Bei Qiu Ming's tangled grudges with the Eight Great Mine Merchants had nothing to do with Yang Ning. Even if Nangong Xue wanted to kill someone inside, Yang Ning did not care in the slightest.
The status of an Ascension Academy disciple could not do anything to Lin Tianheng, but it could keep the Eight Great Mine Merchants in check. Thus, not only did Nangong Xue not dare hate Yang Ning, there was even a hint of ingratiation in her gaze.
That had also been Bei Qiu Ming's purpose in giving Yang Ning the identity plaque. Selling steel to Yang Ning at half price seemed like a loss, but as long as he could use this jade plaque to establish ties with an Ascension Academy disciple, let alone half price—even selling at ten percent would still be profitable.
This scene gave Yang Ning a new understanding of his own status.
He did not know about other places, but Taiheng truly revered the sects above all else. Beneath the Taiheng Sect were the smaller sects; beneath those were the various cultivation lineages; only below them came the nations.
In other words, the Spiritual Law Realm bigwigs of the Taiheng Sect were equivalent to those who held power over nations. Inner Disciples were equivalent to high-ranking officials, while Outer Disciples were equivalent to city- or county-level officials.
Even if Ascension Academy disciples were merely kindergarteners, they could directly enter the Taiheng Sect after graduation. Their status was therefore comparable to imperial scholars of a dynasty—officials-in-waiting, the true successors of the Taiheng Sect.
Compared to the successors of the Taiheng Sect, what did merchants amount to?
Still, Nangong Xue had not come away empty-handed. She had taken a fancy to the glasses worn by Yang Ning and Ning Rong. Yang Ning sold her