Li Ban was about to leave the Myriad Ancient Pagoda and return to his courtyard.
The Cat Girl had already been sent there.
Before he could leave, however, he ran into Qian Lailai.
From the look of it, she had been waiting specifically for him.
"Priest Ban." Qian Lailai stepped forward and bowed in greeting.
Li Ban gave a slight nod in return.
"I'm here to deliver your compensation for the Layer Master position," she said with a sweet smile.
"I've hardly fulfilled any of the duties. Are you still going to pay me?" Li Ban asked.
Qian Lailai peeked up at him. Seeing that he was expressionless but didn't seem angry, she gathered her courage. "Since you hold this identity and position, it's only natural that you receive the compensation."
Her smile froze. As a spirit practitioner, what else could she possibly need him for?
"No," she said softly, her eyes dimming.
Li Ban nodded. He was just about to leave when he caught sight of her folded hands.
He wasn't looking at her slender fingers, but rather at the three silver bands worn on them.
"Plain Rings?"
Qian Lailai had expected him to vanish in a flash. She hadn't anticipated that he would stay, let alone ask about the Plain Rings on her hand.
Her eyes lit up again, thrilled to have a new topic of conversation.
"Yes, all three are Plain Rings. My ancestor left them to my mother, and she passed them down to me."
"Were they all crafted by Priest Qian Que?" he asked.
"That's right."
She quickly slid the three rings off her fingers and held them out in her palm, introducing them one by one.
"This one stores a Protection Spell. This one stores a Flight Technique. And this one stores an element arrow rain. Our ancestor crafted all three with her own hands, and a single Plain Ring can unleash its ability thirty times."
She explained every detail, holding absolutely nothing back.
Looking at the Plain Rings in her palm, Li Ban recalled his previous plan.
In order to freely use the various elements he had assimilated instead of keeping them hidden, he wanted to use Plain Rings as a cover to unleash their abilities.
Thinking he was interested in her rings, Qian Lailai asked expectantly, "Do you need a Plain Ring, Lord Ban?"
"No, I—" Li Ban paused. "I'll go ask Priest Qian Que."
With a nod, he vanished from the Myriad Ancient Pagoda.
Qian Lailai's hands were still held out in midair, her hopeful expression instantly giving way to disappointment.
She curled her fingers, gripping the three rings tight, then suddenly spun around and sprinted for the upper levels, not stopping until she reached the pagoda master's room.
"Mother—Mother! I want to advance! I want to become a Level 7 Spirit Cultivator as soon as possible!"
Xun You, the right vice pagoda master who was currently discussing matters with Pagoda Master Qian, immediately looked over at her.
Only after the words left her mouth did Qian Lailai notice the vice pagoda master in the room.
If she advanced to a Level 7 Spirit Cultivator, wouldn't her only option be to become a vice pagoda master?
But both vice pagoda master positions in the Myriad Ancient Pagoda were already filled.
Who was she planning to oust?
Even if she really harbored such thoughts, she shouldn't have blurted them out right in front of one of the vice pagoda masters!
Pagoda Master Qian Jing sighed. "Xun You, go on back for now. I need to close the doors and give my daughter a proper lesson."
"Don't scold her," Xun You said, waving a hand as he stood up. "Isn't it a good thing for a kid to have a little ambition?"
He smiled at the bow-headed Qian Lailai, clasped his hands behind his back, and left the pagoda master's room.
Qian Jing looked at her daughter, but didn't actually scold her.
Instead, she said quietly, "Even in the Unreturning Place, advancing to the seventh level is incredibly difficult. Are you truly prepared?"
Qian Lailai's head snapped up, tears shimmering in her eyes. "I'm ready!"
"And are you prepared for the possibility that, even if you give it your all, you still might fail to reach your goal?" Qian Jing added.
Qian Lailai opened her mouth, staring at her mother in stunned silence.
Li Ban found Priest Qian Que and asked if the Myriad Ancient Pagoda had the materials to craft Plain Rings.
Priest Qian Que confirmed they did, but noted that the materials were exceedingly rare. Even priests couldn't take them for free; they had to be exchanged for merit.
—
By repeatedly killing Xiao Suo and assimilating his Wizard Embryo Fragments, Li Ban had actually earned enough to exchange for a massive amount of merit.
However, that matter was still a secret. Officially, he couldn't be awarded any merit for it yet.
Priest Qian Que offered to spend his own merit to redeem some raw materials and give them to him.
After some thought, Li Ban declined.
He wanted to craft a huge number of Plain Rings. Priest Qian Que could gift him one or two sets of materials, but not seven or eight.
Even if he was willing to burn through a massive amount of merit to get him that many, the gesture would be far too conspicuous and easily draw suspicion.
Ultimately, Li Ban came up with a way to quickly earn the necessary merit.
Killing bugs!
Right at that moment, he sensed some movement from the Silver Kingfisher's end. He left the Myriad Ancient Pagoda again and arrived above the deep pool in the Unreturning Place.
Priest Li He was already holding the fort on a distant high platform. Sensing Li Ban's arrival, he glanced over, saw that nothing was wrong, and closed his eyes again as if deep in cultivation.
Li Ban waved a hand at the priest standing above the Shattered Eye, signaling that he didn't need anything in particular, then flew down over the pool toward the cliff wall.
The Silver Kingfisher was hiding at the mouth of a pipe embedded in the rock.
A Spirit Awakening Priest was standing guard beside the pipe.
Seeing Li Ban, he hurriedly offered a greeting. "Priest Ban."
Li Ban didn't recognize the man. "I don't believe we've met."
"My name is Cheng Zicong. I haven't been a Spirit Awakening Priest for long. It's only normal that you don't know me, Priest Ban. I arrived at the Myriad Ancient Pagoda while you were trapped in the Dark Side of the World. Before that, I was just a grey-robe priest stumbling around on my own for ages, until I met Priest Li He and he brought me here."
Cheng Zicong looked at Li Ban with deep respect, chattering away like a fanboy.
Li Ban waited politely for him to finish before speaking. "Priest Zicong."
Cheng Zicong beamed. "Do you have any orders for me, Priest Ban? If I can help, I'll definitely give it my all."
Li Ban quickly raised a hand to stop him from talking any further.
"There's no need. I'm just here to observe. Carry on with your duties."
With that, he immediately headed to the mouth of the pipe, unwilling to give Cheng Zicong another chance to speak.
Chatterboxes were quite a rarity among priests.
He picked up a fragment at the pipe's opening.
The chunk of waste element had gotten stuck there instead of falling into the pool.
Using the act of picking it up as cover, Li Ban retrieved the Silver Kingfisher.
He examined the piece of waste element right in front of Cheng Zicong.
Fortunately, despite being overly talkative, Cheng Zicong saw that Li Ban was busy with something and kept his mouth shut, waiting quietly on the side.
Naturally, no one cared about this kind of waste element. However, if someone actually started hoarding it in large quantities, it would still draw attention.
After inspecting the fragment, Li Ban casually tossed it into the pool.
As the fragment neared the water's surface, it suddenly accelerated. Transforming into a deadly projectile, it shot straight through a fleshy, oversized bug that had just leapt out of the water.
Seeing that Li Ban had made a move, Cheng Zicong immediately began to praise him. "As expected of Priest Ban—"
He didn't get to finish.
Because Li Ban had already plunged straight into the deep pool, off to do who knew what.