Stingy, so stingy

"Little freak, your appetite is truly enormous. I dare to give, but do you really dare to take?"

Ling Xiao had long anticipated Chen Yi's greed.

In truth, he could have simply removed the top ten items from the Multiverse Store's sales rankings to avoid this little freak making outrageous demands and bleeding him dry. After all, treasures like the Immortal King Dao Fruit and the Chrono-Alteration Disk—ancestral-grade artifacts—were not something he had in abundance.

The reason he didn’t remove them was simple: there was no need.

If the little freak insisted on having them, he would oblige.

The fatter the little freak grew, the more he would drain Wuji’s energy. In the end, Ling Xiao would reap the rewards, achieving a flawless harvest!

Being trapped upstream in the River of Time was both a predicament and a prison. But let’s be honest—as long as he stayed there, no one could touch him. He was inherently invincible!

"What a pity that my retreat was too hasty. All the contingencies I left behind were swept away by Wuji. Otherwise, releasing Wu into the mix would have added fuel to this grand feast, making the atmosphere even more intense!"

"Ah, time waits for no one, and fate plays its tricks. Now, little freak, you’re all I have left. Don’t disappoint me!"

Ling Xiao sighed faintly, then promptly approved the purchase of the Multiverse Store’s premium items.

[Immortal King Dao Fruit successfully exchanged. Item has been delivered to your personal account space. Please check.]

[Chrono-Alteration Disk successfully exchanged. Item has been delivered to your personal account space. Please check.]

[Chaos Creation Brush successfully exchanged. Item has been delivered to your personal account space. Please check.]

[Primordial Reincarnation Disk successfully exchanged. Item has been delivered to your personal account space. Please check.]

[...Details expanded.]

[Ding! This item is limited to one purchase per customer. Do not attempt to exchange it again.]

[All items are sold out. Restocking in 30 days. Please refrain from frequent refreshing!]

"Cheapskate! So stingy!"

Chen Yi gleefully emptied the Multiverse Store, not wasting a single second. He didn’t let the items linger in his personal account space—claiming them immediately, securing them in his possession!

Material goods needed no explanation. Once refined, they could be directly invested into the construction of the Violet Star Immortal Realm.

As for cultivation manuals, Chen Yi didn’t even consider using them. These things weren’t unique—they carried potent wills embedded within them, making it impossible to erase their influence. Even the slightest modification could lead to qi deviation. Practicing them recklessly might turn one into a cauldron for another’s use. So, he only exchanged them for fun.

The real treasures were the functional artifacts!

Ling Xiao was once an Immortal Emperor!

How could anything he produced be mediocre?

From pseudo-immortal-grade to Great Luo-grade artifacts, everything was available. The only downside was that Ling Xiao only gave three Dao Ancestor-grade treasures.

This proved one thing: ancestral artifacts weren’t cabbages. Each one was a supreme treasure with absurd mechanics. Even someone as obscenely wealthy as Ling Xiao, a former Immortal Emperor, didn’t have many.

Take the Chrono-Alteration Disk, for example. Its basic functions were time acceleration and stasis, allowing the user to speed up or slow down time within a target area. At its peak, it could even freeze an Immortal Emperor for an instant!

Its advanced function was "Time Swap"—exchanging one person’s timeline with another’s. For instance, if severely injured, one could transfer the history of their injuries onto someone else, forcing them to bear the consequences while the user recovered completely!

The ultimate function was "History Rewrite," allowing limited alterations to past events. However, this was extremely dangerous. If the changes were too drastic, causing causality to collapse and the River of Time to destabilize, the backlash would instantly shatter the Chrono-Alteration Disk, destroying the treasure. The only upside was that the user remained unaffected.

Then there was the Chaos Creation Brush. Its basic function was "Creation," allowing the user to materialize anything they envisioned—from divine weapons to mountains, rivers, and even sentient life. Its power and duration depended on the user’s strength and comprehension of the Dao.

The advanced function was "Law Alteration," modifying the laws of heaven and earth within a certain range. This included redefining matter, altering time flow, reversing life and death—anything was possible, as long as the user had enough power to withstand the backlash. Even an Immortal Emperor could be affected!

For example, writing "The Immortal Emperor is actually a dog!" might cause the brush to explode instantly, but at least it would leave a mark on the Immortal Emperor!

The ultimate function was "Existence Erasure." A single stroke of the brush could summon the power of chaos, releasing a beam of annihilation that turned everything in its path into blank nothingness. In theory, at its peak, even an Immortal Emperor could be erased!

Of course, theory was theory, and reality was reality. If the Chaos Creation Brush were truly that overpowered, Ling Xiao would have already used it against Wuji. Why would he give it to Chen Yi?

Still, Chen Yi quite liked it.

He was sorely lacking in artifacts with such mechanics. While brute force could work miracles, it was always better to conserve energy. Using raw power to counter mechanics required too much effort—it was no different from opening with a trump card.

What if the enemy escaped after taking the hit?

Thus, the best strategy was to use mechanics against mechanics. First, wear the opponent down until they had no strength left to flee—then finish them off with a single strike!

"Heh, I was just worrying about how to quietly purify the controlled members of the group. And now, Ling Xiao delivers three Dao Ancestor-grade treasures to help!"

"Even if Wuji is an Immortal Emperor, what does it matter? At the end of the day, he’s just a slightly stronger Dao Origin Primordial Realm cultivator, hiding behind layers of safety measures, manipulating things through will projection alone... Three Dao Ancestor-grade treasures might just be enough!"

Chen Yi’s gaze deepened as he pulled out the three Dao Ancestor-grade artifacts and began refining them, meticulously checking for hidden traps.

Compared to Wuji, who preferred cleanliness, Ling Xiao’s dirty tricks were far more terrifying!

Wuji only needed to be guarded against head-on. Ling Xiao? You had to watch your back at all times!

Meanwhile, in a corner of the Immortal Realm...

Double agent Han Qianxue wandered around like an NPC, seemingly engaged in free activity while actually unleashing chaos in the chat group.

[Transmigrators Mutual Aid Group #108]

[Group Owner "TMD The Tribulation Is Still Chasing Me" is transferring a resource package to member "The Han Clan’s Young Miss of Gaodao." Transfer progress: 69%...70%...71%...]

[The Han Clan’s Young Miss of Gaodao (Han Qianxue): Friends, the Immortal Realm is toxic! Don’t ascend! DON’T ASCEND!]

[The Han Clan’s Young Miss of Gaodao (Han Qianxue): The upper immortals enslave our kind, turning us into puppets! This isn’t the Immortal Realm—RUN! HAHAHAHA!!!]

[Ancestor Treading Heaven (Xu Jinghong): Qianxue, what nonsense are you spouting? The group just reopened. Don’t scare the newcomers.]

[Withered Leaf Left by the Wind (Qin Sheng): Sigh... One step slow, forever left behind. If only I hadn’t been so carefree in the past, ignorant of ambition. Now, the juniors have surpassed me. Too many regrets to voice!]

[Crow Sits on Airplane (Liu Bo): Life’s sorrows flow endlessly like the eastward river...]

[I Want a Harem! (Shen Lang): Aaaaah! I’ve been ruined by wine and lust! From today onward—NO MORE ALCOHOL!!!]

【Light God Unemployed (Adolf Anlan): Boss, I’ve become the God of Light now—Ninth Tier. Do you still remember the promise you made back at the Judgment Tribunal?】

【Runner-up of the Cultivation World (Chen Bo): Zhou Zheng, why… why is it that out of our three founding elders, you’re the only one still working with the boss? Damn it, you’re already at the late-stage Pseudo-Immortal realm! This is just unfair!!!】

【Sword Immortal of Two Empty Sleeves (Zhou Zheng): Apologies, been swamped with work. Just got promoted to Director of the Ascension Bureau—new role, new challenges. If any of you want to venture into the Ziwei Immortal Realm, feel free to sign up through me.】

【Just a Bit of Hardship (Gu Yuan): Everyone, please abide by the laws and avoid recklessly violating heavenly decrees! Attached: "Cultivator Public Security Management Penalty Act—Issued by the Celestial Court."】

【I Really Don’t Want to Be a Sacrifice (Fang Zheng): Promote civility, foster new virtues, and work together to build a better cultivation environment! Attached: "Cultivator Code of Ethics—Issued by the Celestial Pivot Academy."】

【The Fallen Genius (Xiao Chunan): Sorry, just freed up some time. Let me add my piece: "Beware greed, for it brings calamity; beware favoritism, for it leads to ruin; beware transgression, for it invites punishment!" —Inspection Bureau PSA】

【Little Earth Deity Lin Yuyu (Lin Yuyu): Hahaha, I’m nowhere near as impressive as the big shots above. I’m just a sixth-rank official and grassroots instructor in the Mortal Deity Management Department—mostly honorary though. My main job is feeding a certain great pioneer, which is pretty boring. Feel free to drop by and hang out!】