"Hey everyone, quiet down for a moment."
Yang Hong sighed and raised his voice.
"..."
The crowd looked at Yang Hong with a hint of confusion.
What was this person, wielding a broken sword, planning to do?
"Ahem... Men to the left, women to the right. Those who are neither, stand in the middle."
Under their gazes, which resembled those of fools, Yang Hong delivered the lines he had prepared for twenty-four days.
"Now, hand over your spoils! Copy all your cultivation technique jade slips for me, and give me half of your spirit stones, pills, and magical artifacts."
These were the words Yang Hong had long rehearsed.
In his opinion, leaving a sliver of room for future encounters was wise.
Moreover, if he relaxed the demands for the plunder, his objective—the jade slips—
Should be easier to acquire.
"Idiot, you're courting death!"
As soon as Yang Hong finished speaking, a sharp voice rang out.
A slender youth, clad in white and with a jade-like face, pointed his long sword at Yang Hong.
"He's Shi Guandong, the senior disciple of the inner sect of the sixth-grade sect Lieyang Sect. He's at the ninth level of Foundation Establishment. This Heavenly Human realm martial artist is as good as dead."
"Heh, are Heavenly Human realm martial artists this arrogant now?"
"Never mind this idiot. Let's quickly attack this Five Fires Burning Heaven Formation, or we won't be able to escape."
"Right, right. Looking at an idiot like this even once contaminates my eyes."
The cultivators glanced at Yang Hong and then paid him no further mind, turning their attention to attacking the Five Fires Burning Heaven Formation.
Except for one person.
Xi Miaohua stared intently at Yang Hong.
Others might not have noticed, but as someone in the Golden Core realm, she had sensed a faint sword intent arise and had thus noticed Yang Hong.
Therefore, she had seen Yang Hong effortlessly dismember five Golden Core cultivators with a single, gentle sword strike.
"Sister, hurry up and help! Let's break through this wall of fire quickly and escape."
Gui Ruolin urged her senior sister while her sword energy slashed through the wall of fire.
"Heh, no need to fight. Prepare your jade slips, pills, spirit stones, and magical artifacts."
Xi Miaohua retracted her flying sword and began preparing from her storage ring.
She recalled Yang Hong's words: jade slips only needed to be copied, and only half of the pills, spirit stones, and other items were required.
This meant she had considerable room for maneuver.
With this thought, Xi Miaohua began to hatch her own subtle plans.
"Everyone, shut up!
We're robbing here! Be serious!"
Seeing that he was being ignored, Yang Hong felt a sense of helplessness.
He had tried his best to project his cultivation, but the breathing and body-tempering techniques he practiced were too effective at concealing his true power.
At most, he could only reveal the realm of a Heavenly Human realm martial artist.
This inevitably led to him being underestimated.
However, as long as one possessed strength, everyone would eventually listen.
He injected his true qi into the long sword in his hand, and the Clear Breeze sword intent was unleashed once more.
"Crack—"
This time, the fourth-grade flying sword shattered completely.
"Swish— Swish— Swish—"
Under Yang Hong's deliberate control, the flying sword fragments transformed into specks of cold starlight, scattering in all directions and striking the wall of fire.
With a "boom," the wall of fire vanished.
"..."
The scene fell silent. This time, everyone clearly saw that
It was the Heavenly Human realm martial artist who had acted.
"Now, may I proceed with the robbery?"
Yang Hong produced a third-grade magical artifact flying sword and asked in a gentle voice.
"Y-yes."
"May I ask what you wish to plunder?"
"Esteemed senior brother, are you after women?"
The cultivators present were now subdued. Yang Hong's combat power was far more terrifying than that of the five Golden Core cultivators from the Lieyan Sect.
Recalling the sudden dismemberment of the five Golden Core cultivators and then looking at the sword in Yang Hong's hand,
Who was the one who had acted?
It was self-evident.
"Quiet! Queue up!"
Seeing that these cultivators were finally taking him seriously, Yang Hong wasted no more time and immediately began his plundering.
"I'm very reasonable.
First, cultivation techniques. Whether they are cultivation methods or spells, if you know them, copy one for me.
For pills, spirit stones, and magical artifacts, I only want half. I don't care about the quality, only the quantity."
"Of course, I don't want anything poisonous."
Upon hearing Yang Hong's words, the cultivators were stunned, including Xi Miaohua, who had already been preparing.
"This senior brother is truly benevolent. I will begin copying my techniques now."
"Yes, yes~ Senior brother is truly kind. Thank you, senior brother."
"This is the first time I've met someone as good as you, senior brother. Thank you."
The cultivators acted as if they had received a tremendous favor and began thanking Yang Hong.
They all cooperated with Yang Hong's plundering willingly.
Yang Hong had actually anticipated their subtle intentions, but to obtain more cultivation techniques, he chose not to expose them.
Why were these people so excited and cooperative?
The reason was simple: Yang Hong had not hit them where it hurt the most.
These people would not bring many spirit stones into the Hongdong Secret Realm. At most, they would have a few hundred, and at least, perhaps only a few.
Even if all these spirit stones were taken, they would not feel heartache.
They had brought quite a few pills, but since Yang Hong only wanted quantity and not quality, they could give him the lower-quality ones while keeping the higher-quality ones for themselves.
This was not much different from not being robbed at all.
It was only the magical artifacts being taken that caused them a slight pang of regret.
However, this loss was insignificant compared to their previous gains.
Who among those who had entered the secret realm and survived until now didn't possess hundreds of monster materials? Who hadn't collected hundreds of spirit herbs?
With these items, they could sell or exchange them after leaving, and all their losses would be recovered.
As for cultivation techniques?
That was even simpler. As long as they didn't copy the core essence of the technique during recording, it would be fine.
Cultivating such a technique would only lead to qi deviation and nothing else.
These people were outwardly calling Yang Hong kind, but inwardly cursing him as an imbecile.
However, they were unaware that there existed something called a System in this world.
For incomplete techniques, as long as Yang Hong memorized them, the Cultivation Return System would correct them through a divine infusion.
Moreover, many people here were fellow disciples. With their different modifications to the same technique, after being corrected by the System, several distinct cultivation techniques might emerge.
This was precisely why Yang Hong had asked them to copy their techniques themselves rather than directly demanding their jade slips.
Seeing the cultivators' eyes gleaming, and even occasionally showing mischievous smiles, Yang Hong secretly rejoiced.
This time, he was playing the long game.
"Senior brother, these are my belongings. Six cultivation techniques, thirty spells, three thousand spirit stones, two hundred pills, and twenty magical artifacts."
Just as Yang Hong was calculating his next destination for plundering, a tall woman in a white gauze dress, her face veiled by a scarf, approached him.
She directly handed him a storage bag.
"Mm, very good. You may leave."
Yang Hong glanced at her, did not even look at the contents of the storage bag, and waved her away.
"Senior brother, have we met before?"
"Perhaps in dreams."
In response to her question, Yang Hong retorted sharply.
"Heh, perhaps not."
Xi Miaohua's attempt at conversation ended unpleasantly, and she withdrew.
Yang Hong chuckled inwardly. His current appearance was meticulously disguised, modeled after the image of Wu Dalang from his previous life's television shows.
Having planned his plundering before entering the secret realm, Yang Hong had naturally considered the issue of maintaining his anonymity.
The moment he entered the secret realm, he had used "Bone Shrinking Technique" and "Illusionary Form Art" to disguise himself.
Now, even if Song Yuzhi and the others saw Yang Hong, they would not recognize him with one hundred percent certainty.