Chapter 266: Making Money Starts with the Xu Family
Wendao Sect.
The Venerable Sword Master of Cangqiong Sword Sect and Invincible True Monarch left contentedly with three treasure chests in tow.
The Zhiqin Honored One reluctantly watched the Dark Origin Fruit being resealed and taken away, encouraged Yu Qingtan with a few words, and then returned to seclusion.
He was fairly satisfied too, after all, nearly everyone, including himself, believed that Yu Qingtan was bound to lose in ten years.
In her heart, Yu Qingtan held contempt, thinking that he didn't even bother to offer any benefits upfront and yet dreamt of obtaining the Origin Fruit after her expected defeat.
People who liked Yu Qingtan or had a favorable impression of her, like Yin Cen and Baili Ya, had dismal expressions and felt extremely uncomfortable.
However, they also knew that this was the pressure Yu Qingtan faced from two Divine Transformation Cultivators, and she had no choice but to agree, feeling deep sympathy for her.
People like the Houde Honored One and True Person Rou Jia, who hoped to see good things happen for Yu Qingtan, were very happy.
"Actually, you didn't have to do this. Even if you had refused, I could have protected you. Although you have a fairy-grade Spirit Root, catching up to that brat Wu Di in ten years is still somewhat unrealistic. You should know that the higher the realm, the more difficult it is to cultivate."
The voice of Venerable Shenfeng, Feng Wuyue, reached Yu Qingtan's mind.
"Thank you for your concern, Venerable, but Qingtan has her own considerations," replied Yu Qingtan mentally.
"Alright, as long as you're confident. Anyway, even if you lose, it's not a bad thing. Wu Di might be arrogant, but he's actually quite good."
...
First, she completed the task of investigating the demon cultivators and gained some Sect Contribution Points, then exchanged them for some items.
Upon returning to Tanxian Elegant Courtyard, Yu Qingtan briefly explained the day's events to the women, comforted Xiang Yiyi who was crying, and then re-entered the cultivation room to announce her seclusion.
She also discussed the matter with Shen Wanning, who didn't seem to mind; she also thought Invincible True Monarch was a decent option.
In fact, Yu Qingtan was overjoyed inside, for she had made a killing from this affair.
Firstly, the effect of her Heavenly Oath was nullified by ten points of Affection Value.
Truth be told, whether or not she kept the promise didn't matter. However, she had no intention of breaking it, after all, she had made it in front of so many people—Fairy Qingtan needed to save face!
Secondly, her Affection Value increased by four thousand, contributed by Invicible True Monarch, thus her list of Devotees gained one more person.
[Wu Di, Mid-Nascent Stage, cultivating the Thunder Path, Sword Dao, Path of Time, Space Path, five hundred top-grade Spirit Stones for quarter of an hour, can be copied: Third Level of Sword Dao, one thousand top-grade Spirit Stones; Second Level of Path of Time, three hundred top-grade Spirit Stones; First Level of Space Path, one hundred top-grade Spirit Stones; perfected Fourth Stage Dao Technique Four Seasons Thunder Sword Slash, five hundred top-grade Spirit Stones...]
This meant that she could now use her "Love's Protection," which she hadn't utilized much for a while.
She hadn't used it recently mainly because her strength surpassed all her other Devotees. Her capacity and recovery speed for Spiritual Power were also far superior to her peers, making ordinary battles of attrition unnecessary for any enhancements.
Invincible True Monarch was her first Nascent Soul Stage Devotee, and he was a powerful one at that.
She tried out the "Love's Sharing," which was a result of Invincible True Monarch's contribution, and found that her cultivation speed increased by half, and this effect also extended to Dao Comprehension.
Regrettably, "Love's Tribute" offered too many things she could copy, yet she could only choose one.
She naturally chose the most expensive option, the Third Level Sword Dao. However, she didn't have enough spirit stones to copy it yet.
Yu Qingtan felt poor again after a long time.
That very day, Yu Qingtan took Shen Wanning through her innate divine skills to leave the cultivation room and went to the cave dwelling of Xu Kexin from the Extreme Path Demon Sect's Artifact Peak.
Fearing that the Calamity Crossing Old Scoundrel might sense Shen Wanning, Yu Qingtan temporarily had her stay in the System Space.
Lately, the "Xu Kexin" that Yu Qingtan was impersonating would occasionally come out to submit artifact crafting tasks, accept new ones, and by the way, gather some information.
The day Shen Wanning was rescued, Disaster Crossing Peak was thrown into utter chaos. The Calamity Crossing Old Scoundrel almost dug three feet into the ground searching for her, but, unfortunately, he found no trace.
The Calamity Crossing Old Scoundrel even sought help from his own master, the Six Desires Venerable, and the Sect Master of the Extreme Path Demon Sect, Venerable Mingye of True Monarch Zhu Mingye. Both took the silent disappearance of someone within the Extreme Path Demon Sect very seriously and investigated thoroughly, but still came up empty-handed.
Moreover, since the Extreme Path Demon Sect had important matters to attend to recently, this issue had to be put aside for now.
After "Xu Kexin" submitted her artifact crafting tasks, she went directly to the Earth Peak to visit the Family Head of the Xu family, True Monarch Jiayin, a Mid-Golden Core Cultivator.
"Kexin, what brings you here today?" Xu Jiayin was very pleased with "Xu Kexin's" arrival.
As an emerging family, the Xu family, including himself, previously had only four Golden Core Cultivators.
Now that "Xu Kexin" not only had succeeded in Core Formation but also became an outstanding Third Stage artifact crafting master, Xu Jiayin was extremely gratified and saw "Xu Kexin" as the hope for revitalizing his family.
"Family Head, I'm planning to craft my lifebound magical treasure soon and still lack some cultivation resources, so... Stabilizing Spirit Spell!"
The "Xu Kexin" that Yu Qingtan was impersonating approached Xu Jiayin with a smile on her face; when she got close enough, she unleashed the newly mastered Third Stage spell, the Stabilizing Spirit Spell.
Then, with a speed faster than lightning, she pointed a finger at Xu Jiayin's dantian, sealing his cultivation level, and a magical treasure rope appeared, binding him tightly.
"Stabilizing Spirit Spell, Kexin, what are you doing?"
The effects of the Stabilizing Spirit Spell lasted only a moment, but Xu Jiayin was already restrained. He was still a bit disoriented and didn't understand why "Xu Kexin" would do this.
Yu Qingtan didn't bother to waste words with him and directly cast the Tian Xiang Illusion Technique to extract information.
Two hours later, the "Xu Kexin" that Yu Qingtan was impersonating returned to her cultivation room at Artifact Peak, while Xu Jiayin was now in her System Space, keeping the real Xu Kexin company. Explore stories at empire
She obtained the contents of the two storage rings that belonged to Xu Jiayin, one was personal, and the other belonged to the family.
Over the years, Xu Jiayin, as the loyal lapdog of the Young Sect Master, Lord Haokong, had taken advantage of Lord Haokong's influence to rake in a huge fortune.
Inside the storage ring, there were more than seven hundred top-grade spirit stones, and the total value of all other resources reached around five hundred top-grade spirit stones.
The next day, the "Xu Jiayin" that Yu Qingtan was impersonating left her cultivation room and first went to "borrow" all the Xu family members' contribution points from the Extreme Path Demon Sect. The reason given was that Xu Kexin, the hope for the rise of the family, needed to exchange for innate five elements materials to craft her lifebound magical treasure.
The clan members happily lent their points, and "Xu Jiayin" indeed transferred the contribution points to "Xu Kexin," who exchanged them for the innate five elements materials.
After that, without the Xu family knowing, "Xu Jiayin" went to Lord Haokong's clan brother, Venerable Yuanzhong Murong Yuanzhong, and mortgaged all the Xu family properties in exchange for a loan of twenty-four thousand top-grade spirit stones from Venerable Yuanzhong. They agreed to an annual interest rate of two percent, to be repaid over a hundred years.
Following that, "Xu Jiayin" left the Extreme Path Demon Sect.