Chapter 5: 005

Although she knew Wu Chongyun’s wheelchair was a fully automatic magical artifact, pushing it personally gave a greater sense of reality. The first time was awkward, the second time familiar; even taking mountain paths was no longer as bumpy, and there was no risk of jolting the person out of the chair.

As Wei Mingyi pushed Wu Chongyun outside, she was simultaneously trying to guess the other’s thoughts. Her Shizun didn’t have a desire to wander aimlessly. Even mentioning Flying Bird Cliff had just been a random remark, probably a way of trying to shoo her away. But when Wei Mingyi unilaterally decided on this course of action, her Shizun also didn’t refuse it—assuming she was even capable of feeling an emotion like displeasure.

Wei Mingyi could be shameless and push her luck further, but she absolutely couldn’t call it Wu Chongyun’s indulgence, because if it had been anyone else, the reaction would be the same.

Her frail Shizun was constantly suspended in a state between living and dying. Was this the influence of the “Wither and Flourish” poison, or was it simply her inherent nature?

The sharp mountain wind buffeted her cheeks. Although cultivators who had stepped onto the Dao path were still far, far away from immortality, the transcendent trait of “feeling neither cold nor heat” was achievable. Even though she could see the entire condition of the Chongyuan Sect clearly on the system panel, Wei Mingyi still wanted to check it with her own eyes.

No increase, no decrease; still utterly impoverished.

Among the five deserted mountain peaks, only the main peak was truly habitable. The other four were completely undeveloped. Occasionally, a small patch of land was planted with sparse, half-dead spirit plants that looked ready to keel over at any moment. According to the system’s analysis, the soil quality was abysmal. This was also related to the Spirit Vein. After all, the Chongyuan Sect had no True Vein; they’d only survived for a few decades by relying on a leased Spirit Vein. To fundamentally improve the soil using the Spirit Vein would take a long, long time.

The Chongyuan Sect’s naming conventions were rather crude. Apart from the main peak called Chongyuan Peak, the other four great peaks were named Second Peak, Third Peak, Fourth Peak, and Fifth Peak. Their names appeared on the panel, each followed by a “+” sign, meaning, like the Spirit Vein, they were upgradeable. Currently, Wei Mingyi had zero Achievement Points, but she still glanced at the information with the mindset of someone owning a colossal fortune.

Upgrading them was much cheaper than the Spirit Vein. Advancing from unranked to Yellow Tier only required 100 Achievement Points. Profound Tier was 500, Earth Tier 1,000, and Heaven Tier merely 2,000.

“If I don’t have Achievement Points, can’t I just spend real money?” Wei Mingyi silently asked her system.

Her cheat item remained silent.

Fine, if it couldn’t be done, it couldn’t be done. Besides, she had no money anyway.

Looking at the Chongyuan Sect’s educational assets—besides that pile of Daoist scriptures of dubious origin and value, the only thing left was a single Sword Stele. This stele had been left by the Chongyuan Sect’s Founding Ancestor. Its sword intent was sharp and imposing, like frost and snow. Even from a distance, one could feel the biting blade aura radiating from it.

Since Wei Mingyi was with the frail Wu Chongyun, she didn’t dare approach.

But her system panel showed a change: the “Flawless Sword Intent” was learnable, requiring 16 Talent Points.

Wei Mingyi dismissed the notification without any expression. Forget 16—she couldn’t even afford 1.

“Superior sword intent. It can be contemplated.” Wu Chongyun, who had stayed silent the whole time, suddenly spoke. Meeting Wei Mingyi’s downward gaze of confusion, she actually explained a bit: “Perceive the heart of the sword. The sword intent will find you. There’s no need to copy the surface form by rote.”

Wei Mingyi replied with a simple “Oh,” then asked, “I can’t understand the Six Classics Unrolled and the Daoist True Words either. Can Shizun guide me through the basics?” Relying on the cheat item to save up Talent Points—forty-eight of them—would take forever. Wei Mingyi had tried to comprehend them herself. She could recognize all the characters. The Nine Characters Seal in the Daoist True Words was even identical to the Nine Character Mantra “Rin, Pyō, Tō, Sha…” from her past life. But knowing the characters was useless. Even if she stared at the book until the pages wore through, she couldn’t discern any deeper meaning. Was there some hidden mystery within the words themselves?

Wu Chongyun shot Wei Mingyi a glance. She had been in the Chongyuan Sect for three years and naturally knew the scriptures in Wei Mingyi’s hands were the most valuable treasures in the entire sect. The Sect Leader cultivated the Flawless Sword Intent, the Divine Firmament Lightning Method, and an incomplete Guizang Scripture she had somehow obtained from Heavenly Evolution Mountain. Her own disciple, Meng Bujue, cultivated a work called Record of Secluded Dreams. As for Hua Xiaozhu and Mo Xuanxiao, both had talent in the Dao of Alchemy and cultivated an incomplete Chongxu Elixir Scripture. When the Sect Leader gave the Daoist True Words and the Six Classics Unrolled to Wei Mingyi, even she had been a little surprised.

“Dao Script.” Two words squeezed past Wu Chongyun’s tightly pursed lips.

Wei Mingyi: “Huh?”

Wu Chongyun elaborated: “These are not the original scriptures. They require tracing back to the source.” Those born into Aristocratic Families began learning to read with Dao Script; they could fluidly convert between Dao Script and common text. When reading scriptures, the primary rule was to read the originals. Only those who failed to understand the originals would settle for the next best thing: translated versions. But even reading translated versions required guidance from a teacher on key essentials and matching commentaries. However, the scriptures in the Chongyuan Sect only had translations, no commentaries. As far as Wu Chongyun knew, Su Xuanjing and the others all understood Dao Script.

Wei Mingyi: “…” What was all this gibberish? She didn’t understand a word.

She circled around to the front of Wu Chongyun’s wheelchair. Her eyes, brimming with intense earnestness, stared straight at Wu Chongyun: “Please resolve your disciple’s confusion, Shizun.”

Wu Chongyun merely slowly closed her eyes, resuming her death-like stillness.

This was within expectations. Wu Chongyun didn’t even care whether she herself lived or died, so why would she worry about this disciple forcibly thrust upon her?

Wei Mingyi wasn’t in that much of a hurry, anyway. It had only been two days since she’d “booted up.” Situated in the “safe house” that was the Chongyuan Sect, nothing could knock her down—unless she starved to death.

After the wheelchair exerted its “subjective initiative,” even rugged mountain paths felt like smooth, flat ground. When Wei Mingyi pushed Wu Chongyun back to the large plaza outside Chongyuan Hall, all the sect members were gathered. Their faces were flushed red—not with healthy vigor, but with obvious fury. The sound of their argument cut off abruptly the moment they spotted Wei Mingyi and Wu Chongyun. Su Xuanjing, Hua Xiaozhu, and the others all turned to look at them in unison—or more precisely, at Wu Chongyun, who was wearing a circlet woven from twigs and flowers on her head and cradling a bundle of wild fruit in her arms.

Wei Mingyi had forcibly decorated her with all of it. Wu Chongyun, perpetually in a half-dead, half-alive state, was simply too weary to bother refusing and let Wei Mingyi do as she pleased.

As Wu Chongyun opened those weary and languid eyes, Su Xuanjing’s gaze met hers for a fleeting moment. The Sect Leader spent one breath engaging in self-reflection.

Had assigning her to Wei Mingyi really been the right choice?

“Greetings, Sect Leader, Assistant Master, and two Senior Sisters.” Wei Mingyi’s lips curved into a smile as she greeted Su Xuanjing and the others.

Su Xuanjing, who had no airs of a Sect Leader, fully embraced a laissez-faire approach. She cleared her throat: “Everyone is here. Let’s hold the meeting right here, then.”

Wei Mingyi: “…”

“My Junior Sister and I went to Cangwu City to sell our elixirs and also sought out the original buyer. That person was indeed threatened by the Lu Clan.” Su Xuanjing calmly described the situation.

“What about the penalty fee for defaulting?” Wei Mingyi immediately blurted out. Seeing several gazes center on her, she justified herself with perfect logic: “That person broke the contract, caused us to wait in vain, and made us miss many opportunities. Shouldn’t they compensate us for all our losses?”

“Junior Sister is right.” Meng Bujue yawned, looking at Su Xuanjing with a dazed, sleepy expression.

Su Xuanjing frowned deeply. They had all become so accustomed to broken contracts. They’d never even thought of penalty fees. If all those people had paid up, the Chongyuan Sect could’ve built their main hall out of solid gold.

“That sort of thing requires corresponding strength to back it up. So what if someone breaks a verbal agreement? Even directly seizing the Chongyuan Sect’s land outright would be without consequence,” Hua Xiaozhu pursed her thin lips tightly. Taking over the conversation from Su Xuanjing, she added, “The apothecaries in Cangwu City were threatened by the Lu Clan’s people. They no longer accept our elixirs. Originally, selling to the Alchemical Cauldron Pavilion was already selling at a loss. Now the situation is even worse. We can’t buy medicinal ingredients, and we can’t sell our elixirs…”

“Junior Sister, don’t be angry. We’ll think of another way.” Su Xuanjing turned to comfort Hua Xiaozhu.

“I am not angry!” Hua Xiaozhu raised her voice in denial. She was always gentle-tempered, but the aggressive, bullying Lu Clan had chilled even her good-natured face.

Wei Mingyi pondered briefly, then asked, “Is the Alchemical Cauldron Pavilion the only one that buys elixirs?”

“Not the only one.” Su Xuanjing shook her head. “But all those other factions know the Lu Clan is targeting us. Right now, none of them dare to deal with us.” Seeing that Wei Mingyi was still confused, and recalling the girl’s bizarre clothing, she proceeded to inform Wei Mingyi of more general knowledge about the Nine Provinces.

The Alchemical Cauldron Pavilion was an enterprise of the Heavenly Dao Alliance. In the Nine Provinces, whether it was elixirs, magical artifacts, or Daoist scriptures, almost everything was monopolized by the Families. Taking elixirs as an example: the Alchemical Cauldron Pavilion had become the sole standard. Of course, “black markets” existed privately, but neither buying nor selling was convenient.

The Heavenly Dao Alliance turned a blind eye to this phenomenon. However, this wasn’t out of tolerance; rather, like a venomous snake, they were simply waiting for the right moment to deliver a fatal strike.

Wei Mingyi’s eyelid twitched violently: “Then the Master-Disciple lineage—”

“To survive, they become the Families’ dogs,” Su Xuanjing laughed mirthlessly. “The Heavenly Dao Alliance will also open up certain things for the Nine Provinces’ cultivators to use, but everything is registered meticulously. Even if a Master-Disciple lineage doesn’t formally disband their mountain gate inheritance, to prove loyalty, they will send their disciples into the Families, changing their surnames and becoming a part of the Family. And the Families, in turn, dispatch their own people to establish new mountain sects… It has developed to the point where you can no longer tell if an organization’s inheritance method is sect-based or family-based.”

Wei Mingyi didn’t understand, but she was deeply shaken.

After mulling it over, she asked, “So, regardless of Family or Sect, anyone standing in our way is a mortal enemy that must be eliminated?”

Su Xuanjing glanced at her: “We are ants.”

Wei Mingyi pressed her lips together.

Right. They didn’t even have the qualifications to sit at the table.

“Is there truly no one who can help?” Wei Mingyi persisted unwillingly, muttering, “We’ve been running this place for over twenty years, at least.”

Su Xuanjing replied, “Twenty years is but a snap of the fingers.” Friends, they did have some. The other party was also from a Master-Disciple lineage; though their sect had a hundred years of history, they were even more destitute than the Chongyuan Sect. Their current Sect Leader, Li Ciyun, was only at Foundation Establishment’s Second Layer. Su Xuanjing didn’t want to drag her into this mess.

As they were speaking, a huge, conspicuous commotion suddenly erupted outside the mountain gate that could not be ignored.

Su Xuanjing’s and Hua Xiaozhu’s expressions shifted slightly. They instantly transformed into streaks of wind and swept out.

At this time of day, only people from the Lu Clan could be arriving.

Before Wei Mingyi could head over, a message popped up on her cheat item panel first.

【Reputation with Lu Clan Faction: Hatred. Gained 200 Achievement Points.】

Any reputation was still reputation. Even if her fame spread as notoriety, that was fine. But the system was still positive and encouraging; it didn’t promote a “whole world as your enemy” scenario. Although reaching the “Hatred” reputation rank also granted Achievement Points, it was only 200, and unlike Chivalrous Reputation or subordinate faction standing, it didn’t offer repeatable monthly settlements.

“Junior Sister, take the Assistant Master back first,” Meng Bujue spoke, the drowsiness vanishing from her eyes.

“Eh?” Wei Mingyi tilted her head. “But we have the Mountain Protection Array.”

Those people couldn’t break in.