Great Villain: Starting by Humiliating the Son of the Heavenly Fate Chapter 71: Trading Cultivation Methods

The group pressed on, having collected a wealth of spiritual plants, everyone was brimming with joy.

Suddenly, Jiang Chen shared even more thrilling news: "Listen up, everyone! The spiritual plants up ahead are typically of a higher rank! Three thousand steps to the east, you’ll find three Heavenly Origin-level spiritual plants!"

Hearing this, the crowd went wild with excitent.

"Did you hear that? Heavenly Origin-level spiritual plants!" exclaid soone in disbelief.

"That’s incredible, there are three of them!" gasped another.

"These are real treasures! We need to get there fast and claim them!" urged soone eagerly.

"..."

Many in the group’s eyes glead with greed, so even showed signs of aggression, as if they were ready to confront any rivals for these treasures.

"Hmph! Who dares to make a move!" Duan Ziming snapped angrily, his cold snort sending a powerful oppressive aura that instantly filled the air around them.

"Everyone, let’s keep our cool! This Cave Heaven Secret Realm is filled with countless treasures, and there’s much more to it than these few Heavenly Origin-level spiritual plants. Why the rush!" Mu Tao from the Floating Spirit Sect also urged her fellow sect mbers.

"Exactly, aim higher. We’re just getting started!" Jiang Chen added coolly, showing his disdain. "You’re all acting like beggars who haven’t eaten in half a year. Isn’t that embarrassing?"

Imdiately, the higher-ranked cultivators were struck with a sense of sha. So, like Li Teng, found the scolding deeply humiliating and harbored even more resentnt towards Jiang Chen.

Eventually, the crowd managed to regain their calm.

In the end, it was the cultivators closest to the east who succeeded in obtaining the Heavenly Origin-level spiritual plants.

"Let’s move!" At Jiang Chen’s urging, the large group quickly resud their journey.

As they advanced, the variety and quality of spiritual plants they encountered increased significantly.

However, an unusual silence made everyone slightly uneasy. Since entering the Cave Heaven Secret Realm, they hadn’t co across any creatures. At most, they had seen only ordinary insects, lacking any spiritual energy—just the most common of life forms.

Considering the abundance of spiritual qi in the Cave Heaven Secret Realm and the profusion of spiritual plants, it would be expected for ordinary animals to evolve into demonic beasts after consuming these plants.

Strangely, none were to be found.

’This is odd,’ Jiang Chen thought to himself. ’It’s been a while now, but all I can see is nothing but plants.’

’Could there be sothing in this Cave Heaven Secret Realm that preys specifically on animals and demonic beasts?’ he pondered quietly. He could infer that the nature of this Cave Heaven Secret Realm was different from what was typically expected.

Usually, stories of secret realms involve the protagonist fighting demonic beasts to seize opportunities, collecting spiritual plants, and acquiring a wealth of materials from demonic beasts for crafting artifacts.

Yet, this Cave Heaven Secret Realm left Jiang Chen feeling puzzled. Still, he figured that the highest level of danger in the Cave Heaven Secret Realm would likely be at the Heavenly Origin realm, especially considering that Ye Fan’s cultivation base was only at the Middle-stage Spiritual Awakening realm.

’We’ll just have to see how things play out!’ Jiang Chen mused, narrowing his eyes before he continued to share his findings, "Towards the southwest, about one thousand nine hundred steps from here, beneath a withered tree, you missed a Heavenly Origin-level spiritual plant hidden underground..."

Imdiately, several cultivators dashed towards the ntioned location.

As ti went on, the group gathered more and more spiritual plants, and their excitent soared.

However, the unease lingering in their hearts wouldn’t fade. This feeling of apprehension deepened considerably with the discovery of strange footprints.

The one who found the footprints was a Mysterious Platform realm cultivator, a female true disciple of the Ice Heart School. Upon spotting the footprints, she quickly pulled back and spread the word.

Imdiately, all the teams stopped their search, and the lead disciples from the five sects quickly took action to check out the footprints.

These footprints were imprinted on the rocks but didn’t look like they were made by claws, hooves, or feline paws; instead, they were eerily similar to human footprints.

Yet, these footprints were unusually large, and it was clear that whoever made them had sharp nails.

"Could this be the work of an ape-type demonic beast?" Miao Xiaorui, the chief disciple of the Ice Heart School, speculated out loud.

"It’s a possibility," Duan Ziming agreed, then quickly reconsidered, adding skeptically, "but it’s unlikely. Ape-type demonic beasts don’t just walk on their two legs; they use their arms for support as well."

"However, in the tracks we found, there’s no sign of front limbs being used, not a single trace," he pointed out.

"This Cave Heaven Secret Realm is truly unusual!" observed a disciple from the Purple Bamboo Spirit Mountain, his expression tense, before he suggested, "To avoid unexpected dangers, I think we should divide the spiritual plants among ourselves now."

"I agree," another voice added promptly. "Let’s take out the spiritual plants, share them equally, and then continue our search for treasures."

As the discussion went on, the consensus grew.

Jiang Chen was on board with this idea as well. Several of the spiritual plants had caught his eye.

By obtaining and using these spiritual plants sooner, Jiang Chen knew he could hasten the recovery of the Burning World Red Lotus, thereby boosting his combat capabilities.

Following the majority’s decision, the group began dividing the collected treasures.

The distribution went smoothly, thanks to a previously agreed-upon system based on contribution points.

Jiang Chen, with his right to choose first, secured twenty Heavenly Origin-level spiritual plants, along with nurous other plants from the Mysterious Platform and Spiritual Awakening ranks.

Everyone else also received their share of spiritual plants in varying amounts.

Ye Fan, holding his portion of the spiritual plants, thought to himself, ’These gains are not bad. Sticking with this group turned out to be a good decision after all.’

’Especially now,’ he continued in his thoughts, ’until we figure out who left those strange footprints, it’s wiser for to stay cautious and keep an eye on things by staying with the team.’

Just then, a disciple from the Azure Jade Sect, who was also in the Middle-stage Spiritual Awakening realm, ca up to Ye Fan and asked quietly, "Senior Brother Ye Fan, I’ve got a cultivation thod here. Would you be interested in trading it for so of your spiritual plants?"

For many, this exchange might seem trivial, but Jiang Chen, who had been vigilantly watching Ye Fan, suddenly beca more attentive.

Noting the Azure Jade Sect disciple’s ease with the process, it appeared that Ye Fan had engaged in swapping treasures for cultivation thods on several occasions before.

’Trading cultivation thods, is it... I need to check this out further,’ Jiang Chen thought to himself, discreetly keeping an eye on Ye Fan’s actions.

"Let’s see what kind of cultivation thod it is," Ye Fan said thoughtfully, then added, "If it’s too low-level, I’m not interested."

"Senior Brother, please have a look," the disciple offered, presenting a manual to Ye Fan.

Ye Fan took it, briefly skimd the visible parts, and subtly nodded his approval.

After a brief discussion, they reached an agreent and completed the trade.

Following this, another person approached Ye Fan and successfully traded a different cultivation thod for his remaining spiritual plants.

Li Teng, standing a short distance away, looked at Ye Fan with contempt and snickered to himself, ’Ha, what good does it do to be a jack of all trades but master of none? Chasing after cultivation thods like this, you’re just asking for Qi Deviation to hit you sooner or later!’

Within the sect, Ye Fan had shown an impressive understanding of cultivation thods, placing him among the top.

From Li Teng’s point of view, Ye Fan was just being arrogant and overly confident; all because of his notable skills in cultivation thods, he wanted to learn even more. This was the perfect example of biting off more than you could chew.

Despite Ye Fan’s exceptional gift for comprehending cultivation thods, taking on too much could still an he wouldn’t fully absorb it all.

Yet, unbeknownst to everyone, Ye Fan’s actual enlightennt was average; his true edge ca from relying on the Wordless Heavenly Jade to master the cultivation thods.

Right after getting his hands on new cultivation thods, Ye Fan wasted no ti diving into them. With the Wordless Heavenly Jade’s help, rely familiarizing himself with the thods allowed him to quickly understand and apply them.

Within a short period, he could reach the Perfect-level of mastery, as if he had been practicing the thods for many years!