Sun Huai hadn't expected Li Sanshun to lay everything bare in front of everyone.
Every year, Xuanchu Academy had a batch of entry resources left over. As long as someone made up a reason to write in the distribution ledger, then listed the shortfall as discarded, compensation, or deferred distribution, it was hard to find anything wrong during the year-end inventory.
New disciples had only just joined the sect, and most didn't dare offend the people in charge.
With this method, Sun Huai had saved up quite a few spirit stones over the past two years. Deacon Zhao took the lion's share, leaving Sun Huai to scrape by on scraps. Now that Deacon Zhao was in trouble, Sun Huai had planned to use Li Sanshun's resources to make up the shortfall and, while he was at it, curry favor with the Zhao family.
He hadn't expected this kid from the mountains to latch onto the accounts the moment he entered the Logistics Hall.
Sun Huai walked behind the counter and reached for the distribution ledger.
"The Law Enforcement Hall hasn't closed the case yet. Someone has to bear the losses on the Immortal-Asking Stairs for now. Once Han Zhao confesses and the sect traces where the spirit stones went, I'll naturally make up your resources."
"When will you make them up?"
"At the earliest, in ten-odd days; at the latest, in two or three months. The sect has its own procedures for handling cases. A new disciple has no business hurrying us along."
Li Sanshun turned to the disciple on duty.
"If they're only being held temporarily, give me a receipt. Write down the quantity of the resources and the reason they're being held, then have Senior Brother Sun sign and stamp it. Once the Law Enforcement Hall closes the case, I'll bring the receipt and collect them."
The disciple on duty froze, pen suspended in midair.
The Logistics Hall never issued receipts for temporarily held supplies. If Sun Huai agreed to leave a handwritten record, he wouldn't be able to pin the blame on someone else if the matter were investigated later.
Sun Huai also understood what Li Sanshun was getting at.
"You've only just joined Xuanchu Academy, and already you suspect your fellow disciples. With an attitude like that, you won't get far. It's already recorded in the distribution ledger. There's no need for a receipt."
Li Sanshun pointed at the bottom of the page.
"This says it's being deducted as compensation, not held temporarily. But you just said you'd issue the resources once the case was settled. Those two explanations don't match. You can either amend the ledger or issue a receipt. It shouldn't be hard to choose, should it?"
Murmurs rose through the hall.
Several new disciples who lived in C-Yard checked their supplies and found they were each missing a bottle of Qi Gathering Powder. They hadn't understood the rules earlier and had already pressed their fingerprints onto the distribution ledger.
A tall, thin youth pushed his way to the counter.
"Senior Brother Sun, my ledger says my things were lost on the road. But my robes and pills were all stored in the Logistics Hall. How could they have been lost on the road?"
Another youth chimed in, "My longsword was deducted too. They said it was because I damaged a training dummy last month. I only joined the sect yesterday. How could I have done that last month?"
Sun Huai glared at the disciple on duty.
These explanations were supposed to be recorded separately. How had they all ended up in the same ledger?
The disciple on duty lowered his head. He'd only copied what Sun Huai had written on the slips and hadn't checked the new disciples' names at all. No one in previous years had ever questioned it. This year, Li Sanshun had come along, and every hole in the scheme had been exposed.
Sun Huai closed the ledger.
"Shut up, all of you! If there are errors in the distribution, we can look into them one by one. Anyone who disrupts order in the Logistics Hall again will have this month's allowance withheld."
The scrape of an iron sword dragging across the ground came from outside.
Xiong Baichuan entered the hall, carrying an oversized iron sword. The threshold was low to begin with, but the sword still struck it and chipped off a corner.
"Who's withholding someone's allowance?"
Sun Huai hurriedly suppressed his anger.
"Peak Master Xiong, the Logistics Hall is handling the new disciples' accounts. A few records have discrepancies, and this disciple is verifying them."
Xiong Baichuan picked up the distribution ledger from the counter. He didn't like reading accounts, and after flipping through two pages, he was already frowning.
"Losses on the road? A grown person walks from the mountain gate to Xuanchu Academy, and before the pill bottle's even been opened, a whole bottle has been lost. Does the Logistics Hall raise mice?"
Sun Huai wanted to pin the blame on the disciple on duty, but his personal seal was stamped beneath every entry. There was no way around it.
Xiong Baichuan flipped to Li Sanshun's page, and anger rose in his expression.
"The seven formation spirit stones from the Immortal-Asking Stairs have already been entered in the Law Enforcement Peak's accounts by the Sect Master. Li Sanshun forced out the Spirit-Suppressing Rune and helped the sect catch a worm in its guts. The Law Enforcement Peak was even planning to reward him with Xuanchu Merit. And you're something else—you turn around and deduct them all over again."
Sweat beaded on Sun Huai's forehead.
He hadn't heard anything about this.
Deacon Zhao had gone out of contact last night, and several managers at Xuanchu Academy were all waiting to see what would happen. With Xiong Baichuan saying this in person, it meant the Law Enforcement Hall had already dug deeper.
"This disciple misread the old accounts. I'll correct them immediately."
Xiong Baichuan tossed the ledger back onto the counter.
"Cut the nonsense. Bring out the distribution records for every new disciple this year and check them one by one. Whatever's missing, make it up today. Anyone who took something they shouldn't have can go explain themselves at the Law Enforcement Hall."
Sun Huai knew he couldn't keep a lid on it anymore.
Grinding his teeth, he took out the storeroom key and ordered the disciple on duty to distribute the resources again. Besides his original supplies, Li Sanshun also received five points of Xuanchu Merit as a reward for discovering the problem with the accounts.
After the new disciples in C-Yard got their missing things back, they felt much closer to Li Sanshun.
The tall, thin youth was named Zhou Miao, and he had a four-element mixed spirit root. Hugging the Qi Gathering Powder he'd recovered, he thanked Li Sanshun in a low voice.
"If Senior Brother Li hadn't spoken up, we wouldn't even have known our supplies were missing. If there's anything you need at C-Yard, just say the word."
Li Sanshun put away the spirit stones.
"Check the seals on the bottles first. You don't want to take them back only to find they're filled with flour."
Zhou Miao hurried to inspect them, and the Logistics Hall was soon filled with the sound of corks being pulled.
Sun Huai stood by the storeroom door, his temples throbbing.
After checking that the replacements had been handed out, Xiong Baichuan called Li Sanshun outside the hall.
"You managed to walk through seven hundred levels of pressure on the Immortal-Asking Stairs, so you've got a decent foundation. Don't go to Medicine Peak in seven days. Come to Zhen Yue Peak instead. Cultivating five kinds of spiritual energy takes too much time. Build up your body first; that way, you'll be able to take a few more hits in a fight."
"Peak Master Xiong, does taking a beating count as a skill?"
"Of course it does. You have to hold out before you can hit back. When Zhen Yue Peak disciples go down the mountain to fight monsters, who can claim they never take a hit?"
Xiong Baichuan patted Li Sanshun on the shoulder and turned to leave. After a few steps, he remembered something else.
"Xuanchu Academy's Spirit-Gathering Chambers open today. There are five spots in the first-class chamber, assigned by spiritual-energy absorption speed. You have five spirit roots, so give it a try. If you win a spot, you can use it for three days free."
Li Sanshun was short on high-quality spiritual energy, so he naturally wouldn't pass up the opportunity.
That afternoon, more than thirty new disciples gathered at Xuanchu Academy's training ground.
Five Spirit-Drawing Pillars stood in the center of the grounds. Each participant sat beneath a pillar and circulated their cultivation method. Whoever could make their pillar shine the brightest would enter the first-class Spirit-Gathering Chamber.
Zhao Yuanqing was already seated beneath the first pillar.
Fire spiritual energy climbed seven feet up the pillar, drawing a chorus of praise from the disciples of A-Yard. Upper-grade fire spirit roots absorbed single-element spiritual energy quickly, and few in this year's cohort could compete with him.
Instructor Xu recorded the result.
"Zhao Yuanqing, seven feet three inches. First place so far."
Zhao Yuanqing opened his eyes and saw Li Sanshun enter the training ground. Some of the gloom in his heart lifted.
Li Sanshun had gotten the better of things in the Logistics Hall, but no one could fake their cultivation speed. The Spirit-Drawing Pillars only measured how much spiritual energy a person absorbed in the time it took an incense stick to burn. Five lower-grade spirit roots offered no advantage here.
Zhao Yuanqing stood and moved aside.
"Li Sanshun, the Sect Master said your Five Elements Synchronization shows signs of a Primordial Origin Spirit Embryo. I'd like to see whether five lower-grade spirit roots together can make a Spirit-Drawing Pillar rise higher than three feet."
Instructor Xu checked the roster, his brow creasing slightly.
"Li Sanshun cultivates the Primordial Origin Art and needs all five Spirit-Drawing Pillars activated at once. Xuanchu Academy has never tested Five Elements Synchronization before, so we'll have to decide on the spot how to calculate his score."
Zhao Yuanqing took out his A-Yard cultivation token.
"If all five Spirit-Drawing Pillars count toward his score, that wouldn't be fair to the other disciples. How about I put my first-class Spirit-Gathering Chamber spot on the line and compete against him? Whoever loses gives up their cultivation rights for three months."
Instructor Xu didn't agree. He looked to Li Sanshun first.
"Access to the first-class Spirit-Gathering Chamber will affect your cultivation progress. You're free to refuse."
Li Sanshun walked to the middle of the five Spirit-Drawing Pillars and set the longsword he'd just received beside him.
"Since Young Master Zhao is in such a hurry to get out of A-Yard, I'll help him out."
Instructor Xu waved his hand and activated the formation.
The five Spirit-Drawing Pillars lit up at once, and the five elements of spiritual energy beneath the training ground surged toward Li Sanshun together.
The old cloth scroll containing the Primordial Origin Art trembled slightly inside the Storage Bag at his waist.
The missing half-page of the manual slid out from the inner fold.
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