What Is Meant by "Underhanded Tricks"

(This chapter has been edited)

Spirit medicine?

Something highly nourishing?

Qin Feng secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He had wondered what it was.

This was simple.

"Brother Su, I have a..."

He stopped halfway, hesitating a little.

Qin Feng stealthily took out a seemingly ordinary storage ring from his front pocket and stuffed it directly into Su Ji's hand.

"Brother Su, take a look for yourself. Whatever you need, just take it."

Su Ji wasn't surprised by this.

This was exactly why he had kept Qin Feng around.

Because a few days ago, he had woken up briefly in the middle of the night and vaguely heard Qin Feng talking in his sleep, mumbling nonsense about a "seventy-second concubine"...

Think about it, if a man could handle seventy-two concubines, how could he not have some special techniques?

Su Ji didn't hold back. He sent his divine sense into the storage ring Qin Feng handed him.

The good stuff inside was actually...

Actually mostly unrecognizable to him.

Pill bottles were piled up like small mountains, and various magical treasures and talismans were packed to the brim. As expected of a chosen genius who had suppressed an entire era, his wealth was indeed substantial.

Su Ji's divine sense swept through the space. Finally, at the very bottom of a pile of jade slips, an ancient-looking book caught his attention.

The cover of the book was made of some unknown animal skin, warm and smooth like jade to the touch. On it, written in ancient, flamboyant seal script, were four large characters.

[Divine Firmament ?? True Art]

The middle two characters were perhaps illegible due to the passage of time.

Hah, to think that the written language of the lower realm was actually universal?

What a regret!

...

Su Ji calmly withdrew his divine sense, a perfectly measured look of disappointment appearing on his face.

"Brother Qin, you... don't really have anything good here."

Qin Feng's face twitched involuntarily.

This was called not having anything good?

Taking out any random item from here would be enough to make the cultivators in the lower realm fight to the death over it!

Wasn't his standard a bit too high?

Of course, despite thinking this, Qin Feng didn't dare show the slightest hint of it on his face.

"Brother Su is right. My meager belongings indeed cannot enter your distinguished eyes."

Su Ji waved his hand and tossed the storage ring back to Qin Feng.

"I'll just take this cultivation method for reference. Forget about the rest, but I appreciate the thought."

He glanced at Qin Feng's terrified and reverent expression, blooming with joy on the inside while continuing his performance on the outside.

"Keep them for your own use."

"The work in this mining area isn't easy; it never hurts to keep a few more trump cards."

These heart-to-heart words moved Qin Feng deeply.

Look at this!

What was true broad-mindedness?

Not only did this Brother Su not take advantage of his misfortune, but he even thought of him at every turn!

And to think he had previously suspected him, even harboring killing intent towards him...

An indescribable wave of guilt instantly surged in Qin Feng's heart.

"Brother Su is truly righteous!"

He cupped his fists heavily toward Su Ji, his eyes filled with unprecedented sincerity.

Su Ji couldn't be bothered with him. He turned his head and looked at Zhang Kui, who was standing to the side.

"Big Brother Zhang."

Su Ji asked casually.

"Why doesn't this mining camp confiscate our storage rings?"

Zhang Kui didn't seem to expect this question. He paused for a moment before reacting.

"Mainly because the loss outweighs the gain."

Zhang Kui wasn't surprised; it seemed he had answered this question more than once.

"Firstly, the items you lower realm cultivators hold are truly ordinary and commonplace to the upper realm."

"Take the stuff in your little brother Qin's ring, for example."

Zhang Kui pointed at Qin Feng. "The pills and magical treasures inside, in our eyes, are no different from cheap goods sold at a street stall."

"There are even many things we don't recognize at all. Using them rashly might even bring disaster. But if we were to hire someone to appraise them, the cost would be far more expensive than your entire net worth."

"Secondly..."

Zhang Kui's voice lowered a bit.

"What good does it do us to strip you completely bare?"

"As long as a person is alive, they need to have some hope, right?"

Zhang Kui pointed at Qin Feng. "Leaving him his storage ring makes him feel like he still has a chance to make a comeback, a sliver of hope to escape."

"With this hope, he'll have the energy to mine."

"But if we snuff out even this little bit of hope, leaving him completely destitute and entirely in despair, he'll just become a cripple. He wouldn't last a few days in the mines before giving up and waiting to die."

"What use is a useless cripple to us?"

Zhang Kui's face bore a matter-of-fact expression, as if to say, that's just how it is.

Su Ji pondered it.

It really made sense.

To kill a man, you destroy his spirit.

The faction behind this mining area had sinister intentions.

They give you hope, yet make it so you can never reach it.

They let you be squeezed dry bit by bit in endless forced labor, until you finally become a pile of dry bones on this wasteland.

"Alright, you've heard about enough. Don't just stand around here."

Zhang Kui waved his hand impatiently, as if swatting away a fly.

"Go do what you need to do."

Su Ji looked at Qin Feng's flustered back, then looked at his own yang-deficient body, and let out a long sigh.

"Big Brother Zhang, then I... will go back and rest first."

"If there are any spirit medicines, just leave them at my door."

"I will come out to collect them every night."

"If there aren't any, please help me exchange for some beast meat. I should still have some iron on my account."

Su Ji spoke weakly.

Zhang Kui nodded, an I understand expression on his face.

"Go on, get some good rest."

He patted Su Ji's shoulder, using much less force than usual.

"If you need anything, just ask."

Su Ji turned around and walked toward his residence in the small courtyard.

His footsteps were weak and unsteady.

His back looked desolate and lonely.

...

Su Ji returned to his courtyard and locked the door tightly from the inside.

The first thing he did was sit cross-legged on the ground and spread the ancient-looking book out in front of him.

Su Jiu's faintly disgusted voice sounded.

"Senior Brother, you went out just to get this incomplete, meaningless cultivation method?"

"What do you mean meaningless?"

Su Ji retorted righteously. "This is called focusing on the big picture and ignoring the trivial details!"

"Besides, I'm helping you, don't you understand?"

"When the witness invited by that old fogey Zhao Tianyang arrives, both of us are going to be finished!"

Su Jiu was left speechless by his crooked reasoning. She could only huff coldly in anger and say no more.