A whole heap of treasure spilled onto the ground, and my companions’ jaws dropped at the sight. This time, I didn’t hold back and took everything that was in any way valuable to me. The most prized item was a large box containing very rare and “powerful” herbs. In fact, the box itself was more important to me than the herbs inside because it could shield Qi. I intended to study how it did that in the future.

A decent pile of pills remained on the ground, some of which were quite rare.

“Number One, these are for you.”

“What? But you’re the one who killed that cultivator” - he replied, unexpectedly showing a hint of conscience.

“But you distracted him, which allowed me to land the blow. Take them before I change my mind. They’re just low-grade pills with recipes I already know. They’re useless to me.”

He immediately started scooping the pills into his ring.

“And that’s an Ice Crystal Pill” - I said, pointing at a plain-looking box.

“What?!” - Number One exclaimed, snatching it up and opening it. The rest of the disciples sighed enviously when they sensed the energy coming from the pill. It was used to break through to the Core Formation Stage and cost a fortune.

“If you decide to use that pill, give me the empty box afterward. I need those.”

“All right” - he answered, entranced by what was essentially his ticket to paradise.

“That’s it for the gifts. We need to keep moving.”

Right on cue, the sounds of battle grew even louder and also shifted away. From the sky above came the trumpet-like voice of Elder Sun Wei Bonk.

“Dai Po Slap, someone from your sect killed my grandson and turned his core cultivation into a pill. I will never forgive you for that. I swear, I won’t rest until I build a pyramid of your sect members’ heads that reaches to the heavens!”

“Haha, Sun Wei Bonk, I have no idea which of my students killed your grandson, but if I find out who did it, I’ll give them a hundred mid-grade Qi crystals. The look on your twisted face will be my fondest memory this year.”

“It will be the last memory of your life!”

The fighting intensified, and the Qi radiating from the battlefield flooded the entire area, mixing with the Qi surging from underground.

“We will run forward through the forest, sticking close to the trees” - I instructed my subordinates. - “Don’t even think about stepping into open ground or slowing down. I won’t wait for you.”

“What’s the point?” - Number Two grumbled. - “Any cultivator could sense us anyway.”

“With all the chaos going on? Soon enough, you won’t even be able to sense yourself. Now move.”

Another explosion rang out, and a new geyser erupted near us, providing cover as I dashed toward my goal. Above, countless cultivators were flying about, trying to kill one another, but I kept my head down and stayed on course. I had almost thirty kilometers to cover in twenty minutes, so I had to focus on navigating the rough terrain, leaping from one tree to another.

My route was calculated via psionics, and we didn’t run into anyone along the way almost. We only had to slip through one clearing where two cultivators at the second level of Core Formation were locked in combat. Without stopping, I moved behind one of them and whacked him on the head with my club. It didn’t kill him, but the second or so of dizziness it caused was enough for our sect member to seize the advantage and land a fatal blow. I didn’t linger to watch and kept going.

Finally, just a few minutes before the “zero hour” we reached a huge lake at whose center this season’s main geyser was about to erupt. The spot I needed was in the middle of the lake. There was practically nowhere to hide there, and the skies above were filled with crowds of cultivators from both guilds, ensuring that any fight would inevitably slow us down. Meanwhile, my goal was to be the first person to make it into the ancient Qi realm today.

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Luckily, the main geyser’s imminent eruption was accompanied by the appearance of smaller geysers, which sent up streams of water and clouds of steam that helped conceal us from unwanted attention.

“Stay right behind me” - I commanded my minions. - “Anyone who falls behind won’t make it into the Qi realm.”

We ran forward again, weaving among the jets of water. I deliberately chose a path threading between geysers so that we’d be harder to spot, and so the Qi and water spouts would make it difficult for people to approach us. But there was a downside to this “protection”. Third, who lagged a bit, veered off from the optimal route and got hit by a sudden burst of water that sent him flying toward the sky straight into the fighting crowd.

Overall, though, my plan worked and no one paid any attention to us. Whenever we had to travel across a relatively calm stretch of the lake, I simply kicked up spray by tossing water upward with angled shields. Because of our high speed, the spray rose a good ten meters, giving the illusion of yet another geyser in action.

Finally, we reached the spot we needed, with a whole minute to spare. I froze in place for a few seconds to survey our surroundings. Judging by the concentration of people, far more had come to this “festive event” than I’d anticipated. I’d imagined a few hundred, but it was clearly in the tens of thousands. Nearly all from our sect wore the colors of the Inner Circle or other privileged strata.

Our Heavenly Blades Sect was much larger than I thought. I knew the settlement for the Outer Court disciples where I supposedly lived was merely the “capital” and that most disciples resided away from the higher-ups. But only now was I realizing that even the inner part of the sect operated beyond the mountain’s borders.

“Hold your breath and dive!” - I ordered, leading by example. My group glanced helplessly at the calm water next to us, then followed suit.

We descended about ten meters and hovered there beneath the surface. At first, nothing happened, but then a heavy stream of bubbles started rising from below. The surrounding Qi went wild and began to churn. I gestured for everyone to grab hold of each other, and then I started sinking lower, dragging my “ballast” along. At first, I had to fight the water’s resistance and the surging Qi, but then the resistance vanished. Another ten seconds later, we suddenly plunged downward, experiencing a moment of weightlessness. Then a powerful current of water seized us, giving an unforgettable sense of negative gravity as it propelled us downward at significant speed.

The depth here was enormous, but in reality, the “hole” we were falling through was the result of spatial distortion. We were pulled down for roughly a minute, then battered in all directions by turbulent currents. At that point, I had to focus and choose our direction of movement, guided by the sensations coming from my psionics.

Finally, we hit another downward current, swirling like a whirlpool, which “spat” us out into a huge cavern where, instead of a floor, there was a lake. The current that had brought us in was pouring from the ceiling in a wide waterfall. Yet the water level in the lake didn’t change at all, so we could take a moment to relax and look around. The air itself seemed to emit light — though in reality, it was tiny glowing Qi particles. In some places, glowing crystals could be seen embedded in the walls. They were cloudy and provided minimal illumination, but still helped dispel the eternal darkness of this underground world.

“We’ve arrived” - I summarized.

Just then, our group’s attention was caught by a glint of gold that flashed through the cascading waterfall. But before anyone could react, the “treasure” fell and disappeared into the lake.

“We have to catch it!” - Fifth exclaimed.

“Stop!” - First grabbed him by the leg. - “This is the Eighteenth Chamber. There’s no bottom to this lake. Everyone who’s tried to dive in has never come back out.”

“You know about this place?” - I asked First.

“A little bit.”

“Are there any places nearby where we can find some sort of treasure?”

“Hmmm… There should be a Bone Graveyard around here. Sometimes you can find valuable items there. And a bit farther along in the same direction, there are the Leaky Caverns. They’re dangerous, but there are a lot more treasures there.”

“Okay. How do we get there?”

“I don’t know.” - First lowered his head. - “I only know roughly where the most important places are.”

“All right. So what does this bone graveyard look like? Like, well… a bone graveyard?”

“Yes. It’s a wide cavern with a low ceiling; the floor is covered in snow-white bones. Mostly from various monsters, but sometimes you’ll see human ones, too.”

I pulled out the compass and started searching for a place that matched those criteria. Found it in under a second, and a couple seconds later, I discovered the shortest route there.

“Follow me! We need to be the first to grab all the treasures.”

Upon hearing that magic word, everyone perked up and hurried after me. While we ran through the winding caves, I noticed that although there really was plenty of Qi in the air, it all had a “heavy” and rather unpleasant nature, so refining it would clearly require extra effort. For the time being, I was “storing” all the Qi I absorbed in the seal on my left hand.

Ten minutes later, we reached the place. It was filled with even heavier Qi, and scattered all around were fleshless skeletons, most of which seemed to be from various fish and sea monsters.

“Spread out. You’ve ten minutes to search the entire area” - I commanded.

No need to repeat myself, my five subordinates were already bursting with enthusiasm, like little kids. And to think they’d all been told the sect would confiscate anything reasonably valuable, leaving us only with scraps.