I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

After Lin Che regained his original appearance and aura, he stopped wandering around.

He went straight to the vicinity of the secret realm's exit, found a relatively secluded corner, sat down cross-legged, and began to meditate and wait.

However, his mind sank into his body, carefully sorting out the gains from this trip to the secret realm.

As he thought about it, the various spiritual materials, ores, broken magical artifacts, and several jade slips recording different lineages piled up in the Qingxuan Secret Realm were categorized.

He quietly transferred a batch of items of moderate to high value—not too conspicuous, but still exchangeable for considerable battle merits—to the dark blue special storage bag issued by Chuyang City.

In this seemingly meditative process of sitting quietly and adjusting one's breath, but actually sorting things out in secret, the last two days quietly passed.

The area near the exit of the secret realm gradually became lively.

From various parts of the Corpse Plains and further into the direction of Sword Tomb Mountain, figures of cultivators gradually appeared, converging towards the exit.

Most of them looked somewhat travel-worn, their breathing uneven, bearing more or less scars on their bodies, and their eyes still held weariness and the relief of surviving a disaster.

Of course, it also involves weighing and calculating the gains.

The last group to arrive were mostly cultivators who dared to venture deep into the Sword Tomb Mountain underground palace area.

Their complexions were generally the worst, many of them had serious injuries or even missing limbs, and they relied on their companions for support or took precious medicines to get through it.

The number of people in the group was visibly much smaller than when they entered, and the air was filled with a sense of oppressive grief and the gloom of heavy losses.

Lin Che's gaze swept calmly across the crowd, first landing on the groups of several Foundation Establishment families.

The Zhou family's team, led by Zhou Wanhai, was nearly a third smaller than when they entered, and most of the survivors were wounded, resulting in low morale.

Zhou Wanhai's face was so gloomy it could drip water, his lips were tightly pressed together, he didn't say a word, and his whole body was shrouded in an aura of gloom that kept strangers at bay.

The Chen family's team, which had originally allied with them, was now several steps behind, and there was almost no communication between the two groups of cultivators.

The atmosphere was awkward and distant, just like the cold scene when a temporary partnership ends and everyone goes their separate ways.

The Zhao family's troops, following behind the garrison at Burning Bone Pass, were in no better shape.

Team leader Zhao Wenlei's face was ashen, clearly indicating that he had not gained much advantage in the secret realm, but instead suffered heavy losses.

Lin Che also saw several members of the Red Fox Squad, who were helping each other as they walked over.

Yin Jiuyou, who was walking in the middle, had an unprecedentedly gloomy expression.

The calm and composed demeanor she once possessed, the air of someone in complete control, has vanished.

Deep within his eyes lurked an indescribable sense of frustration and anger.

Looking at these faces, some dejected, some angry, and some suffering heavy losses, and comparing them with his own perfectly fruitful trip, Lin Che couldn't help but feel even more relieved.

A faint, genuine smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.

As the Zhou family's group approached, heads bowed, Lin Che suddenly stood up, his face displaying just the right amount of concern and curiosity, and went to greet them, asking in a warm tone:

"Brother Zhou! Why do you look so unhappy? I've heard many fellow Daoists discussing this on the way here, saying that your Zhou family has made great gains on the Plains of Bones, acquiring some incredible treasures. Why aren't you happy?"

Zhou Wanhai, who was walking with his head down, feeling gloomy and depressed, stopped in his tracks and his expression suddenly froze upon hearing this.

The Zhou family suffered heavy losses on this trip, and gained nothing of high-level inheritance.

They were also unjustly blamed and suffered the most misfortune. Where did the "great harvest" and "amazing treasure" come from?

He instantly understood the reason!

His eyes widened in anger, and he abruptly turned his head, glaring fiercely at Zhao Wenlei, the leader of the Zhao family's group, who was approaching from the side and rear. He gritted his teeth and growled:

"Fine! Fine, Zhao Wenlei! When will your Zhao family ever stop? Spreading rumors and slandering my Zhou family again?! Do you really think I, Zhou Wanhai, am made of clay?!"

Having just experienced the perilous ordeal in the underground palace and still in a terrible mood, Zhao Wenlei was stunned by the barrage of accusations. His face flushed red, and a surge of anger rushed to his head.

The Zhao family also suffered considerable losses on this trip, and the guards of Fen Gu Pass took away a lot of benefits. They were feeling resentful, so they had no time to spread rumors about the Zhou family.

He immediately retorted without backing down, his voice turning cold:

"Zhou Wanhai! Stop spouting nonsense! What do you mean we're spreading rumors? When did we ever say your Zhou family got any treasure?"

"But your Zhou family, acting so furtively, committing such despicable acts as stealing spiritual objects in broad daylight, and now you have the nerve to turn around and accuse me?"

"You're talking nonsense! That spiritual object wasn't stolen by my Zhou family at all!" Zhou Wanhai was so angry that he trembled all over.

"If it wasn't you? Then who could it be? Wasn't it your Zhou family who stole that third-tier spiritual plant?" Zhao Wenlei pressed on relentlessly.

The two families already harbored deep-seated resentment, and now, in front of everyone, the tension suddenly escalated in just a few words.

The two groups glared at each other, their expressions tense, as if they were about to fight at the slightest provocation.

Seeing this, Lin Che's smile deepened.

After finishing the ritual, he quietly stepped back a few paces and disappeared into the crowd of scattered cultivators nearby, concealing his merit and fame.

You want to use my Lin family as a pawn, to make my Lin family your Zhou family's pawns?

Then so be it.

Lin Che sneered inwardly.

Just then, the space at the exit of the secret realm rippled like water once again, and the portal connecting to the outside world stabilized completely.

Lin Che didn't linger, ignoring the Zhou and Zhao families facing off, and stepped into the spatial gate along with the first group of eager rogue cultivators.

Behind him, Zhou Wanhai's low growl, barely suppressed, came from behind: "Hmph! Zhao Wenlei, we'll see!"

It seems that they were ultimately wary of the guards at Burning Bone Pass and the imminent exit from the secret realm, and thus did not actually make a move.

"What? You think you can just run away now that you're in the wrong?" Zhao Wenlei's mocking voice continued relentlessly.

But Lin Che's figure had already disappeared into the changing light and shadow.

……

Beyond the secret realm, on the plains.

The scene was tense and busy.

Most of the clan heads or important figures from various families attended in person.

Behind them were many skilled members of the clan, both to support their own exploration team and to guard against potential conflicts that might arise from the secret realm, ensuring the safety of their personnel and their spoils.

Chuyang City was on high alert. Apart from the necessary patrol personnel, most of the garrison was mobilized here to form a battle formation around the exit to maintain order and prevent any riots from occurring.

A somber atmosphere permeated the air.

The large, complex array that covered the exit of the secret realm and had both monitoring and teleportation functions was operating at full speed, with spiritual light flowing continuously.

They split into two groups: cultivators from the Chuyang City area went to the left, while cultivators from the Fen Gu Pass went to the right.

Every cultivator who walks out of the gate of light will be instantly locked onto by the formation.

The list of items in the special storage bag in his hand will be simultaneously displayed in the divine sense of the core controller of the formation, and will be completely visible.

Deputy City Chief Zhang Mo personally sat beside the formation, his expression serious, overseeing the final harvest and accounting work.

He instructed his officials to collect half of the reward from each monk who came out, according to the rules.

When he encounters items that are obviously of high value or are quite special, he will personally approach them and strike up a conversation.

Discussions regarding Chuyang City's priority acquisition are usually settled in spirit stones or battle merits.

Soon, it was Lin Che's turn.

When Zhang Mo saw Lin Che walking out, he was slightly taken aback at first, then a formulaic smile appeared on his face, and he took two steps to greet him:

"It's good that Patriarch Lin has returned safely. Judging from your complexion, you must have had a very fruitful trip?"

His tone was polite as usual.

After all, only Lin Che from the Lin family went, and he thought that a moderate level of success would be good enough.

Lin Che remained calm, even with a hint of regret, as he handed over the special storage bag in his hand, speaking humbly:

"Vice City Lord Zhang is joking. I know my strength is limited, so I didn't dare to venture into dangerous areas. I only wandered around the outskirts of the plains and picked up some scraps. My harvest was hardly plentiful."

Zhang Mo took the storage bag, scanned it with his divine sense, and his previously formulaic smile instantly froze, his eyes suddenly bursting with surprise!

Where in this storage bag is there any leftover food?

These are clearly a batch of second-tier spirit items of quite good quality!

There are several kinds of metallic spirit ores that are quite rare, many evil spirit herbs that are very potent after a few years, countless broken magic artifacts, not to mention the inheritance jade slips!

This harvest is no less impressive than, and may even surpass, that of many Foundation Establishment family teams that came out earlier!

"Patriarch Lin! You're being far too modest!"

Zhang Mo's smile became much more genuine and warm. As he spoke, his hands worked non-stop, taking away items worth about half the value of the goods according to the rules.

They didn't specifically pick the most precious ones, which seemed quite fair.

After taking inventory, he handed back the storage bag, now reduced by half.

Lin Che did not reach out to take it, but instead said, "Vice City Lord Zhang, I would like to exchange all the remaining spiritual items for battle merits. Is that possible?"

"Exchange for battle merits? Of course!" Zhang Mo nodded immediately and waved to a clerk on duty there.

"Take Patriarch Lin to the war merit exchange office and carefully verify the results; there must be no errors."

The clerk looked up, saw Lin Che, and immediately showed a respectful expression, quickly cupping his hands in greeting:

"Senior Lin, please follow me."

It turned out that this person was the same cultivator who had received Lin Che at the mission hall in Chuyang City.

Lin Che nodded slightly and followed him into a temporary but well-protected tent next to him.

In the center of the tent, a small connection array was set up, which was connected to the aura of the monitoring array outside.

"Senior Lin, please place your storage bag here," the clerk instructed.

Lin Che placed the storage bag in the groove designated by the array.

The clerk skillfully took out the items from the bag one by one and placed them under the array's light for scanning, identification, and valuation.

Information about each item and its corresponding battle merit points will be entered into the formation in real time and synchronized to the record bound to Lin Che's identity token.

Throughout the process, the formation will compare the items with the previously recorded list of items Lin Che brought out to prevent anyone from using items purchased from outside the secret realm to impersonate items obtained from the secret realm and fraudulently claim battle merits.

"Three pieces of Tier 2 superior 'Mysterious Iron Refined Gold' ore, totaling 24 battle merits."

"Five 100-year-old 'Bone-Slaying Grass' plants, totaling 15 battle merits."

"A broken flying sword from an ancient cultivator, 30 battle merits."

"One jade slip containing the Spirit Rank cultivation technique 'Thick Earth Technique', and 50 battle merits."

……

As the achievements accumulated, the battle merits displayed on the array's light screen jumped rapidly.

The clerk was extremely serious and meticulous in his calculations.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, all the items were inventoried and valued.

The clerk turned around and respectfully reported to Lin Che:

"Senior Lin, the total amount of your gains from this secret realm can be exchanged for 4,860 battle merits."

All battle achievements have been recorded in real time under your identity token.

You can visit the Treasure Pavilion in Chuyang City at any time to verify and exchange for the items you need using your identity token.

Four thousand eight hundred and sixty battle merits!

This number is roughly the same as his calculation.

A look of satisfaction flashed in Lin Che's eyes, and he nodded: "Thank you for your trouble."

He did not linger at all, nor did he wait for the spirit wood ferry to gather everyone.

With a flicker of his body, he transformed into a streak of azure sword light and soared into the sky, sweeping past the crowds still busy clearing things out below, the opposing families, and the solemn military formations, flying straight towards the direction of Chuyang City.