Xiao Fei was brought to a secret chamber by a young cultivator from the Three Mountains Sect, and the formation was activated, making it impossible for him to escape for the time being.
"Now that you're here, you have nowhere to run. Speak, who is the mastermind behind this?"
The question left Xiao Fei bewildered. When did he ever have a mastermind?
"There's no need to hide it. If you didn't have a mastermind, how could a mere Nascent Soul cultivator like you cause several Soul Transformation experts to disappear without a trace!"
As Xiao Fei was contemplating how to respond, the young man had already provided him with an answer.
In this situation, if Xiao Fei didn't go along with the young man's speculation, he felt he would be disrespecting him.
"Senior indeed has eyes like torches! No scheme can escape your sight."
"Please, Senior, understand that I was forced into this..."
Thus, Xiao Fei followed the Three Mountains Sect youth's guess and fabricated a convoluted and bizarre little story.
In short, he was originally a kind and honest person, but during an outing, he encountered a Soul Transformation expert.
This expert threatened his Dao companion and placed a restriction on Xiao Fei's soul, forcing him to run errands for him.
The mysterious Soul Transformation expert would provide him with a batch of spiritual items each month, instructing him to sell them in the market to attract the attention of other cultivators.
He would then lure greedy cultivators into the West Sea, where they would be robbed and killed.
Upon hearing Xiao Fei's fabricated tale, Qian Nian nodded repeatedly, feeling that his suspicions were indeed correct.
However, as a Soul Transformation expert, he certainly couldn't be so easily appeased.
After listening to Xiao Fei's entire description, he placed a hand on Xiao Fei's head, intending to perform a soul search.
However, his divine sense was blocked by a gentle force, preventing it from invading Xiao Fei's sea of consciousness.
"Hmm?"
The young man from the Three Mountains Sect exclaimed in surprise.
"Reporting to Senior, that mysterious person placed a restriction on me to prevent soul searches and similar techniques."
The youth made no comment, and after asking some more questions for intelligence, Xiao Fei could only continue to improvise.
"I'll spare your dog life for now. You'll lead the way for this old man later."
Having extracted the information he needed, the young cultivator turned and left, leaving Xiao Fei alone in the secret chamber.
Xiao Fei sat alone in the secret chamber, not particularly anxious. Not long after entering, he had already gained a general understanding of the formation within the chamber.
His spatial artifact possessed a time dilation of 50 times, allowing him to learn almost all the human inheritances on the Eastern Continent.
With his accumulated knowledge in formations, it would be easy for him to break this one.
He had told the young cultivator that he would next meet the mysterious expert in half a month.
At this moment, the young man from the Three Mountains Sect was likely seeking reinforcements.
He had half a month, which was more than enough time for him to break the formation and escape.
This formation was based on the Three Talents Formation, with some modifications, but the core principles remained the same. Xiao Fei only took three days to fully understand the formation.
On the fourth night, he quietly activated the secret chamber's formation. As he opened the chamber door, he alerted the two Nascent Soul cultivators guarding it.
However, these two Nascent Soul cultivators were no match for Xiao Fei. Once he revealed his true strength, they were silently killed in an instant.
When Xiao Fei entered, he had already noted that this secret chamber was located at the foot of one of the mountains belonging to the Three Mountains Sect.
After leaving the secret chamber, he encountered several patrolling cultivators from the Three Mountains Sect outside, all of whom he swiftly and cleanly eliminated.
He placed a puppet resembling a jade carving at the exit of the secret chamber as a warning, then quickly departed.
He needed to leave Three Mountains Island as soon as possible. He had some less valuable supplies in his cave dwelling, but he didn't intend to retrieve them.
The storage bag he usually carried for concealment had also been confiscated by the young cultivator; its contents were not of high value.
His truly valuable treasures were all hidden within his spatial artifact.
Three Mountains Island was centered around three peaks, and Xiao Fei needed to pass through a large, prosperous area to leave the island.
He could only alter his appearance and blend into the crowd, walking forward unhurriedly.
When he passed by a shop called Wanfu Commercial Bank, he hesitated for a moment before immediately turning and entering.
He intended to gather 30 billion spirit stones, but he was still short by several billion.
Since he needed to find another place to exchange spirit stones after leaving, he might as well do it now.
He knew that Wanfu Commercial Bank was established by another major power, whose backing was no weaker than that of the Three Mountains Sect.
Furthermore, as far as he knew, the relationship between these two powers was not very harmonious.
Upon entering the bank, he directly produced a large medicinal pill bottle and opened its cap.
"Shopkeeper, I have some pills here. Are you interested in buying them?"
The shopkeeper was initially not very enthusiastic about such walk-in business, as his experience suggested they rarely had anything good.
However, the moment his divine sense swept into the bottle, his expression changed drastically.
There were only five pills in the bottle.
But from the aura emanating from the pills, he could tell that they were definitely refined using thousand-year-old spiritual herbs.
"Buy! Of course, I'll buy them. How many do you have, Daoist? This establishment will take them all!"
The shopkeeper immediately stood up, a professional fake smile plastered on his face. He glanced around, noticed no one was paying attention, and was about to lead Xiao Fei into a private room.
Xiao Fei, having just escaped from a secret chamber of the Three Mountains Sect, was now somewhat averse to such rooms.
Moreover, he was in a hurry!
"No need. We can do it here. How many spirit stones can you produce right now?"
"Ten billion spirit stones per pill, no bargaining. I'll buy as many pills as you have spirit stones for."
Xiao Fei didn't want to waste time with pleasantries. He directly transmitted his price via divine sense, leaving no room for negotiation. Take it or leave it.
"Alright! Please wait a moment, I'll go prepare the spirit stones immediately."
"Good! I'm in a hurry, I'll give you half an incense stick's time at most!"
Xiao Fei had already decided in his heart that if they delayed, he would leave after half an incense stick's time.
Although ordinary commercial banks were wealthy and possessed vast fortunes, they did not have a large amount of circulating funds like spirit stones.
Soon, a cultivator arrived carrying several storage bags, which he handed to the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper probed the storage bags with his divine sense and carefully counted them.
"Daoist, in our haste, this establishment can only prepare 3 billion spirit stones at the moment. Would you be willing to accept other treasures in exchange?"
"Apologies, I only want spirit stones!"
Xiao Fei's time was precious, so he flatly rejected the shopkeeper's offer.
After selling three pills and receiving 3 billion spirit stones, he immediately turned and left in a hurry.
Watching his departing back, the shopkeeper subtly gestured to a nearby cultivator. The cultivator understood and quickly hurried away.
After leaving Wanfu Commercial Bank, Xiao Fei continued to walk towards the island's outskirts, feigning unhurriedness.
Suddenly, Xiao Fei's expression changed. He stopped hiding and accelerated his pace towards the island's exit.
Just now, the puppet he had placed at the foot of the Three Mountains Sect mountain had been discovered and destroyed.
At the same time, a large number of Three Mountains Sect cultivators began to move out like a disturbed nest, searching for Xiao Fei's whereabouts.
As Xiao Fei rushed towards the outer perimeter of Three Mountains Island, he was finally intercepted by a team of Nascent Soul cultivators.
He no longer concealed his strength. Lightning crackled around him as he accelerated forward.
"Boom! Boom boom!"
Like a colossal lightning beast, he violently broke through the obstruction. Three Nascent Soul cultivators were instantly blasted into pieces, scattering across the ground.
"Stop him! Do not let the villain escape!"
More shouts erupted from behind as several more teams of Three Mountains Sect cultivators, alerted, rushed to pursue him.