"Open your eyes wide and take a good look!"
Elder Zou raised his hand, and with a sharp gust of wind from his palm, he forced open the gaping wound on the abdomen of the Golden Leopard King, revealing the tattered internal organs inside.
Then, the gust shot out from the wound on the Golden Leopard King's back, and the corpse fell heavily to the ground.
"After I injured the Golden Leopard King, it attempted to flee," Elder Zou explained. "It was then intercepted by Fairy Qinglian, causing it to lose its senses."
"When it crashed to the ground, Lin Li was right below it. He used his sword to pierce through the unguarded abdomen of the Golden Leopard King, then crawled inside and destroyed its internal organs from within. After killing it, he cut open the beast's back and escaped."
"Exactly! We all witnessed this with our own eyes!"
Luo Zhiyuan, Liu Shidi, and the other disciples who had received their rewards spoke up to corroborate Elder Zou's account.
The previously dissenting Wang Hu's expression shifted before he finally said, "I see now! Please forgive my earlier rudeness!"
With that, he slowly sat back down.
As the leader of the objections had withdrawn, the murmurs of dissent began to fade away.
"Lin Li not only saved six of his fellow disciples, but also defeated the main culprit, the Golden Leopard King! While there was some element of luck involved in his victory, the Xuantian Sect has always rewarded both merit and fortune! Even if it was luck, it was Lin Li's fate and blessing!"
Elder Zou continued, "In recognition of Lin Li's significant contribution, after discussions among the elders of each peak, we have decided to reward Lin Li with the following."
"Five bottles of Essence-Boosting Pills!"
"Hiss?! Five bottles?!"
"Two bottles would take us four or five years to earn through sect tasks, and five bottles would be equivalent to more than ten years of hard work!"
Ignoring the exclamations from the other outer disciples in the stands, Elder Zou continued,
"Twenty-eight Minor Restoration Pills!"
Now it was the Foundation Establishment inner disciples' turn to feel envious:
"Twenty-eight Minor Restoration Pills?!"
"Minor Restoration Pills are essential healing medicine for us Foundation Establishment cultivators! Normally, having four or five on hand is already quite good! And this kid, who's only a Qi Refining stage outer disciple, just got rewarded with twenty-eight of them!"
"And one Great Restoration Pill!"
"What?!! A Great Restoration Pill?! That's worth the equivalent of a hundred Minor Restoration Pills! And it's always in short supply since only Core Formation elders from the Pill branch can refine it. Even though one Great Restoration Pill is theoretically equal to one hundred Minor Restoration Pills, in reality, it usually takes at least one hundred and twenty or thirty Minor Restoration Pills to exchange for a single Great Restoration Pill!"
"Giving a Great Restoration Pill to a Qi Refining stage outer disciple seems like a massive overuse of resources!"
The murmurs from the Foundation Establishment inner disciples gradually grew louder, causing Elder Zou to pause the announcement. He snorted,
"If he doesn't need it now, won't he need it later? With Lin Li's courage and potential, reaching Foundation Establishment is only a matter of time!"
"Now, continuing with the rewards!"
"In addition, Lin Li will be awarded eighty-eight lower-grade spirit stones!"
This time, everyone was jealous!
The Qi Refining stage outer disciples below couldn't help but exclaim,
"Eighty-eight lower-grade spirit stones?!"
"My heavens!"
"Just one lower-grade spirit stone is enough to make us Qi Refining disciples scramble. A Qi Refining cultivator with decades of practice may only have a dozen lower-grade spirit stones in total. And now Lin Li is receiving eighty-eight of them all at once!"
Even the Foundation Establishment inner disciples couldn't help but envy him:
"Eighty-eight lower-grade spirit stones! Even though they're just lower-grade, still..."
Many of the Foundation Establishment inner disciples combined wealth didn't come close to eighty-eight lower-grade spirit stones!
And that wasn't all!
Elder Zou continued,
"In addition to the eighty-eight lower-grade spirit stones, the sect has decided to reward Lin Li with five medium-grade spirit stones!"
"Hiss?!!"
This time!
The reaction was far stronger than mere envy.
Every Qi Refining stage outer disciple felt their head spin and their breath quicken!
Five medium-grade spirit stones!
That's equivalent to five hundred lower-grade spirit stones!
For Qi Refining cultivators, having a lifetime's savings of a dozen lower-grade spirit stones is considered quite good. But now, five hundred…
It was a number that Qi Refining cultivators wouldn't dare dream of!
Even the Foundation Establishment inner disciples were feeling the heat of jealousy!
If this weren't happening at the full sect assembly and Lin Li weren't being publicly commended, some of these so-called righteous disciples might have been tempted to kill for such wealth, had they encountered Lin Li in a more remote setting...
"Thank you, Elder Zou!"
Lin Li was overjoyed and excited, bowing deeply to Elder Zou and Fairy Qinglian, then respectfully saluting the elders in the box seats behind the stands:
"Thank you, esteemed elders!"
"No need for thanks!"
Elder Zou said, "This is the result of careful consideration and a fair reward for your accomplishments. You've earned it!"
"Finally, I've noticed that the weapon you've been using is merely an ordinary blade, not even a low-grade magical artifact. That's truly beneath you!"
Elder Zou waved his hand, and a sword radiating with a treasure-like aura appeared in his palm:
"This is the Coldwater Sword, a high-grade magical artifact. It will serve you well until you reach the late Foundation Establishment stage, or even until the peak of Foundation Establishment. I used this sword myself before I reached Core Formation. I find you quite promising and feel a connection with you, so I'll bestow it upon you."
"Elder Zou is giving Lin Li the Coldwater Sword?!"
"Elder Zou used the Coldwater Sword for a long time even after reaching Core Formation! He only stopped using it after he successfully refined his Jinghong Sword, his personal life-bound treasure..."
"The Coldwater Sword was a dominant force in Zhao Kingdom's cultivation world for over a century!"
"And now, it's being given to a mere Qi Refining stage outer disciple?!"
"Does this mean Elder Zou is thinking of taking Lin Li as a disciple? Why else would he give such a valuable sword to him?"
The stands erupted with murmurs, and even the elders in the private box for Core Formation cultivators couldn't help but whisper among themselves.
Hearing the discussions around him, Lin Li knew that the Coldwater Sword was a highly valuable treasure!
However...
Lin Li understood that everything he had gained was thanks to the unremarkable-looking ordinary sword he carried, the one that everyone else overlooked.
In a move that shocked everyone, Lin Li cupped his fists and said,
"Thank you for your kind offer, Elder Zou!"
"But the sword I carry was left to me by my late father. His dying wish was for me to use this sword for the rest of my life. Therefore, please forgive me for not being able to accept your generous offer. I deeply appreciate your goodwill, but I must decline."
Elder Zou's eyes widened, and his beard trembled in shock and anger. It seemed that the elder, who had painfully decided to give up his beloved Coldwater Sword, was both startled and upset by Lin Li's unexpected refusal.
"This kid knows who's responsible for his good fortune."
Inwardly, Ye Fan, the spirit of the ordinary sword, couldn't help but comment.