Chapter 65
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Chapter 65: It’s Impossible to Suffer Loss
“Brother Ye, come back in three months to get your flying sword, mining puppet, and this set of precious artifacts,” Xu Fan said.
“Alright, during this time, I’ll go scout the area to make our future actions easier,” Ye Xiaoyao nodded. Seeing Xu Fan put in so much effort, he stopped worrying about Xu Fan’s reluctance to leave the sect.
After chatting with Xu Fan for a while, Ye Xiaoyao stood up to take his leave.
As Xu Fan watched Ye Xiaoyao leave, he murmured, “Looks like the old man inside you is a bit shady.”
Earlier, while chatting with Xu Fan, Ye Xiaoyao had a stiff expression and occasionally showed signs of embarrassment when hinting at Xu Fan’s treasures.
“Some things need to be guarded against.”
“And about you trying to trick me, I’ll remember that.” Xu Fan now knew for sure that the spirit jade in that jar had been swapped by Ye Xiaoyao’s inner Old Silver Coin through some trickery.
Xu Fan turned and headed to the artifact crafting room with the materials Ye Xiaoyao had brought him.
Two months later, Xu Fan had finished crafting the remaining flying swords and mining puppets.
“Brother Ye, here are your remaining flying swords and mining puppets,” Xu Fan said, pulling out a storage bag. He then ceremoniously presented a set of Artifact-level Spiritual Energy Armor to Ye Xiaoyao, along with a jade slip containing instructions for using the mining puppet and the armor.
“Before you go, it’s best to get familiar with the Spiritual Energy Armor to make operating it easier,” Xu Fan said with a smile.
“Okay, just wait for my good news,” Ye Xiaoyao said excitedly. Once this task was done, he could craft more precious artifact flying swords.
“Then I wish Brother Ye great success,” Xu Fan congratulated.
In his heart, he thought about changing how he interacted with the protagonist.
This was a question Xu Fan started seriously considering after suffering a few losses: just because I’m not around, does that mean danger won’t arise?
Meanwhile, after leaving, Ye Xiaoyao was arguing with Old Sword.
“Kid, brothers are meant to be taken advantage of; your brother is definitely a great target, and he’s still inexperienced, giving you 100% trust.”
“Before, your cultivation was low and you were poor, so you could only rely on your brother.”
“In the future, once your cultivation is higher, you just need to let this brother take a small advantage now and then, then find a way to trick him big time; that’s how you last.”
Old Sword said proudly. He had reached the last step only because he had many brothers supporting him.
“People aren’t fools; eventually, they will notice, and besides, I really think of Little Fan as a brother.”
“A brother who has experienced life and death together will never do that,” Ye Xiaoyao said firmly. He had made up his mind to secretly give an extra share of the soul iron to his good brother.
“What a kind-hearted kid; in the Tianhong Great World, it’s best not to practice cultivation. At least this way you could survive,” Old Sword scoffed. He once was a bright-eyed youth; if it hadn’t been for…
“Alright, I’ll tell you again, your brother is definitely not a fool, so you need some staged cooperation.”
“For example, a scene where you risk everything for him, battered and bruised.”
“And then, if your brother is insulted, you would charge in with a furious rage, regardless of the cost to defend him.”
“For your reclusive brother, provoking an elder to insult him and then standing up for him is also a good choice.”
“And there’s…”
Old Sword wanted to continue, but Ye Xiaoyao interrupted him.
“That’s enough; I would do everything for Little Fan, but I won’t stoop so low,” Ye Xiaoyao said with a stern face.
“Do you know that after I became the Great Immortal Emperor, my brothers received returns thousands of times over from me?”
“To rise up, it’s no big deal to play a few tricks on my brothers early on. As for those sneaky tactics you mentioned, they’re just little ways to deepen the bond between you and your brothers.” Ye Xiaoyao’s eyes showed a thoughtful glint.
A day later, at a gathering spot for beasts, Ye Xiaoyao, clad in Spiritual Energy Armor, was eyeing a herd of Earth Spirit Longtusk Elephants in the distance.
“Old Sword, don’t you think my brother’s a genius at artifact crafting? This set of Spiritual Energy Armor boosted my fighting strength by fifty percent, and it comes with its own defense and buff spells.”
“If I’d had this armor sooner, I could’ve turned the tables on that Old Silver Coin,” Ye Xiaoyao said, running his hand over the armor.
“If you like it, just keep it, or have your brother make another set,” Old Sword thought to himself.
“I’ll have my brother make another set when I get back.”
With that, Ye Xiaoyao charged toward the herd of Earth Spirit Longtusk Elephants.
Three days later, Ye Xiaoyao arrived at Xu Fan’s little hill, looking sheepish.
“What! You broke the spiritual energy core of my armor?!” Xu Fan shouted, his eyes wide with disbelief, as if he couldn’t fathom his armor being damaged.
“I was just curious, so I opened the protective cover of the spiritual energy core to take a look,” Ye Xiaoyao admitted, hanging his head in shame while silently cursing Old Sword a thousand times over.
Xu Fan’s expression darkened. He stayed silent for a long moment before finally saying, “Brother Ye, didn’t I warn you not to open that protection? So why…?”
“That set of Spiritual Energy Armor is my most prized possession. I spent all my spirit stones and used a rare spirit ore from the cultivation world—something that only appears once every hundred years—to craft it.”
“I lent it to you because I trusted you.”
“By opening it, you’ve ruined years of my hard work. I haven’t even had the chance to use that armor yet.”
Seeing Xu Fan’s sorrow, Ye Xiaoyao felt a pang of guilt. If it hadn’t been for Old Sword’s meddling, he wouldn’t have opened it.
“Little Fan, I messed up. Tell me how many spirit stones you used and what rare spirit ore you needed to craft the armor. No matter how rare it is, I’ll find it for you, even if I have to scour the entire cultivation world,” Ye Xiaoyao said firmly.
“Spirit Heart Ore. Forget about the spirit stones. If I can get Spirit Heart Ore, the armor can be repaired.”
“If not, then let it go,” Xu Fan said quietly.
At that, Ye Xiaoyao pulled out a space ring and turned to leave.
“Little Fan, I’m sorry. Wait for me; I’ll find the Spirit Heart Ore, no matter what.”
Once Ye Xiaoyao was gone, Xu Fan picked up the space ring and inspected its contents: his mining puppet, a small mountain’s worth of soul iron ore, and his now powerless armor.
“Did I overdo it? I only meant to get a bit more soul iron ore, but I ended up with the whole haul,” Xu Fan mused. The pile of soul iron ore was worth at least six million spirit stones.
As someone who never liked to come out on the losing end, Xu Fan had hatched a plan the moment the protagonist suggested they collect from the Soul Iron Mine together.
If he’d given Ye Xiaoyao a normal set of Spiritual Energy Armor, the Old Silver Coin inside him would’ve surely convinced him to betray Xu Fan. So, Xu Fan set a trap. Even if Ye Xiaoyao hadn’t tampered with the spiritual energy core, the armor would’ve been ruined in some other way.
If the armor was broken, the protagonist would have to compensate—starting at a minimum of one million spirit stones.
And if not, there was always the soul iron. Taking more than half of it wasn’t unreasonable, was it?
You and the old man tricked me three times; isn’t it fair to return the favor at least once? If there’s no major issue, the other two debts should be settled too.
Brothers are brothers, but accounts must be settled clearly.
