[Musheng!] 

With his significant cultivation, not only did the seat he was on shatter, the marble dais gained a deep crack down the centre.

The trembling of the Sect Head's wispy brows quietened down.

"w.a.n.g Hao entered secluded cultivation nearly two months ago. However, in all this time, no one from outside of the Cedar Sect has seen him…"

[I can now only feel that this was done so that they could hide w.a.n.g Hao from our eyes. If w.a.n.g Hao has truly entered the 8th level, and this new disciple surpa.s.ses my two top outer disciples…]

Old Man Boulder sighed heavily. An elder hurried forwards and procured a jade seat from his dimensional pouch. After dusting it off with his sleeve, the elder replaced the broken debris with this new jade chair. The old sect master settled onto it and pondered the situation.

[The Boulder Sect must now tread carefully. Pleasing the Star-Cutting Sword Sect will anger the Cedar Sect, who cannot be underestimated anymore.]

______

*Knock knock*

Van stood up from his cross-legged position on the ground and opened the door, bleary-eyed.

A messenger thrust a bamboo scroll into Van's palms, it was accompanied by a slip with a large 10 printed on it. He had no idea what it was for. 

"What is this?" Van asked the messenger's retreating back. A moment later, they were a speck in the distance. Van blinked.

He unfurled the bamboo scroll and read the flowing script.

Van was immediately alert. It was from Sect Master Musheng!

When Van reached the end of the scroll, he let out a breath.

The sect master had found enough proof to back Van's claims about his misadventures in the Blizzard Plains. In the last few days, all members of the sect who were found to be infected were put into confinement and the demon inside their minds forced into a temporary stasis condition. The Sect Master explained that he would be informing other sects in Cloud River shortly and has been discussing how Mind Bore Beetles might be cultivated successfully. Lastly, he had gifted Van 10,000 sect contribution points for his services to the safety of the Cedar Sect.

Van held up the token and saw that the large '10' was followed by a marker than implied 1000 units, making it a symbol for ten thousand points.  

The youth whistled. He remembered that the Ebony Dimension Ring he had been eyeing the last time he was at the Point Exchange Centre was about 1000 sect contribution points. With this token, he could exchange for 10 Ebony Dimension Rings! Of course, the ring was far inferior to the Myriad Light Dimension Ring Van had discovered during the Mystery Object Sale.

[Guess it's time for a trip to the Point Exchange Centre!]

Van neatened his robes and went to the door. He opened his door a crack and peered out with one eye, making sure that there were no rabid fangirls or fanboys hanging around his door before stepping out.

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There were disadvantages to being so famous…

______

Van approached the Point Exchange Centre and looked around cheerfully. When at length, no one showed up, the red-haired youth was disappointed. His dark eyes conveyed a sense of woefulness. 

The b.l.o.o.d.y Chicken Gang had not shown up! In fact, neither had their boss, Nathaniel, who Van was of half a mind to wipe from the surface of the realm.

[Maybe he's learnt self-preservation and is lying low?]

Van chuckled at the thought. It was highly unlikely. Nathaniel was probably busy terrorising people elsewhere in the world.

[When I see him again…!]

Van couldn't help the slightly s.a.d.i.s.tic smile on his lips. He lifted his foot and entered the white, temple-like building. The room inside was circular and filled with shelves behind a circular gla.s.s wall.

Cautiously, Van approached the ghostly shadowed figure standing just behind the white marble counter in the middle of the room. He slid the slip with the printed '10' on it onto the counter. When the shadowed figure touched the slip of paper it disintegrated. 

The shadowed figure tilted its head. Van had the feeling it was waiting for him to speak.

Had ten thousand points been successfully added to his existing contribution point balance?

Wary of annoying the ghostly a.s.sistant, Van spoke quickly.

"I'm looking for a weapon art – oh!"

A list of weapon arts that could be redeemed was displayed on the white marble counter in response to Van's utterance.

"Uh... I'm looking for something suitable for an axe," Van said, scanning the list. 

The glowing names on the list decreased dramatically. Each item was accompanied by a short description. Van pored over them carefully; his brows were furrowed as he busily read their descriptions. Eventually, his eyes lit up.

It was perfect!

"I'd like to see that one!"

The ghostly phantom cupped its palms and a hologram of a jade tablet appeared. Van gently plucked the jade tablet out of its grasp and looked greedily at its contents. He knew it was the right choice right away; a sense of belonging to the weapons art in his hand.

Van nodded to the phantom, "I'll take this art, please."

The ghostly shadow dipped its head and the hologram solidified in Van's palms.

Van looked down.

[Heavy Axe Art.]

The name of the art was extremely simple, but Van liked it. His Mysterious Obsidian Battle-axe's primary feature was its incredible heaviness after all. It also tied in with his body cultivation.

However, it also cost exactly ten thousand sect contributions points.

Van couldn't complain. The arts he had picked upon entering the Outer Sect were middle-rank martial arts. This [Heavy Axe Art] was a pinnacle-rank weapons art. The weapons arts available to disciples from lowest to highest were low, middle, high, pinnacle and apex. Pinnacle ranked arts were highly sought after by the inner disciples. As for the apex arts? In the entire sect, it was rumoured that only the direct disciples of the Elders and Sect Master could glimpse an apex-ranked martial art!

Van rubbed his fingers over jade tablet and tried not to salivate. He wanted to rush back to his rooms and pore over its contents for hours but unfortunately the departure for the Monster Mausoleum was the next morning and Van really needed to make a trip to Dragon City and sell off some of the loot he had acc.u.mulated over the last few months.

______

[A shop within Dragon City.]

Luther beamed as a familiar young man entered his shop, "Young man, thank you for helping my friend last time! Reggie told me that the royals were very happy with the armour made from the Queen Brown King Ant's exoskeleton."

The red-haired youth looked surprised by Luther's enthusiasm but nevertheless smiled back.

"What is your name?" Luther continued, eyeing the heavy looking bags in the youth's grip. The last time he was here he had brought with him some very nice beast materials!

The young man responded politely, "You can call me Van. I am an outer disciple of the Cedar Sect. Your friend's craftmans.h.i.+p is excellent, I was more than happy to trade the exoskeleton in in exchange for an excellent set of armour."

Luther rubbed his hands together as Van hefted the sacks onto the wooden counter, "And what have you brought for me today?"

Van loosened the ties around the necks of the sacks and spread the contents over the wooden counter.

Luther's jaw dropped to the floor. He looked at Van, rubbed his eyes and then looked at the pile of items on his counter.

The old man pointed a shaking finger at a sharply glinting object.

 "Y-you killed a B-Blizzard Wyrm!?"

Van grinned, "And these too."

A pile of golden bear claws cascaded over the counter. The golden s.h.i.+ne of them dazzled the eyes.

"Heavens!"

_____

[One hour later.]

Van walked out of Luther's dealers.h.i.+p with pockets 50,000 silver taels heavier. He had been able to offload the miscellaneous goods he had acquired in the Mystery Object Sale and sold a bunch of teeth and claws from the Blizzard Wyrm and Golden Ice Bears.

For the other things that Van had salvaged, such as the herbs and some parts of the demon beasts, were best sold to a herbal hall as they had medicinal properties and were very popular in pill-making.

Van walked down the street and saw a familiar shop - a three-tiered building with jade-like tiles.

Without hesitation, Van swished his sleeves and marched into the Grand Botanica.

A young shop a.s.sistant saw Van's outer disciple robes walked towards him quickly with a smile on his face, "Young sir, could I help you with anything?"

Van looked around the shop neutrally, giving nothing away.

The shop a.s.sistant was hesitant, "Have I met you before?"

Van eyed the shrewd shop a.s.sistant. The last time he had been here, he was still a small servant in the sect with the cultivation of only the 2nd rank. At that time, the shop a.s.sistant had looked at him with thinly disguised disdain. He had quickly ditched the lowly servant who he felt was beneath his notice.

"I am here to sell some high-quality herbs," Van said coldly.

The shop a.s.sistant was quite uneasy under Van's frigid gaze. He felt ill-at-ease; as if he had done something stupid. But what? He didn't think he had met this outer disciple before...

[He does seem a little familiar...]

But his red hair was quite distinctive, and he didn't think he would forget an outer disciple of the Cedar Sect! After all, sect disciples liked to spend their allowances buying pills and potions to enhance their cultivation.  A good salesperson never forgets the faces of their best spending customers!

Little did this shop a.s.sistant know that the disciple before him had had black hair until very recently!

"Yes, this way, please," the shop a.s.sistant smiled thinly and lead Van up onto the second floor.