The next day.
Early morning.
A voice rang out.
It startled everyone in the Qingyun Dao Sect awake.
"Eighth, eighth, Master, something huge has happened!"
The voice rang out.
Grand Hua Daoist, who had only slept for two hours, leaped out of bed at once. By reflex, he packed up all his belongings at lightning speed, ready to flee at any moment.
But the next moment.
The door was pushed open.
It was the sect's Third Disciple Brother. Holding a sheet of proclamation paper, he wore an ugly expression.
"Sect Leader, don't run yet. It isn't debt collectors at the door. It's something else."
Wang Zhuoyu spoke, sweat covering his forehead as he hurriedly tried to steady Grand Hua Daoist.
He was Grand Hua Daoist's third disciple and Ye Ping's Third Disciple Brother, Wang Zhuoyu.
He specialized in talismans and formations.
"It's not debt collectors? Zhuoyu, it's not that I want to criticize you, but how can you be so unsteady whenever something happens? Learn from your Eldest Disciple Brother. Look at him, then look at yourself!"
The moment he heard that it was not debt collectors, Grand Hua Daoist immediately breathed a sigh of relief, then rebuked him in an irritated tone.
Grand Hua Daoist's head was spinning a little. Ever since learning that Ye Ping was a genius, he had laughed until the hour of the Rabbit before finally sleeping yesterday. It was now the hour of the Dragon, so he had only slept two hours, leaving him rather uncomfortable.
Upon hearing that something major had happened, Grand Hua Daoist's first thought had been debt collectors coming to the door.
Over the years, in order to develop the Qingyun Dao Sect, he had borrowed who knew how much money outside. Debt collectors often came knocking to demand repayment, leaving Grand Hua Daoist constantly worried and frightened.
"Sect Leader, although it isn't debt collectors, it's not much different. Look at this. It's the latest notice issued by the sect administration office within Qingzhou."
Wang Zhuoyu was also somewhat helpless. He did not want things to be this way either, but something truly major had happened.
"What notice? Are they demolishing us?"
Grand Hua Daoist grew agitated. He took the proclamation paper and scanned it at a glance.
Very quickly, Grand Hua Daoist's expression became somewhat unpleasant.
No, it became uglier and uglier.
"Outrageous!"
"Outrageous!"
"This is simply outrageous!"
Grand Hua Daoist said "outrageous" three times in a row, his face flushed red with fury. Yesterday's good mood vanished like smoke in thin air.
There were not many words on the proclamation paper, merely a few hundred.
Its contents were also quite simple. The general meaning was this.
Because Qingzhou possessed abundant spiritual energy, fertile land, and a large population, countless newly established sects had emerged.
To prevent sects from being fish in troubled waters, swindling and deceiving others, an inspection would be carried out on all unranked sects within Qingzhou.
The method of inspection was simple.
After the notice was issued, every sect had two months to submit ten low-grade spirit stones and prove its legitimacy.
Those who failed to submit the spirit stones by the deadline would all have their qualifications to establish a sect revoked, and their sects would be disbanded.
Those who refused to obey would not be spared suppression by force.
This resolution had received the approval of Qingzhou's three major sects as well as the Jin Kingdom court.
"Collecting spirit stones for no reason at all—this is simply lawlessness, bullying the weak! I'm going to the capital to lodge an imperial complaint!"
Grand Hua Daoist clenched his fists tightly in rage.
He was furious.
This notice had made an already impoverished sect even poorer.
Ten spirit stones.
For other sects, it might have been nothing.
But for the Qingyun Dao Sect, ten low-grade spirit stones were simply an enormous sum.
In the mortal world.
One copper coin could buy one sesame flatbread.
One hundred copper coins equaled one tael of silver.
And one hundred taels of silver equaled one tael of gold.
One low-grade spirit stone equaled ten taels of gold.
Ten low-grade spirit stones were equivalent to one hundred taels of gold.
It could be said that the Qingyun Dao Sect had not seen what spirit stones looked like in several years.
The Qingyun Dao Sect's yearly income was roughly ten taels of gold.
And that was already considered decent.
What did ten low-grade spirit stones mean?
It meant that everyone in the Qingyun Dao Sect would have to neither eat nor drink, spend not a single coin, and save for ten years before they could gather ten low-grade spirit stones.
This news was even more painful than debt collectors coming to the door.
At least debt collectors would not demand ten spirit stones, would they?
And even if they demanded ten spirit stones.
That would count as repaying a debt, right?
Borrow and repay, and borrowing again would not be hard? They could still borrow in the future.
But giving away ten low-grade spirit stones for nothing—who could accept that?
The most infuriating part was that they could not refuse.
If they truly refused, the other side would immediately send people to suppress them.
Qingzhou lacked everything except unranked sects.
His head hurt.
His head hurt.
His head hurt so badly.
Grand Hua Daoist was miserable. Yesterday, he had even planned to save some money to buy Ye Ping a new sword manual. He had not expected this mess to descend upon them, and it left him utterly miserable.
So miserable that he wanted to seek death.
"Master, what do we do?"
Wang Zhuoyu stood to one side, not knowing what else to say.
What could they do?
They could only eat it cold.
Could they really go to the capital and lodge an imperial complaint?
Officials protected one another, didn't he know that?
Grand Hua Daoist's feelings were a tangled mess.
He wanted to cry, yet no tears would come.
After a long while, Grand Hua Daoist took a deep breath and said, "Have everyone gather in the main hall. I'm convening a sect assembly."
Grand Hua Daoist appeared listless.
This was truly troublesome.
This notice was clearly for real.
Qingzhou's three major sects had jointly approved it, and even the Jin Kingdom court had agreed. This was absolutely no joke.
"Alright, Sect Leader. Don't be too upset either. There are always more solutions than difficulties. We believe in you."
Wang Zhuoyu spoke with a serious expression.
"Get lost, get lost, get lost."
Grand Hua Daoist cursed irritably.
What did he mean, believe in him?
Wasn't he just trying to dump the burden onto his head and make him bear it alone?
"Sure."
Wang Zhuoyu left.
He left cleanly and decisively. Though he was miserable too, he could not think of any good solution.
He might as well slip away first. If the sky fell, the tall ones would hold it up.
But just before he left, Grand Hua Daoist spoke again.
"Oh, right. Don't let the new junior disciple know."
Grand Hua Daoist gave a reminder.
Family shame must not be aired abroad.
It was better for only those within the sect to know about such matters.
And so.
One hour later.
Inside the Qingyun Dao Sect's main hall.
Four figures had arrived in the main hall early.
Three others had gone down the mountain, so they were not in the sect.
At this moment.
Grand Hua Daoist appeared.
However, he looked somewhat exhausted, his eyes faintly red, as though he had cried.
"Sect Leader."
"Sect Leader."
"Greetings, Sect Leader."
Seeing Grand Hua Daoist appear, everyone rose and called out in greeting.
On formal occasions, whether outsiders were present or not, they had to address him as Sect Leader rather than Master.
Grand Hua Daoist was somewhat anxious.
He did not respond to them. Instead, he went directly to the seat of honor, looked at everyone, and spoke with extreme seriousness.
"I'll make a long story short. The greatest crisis of our Qingyun Dao Sect has arrived."
Grand Hua Daoist's expression was solemn.
As soon as those words were spoken, everyone in the main hall wore somewhat unpleasant expressions.
Grand Hua Daoist said no more. He took out the notice and allowed everyone to read it.
Very quickly, silence fell over the main hall.
They understood what this notice meant.
But soon enough, a voice rang out.
"Ten low-grade spirit stones? Has the sect administration office gone mad from poverty? They're harvesting chives all the way to our heads? I'm going to the capital to lodge an imperial complaint!"
It was Xu Luochen's voice.
He was unusually agitated, and his words and conduct were exactly like Grand Hua Daoist's earlier.
But it was not only him. Though the others said nothing, their expressions were also exceedingly ugly.
Ten low-grade spirit stones.
This was simply making the already impoverished Qingyun Dao Sect even poorer.
Yet among those in the hall, Su Changyu was the calmest.
He looked at Grand Hua Daoist with a composed expression and asked.
"Sect Leader, how many spirit stones does the sect still have?"
Su Changyu asked earnestly.
Rather than pursuing the root of the problem, he considered how to solve it, displaying an Eldest Disciple Brother's responsibility and bearing to the fullest.
"Seventy."
Grand Hua Daoist slowly replied.
As soon as those words were spoken, everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
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