a way to bring the sect to ascend, but reality struck him hard with a stick before he understood—so-called hope was merely paving the way for greater disappointment to come.

“Senior, pardon the intrusion.”

Jun Changxiao put away all the martial dao resources and such, then left dejectedly.

“Young fellow.”

Taixuan Laoren said: “I do have a method that could allow more people to smuggle up to the Upper Realm, but the prerequisite is that you can return to the lower realm.”

The already disheartened Jun Changxiao’s hope immediately reignited, then he quickly turned around, taking out various martial dao resources again, asking urgently: “What method!”

“I’ve figured it out—when someone can help, money and such don’t matter, but if they can’t help, don’t expect to take a single cent! Truly realistic!” The System complained.

Taixuan Laoren said: “The Heaven-Defying Creation Grand Formation I created operates on the principle of Five Elements energy, but because the lower realm’s materials and attributes are limited, it can only transmit one person. If the Five Elements power aspect saw huge improvement, perhaps multi-person transmission could be achieved.”

“Senior means as long as we find stronger Five Elements energy sources to power the Heaven-Defying Creation Grand Formation, we can achieve sect-wide ascension?” Jun Changxiao’s gaze burned intensely.

Taixuan Laoren shook his head: “Whether sect-wide ascension is possible I dare not guarantee, but if you can find powerful Five Elements power as energy, upgrading from single-person to multi-person should be promising.”

“Five Elements power……”

Jun Changxiao murmured, then said: “Senior, the heavenly and earthly attributes in this Upper Realm also contain Five Elements—does that mean there’s stronger Five Elements energy?”

“Correct.”

Taixuan Laoren said: “The Upper Realm is a higher-level plane, its area vast beyond compare, its attribute density incomparable to the mortal plane. Through endless years it has nurtured many heaven and earth treasures related to the Five Elements, like the Scarlet Refining Divine Pearl in the Scarlet Refining Fire Domain, or the Water Exquisite in the Annihilation Water Domain—both are top representatives among the Five Elements.”

“Exactly where are they located!” Jun Changxiao asked.

“……”

The System was speechless: “It’s over, the host is going down the traditional old path of collecting treasures—just a short month or two will probably require several hundred chapters at minimum.”

“Without great divine abilities, entering those places means certain death.” Taixuan Laoren said: “However…I just happen to have heaven and earth treasures corresponding to the Five Elements here. Though they can’t compare to the Scarlet Refining Divine Pearl or Water Exquisite, they’re several thousand times stronger than the mortal realm.”

Jun Changxiao was overjoyed.

“……”

The System roared: “My face-slapping rhythm and reverse jinxing ability are still going strong!”

—