As the white light flashed again, threatening to sever the nascent souls they had captured in their haste to escape, Lei Dong quickly shouted, "Uncle Li, show some mercy! The nascent souls are useful to me." With that, Lei Dong and Qi Feifei acted in unison, and within moments, they had secured all three nascent souls, swiftly confiscating their storage bracelets and spiritual artifacts as well.

Li Yijian stood with his hands clasped behind his back, a faintly glowing white flying sword hovering silently behind him, his expression a mixture of coldness and indecision.

"Uncle Li, I have something to tell you," Lei Dong said with a cheerful grin. "Before we left the city, Feifei left a time-sensitive restriction message for her sect members. If she hasn't returned in three days, her sect will know something has happened to us. Naturally, the sect will take charge of the situation."

Li Yijian was taken aback, and immediately broke into a broad, fawning smile. "Nephew Lei, you clearly don't trust Uncle Li. How could a few mere Foundation Establishment cultivators possibly manage to kill you? Haha!"

Lei Dong returned a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm just worried Uncle Li might become careless. I merely mentioned it in passing. We agreed beforehand, this haul is to be split six-two-two. Uncle Li, please calculate the value." As he spoke, Lei Dong signaled Qi Feifei to hand the three storage bracelets over to Li Yijian.

Li Yijian inwardly cursed this young man for being so meticulous; he had only felt a brief flicker of desire for Lei Dong's supreme-grade spiritual artifact just now, out here in the desolate wilderness where no one could see. A fleeting thought had crossed his mind, and this boy had perceived it. He wasn't angry; on the contrary, he felt a growing admiration for him. He truly felt that if Lei Dong survived to reach the Golden Core stage, he would undoubtedly become a formidable figure, a true dragon among men.

Li Yijian casually wiped away the spiritual imprints on the bracelets, not bothering to look inside, and tossed them directly to Qi Feifei. "Please trouble Feifei to handle the accounting. Since we are about to part ways, I must have a few words with Nephew Lei."

Qi Feifei took the three storage bracelets, now stripped of their spiritual imprints, and obediently went to a nearby spot to start calculating.

Li Yijian turned to Lei Dong, his expression complex, and transmitted his voice, "Nephew, as we are about to separate, Uncle Li must share some heartfelt words with you. Don't blame me for being tempted by your supreme-grade artifact earlier. You understand these things—this world runs on the law of the jungle. The best way to secure any relationship is to never give anyone the chance to betray you. You handled that perfectly just now."

"Uncle Li, everyone harbors greed," Lei Dong transmitted back with a smile. "But so long as the desire remains a thought and doesn't turn into action, that’s what matters. I harbor no resentment toward Uncle Li; in fact, I must thank you for showing restraint."

"You rascal, sigh," Li Yijian transmitted, chuckling helplessly before sighing again. "It would be wonderful if you were my disciple. Unfortunately, the ones I have are all worthless. Wan Gui is truly fortunate."

"Uncle Li, even though I am not your disciple," Lei Dong replied respectfully, "if Uncle Li ever needs my service, I will certainly go through fire and water without hesitation. However, I fundamentally believe in one thing: for anyone who is kind to me, I will repay them tenfold. For anyone who seeks to harm me, then I..."

Li Yijian felt a moment of awkwardness, then reprimanded with a hint of annoyance, "You brat, don't cling to a tiny bit of leverage against your uncle and refuse to let go. Fine, how about this: we split the spoils four-four-two. I'll concede two percent to you. Just stop bringing up those nonsensical words in the future."

"From now on, I will only remember Uncle Li's kindness toward me," Lei Dong replied with utmost seriousness, and then began to inquire, "Uncle Li, I have been away for some time and haven't seen my Master. I have a few minor cultivation questions and would appreciate your guidance."

"Whether I guide you or not is beside the point; ask whatever questions you have. As long as it doesn't involve the secrets of the Heavenly Sword Sect, I will tell you everything," Li Yijian thought that Lei Dong had great potential and wished to cultivate a good relationship while he was still young. Especially after hearing Qi Feifei constantly promote Lei Dong's adherence to promises and other good qualities, which significantly increased Li Yijian's favorable impression. His brief moment of coveting the supreme-grade artifact was merely human nature when one's greed was momentarily piqued.

Lei Dong was not one to hold back, posing his cultivation questions one by one. Li Yijian, as expected of an ancestor-level expert in the Golden Core stage, answered all of Lei Dong's queries clearly.

After discussing several lingering issues that were quickly resolved, Li Yijian could not help but ease his initial disdain, replacing it with a measure of respect.

Through probing and skillful questioning, Lei Dong also gained some understanding of why he struggled to break free from his inner demons. The age limit of thirty set by the Inner Demon Hall was not without reason. The longer a person lives, the more desires and distractions accumulate in their heart. As someone who had lived two lifetimes, Lei Dong was psychologically too old, compounded by his strong (obsessive attachment) and numerous distractions.

However, the trial by inner demons in the Inner Demon Hall had brought Lei Dong immense benefits. Not only did it solidify his state of mind, making him less susceptible to external demons, but it would also significantly reduce the probability of encountering bottlenecks in his future cultivation. Otherwise, given Lei Dong's spiritual root aptitude, bottlenecks would only become more frequent the further he progressed, perhaps even causing him to stall frequently within the same realm. Surviving the Inner Demon Hall trial would benefit him, slightly mitigating the appearance of these inexplicable barriers.

As the two were deep in conversation, Qi Feifei had finished inventorying their spoils. With a beaming smile, she reported, "Elder Li, Senior Brother Lei, the harvest is quite substantial! Those two penniless Foundation Establishment cultivators had only about three hundred thousand spirit stones' worth of assets combined. However, that old wretch from the Demon Prison Sect was truly a fat sheep!"

"Of course he was a fat sheep. That old man is a procurement agent for the Demon Prison Sect," Lei Dong chuckled. "He was definitely carrying a substantial amount of spirit stones to attend the auction. We couldn't touch him within Heavenly Dao City, but out here in the wilderness..."

Lei Dong had long surmised from tracking and circumstantial evidence that the person who followed them to the end was the old agent from the Demon Prison Sect. Once he was thoroughly annoyed by being tracked, he devised the counter-killing plan. Lei Dong was confident that he and Qi Feifei, working together, could certainly deal with the old agent. The problem was ensuring they could hold onto him completely. That’s why he dragged Li Yijian into it under the guise of saying goodbye at the Heavenly Dao Alliance headquarters.

Under normal circumstances, Li Yijian would never provoke a procurement agent of the Demon Prison Sect without reason. Although he knew how wealthy agents from major sects attending auctions were, and while he felt tempted, he wasn't a fool. However, after Lei Dong's analysis, he became eager. Lei Dong's strategy was simple: use them as bait to lure the target out of the city, then have Li Yijian strike him down.

Of course, before the attack, Qi Feifei made sure to use some 'Sealing Tone Talismans' to record the entire sequence of events. They would bear the consequences of the killing; this was the fundamental reason Li Yijian agreed to carry out this opportunistic score.

Lei Dong calculated clearly: Qi Feifei would take the Sealing Tone Talismans and travel first to the Yin Sha Sect to find his Master, who would certainly know how to handle the matter. If the Demon Prison Sect engaged in murder and treasure snatching, wouldn't it be permissible for disciples of other sects to defend themselves? In such matters, the Yin Sha Sect and the Joyous Union Sect, being in the right, would argue their case fiercely, ensuring the situation was completely smoothed over without Lei Dong needing to worry. Furthermore, he believed his performance in the Inner Demon Hall would have been relayed to his Master via Dongfang Fu, and with his disciple showing such capability, his Master would certainly pressure the sect to seek justice for him.

Two top sects against one, with the Demon Prison Sect clearly in the wrong, it would be hard for them to simply accept the loss. Between top sects, they often contested matters of honor. Especially when it came to standing up for their disciples who were wronged elsewhere, every sect performed admirably, as this was not just about face, but also crucial to the sect's cohesion and morale. This was a primary concern. Taken seriously, it was a monumental matter concerning the long-term survival of a sect.

Li Yijian only dared to act as a secret killer to reap benefits after seeing that Lei Dong and Qi Feifei were truly capable of handling the fallout. Otherwise, if a Demon Prison Sect procurement agent were killed or disappeared without cause within the Heavenly Dao Alliance's territory, it would cause significant trouble for the Alliance as well.

Qi Feifei meticulously announced the wealth of the Demon Prison Sect old rogue—no, she reported the Demon Prison Sect's public assets. Since he was attending an auction, he had the most spirit stones; tallied up, they amounted to a staggering three million. Other rare materials and his personal spiritual artifacts added up to over one million two hundred thousand spirit stones. It was no wonder Qi Feifei was grinning so widely her eyes almost disappeared. Without exerting much effort, gaining a twenty percent share meant a sudden surge of nine hundred thousand in assets. Following Senior Brother Lei truly was exhilarating; he frequently struck it rich. She was so happy that she almost forgot her life was still in Lei Dong's hands.

Li Yijian’s mouth twitched. Damn, this agent carried that many spirit stones to an auction; this score was definitely worth it. The only slight regret was letting Lei Dong talk him into giving up two percent so easily. How long would it take him, working diligently every day, to earn that "two percent" profit?

However, Li Yijian was quite satisfied; with a casual bit of effort, he earned 1.8 million spirit stones in less than half a day. That wasn't even as high as the 'appearance fee' for a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Lei Dong was also ecstatic, though he had little interest in the materials, leaving those to Li Yijian, who preferred them.

He himself happily pocketed the combined 1.8 million spirit stones. Robbery, he mused again, was clearly the fastest way to earn money. Many cultivators never earned this much in their entire lives. His purse, recently depleted from buying the supreme-grade artifact, was suddenly bulging again, causing Lei Dong immense satisfaction. Accumulating this, he figured he could likely acquire another supreme-grade spiritual artifact.