Chapter 49

Shen Miaoyin returned to the crowd at Tianyin Peak and subconsciously glanced towards the location of Luofu Peak.

In her line of sight, she did not see that familiar figure, which made her frown slightly.

Over so many years, the only man who had ever had intimate contact with her and taken her first kiss was just that one person.

Although she knew in her heart that there was no possible connection or entanglement with him, seeing that he did not come out made her heart suddenly filled with a myriad of emotions, a taste that was hard to describe.

At this moment, several beams of light appeared on the array.

Shen Miaoyin subconsciously looked over, her pupils slightly contracting. But when she saw that it was just the named disciples from other peaks, a sense of disappointment arose.

Seeing several more beams of light flash by, the ancient array began to dim, and it was almost time for it to close.

Shen Miaoyin couldn't help but bite her lip, feeling inexplicably nervous.

"What's wrong? Are you looking for someone?" Beside her, the palace-clad elder noticed that Shen Miaoyin's expression was off and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"No... I'm fine!" A hint of panic flashed in Shen Miaoyin's eyes as she subconsciously shook her head in denial.

Just as she spoke, two figures appeared on the array.

She let out a sigh of relief, and her nervousness eased.

This also made the palace-clad elder unable to resist casting a glance at the array.

On the transmission array, two young figures appeared, one fat and one thin.

These two were none other than Zhu Hanwei and Su Shier!

It seemed that their location was either too remote or they were in a cave, and after Su Shier finished organizing his items, he found that the transmission talisman did not react for a long time.

It was only after a long time that he realized this! Fortunately, they managed to return to the sect just in time!

As soon as the two came out, the array's light completely dissipated, and the array sank into the ground and disappeared with a rumble.

Because they were the last to come out, all the attention in the field was focused on them.

Seeing that they were only disciples at the second and third levels of the Qi Condensation stage, the crowd was only somewhat surprised that they had managed to survive and return. They then shrugged and lost interest.

Facing the gazes of the crowd, Su Shier and Zhu Hanwei both shrank their necks and quickly walked to stand behind Lu Mingshi at the end of the crowd.

"Brother, your disciples from Luofu Peak are really quite capable. They dared to participate in the trial at the second and third levels of the Qi Condensation stage and still managed to return alive. Truly remarkable!" Seeing Su Shier and Zhu Hanwei, and then looking at the seven people behind Lu Mingshi, Fu Boran immediately began to mock.

Luofu Peak had only a few people, and even without that arrangement, he couldn't think of a reason why he would lose.

"Hmph!" Lu Mingshi's face was clearly embarrassed, and he coldly snorted without responding.

His gaze swept over Su Shier and Zhu Hanwei, and a look of disdain and disappointment appeared in his eyes.

He still had some impression of these two disciples, one with mixed spiritual roots and one with no spiritual roots. They could survive, and it was obvious that they had found a place to hide as soon as they entered and waited until now.

Such disciples could not possibly have any significant gains!

His mood was already bad, and seeing them made him feel even more frustrated. If it weren't for so many people watching, he would have wanted to drive them away.

Fu Boran, with a smile on his face, pressed his advantage and continued, "Brother, now that everyone is out, shouldn't we quickly take stock of the gains? The sooner we finish, the sooner I can take the century-old cold jade back to cultivate."

With his words, the other five peaks, from the peak masters to the elders and disciples, all turned their attention to Tianhua and Luofu Peaks.

Everyone was excited, as if watching a show.

From the number of people on both sides, everyone had already guessed the result.

No one thought that Luofu Peak still had a chance to win!

However, such a show was rare, and everyone still wanted to see how much of a difference there would be.

Of course, there was one exception.

Shen Miaoyin subtly glanced at Su Shier, feeling somewhat speechless.

Su Shier stood at the end of the crowd, neck shrunk, with a worried and gloomy expression. Those who knew him and those who didn't would think he had no gains at all.

But she knew in her heart that, in this trial, the one with the most items was none other than Su Shier.

"Hmph! Take stock!" Lu Mingshi's expression was somewhat awkward as he weakly shouted.

At this moment, he couldn't help but feel regretful.

He should have just admitted defeat earlier!

Such a disparity in numbers was like a public execution for him.

But now that things had come to this, admitting defeat would be even more embarrassing, so he could only continue with a stiff upper lip.

"Ha ha, then let our Tianhua Peak take the lead!" Fu Boran laughed heartily, turned to the crowd behind him, and loudly said:

"Alright, everyone, take out your storage bags. Don't think about hiding anything; there is a spirit-detecting array in this valley, and your storage bags should all have been marked with spirit energy."

"After the spirit materials are handed over, the sect will deduct fifty percent, and the remaining fifty percent will be returned to you after you return."

As Fu Boran spoke, the disciples in front of him immediately took action, each taking out their storage bags and lining up to hand them to Fu Boran.

Su Shier only then noticed that everyone's storage bags had a spirit energy symbol the size of a fingernail.

His storage bag was no exception.

However, when his gaze fell on the storage ring on his finger, he felt a surge of joy.

This storage ring looked plain and unremarkable, with no spirit energy fluctuations, let alone any spirit energy symbol.

"Could it be that this spirit-detecting array can't detect this storage ring? Great, I'm glad I transferred all the good stuff to this storage ring in advance."

Su Shier secretly rejoiced, determined not to hand over the storage ring unless the peak master discovered it.

With his mind set, he continued to observe the situation at Tianhua Peak.

He saw the disciples taking out the items from their storage bags and placing them on the ground.

After Fu Boran nodded, they would put the items back and finally hand over their storage bags to Fu Boran.

The disciples of Tianhua Peak were all quite capable, and their gains were abundant.

Only a few disciples fell short, submitting only three to five spirit materials. Most of the disciples found over ten, even dozens.

Among them, a small number of disciples actually found hundreds or even thousands of second-grade spirit materials, causing a wave of exclamations from the crowd.

Fu Boran stood at the front of the crowd, his smile so wide it seemed to split his face.

When he saw Ye Liangchuan step forward, he became even more excited. The spirit materials from the spirit plant garden numbered in the tens of thousands!

Ye Liangchuan, however, was far from happy. He had wanted to speak to Fu Boran earlier but never had the chance. When it was his turn, he quickly took out over five hundred second-grade spirit materials and placed them on the ground.

"Five hundred?! What happened?" Fu Boran's smile froze, and he cast a questioning glance.

"Master! There was an accident in the spirit plant garden..." Ye Liangchuan hung his head and quickly informed Fu Boran of what had happened in the spirit plant garden.

After finishing, he handed over the Purple Lightning Sword. "I failed in my task, please punish me, Master!"