Debt Collection

"The host, Le Qing and Nan Xianshi, who came to deliver your Spirit Stones, are arguing outside," the system reminded her.

Bai Lan, who was drawing talismans, looked up and pricked up her ears to listen carefully. Sure enough, she heard two familiar voices arguing.

"With that kind of personality, even if you go to another inner sect peak in the future, people will still hate you!"

Nan Xianshi looked as though she had been angered past her breaking point. "What does that have to do with you? I'm no longer from Jade Purity Peak. What right do you have to lecture me?"

"Your actions this time have already enraged Master. If Little Junior Sister hadn't spoken up for you that day, Master would have taught you a lesson long ago. And yet you still refuse to repent?" Le Qing continued adding fuel to the fire.

"Repent? What have I done wrong? Which rule of the Azure Origin Sect says that once you join a peak, you can't change masters? True Person Qing Xuan refuses to teach me, so can't I just leave?"

Le Qing had no rebuttal and began applying moral pressure. "You! You disrespect your master and disregard the Dao. You're shameless!"

"Heh, don't think I don't know what you're thinking. If you like Bai Ling, just say so. What kind of ability is hiding it away? Whether the Little Junior Sister you've gone to such lengths to please will even look at you is another matter entirely." Nan Xianshi began stabbing straight at his sore spot as well.

Le Qing had his scar gouged open. Gritting his teeth, he said, "As long as I keep treating Little Junior Sister well, one day she'll respond to me."

"You're dreaming in broad daylight!"

What a lively quarrel.

Bai Lan slowly pushed open the door and poked her head out. Meeting their gazes, she shook her head. "It's fine, keep arguing. I like listening."

Le Qing: "..."

Nan Xianshi: "..."

"Hm? You're not arguing anymore? Fine, then hand over this month's Spirit Stones first." Bai Lan held out her hand toward Le Qing.

Le Qing clenched his teeth and handed over a Storage Bag. Bai Lan extended her divine sense inside for a sweep, then nodded in satisfaction.

"Not bad. The amount is correct."

So this was what debt collection felt like.

Three hundred Spirit Stones slipped easily into her account, and Bai Lan's mood instantly improved.

The strange Spirit Stone transaction made Nan Xianshi curious. She looked between them. "You know each other?"

"We don't know each other!" Le Qing immediately tried to distance himself from Bai Lan.

Bai Lan merely raised her brows and smiled. "Of course we know each other. Yesterday in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, he was caught by three Rogue Cultivators—"

"Didn't I tell you not to tell anyone about that?!" Le Qing had not expected Bai Lan to reveal his dark history outright and suddenly shouted.

Bai Lan spread her hands. "I remember saying then that confidentiality costs extra."

Le Qing: "..."

Under Nan Xianshi's suspicious gaze, Le Qing gritted his teeth. Naturally, he did not want Bai Lan revealing his dark history in public.

If word got out that he had fallen into the hands of Rogue Cultivators and had then been saved by a Qi Refining level two outer sect menial disciple, he would surely become the laughingstock of the inner sect disciples.

"Three hundred Spirit Stones should be enough as hush money, right?!" Though his tone was vicious enough to make his teeth grind, Le Qing ultimately bowed beneath Bai Lan's tyrannical might.

Bai Lan nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad, not bad. Deal. My lips are sealed, so don't worry."

Nan Xianshi grew even more curious. Watching Le Qing flee as though escaping for his life, she asked softly, "What exactly happened for that brat to spend three hundred Spirit Stones on hush money?"

"Of course it was something worth three hundred Spirit Stones in hush money. That's why he paid me three hundred Spirit Stones to shut my mouth."

Nan Xianshi: "... Listening to your words was like listening to words."

"When are you planning to move back to the inner peaks?"

"Even you're starting to dislike me and want to drive me away!" There was unexpectedly a trace of grievance in Nan Xianshi's voice.

Bai Lan shook her head. "Couldn't you tell I was changing the subject?"

"Hmph, forget it." Nan Xianshi tugged on Bai Lan's sleeve. "By the way, does the outer peak have a cafeteria?"

The moment she finished speaking, a dull rumble came from Nan Xianshi's stomach.

Qi Refining stage cultivators had not yet reached the point of abstaining from food, so the outer sect naturally had a cafeteria.

Seeing Nan Xianshi so limp in both hands and feet, her voice weak and feeble, Bai Lan guessed that she had not eaten since yesterday.

Bai Lan helplessly shook her head. "Keep up. I'll take you there."

"You really are a good person!" Nan Xianshi brightened up and immediately resumed her chatterbox mode. "Don't worry, even though I'm no longer a Jade Purity Peak disciple, I'm still an inner sect disciple. Once I establish my foundation in the future, I'll definitely look after you! I won't let anyone bully you."

"Mm."

"Once my cultivation succeeds, a Tribulation Crossing stage elder will naturally take a liking to me and accept me as a disciple. I don't care about True Person Qing Xuan or anything. Bai Ling is nothing special. Sooner or later, I'll become even stronger than her!"

"Mm."

"What do you mean, 'mm'? Don't you believe me?"

"Mm."

"... You're just humoring me!!!" Nan Xianshi bristled.

"'Mm' expresses agreement." Bai Lan pointed ahead. "The cafeteria is here."

After sending Nan Xianshi into the cafeteria, Bai Lan bought half a month's worth of dry rations and stored them in her Storage Bag.

Next, she intended to enter seclusion for a while. At the very least, she had to break through to Qi Refining level three before her duel with Long Aotian.

She could not kill the Child of Destiny, so she had to ensure that her strength always remained above the Child of Destiny's. Only then would she be safe.

"When you first chose a master, did you never consider taking the Sect Master as your master?" Bai Lan suddenly asked as she watched Nan Xianshi, who was burying her head in her meal.

Nan Xianshi blankly raised her head, a piece of meat still clamped between her teeth. "Sect Mastew?"

"Yes."

The Azure Sect's Sect Master, True Person Qing He, and Jade Purity Peak's True Person Qing Xuan came from the same master. Both were direct disciples of the Azure Sect's Nascent Soul stage Grand Elder.

Qing Xuan possessed better aptitude, a single ice spiritual root, and was one of the sect's foremost prodigies. Thus, he received greater cultivation resources. The Grand Elder wholeheartedly taught him everything he had learned in his life, even ultimately passing the Heaven-rank secret cultivation art to him alone.

Qing He, however, had poorer aptitude. He had entered the inner sect only through diligent cultivation, and his comprehension was likewise utterly ordinary. He was not valued by the Grand Elder.

Later, both became Tribulation Crossing cultivators, yet the Grand Elder passed the position of Sect Master to Qing He and merely made Qing Xuan the Peak Master of Jade Purity Peak, allowing him to devote himself wholeheartedly to cultivation.

Outsiders did not know the reason behind this, but Bai Lan, who held the god's-eye view of the story, understood it perfectly.

Managing such an enormous sect was an immensely draining task. Not only did one have to navigate among various powers, but every matter, great and small, within the sect had to be handled by the Sect Master.

It looked impressive, but the reality was otherwise.

Taking up the position of Sect Master greatly reduced one's cultivation time.

Becoming the master of a peak, on the other hand, left one with much more free time to cultivate in peace, ignore worldly affairs, and seek only the path to ascension.

Which was better and which was worse—how could Qing He, who stood within it all, not know? Now that one could cultivate, who would not wish for eternal life and ascension to immortality?

The Sect Master, who appeared gentle, modest, refined, broad-minded, and whose name for benevolence spread throughout Wuyun State, had likely harbored dissatisfaction toward his junior brother Qing Xuan for a very long time.