"Thank you, Senior Sister Dongfang," Lei Dong said, accepting the jade bottle with a solemn gesture of gratitude. He then took out another vial from his own possessions and handed it to Dongfang Fu, stating seriously, "This Heart-Cleansing Fruit, I must trouble Senior Sister Dongfang to pass it on to Wanyan for me..."

Dongfang Fu nodded. "I can do that. If there’s nothing else, I should be heading back to the Yin Sha Sect now..." She paused, then said with gravity, "I will not mention anything about your true strength to Huangfu Ce..."

"Senior Sister Dongfang, your junior brother has one more presumptuous request..." Lei Dong’s expression shifted to one of hesitation. "Regarding Qi Feifei’s situation, I implore Senior Sister Dongfang to keep it concealed for the time being. I truly do not wish for her to worry excessively."

This time, Dongfang Fu remained silent, simply watching Lei Dong, seemingly waiting for him to elaborate on his reasons.

Lei Dong made no attempt to conceal anything, explaining the entire sequence of events from beginning to end. He then sighed, "I don't expect Senior Sister Dongfang to hold me in high regard. In the future, I will explain everything to Wanyan myself." Dongfang Fu studied Lei Dong for a long moment before finally letting out a soft sigh. "Very well." With that, she transformed into a wisp of black mist and drifted away.

Once Dongfang Fu had departed, Lei Dong fell back into deep contemplation.

The Heavenly Dao Alliance had recently supplied a considerable amount of sacred medicinal herbs, allowing Lei Dong to heal his grievous wounds in just over a month. With his injuries mended, it was naturally time to consider his next steps toward cultivation advancement. His excursion into the Heart Devil Palace had yielded substantial rewards: over ten varieties of precious spiritual herbs and more than ten equally valuable mineral ores, all obtained as bonuses for conquering the various Black Demon Towers.

In addition to those, he now possessed four Purgatory Red Lotus Seeds and one Heart-Cleansing Fruit. Lei Dong hadn't argued with Dongfang Fu over the Heart-Cleansing Fruit because a single one held significant worth, and Dongfang Fu, unlike him, did not require immense resources just to barely advance. Refusing that one fruit would have been entirely unnecessary.

Wang Hui's storage bracelet, along with the undamaged Carefree Fan and a personal satchel, had also been retrieved by Qi Feifei and Jing Ken. The Carefree Fan was rumored to be comparable to a top-grade spirit artifact. However, to Lei Dong, it was practically meaningless. While the fan was exquisite, it required proficiency in the Taiji Carefree Art to wield, and only those belonging to the Carefree Dao were qualified to cultivate it. Could he really take this fan and try to sell it to a Carefree Dao practitioner? At this thought, Lei Dong could only manage a wry smile and decide to stow it away for now.

After erasing the divine sense imprint Wang Hui had left on his storage bracelet, Lei Dong examined its contents, which indeed made his eyes gleam. There were ten high-grade spirit stones, over a thousand mid-grade spirit stones, and tens of thousands of low-grade spirit stones. This cache of stones alone represented a massive windfall. What made Lei Dong even more satisfied was finding that all of Wang Hui's spoils from the various Black Demon Towers were still inside the bracelet—over thirty spiritual herbs and ores in total, even more than Lei Dong himself had gathered.

Not only that, but Wang Hui had actually kept the corpses of the Foundation Establishment realm demonic beasts he had slain in various zones, along with their beast souls, and the soul fragments of the Wild Ghost Guards—and quite a few of them at that. Naturally, keeping them was logical for Wang Hui; selling them off would have netted a substantial sum in spirit stones. With these corpses and beast souls, Lei Dong estimated he wouldn't need to worry about food shortages for his Ghost Guards and Shadow Tigers for quite some time.

Furthermore, there were miscellaneous items: high-grade magical artifacts, mid-grade spirit tools, materials he had collected himself, or perhaps some top-tier cultivation elixirs. All these assorted items were estimated to be worth no less than one hundred thousand spirit stones. There were also some jade slips containing cultivation techniques of the Carefree Dao, but Lei Dong knew he had no means to utilize those.

The only slight disappointment was that Wang Hui’s combat consumables—spirit beast talismans, Thunder Fiend Bombs, or the Minor Misty Restoration Elixir, and so on—were all completely used up, not a single one remaining. Otherwise, the fortune gained could have been even greater.

What gave Lei Dong the ultimate surge of exhilaration was finding several spatial jade vials in Wang Hui's satchel. One of those vials distinctly contained a Heart-Cleansing Fruit. This meant Lei Dong would gain an additional two Heart-Cleansing Fruits! This haul sent a thrilling jolt through him. It was truly a pillow delivered precisely when he was drowsy. After years of secluded cultivation, Lei Dong’s spirit stones had been nearly depleted. Who would have thought that slaying Wang Hui would net him such a massive fortune?

Of course, Qi Feifei was also entitled to a share of the storage bracelet and that Heart-Cleansing Fruit. Ever since they teamed up, Lei Dong had stipulated a six-four split, and he certainly wouldn't shortchange her on this. This was one of his principled stances: when cooperating with others, he absolutely would not arbitrarily claim someone else's share of the spoils. The world, though vast, was also surprisingly small. Lei Dong was now gaining notoriety and drawing attention. Moreover, if Qi Feifei hadn't appeared in the end to deliver the final blow to Wang Hui, the ultimate victor would have remained uncertain.

Lei Dong understood that in the world of cultivation, being a lone wolf was unsustainable. He had to admit that strength lay in numbers. Having more people also gave a distinct advantage in overpowering fewer. If he were caught hoarding spoils once during a collaboration, that reputation would spread, and who would dare work with him in the future? Conversely, Lei Dong's approach would allow his path to broaden continuously.

In essence, Lei Dong wanted to give others, even his enemies, a certain impression: that while Lei Dong might be ruthless and domineering when killing, if he was a teammate or collaborator, he was incredibly dependable and trustworthy. Within the agreed scope of cooperation, he would neither break his word nor become greedy for immediate gain. With such a reputation, he would thrive, and good opportunities would constantly seek him out.

Consequently, he summoned Qi Feifei, allowing her to inspect the spoils in the storage bracelet, the extra Heart-Cleansing Fruit, and the Carefree Fan, before reaffirming the continued six-four division. Qi Feifei’s already positive impression of Lei Dong deepened further. Unconsciously, she came to believe that this man truly kept his promises, was highly reliable, and working with him required far less caution or guardedness. This further solidified her confidence that he would indeed dissolve the current soul fusion state between them after their dual cultivation sessions.

Both were straightforward people, and they quickly appraised Wang Hui's spoils, including one Heart-Cleansing Fruit, valuing the total at 1.6 million spirit stones. According to their prior agreement, Qi Feifei was due 640,000. However, with Lei Dong's consent, she opted to take another Heart-Cleansing Fruit instead. They valued one Heart-Cleansing Fruit at one million spirit stones, meaning Qi Feifei would need to compensate Lei Dong with an additional 360,000. Moreover, Qi Feifei desired the Carefree Fan. She wasn't concerned about retaliation from the Carefree Dao practitioners because the Yin-Yang Harmony Sect and the Carefree Dao maintained an extremely poor relationship; while no open war existed, endless petty squabbles occurred behind the scenes.

Taking the Carefree Fan would undoubtedly be considered a great merit, earning her significant benefits from her own sect. Yet, the fan itself was useless to everyone but Carefree Dao members. Therefore, Lei Dong agreed that for an extra payment of only 100,000 spirit stones, she could take the fan as well.

Qi Feifei cheerfully compensated Lei Dong with her personal savings and items from her share of the Heart Devil Palace loot, amounting to 460,000 in value.

With this exchange, their division was complete, and their bond deepened another layer.

Gathering Qi Feifei, Lei Dong then paid a visit to Li Yijian. Although Lei Dong had harbored some secret intentions and withheld information from Li Yijian when entering the Heart Devil Palace, this didn't prevent Lei Dong from maintaining contact; he simply became more guarded around him. Bringing Qi Feifei along was also a subtle way to exert pressure on Li Yijian, given Qi Feifei's considerable standing within the Harmony Sect now.

Lei Dong sought out Li Yijian primarily to offload the spare Heart-Cleansing Fruit and various miscellaneous items. Lei Dong was not currently focused on alchemy or artifact refining; his entire concentration was on boosting his combat strength. Having accumulated so many surplus items, he needed to dispose of them and convert them into resources directly useful for improving his fighting capability.

Li Yijian was naturally delighted by Lei Dong's proposal. He initially offered 800,000 for the Heart-Cleansing Fruit. Lei Dong didn't even wait to hear the rest of the offer; he immediately prepared to take his leave from Li Yijian. Li Yijian hurriedly called him back, and after some back-and-forth negotiation, the Heart-Cleansing Fruit was finally settled at 1.05 million.

Aside from the three Vermilion Fruits that could be consumed directly, Lei Dong presented all his other loot—his own spoils, Wang Hui’s spoils, and the items Qi Feifei traded—to Li Yijian. On pricing, Lei Dong was utterly unyielding. After nearly half a day of haggling, they settled on a final sale price of 1.35 million for the bulk of the miscellaneous goods. Li Yijian complained bitterly that there was no profit in it, but Lei Dong knew he could still manage at least a thirty percent markup by leveraging his own connections to move the goods. Lei Dong, operating within the Heavenly Dao Alliance, lacked such extensive personal networks; selling them himself would yield only marginally more than this price.

Thus, the transaction concluded to everyone’s satisfaction. Lei Dong's assets instantly surged by 2.4 million—no, in fact, they surged by 240 high-grade spirit stones, because Lei Dong insisted on receiving payment exclusively in high-grade stones, saving himself the trouble of exchanging them later. This wealth would qualify as being quite substantial for a sect cultivator who had only recently broken through to the Golden Core stage. Yet, Lei Dong himself was still only at the third level of Foundation Establishment.

Lei Dong immersed his divine sense into his storage space, experiencing profound elation. His current total assets stood at: 261 high-grade spirit stones, over 1,800 mid-grade spirit stones, and over 130,000 low-grade spirit stones. A wave of sentiment washed over him: killing and robbery truly were the fastest ways to accumulate wealth. Converting everything to low-grade equivalents, he was nearing three million low-grade stones. A sudden, soaring excitement filled him—it felt truly wonderful to be rich.