In the Xia residence's main hall, the atmosphere was extremely tense.

  Xia Li had only just started out and didn't understand the cultivation world well enough. If he'd known this would happen, he wouldn't have refined Foundation Establishment Pills even if it killed him!

  The Liu family had harmed him!

  No...

  This wasn't the Liu family's fault. They only knew Foundation Establishment Pills were rare—they didn't know about these hidden rules.

  Even if the Liu family hadn't mentioned it, he would have eventually refined and sold them himself.

  "Everyone, I now understand the cause and effect. Just tell me directly—what will it take for you to let me go?"

  Xia Li wisely admitted defeat, but not completely. He still had escape methods he hadn't used.

  "If you have a master, have him come negotiate in person."

  "If you don't have a master, hand over all your inheritance and submit to our Profound Pill Sect's control as a pill slave. That's your only chance of survival."

  The Profound Pill Sect elder gave Xia Li his options. Myriad Treasures Pavilion and the Rogue Cultivator Alliance weren't as powerful as the Profound Pill Sect, so their presence here was both to accompany and to show their stance.

  To show they didn't dare help Xia Li or covet the inheritance related to supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pills.

  "The way your Profound Pill Sect does things really reminds me of a faction I'm familiar with..."

  The conditions the Profound Pill Sect proposed didn't surprise Xia Li. This Profound Pill Sect was exactly like the unscrupulous corporations on Earth.

  Suppressing competitors, malicious competition, creating monopolies—they'd use any means except fair, healthy competition.

  "Enough nonsense. My patience is limited!"

  "I can call my master here, but you must first give me the spirit stones I'm owed. This relates to the trial my master assigned me."

  "Otherwise I'd rather die and have my master come seek revenge on you beasts. Cutting off my opportunity is the same as taking my life!"

  "If I fail the trial, I might as well be dead. At least I'd profit by having my master kill you!"

  Xia Li suddenly stood up and roared, his expression genuinely somewhat crazed. But his feet were quietly moving closer to Wan Hui.

  This made the Profound Pill Sect elder frown, but he wasn't stupid. This condition seemed rather suspicious.

  "You probably have some special treasure on you that can help you escape, but requires a large amount of spirit stones to activate, right?"

  The Profound Pill Sect elder sneered twice and was about to say something more when...

  Xia Li suddenly moved!

  With lightning speed, he rushed to Wan Hui and grabbed his arm.

  Before Wan Hui could react, a flash of white light suddenly appeared...

  And then...

  Xia Li vanished, as if he'd evaporated into thin air, leaving not a trace of his aura behind.

  Disappearing along with Xia Li was Wan Hui's arm.

  "Ahhh! My hand! My hand!!"

  Wan Hui stared in disbelief at his now-empty shoulder. His arm—the one wearing his storage ring—had vanished along with Xia Li.

  "That little beast..."

  The Profound Pill Sect elder stood up with clenched fists. He hadn't expected a mere Qi Refining cultivator to escape right under the nose of a Nascent Soul cultivator like himself!

  Even the Void-Piercing Talisman, a must-have escape treasure, he could have intercepted in time.

  But Xia Li's escape method was clearly far more sophisticated than a Void-Piercing Talisman.

  "The cut is smooth and clean—spatial power. That kid has a spatial attribute treasure on him. Does anyone have a Space-Tracking Formation Disk!"

  After examining his wound, Wan Hui immediately thought of a way to track Xia Li. But both the Rogue Cultivator Alliance representative and the Profound Pill Sect elder shook their heads.

  They really hadn't brought one.

  "Damn it, damn it!! I will find him and cut him into a thousand pieces!"

  Wan Hui was furious.

  "Issue a wanted notice. Offer a heavy reward. I want that little beast to have nowhere to run, neither in heaven nor on earth."

  Meanwhile.

  Earth, Linguang City's lower district, in the sewers.

  Xia Li emerged from a flash of white light, his brow furrowed and expression cold.

  "Things were peaceful for such a short time... and just selling two Foundation Establishment Pills caused all this?"

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Xia Li was furious. The longer he stayed peacefully in Fenghe City, the more spirit stones he could have saved.

  He had indeed been greedy.

  But he wasn't being greedy for others' things. He wasn't stealing or robbing—he just wanted to make a big profit. Was it really worth all this?

  Xia Li lowered his head and removed the storage ring from the severed arm in his hand, then threw down the arm and stomped on it several times.

  Going back would be troublesome now, because he would definitely appear in the Xia residence's main hall.

  He could only hope those three factions weren't bored enough to keep watching his broken-down house.

  "Spirit seal decryption!"

  Xia Li ordered the Heaven Chip to begin decrypting the spirit seal on the storage ring in his hand. He wanted to see just how many treasures a prefecture-level Myriad Treasures Pavilion branch manager had.

  More than ten minutes passed...

  Until a pleasant sound rang in his mind.

  〖Decryption complete〗

  After decryption, Xia Li immediately probed inside with his divine thought. The first thing he saw was a mountain of spirit stones.

  "Inventory!"

  〖Inventorying...〗

  After a while.

  〖Rough spirit stone inventory complete. Total: 125,392 low-grade spirit stones〗

  "Good. Very good!"

  Xia Li's face lit up with joy. The frustration in his heart was swept away by this sudden wealth.

  Converting this many spirit stones to Earth's standard units, it had to be over a hundred thousand. Enough to buy a mansion in the upper district.

  This was enough for him to purchase the best Spirit Core and Heaven Chip after Foundation Establishment, then buy some Earth-specialty weapons to arm himself.

  Not to mention the storage ring still contained so many other treasures that would need to be inventoried later.

  Without wasting words, Xia Li directly contacted Ke Xiao, planning to go to her base to discuss things. But Ke Xiao sent a message saying she wasn't in Linguang City.

  However, she could help Xia Li open the door so he could rest inside.

  Xia Li expressed his thanks and curiously asked if Ke Xiao wasn't worried he'd mess with her things. Did she trust him that much?

  Ke Xiao's answer was simple.

  She really wasn't worried. Unless Xia Li had a death wish. The Hidden Wing organization was very good at finding people. Xia Li could try the consequences of shoplifting.

  Before long, Xia Li arrived at the secret entrance to the underground room. The hidden door opened automatically, and Xia Li went inside and took a shower first.

  This trip to the cultivation world had caused big trouble. Next time he went back, he'd need to be fully prepared.

  And showering, besides cleansing himself, was also a moment to relax and think carefully.

  Connecting to the Heavenly Dao Network, Xia Li began searching for where to get Genesis Serum.

  Foundation Establishment Pills were common as dirt on Earth, but Genesis Serum—the concentrated essence extracted and refined from them—wasn't common at all. It was considered a scarce commodity.

  However...

  Though Genesis Serum didn't require qualification verification on Earth and could be purchased, every manufacturer's orders were backed up for years.

  With no other choice, Xia Li had to contact Ke Xiao again. Generally speaking, this kind of thing could be bought at a premium on the black market.

  And as a member of the black market, how could the Hidden Wing organization lack this stuff?

  "Sis Ke, does our organization have Genesis Serum in stock?"

  "Yes, why? You want to buy some?"

  "Mm."

  "Didn't I tell you to do missions? Buying is such a waste. Even with the internal price, it's expensive!"

  "No matter. I have spirit stones."

  "But... can't you just do a mission?"

  Ke Xiao was speechless. Xia Li had to do missions for her to get the organization's recruitment bonus. Otherwise, no matter how much Xia Li spent in the organization, it had nothing to do with her.

  "Then I'll take a long-term F-rank mission."

  "That works... consider it practice. Which mission?"

  "Donate spirit stones to the organization, contributing to organizational development."

  "What the—!"

  Ke Xiao was dumbfounded. Xia Li was ignoring perfectly good benefits and insisting on being a sucker?