Loot! The mere mention of loot made the blood surge with excitement every single time. Every piece of loot represented a chance to strike it rich.

It is true that a horse cannot grow fat without night fodder, just as a man cannot become wealthy without a stroke of unexpected fortune.

However, achieving wealth through battle, this kind of windfall, was by no means an easy feat.

Cultivators rarely engaged in life-or-death combat, but once they did, it was a matter of extreme peril, throwing oneself into a dangerous predicament. This was especially true once one reached the eighth level of the Body Tempering stage and achieved Yujian Xingkong (Flight by Sword); if the situation turned south, the only recourse was to take to the sword and flee. Blood Withered Daoist and Tear Withered Daoist had become far too deeply entangled.

Such opportunities for great wealth did not come around often.

After all, the Cultivation World could not have constant mortal combat every day.

Lu Yuan was currently gathering the spoils. According to the established rules, the division of the haul between Lu Yuan and Song Shijun was a three-to-one split. Song Shijun had no objection to this arrangement, as Lu Yuan had contributed far more to securing the victory; had it not been for Lu Yuan’s exceptional performance, both of them might have perished at the hands of the Twin Withered Daoists.

The Twin Withered Daoists used Blood Swords, which held little inherent value. Besides that, there were about two thousand Spirit Stones. Lu Yuan claimed fifteen hundred Spirit Stones, leaving five hundred for Song Shijun. There were also several magical artifacts, such as the water-element artifact—the Water Dragon Wheel—which was palm-sized and felt excellent in the hand. In addition to that, there were a few other artifacts.

Lu Yuan wanted none of these artifacts; they all went to Song Shijun.

They had always settled things this way: anything related to flying swords went to Lu Yuan, and artifacts went to Song Shijun. One was a Sword Cultivator, the other an Artifact Cultivator; this division was perfectly normal.

And now, they finally reached the crucial part: the War Spirit Beasts.

There were a total of four Spirit Sealing Tablets: two sealed War Spirit Beasts, and two sealed Blood Cloud Spirit Beasts. The War Spirit Beasts had been collected from the fifth layer of the Wusheng Legacy Palace. Since the Twin Withered Daoists practiced the Xueyun Dafa (Great Blood Cloud Art), they naturally possessed Blood Cloud Spirit Beasts.

Lu Yuan first examined the War Spirit Beasts. He opened the two Spirit Sealing Tablets containing the War Spirit Beasts and released them.

War Spirit Fire Monkey, War Spirit Fire Wolf, War Spirit Fire Dog…

War Spirit Gold Lion, War Spirit Gold Raccoon…

War Spirit Wood Rabbit, War Spirit Wood Deer…

And so on. They never expected the Twin Withered Daoists to possess so many War Spirit Beasts, and furthermore, there were even Large War Spirit Beasts among them. Large War Spirit Beasts were incredibly difficult to deal with, several times more potent than their Medium-sized counterparts. Following their three-to-one split, Lu Yuan’s existing collection of War Spirit Beasts surged in number, and Song Shijun’s also increased substantially, although not at the same rate as Lu Yuan’s.

The reason the Twin Withered Daoists had so many War Spirit Beasts was twofold: first, they had collected quite a few themselves; second, they had robbed some other cultivators. They had killed five cultivators to achieve their current haul, and now it all fell into Lu Yuan’s lap.

Lu Yuan sealed all these numerous War Spirit Beasts into his own Spirit Sealing Tablets, and Song Shijun did the same. Song Shijun flicked his hand, summoning the Water Mirror Technique to connect with the water mirror situated at the center of the fifth layer of the Wusheng Legacy Palace. On the magical list manifested there, Lu Yuan’s name was clearly displayed in thirty-second place.

Song Shijun had not yet ranked; his collection of War Spirit Beasts had always been fewer than Lu Yuan’s, so his absence from the rankings was normal.

Thirty-second place!

This was truly an unexpected delight. Based on the normal speed of acquiring War Spirit Beasts, Lu Yuan should never have cracked the top forty. Now, being in the top forty, ranked thirty-second, just when he was worrying about not having enough War Spirit Beasts to advance to the sixth layer of the Wusheng Legacy Palace, someone had delivered a massive gift package.

Fortune comes when it wills, and leaves when it must.

It seemed, for now, that his luck was truly immense.

Right, let’s check the Blood Cloud Spirit Beasts now. These were also divided according to the three-to-one ratio. When the share reached Lu Yuan, he discovered there were still so many Blood Cloud Spirit Beasts, and surprisingly, there were three Large Blood Cloud Spirit Beasts. This was truly astonishing. There were also quite a few Medium and Small Spirit Beasts.

They wouldn't count them all now; the main thing was that the War Spirit Beasts and Blood Cloud Spirit Beasts they had obtained were numerous. They would count and inventory them properly after exiting the Wusheng Legacy Palace and returning to the outside world. What was certain was that after obtaining so many Spirit Beasts in the Wusheng Legacy Palace and converting them into Cloud Beasts in the outside world, the sheer amount of spiritual energy they could manage would be unimaginable.

The current rank of thirty-second was not yet official; one had to stay within the Wusheng Legacy Palace for a full fifteen days, and only then would the final ranking within the top forty count.

In the following days, Lu Yuan continued his search for War Spirit Beasts.

Initially, there were a vast number, but as time passed, the War Spirit Beasts became scarcer. He surmised that most had already been gathered by others. It was only natural that the scarcity increased as the period progressed. People like the cultivators from the Blood Sword Sect who had disguised themselves and sneaked in were anomalies; most inside were disciples from the orthodox sects.

At the very beginning, when people encountered each other, they generally just gave way and moved on.

But later, when they met, they would strike. Of course, they dared not maim or kill, but subduing the opponent and taking their War Spirit Beasts was considered quite normal and did not violate the rules.

Lu Yuan and Song Shijun’s pairing proved extremely deceptive. Song Shijun’s strength was only average among the cultivators remaining on the fifth layer, and while Lu Yuan had gained considerable fame, everyone still considered him just a junior disciple. They thought the pair was easy prey, so they kept trying to attack them, which delighted Lu Yuan and Song Shijun.

Generally, unless they encountered cultivators at the ninth level of the Body Tempering stage, Lu Yuan and Song Shijun’s combination could defeat a team of three cultivators at the eighth level of the Body Tempering stage.

When they did run into a ninth-level Body Tempering cultivator, Lu Yuan’s performance stunned Song Shijun once again. Song Shijun had assumed they were doomed, fearing they would have to surrender their War Spirit Beasts. Instead, Lu Yuan first used the Sword Intent of Dusk, followed by the Sword Intent of Wind, slowing the opponent down while increasing his own speed, and they managed a successful escape. Song Shijun was full of admiration.

This junior disciple truly has talent; he can escape even when facing a ninth-level Body Tempering cultivator.

Amidst this cycle of fighting and fleeing, Lu Yuan and Song Shijun continued to battle on the fifth layer as time slowly ticked away.

The fifth layer of the Wusheng Legacy Palace. Day fifteen.

This War Spirit Snow Rabbit couldn't understand why two powerful cultivators were needed to deal with it. It was just a very weak War Spirit Snow Rabbit. Although the rabbit had been implanted with the Mang Waitian Mo Yi Shi (Consciousness of the External Heavenly Demon of the Python), its attacks, wielding its small claws and paws, posed little real threat.

Lu Yuan unleashed a Wind Vortex. This move, which sucked the War Spirit Snow Rabbit onto his sword, was not among any of the one hundred and eight forms of the Wind Cloud Sword Arts; it was a technique Lu Yuan had self-created based on the shifting circumstances. Having comprehended the transcendent Sword Intent, he could naturally generate sword techniques belonging to this category spontaneously.

The Wind Vortex move resembled using wind power to create a swirling funnel. After capturing the War Spirit Snow Rabbit, he slammed down his Spirit Sealing Tablet and forcibly sealed it.

“The War Spirit Beasts are getting rarer now,” Lu Yuan observed.

“They are,” Song Shijun agreed. “It should be like this. There were many at the start, the most in the first five days, still quite a few in the middle five days, and very few in these last five days.”

“Right, it’s the fifteenth day now. Let’s check our rankings,” Lu Yuan said.

“Good.” Song Shijun waved his hand, casting the Water Mirror Technique. A water mirror immediately materialized in the void before them, instantly linking with the Water Mirror Technique maintained by the central defensive formation. As the two mirrors connected, they saw that Lu Yuan’s rank had advanced to twenty-eighth place, an improvement from before. Even more remarkable was that the fortieth position was occupied by Song Shijun’s name.

No one expected Song Shijun to break into the top forty!

This was truly a great joy!

Honestly, Song Shijun had never imagined entering the top forty when he first joined. Initially, he partnered with Lu Yuan only because collaborating with a fellow sect member offered more peace of mind, and the other two from the North Peak, both at the ninth level of Body Tempering, had looked down on him, leaving him no choice but to join Lu Yuan. In the early days of their alliance, he even worried that Lu Yuan might be living up to a false reputation. Who knew that Lu Yuan’s strength was even greater than rumored, and he had actually managed to propel Song Shijun into the top forty rankings? It was an unexpected stroke of luck.

In truth, the main reason for making the top forty was that several teams, much like the Twin Withered Daoists, had acted as ‘good people’ by delivering some War Spirit Beasts right to their doorsteps. If not for this, given the speed at which Lu Yuan and Song Shijun operated, neither of them would have made the top forty rankings. What ‘good people’ they were.

If the Twin Withered Daoists knew in the afterlife that they were being referred to as ‘good people,’ they would likely weep. They had lived their whole lives as villains, only to be remembered as ‘good people’ now—how humiliating that would be for them.

“Now, let’s head to the center of the fifth layer and wait to enter the sixth layer of the Wusheng Legacy Palace,” Lu Yuan and Song Shijun exchanged a knowing smile. If the fifth layer of the Wusheng Legacy Palace offered such immense rewards, what wonders awaited them on the sixth layer? They were truly looking forward to it. They already felt that this trip into the fifth layer alone was worth the journey.

Even without advancing to the sixth layer, the gains from the fifth layer were substantial enough.

With that, Lu Yuan and Song Shijun rested briefly before flying toward the central area. Not far from the perimeter of the center, they saw that the area was packed with cultivators, standing shoulder to shoulder. These newcomers seemed hostile. The sword cultivators held their swords ready, while the artifact cultivators kept their hands hidden in their sleeves—hiding hands in sleeves being the standard practice so others couldn't see what spells they were preparing.

These people were all in a state of readiness, as if anticipating some imminent event!