"Stop dawdling around and sort everything out already. Lord Sixth is still waiting for my return," Lan Ruo pressed.
Although everyone couldn't help feeling a sense of helplessness at the situation, they also felt relieved that they didn't need to hide around anymore. Miao Yi called Pi Junzi over to help out, then smiled bitterly at Lan Ruo and said, "Auntie, it's going to take quite a bit of time to go through such a huge pile of treasure. Why don't you help out as well? It'll be quicker if we have more hands working together."
Lan Ruo didn't have anything against the suggestion. Most people probably wouldn't reject the notion of sorting out some treasure anyway. She proceeded to give them a hand, and the nine of them swiftly went through the massive heap of loot...
They worked through the entire night, and by the time the sun was starting to peek from the horizon, they finally managed to tally everything.
Although most of the participating cultivators had traded off their Orbs of Will for protective treasures, their vast numbers more than made up for the shortage. They had to keep some at hand for when they needed to replenish their transcendence energy during the Subjugation Crusade after all. Not to mention, not all of them were poor. In fact, quite a number of them were quite wealthy. Take Miao Yi for example, who brought several thousand Orbs of Will with him to the Sea of Constellations.
The sum of Orbs of Will accumulated from tens of thousands of participants was incredible, reaching over 2.7 million orbs in total.
Once converted to gold crystals, the total number of crystal coins tallied up to 8 million gold crystals. Money was useless in the Sea of Constellations. As such, this wasn't a jaw-droppingly large sum.
The number of Second Grade Armor and Weapon Artifacts numbered at exactly 65,802 pieces.
On the other hand, there were much fewer First Grade Armor and Weapon Artifacts, at approximately 3,000 pieces.
Yao Cores, Yin Cores, Inner Cores and the like were at even more staggering proportions. Evidently, all the participants had fully stocked themselves with such necessities. In addition to the ones they had obtained from killing one another, the total sum amounted to approximately 9.8 million pieces. There wasn't a single Second Grade Core; they were all at the First Grade, only because it was impractical to bring a Second Grade Core to the Sea of Constellations. Not to mention, one would need to kill a Red Lotus cultivator to obtain a Second Grade Core. For those participating in the Subjugation Crusade, there was no chance of that happening. Even if there were, they didn't have the ability to carry out the deed either.
Even more astounding was that there were thirty-five top-tier Second Grade Transcendent Artifacts as well.
As for the other miscellaneous items, they were simply too numerous to be counted.
This massive heap of treasure was the accumulation of wealth of tens of thousands of participating cultivators over millennia. It would be more strange if it weren't bountiful. What's more, this was only a portion of the wealth from the cultivators participating in the Sea of Constellations Subjugation Crusade.
"What a fortune!" cried Sikong Wuwei as he rubbed his hands excitedly, his eyes becoming slits from his laughter.
The others were feeling the same way as well. Even the typically stern Gu Sanzheng found it hard to conceal the joy on his face.
"Not really. It's a pretty average amount," Lan Ruo suddenly added, instantly putting a damper on everyone else's excitement.
Sikong Wuwei's laughter immediately froze, and he stared at Lan Ruo in a daze. Not only was her remark unnecessary, but she was also meddling directly in their joyous occasion as well. With a bright smile on her face, Lan Ruo took out a large cloth and placed it on the ground, then quickly wrapped up half of the massive pile of storage rings.
"Considering there are eight of you, it would be rather troublesome to split an uneven amount. So I'll do you a favor and hand the remainder over to Lord Sixth," Lan Ruo said cheerfully. Her smile was so wide she could barely close her mouth.
That was over 2.7 million low-grade Orbs of Will they were talking about! It wasn't just 207 orbs, but 2.7 'million' orbs. The woman left them with only 1.35 million low-grade Orbs of Will. The rest she packed away into a single storage bangle.
Over 8 million gold crystals and she left them with just 4 million. And not only did she take the more significant portion away with her, but she even chose gold crystals specifically. As for the white and black crystals, she didn't touch them at all. She probably thought it was a hassle to be carrying so much small change.
As for First Grade Cores, only 4.9 million remained. Lan Ruo had even taken some of the ungraded ones into her storage bangle.
For First Grade Weapon and Armor Artifacts, only 1,500 remained, while for Second Grade ones, 32,000 were left behind. Lan Ruo really wasn't showing any mercy as she took the balance with her.
Fortunately, for the thirty-five top-tier Second Grade Transcendent Artifacts, Lan Ruo still had some self-awareness. These things were simply too precious. She only took away eighteen pieces, leaving seventeen behind.
But Lan Ruo didn't go easy on the other miscellaneous items either, taking the larger half whenever she could. How was this the attitude of someone from the Realm Beyond Heaven? More like a hungry ghost that had risen up from hell. It was a little too unseemly the way she was gobbling everything up.
The others all watched as she took away the treasure they had toiled away the past few nights and risked their lives to obtain. But alas, they couldn't do anything about it. Her background was just too powerful; they didn't stand a chance at winning.
However, Miao Yi ultimately couldn't keep it in any longer. With a dark expression on his face, he said, "For someone from the Realm Beyond Heaven, why do you act as if you've never seen treasure before? I doubt Lord Sixth would be this stingy about it. I think you're the one who wants the remainder for herself, more like it."
Lan Ruo immediately tossed him a charming smile and said, "Lord Sixth will definitely be rewarding me. And since it's my reward, I will accept it happily of course. It's none of your concern anyway."
After which, she lifted up her giant bag of treasure and even skipped merrily away out the cave. It was no surprise she was happy, being able to earn a fortune without having to lift a finger.
Miao Yi's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. It wasn't as though he was unwilling to give these things to his little sister. As long as she needed them, he would definitely hand them over to her. But for her to do this was no different than setting him up. This was the reason he was so profoundly dissatisfied.
"I see Yue Yao's butt is itching for a good spanking!" Miao Yi said with a dark expression on his face.
Sikong Wuwei replied helplessly, "Brother, if you have the guts to spank Fairy Yue Yao's butt, then you can take all of this for yourself."
The others nodded in agreement. Still slightly fuming with rage, Miao Yi casually remarked, "It's not like I've never spanked it before…"
As he said it, he immediately realized his slip of the tongue and hurriedly shut his mouth.
He did spank her before, but his little sister was still young at the time and had followed his little brother's bad habits. He had punished her many times whenever she went overboard with her little games. Kids would always be naughty after all. Being spanked once or twice was inevitable.
The people beside him were utterly confounded by his words, and Zhao Fei asked in shock, "You've hit Fairy Yue Yao's butt before?"
Sikong Wuwei was also dumbfounded, asking, "Brother, are you serious? How does it feel?"
"What I mean is, it's not like I've never hit a woman before. There are plenty of women who have died by my hand," Miao Yi quickly corrected himself.
Everyone immediately rolled their eyes at him. What a shock it was. They all thought that Miao Yi had really spanked the butt of such a nation-toppling beauty. That would be incredible if it were true!
Being the only woman in the group, after Ye Xin saw how intrigued these men were with the notion of spanking a woman's butt, she secretly cursed, 'What a bunch of dirty perverts!'
Afraid that they would read too deeply into his words, Miao Yi immediately waved his hand and said, "Come on everyone, let's continue splitting our loot. We'll just think of this as paying some money to avoid misfortune. Since Lord Sixth has already accepted a portion of the treasure, then she's partly responsible for it as well. With her holding off the other five houses, we'll be able to rest easy and keep all of this."
When he put it that way, everyone couldn't help agreeing, and the dissatisfaction in their hearts abated slightly. After all, they lacked the ability to keep all this loot on their own. Without Fairy Yue Yao protecting them, once the other five representatives found out the truth, they would surely be forced to spit everything out the same way they swallowed them. What's worse was that they might even have to fork over their lives as well. They were truly spending money to avoid misfortune.
Once they were talking about dividing the loot, Miao Yi immediately remembered one person, and said to the rest of the group, "Regardless of cultivation, everyone will be getting an equal share. However, I would like to have one extra share."
Sikong Wuwei waved his hand and replied, "You deserve it. Forget one extra share, you can even take a few more if you want to. After all, we were only able to get all this treasure because of you. The rest of us only helped out a little if we're being honest. With such a large fortune, even if we split it unevenly, we would still end up with quite a sum."
Everyone else nodded in agreement. They still had a sense of priority after all. Besides, even though at times one may possess the ability to earn a fortune, one would need the ability to enjoy said fortune as well. They still needed to rely on Miao Yi's protection if they wanted to survive until the end of the Subjugation Crusade in peace. Why else would those people they threatened obediently hand over their belongings? For survival, of course!
To have fortune without life is to end up losing both. To have a life without fortune is simply a matter of waiting for the riches to come. This was the rule of survival in the cultivation realm. Similar to when Miao Yi had just met Yao Ruoxian, he couldn't do anything about the other party even as they took his stuff. He couldn't be reckless and try to fight Yao Ruoxian. If he really did that, he would have ended up with nothing.
Miao Yi waved his hand and said, "That's not what I mean. There's actually one more person who helped us out for this plan, but you just haven't met him."
Everyone exchanged glances, then Gu Sanzheng asked, "Who is this person?"
"Yan Beihong!" Miao Yi smiled as he said the name, then continued, "He's an old friend of mine, and also a Celestial Nation cultivator. Originally, he was supposed to come back here with me, but because I was borrowing his name, I had him stay at the Devil Nation's camp for the time being. With me carrying out such misdeeds under his name, I'm undoubtedly damaging his reputation, and might even bring him trouble. If I don't split some of the loot with him as well, then it wouldn't be right."
'So that's why!' Everyone nodded, and Zhao Fei said, "You can just do as you like."
And so the matter was decided, and the treasure was split nine ways. As Yan Beihong didn't participate in the plan directly, Miao Yi made the decision on his behalf to give him a smaller portion of the stuff whenever they couldn't split it evenly. For example, out of the seventeen top-tier Second Grade Transcendent Artifacts remaining, the eight who were present now each got two pieces, while Yan Beihong would only receive one. Any remainders from the other items were dealt with similarly as well.
After everything was divided, each person received about 150,000 low-grade Orbs of Will, 440,000 gold crystals, 540,000 First Grade Yao Cores, 166 First Grade Transcendent Artifacts and 3,555 Second Grade Transcendent Artifacts. For the top-tier Second Grade Transcendent Artifacts, besides Yan Beihong, everyone else received two each. As for the other miscellaneous stuff, there was just too much to be properly tallied, and since dawn was breaking soon, everyone couldn't be bothered to count the exact figures, and just casually divided them into nine portions along with all the storage rings. Each person then took a single portion with them. They weren't concerned with such trivialities anymore.
The eight of them were in rather high spirits. Sikong Wuwei would occasionally let out a couple of snickers as he'd never thought in his wildest dreams that he would one day come to own so much treasure. Forget everything else. Just the Second Grade Transcendent Artifacts alone was a big enough fortune to make one smile in their sleep.
Miao Yi had spent a fortune just to get a whole set of Second Grade Transcendent Artifacts, so it was evident how expensive they were. With over three thousand of them in his possession, it was more than enough to make three hundred complete sets.
As he held onto the pile of treasure, Pi Junzi felt as though he was still dreaming. Did he really just become filthy rich just like that?
Meanwhile, Tao Yongchun couldn't even stop smiling. His contribution to the team was even less than that of Pi Junzi, so he never thought that Miao Yi would give him an equal share as well. That was an equal share they were dealing with! It wasn't the same as Miao Yi just casually giving him a small portion of the treasure.
As they basked in their excitement, the Gu Sanzheng trio looked at Pi Junzi and Tao Yongchun, then cast their gazes out of the cave, where Miao Yi was currently scanning his surroundings. Who wouldn't be tempted by such a large pile of treasure? Even Fairy Yue Yao had cast her status aside just to take a portion of it away with her. On the other hand, Miao Yi had decided that they should split it equally. What took them more by surprise was that Miao Yi had actually given Pi Junzi and Tao Yongchun an equal portion of the loot as well. The fact that he'd made such a decision so easily caused the three of them to sigh at their own inferiority.