"Everyone, there’s no need to panic."
Bai Susu looked around, a slight smile tugging at her lips,
"I have already found a way out from within its Divine Soul. This place is no longer a land of death."
The entire crumbling Divine Path was filled with shocked expressions.
"Long live the True Inheritor Bai!"
"Thank you, True Inheritor Bai, for your life-saving grace!"
The crowd, who was just a moment ago glaring fiercely, now had tears of gratitude welling in their eyes.
This change of face was partly because Bai Susu wasn’t interested in the so-called opportunity, and partly because of the support she had from the Xu Family’s ancestor.
However...
Bai Susu was not someone who would let insults slide; since these people had offended her, why should she save them for nothing?
"Hey, stop just watching, you fool." Bai Susu suddenly transmitted a message to Chen Ye, "Now, it’s your turn to take the stage."
Chen Ye was taken aback.
"Tell them."
Bai Susu’s voice carried a hint of a mischievous smile,
"Opening that spatial passage requires a massive expenditure of spiritual power and resources. If you want to survive... exchange your treasures for it! Remember, don’t be soft-hearted, none of these people are good."
Chen Ye: "..."
He looked at the golden-haired girl not far away, who was receiving the crowd’s reverent worship, her expression aloof but full of cunning.
For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
As expected, since these people had wanted to make a move against her earlier, Bai Susu wouldn’t let them off easily.
However, this played right into Chen Ye’s hands!
Chen Ye cleared his throat, and with the aid of the Sight-Penetrating Orb, his voice spread throughout the entire Divine Path:
"Everyone, do you want to survive?"
Of course!
The cultivators present cursed silently in their hearts, but none dared to speak out.
How could they not know that Chen Ye’s words were actually Bai Susu’s intentions?
"Surviving is very simple."
Chen Ye held up one finger,
"Opening this spatial passage once requires a huge expenditure of mental effort and resources. True Inheritor Bai is no saint and can’t just spend her resources to open the passage for you for nothing."
"Each person must offer one Second Tier Magical Artifact, or an equivalent spiritual object or pills. Hand it over, and I will guide you out of here."
As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd went into an uproar!
"What?! A Second Tier Magical Treasure?!"
"Why don’t you just rob us?!" The surviving Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect was the first to shout angrily.
"It’s not up to me to decide. Besides, I remember you all seemed to want to attack the True Inheritor of our sect earlier? Do you think this matter can just be brushed aside?"
Chen Ye looked at him and smiled.
"You!"
The Ten Thousand Puppet Sect cultivator trembled with rage, but didn’t dare to say more.
He looked helplessly at Xu Henshan beside him, but saw that the elder had long since closed his eyes, meditating.
Beside him, a silver-haired little girl was coldly staring at him.
The Ten Thousand Puppet Sect cultivator felt a chill at the stare, then became furious out of humiliation.
The mighty have truly fallen to be bullied by a child!
Just as he was about to threaten the little girl, the moment he showed a bit of momentum, four pairs of eyes instantly locked onto him.
His expression froze, and he angrily retreated back into the crowd.
The others, seeing this, felt a weight in their hearts.
They knew that today, whether willingly or not, they had to pay this toll.
This was not as simple as a toll, but rather their ransom!
Just then, Chen Ye softly spoke again: "Of course, ten Middle Grade Spirit Stones will suffice as well."
Asking for the roof when you want a window.
Compared to Second Tier resources, ten Middle Grade Spirit Stones might sound like a lot, but it’s not unattainable.
It might make their hearts ache, but it wouldn’t provoke them into an all-out conflict.
After all, Chen Ye didn’t want to offend all the cultivators present.
"I’ll give!"
A Loose Cultivator was the first to grit his teeth and threw ten Middle Grade Spirit Stones at Chen Ye’s feet.
Compared to life, what’s a few Spirit Stones?
Moreover, they had all gained something upon entering the Grotto Heaven this time; ten Middle Grade Spirit Stones were only equivalent to half of his gains.
With the first, came the second.
Soon, those cultivators who were initially reluctant eventually complied in the face of the continuously crumbling Divine Path beneath them.
In the crowd, Luo Heng became anxious at once.
He opened his mouth, wanting to call out to Chen Ye, but dared not shout in front of so many people, much less transmit his thoughts overtly beyond the crowd of Foundation Establishment Cultivators.
While he was hesitating, the female cultivator who had been beside him all this time sneered: "Fellow Daoist, what are you hesitating for? Didn’t you say you didn’t know Chen Ye?"
Luo Heng chuckled awkwardly: "I don’t know him, of course, I don’t know him..."
Forget it, forget it.
If he had helped when Chen Ye was being challenged, giving assistance in a time of need, he might have spared himself from handing over these ten Middle Grade Spirit Stones.
But if he dared to acknowledge him after everything had settled... he would be seen as ungrateful.
With this thought, he reluctantly offered the ten Middle Grade Spirit Stones with both hands.
Before long, the pile of Spirit Stones before Chen Ye had amassed into a small hill, glimmering with a soft treasure-like glow.
In total, there were seventeen Foundation Establishment Cultivators present.
That meant seventeen thousand Lower Grade Spirit Stones in total, a fortune in its own right!
For a moment, many cultivators’ eyes changed, but only when Chen Ye gathered the Spirit Stones into the Storage Bag and handed it to Bai Susu did they finally retract their covetous gazes.
Satisfied, Bai Susu weighed the Storage Bag and spoke clearly: "The Spirit Stones are enough, come over."
She secretly transmitted to Chen Ye, and he nodded, discreetly using his Divine Sense to manipulate the Sight-Penetrating Orb.
"Whoosh—"
Suddenly, the sea of clouds churned violently, blinding white light flared, and a tall oval light gate formed within the void’s rift.
The light gate’s edges rippled and shimmered like water waves, its interior scene twisted and changed, finally locking onto the vast expanse of mountains.
It was precisely the Three Thousand Great Mountains!
"The spatial passage is open, pass through quickly! The passage is unstable and will last for sixty breaths, not waiting for anyone beyond that!" Chen Ye proclaimed loudly.