The Loan Came Through!

"Senior Sister Sijing, same as usual. Sorry for the trouble, but could I get another two Electronic Cigarettes and one Vitality-Replenishing Injection? I'll settle up when my loan comes through."

Two months later, Chen Zhuo sent his great Senior Sister Sijing a sincere message, asking to put another purchase on credit.

When Sijing saw it, two drops of sweat rolled down her face.

She wiped her forehead and had a sudden realization. "Oh, it's sweat. I thought I'd peed myself. I knew that message couldn't have scared the piss out of me."

In truth, Sijing had nearly peed herself.

Over the past two months, Chen Zhuo had run up a tab of more than two thousand Spirit Coins with her.

Add the Azure Dragon from Senior Sister Dong, and he owed nearly three thousand Spirit Coins in all.

At first, Sijing had been fairly happy to help.

Now she was drenched in sweat. Every day after Cultivation, she found herself wondering whether Chen Zhuo was maxing out every small loan he could get before slipping away to Daluo Domain.

There was no extradition agreement between Daluo Domain and Taiqing Domain. Desperate cultivators often borrowed what they could from everyone close to them, paid a smuggler, and crossed illegally into another domain.

The Five Domains and Nine Heavens were one whole, nominally.

But each domain had a strong taste for autonomy.

The Immortal Estate had once held sway over an entire era because five Divine Lords had stood behind it at its founding.

Today, only two ruling Divine Lords remained in the Immortal Estate.

Meanwhile, the leading enterprises of Daluo Domain, Taiqing Domain, Yuqing Domain, and Shangqing Domain all had Divine Lords as chairmen. There were famous Rogue Cultivator Divine Lords, too.

The Immortal Estate could no longer exert truly overwhelming control.

So although the Immortal Estate ruled each domain in name, in practice the domains leaned more toward autonomy.

Once someone fled to another domain, the Immortal Estate might issue a warrant, but expecting local enterprises to help was another matter.

Sijing took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and typed: "Junior, it's not that I don't trust you. Could you maybe... put something up as collateral first? You've been using these drugs so heavily. I'm worried about you."

Chen Zhuo replied almost at once. "I get what you mean, Senior Sister. I have a Magical Artifact I can leave with you for now."

Sijing: ...

"Forget it. Keep it."

With a long sigh, an exhausted Sijing sent the medicine Chen Zhuo needed by express delivery. Then she gritted her teeth and decided to use her personal connections to find out when the loan would be approved.

The moment it came through, Sijing would go straight to his door to collect!

Even if Chen Zhuo really did flee, she could at least recover the principal!

"It's getting harder and harder to buy medicine on credit."

Inside his Cave Abode, Chen Zhuo read Senior Sister Sijing's reply and could only sigh.

He couldn't help it. He didn't want this, either.

The main problem was that his loan still hadn't come through!

For the past two months, Chen Zhuo had cultivated diligently. At most, he went out each day to get a couple of bamboo stalks several hundred years old, traded them for Spirit Coins, and bought more medicine so he could keep cultivating.

After two months of this, he counted as someone with abundant Spiritual Qi even among those at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.

He had also amassed over three thousand Spirit Coins in personal debt.

On top of that, Chen Zhuo owed another 5,500 Spirit Coins in official debt.

He was now on his way to owing more than ten thousand.

Not just anyone could claim the achievement of owing over ten thousand. From a certain perspective, Chen Zhuo could be called a successful man.

Except...

"What a grind. I borrowed over eight thousand Spirit Coins and spent more than ten thousand in total, just to reach the Qi Refining Fifth Layer."

The path to immortality was no easy road. Chen Zhuo sighed. "If I want to reach Foundation Establishment, it'll probably cost over a hundred thousand Spirit Coins. Forming a Golden Core will probably take millions more... Cultivation really burns through money."

Of course, Chen Zhuo hadn't meant to keep buying on credit.

His loan simply hadn't arrived, and the processing was painfully slow.

There was no helping it. Si Jing would have to suffer a little; he would shoulder the infamy.

Right now, he had to devote everything to preparing for the Qiwu Sword Sect's inaugural disciple recruitment ceremony. Everything else would have to wait.

He hadn't even taken his appraisal classes seriously these past two months!

Just as Chen Zhuo picked up the injection he had bought on credit and prepared to return to the Ancient Immortal Realm to use it, his Spirit Message Jade Slip suddenly vibrated.

[Counselor Yuan]: @everyone, after several rounds of selection guided by the principles of fairness, impartiality, and transparency, congratulations to three students in our class—@Chen Zhuo, @Meng Yan, and @Xie Yunling—on making this year's Dao Tournament Reserve roster! To those who weren't selected, don't be discouraged. Over the next four years, if you perform well enough, you'll have another chance to join the reserves!

Chen Zhuo stared at the message in the department group chat on his phone, expressionless.

Xie Yunling possessed an Innate Spiritual Root and had reached the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

Among their classmates, her Cultivation was considered advanced. She was about even with department representative Peng Ju; both were at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

What Chen Zhuo hadn't expected was that Peng Ju hadn't made the cut. The other slot had gone to Meng Yan instead.

What was going on?

The news had indeed sent shockwaves through the department.

No one spoke in the main group chat.

In the smaller private chats, though, messages were flying.

"Wait, Chen Zhuo and Meng Yan? Didn't they both have Acquired Spiritual Root Implantation? How did those two get picked?"

"Chen Zhuo's at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer now, and I heard he owes over ten thousand Spirit Coins. Fine, his Immortal Dao Potential is huge, so I get why he made it. But what's the deal with Meng Yan?"

"Huh? Chen Zhuo owes that many Spirit Coins?! How terrifying. If he borrowed another few tens of thousands, even Foundation Establishment Cultivators would give him a wide berth. A Golden Core True Person would think twice before messing with him, wouldn't they?"

"Seriously, what's the deal with Meng Yan?"

"I know this one. Apparently Yuan arranged some College Student Entrepreneurship Fund and Outstanding College Student Interest-Free Loan for him. Meng Yan gave Yuan a sixty-percent kickback, and that's how he got the spot."

"What about Peng Ju? Isn't Representative Peng going to raise hell?"

"Listen to yourself. Teacher Nangong from the Academic Affairs Office and Director Sun from the department both got kickbacks. You'd dare make trouble with Foundation Establishment Cultivators?"

"..."

The smaller chats Chen Zhuo had been added to after defeating Wang Heng were all buzzing with whispers. Seeing this, he felt there was probably more to the matter.

But it had nothing to do with him.

The only rumor about him was that he owed over ten thousand Spirit Coins.

He ought to correct that: it was only a little over eight thousand.

The rest was true enough, though. If he owed tens of thousands, Foundation Establishment Cultivators really wouldn't dare touch him. If he died, the debt would turn bad, and the Foundation Establishment Cultivator who killed him would have to face the bank's wrath.

Owe tens of thousands, and Foundation Establishment Cultivators scatter.

Owe millions, and Golden Core cultivators retreat.

Owe over a hundred million, and Nascent Soul cultivators flee!

Chen Zhuo shook his head. Then a new message arrived.

[Great Purity Bank: Greetings, fellow Daoist Chen Zhuo! Your Outstanding College Student Interest-Free Loan (total: 5,500 Spirit Coins) has now been disbursed!]

Chen Zhuo's heart leaped when he saw it.

Holy shit!

5,500 Spirit Coins! I've struck it rich!

Even a ten-percent kickback didn't matter now.

Thank you, Immortal Estate! Thank you, Taiqing Bank! Thank you, Taiqing Alchemy Vocational Technology College!

But his joy was short-lived. Another notification followed close behind.

[Great Purity Bank: 3,740 Spirit Coins were deposited into your account on April 17. Current balance: 4,385 Spirit Coins!]

Chen Zhuo: ?

Why was 1,760 Spirit Coins missing?

Hadn't they said they were only taking ten percent?

Chen Zhuo hurried to message Counselor Yuan.

This was no small sum!

Before long, Counselor Yuan replied at his leisure. "Little Chen, that ten percent was just my share. Teacher Nangong from the Academic Affairs Office needs a cut, and so does the clerk handling it. They each take ten percent. Our department director is generous—he only took two percent. When cultivating immortality, you've got to learn to be content."

Chen Zhuo: ...

OK.

I'll remember that.

Chen Zhuo had little he could say. Yuan Mingde had secured this loan for him in the first place, and getting it at all had exceeded his expectations.

But that didn't make him any less pissed off.

The reason was simple.

This was a fucking loan, not a scholarship!

He had to pay it back.

"Forget it. I've got twenty years anyway. First I need to turn these Spirit Coins into resources, improve my Immortal Dao Potential, and get into the Qiwu Sword Sect. That's what matters most!"

Chen Zhuo drew a deep breath and calmed himself.

Teacher Nangong from the Academic Affairs Office, huh?

The department director, huh?

Little Counselor Yuan, huh?

The clerk...

I'll let the clerk off. I might need to work with them again.

You three just wait!