Despite his excitement at his newfound wealth, Li Lang was a little taken aback. Jian Beiyun had casually thrown a sizeable sum at him without a second thought. Li Lang knew the powerful cultivators were wealthy to the point that it was on another dimension, but it was still hard to process.

It was what happened when the world possessed superhumans. Their sense of value was on an entirely different plane to those beneath them. They had the ability to forcefully take the belongings of everyone weaker than them. So it was a given that the wealth they possessed was drastically higher as well.

It was Li Lang’s first time seeing a red spirit crystal, not to mention orange ones. It was normally reserved for the wealthiest Foundation Establishment cultivators and above. In fact, many Foundation Establishment experts didn’t even have one orange spirit crystal.

It couldn’t be helped. They were cultivators and not businessmen. Despite their ability to earn more, their consumption was just as high. They were the type of people willing to spend all their wealth to progress their cultivation. In a way, they weren’t wrong in doing so, as the more powerful they were, the easier it was to regain the spent wealth. Advancing to the next stage of cultivation was much more important than accumulating wealth.

While Li Lang was lost in thought at the implications of his newly gained wealth, a hand on his shoulder broke him free from his musing.

“You okay?” Jian Beiyun asked.

“Oh, apologies, Senior. I got a little overwhelmed. It’s my first time seeing red and orange spirit crystals.”

“Ah yes, it’s not something Energy Gatherers often come into contact with. My advice is to buy a space ring as soon as you can and keep them out of sight.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

Li Lang didn’t bother to stick around any further as he knew how tired Jian Beiyun had grown over the course of the question session.

He swiftly returned to his companions and left the teahouse for their organization’s encampment.

“Goodbye for now,” Sima Xue waved. “Remember to save some money for my tofu pudding. Now that I’m in the Foundation Establishment, I expect Earth-grade quality food.”

At her teasing, a rare chuckle escaped Tang Yulian.

“Good luck to you guys. Do come find me if you find yourself in Calm Port.”

The two quickly disappeared from view, returning to their respective organizations. With Huang Si already missing ever since they left the pocket realm, only the trio remained. That was with the exception of the silver-haired boy who had been lurking in the background.

“Li Lang, you’ll stay at Emberglow City until you hear back from me, right? You won’t suddenly disappear to go on a trip?”

Li Lang was not surprised Liang Po had heard about his plans to travel. He had talked about it with Sima Xue when he was nearby, after all.

“Yes. The traveling won’t start until I hear back from you. Though I’m only waiting six months at most.”

“That’s plenty of time for me to write the letter. Thanks.”

The trio had spoken about the request from Liang Po before, so they didn’t dwell on the subject. They headed back to their encampment to prepare for their return to Emberglow City. With all the matters settled, it was easy to convince Councilman Sheng to set off the next morning. The time they saved when traveling with a powerful elder was more than just a few days.

They had arrived at the pocket realm riding on a Skyvessel, but they would be leaving on a regular Skyrunner. The Orchid Covenant’s disciples had already departed by themselves once they were eliminated. Head Councilman had long returned, so all they had left was Councilman Sheng’s personal Skyrunner.

They headed out in the early morning and managed to return to Emberglow in the later parts of the afternoon. If the trio had to trek the same distance on their own Skyrunner, it would have taken an entire week, at the very least.

Sheng Zhaoming had flown them straight back to The Orchid Covenant’s headquarters. As the last few members to leave the pocket realm, they were expected to report to their leader.

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“Wait here. Someone will call you in after I am done talking to the Head Councilman,” Councilman Sheng ordered.

The old man then left them behind in the corridor, right outside the Head Councilman’s room. The only other person present was Sheng Haoran, who had tagged along with his grandfather throughout the trip. The two parties awkwardly stared at each other, without a single word being exchanged.

It was the result of their history. They were once antagonistic toward each other, but now things were different. Li Lang didn’t want to waste energy on useless conflicts while Sheng Haoran didn’t want to continue their enmity. Despite the strange circumstances, staying inside the pocket realm for five years was a huge accomplishment.

Combined with the fact they had all aged and matured throughout the years, both parties wanted to avoid any conflict.

This caused them to just silently stare at each other, at a loss for words.

Hmm, it seems like he doesn’t know that I was the one who sabotaged him inside the pocket realm. As long as he’s over it, I’m over it too.

For better or worse, the awkward staring ceased when several newcomers arrived from the stairway. Half a dozen familiar faces soon approached.

It only took a second for Li Lang to recognize them. Some of them were the other disciples who had entered the pocket realm together. Specifically, they were part of the noble faction, who were essentially stuck-up young masters. Two among them were even Sheng Haoran’s companions who had previously ambushed them together.

Li Lang hadn’t seen any of them ever since he entered the pocket realm, but it was obvious the ones who did enter had been eliminated at some point before he knew it.

“Those guys did return! They are probably the luckiest members of our covenant since its inception!”

“Right? I can’t believe this scrawny little masked freak not only got lucky and got selected, but even got a free pass to frolic in the pocket realm due to some anomaly,” one of them said as they sneered at Wei Ping. “I bet you fifty Qi stones that he wasted his time making that new mask instead of doing anything useful.”

“What do you have to say? Is my friend here, right?”

The group sized Li Lang’s party up as they approached with a smirk. Whether it was due to being the smallest member of their party or the mask they didn’t like, they had set their sights on Wei Ping first.

“None of your b-business,” Wei Ping replied, “I don’t—”

Before he could continue, the group of haughty young masters abruptly descended into laughter. Some held onto their stomach and bent their body ninety degrees as they guffawed while others were wiping away their tears.

“Hahaha, this guy can’t even speak properly. Of course, he wouldn’t have been able to stay in the realm by relying on his own merits.”

“Our covenant sure has fallen on some hard times. To think we have someone like him amongst us. Young man, I advise you to share everything you have received from the trials. What you have may be at a low level, but it would be much more useful in our hands than yours. That goes for you two as well.”

Naturally, the latter part of his words were meant for Li Lang and Long Yi. The group didn’t let the two stay out of it, either. They walked past Sheng Haoran to confront the trio. As expected, they treated him as part of their group.

What they didn’t expect was neither of Wei Ping’s companions had planned to stay on the sideline in the first place. Just as Long Yi was about to jump into action, his shorter friend wearing the mask gestured for him to stop.

“I’m not sure if you g-guys should be the one laughing. I don’t remember seeing any of y-you in the realm. W-when did you guys even drop out? Or were none of y-you selected?”

The sharp retort managed to silence the young cultivators. In fact, it even riled one of them up.

“You court death! The pocket realm obviously was acting strange. It only kicked us out due to irregularities.”

“Calm down, Junior Fei,” one of the older boys stepped forth to calm things down. “There’s no need to get angry. I know you’re better than them. I may have been too old to get selected, but I can tell incompetence when I see it. They’re just gutter trash that not even the orthodox people want.”

This time, not even Wei Ping managed to stop his giant of a friend from taking action. Long Yi ignored every signal from his companions and rushed toward the older man who had just spoken. He was dead set on intimidating the young masters with his martial prowess.

Despite how menacing it was for someone of that size to charge at them, the young masters only watched on in amusement. It was as if they were assured everything was under their control. They seemed even eager for Long Yi to strike first so they could justify the use of force.

The moment Long Yi prepared to strike, a figure suddenly appeared before him. Using their back, they gently redirected Long Yi to the side and placed himself between the two parties.

“All of you, enough!”

Upon seeing the person who had intervened, the young masters’ eyes widened in surprise. No one in Li Lang’s group could see the face of the interloper, as he had his back turned. However, they did recognize the clothes and voice. After all, he had been beside them all day.

Why is Sheng Haoran getting involved now? Is he really working to resolve the dispute? It’s not likely he just got a change of heart and wants to antagonize us now, but you never know when it comes to people.

After all, we did screw up his friend’s chances of entering the pocket realm. I also threw that talisman at him while we were in there. Let’s just hope he’s not the type that are slaves to their emotions.