Literary Plagiarism

Azure Cloud Sect.

Azure Spring Peak.

It stood three thousand zhang high, its summit wreathed in cloud mist, with puffs of white clouds scattered throughout.

This was where the Azure Cloud Sect's Comprehensive Affairs Hall was located.

What made it unique, however, was that within several thousand zhang around the mountainside, there were no pavilions or palaces. Instead, all manner of ancient trees towering a hundred zhang high stood there!

Outside Azure Spring Peak, one massive flying creature after another descended onto the flat ground of the mountainside. They were covered in white fluff and resembled the dandelions from Lin Chen's previous life.

Throughout the entire Lingnan Great Land, the Azure Cloud Sect was famous not only for the strength of its power, but also for the modifications and applications it made to spiritual plants!

The Azure Cloud Sect's predecessors had altered all kinds of spiritual plants into whatever forms they needed.

For instance, the Langgan Tree was used for habitation and gathering spiritual energy, the Diwu Tree for defending the sect, the Sound Transmission Flower for transmitting messages, and the Dandelion Grass Lin Chen was currently riding!

"Alas, one ride costs a spirit stone—equivalent to an ordinary sect cultivator's earnings for an entire day. No wonder cultivators are more homebound than the last. High-level cultivators need to cultivate, while low-level ones simply cannot afford the cost of going out!"

Lin Chen sighed softly and used a Sound Transmission Flower to tell it where his next stop was.

Before long, the formation on the mountainside activated, producing a fierce wind that disrupted the trade winds echoing through the valley. The Dandelion Grass carrying Lin Chen and the other cultivators slowly began descending toward the slope.

The Azure Cloud Sect covered an immense area. In Lin Chen's previous world, its territory would have surpassed the combined area of several major cities.

The distances between peaks, cave mansions, and great halls were extraordinarily vast. Even if one constantly used Divine Movement Talismans, traveling from the easternmost point to the westernmost point would take at least a day—and that was on level ground without stopping to rest.

Moreover, the terrain between the peaks was treacherous, with secluded valleys and sheer cliffs everywhere. If one truly relied on two legs to travel, who knew how much time it would take?

Thus, to make traveling easier, the sect elders altered the terrain so that trade winds leading in every direction echoed between the peaks. Using Dandelion Grass to travel saved a great deal of time.

Lin Chen quickly disembarked from the Dandelion Grass and used the Divine Movement Technique to head toward the Comprehensive Affairs Hall.

In the Cultivation World, wealth naturally referred to Cultivation Resources such as spirit stones and medicinal pills.

Within the Azure Cloud Sect, Cultivation Resources came from two sources: monthly stipends, and Contribution Value earned by completing sect-issued missions and exchanged for resources.

The former allowed one to collect a stipend every month, but one had to complete a sect mission within half a year. Otherwise, the stipend would be canceled. Failing to complete a sect mission for two consecutive years would result in expulsion from the sect.

The missions could be accumulated, so long as one completed one every half year. In special circumstances, such as closed-door cultivation to break through one's Cultivation Level, one had to report to the Comprehensive Affairs Hall in advance.

The latter required one to meet certain conditions and put in effort before earning Contribution Value, which could then be exchanged for the corresponding cultivation resources.

Though there were tedious miscellaneous duties to perform and one could not attain the so-called immortality and freedom spoken of by mortals, even so, countless Rogue Cultivators yearned for such a life and wished they could take their place.

After all, there were never many things in this day and age where effort brought rewards, let alone in this Cultivation World.

At this moment, disciples were already walking along the mountain paths in twos and threes. Some traveled alone, some in groups; some were full of vigor, while others were bleary-eyed. All of them hurried up the mountain.

From time to time, streaks of spiritual light and white shadows flashed across the sky. Those were Inner Disciples flying on artifacts.

Of course, now and then, one could also see Foundation Establishment Realm elders skimming through the air, drawing waves of envy from those below.

Lin Chen arrived beneath an enormous ancient tree.

At this moment, vines hung down from the tree one after another, forming vine ladders that carried cultivators into its interior.

Before him was a Spiritual Light Screen. The writing upon it kept shifting until it finally formed a complete notification: Please proceed to Comprehensive Affairs Hall No. 2, Number 135, to handle miscellaneous duties...

Every time I come here, it feels like I've returned to my previous life to handle paperwork... Lin Chen could not help but sigh.

The Azure Cloud Sect had tens of thousands of people, and the Comprehensive Affairs Hall was a vital existence that sustained the sect's operations. At any given moment, at least a hundred people remained here. Unless they opened more than a hundred service windows, there was no way to meet everyone's needs at once.

Of course, they could queue up. But setting aside whether cultivators of differing Cultivation Levels would be willing to stand in the same line, exchanging Cultivation Resources alone involved a great deal of privacy.

After all, plundering resources was commonplace in this Cultivation World. If certain disciples grew jealous of the spiritual items others exchanged for, then even though sect rules forbade fellow disciples from killing one another, behavior such as using power to suppress others, threats, and coercion could not be avoided.

To ensure fairness—or at least fairness on the surface—the sect elders established this method of taking numbers, receiving missions, and exchanging resources.

However, Lin Chen did not go to the hall counter to inquire or accept a mission. Instead, he entered a corridor, turned this way and that, and eventually stepped into a room.

A cultivator surnamed Lu had once said, "Wherever there are people, there are privileges."

The same was true in the Azure Cloud Sect.

The missions displayed on the light screen in the main hall had all been filtered. The truly easy and profitable ones had long since been intercepted, leaving behind mostly laborious work.

Only disciples of exceptional talent or those with connections had channels through which to receive these filtered miscellaneous duties.

Lin Chen had only learned of this after placing in the top three of the Outer Sect Grand Competition.

I'll first take a mission at a medicine garden or the Pill Hall, then go down the mountain and sell the talismans I've made during this period. I need to earn enough spirit stones to support my research into the [Soul Nurturing Incense 3.0] version...

Lin Chen entered the room. Behind the counter, a white-bearded old man seemed to be reading something interesting, completely absorbed in it. From time to time, he even clicked his tongue, utterly unaware of Lin Chen's arrival.

Lin Chen did not mind and walked directly over.

"Martial Uncle, I'm here to accept a mission. Martial Uncle?" Lin Chen called twice in a low voice. Seeing that the other party did not respond, he frowned slightly and leaned over to take a look.

What was he reading so enthusiastically?

Because the words were upside down from his angle, it took him a while to decipher them.

Flower Shadows Behind the Curtain?

Huh?! Why does the title of this book feel so familiar?

Lin Chen continued reading.

Hmm?!

Lin Chen considered himself quite skilled among his peers in this regard, having deciphered many cultivation techniques for the sake of research. Yet no matter how he translated this passage, he felt that...

Swish!

"Good!" The old man eagerly flipped to the next page, only to freeze. The next page was completely blank. There was no continuation.

"Damn it! Where's the rest? Where's the rest?! Which damned author writes only half a story?" Seeing this, the Management Elder's face turned red with rage, and his old hand trembled as he gripped the book.

Just as the Management Elder wished he could draw a blade, a voice suddenly came from beside him. "Martial Uncle, since there's no continuation, can we handle proper business now?"

"Damn!" The old man jerked all over, cursing as he sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Pointing at Lin Chen, he asked in a trembling voice, "Y-you, when did you get here...?"

"Not long ago. I did try to remind you, Martial Uncle, but you seemed too engrossed in your reading and did not pay attention to me, so I stood nearby and waited for a while," Lin Chen said blandly. "But speaking of which, during duty hours, reading..."

The Management Elder hurriedly cut him off. "Ahem, ahem. Nephew, don't misunderstand. This is my grandson's book. I-I merely opened it out of curiosity for a look!"

"Although I do not particularly wish to say it, I feel it is still necessary to remind Martial Uncle of something." Lin Chen's expression remained blank.

"Cultivators of the younger generation are rather impatient. They prefer straightforward vernacular writing that is easy to understand, rather than obscure classical prose. So things like Martial Uncle's Flower Shadows Behind the Curtain, Jade Tower Spring, and Nine-tailed Turtle are already outdated..."

Outdated...

Outdated...

"How is that possible?!" The Management Elder's face darkened as he craned his neck and shouted, "I spent a full ten spirit stones to buy it! How could I have bought something outdated?!"

"Oh? Ten spirit stones? Martial Uncle, then you really did lose out..." Before Lin Chen could finish, his body stiffened, and his eyes suddenly widened.

What? Ten spirit stones? This kind of trashy book was worth that much?!

The two stared at each other, big eyes meeting small eyes, and the room instantly fell silent.

"Ahem!" Realizing something was amiss, the old man hurriedly changed the subject. "Nephew, you came to receive a mission, right? Whatever mission you want, Martial Uncle will absolutely help you find it!"

Lin Chen exhaled softly. "In that case... Martial Uncle, I will be honest with you. My previous miscellaneous duty involved a lot of work, little pay, and little room for maneuver, so I hope to find a good medicine garden duty this time."

Lin Chen deliberately emphasized the words "little room for maneuver."

The old man immediately understood what this nephew meant. He wanted nothing more than a miscellaneous duty with little work, high pay, and especially plenty of extra profit!

Thus, he immediately began searching.

"What a coincidence. C-Grade Medicine Garden No. 6 happens to need a disciple to coordinate spiritual herbs with the Pill Hall. The term is six months, and you begin in three days. What do you think, Nephew Lin?"

Very quickly, he arranged a medicine garden management mission for Lin Chen.

The Azure Cloud Sect divided its Spiritual Herb Gardens, where spiritual medicines were planted, into three grades: A, B, and C, corresponding respectively to the Golden Core Realm, Foundation Establishment Realm, and Qi Refining Stage. They matched cultivators' realms; for example, B-grade medicine gardens generally grew spiritual medicines suitable for Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

"This..." Lin Chen was somewhat surprised.

This mission mainly involved delivering the spiritual medicines from the garden to the Pill Hall, then tallying the Pill Hall's daily consumption of spiritual medicines and reporting it.

Do not be fooled by the fact that this position merely transported medicine. As long as one greased the right palms above and below, the extra profit would be plentiful!

Could such a good post really fall to him?

But when Lin Chen saw the old face across from him blooming like a chrysanthemum, he suddenly understood why.

Oh, so it was hush money. I understand, I understand. Lin Chen nodded.

The old man quickly completed the registration, explained several matters requiring attention, and handed Lin Chen a Bronze Token. Only with this token could he activate the Spiritual Herb Garden's Formation Restriction. Once the mission ended, the token had to be returned.

Lin Chen accepted the token and turned to leave, only to be suddenly called back.

"Th-that, Nephew, those books you mentioned just now..." The Management Elder chuckled, rubbed his hands together, and asked in a low voice.

"Oh." Lin Chen paused before understanding. "I have merely Heard Of those books..."

The Management Elder said nothing. He stared straight at Lin Chen, his face full of disbelief.

Lin Chen's expression turned solemn. "Martial Uncle, do not misunderstand. I have simply read rather more books and know a tiny little bit about them, but I never read this sort of thing. I am a respectable person."

Having said that, he immediately turned and left.

"Young people these days, they do not even know how to share good things." Watching Lin Chen's retreating back, the Management Elder curled his lip. "Never mind. This old man happens to have a grandson. Perhaps he can..."

After walking out of the Comprehensive Affairs Hall, Lin Chen hurried without pause toward the outside of the sect.

"I had originally been worrying about how, after my Cultivation Level improved further, I could obtain enough spirit stones to support my cultivation and research. I never expected to receive this information by accident..."

On the road down the mountain toward the marketplace, Lin Chen stroked his chin, deep in thought.

Scientific research consumed an enormous amount of money. Refining Soul Nurturing Incense, simulating breakthroughs into the Foundation Establishment Realm, investigating the Spiritual Energy Law, and so on—all of them consumed vast quantities of spirit stones.

Even though he had already become a talisman maker and secretly sold some research results to earn quite a few spirit stones, he was still stretched thin.

If he had not previously fought and killed his way through life, eliminating quite a few Evil Cultivators and supplementing his income with their wealth, he truly would not have been able to hold on.

But as his Cultivation Level advanced, the consumption of resources kept Growing Larger, becoming a problem Lin Chen could no longer avoid.

Some people said he could kill others and seize their treasures.

But if the poor robbed the poor, how much profit could there be to take?

Even if one robbed the rich to aid the poor, the problem was that in this Cultivation World, those who possessed massive quantities of spirit stones were either powerful great cultivators or second-generation immortals with formidable backgrounds.

He could not defeat the former. As for the latter, did he truly think all the elders in their families were dead?

Furthermore, research and experimentation required enormous amounts of time and energy, as well as substantial investments of spirit stones.

At the Qi Refining Stage, research and experiments were not yet too profound, and results came quickly enough that he could still endure.

But what about Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, or even Nascent Soul?

Research and experiments on the [Soul] and [Primordial Spirit] might take hundreds of years in a single attempt, with who knew how much invested into them. Could it be that every time he emerged from closed-door cultivation, he would have to kill people and rob treasures?

Thus, he had to find a source of income that could flow in a thin but unceasing stream.

Originally, Lin Chen had planned to choose one of the Hundred Arts of Cultivation and master it in order to earn spirit stones.

But after years of observation, Lin Chen discovered that whether it was pill refinement, artifact refinement, or any other Hundred Arts of Cultivation, they might look lofty and impressive, but in reality, they were still wage labor!

And go work for others? What a joke! Did working for others have any money prospects these days?

Not only would autonomy not be in their own hands, but no matter how well they performed, they would ultimately remain targets for exploitation!

To become truly wealthy and possess a "money future," one had to become the controller of a platform—the middleman between buyer and seller, eating from both ends. Only then could one do the least and take the most!

But within the sect, the platforms for cultivation goods such as medicinal pills and Spirit Artifacts had long been carved up by the sect's major factions.

With Lin Chen's potential, after advancing to the Foundation Establishment Realm, he could join one side and fight for decades before obtaining a portion of a platform's shares.

But leaving aside the time and energy it would consume, even if he succeeded, there would be too many people and too little meat, leaving him with little to divide.

Moreover, according to Lin Chen's calculations, if he wished to support cultivation research, that small share would be nowhere near enough!

He had been agonizing over this matter all along, but what had happened with the Management Elder just now gave him a direction!

"I never expected this kind of book to have such a market in the sect. Ten spirit stones, and the writing was not even that good. It was not nearly as stimulating as what I read on certain websites in my previous life..."

"Since that's the case, could I copy the articles from my previous life and sell them in this world?"

"One book could sell for ten spirit stones? With over a hundred thousand people across the sect, even if I sold to one percent of them, wouldn't I make a fortune?"

"And if I keep selling, gradually make a name for myself, then find some writers to write for me and sell their work to other disciples, I can become a middleman and earn the difference, then monopolize the market. If that happens..."

The more Lin Chen thought about it, the brighter his eyes became.

Lin Chen suddenly realized that a transmigrator's wealth was not merely scientific thinking. It also included the extensive knowledge gained from browsing countless websites, as well as methods of cheating... ah, no, methods of benefiting the broad masses of low-level cultivators!

Besides, whether pill refinement or artifact refinement, both required enough spirit stones as startup capital, but writing books was different!

As long as he copied over what he had seen on websites in his previous life, would he not make a fortune?

As for whether the books he wrote could compete with others in the sect's market for spiritual reading materials?

What a joke. Could modern people's knowledge reserves possibly lose to those of ancient people in this regard?!

Lin Chen silently made his decision.

Once I advance to the Late Qi Refining Stage, the Qi Vortex Realm, I will definitely copy over the knowledge from websites in my previous life and use it to benefit my fellow junior and senior brothers!