The three arrivals were none other than Shi Chun and his companions.

The next moment, Bian Weiyin abandoned the questioning soldier in front of him and excitedly ran toward Shi Chun. In that instant, her eyes saw only him, nearly rushing forward to embrace him. Fortunately, those nearby were alert and helped her swiftly control her impulses and emotions.

She had no choice but to instantly revert to her usual demeanor as Bian Weiyin and nodded with a smile to the trio, "You're back."

Wu Jinliang chuckled; seeing her, he couldn't help but recall the smacking sounds in the darkness.

Shi Chun nodded. He had no particular reaction and led the others inside first.

Xiang Laner, who accompanied them, was no fool. She clearly saw for whom Bian Weiyin's moment of admiration was intended and recalled how the two had not returned all night some evenings prior. Her heart skipped a beat, virtually certain now of the private relationship between them.

At this moment, Bian Weiyin was struggling to conceal something, which Xiang Laner recognized instantly.

She couldn't comprehend how this had happened. From what she understood and had observed of Bian Weiyin's character, such a change shouldn't have occurred so rapidly—this had been her previous cause for doubt.

Now certain, she had to face an impending issue: Shi Chun and Bian Weiyin's romantic involvement. What changes would this bring to the situation at Wukang Mountain, and how might it affect her hidden mission there?

Shi Chun, guilt-free, placed the heap of black cloth bags on the ground inside, and roughly divided them as per their previous agreement—"half for me, half for you," not bothering with exact numbers, each bag's quantity was unstandardized but guessed not to be far off.

A few bags remained, and as Bian Weiyin pondered this, Shi Chun said to her, "Senior Sister, these are yours."

Bian Weiyin knew what the black cloth bags contained, but the scale seemed extraordinarily abnormal.

She had waited here for so long, witnessed how other sects made their contributions—even securing a bulging bag was commendable, and even a group like Bai Shuchuan's barely managed two bags, presumably having to share with others.

Thus, she asked with some surprise, "What's this?"

All three laughed; Wu Jinliang quipped, "What else could it be but the Insect Extreme Crystals?"

"So many?" Bian Weiyin was shocked.

Without much explanation, particularly with soldiers watching—it wasn't appropriate to explain more—Shi Chun's trio first gathered the bags to hand them over.

Verifying identities, counting the quantities of Insect Extreme Crystals, submitting tokens, and other procedures.

The Royal Court provided tokens useless outside, uniquely crafted much like the bracelets worn by attendees—designed to be locatable.

With so many Insect Extreme Crystals piling up, the officer responsible for registration asked, "Should we count them together or separately?"

Shi Chun quickly responded, "Separately, count what's in each person's hands."

No matter what, the totals would still accumulate for the respective sects.

Seeing no objections from others, the soldiers began counting as instructed.

During the count, the soldiers, both near and far, were visibly moved and began whispering, gesturing toward the growing piles.

Shi Chun was satisfied with this, their reaction proving his estimate of winning the first place wasn't wrong.

During the count, seeing the large display of Insect Extreme Crystals, Bian Weiyin still looked utterly unprepared. She stared at Shi Chun in disbelief; when he had previously declared his intent to rank first, she thought it was merely boastful talk—after all, how could it be possible?

She indeed wanted to earn merits for Wukang Mountain, but was this feat not too grand? Could Wukang Mountain handle this?

Audiences in front of the mirror buzzed as if a pot had exploded, unable to quell the noise.

At the premier viewing area, Wei Mo, with hands clasped behind, strolled alone to the corner, appearing calm, occasionally glancing at the mirror counting the Insect Extreme Crystals.

Young Master Nan, leaning against the window edge of the small building, was perturbed; the repetitive changes were too agitating. Until the final count, no one dared ensure there wouldn't be more complications.

"Brother Bian, is Wukang Mountain aiming to take first place in Shengshen Continent?" a nearby Sect Leader inquired of Bian Jixiong.

Bian Jixiong didn't know how to respond, repeatedly clasping his hands in entreaty, remaining silent—only he knew the anxiety this wrought in his heart, truly distressing.

In front of Xun Gate, after repeated cross-verifications, the results emerged.

Shi Chun had twenty-two thousand and five, Wu Jinliang eleven thousand four hundred ten, Xiang Laner five thousand nine hundred ninety-three, Bian Weiyin five thousand four hundred thirty-one, bringing Wukang Mountain's total to forty-four thousand eight hundred thirty-nine.

When the total was revealed, Xiang Laner was surprised, and Wu Jinliang muttered, "Isn't this number off?"

They remembered the total as forty-five thousand six hundred sixty-eight; how could it be missing several hundred?

Shi Chun then stated, "No mistake, that's the count."

The discrepancy from the previous figure was because he had impulsively stored a bag into his Qiankun Bracelet—there was so much, why turn it all in?

The main reason was still that they couldn't understand the true value of the Insect Extreme Crystal, and since they had the Qiankun Bracelet anyway, it was better to keep some in reserve.

Wu Jinliang was taken aback, but seeing that he was serious, he didn't say anything more.

Xiang Laner was also surprised, but knowing that Shi Chun said this for a reason, she also remained silent.

Once everything was confirmed and the documents were finalized, the four of them headed towards the Xun Gate.

As soon as the four entered the Xun Gate, Young Master Nan, who was in the small building window, leaped out of the window and disappeared, ignoring the distinguished guests.

In the best viewing stand, Wei Mo and Chi Rang almost simultaneously turned quickly and left the scene.

The Domain Masters also got up one by one and left; no one called out to each other, but their destinations were the same.

They were quite unrestrained. After exiting the pavilions, they flew up and went straight across the capital's sky.

On the other side of the Xun Gate, there was a wide-open space resembling a walled city where thousands of people had gathered.

Those who were clean and had stayed until the end came out and consciously stood quietly to the side, not bothering anyone or obstructing anyone's view; this was the majority.

Those who were dirty and bloodstained, like survivors of a calamity, tended to stay more in the center, some even talking and laughing.

People who came out continuously from the Xun Gate were stopped by guards who cut off the bracelets on their wrists with sharp tools and took them away.

A man talking and laughing with Bai Shuchuan suddenly looked towards the exit and exclaimed, "Isn't that Mr. Xie from Chaoyang Palace? Mr. Xie, over here, come."

He waved his hand to call him over.

A ragged man, leading seven or eight companions, walked over and politely greeted everyone with a bow.

Bai Shuchuan fiddled with his ragged clothes, "Mr. Xie seems to have worked hard this time, you must have had a fruitful journey?"

Whenever he saw a significant team returning, he would probe their situation to gauge his own visit.

Mr. Xie waved his hand with a wry smile, "Not really, it's bad luck. Just before the end, we encountered a team from Xuan State and had to give up a batch of Insect Extreme Crystals to save our lives. Surviving is good enough, not to speak of any gains. But for you, Brother Bai, that's definitely a full harvest."

Complimented thus, Bai Shuchuan showed a pleased expression, although he modestly said: "It's not really a full harvest. After all, my Jieyun Mountain has almost gathered a thousand now, I hope it will be enough."

"Brother Bai is being too modest. If your sector alone has gathered a thousand, if that's not enough, then what about us..." Mr. Xie suddenly paused, recalling something, and tentatively asked, "Brother Bai, was there another person surnamed Bai in Jieyun Mountain during this trip?"

Bai Shuchuan was a bit startled, not knowing why he brought up this topic, and affirmed, "No, among my fellow disciples, I'm the only one surnamed Bai."

After saying this, he noticed that the looks from the crowd who had just come out were somewhat strange towards him.

Mr. Xie then asked, "Is there a sect called Youxia Mountain from Xuan State that you might have dealt with?"

He carefully observed Bai Shuchuan's reactions as he asked.

Bai Shuchuan was puzzled; he truly had no recollection, and after consulting with his fellow sect members, who all shook their heads in confusion, he also shook his head in response, "No, Mr. Xie, why do you ask?"

Seeing that there indeed had been no interactions, Mr. Xie hesitated and then said, "The batch of Xuan State people we encountered, when they learned we were from Sheng Province, asked us if we knew someone surnamed Bai, said to be from the first major sect of Sheng Province."

Bai Shuchuan became more puzzled, "Why would people from Xuan State ask about me?"

Mr. Xie did not answer, but looked towards others, and another person immediately gave a wry smile, "They mentioned that there was a beautiful female disciple from Youxia Mountain who was assaulted by someone surnamed Bai from the first major sect of Sheng Province. They couldn't recall the full name but asked if we knew this Bai's whereabouts, seemed like they wanted revenge."

This revelation was followed by a torrent of strange glances towards Bai Shuchuan.

"…" Bai Shuchuan was initially clueless, then hesitant to speak, wanting to say that the scoundrel Bai must be someone else. But on second thought, that would be tantamount to denying that Jieyun Mountain was the first major sect of Sheng Province, admitting it was also not possible. He became quite agitated and blurted out, "Bullshit, who is framing me like this? We never even fought with the people of Xuan State, nor do we know anyone from Youxia Mountain; everyone here can vouch for that."

No sooner had he spoken than someone on the edge of the crowd exclaimed, "Now that you mention it, I remember that we too encountered a small team from Xuan State. When they learned we were from Sheng Province, they also inquired if there was anyone named Bai among us, very politely and courteously, said it was at a friend's request, looking for an old acquaintance named Bai. Now, thinking about it, could it be this matter?"

This revelation sent a chill down the spine of the speaker.

Someone beside him slapped his shoulder and laughed, "That wasn't them being courteous, that was baiting you."

This additional testimony further underscored the credibility of the matter.

The incident described by the Xuan State team, where they would inquire about this despicable Bai as soon as they saw anyone from Sheng Province, must have been truly abhorrent.

The reactions of the crowd made Bai Shuchuan very upset; such a situation was like getting mud on one's pants—difficult to explain away, but he still had to try: "Whatever is being said about Youxia Mountain and me is absolutely unrelated, it must be a misunderstanding. If I tell a single lie, may heaven strike me down!"

He swore his innocence, although whether people believed him or not was another matter; the looks directed at him became even stranger.

The conversation drifted away, as the reputation of Sheng Province's first major sect held some weight, and no one dared to be reckless.

After a while, the topic shifted, and the figures of Shi Chun and his companions appeared at the Xun Gate exit.

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