While they were zoned-out, Lin Xiao fetched out the remaining spiritual stones all at once. He feared that they would hasten to persuade him again.
A total of five spiritual stones stood in line on the table. Their colors differed from one another, signaling that they contained five types of elements respectively — gold, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Looking at the spiritual stones, Li Taixuan and the three chief seniors stayed in stupefaction.
By no stretch of the imagination had they ever pictured a striking number of spiritual stones on their junior martial uncle.
What surprised them more was that their junior martial uncle intended to make them the prizes for the annual martial contest.
Li Taixuan was the first to come around. He rushed to stop Lin Xiao in agitation.
"Martial uncle, that is absolutely improper!"
The three chief seniors echoed in a haste, trying their best to change Lin Xiao's mind.
"That's true! Martial uncle, you can, by no means, take them out again!"
"We can't take them as the contest prizes! They are your personal belongings."
"Your spectacular pellets — the Most Refined Royal Pellets already make great prizes! We don't need extra prizes. Please put away the spiritual stones."
Nevertheless, Lin Xiao didn't feel up to submission this time. He disregarded their persuasion and refused to be diverted.
"Nothing is more important than the solidarity of our sect now! We have to take every available approach to fulfill this target. Hence, we must make the spiritual stones the contest prizes. In addition, we should give them a signal — the prizes of our annual martial contest will be increasingly tantalizing!"
As long as the annual martial contest came off well and the wonderlands reopened in the future, there would be a bulk of spiritual stones coming out. After all, they would have Diling as their gold miner.
However, Lin Xiao deemed it better to keep Diling's guidance as a secret — it was way to startling for them to take.
The most pressing matter was beefing up the solidarity of the Taixuan Sect. Lin Xiao would have to rope all disciples in.
Li Taixuan and the three chief seniors gave up on their persuasion, as Lin Xiao wouldn't listen to them this time.
However, they all went red-eyed. It grieved them that they were literally good for nothing; they even made their junior martial uncle make a substantial sacrifice and contribute his spiritual stones of the element.
The stones might be the legacy passed on to Lin Xiao by Chiyan the Great Master. However, the junior martial uncle had been keeping it for the martial contest.
They felt like crying.
However, they had to hold it back. Otherwise, they might let down their junior martial uncle.
At that moment, Li Taixuan made a vow in his mind.
"From now on, I won't allow even a bit of exposure of the junior martial uncle to any harm in the sect. I'll kill anyone if they dare to hurt him."
Everyone had his own faith. For Li Taixuan's part, Lin Xiao was his faith.
It was also the same case with the three chief seniors. They made similar vows in their minds, dedicating themselves to the protection of Lin Xiao.
However, Lin Xiao was in the dark about their thoughts.
Since they remained silent, Lin Xiao took their reaction as tacit consent to his proposal.
Then he offered the five spiritual stones to Li Taixuan.
As a matter of fact, Li Taixuan was reluctant to take the spiritual stones. However, he finally did it for the sake of his junior martial uncle.
Li Taixuan swore to Lin Xiao, "Martial uncle, please don't worry. I shall keep them safe and sound even at the cost of my own life."
Lin Xiao could neither cry or laugh on hearing that.
What a fuss! Those were nothing but five spiritual stones.
In order to make Li Taixuan give less attention to the stones, Lin Xiao feinted a serious look.
"I can procure more stones of this kind if they go missing. However, what should I do with you if you cease to be?"
Li Taixuan went red-eyed again.
Lin Xiao felt embarrassed and hastened to shift it to another topic.
"Should I add anything more to the prizes?"
They shook their heads forthwith.
The prizes Lin Xiao provided already outstripped that in the past. Any extra addition would only backfire.