Chapter 9: Wealth Moves the Heart

“Demon... you're in a bad mood.”

As Yun Miaoqing spoke, she looked up at Lyu Yang, who was resting with his eyes closed.

“A little bit.”

Lyu Yang sighed and casually recounted the predicament he had encountered.

“This is the Demon Sect—treating its disciples like consumables, with absolutely no humanity whatsoever,” Yun Miaoqing said, her red lips parting slightly.

“Demon... Fellow Daoist Lyu, you possess decent talent and an excellent temperament. Why bother compromising yourself in this Demon Sect?” Yun Miaoqing continued. “As long as you break the restriction on my body and help me escape the Demon Sect, I can personally recommend you to become a disciple of my Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion...”

If Yun Miaoqing wanted to seek death, he had no interest in accompanying her.

When one is destitute, the priority is to cultivate oneself in isolation; the urgent matter was how to improve his own strength.

After much deliberation, Lyu Yang did not buy the Yin-Yang Immortal Bloom. Instead, he spent his entire fortune to purchase ten Primordial Qi Great Pills, which could increase one's cultivation.

“This life is basically a dead end.”

“After all, I neither plan to repay my loans nor am I willing to spend decades working like an ox or a horse. Once the loan period expires, I will surely be left without a place to be buried.”

“Therefore, I must use this time to improve myself as quickly as possible!”

Lyu Yang had already made up his mind: when he restarted in the next life, he would choose "cultivation" as his starting trait. To achieve that, he had to raise his current strength to a higher level as soon as possible.

“If my cultivation is too low, Liu Xin might see through it. So, at the very least, I must reach the same realm he was in back then,” Lyu Yang pondered internally. “At least the middle stage of Qi Refinement, paired with a breath-concealing technique, to have a chance of deceiving him.”

Lyu Yang dared to think this because he had confidence.

The Qi Refinement Realm consisted of ten levels, divided into early, middle, late, and great perfection stages. Within these sub-stages, there were basically no bottlenecks; one only needed to accumulate enough energy to break through.

What truly trapped the masses of Qi Refinement cultivators were the bottlenecks between the sub-stages.

The difficulty of moving from early to middle, middle to late, and late to great perfection increased almost exponentially, leaving countless cultivators unable to make any progress.

“According to my calculations, ten Primordial Qi Great Pills plus the spiritual vein of my cave dwelling should be enough to let me break through to the third level of Qi Refinement. In fact, this is the cultivation level of most disciples in the sect. They rely on wasting time and seniority to improve, only to eventually get stuck at the early Qi Refinement bottleneck, becoming nothing more than beasts for the Saint Sect...”

If nothing went wrong, Lyu Yang would have been one of them.

However, in this life, he held a variable in his hands.

With a thought, a wisp of swirling, steaming white Qi emerged in Lyu Yang's hand. It moved as easily as his own limbs, shifting between the shape of a sword and thick smoke.

The Primordial One Qi.

“According to Liu Xin, the greatest use of the Primordial One Qi is actually helping people break through bottlenecks. His ability to break through to the late stage of Qi Refinement was certainly due to its contribution.”

If Liu Xin could use it to reach the late stage...

Then using it to reach the middle stage should be no problem for me.

“As long as I break through to the middle stage of Qi Refinement, this life won't have been a waste. At worst, I'll just restart immediately. In the next life, my cultivation will be higher, and my starting point will be better!”

A moment later, a voice came from outside the cave dwelling.

His Primordial Qi Great Pills had arrived.

Lyu Yang pushed the door open, only to see a woman standing outside. She wore plain clothes, and her beauty was no less than Yun Miaoqing's, with a figure that was perhaps even more voluptuous.

“This humble one is Qingchen, greeting Junior Brother Lyu.” The woman performed a graceful bow and then gave a soft laugh. Her laughter seemed to possess a magical quality that was refreshing to the soul, making one instinctively feel a sense of goodwill toward her. “I have been ordered to deliver the Primordial Qi Great Pills you purchased. Please present your token for verification, Junior Brother.”

Lyu Yang knew the procedure and complied immediately.

While they were exchanging the goods, Fairy Qingchen softly probed, “Junior Brother, to be able to purchase so many pills this time, have you perhaps struck it rich somewhere?”

“Senior Sister, what are you saying?”

Lyu Yang shook his head, his face etched with a look of hardship. “I merely took out several loans. I am thinking of increasing my cultivation so that I can take on higher-paying missions.”

“I see.”

Fairy Qingchen nodded with a look of concern. “Junior Brother, there is no need to belittle yourself. Which of us formal disciples doesn't have a few loans on us?”

“However... forgive Qingchen's bluntness, but you still do not know how to be flexible.”

“Oh?”

Seeing Lyu Yang's interest pique, Fairy Qingchen smiled slightly. “There are only so many sect missions. How could you possibly repay so many loans just by relying on missions alone?”

“In the Saint Sect, if you only know how to follow the ordinary path, it is impossible to get rich,” Qingchen said softly. “I previously thought that perhaps Junior Brother had discovered a cave dwelling left by some Senior Brother and had made a windfall from his legacy. That is why I had the audacity to ask, but it seems that is not the case.”

“A cave dwelling...”

Lyu Yang lowered his eyelids, his gaze as calm as a still pool, but his tone feigned a sense of excitement. “I am dull-witted; please tell me more, Senior Sister.”

“Do you know, Junior Brother, that the Saint Sect was established upon the 'Sky-Reaching Cloud Sea'?”

Fairy Qingchen said indifferently, “Within the Cloud Sea, besides the four inner peaks, there are many other peaks established by former true disciples and elders.”

“However, the path to immortality is long, and over the years, people inevitably fall. When they perish, their peaks and cave dwellings are not abolished; instead, they remain within the Cloud Sea. Although there is certain risk, every single one is an opportunity. Even a small harvest can be exchanged for a massive amount of contribution points!”

“If you are interested, Junior Brother, I happen to have recently discovered a relatively safe cave dwelling...”

*Is that so? I don't believe you!*

Lyu Yang sneered inwardly. The way Fairy Qingchen was so patiently and persuasively leading him was far too similar to Liu Xin, who had tricked him into practicing the Primordial Dao Scripture in his previous life.

This was a fishing attempt!

What "cave dwelling opportunity"? It was nothing but bait.

*It seems I've shown too much wealth. Seeing that a newly joined disciple like me bought so many spirit pills, she wants to trick me into going out so she can slaughter me and take the pills for herself?*

Thinking this, Lyu Yang put on a look of temptation. “I need to consider it.”

“There is no rush.” Hearing this, Fairy Qingchen nodded. “The verification procedures are complete. Once you have thought it over, you can contact me...”

“I've thought about it. I'm not going.”

Seeing that the formalities were done, Lyu Yang picked up the bottle containing the pills without another word and returned to his cave, leaving Fairy Qingchen standing there alone.

“???”

A moment later, having processed what happened, Fairy Qingchen nearly bit through her teeth. Her beautiful face was filled with murderous intent. “This Lyu Yang... he actually dared to play me!”

Turning to leave, Fairy Qingchen soon arrived at another cave dwelling.

Inside the cave, a young Taoist dressed in luxurious clothing had been waiting for a long time. Seeing Qingchen's grim expression, he frowned as well.

“Unsuccessful?”

Fairy Qingchen shook her head. “This person... is a bit too cautious.”

“Furthermore, Senior Brother Zhao, this person borrowed money but didn't buy the Yin-Yang Immortal Bloom; instead, he bought pills. I suspect he has no intention of ever repaying the debt.”

“Wants to default? In the next life!”

Zhao Xuhe shook his head with a cold sneer. “Do you know that for every new disciple, the Saint Sect has already secretly set a price on them?”

“And the amount a disciple can borrow within the Saint Sect will never exceed their price. This is to ensure that no matter what happens, the Saint Sect can recover its costs. Flesh, organs, soul... these are all valuable things, more than enough to settle a debt.”

“He wants to increase his cultivation? Let him.”

“As long as the person is still around, a higher cultivation actually makes them more valuable.”

Zhao Xuhe grinned, a bloody scent seemingly flowing from between his teeth. “When the time comes, we won't just break even; we might even make a profit.”

“Besides, he has the money to buy the pills, but he might not have the life to use them, right?”

“Senior Brother, you mean...”

Zhao Xuhe nodded slightly, his words heavy with implication. “Many things are fine, as long as they aren't discovered.”

Upon hearing this, Fairy Qingchen's beautiful eyes brightened.