"The token..." True Person Yuan Mu murmured to himself. If they had the token in hand, entering the treasury would naturally be unimpeded and safe. But this ancient great sect had been destroyed over a hundred thousand years ago. Where were they supposed to obtain a treasury token?
Important items like treasury tokens were either kept in heavily restricted sect strongholds or held by important figures. They had absolutely no leads on this.
"Young Friend Mo, by saying this, do you know where to find a treasury token?" Demon Lord Guifang asked instead.
"Correct." Mo Tiange admitted without hesitation, but did not elaborate further.
Everyone present was intelligent and understood this was her bargaining chip. If things were truly as she said, this chip was far too important. Anyone would try to drive a hard bargain.
If it were before, under absolute suppression of strength, Mo Tiange wouldn't have had much capital to set conditions. But now, with powerful Nascent Soul cultivators backing her, her weight had increased significantly, and she had the confidence to make demands.
At the very least, Scholar Yu couldn't say "what qualifications do you have to negotiate conditions" this time.
True Person Yuan Mu asked in a deep voice, "Young Friend Mo, if you have something to say, please speak plainly." Regardless, the weight of these late-Nascent Soul cultivators was not insignificant. This junior wasn't a fool and wouldn't speak recklessly. As long as her conditions weren't too excessive, they could still be accepted.
Mo Tiange smiled. "Esteemed Seniors, please don't rush. This junior is just a bit timid. Being with all of you esteemed seniors puts quite a lot of pressure on me."
Scholar Yu narrowed his eyes, closed his folding fan, and asked, "You want to enter the treasury alone?"
"To be precise, this junior wishes to obtain the first opportunity to enter the treasury." Under the sharp gazes of the Nascent Soul cultivators, Mo Tiange's expression remained calm, without retreating.
The Nascent Soul cultivators fell silent for a moment, each showing thoughtful expressions.
The first person to enter the treasury could obtain the best treasures; the benefits were self-evident. If she were alone, such audacity would be too much. But with Qin Xi here... True Person Yuan Mu couldn't help but glance at Qin Xi. His expression was indifferent, seemingly unconcerned, but his position perfectly shielded Mo Tiange.
He frowned with a headache. What a coincidence that Fellow Daoist Qin had arrived just before entering the secret realm. If it were like before, even with Fuyaozi's divine sense supporting her, this Young Friend Mo wouldn't dare propose such conditions. She had previously said she just wanted a share of the spoils. But now it was different.
Of course, if these people joined forces, a single mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, no matter how powerful his abilities, wouldn't be difficult to handle. The problem was, with benefits at stake, these people still needed to restrain each other. How could they possibly unite? Moreover, exterminating a Nascent Soul cultivator wasn't easy. If they couldn't destroy the Nascent Soul as well, the future troubles would be endless. Therefore, even if Nascent Soul cultivators formed grudges, they were very restrained.
"Young Friend Mo, your condition is acceptable." The first to speak was Demon Lord Guifang. Besides Mo Tiange and Qin Xi, his relationship with the other three groups was the most distant. Even if they coexisted peacefully usually, Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism were collectively called the righteous path. At critical moments, they were still opposed to his demonic path. In this situation, suppressed by the other three sides, he preferred to lean slightly towards Mo Tiange.
After a pause, he continued, "However, if you two enter first and take all the important treasures inside the treasury, wouldn't we suffer a great loss?" But this leaning also needed to guarantee his own interests.
"Correct," Scholar Yu also said coldly, "This condition is too difficult to accept."
"Esteemed Seniors, please don't rush to refuse." Mo Tiange said unhurriedly, "To be honest with you, the treasury tokens are not omnipotent. Each token only allows one person to enter and exit, and can take away at most one treasure. Esteemed Seniors, how many tokens do you think this junior can obtain? How many important treasures can I take? For the treasury of such an ancient great sect, would you esteemed seniors have nothing left to take just because this junior takes a few treasures first? I'm afraid when the time comes, you esteemed seniors will be dazzled by the choices and won't know what to pick."
"Is this true?" True Person Yuan Mu asked cautiously. If one token could only take one treasure, this condition wasn't a big deal. As she said, no matter how bad it was, the treasury of this ancient great sect couldn't possibly have only one or two treasures worth looking at.
"Correct. If True Person Yuan Mu doesn't believe me, we can verify after obtaining the tokens."
"..." If things were truly as Mo Tiange said, this condition wasn't so hard to accept. That way, the two of them couldn't take many treasures. At most, they would immediately flee after leaving the treasury to ensure their safety. As for setting ambushes outside... facing five late-stage great cultivators, they probably wouldn't do something so foolish.
"Alright, I have no objections." The first to speak was actually Scholar Yu. He knew when to advance and retreat, his expression calm without any reluctance.
True Person Yuan Mu and Iron-Face exchanged a glance and slowly nodded as well.
With both their sides agreeing, Venerable Wuming and Demon Lord Guifang naturally had nothing more to say.
However, before Mo Tiange could speak, Demon Lord Guifang interjected: "Wait! Young Friend Mo, are the restrictions inside the treasury truly impossible to bypass except by using the tokens?"
This question, seemingly simple, actually contained another meaning. If she had hidden some method, and when the time came, the husband and wife duo entered first, swept away all the important treasures, then immediately fled upon exiting, wouldn't these people be thoroughly tricked?
Mo Tiange understood this, so she replied, "If you esteemed seniors don't believe this junior's words, after breaking the illusion formation, you can see if the restrictions inside the treasury are as this junior said—completely impossible to crack. You esteemed seniors are all top great cultivators of the Human Realm; your attainments in formations need not be mentioned. Even if the Five Sages of that era were far superior to you esteemed seniors, they couldn't break through the limitations of realm."
Hearing this, everyone fell silent for a moment. Mo Tiange's words weren't without reason. The chasm between Nascent Soul and God Transformation—these thousand-year-old monsters understood it best. The lower the realm, the smaller the gap between two realms. A Qi Refining cultivator, with the help of treasures, might be able to fight a Foundation Establishment cultivator. A Core Formation cultivator, if sufficiently talented, could match a Nascent Soul cultivator in miscellaneous studies. But the difference between Nascent Soul and God Transformation was like that between heaven and abyss. If those restrictions were at the God Transformation realm or above, they absolutely couldn't break them.
"Alright," Demon Lord Guifang pondered for a moment and said, "This lord will believe you this once, little fellow daoist."
With everyone's opinions aligned, Mo Tiange said, "Back then, the Five Sages seniors searched through this sect's records. During the War of Righteous and Devil, to reward disciples, the various great elders each held several treasury tokens. And these elders ultimately failed to escape this calamity, perishing within the Immortal Palace. We only need to find the corpses of this sect's elders to find treasury tokens among them."
"How do we identify them?" Scholar Yu asked, "Moreover, since they were elders, their cultivation must have been outstanding. The Corpse Puppets we encountered earlier were at most Nascent Soul stage and were already so difficult to deal with. If these elders also turned into Corpse Puppets..."
"Fuyaozi senior said that these elders' cave dwellings were on independent peaks. Esteemed Seniors, please look around. Most of these independent mountain peaks around us likely contain elders' cave dwellings." Mo Tiange paused before continuing, "This junior dare not say that none of these elders turned into Corpse Puppets. But this is absolutely a minority. The conditions required for natural Corpse Puppet formation are incredibly coincidental; you esteemed seniors must understand this better than this junior."
In short, if they were unlucky enough to find an elder who had turned into a Corpse Puppet, then they were just out of luck.
True Person Yuan Mu nodded. "It seems Fuyaozi senior has told Young Friend Mo everything. Considering this senior's character, he probably wouldn't play tricks on us juniors from a hundred thousand years later." He turned to Mo Tiange. "Young Friend Mo, if that's the case, should we split up to search for tokens next?"
Mo Tiange smiled. "How would this junior dare decide such a thing? Whatever you esteemed seniors think is appropriate, that's what we'll do."
Hearing this, several Nascent Soul cultivators couldn't help but grumble inwardly. Hadn't she decided plenty of things along this journey? Relying on Fuyaozi's backing, she hadn't been shy about giving orders. It was just that their information was scarce, so they had to listen to her.
Now this matter was before them. How many tokens they could find determined how many treasures they could obtain. This was something they absolutely couldn't share with others. With this group possessing so many great cultivators with astonishing abilities, disputes would be troublesome to handle if they arose. Splitting up to search was the most suitable method.
As for Mo Tiange, at this point, they no longer needed to worry. If she alone had a way, she wouldn't have brought so many people to the treasury. At most, she would try to take opportunistic measures and gain some advantages.
This was unavoidable. Who told her she had the bestOpportunity and encountered Fuyaozi? If she truly obtained some incredibleOpportunity, they could still take action later.
Everyone quickly reached a consensus. After asking about the token's characteristics and agreeing on a meeting time, they went their separate ways.
Three days had passed, with one day gone and two remaining. Everyone had their own thoughts, tacitly understanding they needed to leave one day to handle private matters. They agreed to meet one day later, meet here.
Once the others had gone far away, Qin Xi couldn't help but ask, "Tian Ge, are you really..."
After fifty years apart, now reunited, he found he could no longer see through her thoughts at a glance, nor did he need to give her pointers one by one. These fifty years, she had grown a lot—from her cultivation to her conduct, she now had the bearing of a high-level cultivator. Before these late-stage great cultivators, she remained composed every time, neither subservient nor arrogant.
This was a good thing, he thought. The current Tian Ge was only one step away from Nascent Soul. Once she advanced to Nascent Soul, she would be be on par with him. As cultivation companions, the closer their cultivation levels, the longer they could walk together.
A mysterious smile appeared on Mo Tiange's face, showing a rare playfulness as she blinked at him. "I haven't lied about a single thing. However..." She couldn't help but hold something back, to not fail to live up to the opportunity bestowed by heaven Opportunity. Who told her she coincidentally obtained the Fusheng Sword and was so lucky to receive Fuyaozi's legacy?
"Then what do we do next?" he asked, very curious about what she was concealing.
"Of course, we go search for tokens." Mo Tiange laughed. "This, I'm really telling the truth."