He had meant to net a white wolf with empty hands, and now look at the mess—not only were his hands empty, but five identity tokens had been reeled in from him in return. The crux of it was that the demand had been perfectly reasonable, leaving him not a single word of objection to offer; he could only comply obediently.

"Then I thank you, Vice Sect Master Chen," Wei Zhao said with a smile, accepting the five identity tokens and casually distributing them among Qiu Lingshan and the others.

"Not at all. As for the matter of transcribing the cultivation method, I must ask the junior grand-uncle to take pains with it. I have other business, so I shall take my leave first." Chen Dongcheng was thoroughly dejected at this moment and did not wish to remain a moment longer; he departed at once in haste.

"Tsk, tsk. What a face-full of dust—trying to steal a chicken and losing a handful of rice instead!" Wu Chengtian and Qiu Lingshan exchanged glances and smiled.

"All right, let's test the identity tokens first." The instant Wei Zhao had taken them, he had already probed their internal structure, discovering that they were essentially miniature formation arrays equipped with an identification mechanism. There should be no tricks hidden within, though whether they actually worked would have to be tested before he could say.

"Good!" Wu Chengtian was in high spirits and snatched up the first trial. Following what Chen Dongcheng had said, he infused his divine consciousness into the identity token, and the token gained a few degrees of brightness—with that, it was officially activated.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Wu Chengtian strode outward, and sure enough, he passed cleanly through the One Step to Heaven Formation without suffering the slightest harm.

"Boss, this thing really works! You try it too." Wu Chengtian ran back excitedly and handed the identity token to Wei Zhao.

"It's no use. It already retains traces of your divine consciousness—like a unique divine-consciousness fingerprint. No one but you can use it." Wei Zhao shook his head.

"Then what about ours? None of these have been used yet." Qiu Lingshan hurriedly handed her identity token to Wei Zhao.

In their current predicament, if Wei Zhao could move freely in and out of this place, he would be worth far more than the rest of them. In truth, with their meager strength, even holding identity tokens, they would not dare venture out rashly, for fear of falling into Chen Dongcheng's trap.

"That won't work either. The formation inside can only withstand a very limited intensity of divine consciousness—it was clearly designed specifically for new disciples. Only the likes of you can use them. If I infused my divine consciousness, the formation would collapse on the spot." Wei Zhao smiled wryly. Since Chen Dongcheng had dared to hand over the identity tokens so readily, he had naturally thought of this long ago—after all, none of them were fools.

"All right, then." Everyone could not help feeling somewhat disappointed and sullenly put away their identity tokens. They dispersed to continue their cultivation.

Meanwhile, having emerged from the Ascending Heaven Cliff, Chen Dongcheng went once more to the mountaintop.

"Fell flat on your face?" Chen Jiu glanced at his expression and said mildly.

"Yes. Your grandson proposed an extremely generous condition, intending to specially assign a Golden Core elder as an initiation mentor to the five disciples he brought. But Wei Zhao had them accept the identity tokens, then begged off by saying he would instruct them personally—making all my efforts come to nothing," Chen Dongcheng said with a bitter smile. He had climbed to his present station chiefly by his wits, yet he had never expected to end up so thoroughly humiliated. It truly left him unable to hold his head up.

"You—you use too much scheming day to day. It was originally a rather simple matter, and you went and made it complicated all by yourself." Chen Jiu could not help laughing.

"Complicated?" Chen Dongcheng was taken aback. He had acted on Chen Jiu's suggestion to divide and conquer, and so had naturally conceived such a seemingly thorough plan without expending much thought. He himself did not feel it was all that complicated, for he had long grown accustomed to dressing every trap he laid in a fine, high-sounding rhetoric.

"Isn't it? All you wanted was to ask for two female disciples—a matter of a single sentence. Where was the need for so much talk?" Chen Jiu said disapprovingly.

"But in name, the man is at least my junior grand-uncle, however reluctantly. If your grandson were to ask him directly for Qiu Lingshan and Ying Ziyu, he would certainly shoot me down with a single sentence. I couldn't be that blunt, could I?" Chen Dongcheng said doubtfully.

"This old man only told you to simplify the matter. Did I say you should not use your head?" Chen Jiu shook his head. Seeing that the other still had not caught on, he had no choice but to speak plainly: "Go and tell him this—say that this old man lacks two female disciples under his seat to pour tea, serve water, and sweep the floor. If those two women are sent up, this old man can find the time to instruct them personally. He is merely a Foundation Establishment consummation cultivator—surely he cannot compare with this old man?"

"Of course!" Chen Dongcheng's eyes lit up at once. The core reason Wei Zhao's group had rejected his proposal today was that no one else's understanding of the cultivation method could match Wei Zhao's own authenticity and depth. That argument might hold up against the sect's Golden Core elders—it would indeed be hard to refute on the spot—but if Chen Jiu himself stepped forward, it was an entirely different matter.

However much Wei Zhao prided himself on being the orthodox authority, however eloquently he might argue, in the end he was still only at Foundation Establishment consummation, whereas on their side stood a supreme elder—a Nascent Soul old monster at the very pinnacle of the entire Ancient Small Martial World. How could the two compare?

What was more, to receive personal guidance from a Nascent Soul old monster was a privilege almost every disciple dreamed of. Chen Dongcheng was confident that once he dangled this bait, any person at all would be unable to wait to take the hook of their own accord—even Wei Zhao would not be able to stop Qiu Lingshan and Ying Ziyu!

Chen Dongcheng at once hurried back to the Ascending Heaven Cliff. At this time Qiu Lingshan and the others were still cultivating, and only Wei Zhao remained outside.

"Why are you back again? Didn't you say you had business?" Wei Zhao looked at him with some puzzlement.

"To be frank with the junior grand-uncle, I did indeed have business just now. By rule, we must periodically report our situation to the supreme elder each month. At present, Sect Master Hong is away, so this task can only fall to me to perform in his stead," Chen Dongcheng said with a smile.

"Oh?" The corner of Wei Zhao's mouth curved, and he said with a faint, ambiguous smile, "But I seem to recall Vice Sect Master Chen telling me a few days ago that the supreme elder was in seclusion. Out so soon?"

"Er—yes." Chen Dongcheng broke out in a slight sweat. Having been so excited by Chen Jiu's strategy just now, he had forgotten this small detail, and he hastily patched it up: "The supreme elder has only just come out of seclusion. I myself only received word this morning."

"Then may I go and pay my respects to the supreme elder? Since he has already left seclusion, my identity token ought to be settled as well, shouldn't it?" Wei Zhao said, seizing the opening.