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"I have considered the situation Junior Apprentice Sister Xie described before, we can very well…." Gong Chi paused.

"That's enough," Lu Sheng interrupted her. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. That is, if they survive until then."

Immediately, the few people from Youyin Sect were irked by this statement. Lu Sheng had quite clearly belittled everyone in the Youyin Sect.

They did acknowledge Lu Sheng's power, but Li Mai and his sister also stood at the top of a whole generation. Especially Eldest Apprentice Brother Li Mai. Even someone as proud as Sun Rongji of the Spirit Bind Sect would have to act humble around him and praise his courage and skills.

Gong Chi's expression changed slightly. 

"And don't try to run away, either. I still want to buy information from you when we get out. If you run, I promise I will kill every single candidate from the Youyin Sect." Lu Sheng stared at Gong Chi and promptly broke her dream.

"Senior Apprentice Brother Lu could very much find someone else from the Thousand Brothers Association, right?" Gong Chi's face lost color.

"You are right here, why would I go find another?" Lu Sheng questioned back. "Besides, I also don't want to pay."

"..." Lu Sheng might have been the only one in the Thousand Sun Sect that could say something like that with such audacity.

Gong Chi, Xie Yuqiong, her brother, and the few people left from the Youyin Sect were left completely speechless.

Lu Sheng could be called an anti-hero at best as he would achieve his goal through any means necessary. Or, without any euphemisms, he was more like a scoundrel, and one with an absurd amount of power at that.

"Oh, and you said you would lend me 20,000 Devil Gold before. You still plan on honoring that?" Lu Sheng suddenly turned to look at Xie Yuqiong.

Xie Yuqiong blanked out for a second, then her face immediately turned livid.

"Senior Apprentice Brother Lu… I said 8,000 to 10,000… not 20,000?!"

"I clearly heard 20,000 Devil Gold." Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at Xie Yuqiong.

Xie Yuqiong and her brother immediately sensed a clear scent of danger and grew nervous. Especially Xie Yusheng, who lacked courage in the first place. He was protected by his older sister this whole time; otherwise, he would have wet his pants already.

"20,000… is too much…." Xie Yuqiong tried to make her case under Lu Sheng's pressure.

"Not much at all. Not much at all in exchange for guaranteed completion of the test for two people," Lu Sheng said meaningfully. "This is the discounted price for friends too."

Xie Yuqiong immediately understood him. Expending 20,000 Devil Gold was indeed too much for him. It would be a substantial amount even among her family. Ever since she and her brother entered the Thousand Sun Sect, they constantly received support from their family for their achievements and potential. Although it might involve a lot of money, it would be a worthy investment if they could accomplish something notable within the three major sects and open up a lot more business opportunities. 

And if they could place higher in this test, not only would they receive reward from the three major sects, but they would also be noticed by many among the upper management personnel. These would all be hidden benefits that money couldn't buy.

Xie Yuqiong immediately nodded after she thought about it that way.

"I understand. 20,000 isn't expensive at all."

"Sister!" Xie Yusheng didn't even have the time to process the whole situation yet, and just stared at his sister in awe.

"On top of that, I could also recruit other disciples for you as well. How does 30,000 Devil Gold per person sound?" Xie Yuqiong was a ruthless person when it came to business too, and immediately turned on everyone else without even blinking an eye.

"Is that a lot?" Lu Sheng questioned back.

"For certain rich people, it's not a lot at all. For most, it's an amount that would hurt, but is still acceptable," Xie Yuqiong replied.

"Then let it be so." Lu Sheng nodded in satisfaction. This was a way to earn money he just came up with. He happened to lack money too. And although the disciples of Thousand Sun Sect might not have had much of anything else, they did have lots of money. His "great" reputation would be wasted if he didn't make use of it!

"You…!" Gong Chi observed the whole exchange in awe. Shouldn't assisting your fellow disciples be a given? Why did something as simple as that turn into this mess when Lu Sheng got involved?

"Does Junior Apprentice Sister Gong have any other suggestions?" Lu Sheng looked at Gong Chi.

Gong Chi couldn't hold back her surprise, and, with a livid expression, immediately asked, "Does Senior Apprentice Brother Lu plan to clean all of us up if we don't pay?"

Lu Sheng immediately let out a sigh. "Why say it out loud if you know?"

"If that's the case, then Senior Apprentice Brother Lu might as well kill us now, or let us leave immediately." Gong Chi quickly regained her composure. 

Lu Sheng was surprised by her determination. He looked at her from head to toe. He didn't have to find the person anymore, since he had understood the meaning behind Master Qian Du Su Ningfei's tablet. The only thing he lacked now were the broad understanding of the Devil Master level and conversing with someone at that level.

"Alright, then. Take your people with you. I have given you enough protection all this way." He finally nodded.

"Farewell!" Gong Chi ultimately did understand that they were from the Youyin Sect, and couldn't afford to spend that much money like the Thousand Sun Sect's disciples. 30,000 Devil Gold could buy an above-average Holy Weapon shard. Unless they sold everything they owned, what disciple of the three major sects would have that much money with them when they would have spent it at the True Essence Tower already?

The members of the Youyin Sect quickly left with an obvious indignation.

"Who do these people think they are? If it weren't for Senior Apprentice Brother Lu, they wouldn't even be here." Xie Yusheng finally understood that he and his sister had just gotten a great bargain, and started to disdain the people from Youyin Sect. He thought they had benefited a lot by coming with Senior Apprentice Brother Lu, yet still disrespected him.

"We didn't have to bring them along. They should be grateful they even got this far, but instead, they were mad at Senior Apprentice Brother Lu. Such an attitude won't do at all." Xie Yuqiong nodded in agreement.

Lu Sheng smiled, but he was still thinking back to the ancient Dharmaraja.

"Let's go. The Buddha's Wheel area is pretty much cleared. We might as well go straight to other areas and see if we can find other apprentice brothers and sisters from the Thousand Sun Sect," he said in a low voice. Everyone he saved translated into money. What better way to earn money was there other than this?

"Of course, Senior Apprentice Brother!" XIe Yuqiong and her brother immediately answered.

"Umm… then me and my people.." Xuan Zhu and his followers stood quietly on the side the whole time, and finally found an opportunity to speak. They all stared awkwardly at Lu Sheng. 

"We all know Senior Apprentice Brother Lu wouldn't bring us along for no reason. We aren't disciples from the Thousand Sun Sect, and our families aren't rich enough to buy rankings, either. But… we could exchange information we've already gotten. Is Senior Apprentice Brother Lu interested enough to bring us along?"

"What kind of information?" Lu Sheng was immediately intrigued. What kind of information could be worth tens of thousand of Devil Gold?

"It's about the Spirit Bind Sect. All of their disciples, led by their Eldest Senior Apprentice Brother Song Rongji, are gathering in a place with three Buddhist towers. They might have the same plan as Senior Apprentice Brother Lu: to gather allies first and eliminate enemies in hope of achieving a better rank.

"Then what sect are you from? Why are you giving us such important information?" Xie Yuqiong asked.

"We are from outer sects…" Xu Zhu laughed bitterly.

The so-called outer sects were the small- to medium-sized sects that maintained a good relationship with the three major sects. The most outstanding disciples among them had the opportunity to join competitions like this too, provided they could afford the substantial expenses.

It was the three major sects' way of giving other sects a bit hope.

"If the information proves to be accurate, then I could consider bringing you along." Lu Sheng glanced at the three people left behind Xuan Zhu.

"We are grateful, Senior Apprentice Brother Lu!" The four people, including Xuan Zhu, were ecstatic. Only after witnessing how cruel this place was did they understand how much following someone absurdly powerful could help.

The two people with Lu Sheng, as well as the three people with Xuan Zhu for a total of seven, started to walk along in the direction of the immense Buddha sculpture in the center.

Lu Sheng killed members of the Spirit Bind Sect on sight, and charged other people money. He brought along those that could afford the cost, while those who couldn't could only leave. 

As they pushed further, Buddhist temples of all sizes were cleared out by Lu Sheng. He encountered at least 20 or so Spirit Bind Sect disciples on the way, all of which he killed and eliminated.

This hurt the Moling team a lot. As one of the major sects, they were about equal to the Thousand Sun Sect and the Youyin Sect. But after the stunt Lu Sheng pulled, their numbers were drastically decreased.

************

Training Grounds, outer layer of the Black Seal Temple.

The top management from the Thousand Sun Sect, Spirit Bind Sect, and Youyin Sect all gathered around and observed the situation in the inner Black Seal Temple through an enormous round mirror.

The top-ranked Thousand Sun Sect prefect level Elder Master Yuan Zheng, an old man with white beard and half as tall as a normal man, happened to be controlling the flag matrix of the Great Air Condensing Essence Gathering Formation. He adjusted the brightness and clarity of the images.

The image showed powerful people from the Spirit Bind Sect systematically summoning their Spirit Bind Yin Ghost to pester a closed-eyed Vajra, trying to slowly exhaust him to death.

A few other disciples from the Thousand Sun Sect, on the other hand, sat quietly on the side and watched the fierce battle between the Spirit Bind Sect disciples and closed-eyed Vajra inside a formation emitting faint gold light.

After a while, the closed-eyed Vajra was finally exhausted to death. The people from the Thousand Sun Sect quickly went up and handed over some gold check, which the head of the Spirit Bind Sect accepted. The whole situation looked so very peaceful.

"These bastards!" Master Yuan Zheng was immediately angered. They were bringing shame to Thousand Sun Sect by so obviously bribing the contestants!

He quickly brought up another scene. This time, there were several people of the Youyin Sect battling several men and women with white feathers growing on their arms.

These men and women all wore silver masks and held white spears with strange symbols on them. They were all very powerful, and the spears they swung around easily cut through the protection of Black Membrane. If it weren't for the fact that they moved and reacted too slowly, the Youyin Sect disciples would have lost already, but instead the Youyin disciples were winning.

More disciples of the Thousand Sun Sect also appeared in a corner, and waved some signs that appeared to be numbers at the Youyin Sect people in the distance.

A person from the Youyin Sect also somehow found time to exchange a few hand signs.

Soon, the two sides reached an agreement.

"5,000 Devil Gold, and we take care of one for them." The man from the Thousand Sun Sect in charge of bargaining smiled proudly. "They originally wanted 8,000, but do they know what I do at home? Haggle a bit and I talked down the price down to 5,000 in a few rounds."

His proud smile was immediately enlarged on the mirror, his face appearing in high definition on the mirror that was tens of meters wide. 

All the management present on the training grounds started to laugh.