Chapter 276

Chapter 276: Not Insane, Not Alive

Ruan Mingjun felt a bit uneasy; the Little Heavenly Machine Pavilion opened for business, and she received nearly a hundred orders, which was a first for her. Being led around by customers almost made her lose her initiative!

Li Hui placed an item on the table and nodded, saying, “Here it is, the Emperor’s jade sword, a treasured item of the Grand Xuan royal family and the key to opening the remote teleportation array. Your Little Heavenly Machine Pavilion has great abilities; if you replicate a few swords and sell them in secret, they will surely have a market in the Thousand Islands and I plan to use it to cover my travel expenses.”

“This…” Ruan Mingjun felt both amused and exasperated. Who was truly conducting business here? Tossing a sword at the Little Heavenly Machine Pavilion as payment for directions was unprecedented since their ancestor arrived in the Thousand Islands hundreds of years ago.

“Isn’t this enough? We can give you our remaining spiritual shells as well, which we won’t use back home.” Li Hui smiled harmlessly and waved his hand, releasing dozens of large boxes that fell around with a loud crash.

This was his actual payment for the directions, which definitely wouldn’t match the price they’d set, so he was using the Emperor’s jade sword as an offer, preparing for a fierce round of bargaining.

“Master, the speed of the shadows exceeding your imagination is dangerous. The Grand Xuan Dynasty has more than one teleportation array; the other party might just take a longer route. Each moment wasted might decrease your chances of survival,” Ruan Mingjun warned, her face now serious.

“The Grand Xuan Dynasty is in chaos, so I doubt they will quickly open a teleportation array for the Hongmo Sect.”

Ruan Mingjun put away her smile, saying coldly, “This is too cheap. If you manage to escape, the Hongmo Sect will surely take out their anger on the Little Heavenly Machine Pavilion. We need to keep our distance; without a hundred times the profit, we can’t take this deal.”

“A hundred times profit, how much is that? I can give you all my Miao Jade and Five-Color Fortune Coins,” Li Hui waved his hand again, releasing wooden boxes, this time showing he was serious and indeed emptying his pockets.

“Your golden light seems connected to dragons,” Ruan Mingjun hinted. If she hadn’t detected the appearance of important treasures relevant to the Little Heavenly Machine Pavilion, she wouldn’t have dared to risk offending the Hongmo Sect. People like them were best at self-preservation and would seldom take risks.

“Connected to dragons?” Li Hui immediately thought of Enamel Dragon Crystals and quickly denied it, knowing the Treasure Cabinet Array belonged to anomalies, sensing the Dao Rhythm Residual Talismans provided cover without easily being exposed. Ao Chongguang and Ao Chonglin were far from being a demon dragon; they likely wouldn’t catch the eye of their enemies, leaving only the bone sword killed by the silver snake bracelet, possibly a legendary dragon tooth of the Grand Xuan Dynasty. Could this be it?

“Are you talking about these bone pieces?”

As Li Hui produced the bone pieces, Ruan Mingjun’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How can this be? How did they turn into bone pieces?”

“What should it look like then?” Li Hui asked curiously.

“The Grand Xuan’s treasure, the Sea Suppressing Bone Sword, is specifically used to suppress the earth-gate dragon blood. The Red Sea became clear entirely because of the existence of this bone sword. Without it, the earth-gate dragon blood will not be confined, causing many sea beasts in the Grand Xuan Dynasty’s surrounding waters to mutate, and the port will be under constant threat of attack, leading to disasters.”

“Oh?” Li Hui hadn’t expected the bone sword to be so important. But what’s done is done; it was too late to regret. Furthermore, the new emperor of the Grand Xuan was energetic and striving to be the Revitalizing Master, seriously managing the mutated sea beasts that sometimes came ashore…

“Give it to me; I want all the bone pieces,” Ruan Mingjun demanded when she couldn’t obtain the Sea Suppressing Bone Sword, settling for the bone pieces instead.

“That won’t work. These bone pieces are useful to me. I can give you twenty-eight pieces,” Li Hui, being a businessman, held back the large quantity of bone pieces he actually had, stating a frustratingly low number, making it sound like twenty-eight was his limit—nothing more.

Ruan Mingjun might be skilled in techniques and had insights into certain matters, but she wasn’t a good negotiator. Always leading others before, now the roles had reversed, and it was easy to lose the balance, causing her to go farther off track and fail to reach a resolution.

“Thirty pieces. The Grand Xuan Sea Suppressing Bone Sword shouldn’t be too large, right? You have to leave me two pieces.”

Li Hui pretended to be wronged and withdrew the boxes, saying, “Since you want the bone pieces, then these trivial things can be put away. If the Little Heavenly Machine Pavilion has nowhere else to go, you can come with me to the mainland. I’ve heard that the Great Xia is a good place where the Hongmo Sect would most likely not dare to run wild.”

“Cough!” Ruan Mingjun’s eyes twitched. She had never encountered such a petty trickster, even taking back what he had offered was beyond her experience.

“Sister, have mercy and help your brother! It’s not easy making a living out here. Those guys are terrifying; they could take my life with a simple reach. If I don’t die, they’ll come after me! The stories of the past year are enough to make anyone cry.” Li Hui wasn’t genuinely trying to be cute; he spoke from the heart, which only made his emotional appeal stronger.

With thirty bone pieces in hand, Ruan Mingjun took out a jade tablet and carefully instructed him. Some sea beasts migrate with the seasons, so he could cleverly avoid them. Others, however, wouldn’t be so easy, and he needed to act decisively to kill them.

“Alright, sister is kind. Let’s leave together to avoid being implicated,” Li Hui suggested.

“Don’t worry, even if the Hongmo Sect is powerful, they won’t find it easy to extend their hands. If you can’t escape even at the Little Heavenly Machine Pavilion, you won’t escape anywhere,” Ruan Mingjun reassured him.

“Great! Now I can feel at ease,” Li Hui nodded, suddenly asking, “How many days do I have left?”

“It’s best to leave immediately without stopping. Remember, if you don’t go insane, you won’t survive.” Ruan Mingjun slowly realized she had been drawn into this mess, ending up with only thirty bone pieces and the Emperor’s jade sword, saying too much that should have been left unsaid.

Li Hui performed a deep bow and instantly vanished from the spot.

“Hmph, what is that little brat trying to act all innocent for? Did he use any tricks on me?” Ruan Mingjun stomped her foot in anger, quickly taking the thirty bone pieces and the Emperor’s jade sword back to their sect’s base, hoping to cover the secrets of the heavenly machine in time.

Within a short tea time, Li Hui had returned to the Wave Breaking Cone, activating the talisman formation himself, broadcasting to the entire ship, “Attention! I am fleeing for my life. I’m telling you clearly, we have a grudge against the Hongmo Sect, which is far more powerful than the Grand Xuan; if you want to live, you better leave quickly. This is your last chance.”

“Boom!” The Wave Breaking Cone began to ascend.

The crew rushed to the deck. Seeing Li Hui’s serious expression, Huo Qiniang, Chef Zhao, and Long Yun had grim looks on their faces, signalling that trouble had arrived.

“Hurry up! I’ll only count to twenty—twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen…” Li Hui started the countdown. Huo Qiniang still had many orders to collect but decided against it; one word: run.

This moment tested the crew; among the three Concentrating Spirit stage cultivators left on the ship, only one remained while the other two departed. Not a single Spirit Motion Stage cultivator hired by Qiniang remained, and many of the ship’s own cultivators also disembarked, watching the Wave Breaking Cone rise into the air.

In the end, only twenty-two people remained on board, with Long Yun surprisingly staying behind, turning to gaze at the vast ocean, lost in thought…